Non-venomous snake bite and snake bite without envenoming in a brazilian teaching hospital: analysis of 91 cases

A retrospective survey of 473 cases of snake bite admitted to a Brazilian teaching hospital from 1984 to 1990 revealed 91 cases of bite without envenoming and/or caused by non-venomous snakes. In 17 of these cases the snake was identified, and one patient was bitten by a snake-like reptile (Amphisbaena mertensii). In 43 cases diagnosis was made on clinical grounds (fang marks in the absence of signs of envenoming). The other 30 cases were of patients who complained of being bitten but who did not show any sign of envenoming or fang mark. Most cases occurred in men (66;73%), in the 10-19 years age group (26;29%), in the lower limbs (51/74;69%), between 6 A. M. and 2 P.M. (49;61%) and in the month of April (16; 18%). One patient bitten by Philodryas olfersii developed severe local pain, swelling and redness at the site of the bite, with normal clotting time. The patient bitten by Drymarcon corais was misdiagnosed as being bitten by a snake of the genus Bothrops, was given the specific antivenom, and developed anaphylaxis. One patient bitten by Sibynomorphus mikanii presented prolonged clotting time, and was also given antivenom as a case of Bothrops bite. Correct identification of venomous snakes by physicians is necessary to provide correct treatment to victims of snake bite, avoiding unnecessary distress to the patient, and overprescription of antivenom, which may eventually cause severe untoward effects.

Six sigma methodologies: implementation and impacts on Portuguese small and medium companies (SMES)

Artigo elaborador no âmbito dos trabalhos decorrentes à dissertação de Mestrado do Aluno David Leite, no Mestrado em Gestão Integrada Qualidade, Ambiente e Segurança, ESTGF-IPP, Oreintados pelos Professores Luís Fonseca (ISEP-IPP) e Vanda Lima (ESTGF-IPP).

Characterization of the non-apparent clinical form in the initial phase of schistosomiasis mansoni

In this paper the history of 115 recruits that had bathed simultaneously in streams contaminated with Schistosoma mansoni, during military maneuvers, is reported. Thirty four of the infected patients presented the initial phase of the infection diagnosed through epidemiologic, clinical and laboratorial parameters. Three out of the 34 patients did not reveal the clinical picture of the infection, thus being considered representatives of the non-apparent form of the disease. Differences between the intensity of blood eosinophilia, the area of immediate cutaneous reaction and the number of Schistosoma eggs eliminated in the stools proved not to be statistically significant (p>0.05) when the non-apparent and acute cases of schistosomiasis were compared. These cases actually may be considered evidences of the non-apparent form hitherto merely taken for granted in the literature.

Antibodies against non-structural c100/3 and structural core antigen of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in hemodialysis patients

Two groups of patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) maintenance were evaluated for their antibody response to non-structural c100/3 protein and structural core protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Forty-six patients (Group 1) never presented liver abnormalities during HD treatment, while 52 patients (Group 2) had either current or prior liver enzyme elevations. Prevalence rates of 32.6% and 41.3% were found for anti-c100/3 and anti-HCV core antibodies, respectively, in patients with silent infections (Group 1). The rate of anti-c100/3 in patients of Group 2 was 71.15% and reached 86.5% for anti-HCV core antibodies. The recognition of anti-c100/3 and anti-core antibodies was significantly higher in Group 2 than in Group 1. A line immunoassay composed of structural and non-structural peptides was used as a confirmation assay. HBV infection, measured by the presence of anti-HBc antibodies, was observed in 39.8% of the patients. Six were HBsAg chronic carriers and 13 had naturally acquired anti-HBs antibodies. The duration of HD treatment was correlated with anti-HCV positivity. A high prevalence of 96.7% (Group 2) was found in patients who underwent more than 5 years of treatment. Our results suggest that anti-HCV core ELISA is more accurate for detecting HCV infection than anti-c100/3. Although the risk associated with the duration of HD treatment and blood transfusion was high, additional factors such as a significant non-transfusional spread of HCV seems to play a role as well. The identification of infective patients by more sensitive methods for HCV genome detection should help to control the transmission of HCV in the unit under study.

Non-uniform printed antenna array for wireless communications in sports arenas

Wireless communications had a great development in the last years and nowadays they are present everywhere, public and private, being increasingly used for different applications. Their application in the business of sports events as a means to improve the experience of the fans at the games is becoming essential, such as sharing messages and multimedia material on social networks. In the stadiums, given the high density of people, the wireless networks require very large data capacity. Hence radio coverage employing many small sized sectors is unavoidable. In this paper, an antenna is designed to operate in the Wi-Fi 5GHz frequency band, with a directive radiation pattern suitable to this kind of applications. Furthermore, despite the large bandwidth and low losses, this antenna has been developed using low cost, off-the-shelf materials without sacrificing quality or performance, essential to mass production. © 2015 EurAAP.

The key role of coligands in novel ruthenium(II)-cyclopentadienyl bipyridine derivatives: ranging from non-cytotoxic to highly cytotoxic compounds

A new family of eight ruthenium(II)-cyclopentadienyl bipyridine derivatives, bearing nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous and carbonyl sigma bonded coligands, has been synthesized. Compounds bearing nitrogen bonded coligands were found to be unstable in aqueous solution, while the others presented appropriate stabilities for the biologic assays and pursued for determination of IC50 values in ovarian (A2780) and breast (MCF7 and MDAMB231) human cancer cell lines. These studies were also carried out for the [5: HSA] and [6: HSA] adducts (HSA=human serum albumin) and a better performance was found for the first case. Spectroscopic, electrochemical studies by cyclic voltammetry and density functional theory calculations allowed us to get some understanding on the electronic flow directions within the molecules and to find a possible clue concerning the structural features of coligands that can activate bipyridyl ligands toward an increased cytotoxic effect. X-ray structure analysis of compound [Ru(η(5)-C5H5)(bipy)(PPh3)][PF6] (7; bipy=bipyridine) showed crystallization on C2/c space group with two enantiomers of the [Ru(η(5)-C5H5)(bipy)(PPh3)](+) cation complex in the racemic crystal packing.

In situ NIR spectroscopy monitoring of plasmid production processes effect of producing strain, medium composition and the cultivation strategy

BACKGROUNDWhile the pharmaceutical industry keeps an eye on plasmid DNA production for new generation gene therapies, real-time monitoring techniques for plasmid bioproduction are as yet unavailable. This work shows the possibility of in situ monitoring of plasmid production in Escherichia coli cultures using a near infrared (NIR) fiber optic probe. RESULTSPartial least squares (PLS) regression models based on the NIR spectra were developed for predicting bioprocess critical variables such as the concentrations of biomass, plasmid, carbon sources (glucose and glycerol) and acetate. In order to achieve robust models able to predict the performance of plasmid production processes, independently of the composition of the cultivation medium, cultivation strategy (batch versus fed-batch) and E. coli strain used, three strategies were adopted, using: (i) E. coliDH5 cultures conducted under different media compositions and culture strategies (batch and fed-batch); (ii) engineered E. coli strains, MG1655endArecApgi and MG1655endArecA, grown on the same medium and culture strategy; (iii) diverse E. coli strains, over batch and fed-batch cultivations and using different media compositions. PLS models showed high accuracy for predicting all variables in the three groups of cultures. CONCLUSIONNIR spectroscopy combined with PLS modeling provides a fast, inexpensive and contamination-free technique to accurately monitoring plasmid bioprocesses in real time, independently of the medium composition, cultivation strategy and the E. coli strain used.

Virtual Communities of Practice: Design and Development of Support Platforms and Participation Fostering

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática - Área de Especialização em Sistemas Gráficos e Multimédia

Induction of iron regulated proteins during normal growth of Neisseria meningitidis in a chemically defined medium

The expression of iron regulated proteins (IRPs) in vitro has been obtained in the past by adding iron chelators to the culture after bacterial growth, in the presence of an organic iron source. We have investigated aspects concerning full expression of the meningococcal IRPs during normal growth, in defined conditions using Catlin medium, Mueller Hinton and Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB). The expression of IRPs varied between different strains with respect to Ethylenediamine Di-ortho-Hidroxy-phenyl-acetic acid (EDDA) concentrations, and according to culture medium, and also between different lots of TSB. For each strain, a specific set of IRPs were expressed and higher EDDA concentrations, or addition of glucose, or use of different culture media did not resulted in a differential expression of IRPs. We were not able to grow N. meningitidis under normal growth conditions using Desferal. We looked for a good yield of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) expressing IRPs in iron-deficient Catlin medium containing EDDA and Hemin. Culture for 32 h at 30ºC after growing for 16 h at 37ºC supported good bacterial growth. Bacterial lysis was noted after additional 24 h at 30ºC. Approximately 4 times more OMVs was recoverable from a culture supernatant after 24 h at 30ºC than from the cells after 16 h at 37ºC. The IRP were as well expressed in OMVs from culture supernatant obtained after 24 h at 30ºC as from the cells after 16 h at 37ºC.

Prevalence of rubella antibodies in a non-immunized urban population, São Paulo, Brazil

The prevalence of rubella antibodies was evaluated through a ramdom Seroepidemiological survey in 1400 blood samples of 2-14 year old children and in 329 samples of umbilical cord serum. Rubella IgG antibodies were detected by ELISA, and the sera were collected in 1987, five years before the mass vaccination campaign with measles-mumps-rubella vaccine carried out in the city of São Paulo in 1992. A significant increase in prevalence of rubella infection was observed after 6 years of age, and 77% of the individuals aged from 15 to 19 years had detectable rubella antibodies. However, the seroprevalence rose to 90.5% (171/189) in cord serum samples from children whose mothers were 20 to 29 years old, and reached 95.6% in newborns of mothers who were 30 to 34 years old, indicating that a large number of women are infected during childbearing years. This study confirms that rubella infection represents an important Public Health problem in São Paulo city. The data on the seroprevalence of rubella antibodies before the mass vaccination campaign reflects the baseline immunological status of this population before any intervention and should be used to design an adequate vaccination strategy and to assess the Seroepidemiological impact of this intervention.

Avaliação dos ajustes posturais em indivíduos com instabilidade funcional do tornozelo

Introdução:O Controlo Postural é um processo neural complexo envolvido na organização da estabilidade e orientação da posição do corpo no espaço. A Instabilidade Funcional (IF) do tornozelo é descrita como uma perceção subjetiva de instabilidade articular, que afeta o controlo postural. Apesar de vários estudos terem investigado os fatores inerentes à IF ainda existe inconsistência nos resultados da literatura sobre os mecanismos envolvidos nesta. Objetivo (s):avaliar os ajustes posturais envolvidos na resposta a uma perturbação externa realizada de forma previsível e imprevisível em indivíduos com IF. Métodos:Estudo observacional analítico transversal, teve uma amostra de 20 indivíduos, que foram divididos em grupo com IF e grupo de controlo. Foi recolhida atividade eletromiográfica bilateral dos músculos longo e curto peroneal (PL e PC), tibial anterior (TA) e solear (SOL) associado a uma perturbação externa aplicada de forma previsível e imprevisível. Os ajustes posturais foram avaliados através da análise do início da atividade muscular, da magnitude global dos ajustes posturais compensatórios e antecipatórios e magnitude das respostas de curta e média latência Resultados: Na perturbação imprevisível não se verificaram diferenças significativas no início da atividade muscular (p>0,05). Enquanto na magnitude das respostas de curta e média latência verificou-se diferenças nos músculos TA (Ia,p=0,000; II, p=0,011), CP (Ia,p=0,029; II, p=0,001) e LP (Ia, p=0,030) entre o membro com IF e o controlo e no LP (II, p=0,011) entre o membro sem IF do grupo com IF e o controlo. Na perturbação previsível observaram-se diferenças nos ajustes posturais antecipatórios (APA) dos músculos TA (p=0,006) e LP (p=0,020) entre o membro sem IF do grupo com IF e o controlo. Conclusão: Os indivíduos com IF apresentam défices na magnitude das respostas de média e curta latência numa perturbação imprevisível e nos APA na perturbação previsível.

O papel dos sistemas de Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring para a eficiência energética do setor residencial

A sustentabilidade energética do planeta é uma preocupação corrente e, neste sentido, a eficiência energética afigura-se como sendo essencial para a redução do consumo em todos os setores de atividade. No que diz respeito ao setor residencial, o indevido comportamento dos utilizadores aliado ao desconhecimento do consumo dos diversos aparelhos, são factores impeditivos para a redução do consumo energético. Uma ferramenta importante, neste sentido, é a monitorização de consumos nomeadamente a monitorização não intrusiva, que apresenta vantagens económicas relativamente à monitorização intrusiva, embora levante alguns desafios na desagregação de cargas. Abordou-se então, neste documento, a temática da monitorização não intrusiva onde se desenvolveu uma ferramenta de desagregação de cargas residenciais, sobretudo de aparelhos que apresentavam elevados consumos. Para isso, monitorizaram-se os consumos agregados de energia elétrica, água e gás de seis habitações do município de Vila Nova de Gaia. Através da incorporação dos vetores de água e gás, a acrescentar ao da energia elétrica, provou-se que a performance do algoritmo de desagregação de aparelhos poderá aumentar, no caso de aparelhos que utilizem simultaneamente energia elétrica e água ou energia elétrica e gás. A eficiência energética é também parte constituinte deste trabalho e, para tal, implementaram-se medidas de eficiência energética para uma das habitações em estudo, de forma a concluir as que exibiam maior potencial de poupança, assim como rápidos períodos de retorno de investimento. De um modo geral, os objetivos propostos foram alcançados e espera-se que num futuro próximo, a monitorização de consumos não intrusiva se apresente como uma solução de referência no que respeita à sustentabilidade energética do setor residencial.

Characterization of a Trypanosoma cruzi strain isolated from a non-endemic area in Northeast Brazil

A cepa WSL (Wild São Lorenço) de T. cruzi, isolada de um cobaio proveniente de São Lorenço da Mata (Nordeste do Brasil) foi caracterizada através da análise do seu comportamento morfobiológico e perfil isoenzimático. Para o estudo do comportamento morfobiológico, tripomastigotas sanguíneos (1 x 10 5) da cepa WSL foram inoculados por via intraperitonal em camundongos albinos Swiss. Como controle a cepa Y (Tipo I) foi usada. Durante o curso da infecção os seguintes parâmetros foram analisados: parasitemia, mortalidade, morfologia dos parasitas no sangue periférico e tropismo tissular. O perfil isoenzimático foi analisado em relação às enzimas ALAT, GPI e PGM usando como controle de referência as cepas Peruana (Tipo I), 21SF (Tipo II) e Colombiana (Tipo III). A cepa WSL apresentou as seguintes características biológicas: 1) multiplicação lenta e pico parasitêmico entre 21 - 25 dias pós-infecção; 2) mortalidade de 3,3% 40 dias pós-infecção; 3) predominância de formas largas no sangue periférico e 4) miotropismo com predominante envolvimento cardíaco. A análise isoenzimática mostrou um padrão de zimodema 2 (Z2) que corresponde às cepas biológicas Tipo II. Os resultados mostram que a cepa WSL apresenta baixa virulência e patogenicidade.

Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks Training Through Charged System Search and its Application for Non-Technical Losses Detection

The non-technical loss is not a problem with trivial solution or regional character and its minimization represents the guarantee of investments in product quality and maintenance of power systems, introduced by a competitive environment after the period of privatization in the national scene. In this paper, we show how to improve the training phase of a neural network-based classifier using a recently proposed meta-heuristic technique called Charged System Search, which is based on the interactions between electrically charged particles. The experiments were carried out in the context of non-technical loss in power distribution systems in a dataset obtained from a Brazilian electrical power company, and have demonstrated the robustness of the proposed technique against with several others natureinspired optimization techniques for training neural networks. Thus, it is possible to improve some applications on Smart Grids.

Using Baseline Methods to Identify Non-technical Losses in the Context of Smart Grids

Demand response has gained increasing importance in the context of competitive electricity markets and smart grid environments. In addition to the importance that has been given to the development of business models for integrating demand response, several methods have been developed to evaluate the consumers’ performance after the participation in a demand response event. The present paper uses those performance evaluation methods, namely customer baseline load calculation methods, to determine the expected consumption in each period of the consumer historic data. In the cases in which there is a certain difference between the actual consumption and the estimated consumption, the consumer is identified as a potential cause of non-technical losses. A case study demonstrates the application of the proposed method to real consumption data.