Integration of Body Sensor Networks and Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks for Traffic Safety.

The emergence of Body Sensor Networks (BSNs) constitutes a new and fast growing trend for the development of daily routine applications. However, in the case of heterogeneous BSNs integration with Vehicular ad hoc Networks (VANETs) a large number of difficulties remain, that must be solved, especially when talking about the detection of human state factors that impair the driving of motor vehicles. The main contributions of this investigation are principally three: (1) an exhaustive review of the current mechanisms to detect four basic physiological behavior states (drowsy, drunk, driving under emotional state disorders and distracted driving) that may cause traffic accidents is presented; (2) A middleware architecture is proposed.

Aeromycological profile of indoor and outdoor environments.

The aim of this work was to determine the differences between indoor and outdoor aeromicological composition. The aerobiological study was performed, from 15 January to 14 April 2008, using two volumetric spore traps, one placed indoors and another positioned outdoors on the roof of the Faculdade de Ciências building. A total of 23 000 spores were sampled outdoors and 15 500 spores were identified indoors.

Molecular characterization of Alternaria alternata causing ocular infection: detection of IGS-RFLP intraspecific polymorphism.

A case of fungal keratitis is presented in which corneal scrapings were obtained for microbiological studies, including morphological identification and molecular characterization of the etiologic agent. Comparative sequence analyses of the Internal Transcribed Spacer domain of 5.8S and 26S regions of nuclear rDNA showed 100% identity with different species of Alternaria and PCR-RFLP analysis of Intergenic Spacer regions revealed intraspecific variation.

Thyroid diseases, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular pathology.

Introduction: The relationship between thyroid hormones and lipids has long been studied, having been first described more than 70 years ago. Since then, much new information has been discovered, which justifies a reevaluation of the relationship between thyroid pathology and dyslipidemia. Thyroid hormones play an important role in regulating lipid metabolism, and thyroid dysfunction can result in lipid abnormalities which increase the risk of endothelial dysfunction, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.