Lessons from the historical dynamics of environmental law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon.

Here, we analyze critical changes in environmental law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon between 2000 and 2020. Based on a dataset of law enforcement indicators, we discuss how these changes explain recent Amazon deforestation dynamics. Our analysis also covers changes in the legal prosecution process and documents a militarization of enforcement between 2018 and 2022.

A Data-Driven Framework for Small Hydroelectric Plant Prognosis Using Tsfresh and Machine Learning Survival Models.

Maintenance in small hydroelectric plants (SHPs) is essential for securing the expansion of clean energy sources and supplying the energy estimated to be required for the coming years. Identifying failures in SHPs before they happen is crucial for allowing better management of asset maintenance, lowering operating costs, and enabling the expansion of renewable energy sources. Most fault prognosis models proposed thus far for hydroelectric generating units are based on signal decomposition and regression models.

Spatial distribution of sedentary behavior and unhealthy eating habits in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: the role of the neighborhood environment.

The study aimed to analyze the spatial distribution of sedentary behavior and unhealthy eating habits, and to assess its relationship with the neighborhood environment. Cross-sectional study with data of Surveillance System of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases, carried out in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Watching television for four hours or more per day was identified as sedentary behavior.

Spatial analysis of leisure-time physical activity in an urban area.

Objective: To analyze the spatial distribution of the prevalence of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in a Brazilian urban area and its association with the characteristics of the physical and social environments.

Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted with data from the Surveillance System for Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases from the years 2008-2010, in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The outcome was the practice of LTPA and the independent variables were residential and population density, the density of places for physical activity, homicide rates, average family income, and health vulnerability index.

Vertebral Coplanar Alignment Technique Versus Bilateral Apical Vertebral Derotation Technique in Neuromuscular Scoliosis.

Study Design: Single-center retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.

Objective: Our aim was to compare the correction capacity in 3 planes of the VCA technique versus the AD technique in neuromuscular scoliosis patients.

Methods: We analized patients with neuromuscular scoliosis that underwent posterior spinal fusion from 2013 to 2017 using 2 different techniques for correction: vertebral coplanar alignment (VCA) that takes into consideration the fact that the medial cortex is more resistant than the lateral cortex, with more anchor points for better distribution of forces and ligamentotaxis and the more widely spread apical derotation (AD) technique.

Novel Insights into Plasmodium vivax Therapeutic Failure: CYP2D6 Activity and Time of Exposure to Malaria Modulate the Risk of Recurrence.

relapse is one of the major causes of sustained global malaria transmission. Primaquine (PQ) is the only commercial drug available to prevent relapses, and its efficacy is dependent on metabolic activation by cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6). Impaired CYP2D6 function, caused by allelic polymorphisms, leads to the therapeutic failure of PQ as a radical cure for malaria.

Neural Networks Multiobjective Learning With Spherical Representation of Weights.

This article presents a novel representation of artificial neural networks (ANNs) that is based on a projection of weights into a new spherical space defined by a radius r and a vector of angles Θ . This spherical representation of ANNs further simplifies the multiobjective learning problem, which is usually treated as a constrained optimization problem that requires great computational effort to maintain the constraints. With the proposed spherical representation, the constrained optimization problem becomes unconstrained, which simplifies the formulation and computational effort required.

Susceptibility to Plasmodium vivax malaria associated with DARC (Duffy antigen) polymorphisms is influenced by the time of exposure to malaria.

Malaria has provided a major selective pressure and has modulated the genetic diversity of the human genome. The variants of the Duffy Antigen/Receptor for Chemokines (DARC) gene have probably been selected by malaria parasites, particularly the FY*O allele, which is fixed in sub-Saharan Africa and confers resistance to Plasmodium vivax infection. Here, we showed the influence of genomic ancestry on the distribution of DARC genotypes in a highly admixed Brazilian population and confirmed the decreased susceptibility of the FY*A/FY*O genotype to clinical P.

A new item response theory model to adjust data allowing examinee choice.

In a typical questionnaire testing situation, examinees are not allowed to choose which items they answer because of a technical issue in obtaining satisfactory statistical estimates of examinee ability and item difficulty. This paper introduces a new item response theory (IRT) model that incorporates information from a novel representation of questionnaire data using network analysis. Three scenarios in which examinees select a subset of items were simulated.

Limits of Brazil's Forest Code as a means to end illegal deforestation.

The 2012 Brazilian Forest Code governs the fate of forests and savannas on Brazil's 394 Mha of privately owned lands. The government claims that a new national land registry (SICAR), introduced under the revised law, could end illegal deforestation by greatly reducing the cost of monitoring, enforcement, and compliance. This study evaluates that potential, using data from state-level land registries (CAR) in Pará and Mato Grosso that were precursors of SICAR.

A Ranking Approach for Probe Selection and Classification of Microarray Data with Artificial Neural Networks.

Acute leukemia classification into its myeloid and lymphoblastic subtypes is usually accomplished according to the morphology of the tumor. Nevertheless, the subtypes may have similar histopathological appearance, making screening procedures difficult. In addition, approximately one-third of acute myeloid leukemias are characterized by aberrant cytoplasmic localization of nucleophosmin (NPMc(+)), where the majority has a normal karyotype.

[Spatial distribution of obesity in an urban Brazilian area].

The spatial distribution of a disease is important for the diagnosis and epidemiological understanding of the health situation and trends, enabling a better grasp of the factors that determine the health status of populations. The scope of the study was to analyze the spatial distribution of obesity in adults in Belo Horizonte. This cross-sectional study was developed by Telephone Survey from the database for 2008 to 2010 of the Surveillance of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases.

RAP1 GTPase overexpression is associated with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

RAP1 (RAS proximate 1), a small GTP-binding protein of the RAS superfamily, is a putative oncogene that is highly expressed in several malignant cell lines and types of cancers, including some types of squamous cell carcinoma. However, the participation of RAP1 in cervical carcinogenesis is unknown. We conducted a cross-sectional study of paraffin-embedded cervical biopsies to determine the association of RAP1 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).

A critical look at prospective surveillance using a scan statistic.

The scan statistic is a very popular surveillance technique for purely spatial, purely temporal, and spatial-temporal disease data. It was extended to the prospective surveillance case, and it has been applied quite extensively in this situation. When the usual signal rules, as those implemented in SaTScan(TM) (Boston, MA, USA) software, are used, we show that the scan statistic method is not appropriate for the prospective case.

Maximum linkage space-time permutation scan statistics for disease outbreak detection.

Background: In disease surveillance, the prospective space-time permutation scan statistic is commonly used for the early detection of disease outbreaks. The scanning window that defines potential clusters of diseases is cylindrical in shape, which does not allow incorporating into the cluster shape potential factors that can contribute to the spread of the disease, such as information about roads, landscape, among others. Furthermore, the cylinder scanning window assumes that the spatial extent of the cluster does not change in time.

Optimal selection of the spatial scan parameters for cluster detection: a simulation study.

Circular and elliptic spatial scan statistics requires the user to choose a maximum cluster size. A common value for this parameter is 50% of the underlying population. In addition to the detected primary cluster, the user may be interested in the analysis of significant secondary clusters.

Convergence analysis of sliding mode trajectories in multi-objective neural networks learning.

The Pareto-optimality concept is used in this paper in order to represent a constrained set of solutions that are able to trade-off the two main objective functions involved in neural networks supervised learning: data-set error and network complexity. The neural network is described as a dynamic system having error and complexity as its state variables and learning is presented as a process of controlling a learning trajectory in the resulting state space. In order to control the trajectories, sliding mode dynamics is imposed to the network.

New approaches to estimating national rates of invasive pneumococcal disease.

National infectious disease incidence rates are often estimated by standardizing locally derived rates using national-level age and race distributions. Data on other factors potentially associated with incidence are often not available in the form of patient-level covariates. Including characteristics of patients' area of residence may improve the accuracy of national estimates.

Population-based multicentric survey of hepatitis B infection and risk factor differences among three regions in Brazil.

This multicentric population-based study in Brazil is the first national effort to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B (HBV) and risk factors in the capital cities of the Northeast, Central-West, and Federal Districts (2004-2005). Random multistage cluster sampling was used to select persons 13-69 years of age. Markers for HBV were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Multilevel analysis of hepatitis A infection in children and adolescents: a household survey in the Northeast and Central-west regions of Brazil.

Background: The objectives were to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis A among children and adolescents from the Northeast and Midwest regions and the Federal District of Brazil and to identify individual-, household- and area-levels factors associated with hepatitis A infection.

Methods: This population-based survey was conducted in 2004-2005 and covered individuals aged between 5 and 19 years. A stratified multistage cluster sampling technique with probability proportional to size was used to select 1937 individuals aged between 5 and 19 years living in the Federal capital and in the State capitals of 12 states in the study regions.

Impact strength and fracture morphology of denture acrylic resins.

Statement Of Problem: Microwave-polymerization cycles may affect the impact strength and fracture morphology of denture base acrylic resin, and the microstructural effects of these processes have not been fully determined.

Purpose: This study evaluated the impact strength and fracture morphology of denture base acrylic resins processed by microwave energy and hot water bath.

Material And Methods: Twenty specimens measuring 65 x 10 x 2.