Search

We propose a methodology to narrow down the selection of design parameters of phantoms for calibrating ultrasound devices. For doing so, we model the phantoms as composite materials. Through a mathematical homogenization technique, the global properties of the phantom are given in terms of the volume fractions of its components, their geometric shapes and physical properties. We explore these parameters to determine ranges that yield the desirable values of acoustic impedance and attenuation. The procedure is illustrated for a class of sandwich-like phantoms made of layers of agar of different concentrations with complex elastic moduli. In this example, homogenization provides analytical formulae of the global properties that can be used to identify the layers’ thicknesses and concentrations that yield a low impedance and an average attenuation coefficient. These analytical results are compared with a numerical homogenization method, showing excellent agreement.

IntroductionMultisystem inflammatory syndrome in children associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (MIS-C), a novel hyperinflammatory condition secondary to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, is associated with severe outcomes such as coronary artery aneurysm and death.MethodsThis multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study including eight centers in Mexico, aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with MIS-C. Patient data were evaluated using latent class analysis (LCA) to categorize patients into three phenotypes: toxic shock syndrome-like (TSSL)-MIS-C, Kawasaki disease-like (KDL)-MIS-C, and nonspecific MIS-C (NS-MIS-C). Risk factors for adverse outcomes were estimated using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression.ResultsThe study included 239 patients with MIS-C, including 61 (26%), 70 (29%), and 108 (45%) patients in the TSSL-MIS-C, KDL-MIS-C, and NS-MIS-C groups, respectively. Fifty-four percent of the patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, and 42%, 78%, and 41% received intravenous immunoglobulin, systemic glucocorticoids, and anticoagulants, respectively. Coronary artery dilatation and aneurysms were found in 5.7% and 13.2% of the patients in whom coronary artery diameter was measured, respectively. Any cause in-hospital mortality was 5.4%. Hospitalization after ten days of symptoms was associated with coronary artery abnormalities (odds ratio [OR] 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–2.0). Age ≥10 years (OR: 5.6, 95% CI: 1.4–2.04), severe underlying condition (OR: 9.3, 95% CI: 2.8–31.0), platelet count 3 (OR: 4.2, 95% CI: 1.2–14.7), international normalized ratio >1.2 (OR: 3.8, 95% CI: 1.05–13.9), and serum ferritin concentration >1,500 mg/dl at admission (OR: 52, 95% CI: 5.9–463) were risk factors for death.DiscussionMortality in patients with MIS-C was higher than reported in other series, probably because of a high rate of cases with serious underlying diseases.

Five Supplemental tables

Figures 1S and 2S

We tested whether lifelong modification of vitamin D signaling can alter the progression of early prostate carcinogenesis in studies using mice that develop high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia that is similar to humans. Two tissue-limited models showed that prostate vitamin D receptor (VDR) loss increased prostate carcinogenesis. In another study, we fed diets with three vitamin D3 levels (inadequate = 25 IU/kg diet, adequate for bone health = 150 IU/kg, or high = 1,000 IU/kg) and two calcium levels (adequate for bone health = 0.5% and high = 1.5%). Dietary vitamin D caused a dose-dependent increase in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and a reduction in the percentage of mice with adenocarcinoma but did not improve bone mass. In contrast, high calcium suppressed serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels and improved bone mass but increased the incidence of adenocarcinoma. Analysis of the VDR cistrome in RWPE1 prostate epithelial cells revealed vitamin D–mediated regulation of multiple cancer-relevant pathways. Our data support the hypothesis that the loss of vitamin D signaling accelerates the early stages of prostate carcinogenesis, and our results suggest that different dietary requirements may be needed to support prostate health or maximize bone mass.Significance:This work shows that disrupting vitamin D signaling through diet or genetic deletion increases early prostate carcinogenesis through multiple pathways. Higher-diet vitamin D levels are needed for cancer than bone.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children temporally associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (MIS-C), a novel hyperinflammatory condition secondary to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, is associated with severe outcomes such as coronary artery aneurysm and death. This multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study including eight centers in Mexico, aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with MIS-C. Patient data were evaluated using latent class analysis to categorize patients into three phenotypes: toxic shock syndrome-like (TSSL)-MIS-C, Kawasaki disease-like (KDL)-MIS-C, and nonspecific MIS-C (NS-MIS-C). Risk factors for adverse outcomes were estimated using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression. The study included 239 patients with MIS-C, including 61 (26%), 70 (29%), and 108 (45%) patients in the TSSL-MIS-C, KDL-MIS-C, and NS-MIS-C groups, respectively. Fifty-four percent of the patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, and 42%, 78%, and 41% received intravenous immunoglobulin, systemic glucocorticoids, and anticoagulants, respectively. Coronary artery dilatation and aneurysm were found in 5.7% and 13.2% of the patients, respectively. The rate of mortality due to SARS-CoV-2-related factors was 4.6%. Delay of ≥10 days in hospital admission was associated with coronary artery aneurysm or dilatation (odds ratio [OR] 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2–2.0). Age ≥ 10 years (OR 5.6, 95% CI 1.4–2.04), severe underlying condition (OR 9.3, 95% CI 2.8–31.0), platelet count < 150,000/mm3(OR 4.2, 95% CI 1.2–14.7), international normalized ratio > 1.2 at admission (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.05–13.9), and serum ferritin concentration > 1500 mg/dL (OR 52, 95% CI 5.9–463) were risk factors for death.

Chagas disease, caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) parasite, is the third most common parasitosis worldwide. Most of the infected subjects can remain asymptomatic without an opportune and early detection or an objective diagnostic is not conducted. Frequently, the disease manifests itself after a long time, accompanied by severe heart disease or by sudden death. Thus, the diagnosis is a complex and challenging process where several factors must be considered. In this paper, a novel pipeline is presented integrating temporal data from four modalities (electrocardiography signals, echocardiography images, Doppler spectrum, and ELISA antibody titers), multiple features selection analyses by a univariate analysis and a machine learning-based selection. The method includes an automatic dichotomous classification of animal status (control vs. infected) based on Random Forest, Extremely Randomized Trees, Decision Trees, and Support Vector Machine. The most relevant multimodal attributes found were ELISA (IgGT, IgG1, IgG2a), electrocardiography (SR mean, QT and ST intervals), ascending aorta Doppler signals, and echocardiography (left ventricle diameter during diastole). Concerning automatic classification from selected features, the best accuracy of control vs. acute infection groups was 93.3 ± 13.3% for cross-validation and 100% in the final test; for control vs. chronic infection groups, it was 100% and 100%, respectively. We conclude that the proposed machine learning-based approach can be of help to obtain a robust and objective diagnosis in early T. cruzi infection stages.

Orientador: Oswaldo Luiz Coutinho Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta um método para otimização de um sistema de produção operando com fabricação e recuperação de peças e conjuntos. Este e o caso das oficinas de apoio de manutenção nos sistemas de produção da indústria de base (por exemplo, usinas integradas e complexos industriais de prestação de serviços). O método associa às condições básicas da recuperação em manutenção, a metodologia da tecnologia de manufatura. Assim, foram expandidos os conceitos de semelhança e as técnicas de agrupamento, de modo a utilizá-las em um ambiente exógeno à manufatura mecânica e caracterizado por acentuada aleatoriedade. É descrito o ensaio, efetuado por simulação, na oficina central de manutenção da usina da Companhia Siderúrgica Paulista - COSIPA. Os resultados obtidos e os índices levantados são apresentados ao final, demonstrando a aplicabilidade e as vantagens do método proposto Abstract: This dissertation presents a method for optimizing a production system which operates with manufacturing and restoring of parts and assemblies. This is the typical case of maintenance workshops, which serve production systems of the heavy industry (for instance, integrated works and industrial complexes of production of services. The method is based on the manufacturing technology concepts and applies its methodology to the condítions of parts restoring, which is typical feature in the field of maintenance. As a result, the concepts of similarity and grouping techniques have been expanded to an industrial environment sited outside of the mechanical manufacture and influenced by non-deterministic factors. The method has been tested through simulatlon at the central maintenance workshop of Companhia Siderúrgica Paulista COSIPA. Steelworks and this experiment is described. Results and indexes obtained from the research are presented, showing the applicability and merits of the proposed method Résumé: Cette dissertation présente une méthode de optimisation de systemes de production qui opérent avec fabrication et récuperation de pieces et ensembles, cà c'est le cas typique des ateliers d'entrétien des systemes de production de l'industrie de base (par exemple, usines lntegrées et complexes industriels de production de services). La méthode se base sur la tecnologie de fabrication et la adapte aux conditions de récuperation de pieces: activité característique dans le domaine de la maintenance. En résultat, furent expandus les concepts de similarité et les tecniques de groupement a un envíronnemnt industriel externe a celui de la fabrication mécanique et sujet à l'influence de facteurs d'incertitude. La méthode a été essayé par simulation aupres de l'ateller central de l'entrétien de l'usine de la Companhia Siderúrgica Paulista - COSIPA. Les testes, ses résultats et indices, sont décrits, mettant evidence la aplicabilité et les avantages de la méthode proposée Mestrado Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

We tested whether lifelong modification of vitamin D signaling can alter the progression of early prostate carcinogenesis in studies using mice that develop high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia that is similar to humans. Two tissue-limited models showed that prostate vitamin D receptor (VDR) loss increased prostate carcinogenesis. In another study, we fed diets with three vitamin D3 levels (inadequate = 25 IU/kg diet, adequate for bone health = 150 IU/kg, or high = 1,000 IU/kg) and two calcium levels (adequate for bone health = 0.5% and high = 1.5%). Dietary vitamin D caused a dose-dependent increase in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and a reduction in the percentage of mice with adenocarcinoma but did not improve bone mass. In contrast, high calcium suppressed serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels and improved bone mass but increased the incidence of adenocarcinoma. Analysis of the VDR cistrome in RWPE1 prostate epithelial cells revealed vitamin D–mediated regulation of multiple cancer-relevant pathways. Our data support the hypothesis that the loss of vitamin D signaling accelerates the early stages of prostate carcinogenesis, and our results suggest that different dietary requirements may be needed to support prostate health or maximize bone mass. Significance: This work shows that disrupting vitamin D signaling through diet or genetic deletion increases early prostate carcinogenesis through multiple pathways. Higher-diet vitamin D levels are needed for cancer than bone.

In the vitamin D intervention study VitDbol (NCT02063334) blood samples were drawn directly before an oral bolus (2000 μg vitamin D3) and 24 h later. The focus of phase II of VitDbol was the transcriptome-wide analysis of the effects of vitamin D gene expression in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). All five participants responded in an individual fashion to the bolus by increases in serum levels of the vitamin D metabolites 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) and 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3). RNA sequencing identified 15.040 commonly expressed genes in PBMCs, 702 (4,7%) of which were significantly (p