A geometrically exact finite element formulation to consider material and geometric nonlinearities of steel plane frames is presented. The distributed-plasticity analysis for members with ...rigid-pinned joints and residual stresses due manufacturing process are also included. An overview of Advanced Analysis in order to define the desirable
attributes for the development of an Advanced Inelastic Analysis model is outlined. A general theory considering self equilibrated residual stresses is developed based on updated Lagrangian formulation. The Corrotacional technique is used to obtain the elements tangent stiffness matrix. The abilities for analyzing pin-ended joint members, residual stresses in webs, different nodal loads with different increments and factored combinations were added to the original computational program version presented by LAVALL (1996). The frame element, made up of layers, enable to identify the plastic region through the cross section and in the member length for any kind of residual stresses. A preprocessor is developed looking for friendly users interface and automatic inputs dates. Finally, spreading of plasticity, residual stresses and explicit geometric imperfection effects were analyzed in the examples presented. The strengths predicted by the proposed formulation are compared with those predicted by the NBR 8800(2006) review project, proving the efficiency of this approach as Advanced Analysis method.
Neste trabalho desenvolve-se uma formulação geometricamente exata para a análise não-linear física e geométrica de pórticos planos de aço, via Método dos Elementos Finitos (MEF). Utilizam-se os conceitos da plasticidade distribuída para elementos com nós rígido-rotulados, incluindo o efeito das tensões residuais existentes nos perfis de aço
decorrentes dos processos de fabricação. Uma visão geral sobre a Análise Avançada é feita com o objetivo de caracterizar os atributos necessários para o desenvolvimento de um modelo de Análise Inelástica Avançada. Apresenta-se o desenvolvimento da teoria
geral fundamentada em uma rigorosa formulação Lagrangiana atualizada, utilizando a técnica corrotacional para a obtenção da matriz de rigidez tangente do elemento, levando-se em conta a presença das tensões residuais auto-equilibradas nas equações de
equilíbrio do elemento. Para implementação desta formulação adiciona-se, à versão original apresentada por LAVALL (1996), a capacidade de analisar problemas com ligações articuladas entre as barras da estrutura, com tensões residuais aplicadas na alma do perfil e com diferentes carregamentos nodais com incrementos e fatores de
ponderação diferenciados. O modelo de fatias permite o acompanhamento da plastificação ao longo da altura da seção e ao longo do elemento para qualquer modelo de distribuição das tensões residuais. Visando uma interface mais amigável com o usuário desenvolve-se um pré-processador que possibilita o cálculo automático de parâmetros exigidos pelo programa principal. Finalmente, os exemplos apresentados mostram a grande potencialidade da formulação desenvolvida. São analisados vários casos permitindo o estudo da plastificação gradual, da influência das tensões residuais e
das imperfeições iniciais, estas introduzidas de forma explícita, na resistência última das estruturas de aço, cujos resultados são comparados com as curvas de dimensionamento à compressão e com as equações de interação apresentadas no projeto de revisão da NBR 8800 setembro 2006, comprovando a aplicação da formulação como um Método de Análise Avançada.
Forest fragments consist of important ecosystems for the maintenance of sand fly populations and Leishmania hosts. This study sought to identify the phlebotomine fauna and its infection by Leishmania ...spp. in forest fragments on the campus of the Federal University of Acre (UFAC), Western Amazon. Monthly collections with CDC traps were carried out from March 2020 to June 2021, in four forest fragments of UFAC. Male and female insects were processed and identified at species level. A sample of females was subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to verify the presence Leishmania DNA. In total, 465 specimens were collected, of which 238 were males and 227 were females. The most frequent species were Nyssomyia antunesi (Coutinho, 1939) (47.3%), Trichophoromyia sp. (Mangabeira, 1942) (18.70%), and Ny. whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho, 1939) (8.81%). Molecular analysis detected the presence of Leishmania (Ross, 1903) DNA in a specimen of Ny. antunesi, and another one of Evandromyia walker (Newstead, 1914). The forest fragments of the university campus harbor a diverse sand fly fauna with the presence of Leishmania DNA in these insects, in addition to the presence of other species considered incriminated vectors of Leishmania parasites.
Background: The aim of this study is to describe the molecular epidemiology of Neisseria meningitidis invasive disease before the introduction of serogroup C conjugate vaccine in Amazonas State in ...2010.
Methods: Meningococcal disease reported cases were investigated in Amazonas State during the period 2000-2010. N. meningitidis isolates (n = 196) recovered from patients were genotyped by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and sequencing of porB, porA, fetA, fHbp and penA. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using E-test.
Results: In the study period, 948 cases were reported; the incidence was 2.8 for the entire state and 4.8 per 100,000 in the capital of Manaus. Most meningococcal disease was caused by N. meningitidis belonging to ST-32 (72%; 141/196) or ST-103 (21%; 41/196) clonal complexes. Capsular switching (B→C) was suggested within clonal complex (cc) 32. There were 6 (3%; 6/196) strains with intermediate susceptibility to penicillin and a single strain was resistant to rifampicin. Since 2007, serogroup C strains belonging to the cc103 have predominated and case-fatality has increased.
Conclusion: We demonstrate a high rate of meningococcal disease in Amazonas State, where, like other parts of Brazil, serogroup C replaced serogroup B during 2000s. These data serve as a baseline to measure impact of serogroup C conjugate vaccine introduction in 2010. This study emphasizes the need for enhanced surveillance to monitor changes in meningococcal disease trends following the introduction of meningococcal vaccines.
P-glycoprotein (P-GP) is a transporter molecule expressed on the apical surface of capillary endothelial cells of the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB), whose activity heavily influences drug distribution, ...including antidepressants. This transporter is encoded by
gene, and genetic variations within
gene have been proposed to affect drug efflux and have been previously associated with depression. In this context, we aimed to evaluate the role of
,
and
genetic polymorphisms in antidepressant treatment phenotypes from a cohort of patients harboring Major Depressive Disorder. Patients enrolled in the study consisted of 80 individuals with Major Depressive Disorder, who took part in a 27-month follow-up study at HML, Portugal. To investigate the correlation between
polymorphisms and antidepressant response phenotypes, DNA was extracted from peripheral blood, and
,
and
polymorphisms were genotyped with TaqMan
SNP Genotyping Assays. Despite the fact that the evaluated polymorphisms (
,
and
) were not associated with treatment resistant depression, or relapse, we observed that patients carrying TT genotype of the
polymorphism remit earlier than the ones carrying CC or CT genotypes (10.2 weeks vs. 14.9 and 21.3, respectively,
= 0.028, Log-rank test). Since we found an association with
and time to remission, and not to the absence of remission, we suggest that this polymorphism could have an impact on antidepressant drug distribution, and thus influence on the time to remission will occur, without influencing the risk of remission itself.
With regard to strategic communication, there is a set of additive factors driving the strategic complexity that determines the magnitude of an issue and the path to follow. During the COVID-19 ...pandemic, different governments worldwide have played a variety of roles and their impact has been conclusive. In Latin America, current political and ideological antagonism has configured a diversity of contexts and scenarios that have conditioned public communication management, setting out from the assumption that they have variously weighted the different driving factors of the strategic complexity. Within the framework of the EUPRERA COM-COVID network, we present the cases of strategic communication management of the national governments of Brazil and Argentina during the second half of 2020 and their impact on the population from the sanitary, social and economic levels. Of 1,332 demographically weighted cases, we analyze the information channels, credible sources, types of messages and their effectiveness comparatively. The most relevant conclusion lies in confirming that the strategic factor model in the public sector is conditioned by the ideological profile of who governs and this determines the decisions and effectiveness of the management.
Over the last decade, there has been a great improvement in the oral health of Brazilians. However, such a trend was not observed among five-year-old children. Dental caries are determined by the ...interplay between biological and behavioral factors that are shaped by broader socioeconomic determinants. It is well established that dental disease is concentrated in socially disadvantaged populations. To reduce social and health inequalities, the Brazilian government created Family Health Program (ESF), and the Bolsa Família Program, the Brazilian conditional cash transfer program (Bolsa Família Program). The aim of this study was to examine the oral health care and promotion provided by the Family Health Teams to children and caregivers covered by the Bolsa Família Program. Data was collected through interviews with three groups of participants: 1) dentists working for the Family Health Program; 2) Family Health Program professionals supervising the Bolsa Família Program health conditionalities (Bolsa Família Program supervisors); and 3) parents/caregivers of children covered by the Bolsa Família Program. A pretested questionnaire included sociodemographic, Bolsa Família Program, oral health promotion, dental prevention and dental treatment questions. The results showed that most dentists performed no systematic efforts to promote oral health care to children covered by the Bolsa Família Program (93.3%; n = 69) or to their parents/caregivers (74.3%; n = 55). Many dentists (33.8%) did not provide oral health care to children covered by the Bolsa Família Program because they felt it was beyond their responsibilities. Nearly all Bolsa Família Program supervisors (97.3%; n = 72) supported the inclusion of oral health care in the health conditionality of the Bolsa Família Program, but 82.4% (n = 61) stated they did not promote oral health activities to children covered by the Bolsa Família Program. Children in the routine care setting were more often referred to dentists than children covered by the Bolsa Familia Program (p≤0.001). Parents/caregivers (99.2%; n = 381) agreed that oral health care is important and 99.5% (n = 382) would like their children to be seen regularly.
No collaboration was observed between the Bolsa Família Program and the Family Health Program with regard to the provision of oral health care. Making oral health care a Bolsa Família Program conditionality may reduce oral health care inequalities for extreme poor children under seven in Brazil.
Digestive tract tumors are among the most common and deadliest malignancies worldwide, mainly due to late diagnosis and lack of efficient therapeutics. Current treatments essentially rely on surgery ...associated with (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy agents. Despite an upfront response, conventional drugs often fail to eliminate highly aggressive clones endowed with chemoresistant properties, which are responsible for tumor recurrence and disease dissemination. Synthetic drugs also present severe adverse systemic effects, hampering the administration of biologically effective dosages. Nanoencapsulation of chemotherapeutic agents within biocompatible polymeric or lipid matrices holds great potential to improve the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of conventional chemotherapy while reducing systemic toxicity. Tagging nanoparticle surfaces with specific ligands for cancer cells, namely monoclonal antibodies or antibody fragments, has provided means to target more aggressive clones, further improving the selectivity and efficacy of nanodelivery vehicles. In fact, over the past twenty years, significant research has translated into a wide array of guided nanoparticles, providing the molecular background for a new generation of intelligent and more effective anti-cancer agents. Attempting to bring awareness among the medical community to emerging targeted nanopharmaceuticals and foster advances in the field, we have conducted a systematic review about this matter. Emphasis was set on ongoing preclinical and clinical trials for liver, colorectal, gastric and pancreatic cancers. To the best of our knowledge this is the first systematic and integrated overview on this field. Using a specific query, 433 abstracts were gathered and narrowed to 47 manuscripts when matched against inclusion/exclusion criteria. All studies showed that active targeting improves the effectiveness of the nanodrugs alone, while lowering its side effects. The main focus has been on hepatocarcinomas, mainly by exploring glycans as homing molecules. Other ligands such as peptides/small proteins and antibodies/antibody fragments, with affinity to either tumor vasculature or tumor cells, have also been widely and successfully applied to guide nanodrugs to gastrointestinal carcinomas. Conversely, few solutions have been presented for pancreatic tumors. To this date only three nanocomplexes have progressed beyond pre-clinical stages: i) PK2, a galactosamine-functionalized polymeric-DOX formulation for hepatocarcinomas; ii) MCC-465, an anti-(myosin heavy chain a) immunoliposome for advanced stage metastatic solid tumors; and iii) MBP-426, a transferrin–liposome–oxaliplatin conjugate, also for advanced stage tumors. Still, none has been approved for clinical use. However, based on the high amount of pre-clinical studies showing enthusiastic results, the number of clinical trials is expected to increase in the near future. A more profound understanding about the molecular nature of chemoresistant clones and cancer stem cell biology will also contribute to boost the field of guided nanopharmacology towards more effective solutions.
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Uterine Carcinosarcomas (UCS) are a rare type of cancer composed of an admixture of high-grade carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements. Clinicopathological prognostic factors in UCS are well ...established, but studies that approach the impact of biomarkers in this unusual disease are scarce. The study objective was to evaluate the prevalence and prognostic impact of a panel of prominent biomarkers in uterine carcinosarcoma (UCS) using an immunohistochemical characterization with four biomarkers.
The internal database of a single Brazilian institution was carefully explored to select women diagnosed with UCS who were submitted to surgery and postoperative chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel between January 2012 and December 2017. Tissue microarrays containing UCS samples were evaluated by immunohistochemistry for L1CAM, CDX2, p53 and microsatellite instability markers. A total of 57 cases were included. The mean age was 65.3 years (standard deviation, SD 7.0). L1CAM was negative (score 0, no staining) in 27 (47.4%) patients. Of L1CAM-positive, 10 (17.5%) showed weak (score 1, <10%), 6 (10.5%) showed moderate (score 2, between 10-50%), and 14 (24.6%) showed strong L1CAM staining (score 3, ≧50%). dMMR occurred in 3 (5.3%) cases. The p53 was aberrantly expressed in 15 (26.3%) tumors. CDX2 was positive in 3 (5.3%) patients. The three-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate in the general population of the study was 21.2% (95% CI: 11.7-38.1) and the three-year overall survival (OS) rate was 29.4% (95% CI: 18.1-47.6). By multivariate analysis, the presence of metastases and CDX2-positive were significantly associated with poorer PFS (p < 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively) and OS (p < 0.001 and p = 0.009, respectively).
The strong influence of CDX2 on prognosis requires further investigation. Biological or molecular variability may have impaired the assessment of the impact of the other markers on survival.
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