Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Daily health status registration (patient diary) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a comparison between personal digital assistant and paper-pencil format.

OBJECTIVE The patient perspective workshops at the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials have included daily measures of health status (patient diary) and use of electronic tools for data collection in the research agenda. The objective of this study was to compare daily and weekly registrations of self-reported health status measures between personal digital assistant (PDA) and paper-pencil (PP) format regarding scores, variation, and feasibility. METHODS Thirty-eight patients with stable rheumatoid arthritis recorded their health status during 84 days in a repeated crossover design, using PDA or PP format during four 21-day periods. Visual analog scales (VAS) for pain, fatigue, and global disease and the Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index were scored daily; the Short Form 36 and Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire were scored weekly. RESULTS The average scores and measures of variation of the 4 daily health status measures over 21 days did not differ significantly between PDA and PP formats in either of the 2 crossover periods. The values for the average range between the maximum and minimum values for daily measures were similar between the 2 formats, but showed considerable variation (e.g., range for pain VAS was 19-28 mm over each 21-day period). The time to complete the instruments was similar between the 2 formats. Missing daily data entries were generally low for both periods and somewhat higher for PDA. The majority of patients (82.9%) preferred using PDA. CONCLUSION Daily assessments with PDA may be efficiently used for frequent data collection because this format performs similarly to the traditional PP format.
Nitrogen Dioxide Exposure Assessment and Cough among Preschool Children

Abstract The association between exposure to ambient air nitrogen dioxide and cough was evaluated in a panel study among 162 children aged 3-6 y. The weekly average nitrogen dioxide exposure was assessed with Palmes-tube measurements in three ways: (1) personally, (2) outside day-care centers, and (3) inside day-care centers. Ambient air nitrogen dioxide concentrations were obtained from the local network that monitored air quality. The parents recorded cough episodes daily in a diary. The risk of cough increased significantly (relative risk = 3.63; 95% confidence interval = 1.41, 9.30) in the highest personal nitrogen dioxide exposure category in winter, and a nonsignificant positive trend was noted for the other assessment groups. In spring, risk increased nonsignificantly in all exposure-assessment groups, except for the fixed-site monitoring assessment. It is important that investigators select an exposure-assessment method sufficiently accurate to reflect the effective pollutant dose in subjects.
Potentials and challenges in self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems

Introduction: A significant number of new chemical entities (almost 40%), that are outcome of contemporary drug discovery programs, have a potential therapeutic promise for patient, as they are highly potent but poorly water soluble resulting in reduced oral bioavailability. Self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS) have emerged as a vital strategy to formulate these poorly soluble compounds for bioavailability enhancement. Areas covered: The review gives an insight about potential of SNEDDS with regards to oral drug delivery. The effect of various key constituents on formulation of SNEDDS and their applications in oral drug delivery is also discussed. Various aspects of formulation, characterization and biopharmaceutical aspects of SNEDDS are also been explored. The choice and selection of excipients for development of SNEDDS is also discussed. Expert opinion: The ability of SNEDDS to present the drug in single unit dosage form either as soft or hard gelatin capsule with enhanced solubility maintaining the uniformity of dose is unique. With the ease of large-scale production, high drug-loading capacity, improvement in release behavior of poorly water-soluble drugs and improvement of oral bioavailability, SNEDDS have emerged as preferable system for the formulation of drug compounds with bioavailability problems due to poor aqueous solubility.
O uso pedagógico das tecnologias da informação e comunicação na formação de professores: uma experiência na licenciatura em matemática

No atual sistema de ensino nacional sao diversas as questoes relativas ao uso pedagogico das tecnologias para a construcao do conhecimento. Algumas passam por amplos e complexos temas como a tendencia da mudanca da transmissao de instrucoes realizadas por meio de quadro e giz para uma realidade envolvendo a utilizacao de tecnologias digitais como mediadoras desse processo. Nessa conjuntura, o futuro professor carece vivenciar, em seu processo formativo, o uso pedagogico das tecnologias para ter a possibilidade de incorpora-las a suas aulas. Diversos sao os desafios para essa incorporacao no processo de ensino-aprendizagem, pois a simples informatizacao do ambiente escolar nao garante os beneficios desejados. Assim, este estudo parte do principio de que a utilizacao pedagogica das Tecnologias da Informacao e Comunicacao (TIC) contribui potencializando, facilitando e motivando o ensino de Matematica e deve fazer parte da formacao inicial e continuada dos professores. Entao esta pesquisa tem o objetivo principal de analisar, na visao dos participantes de uma Experiencia Formativa, as contribuicoes e os limites da insercao do uso pedagogico das tecnologias na formacao docente, para que sobre elas possam refletir e utiliza-las como instrumento didatico na Educacao Basica em sua futura atuacao profissional. O referencial teorico para essa formacao docente focaliza o uso das tecnologias na formacao inicial do professor de Matematica e o uso pedagogico das TIC. Mais especificamente, assume as bases de conhecimento de Lee Shulman e o framework TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge ou Conhecimento Tecnologico e Pedagogico do Conteudo) de Koehler e Mishra. Os dados analisados foram produzidos por 12 licenciandos que participaram de uma Experiencia Formativa ao longo do ultimo ano do Curso de Licenciatura em Matematica, experiencia na qual tiveram a oportunidade de selecionar ferramentas digitais e ministrar aulas especificas, detalhadamente planejadas para o laboratorio de informatica. Em etapa posterior, uma dupla de estagiarios utilizou pedagogicamente o software GeoGebra para o ensino de funcoes quadraticas com duas turmas de 1o ano do Ensino Medio. Os dados foram obtidos por meio da aplicacao de um questionario para a caracterizacao dos sujeitos e foram elaborados diarios do pesquisador e diarios dos participantes acompanhados durante as aulas praticas, alem da realizacao de entrevistas a partir de questionario semiestruturado. A analise qualitativa foi organizada em eixos que apontam aspectos da aprendizagem e dificuldades que os participantes tiveram com relacao a selecao de tecnologias e a seu uso em aulas simuladas ou na Educacao Basica, no laboratorio de informatica durante o estagio supervisionado. Os resultados apontam aprendizados, indicam potencialidades e limites no uso das tecnologias, e ainda ressaltam a necessidade da vivencia dos licenciandos no uso pedagogico das TIC para que se sintam a vontade em utiliza-las pedagogicamente ao longo de suas carreiras.
Die Einbeziehung der Anderen? Habermas und die feministische Kritik

Feministische Kritiken an der Unterscheidung von offentlich und privat und gesellschaftstheoretische Ansatze treffen sich in einem gemeinsamen Interesse am Konzept der Offentlichkeit. Von den soziologischen Gesellschaftstheorien weist besonders Habermas‘ Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns Verbindungen zu Offentlichkeitstheorie und emanzipatorischen Erkenntnisinteressen auf. Gerade diese Theorie ist jedoch vonseiten des wissenschaftlichen Feminismus scharf kritisiert worden. Ziel des Vortrags ist, an der Debatte um die Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns zu zeigen, wie soziologische Theorie von feministischer Kritik profitieren konnte. Die feministische Kritik an der TkH liegt auf mehreren Ebenen: Sozialtheoretisch wird ein harmonistischer Bias in der Habermasschen Idee von Verstandigung als Ziel von Kommunikation vermutet. Gesellschaftstheoretisch wird angemerkt, dass die Unterscheidung von Lebenswelt und System geschlechtliche Ungleichheiten aus dem Blick verliert, weil die Sphare der sozialen Reproduktion als bedrohte Lebenswelt privatisiert und idealisiert wurde. Mit Bezug auf die Habermassche Offentlichkeitstheorie wird vermutet, dass das Ideal des offentlichen Diskurses bestimmte Gruppen benachteiligt, deren Anliegen in der affektneutralen Sprache der desengagierten Deliberation nicht auszudrucken sind. Viele der feministischen Einwande scheinen allerdings bei naherem Hinsehen ihr Ziel zu verfehlen. Habermas hat beispielsweise nie behauptet, dass demokratische Entscheidungen einen faktischen Konsensus der Bevolkerung voraussetzten, oder dass politischer Streit in der Zivilgesellschaft die Form desinteressierter Argumentation annehmen sollte. Die groste Herausforderung fur die Habermassche Theorie zeigt sich im Vergleich mit dem Ansatz von Nancy Fraser. Ihre Theorie der Stratifikation der Artikulationschancen im offentlichen Diskurs bietet einen Zugang zu dem – in der Habermasschen Theorie ungelosten – Problem, wie die Ungleichverteilung der Artikulationschancen in einer Kommunikations- und Offentlichkeitstheorie berucksichtigt werden kann. Fraser liefert so wichtige Impulse fur eine Weiterentwicklung nicht nur dieser, sondern aller soziologischen Kommunikationstheorien, die mit dem Begriff der Verstandigung arbeiten.
Twin Arginine Translocation (Tat)-dependent Export in the Apparent Absence of TatABC or TatA Complexes Using Modified Escherichia coli TatA Subunits That Substitute for TatB*

The twin arginine translocation pathway exports folded proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane of many bacteria. In Escherichia coli and other Gram-negative bacteria, TatA, TatB, and TatC are all essential for efficient translocation, and current models suggest that separate TatABC and TatA complexes coalesce at the point of translocation. However, other microbes appear only to possess tatA and tatC genes. In Escherichia coli, virtually no translocation is observed when only TatA and TatC are present, but several mutations at the extreme N terminus of TatA were shown to support translocation. Here we show that these apparently bifunctional mutant TatA variants can function as typical TatA components because translocation is observed when they are co-expressed with TatBC, and they assemble into large, heterogeneous complexes that resemble wild type TatA complexes. However, cells expressing TatC plus the mutant TatA variants do not contain complexes that resemble the expected 370-kDa TatABC complex, clearly indicating that the mutant TatA forms cannot assemble efficiently, or stably, into this complex. The simultaneous expression of wild type TatA furthermore blocks translocation activity, suggesting that the mutant TatA forms preferentially bind to other TatA molecules rather than TatC. Surprisingly, we observe translocation in the absence of detectable free TatA, when translational fusions of the mutant TatAs with TatC are expressed. Transport can thus proceed in the simultaneous absence of TatABC and TatA complexes at detectable levels, and we conclude that the active translocon may be formed from dynamic twin arginine translocation complexes, one or more of which may await characterization.
Abstract PR06: TERT rearrangements are frequent in neuroblastoma and identify aggressive tumors

Recently, we have presented the genomic landscape of 87 neuroblastoma tumors. This cohort has been extended to include 108 tumor/normal pairs of all INSS stages. As recurrent somatic mutations are rare in this cancer and enhancer hijacking has been demonstrated in medulloblastoma, we hypothesized that recurrent structural variations, possibly intergenic, could be identified in our neuroblastoma cohort. Methods: Whole genome sequencing was performed on a total of 108 tumor/lymphocyte DNA samples using Complete Genomics technology. Somatic structural variations were identified and analyzed for recurrent locations. Sequence coverage based CGH break analyses, mRNA expression analyses, telomere length analyses as well as super-enhancer proximity analyses were performed. Results: For each 1 Mb region in the genome, we calculated the number of tumors with one or more structural events. The second-most frequently affected region after MYCN was located on chromosome 5 where breakpoints centered round the TERT locus in 17/75 of the high stage tumors (23%). TERT was the only gene in the vicinity with a significantly increased expression in the rearranged cases as compared to the normal cases (p=8.51x10-5, Wilcoxon Ranksum test). Most of the TERT rearrangements occurred in a region 6-30 kb upstream of the gene. 12 of the rearrangements were resolved by paired-end analysis. We identified neuroblastoma-specific super-enhancers in seven of the translocation partners, which is a significant enrichment compared to randomly generated breaks (p Conclusions: We conclude that TERT rearrangements form the second-most frequent gene defect in neuroblastoma, after MYCN. TERT defects are almost mutually exclusive with ATRX and MYCN defects, and each of them identify a separate group of neuroblastoma at very high risk. These tumors have elevated TERT expression due to rearrangement of the upstream 30 kb or downstream 40 kb regions and in over half of the informative breakpoints, TERT was ostensibly activated by hijacking a super-enhancer. Pharmacological inhibition of TERT might in future improve the outcome for this patient group. This abstract is also presented as Poster A40. Citation Format: Jan Koster, Linda J. Valentijn, Danny A. Zwijnenburg, Nancy E. Hasselt, Peter G. van Sluis, Max M. van Noesel, Rani E. George, Godelieve A. Tytgat, Jan J. Molenaar, Rogier Versteeg. TERT rearrangements are frequent in neuroblastoma and identify aggressive tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research: From Mechanisms and Models to Treatment and Survivorship; 2015 Nov 9-12; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(5 Suppl):Abstract nr PR06.
Planeamento de trajetórias em ambientes agrícolas

Em Portugal, os terrenos vinicolas de maior valor tem a particularidade de se situarem em encostas de elevada inclinacao e com alta pedregosidade, dificultando as tarefas dos robos agricolas, que, seja pela forte inclinacao ou pela possivel ma aderencia das rodas ao solo, correm o risco de sofrer acidentes que danifiquem o robo e o equipamento que este transporta.Pretende-se, portanto, encontrar uma solucao de planeamento de trajetorias seguras que considere o centro de massa do robo e inclinacao do terreno. A solucao proposta nesta dissertacao consiste na adaptacao de um algoritmo de planeamento de trajetorias, o Astar, que ira ter em conta quatro variaveis: as coordenadas X e Y que indicam a localizacao do robo, o orientacao do mesmo e a altitude do terreno, dados que serao utilizados para verificar a seguranca do caminho, calculando a sua inclinacao e verificando se o centro de gravidade do robo nao ultrapassa os limites de seguranca. Este algoritmo serve para um planeamento global da trajetoria, contudo, tambem se encontra preparado para pequenos ajustes atraves de um planeamento local, mantendo sempre as condicoes de seguranca do robo.
Glaucoma monitoring in a clinical setting: glaucoma progression analysis vs nonparametric progression analysis in the Groningen Longitudinal Glaucoma Study.

OBJECTIVE To compare prospectively 2 perimetric progression detection algorithms for glaucoma, the Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial algorithm (glaucoma progression analysis [GPA]) and a nonparametric algorithm applied to the mean deviation (MD) (nonparametric progression analysis [NPA]). METHODS Patients with a reproducible glaucomatous visual field defect at baseline in at least 1 eye were followed up prospectively using perimetry (Humphrey field analyzer 30-2 Swedish interactive thresholding algorithm). Classifications by GPA and by NPA at the end of the follow-up period were compared. RESULTS Two hundred twenty-one patients met the inclusion criteria; 1 eye per patient was analyzed. On average, 7.1 reliable fields were available after a mean follow-up period of 5.3 years. The mean MD at baseline was -9.4 dB; the mean MD slope during the follow-up period was -0.25 dB/y. Fifty-six eyes showed progression by GPA and 89 eyes by NPA (P < .001); 42 eyes showed progression by both techniques (kappa = 0.39). In eyes with progression detected by NPA only, baseline MD was worse than that in eyes with progression detected by GPA (-12.5 vs -8.2 dB, P = .002), and GPA more often gave a reading of "baseline MD out of range" (P < .001). After exclusion of eyes with baseline MD out of range, the measure of agreement was kappa = 0.50. CONCLUSIONS Nonparametric progression analysis had fairly good agreement with GPA. Especially in cases of more advanced disease, NPA labeled more eyes as having progression than GPA.
Turbulent Spot/Separation Bubble Interactions in a Spatially Evolving Supersonic Boundary-Layer Flow

The growth and breakdown of localised disturbances into a turbulent spot in a Mach 2 boundary-layer flow have been investigated by direct numerical simulation. In particular, the interaction of a turbulent spot with a shock-induced separation bubble is studied. The primary vortex structures triggered by the injected low momentum fluid and the metamorphosis of the hairpin structures into a turbulent spot are clearly identified in the present study. The spot-separation bubble interaction is found to enhance the breakdown of the hairpin structures i.e. is capable of advancing the transition process. A substantial increase in the lateral spreading of the spot is observed due to the spot/bubble interaction. Locally averaged profiles of the flow quantities within the spot show behaviour similar to developed turbulent flows.
ECG Findings in Active Patients

ECGs and cardiac rhythms of normal athletes can vary widely. The heightened vagal tone from athletic conditioning can result in variant ECG findings that may mimic serious disorders. ECG patterns of long-QT syndrome, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy signal the need for further evaluation, therapy, and possible participation restriction. Radiofrequency ablation may be appropriate when symptomatic supraventricular arrhythmias or Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is present. Further research is needed to effectively distinguish normal ECG changes in the athlete from changes that underlie cardiac disease. Improvements in identifying athletes at risk of serious or life-threatening arrhythmias are also needed.
Conception et réalisation d'un capteur passif biomédical implantable et d'un lecteur assurant l'activation et la communication sans fil

La mise en application de principes d’ingenierie pour etablir un pont entre la medecine et la biologie conduit a d’audacieuses possibilites dans le domaine de la sante. La premisse de ce memoire est qu’il est possible d’adapter la technologie d’identification par radiofrequence (RFID) pour activer et pour communiquer avec une plateforme implantable servant d’interface a une large variete de capteurs miniaturises. L’implantation d’un capteur souscutane a pour avantage de fournir une variete de donnees autrement hors d’atteinte en empruntant une approche non-invasive. Le projet demontre la realisation d'un systeme RFID opere a 13.56 MHz qui permet la communication avec un thermometre implantable prevu pour etre porte au poignet et l’alimentation de ce dernier de maniere inductive par un bracelet externe. Le capteur demeure completement passif et ne s’allume qu’au moment ou le bracelet emet son champ electromagnetique. Il est a noter que ce dernier est controle via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) par un appareil mobile, en l'occurrence un telephone intelligent qui constitue une interface visuelle simple et intuitive presentant les donnees recoltees sous forme de tableaux et de graphiques. Les resultats obtenus dans le cadre de ce memoire demontrent, a l’aide d’une serie de prototypes d’implants et de bracelets, qu’il est indeniablement possible de mesurer un parametre corporel interne tel que la temperature avec une qualite d’acquisition remarquable. Cette technologie de quantification de soi est applicable entre autres dans le domaine medical, sportif, spatial ou militaire.
Cephalometric analysis in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

Oropharyngeal soft tissue profiles were studied by cephalometric analysis in 25 patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) and 10 controls. The length of the soft palate was significantly higher in patients (48.0 +/- 4.3 mm. (mean +/- SD) than in controls (35.3 +/- 4.6 mm.) (p less than 0.001), as was the distance of close contact between the tongue and the soft palate (23 +/- 12 mm. and 10 +/- 8 mm., respectively) (p less than 0.01). The area of the soft palate, measured in the sagittal plane, was 4.85 +/- 0.80 cm.2 and 2.88 +/- 0.62 in the patient and the control group, occupying 39 +/- 8 per cent and 21 +/- 5 per cent of the pharyngeal area (p less than 0.001). The lower outline of the tongue, represented by the line between vallecula (V) and the hyoid bone (AH) was more inferiorly positioned in patients, apparently giving the tongue a more upright position with more of the tongue tissue at the hypopharyngeal level than found in normals. The pharyngeal airway space had significantly reduced anteroposterior dimensions both at the nasopharyngeal and velopharyngeal level (P less than 0.001) as well as the hypopharyngeal level (p less than 0.05). Cephalometric analysis is highly recommended as a valuable tool in the presurgical evaluation of OSAS patients.
Pneumotachographic nitrogen washout method for measurement of the volume of trapped gas in the lungs

A computerized pneumotachometric multiple breath N,‐washout method for assessment of the volume of trapped gas in the lungs (V TGN 2 ) is presented. The V TGN 2 is measured as the volume of air mobilized from nonventilated lung spaces by five maximal breaths after a washout performed until the end‐tidal nitrogen fraction is 0.02.