Post‐earthquake damage reports have continuously highlighted the significant vulnerability of nonstructural elements to seismic events. Nonstructural damage has severe impact in the building ...recovery, increasing the socioeconomic losses even for low intensity events. In the last few years, research efforts have focused on the development of innovative nonstructural solutions, to be combined with damage‐resistant structural skeletons in order to obtain an overall high‐performance building. As part of a European Union (EU)‐funded project, the effectiveness of such integrated skeleton&envelope low‐damage system in reducing the earthquake related losses was investigated. Tridimensional shake table tests on a 1:2 scaled timber‐concrete low‐damage structural skeleton, “dressed” by different innovative nonstructural elements (glass/concrete facades, gypsum/masonry partitions), were performed at the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC) in Lisbon, Portugal. The shake table tests were carried out at increasing seismic intensities to investigate the structural and nonstructural performance up to a higher‐than Collapse Prevention Limit State according to the Italian Code (975 years return period). This paper focuses on the dynamic behavior of nonstructural elements with detailed discussion on construction detailing, seismic demand and performance of the innovative solutions. The high performance of nonstructural elements proved the potential of the details introduced in the partitions/facades. Minimal or no damage was observed up to the end of the overall testing sequence, which reached moderate‐to‐high interstory drift ratios (more than 1.00%) ‐ typically expected to cause severe damage to traditional nonstructural partitions/infills/facades.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Despite the fact that in recent years Portugal has not seen the occurrence of high-magnitude earthquakes, it remains threatened by these events due to its geographic location. Since the 1960s, ...reinforced concrete has been the most used material for new constructions; however, the historic urban centers are dominated by old unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, which techniques and construction materials have evolved since the Great Lisbon earthquake that occurred in 1755 (M
w
= 8.5). Given the presence of these buildings in areas of significant seismicity, extensive research is needed to assess the seismic risk and define mitigation policies. This kind of studies is often supported by empirical methods and based on expert judgment due to the high variability of the building stock and lack of information. The main purpose of this work is: (i) to provide analytical fragility curves, supported by nonlinear static analysis, for the entire population of old masonry buildings, built before the introduction of the first design code for building safety against earthquakes (RSSCS) in 1958; (ii) define vulnerability curves to be used by the technical community for seismic assessment of pre code URM buildings. The characterization of the building stock geometry and material properties is based on information previously collected, which was essential to define representative archetypes and typologies.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This paper describes a shake table test on a one-storey full-scale unreinforced masonry structure, which complements an earlier testing of a two-storey structure with similar characteristics. The ...building specimen was meant to represent the upper floors of the end-unit of a terraced house, built with cavity walls and without any particular seismic design or detailing. In these specimens, the masonry walls were composed of two leaves: a load-bearing inner one made of calcium silicate bricks sustaining a reinforced concrete floor and an external leaf made of clay-bricks connected to the inner leaf by means of metallic ties. A pitched timber roof was supported by two triangular gable walls. Floor acceleration response histories of the previously tested two-storey specimen were used as input motions. An incremental dynamic test, with vertical and horizontal inputs, was carried out up to the explicit collapse of some bearing elements of the structure. In particular, a two-way bending out-of-plane collapse of a load-bearing wall was observed and described.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Migraine is an extremely common disorder. The underlying mechanisms of this chronic illness interspersed with acute symptoms appear to be increasingly complex. An important aspect of migraine ...heterogeneity is comorbidity with other neurological diseases, cardiovascular disorders, and psychiatric illnesses. Depressive disorders are among the leading causes of disability worldwide according to WHO estimation. In this review, we have mainly considered the findings from general population studies and studies on clinical samples, in adults and children, focusing on the association between migraine and psychiatric disorders (axis I of the DSM), carried over after the first classification of IHS (1988). Though not easily comparable due to differences in methodology to reach diagnosis, general population studies generally indicate an increased risk of affective and anxiety disorders in patients with migraine, compared to non-migrainous subjects. There would also be a trend towards an association of migraine with bipolar disorder, but not with substance abuse/dependence. With respect to migraine subtypes, comorbidity mainly involves migraine with aura. Patients suffering from migraine, however, show a decreased risk of developing affective and anxiety disorders compared to patients with daily chronic headache. It would also appear that psychiatric disorders prevail in patients with chronic headache and substance use than in patients with simple migraine. The mechanisms underlying migraine psychiatric comorbidity are presently poorly understood, but this topic remains a priority for future research. Psychiatric comorbidity indeed affects migraine evolution, may lead to chronic substance use, and may change treatment strategies, eventually modifying the outcome of this important disorder.
Trabalho elaborado pelo autor no âmbito da Unidade Curricular de “Escrita Criativa” da Escola de Educação Sénior do IH – Instituto Humanus. Convidámos o autor a publicar o texto neste número 11 de ...DEDiCA. REVISTA DE EDUCAÇÃO E HUMANIDADES pelo seu mérito intrínseco e como contributo para a celebração do ano de 2017 como “Ano da Educação de Adultos”, promovido pela Associação Europeia para a Educação de Adultos (AEEA). O texto é o testemunho vivo da adequação e pertinência do lema da campanha – O poder e a alegria de aprender –, que põe em relevo o potencial inesgotável da educação para promover o desenvolvimento pessoal e social de todos.
Growing evidence supports the presence of social cognition deficits and social behavior alterations in major and minor neurocognitive disorders (NCDs). Even though the ability to identify ...socio-emotional changes has significantly improved in recent years, there is still no specific treatment available. Thus, we explored evidence of drug therapies targeting social cognition alterations in NCDs. Papers were selected according to PRISMA guidelines by searching on the PubMed and Scopus databases. Only papers reporting information on pharmacological interventions for the treatment of social cognition and/or social behavioral changes in major and/or minor NCDs were included. Among the 171 articles entered in the paper selection, only 9 papers were eligible for the scope of the review. Trials testing pharmacological treatments for socio-emotional alterations in NCDs are poor and of low-medium quality. A few attempts with neuroprotective, psychoactive, or immunomodulating drugs have been made. Oxytocin is the only drug specifically targeting the social brain that has been tested with promising results in frontotemporal dementia. Its beneficial effects in long-term use have yet to be evaluated. No recommendation can currently be provided. There is a long way to go to identify and test effective targets to treat social cognition changes in NCDs for the ultimate benefit of patients and caregivers.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
In Brazil, many public hospitals face constant problems related to high demand vis-à-vis an overall scarcity of resources, which hinders the operations of different sectors such as the surgical ...centre, as it is considered one of the most relevant pillars for the proper hospital functioning, due to its complexity, criticality as well as economic and social importance. Proper asset management based on well-founded decisions is, therefore, a sine-qua-non condition for addressing such demands. However, subjectivity and other difficulties present in decisions make the management of hospital resources a constant challenge.
Thus, the present work proposes the application of a hybrid approach, formed by the QFD tools, fuzzy logic and SERVQUAL as a decision support tool for the quality planning of the surgical centre of the Onofre Lopes Teaching Hospital (Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes-HUOL). To accomplish such objective, it was necessary to discover and analyse the main needs of the medical team working in the operating room, through the application of the SERVQUAL questionnaire, associated with fuzzy logic.
Then, the most relevant deficiencies were transformed into entries for the QFD-fuzzy, where they were translated into project requirements. Soon after, the analysis of the existing relationships between the inputs and these requirements was carried out, generating the ranking of actions with the greatest impact on the improvement of the surgical centre overall quality.
As a result, it was found that the proposed methodology can optimize the decision process to which hospital managers are submitted, improving the surgical centre operation efficiency.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Neurofilament light chains (NfL) are neuron-specific cytoskeletal proteins whose plasmatic concentrations have been explored as a clinically useful marker in several types of dementia. Plasma ...concentrations of NfL are extremely low, and just two assays are commercially available for their study: one based on the SiMoA technology and one based on Ella. We thus studied plasma levels of NfL with both platforms to check the correlation between them and to assess their potential in the diagnosis of neurodegeneration. Plasma NfL levels were measured on 50 subjects: 18 healthy controls, 20 Alzheimer's disease, and 12 frontotemporal dementia patients. Ella returned plasmatic NfL levels significantly higher than SiMoA, however the results were strongly correlated (r = 0.94), and a proportional coefficient of 0.58 between the two assays was calculated. Both assays detected higher plasma NfL levels in patients with dementia than in the control group (p < 0.0001) and allowed their discrimination with excellent diagnostic performance (AUC > 0.95). No difference was found between Alzheimer's and Frontotemporal dementia either using SiMoA or Ella. In conclusion, both the analytical platforms resulted effective in analysing plasma levels of NfL. However, the correct interpretation of results requires the precise knowledge of the assay used.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background
Several risk factors are associated with the chronic evolution of migraine. Clinical and preclinical studies have provided data about the role of hypertension (HT) as one of the potential ...modifiable risk factors of chronic migraine (CM). This review is focused on the biological and clinical evidence supporting common mechanisms underlying HT and migraine and the potential role of HT in the transition from episodic to chronic migraine.
Methods
We conducted a narrative review from a literature search covering the available evidence from studies investigating: i) the role of HT in the transition to CM in clinical practice; ii) the biological mechanisms potentially underpinning the association between HT and evolution to CM; iii) the role of antihypertensive medications in migraine prophylaxis.
Results
HT proved to be at the base of multiple mechanisms underlying migraine and migraine chronicization. Endothelial dysfunction, blood–brain barrier alterations, calcitonin gene-related peptide signaling, and renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system dysregulation are involved in the worsening effect of HT on migraine frequency, and the role of HT in the transition to CM is supported by clinical observations.
Conclusions
The observed evidence supports HT contribution to CM evolution due to shared pathophysiologic mechanisms. While a bidirectional influence appears to be ascertained, data are still lacking about the one-way role of HT as direct risk factor for CM transition. Further research is needed to confirm a causal role of HT in this process.
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