Maternal Profiles and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study from Angola.

Objectives: To characterize pregnant women admitted to Irene Neto Maternity Hospital, Lubango city, Huíla province, and their pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional facility-based survey between October 2016 and September 2017, involving 500 pregnant women, followed from admission in labor until the end of delivery. Mean (SD) was computed for quantitative variables, while relative and absolute frequencies were determined for categorical variables.

Cerebellar damage affects the inference of human motion.

The present study aims at the cerebellum's role in prediction mechanisms triggered by action observation. Five cerebellar patients and six age-paired control subjects were asked to estimate the occluded end point position of the shoulder's trajectories in Sit-to-Stand (STS) or Back-to-Sit (BTS) conditions, following or not biological rules. Contrarily to the control group, the prediction accuracy of the end point position in cerebellar patients did not depend on biological rules.

Continuous endometrial volumetric analysis for endometrial receptivity assessment on assisted reproductive technology cycles.

Background: Human implantation is a complex process requiring synchrony between a healthy embryo and a functionally competent or receptive endometrium. In order to assess endometrial receptivity in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) cycles serial evaluation of endometrial volumetric analysis may have a predictive value on a positive outcome.

Methods: Serial 3D transvaginal ultrasound performed in women on ART cycle to evaluate embryo implantation predictors.

Bone mineral density is reduced by telmisartan in male spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Background: Telmisartan, an angiotensin AT1 receptor blocker, and treadmill running were compared for their effects on bone mineral density (BMD) and biomechanical properties of male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). It was hypothesized that running (18m/min/60min/d) and telmisartan (5mg/kg/d) would have a positive effect on bone parameters.

Methods: Three-month-old male SHRs were divided into three groups: sedentary (S), telmisartan (T), and exercise (E).

Statokinesigram normalization method.

Stabilometry is a technique that aims to study the body sway of human subjects, employing a force platform. The signal obtained from this technique refers to the position of the foot base ground-reaction vector, known as the center of pressure (CoP). The parameters calculated from the signal are used to quantify the displacement of the CoP over time; there is a large variability, both between and within subjects, which prevents the definition of normative values.

Balance Impairments after Brachial Plexus Injury as Assessed through Clinical and Posturographic Evaluation.

Objective: To investigate whether a sensorimotor deficit of the upper limb following a brachial plexus injury (BPI) affects the upright balance.

Design: Eleven patients with a unilateral BPI and 11 healthy subjects were recruited. The balance assessment included the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the number of feet touches on the ground while performing a 60 s single-leg stance and posturographic assessment (eyes open and feet placed hip-width apart during a single 60 s trial).

The Effect of Lycopene Preexposure on UV-B-Irradiated Human Keratinocytes.

Unlabelled: Lycopene has been reported as the antioxidant most quickly depleted in skin upon UV irradiation, and thus it might play a protective role. Our goal was to investigate the effects of preexposure to lycopene on UV-B-irradiated skin cells. Cells were exposed for 24 h to 10 M lycopene, and subsequently irradiated and left to recover for another 24 h period.

Heart rate variability in shift workers: responses to orthostatism and relationships with anthropometry, body composition, and blood pressure.

In order to investigate the response of heart rate variability (HRV) components to postural change and their association with cardiovascular risk factors in shift workers, a cross-sectional study with 438 Brazilian males rotating shift workers was done. Anthropometric, body composition, and clinical measures were collected. Electrocardiogram was recorded for 3 minutes, in the supine and orthostatic position, and HRV components were extracted.

The Polisemy of Clinical Governance: a review of literature.

The article aims to explore the concept of clinical management, with a view towards understanding the diverse meanings that could be attributed to that expression. This discussion can contribute to the planning and organization of health services geared to the management of clinical practices, as well as to set forth principles to draft actions in that field. Methodologically, the study consists of a qualitative literature review, using keywords of the Virtual Health Library (VHL).

Lifetime shift work exposure: association with anthropometry, body composition, blood pressure, glucose and heart rate variability.

Objective: To evaluate the association between lifetime exposure to shift work and blood pressure, fasting glucose (FG), anthropometric variables, body composition and heart rate variability (HRV).

Methods: Male shift workers (N=438) were evaluated using principal component (PC) analysis. The variables used were: weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), neck circumference (NC), hip circumference (HC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), body fat mass (BFKg), body fat percentage (BF%), visceral fat area (VFA), FG, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and HRV variables.

Management of diabetic nephropathy in older patients: a need for flexible guidelines.

As the population ages and diabetes mellitus increases in prevalence, the incidence of diabetic nephropathy (DN) is becoming a disease of older people (aged ≥ 75 years). As the epidemiology of diabetes mellitus and DN shifts toward this patient population, the pathogenesis of DN in old age is changing: the pathologic findings suggest ischemia and hypertension, and the classic Kimmelstiel-Wilson lesions may be absent. The demographic shift in the epidemiology and the associated changes in pathology because of aging and atherosclerosis will have a significant impact on various aspects related to the disease in old age.

Applying laws of biology to diabetes with emphasis on metabolic syndrome.

The listed laws of biology will be applied to diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. (1) Biology must be consistent with the fundamental laws of physics and chemistry. (2) Life, as opposed to non-living, exhibits negative entropy (known as syntropy), capable of creating order out of chaos.

Electrophysiological correlates of biological motion permanence in humans.

Spatiotemporal discontinuity of visual input is a common occurrence in daily life. For example, when a walking person disappears temporarily behind a wall, observers have a clear sense of his physical presence despite the absence of any visual information (movement permanence). To investigate the neural substrates of biological motion permanence, we recorded scalp EEG activity of sixteen subjects while they passively observed either biological or scrambled motion disappearing behind an occluder and reappearing.

Assessment of liquid disposal originated by uranium enrichment at Aramar Experimental Center São Paulo--Brazil.

This work presents a liquid disposal monitoring originated from uranium enrichment process at Aramar Experimental Center from 1990 to 1998. Assessment of uranium, fluorides, ammoniacal nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand, and pH measurements were made in water samples and compared with results achieved in other countries, as North America and India. The liquid disposal evaluation, generated by uranium enrichment process, showed low levels, considering most parameters established by Federal and State Legislation, aiming environmental pollution control.

Proteomic analysis of the secretory response of Aspergillus niger to D-maltose and D-xylose.

Fungi utilize polysaccharide substrates through extracellular digestion catalyzed by secreted enzymes. Thus far, protein secretion by the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger has mainly been studied at the level of individual proteins and by genome and transcriptome analyses. To extend these studies, a complementary proteomics approach was applied with the aim to investigate the changes in secretome and microsomal protein composition resulting from a shift to a high level secretion condition.

Proteomics of industrial fungi: trends and insights for biotechnology.

Filamentous fungi are widely known for their industrial applications, namely, the production of food-processing enzymes and metabolites such as antibiotics and organic acids. In the past decade, the full genome sequencing of filamentous fungi increased the potential to predict encoded proteins enormously, namely, hydrolytic enzymes or proteins involved in the biosynthesis of metabolites of interest. The integration of genome sequence information with possible phenotypes requires, however, the knowledge of all the proteins in the cell in a system-wise manner, given by proteomics.

Porosity measurement of solid pharmaceutical dosage forms by gamma-ray transmission.

The aim of the present work is the determination of porosity in tablets by using the gamma-ray transmission technique. Tablet dissolution depends on some inherent characteristics of the manufacturing process, such as compression force, tablet volume, density and porosity, nature of excipients, preparation methods and its physical-chemical properties. Porosity is a measure of empty spaces in a material and can be determined by various techniques.