Filtro respiratório reduz efeitos cardiovasculares associados à poluição: estudo randomizado, duplo-cego, controlado e cruzado em pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca (FILTER-HF trial)

Introdução A poluição do ar é um fator de risco associado com descompensação e mortalidade em pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca (IC). Objetivo Avaliar o impacto de um filtro de polipropileno sobre desfechos cardiovasculares em pacientes com IC e voluntários saudáveis durante exposição controlada à poluição. Métodos Ensaio clínico duplocego, controlado e cruzado, incluindo 26 pacientes com IC e 15 voluntários saudáveis, expostos a três protocolos diferentes de inalação randomizados por ordem: Ar Limpo; Exposição à Partículas de Exaustão do Diesel (ED); e ED filtrada. Os desfechos estudados foram função endotelial por índice de hiperemia reativa (RHi) e índice de aumento (Aix), biomarcadores séricos, variáveis de teste cardiopulmonar submáximo (caminhada de seis-minutos [tc6m]; consumo de oxigênio [VO2]; equivalente ventilatório de gás carbônico [VE/VCO2 slope]; consumo de O2 por batida [PulsoO2]) e variabilidade da frequência cardíaca (VFC). Resultados No grupo IC, a ED piorou o RHi [de 2,17 (IQR: 1,8-2,5) para 1,72 (IQR: 1,5-2,2); p=0,002], reduziu o VO2 [de 11.0 ± 3.9 para 8.4±2.8ml/Kg/min; p < 0.001], o tc6m [de 243,3±13 para 220,8 ± 14m; p=0,030] e o PulsoO2 [de 8.9 ± 1.0 para 7.8±0.7ml/bpm; p < 0.001]; e aumentou o BNP [de 47,0pg/ml (IQR: 17,3-118,0) para 66,5pg/ml (IQR: 26,5-155,5); p=0,004]. O filtro foi capaz de reduzir a concentração de poluição de 325±31 para 25±6?g/m3 (p < 0,001 vs. ED). No grupo IC, o filtro foi associado com melhora no RHi [2,06 (IQR: 1,5-2,6); p=0,019 vs. ED); aumento no VO2 (10.4 ± 3.8ml/Kg/min; p < 0.001 vs. ED) e PulsoO2 (9.7±1.1ml/bpm; p < 0.001 vs. ED); e redução no BNP [44,0pg/ml (IQR: 20,0-110,0); p=0,015 vs. ED]. Em ambos os grupos, a ED reduziu o Aix, sem efeito do filtro. O uso do filtro foi associado com maior ventilação e reinalação de CO2. Outras variáveis pesquisadas como VE/VCO2 slope e VFC não sofreram influências entre os protocolos. Conclusão A poluição do ar afetou adversamente o desempenho cardiovascular de pacientes com IC. Este é o primeiro ensaio clínico demonstrando que um simples filtrorespiratório pode prevenir a disfunção endotelial, a intolerância ao exercício e o aumento do BNP associados à poluição em pacientes com IC. O uso de máscaras com filtro tem o potencial de reduzir a morbidade associada à IC. Identificador ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01960920

A novel information theory method for filter feature selection

In this paper, we propose a novel filter for feature selection. Such filter relies on the estimation of the mutual information between features and classes. We bypass the estimation of the probability density function with the aid of the entropic-graphs approximation of Rényi entropy, and the subsequent approximation of the Shannon one. The complexity of such bypassing process does not depend on the number of dimensions but on the number of patterns/samples, and thus the curse of dimensionality is circumvented. We show that it is then possible to outperform a greedy algorithm based on the maximal relevance and minimal redundancy criterion. We successfully test our method both in the contexts of image classification and microarray data classification.

Quantum interference in atomic-sized point contacts

The conductance of atomic-sized metallic point contacts is shown to be strongly voltage dependent due to quantum interference with impurities even in samples with low impurity concentrations. Transmission through these small contacts depends not only on the local atomic structure at the contact but also on the distribution of impurities or defects within a coherence length of the contact. In contrast with other mesoscopic systems we show that transport through atomic contacts is coherent even at room temperature. The use of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) makes it possible to fabricate one atom contacts of gold whose transmission can be controlled by manipulation of the contact allowing inelastic spectroscopy in such small contacts.

Power line interference filtering on surface electromyography based on the stationary wavelet packet transform

Power line interference is one of the main problems in surface electromyogram signals (EMG) analysis. In this work, a new method based on the stationary wavelet packet transform is proposed to estimate and remove this kind of noise from EMG data records. The performance has been quantitatively evaluated with synthetic noisy signals, obtaining good results independently from the signal to noise ratio (SNR). For the analyzed cases, the obtained results show that the correlation coefficient is around 0.99, the energy respecting to the pure EMG signal is 98–104%, the SNR is between 16.64 and 20.40 dB and the mean absolute error (MAE) is in the range of −69.02 and −65.31 dB. It has been also applied on 18 real EMG signals, evaluating the percentage of energy respecting to the noisy signals. The proposed method adjusts the reduction level to the amplitude of each harmonic present in the analyzed noisy signals (synthetic and real), reducing the harmonics with no alteration of the desired signal.

Communist interference in El Salvador : documents demonstrating Communist support of the Salvadoran insurgency.

"February 23, 1981."

The coupled trickling filter-activated sludge process : design and performance /

Mode of access: Internet.

Report on tests of welding filter plates /

Mode of access: Internet.

Fine solids removal following combined chemical-trickling filter treatment /

Mode of access: Internet.

Wastewater stabilization lagoon : intermittent sand filter systems /

Mode of access: Internet.