Precisão do aparelho Omron HEM-705 CP na medida de pressão arterial em grandes estudos epidemiológicos

FUNDAMENTO: A medida precisa da pressão arterial (PA) é de grande importância na pesquisa da hipertensão. No contexto de estudos clínicos e epidemiológicos, dispositivos oscilométricos frequentemente oferecem importantes vantagens para superar algumas das limitações do método auscultatório. Embora sua acurácia tenha sido avaliada em estudos múltiplos no ambiente clínico, há pouca evidência de seu desempenho em grandes estudos epidemiológicos. OBJETIVO: Avaliamos a precisão do Omron HEM-705-CP, um dispositivo automático para medida de PA, quando comparado com o método padrão auscultatório com esfigmomanômetro de mercúrio em um grande estudo de coorte. MÉTODOS: Três medidas auscultatórias foram obtidas, seguidas por duas mensurações com o dispositivo Omron em 1.084 indivíduos. O viés foi estimado como a média de duas medidas pelo dispositivo Omron menos a média das duas últimas medidas auscultatórias, com seus correspondentes limites de concordância (LC) de 95%. RESULTADOS: O dispositivo Omron superestimou a pressão arterial sistólica (PAS) por 1,8 mmHg (LC:-10,1, 13,7) e subestimou a pressão arterial diastólica (PAD) por 1,6 mmHg (LC:-12,3, 9,2). O viés foi significantemente maior em homens. O viés na PAS aumentou com a idade e diminuiu com o nível da PA, enquanto o viés na PAD diminuiu com a idade e aumentou com o nível da PA. A sensibilidade e a especificidade do dispositivo Omron para detectar hipertensão foram 88,2% e 98,6%, respectivamente. O uso das medidas do dispositivo Omron resultou em viés mínimo na estimativa dos efeitos de vários fatores. CONCLUSÃO: Nossos resultados demonstraram que o dispositivo Omron HEM-705-CP pode ser utilizado para medir a PA em grandes estudos epidemiológicos sem comprometer a validade do estudo ou sua precisão.

Efeitos do ácido 3-clorofenoxipropiônico na frutificação do tomateiro 'Miguel Pereira'

Devido às técnicas culturais avançadas utilizadas atualmente na produção do tomateiro, a aplicação de reguladores vegetais poderá alterar de forma qualitativa e quantitativa a produtividade desta hortaliça. O presente ensaio teve por finalidade determinar a ação do ácido 3-clorofenoxipropiônico (3-CP) na frutificação do tomateiro Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Miguel Pereira. Em condições de casa de vegetação, efetuou-se pulverizações em toda planta de 3-CP nas concentrações de 25, 50, 100 e 200 ppm, 109 dias após a semeadura. Foram coletados os frutos maduros dos três primeiros cachos, em oito colheitas efetuadas no período de 3 de agosto a 18 de setembro. Foi observado o número, peso e comprimento dos frutos, assim como o número de flores abortadas. Foi também determinada a classificação dos frutos e a germinação das sementes. Verificou-se que tratamento com 3-CP não alterou a frutificação e o número de flores abortadas, mas 3-CP 200 ppm diminuiu o número total de flores e aumentou a percentagem de frutos partenocárpicos.

Galois extension of CP-Graded ring extensions

In this paper, we investigate galois theory of CP-graded ring extensions. In particular, we generalize some galois results given in [1, 2] and, without restriction to nor graded fields nor torsion free of the grade groups, we show that some results of graded field extensions given in [3] hold.

Quantification of nicotine, cotinine, trans-3'-hydroxycotinine and varenicline in human plasma by a sensitive and specific UPLC-tandem mass-spectrometry procedure for a clinical study on smoking cessation.

A sensitive and specific ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous quantification of nicotine, its metabolites cotinine and trans-3'-hydroxycotinine and varenicline in human plasma was developed and validated. Sample preparation was realized by solid phase extraction of the target compounds and of the internal standards (nicotine-d4, cotinine-d3, trans-3'-hydroxycotinine-d3 and CP-533,633, a structural analog of varenicline) from 0.5mL of plasma, using a mixed-mode cation exchange support. Chromatographic separations were performed on a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography column (HILIC BEH 2.1×100mm, 1.7μm). A gradient program was used, with a 10mM ammonium formate buffer pH 3/acetonitrile mobile phase at a flow of 0.4mL/min. The compounds were detected on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, operated with an electrospray interface in positive ionization mode and quantification was performed using multiple reaction monitoring. Matrix effects were quantitatively evaluated with success, with coefficients of variation inferior to 8%. The procedure was fully validated according to Food and Drug Administration guidelines and to Société Française des Sciences et Techniques Pharmaceutiques. The concentration range was 2-500ng/mL for nicotine, 1-1000ng/mL for cotinine, 2-1000ng/mL for trans-3'-hydroxycotinine and 1-500ng/mL for varenicline, according to levels usually measured in plasma. Trueness (86.2-113.6%), repeatability (1.9-12.3%) and intermediate precision (4.4-15.9%) were found to be satisfactory, as well as stability in plasma. The procedure was successfully used to quantify nicotine, its metabolites and varenicline in more than 400 plasma samples from participants in a clinical study on smoking cessation.

Comparison of three commercially available radio frequency coils for human brain imaging at 3 Tesla.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a transverse electromagnetic (TEM), a circularly polarized (CP) (birdcage), and a 12-channel phased array head coil at the clinical field strength of B0 = 3T in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal homogeneity, and maps of the effective flip angle alpha. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SNR measurements were performed on low flip angle gradient echo images. In addition, flip angle maps were generated for alpha(nominal) = 30 degrees using the double angle method. These evaluation steps were performed on phantom and human brain data acquired with each coil. Moreover, the signal intensity variation was computed for phantom data using five different regions of interest. RESULTS: In terms of SNR, the TEM coil performs slightly better than the CP coil, but is second to the smaller 12-channel coil for human data. As expected, both the TEM and the CP coils show superior image intensity homogeneity than the 12-channel coil, and achieve larger mean effective flip angles than the combination of body and 12-channel coil with reduced radio frequency power deposition. CONCLUSION: At 3T the benefits of TEM coil design over conventional lumped element(s) coil design start to emerge, though the phased array coil retains an advantage with respect to SNR performance.

Interactive local bandwidth choice

A tool for user choice of the local bandwidth function for a kernel density estimate is developed using KDE, a graphical object-oriented package for interactive kernel density estimation written in LISP-STAT. The bandwidth function is a cubic spline, whose knots are manipulated by the user in one window, while the resulting estimate appears in another window. A real data illustration of this method raises concerns, because an extremely large family of estimates is available.

Use of 2D Sensitivity Encoding for Slow-Infusion Contrast-Enhanced Isotropic 3-T Whole-Heart Coronary MR Angiography.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to improve the blood-pool signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and blood-myocardium contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of slow-infusion 3-T whole-heart coronary MR angiography (MRA).SUBJECTS AND METHODS. In 2D sensitivity encoding (SENSE), the number of acquired k-space lines is reduced, allowing less radiofrequency excitation per cardiac cycle and a longer TR. The former can be exploited for signal enhancement with a higher radiofrequency excitation angle, and the latter leads to noise reduction due to lower data-sampling bandwidth. Both effects contribute to SNR gain in coronary MRA when spatial and temporal resolution and acquisition time remain identical. Numeric simulation was performed to select the optimal 2D SENSE pulse sequence parameters and predict the SNR gain. Eleven patients underwent conventional unenhanced and the proposed 2D SENSE contrast-enhanced coronary MRA acquisition. Blood-pool SNR, blood-myocardium CNR, visible vessel length, vessel sharpness, and number of side branches were evaluated.RESULTS. Consistent with the numeric simulation, using 2D SENSE in contrast-enhanced coronary MRA resulted in significant improvement in aortic blood-pool SNR (unenhanced vs contrast-enhanced, 37.5 +/- 14.7 vs 121.3 +/- 44.0; p < 0.05) and CNR (14.4 +/- 6.9 vs 101.5 +/- 40.8; p < 0.05) in the patient sample. A longer length of left anterior descending coronary artery was visualized, but vessel sharpness, coronary artery coverage, and image quality score were not improved with the proposed approach.CONCLUSION. In combination with contrast administration, 2D SENSE was found effective in improving SNR and CNR in 3-T whole-heart coronary MRA. Further investigation of cardiac motion compensation is necessary to exploit the SNR and CNR advantages and to achieve submillimeter spatial resolution.

Enraizamento de estacas, crescimento e respostas anatômicas de mudas clonais de cacaueiro ao ácido indol-3-butírico

Avaliaram-se os efeitos do ácido indol-3-butírico (AIB) no crescimento e na morfologia interna de quatro clones de Theobroma cacao (CCN-10, CP-53, PS-1319 e CA-1.4). O AIB foi aplicado na base da estaca de caule, em talco inerte, nas concentrações de 2; 4; 6 e 8 g kg-1, juntamente com o controle (sem AIB). A avaliação do crescimento de raízes, caule e folhas dos quatro clones foi realizada aos 160 dias após o estaqueamento (DAE) para todas as concentrações de AIB, período também em que se realizou a coleta de material para os estudos anatômicos dos diversos órgãos, mas somente para a concentração de 4g kg-1 AIB e o controle. O clone CA-1.4 apresentou incremento na biomassa seca de raiz (BSR) com o aumento das concentrações de AIB, ao passo que, nos demais clones, houve diminuições de BSR a partir dos 4 g kg-1 AIB. O mesmo fato foi observado para a biomassa seca de caule (BSC) e de folha (BSF), exceto para a BSC do CCN-10 que não respondeu ao incremento das concentrações de AIB. Houve aumento de área foliar total para os clones CP-53 e PS-1319 com o incremento de AIB até 4 g kg-1, enquanto o aumento do número de folhas ocorreu somente para os clones CA-1.4 e CP-53 até as concentrações 8 e 4 g kg-1 AIB, respectivamente. Houve diminuição do número de estacas mortas para os clones CA-1.4 e CCN-10 até 8 g kg-1 de AIB e para o CP-53 até 4 g kg-1 de AIB. As melhores concentrações de AIB para o enraizamento de estacas de ramos dos clones de cacaueiros CP-53, PS-1319 e CCN-10 foram de 4, 4 e 6 g kg-1 AIB, respectivamente, enquanto para o clone CA-1.4 foi de 8 g kg-1 AIB; o aumento da concentração de AIB promoveu mudanças anatômicas nos órgãos vegetativos de todos os clones, influenciando na atividade do câmbio vascular e induzindo a formação de um maior número de raízes adventícias nas estacas.

Reações de Cp'(CO)2MnPPH2H com CH3COCl e CH3S(O)2Cl em THF/trietilamina: evidências da primeira estabilização por complexação de um fósforo-homólogo das sulfonamidas

Cp'Mn(CO)3 (Cp'=h5-C5H4-CH 3) reacts with P(C6H5)2H in THF to give Cp'(CO)2MnPPh2H (Ph = Phenyl) (1), by substitution of one CO ligand. The reaction of 1 with CH3COCl and CH3S(O)2Cl in the presence of triethylamine occurs under electrophilic substitution on the diphenylphosphan ligand to yield the acetyl- and sulfonylphosphane complexes of manganese(I) Cp'(CO)2MnPPh2COCH3 (2) and Cp'(CO)2MnPPh2S(O)2 CH3 (3). The complex stabilisation of these molecules, wich are hitherto unknown in the free state, is only accomplished by blocking the free electron pair on phosphorus by coordination. The new complexes 1, 2 and 3 were analysed by IR, ¹H-NMR and 31P-MNR spectroscopy and their similar structures are discusssed.

Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the coat protein and 3'-untranslated region of two Brazilian Potato virus Y isolates

Two Brazilian Potato virus Y (PVY) isolates were biologically characterized as necrotic (PVY-NBR) and common (PVY-OBR) based upon symptoms on test plants. Additional characterization was performed by sequencing a cDNA corresponding to the 3' terminal region of the viral genome. The sequence consisted of 195 nucleotides (nt) coding part of the nuclear inclusion body b (NIb) gene, 804 nt of the coat protein (CP) gene, and 328 nt (PVY-OBR) or 326 nt (PVY-NBR) of the 3'-untranslated region (UTR). Translation of the sequence resulted in one single open reading frame with part of the NIb and a CP of 267 amino acids. The two isolates shared 95.1% similarity in the CP amino acid sequence. The CP and the 3'-UTR sequence of the Brazilian isolates were compared to those of other PVY isolates previously reported and unrooted phylogenetic trees were constructed. The trees revealed a separation of two distinct clusters, one comprising most of the common strains and the other comprising the necrotic strains. PVY-OBR was clustered in the common group and PVY-NBR in the necrotic one.

Juan Bernardo Botero Botero v Empresa de Obras Sanitarias de Caldas S.A., E.S.P. – EMPOCALDAS, cp. Mauricio Fajardo Gómez

Se declaró infundado el recurso de anulación interpuesto contra el laudo arbitral proferido el 26 de agosto de 2010 por el Tribunal de Arbitramento constituido para dirimir las controversias surgidas en relación con el contrato de consultoría No. 104 de 2007, celebrado entre el señor Juan Bernardo Botero y la Empresa de Obras Sanitarias de Caldas S.A., E.S.P. - EMPOCALDAS S.A., E.S.P.

Dielecting-resonator-loaded microstrip antenna for enhanced impedance bandwidth and efficiency

A new method for enhancing the 2.1 VSWR impedance bandwidth of microstrip antennas is presented. Bandwidth enhancement is achieved by loading the microstrip antenna by a ceramic microwave dielectric resonator (DR). The validity of this technique has been established using rectangular and circular radiating geometries. This method improves the bandwidth of a rectangular microstrip antenna to more than 10% (= 5 times that of a conventional rectangular microstrip antenna) with an enhanced gain of I dB

Performance improvement of multiple Connections in AODV with the concern of Node bandwidth

Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETS) consists of a collection of mobile nodes without having a central coordination. In MANET, node mobility and dynamic topology play an important role in the performance. MANET provide a solution for network connection at anywhere and at any time. The major features of MANET are quick set up, self organization and self maintenance. Routing is a major challenge in MANET due to it’s dynamic topology and high mobility. Several routing algorithms have been developed for routing. This paper studies the AODV protocol and how AODV is performed under multiple connections in the network. Several issues have been identified. The bandwidth is recognized as the prominent factor reducing the performance of the network. This paper gives an improvement of normal AODV for simultaneous multiple connections under the consideration of bandwidth of node.

A Triple-mode Sigma-delta Modulator Design for Wireless Standards

This work presents a triple-mode sigma-delta modulator for three wireless standards namely GSM/WCDMA and Bluetooth. A reconfigurable ADC has been used to meet the wide bandwidth and high dynamic range requirements of the multi-standard receivers with less power consumption. A highly linear sigma-delta ADC which has reduced sensitivity to circuit imperfections has been chosen in our design. This is particularly suitable for wide band applications where the oversampling ratio is low. Simulation results indicate that the modulator achieves a peak SNDR of 84/68/68 dB over a bandwidth of 0.2/3.84/1.5 MHz with an oversampling ratio 128/8/8 in GSM/WCDMA/Bluetooth modes respectively