A chemometric study on the analgesic activity of cannabinoid compounds using SDA, KNN and SIMCA methods

The supervised pattern recognition methods K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), stepwise discriminant analysis (SDA), and soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA) were employed in this work with the aim to investigate the relationship between the molecular structure of 27 cannabinoid compounds and their analgesic activity. Previous analyses using two unsupervised pattern recognition methods (PCA-principal component analysis and HCA-hierarchical cluster analysis) were performed and five descriptors were selected as the most relevants for the analgesic activity of the compounds studied: R (3) (charge density on substituent at position C(3)), Q (1) (charge on atom C(1)), A (surface area), log P (logarithm of the partition coefficient) and MR (molecular refractivity). The supervised pattern recognition methods (SDA, KNN, and SIMCA) were employed in order to construct a reliable model that can be able to predict the analgesic activity of new cannabinoid compounds and to validate our previous study. The results obtained using the SDA, KNN, and SIMCA methods agree perfectly with our previous model. Comparing the SDA, KNN, and SIMCA results with the PCA and HCA ones we could notice that all multivariate statistical methods classified the cannabinoid compounds studied in three groups exactly in the same way: active, moderately active, and inactive.

Special issue on advances in data mining and its applications

Data mining is the process to identify valid, implicit, previously unknown, potentially useful and understandable information from large databases. It is an important step in the process of knowledge discovery in databases, (Olaru & Wehenkel, 1999). In a data mining process, input data can be structured, seme-structured, or unstructured. Data can be in text, categorical or numerical values. One of the important characteristics of data mining is its ability to deal data with large volume, distributed, time variant, noisy, and high dimensionality. A large number of data mining algorithms have been developed for different applications. For example, association rules mining can be useful for market basket problems, clustering algorithms can be used to discover trends in unsupervised learning problems, classification algorithms can be applied in decision-making problems, and sequential and time series mining algorithms can be used in predicting events, fault detection, and other supervised learning problems (Vapnik, 1999). Classification is among the most important tasks in the data mining, particularly for data mining applications into engineering fields. Together with regression, classification is mainly for predictive modelling. So far, there have been a number of classification algorithms in practice. According to (Sebastiani, 2002), the main classification algorithms can be categorized as: decision tree and rule based approach such as C4.5 (Quinlan, 1996); probability methods such as Bayesian classifier (Lewis, 1998); on-line methods such as Winnow (Littlestone, 1988) and CVFDT (Hulten 2001), neural networks methods (Rumelhart, Hinton & Wiliams, 1986); example-based methods such as k-nearest neighbors (Duda & Hart, 1973), and SVM (Cortes & Vapnik, 1995). Other important techniques for classification tasks include Associative Classification (Liu et al, 1998) and Ensemble Classification (Tumer, 1996).

Effects of interventions in health care settings on physical activity or cardiorespiratory fitness

Introduction: This paper reviews studies of physical activity interventions in health care settings to determine effects on physical activity and/or fitness and characteristics of successful interventions. Methods: Studies testing interventions to promote physical activity in health care settings for primary prevention (patients without disease) and secondary prevention (patients with cardiovascular disease [CVD]) were identified by computerized search methods and reference lists of reviews and articles. Inclusion criteria included assignment to intervention and control groups, physical activity or cardiorespiratory fitness outcome measures, and, for the secondary prevention studies, measurement 12 or more months after randomization. The number of studies with statistically significant effects was determined overall as well as for studies testing interventions with various characteristics. Results: Twelve studies of primary prevention were identified, seven of which were randomized. Three of four randomized studies with short-term measurement (4 weeks to 3 months after randomization), and two of five randomized studies with long-term measurement (6 months after randomization) achieved significant effects on physical activity. Twenty-four randomized studies of CVD secondary prevention were identified; 13 achieved significant effects on activity and/or fitness at twelve or more months. Studies with measurement at two time points showed decaying effects over time, particularly if the intervention were discontinued. Successful interventions contained multiple contacts, behavioral approaches, supervised exercise, provision of equipment, and/or continuing intervention. Many studies had methodologic problems such as low follow-up rates. Conclusion: Interventions in health care settings can increase physical activity for both primary and secondary prevention. Long-term effects are more likely with continuing intervention and multiple intervention components such as supervised exercise, provision of equipment, and behavioral approaches. Recommendations for additional research are given.

Who fails to complete tuberculosis treatment? Temporal trends and risk factors for treatment interruption in a community-based directly observed therapy programme in a rural district of South Africa

SETTING: Hlabisa Tuberculosis Programme, Hlabisa, South Africa. OBJECTIVE: To determine trends in and risk factors for interruption of tuberculosis treatment. METHODS: Data were extracted from the control programme database starting in 1991. Temporal trends in treatment interruption are described; independent risk factors for treatment interruption were determined with a multiple logistic regression model, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves for treatment interruption were constructed for patients treated in 1994-1995. RESULTS: Overall 629 of 3610 surviving patients (17%) failed to complete treatment; this proportion increased from 11% (n = 79) in 1991/1992 to 22% (n = 201) in 1996. Independent risk factors for treatment interruption were diagnosis between 1994-1996 compared with 1991-1393 (odds ratio [OR] 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CT] 1.6-2.4); human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positivity compared with HIV negativity (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.4); supervised by village clinic compared with community health worker (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4-2.6); and male versus female sex (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.6). Few patients interrupted treatment during the first 2 weeks, and the treatment interruption rate thereafter was constant at 1% per 14 days. CONCLUSIONS: Frequency of treatment interruption from this programme has increased recently. The strongest risk factor was year of diagnosis, perhaps reflecting the impact of an increased caseload on programme performance. Ensuring adherence to therapy in communities with a high level of migration remains a challenge even within community-based directly observed therapy programmes.

Aerobic Exercise Improves Reverse Cholesterol Transport in Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein Transgenic Mice

We analyzed the effect of a 6-week aerobic exercise training program on the in vivo macrophage reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) in human cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) transgenic (CETP-tg) mice. Male CETP-tg mice were randomly assigned to a sedentary group or a carefully supervised exercise training group (treadmill 15 m/min, 30 min sessions, five sessions per week). The levels of plasma lipids were determined by enzymatic methods, and the lipoprotein profile was determined by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC). CETP activity was determined by measuring the transfer rate of (14)C-cholesterol from HDL to apo-B containing lipoproteins, using plasma from CETP-tg mice as a source of CETP. The reverse cholesterol transport was determined in vivo by measuring the [(3)H]-cholesterol recovery in plasma and feces (24 and 48 h) and in the liver (48 h) following a peritoneal injection of [(3)H]-cholesterol labeled J774-macrophages into both sedentary and exercise trained mice. The protein levels of liver receptors were determined by immunoblot, and the mRNA levels for liver enzymes were measured using RT-PCR. Exercise training did not significantly affect the levels of plasma lipids or CETP activity. The HDL fraction assessed by FPLC was higher in exercise-trained compared to sedentary mice. In comparison to the sedentary group, a greater recovery of [(3)H]-cholesterol from the injected macrophages was found in the plasma, liver and feces of exercise-trained animals. The latter occurred even with a reduction in the liver CYP7A1 mRNA level in exercised trained animals. Exercise training increased the liver LDL receptor and ABCA-1 protein levels, although the SR-BI protein content was unchanged. The RCT benefit in CETP-tg mice elicited by exercise training helps to elucidate the role of exercise in the prevention of atherosclerosis in humans.

Effects of Exercise Training in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure and Sleep Apnea

Study Objectives: To test the effects of exercise training on sleep and neurovascular control in patients with systolic heart failure with and without sleep disordered breathing. Design: Prospective interventional study. Setting: Cardiac rehabilitation and exercise physiology unit and sleep laboratory. Patients: Twenty-five patients with heart failure, aged 42 to 70 years, and New York Heart Association Functional Class I-III were divided into 1 of 3 groups: obstructive sleep apnea (n = 8), central sleep apnea (n 9) and no sleep apnea (n = 7). Interventions: Four months of no-training (control) followed by 4 months of an exercise training program (three 60-minute, supervised, exercise sessions per week). Measures and Results: Sleep (polysomnography), microneurography, forearm blood flow (plethysmography), peak VO(2). and quality of life were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the control and trained periods. No significant changes occurred in the control period. Exercise training reduced muscle sympathetic nerve activity (P < 0.001) and increased forearm blood flow (P < 0.01), peak VO(2) (P < 0.01), and quality of life (P < 0.01) in all groups, independent of the presence of sleep apnea. Exercise training improved the apnea-hypopnea index, minimum O(2) saturation, and amount stage 3-4 sleep (P < 0.05) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea but had no significant effects in patients with central sleep apnea. Conclusions. The beneficial effects of exercise training on neurovascular function, functional capacity, and quality of life in patients with systolic dysfunction and heart failure occurs independently of sleep disordered breathing. Exercise training lessens the severity of obstructive sleep apnea but does not affect central sleep apnea in patients with heart failure and sleep disordered breathing.

Outpatient Radioiodine Therapy for Thyroid Cancer A Safe Nuclear Medicine Procedure

Purposes: To evaluate the dosimetric effect of outpatient radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer in members of a patient`s family and their living environment, when using iodine-131 doses reaching 7.4 GBq. The following parameters were thus defined: (a) whole-body radiation doses to caregivers, (b) the production of contaminated solid waste, and (c) radiation potential and surface contamination within patients` living quarters. Methods: In total, 100 patients were treated on an outpatient basis, taking into consideration their acceptable living conditions, interests, and willingness to comply with medical and radiation safety guidelines. Both the caregivers and the radiation dose potentiality inside patients` residences were monitored by using thermoluminescent dosimeters. Surface contamination and contaminated solid wastes were identified and measured with a Geiger-Muller detector. Results: A total of 90 monitored individuals received a mean dose of 0.27 (+/- 0.28) mSv, and the maximum dose registered was 1.6 mSv. The mean value for the potential dose within all living quarters was 0.31(+/- 0.34) mSv, and the mean value per monitored surface was 5.58 Bq/cm(2) for all the 1659 points measured. The overall production of contaminated solid wastes was at a low level, being about 3 times less than the exemption level indicated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Conclusions: This study indicates that the treatment of thyroid cancer by applying radioiodine activities up to 7.4 GBq, on an outpatient basis, is a safe procedure, especially when supervised by qualified professionals. This alternative therapy should be a topic for careful discussion considering the high potential for reducing costs in healthcare and improving patient acceptance.

Effect of aquatic respiratory exercise-based program in patients with fibromyalgia

Objective: This study assessed the effects of an aquatic respiratory exercise-based program in patients with fibromyalgia (FMS). Methods: Forty women, aged between 20 and 60 years, were randomly assigned into two groups of 20 patients: the aquatic respiratory exercise-based program (ARG) and the control group (CTL). The ARG group performed the exercise program for 1 h, four times a week, for 4 weeks which included: (i) warming-Lip; (ii) respiratory exercises, consisting of five different breathing patterns, along With upper, lower limbs and trunk movements (45 min); and (iii) relaxation exercises. Both groups were included in supervised recreational activities of 1 h, once a week, for 4 weeks. Questionnaires were applied before and after intervention to assess quality of life and functional capacity (SF-36, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire [FIQ]), anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Scale [HAS]), and quality of sleep (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]). Number of tender points and pain (Visual Analogue Scale [VAS]) were also evaluated. Results: At baseline there was no difference between the two groups, including number of tender points and questionnaire responses. After intervention, the ARG group, compared with the CTL group, showed improvement in SF-36 scores (physical functioning P = 0.001, bodily pain 1) = 0.001, vitality P = 0.009, social functioning P = 0.001, emotional role P = 0.001), in FIQ (total score P = 0.049, work missed P = 0.036, fatigue P = 0.013, morning tiredness P = 0.007) plus in VAS-pain (P = 0.029), VAS-dyspnea (P = 0.04), anxiety (HAS P = 0.005) and quality of sleep (PSQI P = 0.004). Conclusions: The short-term aquatic respiratory exercise-based program improved pain, quality of life, functional capacity, anxiety and quality of sleep in patients with FMS and may be a relevant addition to the treatment of these patients.

Interferon and Alternative Activation of Monocyte/Macrophages in Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Objective. To explore the relationship between biomarkers of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), interferon (IFN)-regulated gene expression, and the alternative activation pathway in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were purified from healthy controls, patients with idiopathic PAH, and SSc patients (classified as having diffuse cutaneous SSc, limited cutaneous SSc [lcSSc] without PAH, and lcSSc with PAH). IFN-regulated and ""PAH biomarker"" genes were compared after supervised hierarchical clustering. Messenger RNA levels of selected IFN-regulated genes (Siglec1 and MX1), biomarker genes (IL13RA1, CCR1, and JAK2), and the alternative activation marker gene (MRC1) were analyzed on PBMCs and on CD14- and CD14+ cell populations. Interleukin-13 (IL-13) and IL-4 concentrations were measured in plasma by immunoassay. CD14, MRC1, and IL13RA1 surface expression was analyzed by flow cytometry. Results. Increased PBMC expression of both IFN-regulated and biomarker genes distinguished SSc patients from healthy controls. Expression of genes in the biomarker cluster, but not in the IFN-regulated cluster, distinguished lcSSc with PAH from lcSSc without PAH. The genes CCR1 (P < 0.001) and JAK2 (P < 0.001) were expressed more highly in lcSSc patients with PAH compared with controls and mainly by CD14+ cells. MRC1 expression was increased exclusively in lcSSc patients with PAH (P < 0.001) and correlated strongly with pulmonary artery pressure (r = 0.52, P = 0.03) and higher mortality (P = 0.02). MRC1 expression was higher in CD14+ cells and was greatly increased by stimulation with IL-13. IL-13 concentrations in plasma were most highly increased in lcSSc patients with PAH (P < 0.001). Conclusion. IFN-regulated and biomarker genes represent distinct, although related, clusters in lcSSc patients with PAH. MRC1, a marker for the effect of IL-13 on alternative monocyte/macrophage activation, is associated with this severe complication and is related to mortality.

Effects of progressive resistance strength training on knee biomechanics during single leg step-up in persons with mild knee osteoarthritis

Background: The goal of this study was to determine if increasing strength in primary knee extensors and flexors would directly affect net knee joint moments during a common functional task in persons with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: An exploratory single sample clinical trial with pre-post treatment measures was used to study volunteers with clinical diagnosis of mild knee osteoarthritis (OA) in one knee. Subjects participated in an individually supervised training program 3 times a week for eight weeks consisting of progressive resistive exercises for knee extensors and knee flexors. Pre and post training outcome assessments included: 1. Net internal knee joint moments, 2. Electromyography of primary knee extensors and flexors, and 3. Self-report measures of knee pain and function. The distribution of lower extremity joint moments as a percent of the total support moment was also investigated. Findings: Pain, symptoms, activities of daily life, quality of life, stiffness, and function scores showed significant improvement following strength training. Knee internal valgus and hip internal rotation moments showed increasing but non-statistically significant changes post-training. There were no significant differences in muscle co-contraction activation of the Quadriceps and Hamstrings. Interpretation: While exercise continues to be an important element of OA management, the results of this study suggest improvements in function, pain, and other symptoms, as a result of strength training may not be causally related to specific biomechanical changes in net joint moments. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Model-based clustering in gene expression microarrays: An application to breast cancer data

In microarray studies, the application of clustering techniques is often used to derive meaningful insights into the data. In the past, hierarchical methods have been the primary clustering tool employed to perform this task. The hierarchical algorithms have been mainly applied heuristically to these cluster analysis problems. Further, a major limitation of these methods is their inability to determine the number of clusters. Thus there is a need for a model-based approach to these. clustering problems. To this end, McLachlan et al. [7] developed a mixture model-based algorithm (EMMIX-GENE) for the clustering of tissue samples. To further investigate the EMMIX-GENE procedure as a model-based -approach, we present a case study involving the application of EMMIX-GENE to the breast cancer data as studied recently in van 't Veer et al. [10]. Our analysis considers the problem of clustering the tissue samples on the basis of the genes which is a non-standard problem because the number of genes greatly exceed the number of tissue samples. We demonstrate how EMMIX-GENE can be useful in reducing the initial set of genes down to a more computationally manageable size. The results from this analysis also emphasise the difficulty associated with the task of separating two tissue groups on the basis of a particular subset of genes. These results also shed light on why supervised methods have such a high misallocation error rate for the breast cancer data.

Conselhos municipais de pol??ticas p??blicas: uma an??lise explorat??ria

Os Conselhos Gestores s??o f??runs h??bridos onde se viabiliza a participa????o popular no desenho das pol??ticas p??blicas, nas negocia????es de interesses da coletividade, na elabora????o de programas e projetos sociais e na fiscaliza????o das a????es governamentais. O significado e a dimens??o dos Conselhos para a democracia participativa s??o enormes, justificando a import??ncia da realiza????o deste estudo, que se baseou na an??lise explorat??ria de 12 Conselhos locais do munic??pio mineiro de Vi??osa, com o objetivo de avaliar o desempenho dos mesmos. A avalia????o do desempenho levou em considera????o os mesmos par??metros dimensionais, tanto para a coleta de dados prim??rios quanto para a coleta secund??ria. A coleta de dados prim??rios foi realizada a partir da aplica????o de question??rios semi-estruturados aos presidentes dos Conselhos em an??lise. Utilizou-se o programa SPSS, vers??o 15.0, para an??lise estat??stica das quest??es objetivas dos question??rios e a t??cnica de an??lise de conte??do para exame das quest??es abertas. Ap??s essa etapa, realizou-se um workshop com os presidentes dos Conselhos, visando ?? obten????o de novos dados e informa????es. Os Conselhos municipais analisados apresentaram resultados pouco discrepantes entre a teoria aplicada ao tema e a sua efetiva pr??tica no campo p??blico. Contudo, a pesquisa revelou que o grau de desenvolvimento institucional dos Conselhos n??o ?? homog??neo, ou seja, h?? alguns melhores gestores que outros. A escolha independente e democr??tica dos membros n??o-governamentais dos Conselhos em Vi??osa revelou o seu grau de independ??ncia do Poder Executivo. Por??m, a capacita????o de conselheiros precisa ser implementada para evitar uma desfigura????o dos Conselhos. No que tange ?? governan??a, destacouse em Vi??osa o seu grau e formas de aplicabilidade observadas na gest??o de v??rias pol??ticas. Da mesma forma, foi observado um n??vel de governabilidade que confere legitimidade ??s pol??ticas implementadas. Por fim, verificou-se que a efetividade da accountability societal tem sido instrumentalizada pelos Conselhos no ??mbito das diversas pol??ticas setoriais. J?? os dados secund??rios da an??lise foram obtidos por meio das s??nteses dos relat??rios de fiscaliza????o de munic??pios do Estado de Minas Gerais, realizadas pela Controladoria Geral da Uni??o. Foram identificados todos os registros pertinentes aos Conselhos Gestores Municipais do Estado de Minas Gerais, no per??odo de 2003 a 2006. Verificou-se que os maiores problemas se referem aos Conselhos Municipais de Sa??de e Assist??ncia Social. Entre as in??meras falhas apontadas, destacam-se problemas graves na constitui????o e operacionaliza????o dos Conselhos, resultando na inoper??ncia desses mecanismos nos munic??pios fiscalizados. A avalia????o do desempenho dos Conselhos locais de Vi??osa possibilitou concluir que esses mecanismos apresentaram um desempenho bem satisfat??rio na gest??o e controle das pol??ticas p??blicas no munic??pio.

A practical framework for the generation and selection of strategic plans of action, The relevance of timeframe considerations and a systems thinking approach

The paper proposes a methodology especially focused on the generation of strategic plans of action, emphasizing the relevance of having a structured timeframe classification for the actions. The methodology explicitly recognizes the relevance of long-term goals as strategic drivers, which must insure that the complex system is capable to effectively respond to changes in the environment. In addition, the methodology employs engineering systems techniques in order to understand the inner working of the system and to build up alternative plans of action. Due to these different aspects, the proposed approach features higher flexibility compared to traditional methods. The validity and effectiveness of the methodology has been demonstrated by analyzing an airline company composed by 5 subsystems with the aim of defining a plan of action for the next 5 years, which can either: improve efficiency, redefine mission or increase revenues.

Real-time 3D interactive segmentation of echocardiographic data through user-based deformation of B-spline explicit active surfaces

Image segmentation is an ubiquitous task in medical image analysis, which is required to estimate morphological or functional properties of given anatomical targets. While automatic processing is highly desirable, image segmentation remains to date a supervised process in daily clinical practice. Indeed, challenging data often requires user interaction to capture the required level of anatomical detail. To optimize the analysis of 3D images, the user should be able to efficiently interact with the result of any segmentation algorithm to correct any possible disagreement. Building on a previously developed real-time 3D segmentation algorithm, we propose in the present work an extension towards an interactive application where user information can be used online to steer the segmentation result. This enables a synergistic collaboration between the operator and the underlying segmentation algorithm, thus contributing to higher segmentation accuracy, while keeping total analysis time competitive. To this end, we formalize the user interaction paradigm using a geometrical approach, where the user input is mapped to a non-cartesian space while this information is used to drive the boundary towards the position provided by the user. Additionally, we propose a shape regularization term which improves the interaction with the segmented surface, thereby making the interactive segmentation process less cumbersome. The resulting algorithm offers competitive performance both in terms of segmentation accuracy, as well as in terms of total analysis time. This contributes to a more efficient use of the existing segmentation tools in daily clinical practice. Furthermore, it compares favorably to state-of-the-art interactive segmentation software based on a 3D livewire-based algorithm.

O estágio supervisionado no curso de Educação Física da UEPB/Brasil: concepções e contribuições na formação dos(as) alunos(s)

RESUMO: A formação profissional em Educação Física vem sofrendo mudanças significativas ao longo da história. Após a década de 1980, com a Lei de Directrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (LDBEN, Nº9394, de 20 de Dezembro de 1996), emergiram novos olhares para o curso. Neste novo contexto, o curso de Educação Física da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba – UEPB – vem redimensionando sua prática com vista na formação de um profissional comprometido com a educação em sua dimensão ética, política, social e cultural. Assim, tivemos como objectivo, investigar a contribuição do Estágio Supervisionado na formação inicial do licenciado em Educação Física. A pesquisa molda-se como um estudo de caso, com abordagem qualitativa. A unidade selecionada para o estudo foi o Curso de Licenciatura em Educação Física da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Paraíba-Brasil. Participaram da pesquisa dez alunos(as) egressos(as) do referido curso. Os dados foram coletados através de entrevistas e analisadas a partir da Análise de conteúdo. Os resultados apontam a persistência da dicotomia teoria e prática no estágio docente; deficiências no trabalho de supervisão do estágio, bem como na insatisfação dos(as) entrevistados(as) frente aos aspectos teórico-práticos do referido curso para atuação no mercado de trabalho . ABSTRACT: Vocational training in physical education hás undergone significant changes throughout history. After the 80’s, with the Lei de Directrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (LDBEN) nº 9.394/96, nem perspectives have emerged for the course. In this new context the course of Physical Education, State University of Paraiba – UEPB – redefined its practice in order to promote the formation of a professional committed to education in its ethical, political, social and cultural aspects. Thus, we aimed to investigate the extent to which supervised training has a relevant contribution for the initial degree in Physical Education. This research project is a case-study using a qualitative approach. The participants were ten students from Bachelor of Physical Education, State University of Paraiba, Brazil. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed through content analysis. The findings indicate that the dichotomy between theory and practice in teacher training is quite evident. The results also demonstrated deficiencies in the supervision of the training and a level of dissatisfaction concerning the applicability of the theoretical and practical aspects the course for the labour market.