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Abstract Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology allows the use of different manufacturing techniques. This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the marginal fit of temporary restorations manufactured using conventional chairside methods, milling, and three-dimensional printing. Fifteen 3-element temporary restorations specimens were produced and categorized into three groups: non-digital, obtained using the conventional chairside method (GC); milled (GM); and three-dimensionally printed (GP). Marginal fit was assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) performed under two conditions: one with only the central screw tightened, and the other with all three screws tightened. Horizontal misfit values were categorized as over-, equal-, and under-extended and qualitatively analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using the Tukey–Kramer test (α=0.05). In the vertical assessment, three-dimensionally printed restorations demonstrated greater misfit than restorations obtained by milling and the conventional chairside method (P

Volatility reflects the degree of variation in a time series, and a measurement of the stock performance in the energy sector can help one understand the pattern of fluctuations within this industry, as well as the factors that influence it. One of these factors could be the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to extreme volatility within the stock market in several economic sectors. It is essential to understand this regime of volatility so that robust financial strategies can be adopted to handle it. This study used stock data from the Yahoo! Finance API and data from the energy-price database from the US Energy Information Administration to conduct a comparative analysis of the volatility in the energy sector in Brazil and in the United States, as well as of the energy prices in California. The volatility in these time series were modeled using GARCH. The stock volatility regimes, both before and after COVID-19, were identified with a Markov switching model; the spillover index between the energy markets in the USA and in Brazil was evaluated with the Diebold–Yilmaz index; and the causality between the energy stock price and the energy prices was measured with the Granger causality test. The findings of this study show that (i) the volatility regime introduced by COVID-19 is still prevalent in Brazil and in the USA, (ii) the changes in the energy market in the US affect the Brazilian market significantly more than the reverse, and (iii) there is a causality relationship between the energy stock markets and the energy prices in California. These results may assist in the achievement of effective regulation and economic planning, while also supporting better market interventions. Also, acknowledging the persistent COVID-19-induced volatility can help with developing strategies for future crisis resilience.

The use of biofuels represents a promising means of achieving a sustainable future and offers considerable economic and environmental benefits. Since they are derived from organic sources, such as vegetable oils and animal fats, biofuels can mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, support local agriculture, create employment opportunities, and enhance energy security by reducing dependence on fossil fuels. However, introducing these alternative fuels to the aviation sector remains a significant challenge. Thus, it is vital to investigate the potential of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and discover how to overcome the technological obstacles to its integration into mainstream aviation to attain broader decarbonization objectives. This article seeks to contribute to a discussion about SAF by examining how it has evolved and its connections to related patents. This article is a comprehensive study of biofuel innovation, highlighting the complex relationships between academia, industry, and other stakeholders. It is hoped that the findings from this study will provide a clearer understanding of the catalysts involved in SAF innovation and provide valuable insights for policymakers, academics, and professionals in the field who are committed to shaping the trajectory of sustainable energy technologies in the future.

This article presents an innovative approach to video steganography called Stego-STFAN, as by using a cheap model process to use the temporal and spatial domains together, they end up presenting fine adjustments in each frame, the Stego-STFAN had a PSNRc metric of 27.03 and PSNRS of 23.09, which is close to the state-of-art. Steganography is the ability to hide a message so that third parties cannot perceive communication between them. Thus, one of the precautions in steganography is the size of the message you want to hide, as the security of the message is inversely proportional to its size. Inspired by this principle, video steganography appears to expand channels further and incorporate data into a message. To improve the construction of better stego-frames and recovered secrets, we propose a new architecture for video steganography derived from the Spatial-Temporal Adaptive Filter Network (STFAN) in conjunction with the Attention mechanism, which together generates filters and maps dynamic frames to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of frame processing, exploiting the redundancy present in the temporal dimension of the video, as well as fine details such as edges, fast-moving pixels and the context of secret and cover frames and by using the DWT method as another feature extraction level, having the same characteristics as when applied to an image file.

A data breach is the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal data, and it impacts millions of individuals annually in the United States, as reported by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. These breaches jeopardize the physical safety of the individuals whose data are exposed and result in substantial economic losses for the affected companies. To diminish the frequency and severity of data breaches in the future, it is imperative to research their causes and explore preventive measures. In pursuit of this goal, this study considers a dataset of data breach incidents affecting companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. This dataset has been augmented with additional information regarding the targeted company. This paper employs statistical visualizations of the data to clarify these incidents and assess their consequences on the affected companies and individuals whose data were compromised. We then propose mitigation controls based on established frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Additionally, this paper reviews the compliance scenario by examining the relevant laws and regulations applicable to each case, including SOX, HIPAA, GLBA, and PCI-DSS, and evaluates the impacts of data breaches on stock market prices. We also review guidelines for appropriately responding to data leaks in the U.S., for compliance achievement and cost reduction. By conducting this analysis, this work aims to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of data breaches and empower organizations to safeguard against them proactively, improving the technical quality of their basic services. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to address compliance with data protection regulations, security controls as countermeasures, financial impacts on stock prices, and incident response strategies. Although the discussion is focused on publicly traded companies in the United States, it may also apply to public and private companies worldwide.

This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and validate “The Nutrition for Sport Knowledge Questionnaire (NSKQ)” for Brazilian athletes. The NSKQ is an Australian instrument composed of 87 questions divided into six subsections (weight control, macronutrients, micronutrients, sports nutrition, supplementation, and alcohol) designed to assess the nutritional knowledge (NK) of athletes. The translation process followed the recommendations of the World Health Organization for translating and adapting instruments. Semantic validation involved a panel of specialists (n = 21), followed by an assessment performed by a group of adult Brazilian athletes from various sports (n = 17). The reproducibility and internal consistency of the questionnaire were evaluated via a test–retest approach in a sample of adult Brazilian athletes (n = 29) from diverse sports, who completed the Brazilian version of the NSKQ (NSKQ-BR). Overall, the NSKQ-BR presented good internal consistency (α = 0.95) and reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.85). The factors “sports nutrition” and “alcohol” showed moderate reproducibility (ICC = 0.74 (0.46–0.88) and ICC = 0.68 (0.33–0.85), respectively). Most athletes (n = 17; 58.6%) presented a medium NK score (50–65%). The NSKQ-BR is available to evaluate the NK levels of Brazilian athletes. The NSKQ-BR presented high internal consistency and reproducibility, validating its applicability among adult athletes across diverse sports.

ABSTRACT: Objectives: To analyze the clinical characteristics and outcomes of admitted patients with the hospital- versus community-manifested COVID-19 and to evaluate the risk factors related to mortality in the first population. Methods: This retrospective cohort included consecutive adult patients with COVID-19, hospitalized between March and September 2020. The demographic data, clinical characteristics, and outcomes were extracted from medical records. Patients with hospital-manifested COVID-19 (study group) and those with community-manifested COVID-19 (control group) were matched by the propensity score model. Logistic regression models were used to verify the risk factors for mortality in the study group. Results: Among 7,710 hospitalized patients who had COVID-19, 7.2% developed symptoms while admitted for other reasons. Patients with hospital-manifested COVID-19 had a higher prevalence of cancer (19.2% vs 10.8%) and alcoholism (8.8% vs 2.8%) than patients with community-manifested COVID-19 and also had a higher rate of intensive care unit requirement (45.1% vs 35.2%), sepsis (23.8% vs 14.5%), and death (35.8% vs 22.5%) (P

Este estudo objetivou compreender os sentidos atribuídos por professores de um cursinho popular às suas experiências como formadores. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, de abordagem qualitativa. Quinze professores participaram. Para a coleta dos dados, um roteiro de entrevista semidirigida foi aplicado individualmente. Os dados foram organizados pela análise temática de Braun e Clarke e analisados por autores da área. Foram identificadas três categorias temáticas: (a) o saber-fazer-docente na prática formadora do professor; (b) a educação popular na democratização do ensino; e (c) a relação educando-educador: aprender para ensinar. Como resultados, percebeu-se que os professores enfrentam dificuldades na didática em sala de aula e na efetivação da política de ação afirmativa diante da lógica de “aprovações”.

Abstract The majority of early prediction scores and methods to predict COVID-19 mortality are bound by methodological flaws and technological limitations (e.g., the use of a single prediction model). Our aim is to provide a thorough comparative study that tackles those methodological issues, considering multiple techniques to build mortality prediction models, including modern machine learning (neural) algorithms and traditional statistical techniques, as well as meta-learning (ensemble) approaches. This study used a dataset from a multicenter cohort of 10,897 adult Brazilian COVID-19 patients, admitted from March/2020 to November/2021, including patients [median age 60 (interquartile range 48–71), 46% women]. We also proposed new original population-based meta-features that have not been devised in the literature. Stacking has shown to achieve the best results reported in the literature for the death prediction task, improving over previous state-of-the-art by more than 46% in Recall for predicting death, with AUROC 0.826 and MacroF1 of 65.4%. The newly proposed meta-features were highly discriminative of death, but fell short in producing large improvements in final prediction performance, demonstrating that we are possibly on the limits of the prediction capabilities that can be achieved with the current set of ML techniques and (meta-)features. Finally, we investigated how the trained models perform on different hospitals, showing that there are indeed large differences in classifier performance between different hospitals, further making the case that errors are produced by factors that cannot be modeled with the current predictors.

The academic community has witnessed a notable increase in paper publications, whereby the rapid pace at which modern society seeks information underscores the critical need for literature mapping. This study introduces an innovative automatic model for categorizing articles by subject matter using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms for classification and category labeling, alongside a proposed ranking method called SSS (Scientific Significance Score) and using Z-score to select the finest papers. This paper’s use case concerns industry productivity. The key findings include the following: (1) The Decision Tree model demonstrated superior performance with an accuracy rate of 75% in classifying articles within the productivity and industry theme. (2) Through a ranking methodology based on citation count and publication date, it identified the finest papers. (3) Recent publications with higher citation counts achieved better scores. (4) The model’s sensitivity to outliers underscores the importance of addressing database imbalances, necessitating caution during training by excluding biased categories. These findings not only advance the utilization of ML models for paper classification but also lay a foundation for further research into productivity within the industry, exploring themes such as artificial intelligence, efficiency, industry 4.0, innovation, and sustainability.

BackgroundPredicting the need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) is important for the allocation of human and technological resources, improvement of surveillance, and use of effective therapeutic measures. This study aimed (i) to assess whether the ABC2-SPH score is able to predict the receipt of IMV in COVID-19 patients; (ii) to compare its performance with other existing scores; (iii) to perform score recalibration, and to assess whether recalibration improved prediction.MethodsRetrospective observational cohort, which included adult laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted in 32 hospitals, from 14 Brazilian cities. This study was conducted in two stages: (i) for the assessment of the ABC2-SPH score and comparison with other available scores, patients hospitalized from July 31, 2020, to March 31, 2022, were included; (ii) for ABC2-SPH score recalibration and also comparison with other existing scores, patients admitted from January 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, were enrolled. For both steps, the area under the receiving operator characteristic score (AUROC) was calculated for all scores, while a calibration plot was assessed only for the ABC2-SPH score. Comparisons between ABC2-SPH and the other scores followed the Delong Test recommendations. Logistic recalibration methods were used to improve results and adapt to the studied sample.ResultsOverall, 9,350 patients were included in the study, the median age was 58.5 (IQR 47.0–69.0) years old, and 45.4% were women. Of those, 33.5% were admitted to the ICU, 25.2% received IMV, and 17.8% died. The ABC2-SPH score showed a significantly greater discriminatory capacity, than the CURB-65, STSS, and SUM scores, with potentialized results when we consider only patients younger than 80 years old (AUROC 0.714 [95% CI 0.698–0.731]). Thus, after the ABC2-SPH score recalibration, we observed improvements in calibration (slope = 1.135, intercept = 0.242) and overall performance (Brier score = 0.127).ConclusionThe ABC2-SPHr risk score demonstrated a good performance to predict the need for mechanical ventilation in COVID-19 hospitalized patients under 80 years of age.

Resumo Fundamento Apesar da ausência de evidência mostrando benefícios da hidroxicloroquina e da cloroquina combinadas ou não à azitromicina no tratamento da covid-19, esses medicamentos têm sido amplamente prescritos no Brasil. Objetivos Avaliar desfechos, incluindo moralidade hospitalar, alterações eletrocardiográficas, tempo de internação, admissão na unidade de terapia intensiva, e necessidade de diálise e de ventilação mecânica em pacientes hospitalizados com covid-19 que receberam cloroquina ou hidroxicloroquina, e comparar os desfechos entre aqueles pacientes e seus controles pareados. Métodos Estudo multicêntrico retrospectivo do tipo coorte que incluiu pacientes com diagnóstico laboratorial de covid-19 de 37 hospitais no Brasil de março a setembro de 2020. Escore de propensão foi usado para selecionar controles pareados quanto a idade, sexo, comorbidades cardiovasculares, e uso de corticosteroides durante a internação. Um valor de p

The objective of this study is to evaluate the mechanical strength of raised floor systems with ceramic coatings. The raised floor prototypes are made of three types of ceramic tiles, two of which have a dimension of 60 × 60 cm and one has a dimension of 60 × 120 cm. Instrumentation is performed by attaching the strain gauges to the surface of the ceramic tiles. The raised floor prototypes are subjected to vertical compression loads until visible cracks appear on the surface of the ceramic tiles, and the resistance to system rupture is evaluated by analyzing their deformations. The results indicate that the load application position interferes with the resistive ability of the systems. Systems with plates having low water absorption and high thickness yield high breaking loads, which can be considered as the determining factors for outdoor applications of raised floor systems.

Abstract Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is frequently associated with COVID-19, and the need for kidney replacement therapy (KRT) is considered an indicator of disease severity. This study aimed to develop a prognostic score for predicting the need for KRT in hospitalised COVID-19 patients, and to assess the incidence of AKI and KRT requirement. Methods This study is part of a multicentre cohort, the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry. A total of 5212 adult COVID-19 patients were included between March/2020 and September/2020. Variable selection was performed using generalised additive models (GAM), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was used for score derivation. Accuracy was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC). Results The median age of the model-derivation cohort was 59 (IQR 47–70) years, 54.5% were men, 34.3% required ICU admission, 20.9% evolved with AKI, 9.3% required KRT, and 15.1% died during hospitalisation. The temporal validation cohort had similar age, sex, ICU admission, AKI, required KRT distribution and in-hospital mortality. The geographic validation cohort had similar age and sex; however, this cohort had higher rates of ICU admission, AKI, need for KRT and in-hospital mortality. Four predictors of the need for KRT were identified using GAM: need for mechanical ventilation, male sex, higher creatinine at hospital presentation and diabetes. The MMCD score had excellent discrimination in derivation (AUROC 0.929, 95% CI 0.918–0.939) and validation (temporal AUROC 0.927, 95% CI 0.911–0.941; geographic AUROC 0.819, 95% CI 0.792–0.845) cohorts and good overall performance (Brier score: 0.057, 0.056 and 0.122, respectively). The score is implemented in a freely available online risk calculator ( https://www.mmcdscore.com/ ). Conclusions The use of the MMCD score to predict the need for KRT may assist healthcare workers in identifying hospitalised COVID-19 patients who may require more intensive monitoring, and can be useful for resource allocation.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate characteristics of the testicular parenchyma and vascular parameters of the pampiniform plexus obtained by ultrasound, semen quality parameters, and sperm freezability in Nellore bulls classified based on residual feed intake (RFI). Twenty-seven bulls (21.82±0.88 months of age) evaluated for feed efficiency were sampled for the study, including 15 with low RFI (−0.592±0.09 kg dry matter/day) and 12 with high RFI (0.792±0.10 kg dry matter/day). In ultrasound and Doppler assessment, the most efficient animals (low RFI) showed higher pulsatility and resistive indexes, as well as a tendency towards greater heterogeneity of the testicular parenchyma (0.625±0.032 vs. 0.508±0.032, 1.012±0.072 vs. 0.802±0.072, and 12.9±0.96 vs. 10.2±0.96, respectively, for low vs. high RFI). However, these animals tended to have lower peak diastolic velocity (5.19±0.50 for low RFI vs. 6.54±0.50 for high RFI). Analysis of fresh semen showed a lower percentage of minor defects in low RFI animals (2.67±1.19%) compared with high RFI animals (8.10±1.19%), without differences in the other parameters in fresh or thawed semen and after thermoresistance testing. Evaluation of flow cytometry parameters showed a higher quality of mitochondrial respiration in semen samples of low RFI animals (22.04±2.50%) compared with high RFI animals (12.29±2.71%). Therefore, although RFI exerts an effect on the Doppler parameters of the pampiniform plexus, it is not sufficient to affect the quality of fresh or thawed semen.

Background: It is not clear whether previous thyroid diseases influence the course and outcomes of COVID-19. Methods: The study is a part of a multicentric cohort of patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis from 37 hospitals. Matching for age, sex, number of comorbidities, and hospital was performed for the paired analysis. Results: Of 7,762 patients with COVID-19, 526 had previously diagnosed hypothyroidism and 526 were matched controls. The median age was 70 years, and 68.3% were females. The prevalence of comorbidities was similar, except for coronary and chronic kidney diseases that were higher in the hypothyroidism group (p=0.015 and p=0.001). D-dimer levels were lower in patients with hypothyroid (p=0.037). In-hospital management was similar, but hospital length-of-stay (p=0.029) and mechanical ventilation requirement (p=0.006) were lower for patients with hypothyroidism. There was a trend of lower in-hospital mortality in patients with hypothyroidism (22.1% vs 27.0%; p=0.062). Conclusion: Patients with hypothyroidism had a lower requirement of mechanical ventilation and showed a trend of lower in-hospital mortality. Therefore, hypothyroidism does not seem to be associated with a worse prognosis.

Resumo Fundamento As complicações cardiovasculares da COVID-19 são aspectos importantes da patogênese e do prognóstico da doença. Evidências do papel prognóstico da troponina e da lesão miocárdica em pacientes hospitalizados com COVID-19 na América Latina são ainda escassos. Objetivos Avaliar a lesão miocárdica como preditor independente de mortalidade hospitalar e suporte ventilatório mecânico em pacientes hospitalizados, do registro brasileiro de COVID-19. Métodos Este estudo coorte é um subestudo do registro brasileiro de COVID-19, conduzido em 31 hospitais brasileiros de 17 cidades, de março a setembro de 2020. Os desfechos primários incluíram mortalidade hospitalar e suporte ventilatório mecânico invasivo. Os modelos para os desfechos primários foram estimados por regressão de Poisson com variância robusta, com significância estatística de p

The conservative surgery for impalpable breast cancer requires an intraoperative localization method that guides the identification and correct excision of the lesion. The aim of this study is to comparatively analyze two intraoperative breast localization technologies, wire guided localization (WGL) and radioactive seed localization (RSL), regarding their surgical efficacy through the outcomes of surgical margins, intraoperative re-excision, reoperation and recurrence. To this end, a systematic search was realized in databases for clinical trials that match with the study eligibility criteria. The selected studies were evaluated for their methodological quality; the data were then collected and quantitatively synthesized. The results comprised thirty-eight studies that match the eligibility criteria. The main outcomes reported demonstrating that the RSL is at least equivalent to the WGL in efficiency rates. These results confirm the method applicability for impalpable breast lesions surgery in an effective way, in addition to presenting organizational optimization of radiology and surgery services by allowing the surgery to be performed up to two months after seed implantation.

Abstract Chagas disease (CD) continues to be a major public health burden in Latina America. Information on the interplay between COVID-19 and CD is lacking. Our aim was to assess clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients with CD and COVID-19, and to compare it to non-CD patients. Consecutive patients with confirmed COVID-19 were included from March to September 2020. Genetic matching for sex, age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hospital was performed in a 4:1 ratio. Of the 7018 patients who had confirmed COVID-19, 31 patients with CD and 124 matched controls were included (median age 72 (64–80) years-old, 44.5% were male). At baseline, heart failure (25.8% vs. 9.7%) and atrial fibrillation (29.0% vs. 5.6%) were more frequent in CD patients than in the controls (p

A gestação é um período marcado por muitas mudanças na vida da mulher, tendo o contexto de vulnerabilidade social associado a alterações emocionais, assim como a falta de planejamento da gestação. O objetivo deste trabalho é relatar a vivência de uma acadêmica de psicologia no ambulatório de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia, além de sinalizar as condições emocionais das gestantes. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, tipo relato de experiência, realizado nos acompanhamentos de consultas de pré-natal às gestantes em situação de vulnerabilidade social em um hospital geral de ensino na cidade de Uberaba, MG. Os resultados mostram um alto índice de gravidezes não planejadas, além de dúvidas, medos e preocupações. Conclui-se que é essencial um acompanhamento psicológico efetivo às futuras mães durante as consultas de pré-natal, bem como, uma estruturação do atendimento psicológico no hospital, posto que este atendimento foi inédito no referido ambulatório.

Objectives: To describe the clinical characteristics, laboratory results, imaging findings, and in-hospital outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted to Brazilian hospitals. Methods: A cohort study of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized from March 2020 to September 2020 in 25 hospitals. Data were collected from medical records using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) tools. A multivariate Poisson regression model was used to assess the risk factors for in-hospital mortality. Results: For a total of 2,054 patients (52.6% male; median age of 58 years), the in-hospital mortality was 22.0%; this rose to 47.6% for those treated in the intensive care unit (ICU). Hypertension (52.9%), diabetes (29.2%), and obesity (17.2%) were the most prevalent comorbidities. Overall, 32.5% required invasive mechanical ventilation, and 12.1% required kidney replacement therapy. Septic shock was observed in 15.0%, nosocomial infection in 13.1%, thromboembolism in 4.1%, and acute heart failure in 3.6%. Age >= 65 years, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, C-reactive protein ≥ 100 mg/dL, platelet count < 100 × 109/L, oxygen saturation < 90%, the need for supplemental oxygen, and invasive mechanical ventilation at admission were independently associated with a higher risk of in-hospital mortality. The overall use of antimicrobials was 87.9%. Conclusions: This study reveals the characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Brazil. Certain easily assessed parameters at hospital admission were independently associated with a higher risk of death. The high frequency of antibiotic use points to an over-use of antimicrobials in COVID-19 patients.

ABSTRACT Objective: To implement one analysis method of the ankle bone contour that could make a more precise ankle arthrodesis. Methods: Twenty tomographies were submitted to 3D reconstruction. Seven points of anatomic interest for ankle arthrodesis with the three screws technique were marked with a triplannar marker. The median of the position of markers was estimated, and the union of the seven median points allow the construction of one median ankle for that population. Using this median ankle, sizes and angles for the screws position were determined. Results: Two median ankles were reconstructed, left and right. The position of the screw passage were determined considering the anatomical parameters. In the right ankle the lateral to medial screw should enter 4.56 cm and 0.79 above and posterior to lateral malleolus, with one inclination of 17.34° in relation to tibial longitudinal axis; and 0° in relation to tibial axial plane. The position for the other two screws is also described. Conclusion: Our article is the first to presents one precise guide for ankle arthrodesis based on a populational assessment. Level of evidence II, Diagnostic Studies.

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the ability of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging at 3 Tesla to measure tissue oxygen bioavailability based on R2* values, and to differentiate between acute tubular necrosis and acute rejection compared to renal biopsy (gold standard). Methods A prospective, single-center study, with patients submitted to renal transplantation between 2013 and 2014, who developed graft dysfunction less than 4 weeks after transplantation. All patients were submitted to abdominal magnetic resonance imaging at 3 Tesla using the same protocol, followed by two BOLD sequences and kidney biopsy. Results Twelve male (68.75%) and three female (31.25%) patients were included. A total of 19 percutaneous renal biopsies were performed (four patients required a second biopsy due to changes in clinical findings). Pathological findings revealed ten cases of acute tubular necrosis, four cases of acute rejection, and five cases with other (miscellaneous) diagnoses. Comparison between the four groups of interest failed to reveal significant differences (p=0.177) in cortical R2* values, whereas medullary R2* values differed significantly (p=0.033), with lower values in the miscellaneous diagnoses and the acute tubular necrosis group. Conclusion BOLD magnetic resonance imaging at 3 Tesla is a feasible technique that uses indirect tissue oxygen level measurements to differentiate between acute rejection and acute tubular necrosis in renal grafts.

The use of extensive questionnaires has the limitation of filling time bias, related to the ability to focus and accurately respond to many items, justifying the necessity for a brief version. This study aimed to build a brief version of the Caffeine Expectancy Questionnaire in Brazil (B-CaffEQ-BR) composed of 21 items divided into seven factors, with as adequate consistency and reproducibility as the full version. Quantitative procedures using statistical modeling were applied using the CaffEQ-BR (full version) database keeping the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) (based on the full version)

This study investigated the ability of the Brazilian Caffeine Expectancy Questionnaire (CaffEQ-BR), full and brief versions, to differentiate genetic profiles regarding the polymorphisms of the CYP1A2 (rs 762551) and ADORA2A (rs 5751876) genes in a cohort of Brazilian athletes. One-hundred and fifty participants were genotyped for CYP1A2 and ADORA2A. After the recruitment and selection phase, 71 (90% male and 10% female, regular caffeine consumers) completed the CaffEQ-BR questionnaires and a self-report online questionnaire concerning sociodemographic data, general health status, and frequency of caffeine consumption. The order of completion of the CaffEQ-BR questionnaires was counterbalanced. The concordance between the full and brief versions of the CaffEQ-BR was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). To determine the discriminatory capacity of the questionnaires for genotype, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied for sensitivity and specificity (significance level of 5%). Mean caffeine intake was 244 ± 161 mg·day−1. The frequency of AA genotypes for CYP1A2 was 47.9% (n = 34) and 52.1% (n = 37) for C-allele carriers (AC and CC). The frequencies of TT genotypes for ADORA2A were 22.7% (n = 15) and 77.3% (n = 51) for C-allele carriers (TC and CC). All CaffEQ-BR factors, for the full and brief versions, were ICCs > 0.75, except for factor 6 (anxiety/negative effects; ICC = 0.60), and presented ROC curve values from 0.464 to 0.624 and 0.443 to 0.575 for CYP1A2 and ADORA2A. Overall, the CaffEQ-BR (full and brief versions) did not show discriminatory capacity for CYP1A2 and ADORA2A gene polymorphisms. In conclusion, the CaffEQ-BR was not able to differentiate genotypes for the CYP1A2 or ADORA2A genes in this group of Brazilian athletes.

ObjectiveTo evaluate factors related to liver graft survival with a focus on immunosuppressive schemes based on calcineurin inhibitors (tacrolimus or cyclosporine).MethodologyThis study was carried out through an open cohort constructed by deterministic and probabilistic matching through three databases of the SUS with assessment of liver graft survival from 2000 to 2015 in Brazil. From this first cohort, a second cohort was constructed by pairing 1: 1 to more precisely assess the effect of the immunosuppressive scheme on graft survival. The Kaplan-Meier method and was used to estimate the probability of survival. Cox’s model of proportional risks was used to assess factors related to graft loss.ResultWe found 12,687 patients in the Full cohort and 470 patients in the Matched cohort. The overall graft survival rates at 1, 5, 10, and 16 years were 72.6, 63.3, 52.8, and 45.3%, respectively. Patients younger had a longer graft survival than older ones. In the Full cohort, male patients had a higher survival rate than female ones. Therapeutic schemes based on tacrolimus were more prevalent and had a better survival rate when compared to schemes that used cyclosporine. Tacrolimus without association with antiproliferative agents or rapamycin inhibitors was the therapeutic scheme associated with greater survival rate in both cohorts (HR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.72–0.91), (HR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.30–0.85). In addition, white-skinned patients had longer survival rate in both cohorts (HR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.50–0.61 and HR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.34–0.75). On the other hand, patients who a greater time ratio without using an immunosuppressant had lower graft survival rate (HR = 6.46, 95% CI = 5.05–8.27 and HR = 6.57, 95% CI = 2.66–16.22).ConclusionThis 16-year cohort showed that the older age and the greater time ratio without using an immunosuppressant are risk factors for liver graft loss. White-skinned patients and tacrolimus-based regimens, especially tacrolimus without other immunosuppressants, are factors of better prognosis to the graft.

Estudos epidemiológicos têm documentado importantes e significativos benefícios da dieta vegetariana para a saúde humana, desde que bem equilibrada. É consistentemente observado um IMC médio mais baixo nos vegetarianos do que nos onívoros. O objetivo do presente estudo é avaliar e comparar o estado nutricional e nível de atividade física de vegetarianos, veganos e onívoros do Distrito Federal. Trata-se de um estudo observacional transversal, foram incluídos 36 vegetarianos e 47 onívoros de ambos os sexos e com faixa etária de 18 a 45 anos, o nível de atividade física foi avaliado por meio do Questionário Internacional de Atividade Física (IPAQ) e a avaliação do estado nutricional por meio do Índice de Massa Corporal (IMC), para a coleta de dados sobre a alimentação, foi utilizada uma adaptação do questionário sobre alimentação saudável proposto pelo Ministério da Saúde “Como está sua alimentação?”. Em relação à idade, os onívoros foram os indivíduos mais jovens da amostra, e os veganos os mais velhos, o que pode sugerir que a mudança na alimentação acontece conforme idade. Por se tratar de uma pesquisa realizada por meio de questionário online, não sendo realizada com a presença do avaliador, apresentou limitações. Foi possível observar que vegetarianos e veganos possuem hábitos alimentares mais saudáveis em relação aos onívoros. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas no estado nutricional e no nível de atividade física entre vegetarianos e onívoros. ABSTRACT Nutritional status and level of physical activity of vegetarians and omnivorous of the federal district Epidemiological studies have documented significant benefits of the vegetarian diet for human health as long as well balanced. Consistently lower mean BMI is observed in vegetarians than in omnivores. The objective of the present study is to evaluate and compare the nutritional status and level of physical activity of vegetarians, vegans and omnivores of the Federal District. This was a cross-sectional observational study, 36 vegetarians and 47 omnivores of both sexes and 18 to 45 year olds were included. The level of physical activity was assessed through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and nutritional status evaluation by means of the Body Mass Index (BMI), to collect data on diet, an adaptation of the questionnaire on healthy eating proposed by the Ministry of Health "How is your diet?" was used. Regarding age, the omnivores were the youngest individuals in the sample, and the older vegans, which may suggest that the change in feeding happens as they age. As it was a questionnaire conducted online, and it was not performed with the presence of the evaluator, it presented limitations. It was observed that vegetarians and vegans have healthier eating habits than omnivores. No significant differences were found in the nutritional status and level of physical activity between vegetarians and omnivores.

Partindo da crítica aos conceitos de “independente” e “alternativo” no campo de produção do design gráfico editorial, o artigo defende o uso do termo/prefixo “auto” (como em “auto-publicação”). Exemplificando com projetos desenvolvidos ao longo da trajetória do designer e autor, e procurando antecedentes históricos e bibliográficos, é construída uma defesa do entendimento da ação autônoma como um dispositivo de expansão das estratégias e atuações políticas e sociais no trabalho de design gráfico.

Aim: To evaluate the performance of three digital radiographic systems in the analysis of root canal filling quality using different intracanal materials for primary teeth. Methods: Twenty-five bovine teeth were divided into 5 groups: Calen® combined with iodoform; Calen® combined with zinc oxide; zinc oxide and eugenol; UltraCal®XS, and 2% chlorhexidine combined with Ca(OH)2 + zinc oxide. Periapical radiographs were obtained with the VistaScan, Express, and SnapShot systems. The quality of the images was evaluated objectively (radiopacity) and subjectively (apical sealing and filling homogeneity). As the reference standard, the teeth were scanned with a micro-CT device. Results: Radiopacity differed among the radiographic systems and materials tested. In general, the greatest difference was observed between the Express and VistaScan systems; Calen® combined with iodoform resulted in the highest radiopacity. The radiographic systems did not differ in terms of homogeneity. However, Calen® combined with iodoform differed from the other materials and exhibited the best results. Regarding apical sealing, the SnapShot system and Calen® combined with zinc oxide provided the best results. Conclusion: Direct digital systems show better performance in evaluating the quality of endodontic treatment in primary teeth and should be preferred for this purpose.

Breeding soundness examination allows evaluating characteristics indicative of male fertility. However, these characteristics can differ between breeds. The aim of the present study was to compare the scrotal biometry, ultrasonographic attributes of testicles and seminal characteristics of Nellore and Caracu bulls. The measurements were performed at the Institute of Zootechnics, located in the city of Sertãozinho, SP, from October 2016 to January 2017. Seventy-one mature bulls were grouped according to breed: (1) Nellore animals (n=46, 32.06 ± 9.53 months old, 633.24 ± 132.80 Kg); (2) Caracu animals (n=25, 25.80 ± 4.24 months old, 579.92 ± 107.66 Kg). The B-mode ultrasonographic evaluation of the testicles was performed using a portable scanner (Mindray Z5®, Shenzhen, China) connected to a 7.5-MHz linear transrectal transducer. The ultrasound images were analyzed by Image Pro Plus 7.0™ software (Media Cybernetics Inc., San Diego, CA, USA), to determine mean numerical pixel values (NPVs) and pixel heterogeneity (standard deviation of NPVs) of the testicular parenchyma. The scrotal circumference (SC) was obtained using a tape measure and the testicular volume (TVol) was obtained by the formula: 2 {(R2) x π x TL}, where R= radius (diameter/2), TL = testicular length and π = 3.14. The computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) evaluated: total motility (%TM); progressive motility (%PM) and rapid cells (RAP). The vigor (VIG) was evaluated by optical microscopy, and the sperm concentration (CONC) was obtained by an SDM-1 photometer (Minitub®, Germany). Sperm morphology was analyzed using a phase-contrast microscopy to determine the major, minor and total defects. The ultrasonographic attribute data were analyzed using the GLM procedure, while the scrotal biometry and seminal characteristics were analyzed using the GENMOD procedure (P

Lipids in the sperm plasma membrane can influence the success of cryopreservation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frozen semen quality of Nelore bulls supplemented with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Semen samples of 12 Nellore bulls (521.4 kg ± 11.4 kg) with 24 months average age were used. Bulls were kept in pasture of Brachiaria brizantha cv Marandu, with protein mineral salt and water ad libitum, and were supplemented from 14 to 24 months of age according to the groups: group 1 (G1, n=6) supplemented with PUFAs (Megalac-E®) and group 2 (G2, n=6) had no PUFAs supplementation. At 24 months of age, semen collection was performed by eletroejaculation. The semen was diluted in BotuBov® (7% glycerol) and loaded at room temperature into 0.5 mL straws (concentration 50 x 106 spermatozoa/mL). For cooling and freezing curves (0.25 °C/min to 5 °C, equilibration time at 5 °C for 4 hours, and -20 °C/min), a programmable semen cryopreservation system (Tetakon, TK 4000) was used, and after freezing the straws were stored in liquid nitrogen (-196 °C). The straws were thawed in a water bath at 37 ºC for 30 seconds and the post-thaw evaluations were performed by computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) . The evaluated parameters were: total motility (MT; %), progressive motility (MP; %), rapid cells (RAP; %), average path velocity (VAP; μm s), straight-line velocity (VSL; μm s), curvilinear velocity (VCL; μm s), amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH; μm), beat cross frequency (BCF; Hz), straightness (STR; %) and linearity (LIN; %). For statistical analysis the UNIVARIATE procedure of SAS ® was performed. No differences were observed for frozen sperm quality parameters between G1 and G2: MT (74.66 ± 3.04 vs. 76 ± 3.04, P = 0.76), MP(59.00 ± .,57 vs. 60.16 ± 2.57, P = 0.75), RAP (75.75 ± 3.18 vs. 72.66 ± 3.18, P = 0.84), VAP (91.00 ± 3.92 vs. 90.20 ± 3.92, P = 0.88), VSL(75.25 ± 2.73 vs. 74.77 ± 2.73, P = 0.90), VCL (148.76 ± 7.40 vs. 147.64 ± 7.40, P = 0.91), ALH (5.90 ± 0.26 vs. 5.92 ± 0.26, P = 0.96), BCF (27.44 ± 0.84 vs. 29.58 ± 0.84, P = 0.08), STR (83.91 ± 0.92 vs. 84.16 ± 0.92, P = 0.85) and LIN (54.08 ± 1.10 vs. 54.08 ± 1.10, P = 1). The supplementation of bulls with PUFAs does not improve the quality of frozen semen evaluated by sperm kinetics parameters using CASA.

Lipids in the sperm plasma membrane can influence the success of cryopreservation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frozen semen quality of Nelore bulls supplemented with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Semen samples of 12 Nellore bulls (521.4 kg ± 11.4 kg) with 24 months average age were used. Bulls were kept in pasture of Brachiaria brizantha cv Marandu, with protein mineral salt and water ad libitum, and were supplemented from 14 to 24 months of age according to the groups: group 1 (G1, n=6) supplemented with PUFAs (Megalac-E®) and group 2 (G2, n=6) had no PUFAs supplementation. At 24 months of age, semen collection was performed by eletroejaculation. The semen was diluted in BotuBov® (7% glycerol) and loaded at room temperature into 0.5 mL straws (concentration 50 x 106 spermatozoa/mL). For cooling and freezing curves (0.25 °C/min to 5 °C, equilibration time at 5 °C for 4 hours, and -20 °C/min), a programmable semen cryopreservation system (Tetakon, TK 4000) was used, and after freezing the straws were stored in liquid nitrogen (-196 °C). The straws were thawed in a water bath at 37 ºC for 30 seconds and the post-thaw evaluations were performed by computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) . The evaluated parameters were: total motility (MT; %), progressive motility (MP; %), rapid cells (RAP; %), average path velocity (VAP; μm s), straight-line velocity (VSL; μm s), curvilinear velocity (VCL; μm s), amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH; μm), beat cross frequency (BCF; Hz), straightness (STR; %) and linearity (LIN; %). For statistical analysis the UNIVARIATE procedure of SAS ® was performed. No differences were observed for frozen sperm quality parameters between G1 and G2: MT (74.66 ± 3.04 vs. 76 ± 3.04, P = 0.76), MP(59.00 ± .,57 vs. 60.16 ± 2.57, P = 0.75), RAP (75.75 ± 3.18 vs. 72.66 ± 3.18, P = 0.84), VAP (91.00 ± 3.92 vs. 90.20 ± 3.92, P = 0.88), VSL(75.25 ± 2.73 vs. 74.77 ± 2.73, P = 0.90), VCL (148.76 ± 7.40 vs. 147.64 ± 7.40, P = 0.91), ALH (5.90 ± 0.26 vs. 5.92 ± 0.26, P = 0.96), BCF (27.44 ± 0.84 vs. 29.58 ± 0.84, P = 0.08), STR (83.91 ± 0.92 vs. 84.16 ± 0.92, P = 0.85) and LIN (54.08 ± 1.10 vs. 54.08 ± 1.10, P = 1). The supplementation of bulls with PUFAs does not improve the quality of frozen semen evaluated by sperm kinetics parameters using CASA.

Este artigo analisa as estratégias e a dinâmica de influência entre as comunidades de muçulmanos e baneanes em Moçambique através do estudo da legislação sobre a posse de escravos entre 1727 e 1752. Mostram-se indícios dos motivadores Índicos para a elaboração desta legislação e para sua revisão e questionamento – sobretudo um temor pela influência omanita em Moçambique –, concluindo-se pela compatibilidade da importância dos comerciantes muçulmanos e baneanes em suas reivindicações, a dependência econômica do papel destes pela esfera portuguesa, e a pouca eficácia na aplicação destas leis mesmo em locais onde a presença administrativa lusitana seria marcante, como era o caso da Ilha de Moçambique.

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films are amorphous metastable carbon form that provide interesting mechanical and tribological properties. The role of film thickness influence upon wear and mechanical properties is of interest and not yet fully reported. In this study, two samples of previously plasma nitrocarburized, quenched and tempered H13 steel were duplex treated. First, a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chromium nitride (CrN) layer was applied, followed by a top final diamond-like carbon layer applied by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). To evaluate thicknesses influence on mechanical and wear properties of coatings, samples were treated using two different thicknesses of both layers. In this study, the thickest CrN and DLC case presented higher hardness and better tribological properties, however, its failure occurs in brittle fashion.

Caffeine is the world’s most commonly used stimulant of the central nervous system. Caffeine is present in coffee and other beverages such as tea, soft drinks, and cocoa-based foods. The caffeine expectancy questionnaire was developed to investigate the effects of caffeine expectations and thus contribute to knowledge about its usage and subjective effects (response expectancies). This study aimed to evaluate caffeine expectation psychometrically in a sample of the Brazilian population. The original version of the “Caffeine Expectancy Questionnaire (CaffEQ)” was translated and validated into Brazilian-Portuguese and adapted to Brazilian culture to be used in the Brazilian adult (19–59 y) population. After the translation and back-translation processes of the original CaffEQ questionnaire, the content and semantic validation were performed by a group of experts. The Brazilian-Portuguese version of the questionnaire consists of 47 items, in seven factors, which assess subjective perceptions about the effects of caffeine. Interobserver reproducibility and internal consistency of the questionnaire were tested with a convenience sample (n = 50) of Brazilian adult consumers of caffeine sources, who completed the Brazilian CaffEQ (CaffEQ-BR) on two occasions separated by 24 h. All of the 47 questions were adequate regarding reliability, clarity, and comprehension. Psychometric properties could be replicated consistently. Appropriate internal consistency and validation were confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha (α) 0.948, and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.976 was observed. The CaffEQ-BR was applied using a web-based platform to a convenience sample of Brazilian adults from all 27 Brazilian states (n = 4202 participants), along with measures of sociodemographic and caffeine consumption data. Factor validity was verified by confirmatory factor analysis. The seven factors presented a good fit for Root Mean Square Error of Approximation—RMSEA = 0.0332 (95% CI: 0.0290–0.0375). By confirming the validity and reliability of CaffEQ-BR, a useful tool is now available to assess caffeine expectations in the Brazilian adult population.

Background/Aims: Thyroid hormone (TH) signalling is critical for heart function. The heart expresses thyroid hormone receptors (THRs); THRα1 and THRβ1. We aimed to investigate the regulation mechanisms of the THRβ isoform, its association with gene expression changes and implications for cardiac function. Methods: The experiments were performed using adult male mice expressing TRβΔ337T, which contains the Δ337T mutation of the human THRB gene and impairs ligand binding. Cardiac function and RNA expression were studied after hypo-or hyperthyroidism inductions. T3-induced cardiac hypertrophy was not observed in TRβΔ337T mice, showing the fundamental role of THRβ in cardiac hypertrophy. Results: We identified a group of independently regulated THRβ genes, which includes Adrb2, Myh7 and Hcn2 that were normally regulated by T3 in the TRβΔ337T group. However, Adrb1, Myh6 and Atp2a2 were regulated via THRβ. The TRβΔ337T mice exhibited a contractile deficit, decreased ejection fraction and stroke volume, as assessed by echocardiography. In our model, miR-208a and miR-199a may contribute to THRβ-mediated cardiac hypertrophy, as indicated by the absence of T3-regulated ventricular expression in TRβΔ337T mice. Conclusion: THRβ has important role in the regulation of specific mRNA and miRNA in T3-induced cardiac hypertrophic growth and in the alteration of heart functions.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeding primiparous Nellore cows supplements rich in protected or unprotected linoleic (n-6) and linolenic (n-3) acids before and after calving on the number of follicles, total number of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) collected by aspiration (OPU) and oocytes suitable for culture (grades I, II and III), and in vitro embryo production (IVEP). The donor cows were randomly divided into three groups: control (n=7), Megalac-E® (n=8; 100 g/donor/day), and flaxseed (n=7; 1.0 kg/donor/day). The diets were offered at least 30 days precalving and 75 days postcalving. The animals were submitted to OPU on postcalving days 30, 45, 60 and 75. Recovered oocytes were selected and those considered suitable for culture were submitted to the IVEP procedures. The data were analyzed using a completely randomized design with repeated measures over time. There was no effect of supplementation on the number of follicles, the number of recovered COCs and those suitable for culture, or IVEP. However, the rate of oocytes suitable for culture recovered by OPU was higher on postcalving days 60 and 75 when compared to days 30 and 45. Additionally, the rate of embryos produced in vitro increased after postcalving day 45. In conclusion, pre- and postcalving supplementation with 100 g/day Megalac-E® or 1.0 kg/day flaxseed does not alter the number of oocytes obtained in vivo or IVEP rates of lactating primiparous Nellore donor cows. However, IVEP improves when the programs are carried out 45 days after calving.

A preservação da qualidade ambiental, apesar de ser um princípio de reconhecimento universal, a agressão ao ambiente é uma realidade que provoca danos de difícil reparação ao próprio e à saúde humana. Na Declaração do Rio, fruto da Conferência Rio-92, apresenta-se a proposta de utilização do Princípio da Precaução - que é aplicado em muitos estudos atuais, - como instrumento antecipatório da prevenção na avaliação do impacto ambiental. Este artigo discorre sobre o uso do Princípio da Precaução para os estudos de impacto à saúde, na incerteza da licitude da atividade desenvolvida, e da necessária dose, tempo de exposição, da causa única ou da multicausalidade das doenças que podem ocorrer devido à alteração ambiental.

The supplementation of dairy cattle with sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) can be use to increase the energy level of the diet in addition to having positive effects on reproductive functions of important tissues including the hypothalamus, pituitary, ovaries and uterus. The aims of this study were to evaluate the reproductive conditions of the postpartum, number of follicles, corpus luteum (CL) presence, concentration of progesterone (P4), aspirated oocytes, amount of viable oocytes and in vitro production of embryos (IVPE) of the Holstein multiparous donors supplemented with rich diet in protected PUFA (especially linoleic acid - n- 6) and non-protected (especially linolenic acid - n-3) during pre and post partum. The diets had been given for pre-partum during 30 d and post partum 60 d. The donors were divided into three groups: Control (n=6), Megalac-E® (n=5; supplemented with protected fat source 100 g/donor/ day in pre-partum and 300 g/donor/day in postpartum) and linseed (n=5; supplemented with fat source unprotected containing 1 kg/donor/day pre-partum and 1.5 kg/donor/day in postpartum). The animals were submitted to ovum pick-up (OPU) on days 30, 45 and 60 d postpartum. The recovered oocytes were selected and the viable ones were submitted to IVPE procedures. The data were analyzed by the method of least squares variance using the GLM protocol. The differences between averages were compared by Tukey test with 5% significance. There was no detectable effect of treatment, aspirations of postpartum days and interactions on variables: CL presence, concentration of P4, amount of viable oocytes, viable oocytes rate, IVPE and embryos production rate. However, was observed in the group supplemented with linseed more follicles and total oocytes than Megalac-E® and Control group. Supplementation with PUFA didn't increase the number of viable oocytes and IVPE.

Diastemas among maxillary incisors and gingival contour disharmony are common findings among patients in dental practice. Ceramic veneers are indicated for esthetic rehabilitation of anterior diastemas due their predictable results, optical characteristics, fracture resistance and tooth structure conservation. However, because it is a friable material and have a brittle behavior, fractures occurrences are related to trauma, oclusal overload, parafunctional habits and material fatigue. This article describes 30 months follow-up of an esthetic and functional rehabilitation diastemas closure using feldspathic veneers associated with periodontal surgery and a ceramic repair with composite resin. Gingivectomy and frenectomy needs were found and the surgical procedures performed guided by new anatomic aspects of the crowns. Mock-up was performed after waxing and reverse planning. All anterior teeth underwent minimally invasive preparation. Feldspathic ceramic veneers were made, tried using try in paste and luted with light-cure resin cement. After 24 months, a fracture occurred on the right maxillary canine veneer. The ceramic restoration repair was performed with nano-hybrid composite resin, after the conditioning with 5% hydrofluoric acid, 37% phosphoric acid and silane couple agent. The combination between ceramic veneers and gingivectomy enables to obtain conservative treatments and esthetic success. After six months of the repair, resulting 30 months of follow-up, the anterior restorations were aesthetically and functionally satisfactory.

The objective of this clinical study was to determine the effect of adding desensitizing agents in homemade experimental whitening gel Carbamide peroxide 16%. 60 young patients were selected (between 18-28 years), who used randomly (by lottery) the whitening gel DA (with desensitizing agent) or whitening gel CO (without desensitizing agent) characterized as control of a double-blind study, ie the patient and the evaluator did not know the product that was being used. Teeth 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 were bleached. The guidelines of how to apply the bleaching agents were performed by an experienced and calibrated team, and the application accompanied by examiners in several phases. To measure the color we used a Visual Range Vita Classical through visual inspection by the evaluators and patient information. A comparative test regarding each individual stimulation caused by mechanical attrition and thermal probe with clinical test was done (air syringe) in order to verify the presence of sensitivity in three phases: before treatment, after 7 and 14 days. Data were collected using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) adapted to four criteria: no pain, mild pain, moderate pain and severe pain. The correlation of the data x teeth sensitivity were obtained separately, and tabulated for further comparative analysis. The results showed that there was no difference between the groups in terms of bleaching effect. In the post-operative sensitivity test, the subjects who used the product without desensitizing showed higher levels of sensitivity in different types of teeth, regardless of sex or age. It was concluded that the addition of desensitizing agent in the carbamide peroxide 16% whitening gel produced less post-bleaching sensitivity index. We emphasize that from the teeth evaluated, the premolars showed higher sensitivity index, followed by the canines and incisors. There was no difference in the bleaching capacity of the products used, demonstrating that the addition of desensitizing did not affect the efficacy of the treatment.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of castration on cell death rate of the adult rat prostates and to evaluate the benefic action of alpha tocopherol supplementation to avoid apoptosis post-orchiectomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty male Wistar rats weighing 250-300g were divided into three groups: group I - they were subjected to bilateral orchiectomy and sacrificed eight weeks after the procedure; group II - subjected to bilateral orchiectomy and alpha-tocopherol supplementation for four weeks preceding the procedure; and group III - subjected to bilateral orchiectomy and alpha-tocopherol supplementation for four weeks preceding the procedure and for eight weeks afterwards. At the end of the experiment, the prostatectomy was performed in all rats. The presence of oxidative stress was determined by assaying the blood level of 8-isoprostane and the occurrence of apoptosis was evaluated by identification of active caspase-3 through immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: The statistic analysis of active caspase-3 showed that in the long-term castrated group the detection was higher than in groups were the alpha-tocopherol was supplemented (p=0.007). Analysis of 8-isoprostane levels showed higher concentrations of reactive oxygen species in group I compared to other groups (p

O presente estudo pretende analisar a produção científica em turismo no Brasil publicada em forma de livro por 51 editoras nacionais no período de 1990 a 27 de agosto de 2010. Os dados foram coletados nos sites das editoras e a análise se ateve aos seguintes aspectos: quantidade de livros publicados por cada uma das editoras investigadas; número de livros publicados por ano no período 1990 e 2010 (até 25 de agosto); número de edições que os livros em turismo alcançam e; temática abordada nos livros. Concluiu-se que a publicação de livros de turismo no Brasil está em ritmo decrescente desde 2002 e que está na raiz deste fato a diminuição da oferta de cursos superiores de turismo no país.

This study evaluated the performance of two carbon analyzer catalyzers, one with high sensitivity and another with regular sensitivity, used in the determination of carbon concentration in a total organic carbon analyzer – TOC. Its applicability was then evaluated in an environmental monitoring study. They have been constructed two calibration curves with 5 points each, first in the interval of 2 mgL-1 at 10 mgL-1 and the second in the interval of 10 mgL-1 at 100 mgL-1. Both calibration curves showed a high level of linearity that can be observed by R2 values that were 0.9996 for the concentration range of 2 mgL-1 to 10 mgL-1, 0.9999 for the concentration range of 10 mgL-1 to 100 mgL-1, and 0.9999 for the concentration range of 100 mgL-1 to 1.000 mgL-1. The limits of detection and quantification for inorganic carbon were, respectively, 0.003 mgL-1 and 0.009 mgL-1. The limits of detection and quantification for the different catalyzers were also evaluated and showed the following values: regular sensitivity: 0.015 mgL-1 and 0.050 mgL-1, respectively, and high sensitivity; 0.004 mgL-1 and 0.013 mgL-1, respectively. The environmental monitoring was performed in two points (PB1 and PB2) in the Garcia stream. Carbon concentrations were monitored during 24 hours with 2-hour intervals between sampling. It was observed that the concentrations of carbon remained constant throughout the experiment, with the exception of the period between 10:00 am and 04:00 pm, probably due to the input of carbonates and bicarbonates derived from textile companies in the region or still had to the launching of urban sewers. Comparing the average carbon concentration, values of point PB2 were always higher than those observed at point PB1. In high concentration analysis, only irrelevant variations were observed with the use of both catalyzers.

The objective of this research was to identify the students' behavior from Management and Accounting Courses in respect to the subject Statistics. The student's profile was obtained by the use of issues, the SATS scale (Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics), applied to 337 students from Management and Accounting Courses from 2 colleges. The research indicates 2 dimensions of attitude reached by factor analysis, denominated value and cognitive competence and difficulty. Cluster analysis was applied and found four groups of students, one of them has positive attitudes, one has negative attitudes and two don't have well defined attitudes. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis were applied to verify the differences between the clusters attitudes, among the courses attitudes and between male and female attitudes. Students present positive behavior in connection to Statistics. However, there is an unfavorable behavior about the complexity of Statistics and their beliefs about learning statistical concepts and tools.

O controle da requeima da batata requer aplicação freqüente de fungicidas, o que encarece a produção, impactando de modo desnecessário o ambiente. A utilização de modelos de previsão dessa doença permitiria reduzir as aplicações sem afetar a produção. Neste trabalho, objetivou-se avaliar os modelos "Blitecast e Prophy" como referência para o controle da requeima por fungicidas. Os experimentos foram conduzidos na primavera de 2004 e no outono de 2005, em Santa Maria, RS. Os dados meteorológicos foram medidos no centro da área experimental, a 0,10 e a 1,50 m acima da superfície do solo. Utilizaram-se diferentes valores de severidade (VS) acumulada, calculada pelos modelos "Blitecast" (VS= 18, 24, 30, 36 e 42) e "Prophy" (VS= 15, 20, 25, 30 e 35) que se constituíram os tratamentos, adicionando-se o tratamento com aplicação semanal e a testemunha, sem aplicação. O delineamento foi inteiramente casualizado com quatro repetições, sendo cada parcela composta de quatro fileiras de plantas com 5 m de comprimento. Avaliou-se a severidade da requeima por parcela a cada três a cinco dias. Verificou-se que o uso do modelo "Blitecast" com 18 valores de severidade acumulados, incrementou, em pelo menos, 42,6% a produtividade de tubérculos comerciais em relação às áreas sem aplicação de fungicida e reduziu o número de aplicações em 25% nos períodos úmidos e, em 70% nos períodos secos, em relação às aplicações semanais. A eficiência de controle da requeima foi similar à obtida com aplicações semanais de fungicida nos tratamentos Bli18 e Pro15. O uso do modelo "Prophy" requer maior número de aplicações do que o "Blitecast" e não resultou em melhor controle.The control potato late blight needs a great number of fungicide sprayings. These increase the costs of cropping and cause undesirable environmental impacts. The use of forecast systems to predict disease has the potential of reducing fungicide applications without reducing yield. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of Blitecast and Prophy systems as a reference model for predicting late blight potato and support decision of spray fungicides. Experiments were carried out during Spring 2004 and Autumn 2005, in Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. Meteorological data were measured in the center of the experimental area at 0.10 and 1.50 m above soil surface. Different accumulated severity values (VS) were calculated with 'Blitecast' (VS = 18, 24, 30, 36 and 42) and 'Prophy' (VS = 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35) forecast systems. These values were used to perform. Two additional treatments were the weekly sprays and without fungicides. The experimental design was a completely randomized, with four replications. Each plot had four rows plants with 5 m length. Late blight severity was evaluated in each three to five days. The fungicide spraying schedule based on Blitecast system with 18 accumulated severity values increased tuber yield at least 42.6 % compared to the control without fungicides treatment. It also reduced the number of sprayings by 25% during wet periods and 70% during dry periods compared to weekly sprayings. The efficiency of controlling late blight was similar to the weekly sprayings treatment in the treatments Bli18 e Pro15. The Prophy model predicted higher number of fungicide sprayings than the Blitecast system and did not improve disease control.

Objective: To report the experience with percutaneous biopsies of pancreatic grafts guided by ultrasonography. Methods: Series of cases referred from outpatient’s clinic for biopsy of pancreas transplant, between December 2006 and March 2008. Data were collected from medical electronic records for age, sex and histopathology. The indication for the procedure was obtained from medical and laboratory records. Doppler ultrasonography was performed for control and to guide biopsy in real time. Rresults: Twenty patients referred for biopsy of their transplanted pancreas over a one-year period were evaluated. In one patient, biopsy was not performed for having no safe access for ultrasound. It was used 18 gauge needles, mostly automatic-cut type. The main indications were increased blood glucose and pancreatic enzyme levels as well as reduction of urinary amylase. The sonographic aspect of the pancreatic graft was normal in 18 cases. In all 19 biopsies performed, satisfactory samples for histopathological study were obtained. There were no complications. Cconclusions: This series of cases demonstrated low sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound in diagnosis of pancreatic transplants disorders, but showed to be very useful to guide transplanted pancreas biopsies. Although no complications occurred in this experience, the risk-benefit relation should always be assessed for every patient.