ERICA: use of screens and consumption of meals and snacks by Brazilian adolescents

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To describe the length of exposure to screens and the prevalence of consumption of meals and snacks by Brazilian adolescents in front of screens. METHODS We evaluated 74,589 12 to 17-year old adolescents from 1,247 schools in 124 Brazilian municipalities. A self-administered questionnaire was used. Its segment regarding nutrition contained questions about using TV, computers, and video game systems, having meals while watching TV, and consuming snacks in front of screens. Consumption of meals and snacks in front of screens was analyzed according to the following variables: geographical region, gender, age range, type of school (public or private), and school shift. The prevalences and their respective 95% confidence intervals were estimated under a complex sampling design. RESULTS A great deal of the adolescents (73.5%, 95%CI 72.3-74.7) reported spending two or more hours a day in front of screens. That habit was more frequent among male adolescents, private school students, morning shift students, and students from Brazil’s South region. More than half of the adolescents (56.6%, 95%CI 55.4-57.8) reported almost always or always having meals in front of TV, and 39.6% (95%CI 38.8-40.5) of them said they consumed snacks in front of screens exactly as often. Both situations were the most prevalent ones among the girls, who attended public schools and were from Brazil’s Midwest region. CONCLUSIONS Length of exposure to screens and consumption of meals and snacks almost always or always in front of screens are high among Brazilian adolescents. It is necessary to develop strategies aiming to reduce the length of screen use, considering the media reality that children and adolescents have been experiencing from earlier and earlier ages. That context must therefore be analyzed in an indissociable way.

Intelligent decision support systems for collaboration in industrial plants

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Sistemas de Informação Industriais, Engenharia Electrotécnica, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Synthesis, characterization and applications of new schiff base fluorescent chemosensors for metal and DNA interactions: conventional and "green" approaches

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Química Sustentável, especialidade de Química-Física Inorgânica, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Bullwhip effect, in production control: a comparison between traditional methods and LPS

21th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 21), July 2013, Fortaleza, Brazil

Understanding the microbial ecology and ecophysiology of enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes through metabolic modelling and experimental studies

Dissertation to obtain the degree of Master in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Contributions of culture and antimicrobial susceptibility tests to the retreatment of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Introduction This study evaluated the efficacy of retreatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) with regard to treatment outcomes and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (ST) profiles. Methods This retrospective cohort study analyzed 144 patients treated at a referral hospital in Brazil. All of them had undergone prior treatment, were smear-positive for TB and received a standardized retreatment regimen. Fisher's 2-tailed exact test and the χ2 test were used; RRs and 95% CIs were calculated using univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression. Results The patients were cured in 84 (58.3%) cases. Failure was associated with relapsed treatment and abandonment (n=34). Culture tests were obtained for 103 (71.5%) cases; 70 (48.6%) had positive results. ST results were available for 67 (46.5%) cases; the prevalence of acquired resistance was 53.7%. There were no significant differences between those who achieved or not therapeutic success (p=0.988), despite being sensitive or resistant to 1 or more drugs. Rifampicin resistance was independently associated with therapeutic failure (OR: 4.4, 95% CI:1.12-17.37, p=0.034). For those cases in which cultures were unavailable, a 2nd model without this information was built. In this, return after abandonment was significantly associated with retreatment failure (OR: 3.59, 95% CI:1.17-11.06, p=0.026). Conclusions In this cohort, the general resistance profile appeared to have no influence on treatment outcome, except in cases of rifampicin resistance. The form of reentry was another independent predictor of failure. The use of bacterial culture identification and ST in TB management must be re-evaluated. The recommendations for different susceptibility profiles must also be improved.

Diversity and dynamics of airborne fungi in São Luis, State of Maranhão, Brazil

Introduction: This study aimed to identify airborne fungi in São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil, to determine the prevalent genera and to correlate these genera with the area and season. Methods: In total, 1,510 colony-forming units (CFUs) of airborne fungi were isolated from the north, south, east and west sides and from the center of the city from January to December 2007. The samples were collected on Petri dishes that were exposed to the fungi by the gravitational method. Results: Twenty genera of fungi were isolated; the most common were Aspergillus (33.5%), Penicillium (18.8%), Cladosporium (14.2%), Curvularia (10.6%) and Fusarium (7.6%). The CFUs of the fungi were statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Fungal biological diversity was present all year, without any large seasonal variations but with slight increases in May, August and September. Conclusions: The fungal genera identified in this study were correlated with natural systems and could be useful when evaluating the impact of environmental changes on the region.

Development of procedures for the design, optimization and manufacturing of customized orthopaedic and trauma implants: Geometrical/anatomical modelling from 3D medical imaging

Tese de Doutoramento (Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Biomédica)

Development of CBCT-based prostate setup correction strategies and impact of rectal distension.

BACKGROUND: Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) systems are widely used tools to verify and correct the target position before each fraction, allowing to maximize treatment accuracy and precision. In this study, we evaluate automatic three-dimensional intensity-based rigid registration (RR) methods for prostate setup correction using CBCT scans and study the impact of rectal distension on registration quality. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 115 CBCT scans of 10 prostate patients. CT-to-CBCT registration was performed using (a) global RR, (b) bony RR, or (c) bony RR refined by a local prostate RR using the CT clinical target volume (CTV) expanded with 1-to-20-mm varying margins. After propagation of the manual CT contours, automatic CBCT contours were generated. For evaluation, a radiation oncologist manually delineated the CTV on the CBCT scans. The propagated and manual CBCT contours were compared using the Dice similarity and a measure based on the bidirectional local distance (BLD). We also conducted a blind visual assessment of the quality of the propagated segmentations. Moreover, we automatically quantified rectal distension between the CT and CBCT scans without using the manual CBCT contours and we investigated its correlation with the registration failures. To improve the registration quality, the air in the rectum was replaced with soft tissue using a filter. The results with and without filtering were compared. RESULTS: The statistical analysis of the Dice coefficients and the BLD values resulted in highly significant differences (p<10(-6)) for the 5-mm and 8-mm local RRs vs the global, bony and 1-mm local RRs. The 8-mm local RR provided the best compromise between accuracy and robustness (Dice median of 0.814 and 97% of success with filtering the air in the rectum). We observed that all failures were due to high rectal distension. Moreover, the visual assessment confirmed the superiority of the 8-mm local RR over the bony RR. CONCLUSION: The most successful CT-to-CBCT RR method proved to be the 8-mm local RR. We have shown the correlation between its registration failures and rectal distension. Furthermore, we have provided a simple (easily applicable in routine) and automatic method to quantify rectal distension and to predict registration failure using only the manual CT contours.

Contact metamorphism and emplacement of the western Adamello tonalite

The geodynamic forces acting in the Earth's interior manifest themselves in a variety of ways. Volcanoes are amongst the most impressive examples in this respect, but like with an iceberg, they only represent the tip of a more extensive system hidden underground. This system consists of a source region where melt forms and accumulates, feeder connections in which magma is transported towards the surface, and different reservoirs where it is stored before it eventually erupts to form a volcano. A magma represents a mixture of melt and crystals. The latter can be extracted from the source region, or form anywhere along the path towards their final crystallization place. They will retain information of the overall plumbing system. The host rocks of an intrusion, in contrast, provide information at the emplacement level. They record the effects of thermal and mechanical forces imposed by the magma. For a better understanding of the system, both parts - magmatic and metamorphic petrology - have to be integrated. I will demonstrate in my thesis that information from both is complementary. It is an iterative process, using constraints from one field to better constrain the other. Reading the history of the host rocks is not always straightforward. This is shown in chapter two, where a model for the formation of clustered garnets observed in the contact aureole is proposed. Fragments of garnets, older than the intrusive rocks are overgrown by garnet crystallizing due to the reheating during emplacement of the adjacent pluton. The formation of the clusters is therefore not a single event as generally assumed but the result of a two-stage process, namely the alteration of the old grains and the overgrowth and amalgamation of new garnet rims. This makes an important difference when applying petrological methods such as thermobarometry, geochronology or grain size distributions. The thermal conditions in the aureole are a strong function of the emplacement style of the pluton. therefore it is necessary to understand the pluton before drawing conclusions about its aureole. A study investigating the intrusive rocks by means of field, geochemical, geochronologi- cal and structural methods is presented in chapter three. This provided important information about the assembly of the intrusion, but also new insights on the nature of large, homogeneous plutons and the structure of the plumbing system in general. The incremental nature of the emplacement of the Western Adamello tonalité is documented, and the existence of an intermediate reservoir beneath homogeneous plutons is proposed. In chapter four it is demonstrated that information extracted from the host rock provides further constraints on the emplacement process of the intrusion. The temperatures obtain by combining field observations with phase petrology modeling are used together with thermal models to constrain the magmatic activity in the immediate intrusion. Instead of using the thermal models to control the petrology result, the inverse is done. The model parameters were changed until a match with the aureole temperatures was obtained. It is shown, that only a few combinations give a positive match and that temperature estimates from the aureole can constrain the frequency of ancient magmatic systems. In the fifth chapter, the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility of intrusive rocks is compared to 3D tomography. The obtained signal is a function of the shape and distribution of ferromagnetic grains, and is often used to infer flow directions of magma. It turns out that the signal is dominated by the shape of the magnetic crystals, and where they form tight clusters, also by their distribution. This is in good agreement with the predictions made in the theoretical and experimental literature. In the sixth chapter arguments for partial melting of host rock carbonates are presented. While at first very surprising, this is to be expected when considering the prior results from the intrusive study and experiments from the literature. Partial melting is documented by compelling microstructures, geochemical and structural data. The necessary conditions are far from extreme and this process might be more frequent than previously thought. The carbonate melt is highly mobile and can move along grain boundaries, infiltrating other rocks and ultimately alter the existing mineral assemblage. Finally, a mineralogical curiosity is presented in chapter seven. The mineral assemblage magne§site and calcite is in apparent equilibrium. It is well known that these two carbonates are not stable together in the system Ca0-Mg0-Fe0-C02. Indeed, magnesite and calcite should react to dolomite during metamorphism. The presented explanation for this '"forbidden" assemblage is, that a calcite melt infiltrated the magnesite bearing rock along grain boundaries and caused the peculiar microstructure. This is supported by isotopie disequilibrium between calcite and magnesite. A further implication of partially molten carbonates is, that the host rock drastically looses its strength so that its physical properties may be comparable to the ones of the intrusive rocks. This contrasting behavior of the host rock may ease the emplacement of the intrusion. We see that the circle closes and the iterative process of better constraining the emplacement could start again. - La Terre est en perpétuel mouvement et les forces tectoniques associées à ces mouvements se manifestent sous différentes formes. Les volcans en sont l'un des exemples les plus impressionnants, mais comme les icebergs, les laves émises en surfaces ne représentent que la pointe d'un vaste système caché dans les profondeurs. Ce système est constitué d'une région source, région où la roche source fond et produit le magma ; ce magma peut s'accumuler dans cette région source ou être transporté à travers différents conduits dans des réservoirs où le magma est stocké. Ce magma peut cristalliser in situ et produire des roches plutoniques ou alors être émis en surface. Un magma représente un mélange entre un liquide et des cristaux. Ces cristaux peuvent être extraits de la source ou se former tout au long du chemin jusqu'à l'endroit final de cristallisation. L'étude de ces cristaux peut ainsi donner des informations sur l'ensemble du système magmatique. Au contraire, les roches encaissantes fournissent des informations sur le niveau d'emplacement de l'intrusion. En effet ces roches enregistrent les effets thermiques et mécaniques imposés par le magma. Pour une meilleure compréhension du système, les deux parties, magmatique et métamorphique, doivent être intégrées. Cette thèse a pour but de montrer que les informations issues de l'étude des roches magmatiques et des roches encaissantes sont complémentaires. C'est un processus itératif qui utilise les contraintes d'un domaine pour améliorer la compréhension de l'autre. Comprendre l'histoire des roches encaissantes n'est pas toujours aisé. Ceci est démontré dans le chapitre deux, où un modèle de formation des grenats observés sous forme d'agrégats dans l'auréole de contact est proposé. Des fragments de grenats plus vieux que les roches intru- sives montrent une zone de surcroissance générée par l'apport thermique produit par la mise en place du pluton adjacent. La formation des agrégats de grenats n'est donc pas le résultat d'un seul événement, comme on le décrit habituellement, mais d'un processus en deux phases, soit l'altération de vieux grains engendrant une fracturation de ces grenats, puis la formation de zone de surcroissance autour de ces différents fragments expliquant la texture en agrégats observée. Cette interprétation en deux phases est importante, car elle engendre des différences notables lorsque l'on applique des méthodes pétrologiques comme la thermobarométrie, la géochronologie ou encore lorsque l'on étudie la distribution relative de la taille des grains. Les conditions thermales dans l'auréole de contact dépendent fortement du mode d'emplacement de l'intrusion et c'est pourquoi il est nécessaire de d'abord comprendre le pluton avant de faire des conclusions sur son auréole de contact. Une étude de terrain des roches intrusives ainsi qu'une étude géochimique, géochronologique et structurale est présente dans le troisième chapitre. Cette étude apporte des informations importantes sur la formation de l'intrusion mais également de nouvelles connaissances sur la nature de grands plutons homogènes et la structure de système magmatique en général. L'emplacement incrémental est mis en évidence et l'existence d'un réservoir intermédiaire en-dessous des plutons homogènes est proposé. Le quatrième chapitre de cette thèse illustre comment utiliser l'information extraite des roches encaissantes pour expliquer la mise en place de l'intrusion. Les températures obtenues par la combinaison des observations de terrain et l'assemblage métamorphique sont utilisées avec des modèles thermiques pour contraindre l'activité magmatique au contact directe de cette auréole. Au lieu d'utiliser le modèle thermique pour vérifier le résultat pétrologique, une approche inverse a été choisie. Les paramètres du modèle ont été changés jusqu'à ce qu'on obtienne une correspondance avec les températures observées dans l'auréole de contact. Ceci montre qu'il y a peu de combinaison qui peuvent expliquer les températures et qu'on peut contraindre la fréquence de l'activité magmatique d'un ancien système magmatique de cette manière. Dans le cinquième chapitre, les processus contrôlant l'anisotropie de la susceptibilité magnétique des roches intrusives sont expliqués à l'aide d'images de la distribution des minéraux dans les roches obtenues par tomographie 3D. Le signal associé à l'anisotropie de la susceptibilité magnétique est une fonction de la forme et de la distribution des grains ferromagnétiques. Ce signal est fréquemment utilisé pour déterminer la direction de mouvement d'un magma. En accord avec d'autres études de la littérature, les résultats montrent que le signal est dominé par la forme des cristaux magnétiques, ainsi que par la distribution des agglomérats de ces minéraux dans la roche. Dans le sixième chapitre, une étude associée à la fusion partielle de carbonates dans les roches encaissantes est présentée. Si la présence de liquides carbonatés dans les auréoles de contact a été proposée sur la base d'expériences de laboratoire, notre étude démontre clairement leur existence dans la nature. La fusion partielle est documentée par des microstructures caractéristiques pour la présence de liquides ainsi que par des données géochimiques et structurales. Les conditions nécessaires sont loin d'être extrêmes et ce processus pourrait être plus fréquent qu'attendu. Les liquides carbonatés sont très mobiles et peuvent circuler le long des limites de grain avant d'infiltrer d'autres roches en produisant une modification de leurs assemblages minéralogiques. Finalement, une curiosité minéralogique est présentée dans le chapitre sept. L'assemblage de minéraux de magnésite et de calcite en équilibre apparent est observé. Il est bien connu que ces deux carbonates ne sont pas stables ensemble dans le système CaO-MgO-FeO-CO.,. En effet, la magnésite et la calcite devraient réagir et produire de la dolomite pendant le métamorphisme. L'explication présentée pour cet assemblage à priori « interdit » est que un liquide carbonaté provenant des roches adjacentes infiltre cette roche et est responsable pour cette microstructure. Une autre implication associée à la présence de carbonates fondus est que la roche encaissante montre une diminution drastique de sa résistance et que les propriétés physiques de cette roche deviennent comparables à celles de la roche intrusive. Cette modification des propriétés rhéologiques des roches encaissantes peut faciliter la mise en place des roches intrusives. Ces différentes études démontrent bien le processus itératif utilisé et l'intérêt d'étudier aussi bien les roches intrusives que les roches encaissantes pour la compréhension des mécanismes de mise en place des magmas au sein de la croûte terrestre.

Epidemiology and control of malaria and other arthropod born diseases

Malaria and other arthropod born diseases remain a serious public health problem affecting the lives and health of certain social groups when the two basic strategies to control fail due to : (1) the lack of effective chemoprophylaxis/chemotherapy or the rapid development of drug resistance of the infectious agents and (2) the ineffectiveness of pesticides or the arthropod vectors develop resistance to them. These situations enhances the need for the design and implementation of other alternatives for sustainable health programmes. The application of the epidemiological methods is essential not only for analyzing the relevant data for the understanding of the biological characteristics of the infectious agents, their reservoirs and vectors and the methods for their control, but also for the assessment of the human behaviour, the environmental, social and economic factors involved in disease transmission and the capacity of the health systems to implement interventions for both changes in human behaviour and environmental management to purpose guaranteed prevention and control of malaria and other arthropod born diseases with efficiency, efficacy and equity. This paper discuss the evolution of the malaria arthropod diseases programmes in the American Region and the perspectives for their integration into health promotion programs and emphasis is made in the need to establish solid basis in the decision-making process for the selection of intervention strategies to remove the risk factors determining the probability to get sick or die from ABDs. The implications of the general planning and the polices to be adopted in an area should be analyzed in the light of programme feasibility at the local level, in the multisectoral context specific social groups and taking in consideration the principles of stratification and equity

Vector incrimination and effects of antimalarial drugs on malaria transmission and control in the Amazon Basin of Brazil

World ecosystems differ significantly and a multidisciplinary malaria control approach must be adjusted to meet these requirements. These include a comprehensive understanding of the malaria vectors, their behavior, seasonal distribution and abundance, susceptibility to insecticides (physiological and behavioral), methods to reduce the numbers of human gametocyte carriers through effective health care systems and antimalarial drug treatment, urban malaria transmission versus rural or forest malaria transmission, and the impact of vaccine development. Many malaria vectors are members of species complexes and individual relationship to malaria transmission, seasonal distribution, bitting behavior, etc. is poorly understood. Additionaly, malaria patients are not examined for circulating gametocytes and both falciparum and vivax malaria patients may be highly infective to mosquitoes after treatment with currently used antimalarial drugs. Studies on the physiological and behavioral effects of DDT and other insecticides are inconclusive and need to be evalusted.

Magnetic resonance-guided, real-time targeted delivery and imaging of magnetocapsules immunoprotecting pancreatic islet cells.

In type I diabetes mellitus, islet transplantation provides a moment-to-moment fine regulation of insulin. Success rates vary widely, however, necessitating suitable methods to monitor islet delivery, engraftment and survival. Here magnetic resonance-trackable magnetocapsules have been used simultaneously to immunoprotect pancreatic beta-cells and to monitor, non-invasively in real-time, hepatic delivery and engraftment by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Magnetocapsules were detected as single capsules with an altered magnetic resonance appearance on capsule rupture. Magnetocapsules were functional in vivo because mouse beta-cells restored normal glycemia in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice and human islets induced sustained C-peptide levels in swine. In this large-animal model, magnetocapsules could be precisely targeted for infusion by using magnetic resonance fluoroscopy, whereas MRI facilitated monitoring of liver engraftment over time. These findings are directly applicable to ongoing improvements in islet cell transplantation for human diabetes, particularly because our magnetocapsules comprise clinically applicable materials.

Cell Adhesion Peptide RGDSP and Laminin Support Proliferation and Migration of Postnatal Retinal Stem Cells in a 3D Hydrogel Culture System

Purpose: Retinal stem cells (RSCs) can be isolated from radial glia population of the newborn mouse retina (Angénieux et al., 2006). These RSCs have great capacity to renew and generate neurons including cells differentiated towards the photoreceptor lineage (Mehri-Soussi et al., 2006). However, our published results showed poor integration and survival rate after cell grafting into the retina. The uncontrollable environment of retina seems to be the problem. To bypass this, we are trying to generate hemi-retinal tissue in vitro that can be used for transplantation. Methods: Expanded RSCs were seeded in a mixture of poly-ethylene-glycol (PEG)-polymer-based hydrogels crosslinked by peptides that also serve as substrates for matrix metalloproteinases. Different doses of crosslinker peptides were tested. Several growth factors were studied to stimulate cell proliferation and differentiation. Results: Cells were trapped in hydrogels and cultured in the presence of FGF2 and EGF. Spherical cell clusters indicating proliferation appeared within several days, but there was no cell migration within the gel. We then added cell adhesion molecules integrin ligand RGDSP, or laminin, or a combination of both, into the gel. Cells grown with laminin showed the best proliferation. Cells grown with RGDSP proliferated a few times and then started to spread out. Cells grown with the combination of RGDSP and laminin showed better proliferation than with RGDSP alone and larger spread-outs than with laminin alone. After stimulations with first FGF2 and EGF, and then only FGF2, some cells showed neuronal morphology after 2 weeks. The neuronal population was assessed by the presence of neuronal marker b-tubulin-III. Glial cells were also present. Further characterizations are undergoing. Conclusions: RSC can grow and migrate in 3D hydrogel with the addition of FGF2, EGF, RGDSP and laminin. Further developments are necessary to form a homogenous tissue containing retinal cells.