Common genetic polymorphisms in the ABCB1 gene are associated with risk of major depressive disorder in male Portuguese individuals

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent disorder, which has been associated with an abnormal response of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Reports have argued that an abnormal HPA axis response can be due to an altered P-Glycoprotein (P-GP) function. This argument suggests that genetic polymorphisms in ABCB1 may have an effect on the HPA axis activity; however, it is still not clear if this influences the risk of MDD. Our study aims to evaluate the effect of ABCB1 C1236T, G2677TA and C3435T genetic polymorphisms on MDD risk in a subset of Portuguese patients. DNA samples from 80 MDD patients and 160 control subjects were genotyped using TaqMan SNP Genotyping assays. A significant protection for MDD males carrying the T allele was observed (C1236T: odds ratio (OR) = 0.360, 95% confidence interval [CI]: [0.140– 0.950], p = 0.022; C3435T: OR= 0.306, 95% CI: [0.096–0.980], p = 0.042; and G2677TA: OR= 0.300, 95% CI: [0.100– 0.870], p = 0.013). Male Portuguese individuals carrying the 1236T/2677T/3435T haplotype had nearly 70% less risk of developing MDD (OR = 0.313, 95% CI: [0.118–0.832], p = 0.016, FDR p = 0.032). No significant differences were observed regarding the overall subjects. Our results suggest that genetic variability of the ABCB1 is associated with MDD development in male Portuguese patients. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in Caucasian samples to analyze the effect of these ABCB1 genetic polymorphisms on MDD risk.

Hearing evaluation of portuguese school communities: school‑based audiology and hearing screening

Introduction: Hearing loss h sone raised impact in the development and academic progress of a child. In several developed countries, early detection is part of the national health plan through universal neonatal hearing screening (UNHS) and also with school hearing screening programs (SHSP), but only a few have published national data and revised protocols. Currently in Portugal, the UNHS is implemented in the main district hospitals but not the SHPS, as well we still do not make use of concrete data nor publication of studies on the national reality. Objectives: The incidence of the hearing loss and of otological problems was studied in school communities in the north of the country with 2550 participants between 3 and 17 years old. Methods: Statistical data collected within the schools with a standard auditory hearing screening protocol. All participants were evaluated with the same protocol, an audiological anamnesis, otoscopy and audiometric exam screening (500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz) were fulfilled. Results: Different otological problems were identified and the audiometric screening exam counted auditory thresholds that outpointed uni and bilateral hearing loss in about 5.7% of the cases. Conclusions: The study has demonstrated that auditory school screening should take place as early as possible and be part of the primary health care to identify and direct children to appropriate rehabilitation, education and attendance. Thus, reducing high costs with late treatment.

Fractional dynamics of genetic algorithms using hexagonal space tessellation

The paper formulates a genetic algorithm that evolves two types of objects in a plane. The fitness function promotes a relationship between the objects that is optimal when some kind of interface between them occurs. Furthermore, the algorithm adopts an hexagonal tessellation of the two-dimensional space for promoting an efficient method of the neighbour modelling. The genetic algorithm produces special patterns with resemblances to those revealed in percolation phenomena or in the symbiosis found in lichens. Besides the analysis of the spacial layout, a modelling of the time evolution is performed by adopting a distance measure and the modelling in the Fourier domain in the perspective of fractional calculus. The results reveal a consistent, and easy to interpret, set of model parameters for distinct operating conditions.

Children and sand play: screening of potential harmful microorganisms in sandboxes, parks, and beaches

Sand serves as a reservoir for potentially pathogenic microorganisms. Children, a high-risk group, can acquire infections from sand in sandboxes, recreational areas, and beaches. This paper reviews the microbes in sands, with an emphasis on fungi. Recreational areas and beach sands have been found to harbor many types of fungi and microbes. A newly emerging group of fungi of concern include the black yeast-like fungi. After establishing that sand is a reservoir for fungi, clinical manifestations of fungal infections are described with an emphasis on ocular and ear infections. Overall, we recommend environmental studies to develop monitoring strategies for sand and studies to evaluate the link between fungi exposure in sand and human health impacts.

Screening for depressive symptoms in older adults in the Family Health Strategy, Porto Alegre, Brazil

OBJECTIVE To analyze the prevalence of depression in older adults and associated factors. METHODS Cross-sectional study using a stratified random sample of 621 individuals aged ≥ 60 from 27 family health teams in Porto Alegre, RS, Southern Brazil, between 2010 and 2012. Community health agents measured depression using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. Scores of ≥ 6 were considered as depression and between 11 and 15 as severe depression. Poisson regression was used to search for independent associations of sociodemographic and self-perceived health with both depression and its severity. RESULTS The prevalence of depression was 30.6% and was significantly higher in women (35.9% women versus 20.9% men, p < 0.001). The variables independently associated with depression were: female gender (PR = 1.4, 95%CI 1.1;1.8); low education, especially illiteracy (PR = 1.8, 95%CI 1.2;2 6); regular self-rated health (OR = 2.2, 95%CI 1.6;3.0); and poor/very poor self-rated health (PR = 4.0, 95%CI 2.9;5.5). Except for education, the strength of association of these factors increases significantly in severe depression. CONCLUSIONS A high prevalence of depression was observed in the evaluations conducted by community health agents, professionals who are not highly specialized. The findings identified using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale in this way are similar to those in the literature, with depression more associated with low education, female gender and worse self-rated health. From a primary health care strategic point of view, the findings become still more relevant, indicating that community health agents could play an important role in identifying depression in older adults.

A hybrid genetic algorithm for the multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling

A construction project is a group of discernible tasks or activities that are conduct-ed in a coordinated effort to accomplish one or more objectives. Construction projects re-quire varying levels of cost, time and other resources. To plan and schedule a construction project, activities must be defined sufficiently. The level of detail determines the number of activities contained within the project plan and schedule. So, finding feasible schedules which efficiently use scarce resources is a challenging task within project management. In this context, the well-known Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) has been studied during the last decades. In the RCPSP the activities of a project have to be scheduled such that the makespan of the project is minimized. So, the technological precedence constraints have to be observed as well as limitations of the renewable resources required to accomplish the activities. Once started, an activity may not be interrupted. This problem has been extended to a more realistic model, the multi-mode resource con-strained project scheduling problem (MRCPSP), where each activity can be performed in one out of several modes. Each mode of an activity represents an alternative way of combining different levels of resource requirements with a related duration. Each renewable resource has a limited availability for the entire project such as manpower and machines. This paper presents a hybrid genetic algorithm for the multi-mode resource-constrained pro-ject scheduling problem, in which multiple execution modes are available for each of the ac-tivities of the project. The objective function is the minimization of the construction project completion time. To solve the problem, is applied a two-level genetic algorithm, which makes use of two separate levels and extend the parameterized schedule generation scheme. It is evaluated the quality of the schedules and presents detailed comparative computational re-sults for the MRCPSP, which reveal that this approach is a competitive algorithm.

A genetic algorithm for the resource constrained multi-project scheduling problem

This paper presents a genetic algorithm for the resource constrained multi-project scheduling problem. The chromosome representation of the problem is based on random keys. The schedules are constructed using a heuristic that builds parameterized active schedules based on priorities, delay times, and release dates defined by the genetic algorithm. The approach is tested on a set of randomly generated problems. The computational results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Screening for frailty in older adults using a self-reported instrument

OBJECTIVE To validate a screening instrument using self-reported assessment of frailty syndrome in older adults.METHODS This cross-sectional study used data from the Saúde, Bem-estar e Envelhecimento study conducted in Sao Paulo, SP, Southeastern Brazil. The sample consisted of 433 older adult individuals (≥ 75 years) assessed in 2009. The self-reported instrument can be applied to older adults or their proxy respondents and consists of dichotomous questions directly related to each component of the frailty phenotype, which is considered the gold standard model: unintentional weight loss, fatigue, low physical activity, decreased physical strength, and decreased walking speed. The same classification proposed in the phenotype was utilized: not frail (no component identified); pre-frail (presence of one or two components), and frail (presence of three or more components). Because this is a screening instrument, “process of frailty” was included as a category (pre-frail and frail). Cronbach’s α was used in psychometric analysis to evaluate the reliability and validity of the criterion, the sensitivity, the specificity, as well as positive and negative predictive values. Factor analysis was used to assess the suitability of the proposed number of components.RESULTS Decreased walking speed and decreased physical strength showed good internal consistency (α = 0.77 and 0.72, respectively); however, low physical activity was less satisfactory (α = 0.63). The sensitivity and specificity for identifying pre-frail individuals were 89.7% and 24.3%, respectively, while those for identifying frail individuals were 63.2% and 71.6%, respectively. In addition, 89.7% of the individuals from both the evaluations were identified in the “process of frailty” category.CONCLUSIONS The self-reported assessment of frailty can identify the syndrome among older adults and can be used as a screening tool. Its advantages include simplicity, rapidity, low cost, and ability to be used by different professionals.

Cervical cancer screening coverage in a high-incidence region

OBJECTIVE To analyze the coverage of a cervical cancer screening program in a city with a high incidence of the disease in addition to the factors associated with non-adherence to the current preventive program.METHODS A cross-sectional study based on household surveys was conducted. The sample was composed of women between 25 and 59 years of age of the city of Boa Vista, RR, Northern Brazil who were covered by the cervical cancer screening program. The cluster sampling method was used. The dependent variable was participation in a women’s health program, defined as undergoing at least one Pap smear in the 36 months prior to the interview; the explanatory variables were extracted from individual data. A generalized linear model was used.RESULTS 603 women were analyzed, with an mean age of 38.2 years (SD = 10.2). Five hundred and seventeen women underwent the screening test, and the prevalence of adherence in the last three years was up to 85.7% (95%CI 82.5;88.5). A high per capita household income and recent medical consultation were associated with the lower rate of not being tested in multivariate analysis. Disease ignorance, causes, and prevention methods were correlated with chances of non-adherence to the screening system; 20.0% of the women were reported to have undergone opportunistic and non-routine screening.CONCLUSIONS The informed level of coverage is high, exceeding the level recommended for the control of cervical cancer. The preventive program appears to be opportunistic in nature, particularly for the most vulnerable women (with low income and little information on the disease). Studies on the diagnostic quality of cervicovaginal cytology and therapeutic schedules for positive cases are necessary for understanding the barriers to the control of cervical cancer.

Genetic diversity and epidemiology of antimicrobial resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates

Dissertation presented to obtain a Ph.D. degree in Biology, speciality in Microbiology, by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Optimal location of supports in beam structures using genetic algorithms

Real structures can be thought as an assembly of components, as for instances plates, shells and beams. This later type of component is very commonly found in structures like frames which can involve a significant degree of complexity or as a reinforcement element of plates or shells. To obtain the desired mechanical behavior of these components or to improve their operating conditions when rehabilitating structures, one of the eventual parameters to consider for that purpose, when possible, is the location of the supports. In the present work, a beam-type structure is considered, and for a set of cases concerning different number and types of supports, as well as different load cases, the authors optimize the location of the supports in order to obtain minimum values of the maximum transverse deflection. The optimization processes are carried out using genetic algorithms. The results obtained, clearly show a good performance of the approach proposed. © 2014 IEEE.

A genetic algorithm for project scheduling with multi-modes and renewable resources

This paper presents a genetic algorithm-based approach for project scheduling with multi-modes and renewable resources. In this problem activities of the project may be executed in more than one operating mode and renewable resource constraints are imposed. The objective function is the minimization of the project completion time. The idea of this approach is integrating a genetic algorithm with a schedule generation scheme. This study also proposes applying a local search procedure trying to yield a better solution when the genetic algorithm and the schedule generation scheme obtain a solution. The experimental results show that this algorithm is an effective method for solving this problem.

Application of genetic algorithms in the design of an electrical potential of fractional order

Fractional calculus (FC) is currently being applied in many areas of science and technology. In fact, this mathematical concept helps the researches to have a deeper insight about several phenomena that integer order models overlook. Genetic algorithms (GA) are an important tool to solve optimization problems that occur in engineering. This methodology applies the concepts that describe biological evolution to obtain optimal solution in many different applications. In this line of thought, in this work we use the FC and the GA concepts to implement the electrical fractional order potential. The performance of the GA scheme, and the convergence of the resulting approximation, are analyzed. The results are analyzed for different number of charges and several fractional orders.

Project scheduling under multiple resources constraints using a genetic algorithm

The resource constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is a difficult problem in combinatorial optimization for which extensive investigation has been devoted to the development of efficient algorithms. During the last couple of years many heuristic procedures have been developed for this problem, but still these procedures often fail in finding near-optimal solutions. This paper proposes a genetic algorithm for the resource constrained project scheduling problem. The chromosome representation of the problem is based on random keys. The schedule is constructed using a heuristic priority rule in which the priorities and delay times of the activities are defined by the genetic algorithm. The approach was tested on a set of standard problems taken from the literature and compared with other approaches. The computational results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Project scheduling using a competitive genetic algorithm

- The resource constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) is a difficult problem in combinatorial optimization for which extensive investigation has been devoted to the development of efficient algorithms. During the last couple of years many heuristic procedures have been developed for this problem, but still these procedures often fail in finding near-optimal solutions. This paper proposes a genetic algorithm for the resource constrained project scheduling problem. The chromosome representation of the problem is based on random keys. The schedule is constructed using a heuristic priority rule in which the priorities and delay times of the activities are defined by the genetic algorithm. The approach was tested on a set of standard problems taken from the literature and compared with other approaches. The computational results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm