This article addresses key issues of sport mega events’ social and educational legacies. The rhetoric of the “legacy” of mega events has been imprinted in every bid presented to different countries ...and cities to influence their decision whether to host or not this type of event. Visible and also intangible effects are often cited as part of the “legacy” packaged to convince host citizens to adhere to the events. In the past few decades, several studies have been questioning the “legacy” rhetoric, presenting data demonstrating that despite the positive outcomes implied in the concept, these events often cause major impacts in the lives of host countries through several dimensions that cannot be painted with a “positive” tone. This study aims to analyze the educational legacies left by the 2014 FIFA World Cup (WC) in Porto Alegre, capital city of the Brazilian Southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul. We gathered data using participant observation methodology, surveys, and interviews with inhabitants of communities affected by the WC works. Our data reveal that the lives of public schools, students, and families in the region affected by the event were severely disrupted by the WC works without neither the Local Organizing Committee nor the local authorities offering adequate compensation or plan to alleviate these communities’ damages. We conclude by arguing that the WC has provoked a negative educational impact over communities that were already socially disadvantaged and most in need of good functioning of their schools.
Thanks to unique material's properties, a remarkable research attention has been focused on graphene. In this research work, the Radio frequency (RF) sputtering technique process parameters were ...varied to achieve the well dispersed nanoparticles onto graphene sheets in the range of 5–10 nm to enhance the hydrogen sorption. On such scale, quantum size effects enter can play lowering the H2 desorption temperature from 400 °C typical of bulk Mg hydrides to 140 °C. In this context, the Magnesium (Mg) nanoparticles were decorated onto graphene sheets by varying the powder vibration frequency during the deposition process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results demonstrate that the d spacing of graphene sheets was increased with decoration of Mg nanoparticles. Additionally the three characteristic peaks correspond to (001), (002) and (101) planes of hexagonal structure of metallic Mg were also observed. Transmission electron Microscope (TEM) micrographs revealed that the decorated Mg nanoparticles onto graphene at high powder vibration frequency were uniformly distributed over the entire sheet of graphene. Raman spectra showed that with the interaction of graphene with Mg nanoparticles the G and 2D peak were shifted 9.81 cm−1 and 8.2 cm−1 to higher wavenumbers, suggesting p doping of graphene. X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS) results revealed that high concentration of Mg nanoparticles was obtained with high powder vibration frequency. The hydrogen up taking capacity for the decorated graphene sheets with Mg nanoparticles was about 6.00 wt% in whole composite. However, the up taking hydrogen storage capacity of the only Mg nanoparticles was 7.4 wt%.
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•Successfully decorated Mg onto graphene sheets by Radio Frequency sputtering technique.•Confirmed P doping of graphene sheets with decoration of Mg nanoparticles by Raman spectroscopy.•High concentration of Mg were obtained with high powder vibration frequency.•An improved up taking capacity of Hydrogen storage was observed at low temperature.
As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to rage worldwide, the emergence of numerous variants of concern (VOC) represents a challenge for the vaccinal protective efficacy and the reliability of ...commercially available high-throughput immunoassays. Our study demonstrates the administration of two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine that elicited a robust SARS-CoV-2-specific immune response which was assessed up to 3 months after full vaccination in a cohort of 37 health care workers (HCWs). SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody response, evaluated by four commercially available chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIA), was qualitatively consistent with the results provided by the gold-standard in vitro neutralization assay (NTA). However, we could not observe a correlation between the quantity of the antibody detected by CLIA assays and their neutralizing activity tested by NTA. Almost all subjects developed a SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell response. Moreover, vaccinated HCWs developed a similar protective neutralizing antibodies response against the EU (B.1), Alpha (B.1.1.7), Gamma (P.1), and Eta (B.1.525) SARS-CoV-2 variants, while Beta (B.1.351) and Delta (B.1.617.2) strains displayed a consistent partial immune evasion. These results underline the importance of a solid vaccine-elicited immune response and a robust antibody titre. We believe that these relevant results should be taken into consideration in the definition of future vaccinal strategies.
Objectives
Clinical trials of all‐oral direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs) for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection reported high response rates in HCV/HIV coinfection, similar to those obtained in ...HCV monoinfection. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of these regimens in a clinical practice setting.
Methods
In this prospective observational study, all the HCV‐monoinfected and HCV/HIV‐coinfected patients undergoing HCV treatment with all‐oral DAA regimens in a routine clinical setting from December 2014 to December 2015 were included in the analysis. Sustained virological response 12 weeks after the end of therapy (SVR12) and reported adverse events (AEs) were evaluated. Resistance‐associated variants (RAVs) were analysed in a subgroup of patients at baseline and at the time of viral rebound in those with virological failure.
Results
One‐hundred and nine patients (51 HCV‐infected and 58 HCV/HIV‐coinfected) were enrolled in the study. Sixty per cent had cirrhosis and 52% were pegylated interferon and ribavirin (pegIFN/RBV)‐experienced. Thirty‐six per cent received ombitasvir + paritaprevir/ritonavir + dasabuvir, 25% sofosbuvir + daclatasvir, 16% sofosbuvir + simeprevir, 17% sofosbuvir + ribavirin and 6% sofosbuvir + ledipasvir; ribavirin was used in 57% of subjects. The SVR12 rate was 91% and 96% in HIV‐infected and uninfected patients, respectively (P = 0.44). The 4‐week HCV viral decline was similar in the two groups. RAVs were found at baseline in 23 of 49 patients and did not affect SVR12. No predictors of SVR12 were identified in our cohort.
Conclusions
Treatment with all‐oral DAA combinations of patients infected with HCV and with HCV/HIV under real‐life conditions led to high and similar rates of SVR12. Moreover, the historical factors associated with a sustained virological response to pegIFN/RBV were not predictive of the response to all‐oral DAAs.
Lesch-Nyhan disease (LND) is a rare X-linked genetic disorder, with complete hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) deficiency, uric acid (UA), hypoxanthine and xanthine accumulation, ...and a devastating neurologic syndrome. UA excess, causing renal failure, is commonly decreased by xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) inhibitors, such as allopurinol, yielding a xanthine and hypoxanthine increase. Xanthine accumulation may result in renal stones, while hypoxanthine excess seems involved in the neurological disorder. Inhibition of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) represents a different strategy for lowering urate. PNP catalyzes the cleavage of purine ribo- and d-ribo-nucleosides into ribose/deoxyribose phosphate and free bases, starting catabolism to uric acid. Clinical trials demonstrated that PNP inhibitors, initially developed as anticancer drugs, lowered UA in some gouty patients, in association or not with allopurinol. The present study tested the reliability of an analogue of immucillin-G (C1a), a PNP inhibitor, as a therapy for urate, hypoxanthine, and xanthine excess in LND patients by blocking hypoxanthine production upstream. The therapeutic aim is to limit the administration of XOR inhibitors to LND patients by supplying the PNP inhibitor in low doses, avoiding d-nucleoside toxicity. We report studies conducted in primary cultures of skin fibroblasts from controls and LND patients grown in the presence of the PNP inhibitor. Cell viability, oxypurine release in culture medium, and endocellular nucleotide pattern have been monitored in different growth conditions (inhibitor concentration, time, added inosine). Our results demonstrate effective PNP inhibition by low inhibitor concentration, with reduced hypoxanthine release, and no appreciable toxicity in control or patient cells, suggesting a new therapeutic strategy for LND hyperuricemia.
Bridging therapy with low-molecular-weight heparin is usually recommended in patients who must stop oral anticoagulants before surgical or invasive procedures. To date, there is no universally ...accepted bridging regimen tailored to the patient's thromboembolic risk. This prospective inception cohort management study was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of an individualized bridging protocol applied to outpatients.
Oral anticoagulants were stopped 5 days before the procedure. Low-molecular-weight heparin was started 3 to 4 days before surgery and continued for 6 days after surgery at 70 anti-factor Xa U/kg twice daily in high-thromboembolic-risk patients and prophylactic once-daily doses in moderate- to low-risk patients. Oral anticoagulation was resumed the day after the procedure with a boost dose of 50% for 2 days and maintenance doses afterward. The patients were followed up for 30 days. Of the 1262 patients included in the study (only 15% had mechanical valves), 295 (23.4%) were high-thromboembolic-risk patients and 967 (76.6%) were moderate- to low-risk patients. In the intention-to-treat analysis, there were 5 thromboembolic events (0.4%; 95% confidence interval, 0.1 to 0.9), all in high-thromboembolic-risk patients. There were 15 major (1.2%; 95% confidence interval, 0.7 to 2.0) and 53 minor (4.2%; 95% confidence interval, 3.2 to 5.5) bleeding episodes. Major bleeding was associated with twice-daily low-molecular-weight heparin administration (high-risk patients) but not with the bleeding risk of the procedure.
This management bridging protocol, tailored to patients' thromboembolic risk, appears to be feasible, effective, and safe for many patients, but safety in patients with mechanical prosthetic valves has not been conclusively established.
When the coatings are in nano-scale, the mechanical properties cannot be easily estimated by means of the conventional methods due to: tip shape, instrument resolution, roughness, and substrate ...effect. In this paper, we proposed a semi-empirical method to evaluate the mechanical properties of thin films based on the sputtering rate induced by bombardment of Ar+ ion. The Ar+ ion bombardment was induced by ion gun implemented in Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). This procedure has been applied on a series of coatings with different structure (carbon films) and a series of coating with a different density (ZnO thin films). The coatings were deposited on Silicon substrates by RF sputtering plasma. The results show that, as predicted by Insepov et al., there is a correlation between hardness and sputtering rate. Using reference materials and a simple power law equation the estimation of the nano-hardness using an Ar+ beam is possible.
•ZnO film and Carbon films were grown on silicon using PVD.•The growth temperature was room temperature.•The hardness of the coatings was estimated by means of nanoindentation.•Evaluation of resistance of materials to the mechanical damage induced by an Ar+ ion gun (AES).•The hardness have been studied and a power law with the erosion rate has been found.
•We analyzed durability and virological response to DTG-containing regimens.•After exposure to first-generation INIs, treatment with DTG showed long durability.•DTG-containing regimens did not show ...any virological rebound after suppression.•DTG discontinuation was less frequent in patients who had experienced ≥10 regimens.•Non-B HIV-1 subtype represented a greater risk for detectable HIV-RNA at the last F–U.
Dolutegravir (DTG) is a next-generation HIV integrase inhibitor (INI) with an increased genetic barrier to resistance with respect to raltegravir (RAL) or elvitegravir (EVG). Few data are available on the durability of DTG-containing regimens.
We aimed at investigating the duration of the DTG-containing regimen, the occurrence of an HIV-1 RNA blip, and factors associated with DTG virological response.
From the Antiviral Response Cohort Analysis database, we selected 89 HIV-1-positive four-class-experienced subjects who started DTG after receiving RAL or EVG. Factors associated with durability and virological response were analysed by logistic regression.
After a median duration of 18.8 0.4–76.2 months, 79/89 (88.8%) subjects were still on DTG. All subjects remaining on DTG at the end of follow-up had undetectable HIV-1 RNA, compared to 5/10 subjects who discontinued DTG. DTG discontinuation was less frequent in patients who had experienced ≥10 regimens (HR 0.11, p = 0.040). The probability of having an HIV-1 RNA positive value at the last follow-up significantly increased in patients with non-B HIV-1 subtype (HR 5.77, p < .001) and significantly decreased in patients with CD4 nadir >200/μL (HR 0.29, p = 0.038), with more than 10 previous regimens (HR 0.27, p = 0.040), and who harbored virus with IN mutations (HR 0.12, p = 0.023) at DTG start.
After previous exposure to first-generation INIs, treatment with DTG showed long durability and did not show virological rebound after virological suppression. Subjects infected with a non-B HIV-1 subtype had a greater risk of having detectable HIV-1 RNA at the last observation.
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