Archaeometallurgical study of pre and protohistoric production remains and artefacts from Southern Portugal

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Conservação e Restauro, especialidade Ciências da Conservação

Case-control study of an outbreak of acute toxoplasmosis in an industrial plant in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

Foodborne diseases represent operational risks in industrial restaurants. We described an outbreak of nine clustered cases of acute illness resembling acute toxoplasmosis in an industrial plant with 2300 employees. These patients and another 36 similar asymptomatic employees were diagnosed with anti-T. gondii IgG titer and avidity by ELISA. We excluded 14 patients based on high IgG avidity and chronic toxoplasmosis: 13 from controls and one from acute disease other than T. gondii infection. We also identified another three asymptomatic employees with T.gondii acute infection and also anti-T. gondii IgM positive as remaining acute cases. Case control study was conducted by interview in 11 acute infections and 20 negative controls. The ingestion of green vegetables, but not meat or water, was observed to be associated with the incidence of acute disease. These data reinforce the importance of sanitation control in industrial restaurants and also demonstrate the need for improvement in quality control regarding vegetables at risk for T. gondii oocyst contamination. We emphasized the accurate diagnosis of indexed cases and the detection of asymptomatic infections to determine the extent of the toxoplasmosis outbreak.

CASE STUDY OF A PATIENT WITH HIV-AIDS AND VISCERAL LEISHMANIASIS CO-INFECTION IN MULTIPLE EPISODES

SUMMARYReport of a 45-year-old male farmer, a resident in the forest zone of Pernambuco, who was diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 1999 and treated using antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. In 2005, the first episode of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), as assessed by parasitological diagnosis of bone marrow aspirate, was recorded. When admitted to the hospital, the patient presented fever, hepatosplenomegaly, weight loss, and diarrhea. Since then, six additional episodes of VL occurred, with a frequency rate of one per year (2005-2012, except in 2008). In 2011, the patient presented a disseminated skin lesion caused by the amastigotes of Leishmania, as identified by histopathological assessment of skin biopsy samples. In 2005, he was treated with N-methyl-glucamine-antimony and amphotericin B deoxycholate. However, since 2006 because of a reported toxicity, the drug of choice was liposomal amphotericin B. As recommended by the Ministry of Health, this report emphasizes the need for HIV patients living in VL endemic areas to include this parasitosis in their follow-up protocol, particularly after the first infection of VL.

ANIMAL MODELS FOR THE STUDY OF LEISHMANIASIS IMMUNOLOGY

Leishmaniasis remains a major public health problem worldwide and is classified as Category I by the TDR/WHO, mainly due to the absence of control. Many experimental models like rodents, dogs and monkeys have been developed, each with specific features, in order to characterize the immune response to Leishmania species, but none reproduces the pathology observed in human disease. Conflicting data may arise in part because different parasite strains or species are being examined, different tissue targets (mice footpad, ear, or base of tail) are being infected, and different numbers (“low” 1×102 and “high” 1×106) of metacyclic promastigotes have been inoculated. Recently, new approaches have been proposed to provide more meaningful data regarding the host response and pathogenesis that parallels human disease. The use of sand fly saliva and low numbers of parasites in experimental infections has led to mimic natural transmission and find new molecules and immune mechanisms which should be considered when designing vaccines and control strategies. Moreover, the use of wild rodents as experimental models has been proposed as a good alternative for studying the host-pathogen relationships and for testing candidate vaccines. To date, using natural reservoirs to study Leishmania infection has been challenging because immunologic reagents for use in wild rodents are lacking. This review discusses the principal immunological findings against Leishmania infection in different animal models highlighting the importance of using experimental conditions similar to natural transmission and reservoir species as experimental models to study the immunopathology of the disease.

Public private collaboration: Potentials for spatial data infrastructure development in developing countries - A caste study of Nigeria

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Parallelization of web processing services on cloud computing: A case study of Geostatistical Methods

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Urban land cover change detection analysis and modeling spatio-temporal Growth dynamics using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques: A case study of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Spatio-Temporal data modeling in response to deforestation monitoring (a case study of small region in Riau Province, Indonesia)

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Analysing and visualising areal crime data. A case study of residential burglary in San Francisco, USA

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Design and implementation of 3D buildings integration for a Webgl-Based Virtual Globe: a case study of Valencian Cadastre and Fide Building Mode

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

STUDY OF THE PREVALENCE OF Capillaria hepatica IN HUMANS AND RODENTS IN AN URBAN AREA OF THE CITY OF PORTO VELHO, RONDÔNIA, BRAZIL

Introduction: Hepatic capillariosis, caused by Capillaria hepatica (Calodium hepaticum) (Bancroft, 1893), Travassos, 1915 (Nematoda, Trichinelloidea, Capillariidae), is a common zoonosis in rodents but is rare in humans. Seventy-two cases in humans have been reported worldwide since the first case was described by MACARTHUR in 192417,27. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Capillaria hepatica in humans and rodents in an urban area of Porto Velho, the capital of Rondônia, in Brazil. Methods: After conducting a census of the area, 490 residents were randomly selected, and, after signing a term of consent, provided blood samples that were screened for anti-Capillaria hepatica antibodies. Simultaneously, rats were captured to assess the prevalence of this parasite in rodents by histopathological examination in liver sections. Results: A prevalence of 1.8% was found among residents who had specific antibodies at a dilution of 1:150, indicating exposure to parasite eggs; 0.8% of the subjects also had positive titers at a dilution of 1:400, indicating true infection. The prevalence in rats was 2%. Conclusions: The prevalence of infection with this parasite among humans and rats was low. While the prevalence encountered among humans was within the limits reported in the literature, the prevalence among rodents was much lower.

Adaptive Game Design Study of a fully adaptive framework

Adventure! The Paladin Order foi um projecto ambicioso que começou por ser desenvolvido como um video jogo completo. Tinha como objéctivo implementar uma ferramenta diferente que permitisse tornar o jogo completamente adaptativo às decisões do jogador tanto nas interacções e no diálogo com outras personagens, assim como no combate contra os variados inímigos do jogo. Devido à inexperiência do autor uma grande parte do tempo foi passado a estudar e a pesquisar várias possíveis soluções que permitissem criar um ambiente que fosse adaptativo de uma forma simples e interessante, não só para os programadores mas também para qualquer pessoa que fosse responsável por editar o diálogo e a história do jogo. Os resultados foram bastante interessantes, revelando um sistema que depende simultaneamente dos ficheiros de onde é retirado o diálogo, e de um sistema de personalidades que permite definir qual será o comportamento de qualquer objecto do jogo ou, pelo menos, como as outras personagens irão reagir. O produto final é uma ferramenta de bases sólidas que permite uma implementação relativamente simples de um sistema abrangente e adaptativo, com poucas falhas e apenas algumas questões de simplicidade de código.

MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY DUE TO AIDS: A STUDY OF BURDEN OF DISEASE AT A MUNICIPAL LEVEL

Introduction: The purpose of measuring the burden of disease involves aggregating morbidity and mortality components into a single indicator, the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), to measure how much and how people live and suffer the impact of a disease. Objective: To estimate the global burden of disease due to AIDS in a municipality of southern Brazil. Methods: An ecological study was conducted in 2009 to examine the incidence and AIDS-related deaths among the population residing in the city of Tubarao, Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Data from the Mortality Information System in the National Health System was used to calculate the years of life lost (YLL) due to premature mortality. The calculation was based on the difference between a standardized life expectancy and age at death, with a discount rate of 3% per year. Data from the Information System for Notifiable Diseases were used to calculate the years lived with disability (YLD). The DALY was estimated by the sum of YLL and YLD. Indicator rates were estimated per 100,000 inhabitants, distributed by age and gender. Results: A total of 131 records were examined, and a 572.5 DALYs were estimated, which generated a rate of 593.1 DALYs/100,000 inhabitants. The rate among men amounted to 780.7 DALYs/100,000, whereas among women the rate was 417.1 DALYs/100,000. The most affected age groups were 30-44 years for men and 60-69 years for women. Conclusion: The burden of disease due to AIDS in the city of Tubarao was relatively high when considering the global trend. The mortality component accounted for more than 90% of the burden of disease.

An NMR structural study of nickel-substituted rubredoxin

J Biol Inorg Chem (2010) 15:409–420 DOI 10.1007/s00775-009-0613-6

Extracting temporal and spatial distributions information about marine mucilage phenomenon based on Modis satellite images; a case study of the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic Sea, 2010-2012

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.