HIV/AIDS risk among female sex workers who use crack in Southern Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To understand the social context of female sex workers who use crack and its impact on HIV/AIDS risk behaviors. METHODODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES: Qualitative study carried out in Foz do Iguaçu, Southern Brazil, in 2003. Twenty-six in-depth interviews and two focus groups were carried out with female commercial sex workers who frequently use crack. In-depth interviews with health providers, community leaders and public policy managers, as well as field observations were also conducted. Transcript data was entered into Atlas.ti software and grounded theory methodology was used to analyze the data and develop a conceptual model as a result of this study. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS: Female sex workers who use crack had low self-perceived HIV risk in spite of being engaged in risky behaviors (e.g. unprotected sex with multiple partners). Physical and sexual violence among clients, occasional and stable partners was widespread jeopardizing negotiation and consistent condom use. According to health providers, community leaders and public policy managers, several female sex workers who use crack are homeless or live in slums, and rarely have access to health services, voluntary counseling and testing, social support, pre-natal and reproductive care. CONCLUSIONS: Female sex workers who use crack experience a plethora of health and social problems, which apparently affect their risks for HIV infection. Low-threshold, user-friendly and gender-tailored interventions should be implemented, in order to increase the access to health and social-support services among this population. Those initiatives might also increase their access to reproductive health in general, and to preventive strategies focusing on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

HIV testing among pregnant women in Brazil: rates and predictors

OBJECTIVE: To assess rates of offering and uptake of HIV testing and their predictors among women who attended prenatal care. METHODS: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted among postpartum women (N=2,234) who attended at least one prenatal care visit in 12 cities. Independent and probabilistic samples were selected in the cities studied. Sociodemographic data, information about prenatal care and access to HIV prevention interventions during the current pregnancy were collected. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to assess independent effects of the covariates on offering and uptake of HIV testing. Data collection took place between November 1999 and April 2000. RESULTS: Overall, 77.5% of the women reported undergoing HIV testing during the current pregnancy. Offering of HIV testing was positively associated with: previous knowledge about prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV; higher number of prenatal care visits; higher level of education and being white. HIV testing acceptance rate was 92.5%. CONCLUSIONS: The study results indicate that dissemination of information about prevention of mother-to-child transmission among women may contribute to increasing HIV testing coverage during pregnancy. Non-white women with lower level of education should be prioritized. Strategies to increase attendance of vulnerable women to prenatal care and to raise awareness among health care workers are of utmost importance.

Geotecnia dos túneis do maciço de Paranhos: avaliação hidrogeomecânica exploratória

As classificações geomecânicas são uma das abordagens mais reconhecidas para estimar a qualidade do maciço rochoso, face à sua simplicidade e competência para gerir incertezas. As incertezas geológicas e geotécnicas podem ser avaliadas de forma eficaz usando classificações adequadas. Este estudo pretende enfatizar a importância das classificações geomecânicas e índices geomecânicos, tais como a Rock Mass Rating (RMR), a Rock Tunnelling Quality Index (Qsystem), o Geological Strength Index (GSI) e o Hydro‐Potential (HP) Value, para ajuizar a qualidade do maciço rochoso granítico das galerias subterrâneas de Paranhos (setor de Carvalhido ‐ Burgães; área urbana do Porto). Em particular, o valor hidro‐potencial (HP‐value) é uma classificação semi‐quantitativa aplicada a maciços rochosos que permite estimar as infiltrações de água subterrânea em escavações de terrenos rochosos. Para esta avaliação foi compilada e integrada uma extensa base de dados geológico‐geotécnica e geomecânica, apoiada na técnica de amostragem linear de superfícies expostas descontinuidades. Para refinar o zonamento geotécnico do maciço rochoso granítico, previamente realizado em 2010, foram coletadas amostras de rocha em pontos‐chave, com o objetivo de avaliar a sua resistência através do Ensaio de Carga Pontual (PLT). A aplicação das classificações geomecânicas foi realizada de uma forma equilibrada, estabelecendo diferentes cenários e tendo sempre em conta o conhecimento das características do maciço in situ. Apresenta‐se uma proposta de zonamento hidrogeomecânico com o objetivo de compreender melhor a circulação geo‐hidráulica do maciço rochoso granítico. Pretende‐se com esta metodologia contribuir para aprofundar o conhecimento do substrato rochoso do Porto, nomeadamente no que diz respeito ao seu comportamento geomecânico.

Integração da tecnologia Near Field Communications nas telecomunicações móveis

O telemóvel tem-se transformado numa ferramenta essencial no nosso dia-a-dia, constantemente são lançadas novas tecnologias que potenciam o uso do telemóvel nas tarefas do nosso quotidiano. Atualmente a grande tendência passa por fazer o download de aplicações com o objetivo de obter mais e diferentes tipos de informação, existe o desejo de ler de forma simples e intuitiva o mundo que nos rodeia, como se cada elemento fosse um objeto sobre o qual conseguiremos obter informação através do telemóvel. A tecnologia Near Field Communication (NFC) ajuda a transformar este desejo ou necessidade numa realidade de simples alcance. Podemos anexar “identificadores” nos objetos e “ver” estes identificadores através do telemóvel recorrendo a aplicações que fazem a ponte com os sistemas que nos permitem obter mais informação, por exemplo, internet. O NFC especifica um padrão de comunicação de redes sem fios, que permite a transferência de dados entre dois dispositivos separados por uma distância máxima de 10cm. NFC foi desenhado para ser integrado em telemóveis, que podem comunicar com outros telemóveis equipados com NFC ou ler informação de cartões ou tags. A dissertação avalia as oportunidades que a tecnologia NFC oferece ao mundo das telecomunicações móveis, nomeadamente na realidade do operador Vodafone Portugal, principalmente numa relação Empresa - Cliente. Esta tecnologia reúne o interesse dos fabricantes dos telemóveis, dos operadores e de parceiros críticos que vão ajudar a potenciar o negócio, nomeadamente entidades bancárias e interbancárias. A tecnologia NFC permite utilizar o telemóvel como um cartão de crédito/debito, ticketing, ler informação de posters (Smart Poster) que despoletem navegação contextualizada para outras aplicações ou para a internet para obter mais informação ou concretizar compras, estes são alguns cenários identificados que mais valor o NFC consegue oferecer. A dissertação foca-se na avaliação técnica do NFC na área de Smart Posters e resulta na identificação num conjunto de novos cenários de utilização, que são especificados e complementados com o desenvolvimento de um protótipo.

Capillary bridging and long-range attractive forces in a mean-field approach

When a mixture is confined, one of the phases can condense out. This condensate, which is otherwise metastable in the bulk, is stabilized by the presence of surfaces. In a sphere-plane geometry, routinely used in atomic force microscope and surface force apparatus, it, can form a bridge connecting the surfaces. The pressure drop in the bridge gives rise to additional long-range attractive forces between them. By minimizing the free energy of a binary mixture we obtain the force-distance curves as well as the structural phase diagram of the configuration with the bridge. Numerical results predict a discontinuous transition between the states with and without the bridge and linear force-distance curves with hysteresis. We also show that similar phenomenon can be observed in a number of different systems, e.g., liquid crystals and polymer mixtures. (C). 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Radiatively induced Lorentz and CPT violation in Schwinger constant field approximation

The Schwinger proper-time method is an effective calculation method, explicitly gauge-invariant and nonperturbative. We make use of this method to investigate the radiatively induced Lorentz- and CPT-violating effects in quantum electrodynamics when an axial-vector interaction term is introduced in the fermionic sector. The induced Lorentz- and CPT-violating Chern-Simons term coincides with the one obtained using a covariant derivative expansion but differs from the result usually obtained in other regularization schemes. A possible ambiguity in the approach is also discussed. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

HIV rapid testing as a key strategy for prevention of mother-to-child transmission in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of HIV rapid testing for pregnant women at maternity hospital admission and of subsequent interventions to reduce perinatal HIV transmission. METHODS: Study based on a convenience sample of women unaware of their HIV serostatus when they were admitted to delivery in public maternity hospitals in Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, Brazil, between March 2000 and April 2002. Women were counseled and tested using the Determine HIV1/2 Rapid Test. HIV infection was confirmed using the Brazilian algorithm for HIV infection diagnosis. In utero transmission of HIV was determined using HIV-DNA-PCR. There were performed descriptive analyses of sociodemographic data, number of previous pregnancies and abortions, number of prenatal care visits, timing of HIV testing, HIV rapid test result, neonatal and mother-to-child transmission interventions, by city studied. RESULTS: HIV prevalence in women was 6.5% (N=1,439) in Porto Alegre and 1.3% (N=3.778) in Rio de Janeiro. In Porto Alegre most of women were tested during labor (88.7%), while in Rio de Janeiro most were tested in the postpartum (67.5%). One hundred and forty-four infants were born to 143 HIV-infected women. All newborns but one in each city received at least prophylaxis with oral zidovudine. It was possible to completely avoid newborn exposure to breast milk in 96.8% and 51.1% of the cases in Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro, respectively. Injectable intravenous zidovudine was administered during labor to 68.8% and 27.7% newborns in Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro, respectively. Among those from whom blood samples were collected within 48 hours of birth, in utero transmission of HIV was confirmed in 4 cases in Rio de Janeiro (4/47) and 6 cases in Porto Alegre (6/79). CONCLUSIONS: The strategy proved feasible in maternity hospitals in Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. Efforts must be taken to maximize HIV testing during labor. There is a need of strong social support to provide this population access to health care services after hospital discharge.

Prática de ensino supervisionado no 1.º e 2.º ciclo do ensino básico: calculo mental: um estudo sobre as estratégias utilizadas por alunos do 1.º e do 2.º ciclo do ensino básico

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Mismatch negativity in childhood temporal lobe epilepsy: a proposed paradigm for testing central auditory processing

Background: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a neurological disorder that directly affects cortical areas responsible for auditory processing. The resulting abnormalities can be assessed using event-related potentials (ERP), which have high temporal resolution. However, little is known about TLE in terms of dysfunction of early sensory memory encoding or possible correlations between EEGs, linguistic deficits, and seizures. Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an ERP component – elicited by introducing a deviant stimulus while the subject is attending to a repetitive behavioural task – which reflects pre-attentive sensory memory function and reflects neuronal auditory discrimination and perceptional accuracy. Hypothesis: We propose an MMN protocol for future clinical application and research based on the hypothesis that children with TLE may have abnormal MMN for speech and non-speech stimuli. The MMN can be elicited with a passive auditory oddball paradigm, and the abnormalities might be associated with the location and frequency of epileptic seizures. Significance: The suggested protocol might contribute to a better understanding of the neuropsychophysiological basis of MMN. We suggest that in TLE central sound representation may be decreased for speech and non-speech stimuli. Discussion: MMN arises from a difference to speech and non-speech stimuli across electrode sites. TLE in childhood might be a good model for studying topographic and functional auditory processing and its neurodevelopment, pointing to MMN as a possible clinical tool for prognosis, evaluation, follow-up, and rehabilitation for TLE.

Efeitos auditivos em doentes com tumores de cabeça e pescoço e tumores cerebrais sujeitos a Radioterapia e terapia combinada

Introdução: A capacidade auditiva dos doentes com neoplasias de cabeça e pescoço e tumores cerebrais pode ser comprometida com os tratamentos antineoplásicos realizados. A Quimioterapia com cisplatina pode provocar perda auditiva de condução ou neurossensorial, podendo agravar-se quando combinada com Radioterapia (RT). O objectivo deste trabalho foi a análise da relação entre a Terapia Combinada (Cisplatina+RT) e a Radioterapia isolada, e os seus efeitos adversos sobre a audição tendo em consideração a inclusão das estruturas do ouvido no campo de tratamento de RT. Métodos: Foram seguidos 10 doentes submetidos a Terapia Combinada (grupo TC) e 11 a Radioterapia isolada (grupo RT). A avaliação audiológica realizou-se antes do inicio (M1), no fim (M2) e um mês após (M3) o termo dos tratamentos e incluiu anamnese audiológica, otoscopia e audiometria tonal. Resultados: No grupo TC, 94,4% dos doentes apresentaram uma relação directamente proporcional entre a dose de radiação na cóclea e a perda auditiva. Esta relação só se verificou em 31% dos doentes do grupo RT, tendo-se verificado diferenças significativas entre grupos (p <0,001). Conclusões: Verificou-se maior incidência da perda auditiva no grupo TC relativamente ao grupo RT. Sugere-se um melhor planeamento do tratamento de RT, reduz - indo a dose à cóclea com o objectivo de minimizar a perda auditiva neurossensorial irreversível, sobretudo quando são utilizadas as duas modalidades de tratamento.

H-NAMe: specifying, implementing and testing a hidden-node avoidance mechanism for wireless sensor networks

The hidden-node problem has been shown to be a major source of Quality-of-Service (QoS) degradation in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) due to factors such as the limited communication range of sensor nodes, link asymmetry and the characteristics of the physical environment. In wireless contention-based Medium Access Control protocols, if two nodes that are not visible to each other transmit to a third node that is visible to the formers, there will be a collision – usually called hidden-node or blind collision. This problem greatly affects network throughput, energy-efficiency and message transfer delays, which might be particularly dramatic in large-scale WSNs. This technical report tackles the hidden-node problem in WSNs and proposes HNAMe, a simple yet efficient distributed mechanism to overcome it. H-NAMe relies on a grouping strategy that splits each cluster of a WSN into disjoint groups of non-hidden nodes and then scales to multiple clusters via a cluster grouping strategy that guarantees no transmission interference between overlapping clusters. We also show that the H-NAMe mechanism can be easily applied to the IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee protocols with only minor add-ons and ensuring backward compatibility with the standard specifications. We demonstrate the feasibility of H-NAMe via an experimental test-bed, showing that it increases network throughput and transmission success probability up to twice the values obtained without H-NAMe. We believe that the results in this technical report will be quite useful in efficiently enabling IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee as a WSN protocol.

Flexible manufacturing field trial

Within the European project R-Fieldbus (http://www.hurray.isep.ipp.pt/activities/rfieldbus/), an industrial manufacturing field trial was developed. This field trial was conceived as a demonstration test bed for the technologies developed during the project. Because the R-Fieldbus field trial included prototype hardware devices, the purpose of this equipment changed and since the conclusion of the project, several new technologies also emerged, therefore an update of the field trial was required. This document describes an update of the manufacturing field trial. The purpose of this update, the changes and improvements introduced are described in the document. Additionally, this document also provides a reliable source of documentation for the equipment, configuration and software components of the manufacturing field trial.

Environmental microbiology for public health: capturing international developments in the field

Environmental microbiology is an evolving science. This is in part driven by the development of new analytical techniques that are becoming more varied and powerful. Before they are applied, emerging techniques need to be critically evaluated by scientists, technical professionals, practitioners and students.

Effect of plug-filling, Testing velocity and temperature on the tensile strength of strap repairs on aluminium structures

In this work, an experimental study was performed on the influence of plug-filling, loading rate and temperature on the tensile strength of single-strap (SS) and double-strap (DS) repairs on aluminium structures. Whilst the main purpose of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of plug-filling for the strength improvement of these repairs, a parallel study was carried out to assess the sensitivity of the adhesive to external features that can affect the repairs performance, such as the rate of loading and environmental temperature. The experimental programme included repairs with different values of overlap length (L O = 10, 20 and 30 mm), and with and without plug-filling, whose results were interpreted in light of experimental evidence of the fracture modes and typical stress distributions for bonded repairs. The influence of the testing speed on the repairs strength was also addressed (considering 0.5, 5 and 25 mm/min). Accounting for the temperature effects, tests were carried out at room temperature (≈23°C), 50 and 80°C. This permitted a comparative evaluation of the adhesive tested below and above the glass transition temperature (T g), established by the manufacturer as 67°C. The combined influence of these two parameters on the repairs strength was also analysed. According to the results obtained from this work, design guidelines for repairing aluminium structures were

Prevalence of syphilis in pregnancy and prenatal syphilis testing in Brazil: Birth in Brazil study

OBJECTIVE Determine the coverage rate of syphilis testing during prenatal care and the prevalence of syphilis in pregnant women in Brazil. METHODS This is a national hospital-based cohort study conducted in Brazil with 23,894 postpartum women between 2011 and 2012. Data were obtained using interviews with postpartum women, hospital records, and prenatal care cards. All postpartum women with a reactive serological test result recorded in the prenatal care card or syphilis diagnosis during hospitalization for childbirth were considered cases of syphilis in pregnancy. The Chi-square test was used for determining the disease prevalence and testing coverage rate by region of residence, self-reported skin color, maternal age, and type of prenatal and child delivery care units. RESULTS Prenatal care covered 98.7% postpartum women. Syphilis testing coverage rate was 89.1% (one test) and 41.2% (two tests), and syphilis prevalence in pregnancy was 1.02% (95%CI 0.84;1.25). A lower prenatal coverage rate was observed among women in the North region, indigenous women, those with less education, and those who received prenatal care in public health care units. A lower testing coverage rate was observed among residents in the North, Northeast, and Midwest regions, among younger and non-white skin-color women, among those with lower education, and those who received prenatal care in public health care units. An increased prevalence of syphilis was observed among women with < 8 years of education (1.74%), who self-reported as black (1.8%) or mixed (1.2%), those who did not receive prenatal care (2.5%), and those attending public (1.37%) or mixed (0.93%) health care units. CONCLUSIONS The estimated prevalence of syphilis in pregnancy was similar to that reported in the last sentinel surveillance study conducted in 2006. There was an improvement in prenatal care and testing coverage rate, and the goals suggested by the World Health Organization were achieved in two regions. Regional and social inequalities in access to health care units, coupled with other gaps in health assistance, have led to the persistence of congenital syphilis as a major public health problem in Brazil.