Publications by authors named "Luz S"

Background: Ae. aegypti mosquitoes are considered a global threat to public health due to its ability to transmit arboviruses such as yellow fever, dengue, Zika and Chikungunya to humans. The lack of effective arboviral vaccines and etiological treatments make vector control strategies fundamental in interrupting the transmission cycle of these pathogens.

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Background: Mosquitoes transmit important human pathogens, including dengue virus, but are notoriously hard to control. Mosquito-disseminated pyriproxyfen (MDPPF) uses the mosquitoes themselves to transfer particles of pyriproxyfen, a potent larvicide and pupicide, from lure dissemination stations to untreated larval habitats. MDPPF can reduce mosquito densities, but possible epidemiological effects remain to be measured.

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and are responsible for transmitting major human arboviruses such as Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya, posing a global threat to public health. The lack of etiological treatments and efficient vaccines makes vector control strategies essential for reducing vector population density and interrupting the pathogen transmission cycle. This study evaluated the impact of long-term pyriproxyfen exposure on the genetic structure and diversity of and mosquito populations.

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Objectives: To describe the effect of multimorbidity on adverse patient centred outcomes in people attending emergency department.

Design: Population based cohort study.

Setting: Emergency departments in NHS Lothian in Scotland, from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2019.

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Introduction: Digital cognitive assessments are gathering importance for the decentralized remote clinical trials of the future. Before including such assessments in clinical trials, they must be tested to confirm feasibility and acceptability with the intended participant group. This study presents usability and acceptability data from the Speech on the Phone Assessment (SPeAk) study.

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Proposing substitutes for Pyriproxyfen (PPF) in the auto-dissemination strategy is essential to ensure the continuity of the strategy in the field, especially in the case of the emergence of populations resistant to this larvicide. One possible substitute among the compounds already in use in Brazil is the larvicide Diflubenzuron (DFB). The equation that defines the proportion of oviposition sites (habitats) contaminated by the auto-dissemination strategy was modified to account for the number of visits required to reach the necessary concentration of DFB for contamination, considering scenarios with varying numbers of oviposition sites and mosquito densities.

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The ADReSS-M Signal Processing Grand Challenge was held at the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, ICASSP 2023. The challenge targeted difficult automatic prediction problems of great societal and medical relevance, namely, the detection of Alzheimer's Dementia (AD) and the estimation of cognitive test scoress. Participants were invited to create models for the assessment of cognitive function based on spontaneous speech data.

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Incorporating person-centered outcomes into clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases has been challenging due to a deficiency in quantitative measures. Meanwhile, the integration of personally meaningful treatment targets in clinical practice remains qualitative, failing to truly inform evaluations, therapeutic interventions and longitudinal monitoring and support. We discuss the current advances and future directions in capturing individualized brain health outcomes and present an approach to integrate person-centered outcome in a scalable manner.

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Background: The Dysmenorrhea Symptom Interference (DSI) scale is a reliable, valid, and responsive tool to assess the interference of menstrual pain in the physical, mental, and social activities of women.

Objective: To translate and cross-culturally adapt the DSI scale into Brazilian-Portuguese (DSI-BrPt) and investigate the measurement properties of this version in on- and off-menses versions.

Methods: The original (United States) scale was translated and culturally adapted following existing guidelines.

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Objectives: We report the first case of Oropouche fever detected in the border region of Colombia.

Methods: Using a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), genetic sequencing and clinical characteristics during the dengue epidemic in 2019, a total of 175 samples were analysed, from cases notified to the system epidemiological surveillance such as dengue.

Findings: The Oropouche virus (OROV) isolate from Leticia belongs to lineage 2 according to both M and S genome segments maximum likelihood (ML) analysis, shares a common ancestor with samples obtained in Esmeraldas, Ecuador and Turbaco, Colombia.

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Modern sensing technologies and data analysis methods usher in a new era for sports training and practice. Hidden insights can be uncovered and interactive training environments can be created by means of data analysis. We present a system to support volleyball training which makes use of Inertial Measurement Units, a pressure sensitive display floor, and machine learning techniques to automatically detect relevant behaviours and provides the user with the appropriate information.

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Introduction: There is emerging evidence that speech may be a potential indicator and manifestation of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Therefore, the University of Edinburgh and Sony Research have partnered to create the Speech for Intelligent cognition change tracking and DEtection of Alzheimer's Disease (SIDE-AD) study, which aims to develop digital speech-based biomarkers for use in neurodegenerative disease.

Methods And Analysis: SIDE-AD is an observational longitudinal study, collecting samples of spontaneous speech.

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Article Synopsis
  • Uterine contractions during labor can reduce blood flow and oxygen to the fetus, leading to potential hypoxia and neurological damage in babies who are vulnerable.
  • Cardiotocography (CTG) is a monitoring technique used to detect fetal hypoxia through heart rate pattern analysis, but its effectiveness is limited due to variability in interpretation and low predictive value of abnormal CTGs.
  • Machine learning (ML) has been explored since the early 2000s as a way to improve the accuracy of predicting fetal hypoxia from CTG data, and a review identified 36 studies utilizing ML and signal processing techniques to enhance CTG classification.
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The ubiquity of digital technology has facilitated detailed recording of human behaviour. Ambient technology has been used to capture behaviours in a broad range of applications ranging from healthcare and monitoring to assessment of cooperative work. However, existing systems often face challenges in terms of autonomy, usability, and privacy.

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Dysfunctional fear responses in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be partly explained by an inability to effectively extinguish fear responses elicited by trauma-related cues. However, only a subset of individuals exposed to traumatic stress develop PTSD. Therefore, studying fear extinction deficits in animal models of individual differences could help identify neural substrates underlying vulnerability or resilience to the effects of stress.

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Introduction: he challenge was to provide comprehensive health resources to a remote and underserved population living in the Brazil-Colombia-Peru border, amid the most disruptive global crisis of the century.

Methods: In August 2021, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Amazonia (FIOCRUZ Amazônia) and partner collaborators implemented an overarching provisional program for SARS-CoV-2 detection and lineages characterization, training of laboratory personnel and healthcare providers, donation of diagnostic supplies and personal protective equipment, and COVID-19 vaccination. The expedition was conducted at the Port of Tabatinga, a busy terminal with an intense flux of people arriving and departing in boats of all sizes, located in the Amazon River basin.

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Diagnostics are widely considered crucial in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is expected to kill 10 million people annually by 2030. Nevertheless, there remains a substantial gap between the need for AMR diagnostics versus their development and implementation. To help address this problem, target product profiles (TPP) have been developed to focus developers' attention on the key aspects of AMR diagnostic tests.

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Fetal hypoxia can cause damaging consequences on babies' such as stillbirth and cerebral palsy. Cardiotocography (CTG) has been used to detect intrapartum fetal hypoxia during labor. It is a non-invasive machine that measures the fetal heart rate and uterine contractions.

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Machine-learning techniques were applied to human blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker data related to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients available via Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) study. We observed the accuracy of AD diagnosis is greatest when protein biomarkers from cerebrospinal fluid are combined with plasma proteins using Support Vector Machines (SVM); this is not improved by adding age and sex. The area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve for our model of AD diagnosis based on a full (unbiased) set of plasma proteins was 0.

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As the global demand for plastics continues to grow, plastic waste is accumulating at an alarming rate with negative effects on the natural environment. The industrially compostable biopolymer poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is therefore being adopted for use in many applications, but the degradation of this material is slow under many end-of-life conditions. This Perspective explores the feasibility of accelerating the degradation of PLA through the formation of PLA-plant fiber composites.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate bone healing and fracture stability after corrective osteotomy of the distal radius using palmar locking plates without bone grafts.
  • Between 2009 and 2021, 11 patients underwent this procedure, and outcomes showed complete bone restoration and significant improvement in radiographic measurements.
  • The findings suggest that bone grafts are not necessary for effective healing and fracture stability in these cases, as only one patient experienced secondary dislocation post-surgery.
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Background And Aims: Iron deficiency tendency in individuals with hyperglycemia influences the HbA1c levels' ability to estimate the stationary blood glucose levels. This study investigated the associations of iron status indicators and HbA1c levels with anthropometric, inflammatory, regulatory, metabolic, and hematologic variables in women with hyperglycemia to most widely characterize this iron deficiency tendency.

Methods: A total of 143 volunteers (68 with normoglycemia and 75 with hyperglycemia) participated in this cross-sectional study.

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Background: Trypanosoma evansi infects a large number of wild and domestic animals and causes a spoliative disease known as surra. It is mechanically transmitted, mainly by biting flies of the genera Tabanus and Stomoxys. The detection of T.

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Background And Aim: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in humans in 2019. Although SARS-CoV-2 infection is primarily asymptomatic and transitory in companion animals, the role of these animals in the life cycle of the virus remains unclear. This study aimed to survey the first SARS-CoV-2 infection cases in pets, including a dog and three cats in São Paulo, Brazil.

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