Sugar content in liquid oral medicines for children

The most sold and/or prescribed liquid oral medicines for children in Tubarão, Southern Brazil, were assessed. Their sugar concentration was tested and compared to those in their directions for use. All pharmacies and pediatricians working in the city were visited by a previously trained interviewer. Pre-tested questionnaires were applied in order to assess the most sold pediatric as well as the most prescribed pediatric liquid oral medicines. Three samples of each medicine were analyzed by Lane-Eynon general volumetric method. Among the 14 most sold/prescribed medicines only four did not have sugar contents (analgesic, cortisone, and syrups). Sugar concentration ranged from 8.59 g/100 g of drug (SD=0.29 g/100 g) to 67.0 g/100 g of drug (SD=6.07 g/100 g). Only 50.0% of the total medicines that presented sugar in their ingredients showed this information in their directions.

Temporal variation in reproductive phenology of Patella spp.: past and present.

World Congress of Malacology, Universidade dos Açores, Ponta Delgada, 21-28 de julho.

Investigação em curso no Centro de Investigação de Recursos Naturais (CIRN)

Jornadas "Ciência nos Açores – que futuro? Tema Ciências Naturais e Ambiente", Ponta Delgada, 7-8 de Junho de 2013.

The usefulness of ultrasound in the classification of chronic liver disease

Chronic Liver Disease is a progressive, most of the time asymptomatic, and potentially fatal disease. In this paper, a semi-automatic procedure to stage this disease is proposed based on ultrasound liver images, clinical and laboratorial data. In the core of the algorithm two classifiers are used: a k nearest neighbor and a Support Vector Machine, with different kernels. The classifiers were trained with the proposed multi-modal feature set and the results obtained were compared with the laboratorial and clinical feature set. The results showed that using ultrasound based features, in association with laboratorial and clinical features, improve the classification accuracy. The support vector machine, polynomial kernel, outperformed the others classifiers in every class studied. For the Normal class we achieved 100% accuracy, for the chronic hepatitis with cirrhosis 73.08%, for compensated cirrhosis 59.26% and for decompensated cirrhosis 91.67%.

Fatty liver characterization and classification by ultrasound

Steatosis, also known as fatty liver, corresponds to an abnormal retention of lipids within the hepatic cells and reflects an impairment of the normal processes of synthesis and elimination of fat. Several causes may lead to this condition, namely obesity, diabetes, or alcoholism. In this paper an automatic classification algorithm is proposed for the diagnosis of the liver steatosis from ultrasound images. The features are selected in order to catch the same characteristics used by the physicians in the diagnosis of the disease based on visual inspection of the ultrasound images. The algorithm, designed in a Bayesian framework, computes two images: i) a despeckled one, containing the anatomic and echogenic information of the liver, and ii) an image containing only the speckle used to compute the textural features. These images are computed from the estimated RF signal generated by the ultrasound probe where the dynamic range compression performed by the equipment is taken into account. A Bayes classifier, trained with data manually classified by expert clinicians and used as ground truth, reaches an overall accuracy of 95% and a 100% of sensitivity. The main novelties of the method are the estimations of the RF and speckle images which make it possible to accurately compute textural features of the liver parenchyma relevant for the diagnosis.

Isolamento e caracterização de bactérias do ácido láctico, produtoras de bacteriocinas e sua aplicação no fabrico de queijo fresco

Dissertação de Mestrado em Tecnologia e Segurança Alimentar

Presentation

Nesta breve apresentação, a autora, à época Diretora Regional das Comunidades do Governo dos Açores, justifica a razão de ser do estudo que comporta o livro em apreço.

Representações sobre a creche dos pais de crianças que frequentam a creche e dos pais que optaram por outro cuidado

Dissertação apresentada na Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa, para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialidade Intervenção Precoce

Interactions between physical and psychosocial demands of work associated to low back pain

OBJECTIVE: To examine the interaction between physical and psychosocial demands of work associated to low back pain. METHODS: Cross-sectional study carried out in a stratified proportional random sample of 577 plastic industry workers in the metropolitan area of the city of Salvador, Northeast Brazil in 2002. An anonymous standard questionnaire was administered in the workplace by trained interviewers. Physical demands at work were self-rated on a 6-point numeric scale, with anchors at each end of the scale. Factor analysis was carried out on 11 physical demand variables to identify underlying factors. Psychosocial work demands were measured by demand, control and social support questions. Multivariate analysis was performed using the likelihood ratio test. RESULTS: The factor analysis identified two physical work demand factors: material handling (factor 1) and repetitiveness (factor 2). The multiple logistic regression analysis showed that factor 1 was positively associated with low back pain (OR=2.35, 95% CI 1.50;3.66). No interaction was found between physical and psychosocial work demands but both were independently associated to low back pain. CONCLUSIONS: The study found independent effects of physical and psychosocial work demands on low back pain prevalence and emphasizes the importance of physical demands especially of material handling involving trunk bending forward and trunk rotation regardless of age, gender, and body fitness.

O desenvolvimento da consciência morfológica em crianças pré-escolares, com ou sem atendimento em intervenção precoce

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de Mestre em Intervenção Precoce

A checklist for patient safety rounds at the care pathway level

Objective - To define a checklist that can be used to assess the performance of a department and evaluate the implementation of quality management (QM) activities across departments or pathways in acute care hospitals. Design - We developed and tested a checklist for the assessment of QM activities at department level in a cross-sectional study using on-site visits by trained external auditors. Setting and Participants - A sample of 292 hospital departments of 74 acute care hospitals across seven European countries. In every hospital, four departments for the conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, hip fracture and deliveries participated. Main outcome measures - Four measures of QM activities were evaluated at care pathway level focusing on specialized expertise and responsibility (SER), evidence-based organization of pathways (EBOP), patient safety strategies and clinical review (CR). Results - Participating departments attained mean values on the various scales between 1.2 and 3.7. The theoretical range was 0-4. Three of the four QM measures are identical for the four conditions, whereas one scale (EBOP) has condition-specific items. Correlations showed that every factor was related, but also distinct, and added to the overall picture of QM at pathway level. Conclusion - The newly developed checklist can be used across various types of departments and pathways in acute care hospitals like AMI, deliveries, stroke and hip fracture. The anticipated users of the checklist are internal (e.g. peers within the hospital and hospital executive board) and external auditors (e.g. healthcare inspectorate, professional or patient organizations).

Estimação de cobertura rádio em GSM-R através de redes neuronais

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia de Eletrónica e Telecomunicações

Aplicação de redes neuronais artificiais à deteção e isolamento de falhas em processos industriais

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Automatic learning for the classification of chemical reactions and in statistical thermodynamics

This Thesis describes the application of automatic learning methods for a) the classification of organic and metabolic reactions, and b) the mapping of Potential Energy Surfaces(PES). The classification of reactions was approached with two distinct methodologies: a representation of chemical reactions based on NMR data, and a representation of chemical reactions from the reaction equation based on the physico-chemical and topological features of chemical bonds. NMR-based classification of photochemical and enzymatic reactions. Photochemical and metabolic reactions were classified by Kohonen Self-Organizing Maps (Kohonen SOMs) and Random Forests (RFs) taking as input the difference between the 1H NMR spectra of the products and the reactants. The development of such a representation can be applied in automatic analysis of changes in the 1H NMR spectrum of a mixture and their interpretation in terms of the chemical reactions taking place. Examples of possible applications are the monitoring of reaction processes, evaluation of the stability of chemicals, or even the interpretation of metabonomic data. A Kohonen SOM trained with a data set of metabolic reactions catalysed by transferases was able to correctly classify 75% of an independent test set in terms of the EC number subclass. Random Forests improved the correct predictions to 79%. With photochemical reactions classified into 7 groups, an independent test set was classified with 86-93% accuracy. The data set of photochemical reactions was also used to simulate mixtures with two reactions occurring simultaneously. Kohonen SOMs and Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNNs) were trained to classify the reactions occurring in a mixture based on the 1H NMR spectra of the products and reactants. Kohonen SOMs allowed the correct assignment of 53-63% of the mixtures (in a test set). Counter-Propagation Neural Networks (CPNNs) gave origin to similar results. The use of supervised learning techniques allowed an improvement in the results. They were improved to 77% of correct assignments when an ensemble of ten FFNNs were used and to 80% when Random Forests were used. This study was performed with NMR data simulated from the molecular structure by the SPINUS program. In the design of one test set, simulated data was combined with experimental data. The results support the proposal of linking databases of chemical reactions to experimental or simulated NMR data for automatic classification of reactions and mixtures of reactions. Genome-scale classification of enzymatic reactions from their reaction equation. The MOLMAP descriptor relies on a Kohonen SOM that defines types of bonds on the basis of their physico-chemical and topological properties. The MOLMAP descriptor of a molecule represents the types of bonds available in that molecule. The MOLMAP descriptor of a reaction is defined as the difference between the MOLMAPs of the products and the reactants, and numerically encodes the pattern of bonds that are broken, changed, and made during a chemical reaction. The automatic perception of chemical similarities between metabolic reactions is required for a variety of applications ranging from the computer validation of classification systems, genome-scale reconstruction (or comparison) of metabolic pathways, to the classification of enzymatic mechanisms. Catalytic functions of proteins are generally described by the EC numbers that are simultaneously employed as identifiers of reactions, enzymes, and enzyme genes, thus linking metabolic and genomic information. Different methods should be available to automatically compare metabolic reactions and for the automatic assignment of EC numbers to reactions still not officially classified. In this study, the genome-scale data set of enzymatic reactions available in the KEGG database was encoded by the MOLMAP descriptors, and was submitted to Kohonen SOMs to compare the resulting map with the official EC number classification, to explore the possibility of predicting EC numbers from the reaction equation, and to assess the internal consistency of the EC classification at the class level. A general agreement with the EC classification was observed, i.e. a relationship between the similarity of MOLMAPs and the similarity of EC numbers. At the same time, MOLMAPs were able to discriminate between EC sub-subclasses. EC numbers could be assigned at the class, subclass, and sub-subclass levels with accuracies up to 92%, 80%, and 70% for independent test sets. The correspondence between chemical similarity of metabolic reactions and their MOLMAP descriptors was applied to the identification of a number of reactions mapped into the same neuron but belonging to different EC classes, which demonstrated the ability of the MOLMAP/SOM approach to verify the internal consistency of classifications in databases of metabolic reactions. RFs were also used to assign the four levels of the EC hierarchy from the reaction equation. EC numbers were correctly assigned in 95%, 90%, 85% and 86% of the cases (for independent test sets) at the class, subclass, sub-subclass and full EC number level,respectively. Experiments for the classification of reactions from the main reactants and products were performed with RFs - EC numbers were assigned at the class, subclass and sub-subclass level with accuracies of 78%, 74% and 63%, respectively. In the course of the experiments with metabolic reactions we suggested that the MOLMAP / SOM concept could be extended to the representation of other levels of metabolic information such as metabolic pathways. Following the MOLMAP idea, the pattern of neurons activated by the reactions of a metabolic pathway is a representation of the reactions involved in that pathway - a descriptor of the metabolic pathway. This reasoning enabled the comparison of different pathways, the automatic classification of pathways, and a classification of organisms based on their biochemical machinery. The three levels of classification (from bonds to metabolic pathways) allowed to map and perceive chemical similarities between metabolic pathways even for pathways of different types of metabolism and pathways that do not share similarities in terms of EC numbers. Mapping of PES by neural networks (NNs). In a first series of experiments, ensembles of Feed-Forward NNs (EnsFFNNs) and Associative Neural Networks (ASNNs) were trained to reproduce PES represented by the Lennard-Jones (LJ) analytical potential function. The accuracy of the method was assessed by comparing the results of molecular dynamics simulations (thermal, structural, and dynamic properties) obtained from the NNs-PES and from the LJ function. The results indicated that for LJ-type potentials, NNs can be trained to generate accurate PES to be used in molecular simulations. EnsFFNNs and ASNNs gave better results than single FFNNs. A remarkable ability of the NNs models to interpolate between distant curves and accurately reproduce potentials to be used in molecular simulations is shown. The purpose of the first study was to systematically analyse the accuracy of different NNs. Our main motivation, however, is reflected in the next study: the mapping of multidimensional PES by NNs to simulate, by Molecular Dynamics or Monte Carlo, the adsorption and self-assembly of solvated organic molecules on noble-metal electrodes. Indeed, for such complex and heterogeneous systems the development of suitable analytical functions that fit quantum mechanical interaction energies is a non-trivial or even impossible task. The data consisted of energy values, from Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, at different distances, for several molecular orientations and three electrode adsorption sites. The results indicate that NNs require a data set large enough to cover well the diversity of possible interaction sites, distances, and orientations. NNs trained with such data sets can perform equally well or even better than analytical functions. Therefore, they can be used in molecular simulations, particularly for the ethanol/Au (111) interface which is the case studied in the present Thesis. Once properly trained, the networks are able to produce, as output, any required number of energy points for accurate interpolations.

Dentistry and HIV/AIDS related stigma

OBJECTIVE To analyze HIV/AIDS positive individual’s perception and attitudes regarding dental services.METHODS One hundred and thirty-four subjects (30.0% of women and 70.0% of men) from Nuevo León, Mexico, took part in the study (2014). They filled out structured, analytical, self-administered, anonymous questionnaires. Besides the sociodemographic variables, the perception regarding public and private dental services and related professionals was evaluated, as well as the perceived stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, through a Likert-type scale. The statistical evaluation included a factorial and a non-hierarchical cluster analysis.RESULTS Social inequalities were found regarding the search for public and private dental professionals and services. Most subjects reported omitting their HIV serodiagnosis and agreed that dentists must be trained and qualified to treat patients with HIV/AIDS. The factorial analysis revealed two elements: experiences of stigma and discrimination in dental appointments and feelings of concern regarding the attitudes of professionals or their teams concerning patients’ HIV serodiagnosis. The cluster analysis identified three groups: users who have not experienced stigma or discrimination (85.0%); the ones who have not had those experiences, but feel somewhat concerned (12.7%); and the ones who underwent stigma and discrimination and feel concerned (2.3%).CONCLUSIONS We observed a low percentage of stigma and discrimination in dental appointments; however, most HIV/AIDS patients do not reveal their serodiagnosis to dentists out of fear of being rejected. Such fact implies a workplace hazard to dental professionals, but especially to the very own health of HIV/AIDS patients, as dentists will not be able to provide them a proper clinical and pharmaceutical treatment.