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IntroductionClinical assessment of upper limb sensorimotor function post-stroke is often constrained by low sensitivity and limited information on movement quality. To address this gap, recent studies proposed a standardized instrumented drinking task, as a representative daily activity combining different components of functional arm use. Although kinematic movement quality measures for this task are well-established, and optical motion capture (OMC) has proven effective in their measurement, its clinical application remains limited. Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) emerge as a promising low-cost and user-friendly alternative, yet their validity and clinical relevance compared to the gold standard OMC need investigation.MethodIn this study, we conducted a measurement system comparison between IMUs and OMC, analyzing 15 established movement quality measures in 15 mild and moderate stroke patients performing the drinking task, using five IMUs placed on each wrist, upper arm, and trunk.ResultsOur findings revealed strong agreement between the systems, with 12 out of 15 measures demonstrating clinical applicability, evidenced by Limits of Agreement (LoA) below the Minimum Clinically Important Differences (MCID) for each measure.DiscussionThese results are promising, suggesting the clinical applicability of IMUs in quantifying movement quality for mildly and moderately impaired stroke patients performing the drinking task.

Introduction During a public health crisis, preventive measures are essential. However, to make them effective, all citizens must be engaged. Objectives To analyse the differential role of individual and contextual variables in the adherence to public health recommendations. Methods 1376 adults (70.5% female; mean age=35.55±14.27) completed a survey between September/2020 and May/2021 with: Adherence Scale to the Recommendations during COVID-19 (ASR-COVID19; evaluates three dimensions of adherence), Fear of Covid-19 Scale (FC19S) and Toronto and Coimbra Prosocial Behaviour Questionnaire (ProBeQ; assesses empathy and altruism). Results Adherence did not differ between individuals with or without personal or family history of COVID-19 infection. ASR-COVID19 and all dimensions were positively correlated to ProBeQ’s altruism and empathy (from r=.32 to r=.54); FCV19S correlated positively to total adherence score and house sanitation (from r=.18 to r=.26; all p

Introduction Public health authorities around the world have been disseminating messages to support mental health and psychosocial well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the Portuguese guidelines, we have developed the Adherence Scale to the Recommendations for Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic (ASR-MH-COVID19) to better understand this health behaviour. Objectives To analyse the relationship between sociodemographics, personality traits, Adherence (to the Recommendations for Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic) and psychological distress. Methods 413 individuals (69.2% female; mean age=31.02±14,272) completed an on-line survey, in September-December 2020, including sociodemographic questions, ASR-MH-COVID19, NEO-FFI-20 and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Health Perception Scale. Results Adherence scores did not significantly differ by gender, age and years of education. Women presented higher DASS and Neuroticism scores (p

Introduction The COVID-19 crisis has generated an increasing stress throughout the population. Objectives To develop and validate the Adherence Scale to the Recommendations for Mental Health during the COVID-19 pandemic from the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (GDH) (ASR-MH-COVID19). Methods The items content was based on the GDH guides for the prevention of mental health and psychosocial well-being of the general population during the COVID-19 outbreak. After content and facial validity analysis, the preliminary version of the ASR-MH-COVID19 (8 items to be answered on a Likert scale) was completed by 413 individuals (69.2% female; mean age=31.02±14,272), in September-December 2020 (Sample1) and then by 967 (70.9% female; mean age=34.02±14,272), in February-May 2021 (Sample2). Sample1 was randomly divided in two sub-samples. Sample1A was used for exploratory factor analysis/EFA and Sample1B for confirmatory factor analysis/CFA; CFA was then replicated with Sample2. The online surveys also included the Adherence Scale to the Recommendations of Portuguese GDH to minimize the impact of COVID-19 (ASR-COVID-19; Pereira et al. 2020). Results CFAs were informed by EFA and showed that the unidimensional model presented acceptable-good fit indexes (Sample1B: χ2/df=2.747; RMSEA=.0980, p

Introduction Cardiovascular disease represent the leading cause of death worldwide, and is also responsible for the consumption of many medical resources, work absenteeism and worse Quality of Life. On the other hand, psychiatric diseases have recently gained more relevance worldwide as one of the principal causes of disability. Objectives Evaluate a possible relationship between cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and anxious or depressive symptoms. Methods Observational and cross-sectional study in a non-probabilistic and convenience sample, composed by patients followed on five primary healthcare facilites, who voluntarily accepted to answer the questionnaire through an interview, between July 2020 and January 2021. After an informed consent, a questionnaire was carried out including sociodemographic characterization, presence of cardiovascular disease and/or cardiovascular risk factors and the Portuguese version of HADS. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed, using Mann-Whitney U test. A value of p

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic brought many new challenges that people had to overcome with ingenuity. However, many patients already suffering with psychiatric diseases saw their access to conventional health care limited, aggravating their statuses. E-Medicine is the branch of health care that provides access through the Internet, and it has been growing in the last few years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many health care workers shifted towards E-Medicine, aiming to provide support to patients, especially with the social distance policies that were implemented worldwide. Objectives Provide an example of how e-Medicine can be a tool in establishing a therapeutic alliance, and patient follow-up Methods Case report with a brief literature review on the subject Results RG is a 19-year-old female that contacts her family doctor through e-mail, expressing concerns over not being able to leave her house for over a year, also manifesting anxiety and depressed humor. This started in April 2020 and was slowly worsening throughout the year, culminating in a panic attack. RG started counselling and follow-up appointments via Internet and started treatment with vortioxetine. Three months later, improvements were stated, namely decreased anxiety, better sleep patterns, and leaving the house for small periods. Conclusions Without E-Medicine, RG wouldn’t be as able to reach out to her family doctor, and follow-up would be much more arduous since the patient avoided leaving her house, and telephone appointments lack the visual aspect of the clinical interview. E-Medicine is a valid alternative to conventional Medicine, providing a safe environment for patients concerned with public space. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Introduction Perceived vulnerability to disease/PVD may influence psychological reactions to COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives To analyse the role of PVD in psychological distress/PD during the COVID-19 pandemic, testing whether it is mediated by perceived risk of COVID-19, fear of COVID-19 and repetitive negative thinking/RNT. Methods Participants (N=413 adults; 69.2% women) were recruited from September until December 2020, via social networks. They completed the following self-report validated questionnaires: Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire/PVDQ; Perceived Risk of COVID-19 Scale, Fear of COVID-19 Scale; Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. As women had significantly higher levels of PVD, COVID-19 perceived risk and fear, RNT, and psychological distress/PD, gender was controlled in mediation analysis (using PROCESS macro for SPSS; Hayes 2018). Results All the variables significantly (p.20) and positively correlated. The serial mediation model 6 with the three sequential mediators resulted in significant total effect (c=.326, se=.0791, pCOVID19 perceived risk->COVID19 fear->RNT->PD), meaning full mediation. Conclusions The effect of PVD on psychological distress operates by increasing the perception of risk and the fear of COVID-19, which intensify related worries and ruminations in times of pandemic. People with high perceived threat, aversion and discomfort in situations associated with increased risk of infection should be helped to decrease dysfunctional cognitive contents and processes in times of pandemic. Disclosure No significant relationships.

The divided wall column (DWC) can achieve sharp separations of three or more components in a single shell, substituting conventional sequences of two or more binary distillation columns, with lower expenses. Despite these advantages, DWC models are not available in commercial chemical process simulators. To simulate DWC, users must employ instances of conventional column model and couple them in different configurations. In this paper, a DWC model was developed in EMSO (Environment for Modeling, Simulation and Optimization). DWC model was then used for simulating the separation of an equimolar mixture of three hydrocarbons. Results show that, depending on the number of trays, DWC presented energy savings compared to two ordinary distillation columns. Better separation was obtained when the number of divided trays was close to half the number of total trays. However, the liquid and vapor flow rates split into the divided section play a key role in the separation.

The main feature of amorphous materials is the presence of excess vibrational modes at low energies, giving rise to the so-called “boson peak” in neutron and optical spectroscopies. These same modes manifest themselves as two-level systems (TLSs) causing noise and decoherence in qubits and other sensitive devices. Here, we present an experiment that uses the spin relaxation of dangling bonds at the Si/(amorphous)SiO_{2} interface as a probe of TLSs. We introduce a model that is able to explain the observed nonexponential electron spin inversion recovery and provides a measure of the degree of spatial localization and concentration of the TLSs close to the interface, their maximum energy, and its temperature dependence.

ABSTRACT Agromyzidae (Insecta: Diptera) is a cosmopolitan family of acalyptrate flies, with almost 3,000 species worldwide distributed. Most species are leaf miners on a large number of plants. Among them, Liriomyza Mik, 1894 is a large genus of leaf-miner species that can cause significant damage to economically important crops and is considered agricultural pests, such as Liriomyza sativae Blanchard, 1938 and Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard, 1926), which are herein investigated. The present study deals with the impact of climatic factors (temperature, humidity, and precipitation), seasonality, and parasitoid abundance on leaf-miner infestation during one year in five cultivated crops in Northeastern Brazil. Climatic factors for instance had different effects on L. sativae populations in melon and watermelon crops. Larval abundances were greater during the dry season for both species, L. sativae and L. huidobrensis, and abundance of adult parasitoids followed the increase of mining larvae.

Temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) is a set of changes that affects the muscles of mastication, temporomandibular joint, teeth, and associated periodontal and orofacial structures. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the imbalance of energy (Qi) circulating in the acupuncture meridians is always the primary etiologic cause of any physical manifestation. The aim of this study was to describe the patterns of Qi imbalance in patients with TMD by means of an objective measurement. The clinical study was conducted at the Piracicaba Dental School (FOP/Unicamp), in Piracicaba-SP, Brazil. We evaluated 40 adult volunteers with TMD. The Qi measurement was carried out by the researcher using the Ryodoraku method using 24 points representing the 12 acupuncture meridians: LU9 (Taiyuan), PC7 (Daling), HT7 (Shemen), SI5 (Yanggu), TE4 (Yangchi), LI5 (Yangxi), SP3 (Taibai), LR3 (Taichong), KI3 (Taixi), BL64 (Jinggu), GB40 (Qiuxu), and ST42 (Chongyang). The average total Qi of 40 volunteers (21.7 μA ± 1.5), was below the normal range (40–60 μA) and was classified as deficiency of Qi (empty). The coupled meridians that showed the highest Qi imbalance were the kidney (29.4 μA ± 2.8) and bladder (13.8 μA ± 1). The Qi planes with greatest imbalance were the Shao Yang and Shao Yin. In conclusion, volunteers with TMD presented a pattern of Qi deficiency, and the most prevalent imbalance patterns identified were in the kidney and bladder coupled meridians and in the energetic planes Shao Yin (heart/kidney) and Shao Yang (triple energizer/gall bladder).

ABSTRACT Semi-mechanical and mechanical harvesting methods may influence the content of impurities in harvested sugarcane. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of three mechanical methods of sugarcane harvesting: one semi-mechanical, and two mechanical ones - self-performed and outsourced, during three working shifts. As quality indicators, both mineral and vegetal impurities were accounted. About 50 random samples were collected in the studied area during 35 harvest days and in three working shifts, for each harvesting method. Mineral impurities showed similar behavior for both self-performed and outsourced mechanical harvesting, thus displaying a low variability. On the other hand, vegetal impurities showed to be unstable for all three shifts. Additionally, the statistical process control analysis showed that the semi-mechanical method had the greatest variability.

Abstract: We have identified specimens of the leafhopper Gypona cerea DeLong & Freytag (Cicadellidae: Iassinae: Gyponini) collected from a crop of dwarf cashew (Anacardium occidentale Linnaeus 1753) located in Canto do Buriti, Piauí, Northeastern Brazil. The damage caused to the crop included inflorescences covered with sticky exudates, presence of sooty mold, and yellowing and drying of new shoots and inflorescences. Such documentation serves as a warning about possible outbreaks of infestation in the region and the likelihood of its expansion to other cashew producing areas.

The Cryptococcus gattii species complex harbors the main etiological agents of cryptococcosis in immunocompetent patients. C. gattii molecular type VGII predominates in the north and northeastern regions of Brazil, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates. C. gattii VGII isolates have a strong clinical relevance and phenotypic variations. These phenotypic variations among C. gattii species complex isolates suggest that some strains are more virulent than others, but little information is available related to the pathogenic properties of those strains. In this study, we analyzed some virulence determinants of C. gattii VGII strains (CG01, CG02, and CG03) isolated from patients in the state of Piauí, Brazil. The C. gattii R265 VGIIa strain, which was isolated from the Vancouver outbreak, differed from C. gattii CG01, CG02 and CG03 isolates (also classified as VGII) when analyzed the capsular dimensions, melanin production, urease activity, as well as the glucuronoxylomannan (GXM) secretion. Those differences directly reflected in their virulence potential. In addition, CG02 displayed higher virulence compared to R265 (VGIIa) strain in a cryptococcal murine model of infection. Lastly, we examined the genotypic diversity of these strains through Multilocus Sequence Type (MLST) and one new subtype was described for the CG02 isolate. This study confirms the presence and the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of highly virulent strains in the Northeast region of Brazil.

ABSTRACT Coenosia attenuata Stein (1903) is a predatory fly that is commonly found in greenhouses and open fields preying on whiteflies, leafminers, psocopterans and other insects. The species is widespread in the Old World and its distribution has expanded in recent times to Neotropical countries including Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru. We report here for the first time the presence of C. attenuata in Brazil, occurring in different sites in the State of Ceará (Northeastern Brazil). Expansion of the distribution range of this muscid to the eastern parts of South America opens up the possibility of applying the beneficial predator as a biological control agent for protected crops of the region.