Publications by authors named "Nuno Carvalho"

Background: A pneumonic infiltrate might hide an occult lung cancer (LC). This awareness depends on each clinician personal experience, turning definitive LC diagnosis challenging and possibly delayed. In this study we aimed to develop a clinical score to better identify those cases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite being the most common abdominal surgical emergency, the cause of acute appendicitis (AA) remains unclear, since in recent decades little progress has been made regarding its etiology. Obstruction of the appendicular lumen has been traditionally presented as the initial event of AA; however, this is often the exception rather than the rule, as experimental data suggest that obstruction is not an important causal factor in AA, despite possibly occurring as a consequence of the inflammatory process. Type I hypersensitivity reaction has been extensively studied, involving Th2 lymphocytes, and cytokines such as IL-4, IL-5, IL-9 and IL-13, which have well-defined functions, such as a positive-feedback effect on Th0 for differentiating into Th2 cells, recruitment of eosinophils and the release of eosinophilic proteins and the production of IgE with the activation of mast cells, with the release of proteins from their granules.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this paper, the authors, for the first time, have shown the use of 2D conformal microwave absorbing material (MAM) in the design and fabrication of a portable Anechoic chamber (AC). The MAM is fabricated on the transparent and conductive metal oxide layer named indium-tin-oxide (ITO) with Polyethylene terephthalate as the substrate and the ground plane for zero transmission having overall thickness of 0.012 where is calculated at 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

While genetic factors, behavior, and environmental exposures form a complex web of interrelated associations in type 2 diabetes (T2D), their interaction is poorly understood. Here, using data from ~500K participants of the UK Biobank, we identify the genetic determinants of a "polyexposure risk score" (PXS) a new risk factor that consists of an accumulation of 25 associated individual-level behaviors and environmental risk factors that predict longitudinal T2D incidence. PXS-T2D had a non-zero heritability (h = 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the role of allergic components in acute appendicitis (AA) and focuses specifically on mast cells and their mediators, particularly tryptase, histamine, and serotonin, in appendicular lavage fluid (ALF) and serum.
  • - A total of 46 patients with varying types of AA were analyzed, revealing that tryptase levels in ALF were significantly elevated compared to a control group, with phlegmonous AA showing much higher levels than gangrenous AA.
  • - Although serum tryptase had good potential as a diagnostic tool for AA, its effectiveness was weak for distinguishing between types of AA. The study suggests that future research should look into other factors since histamine and serotonin levels
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Arterial blood gas, with subsequent radial arterial puncture as a simple access point, comprises a ubiquitous medical procedure in the diagnostic workup of patients admitted to the emergency department with dyspnea. Despite being a relatively safe and technically straightforward procedure, due to its considerable use, it is of vital importance to be able to promptly recognize its potential complications. We present the case of a 96-year-old female patient admitted to the emergency department with dyspnea and cough who underwent left radial arterial puncture for arterial blood gas.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Several pieces of evidence point to an allergic component as a trigger of acute appendicitis. As the Th2 immune response is characterized by eosinophil mobilization to the target organ and release of their cationic granule proteins, it is reasonable to investigate if the degranulation of eosinophils could be associated with the local injury. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the participation of eosinophils granules proteins in acute appendicitis, both at local and systemic levels and the secondary aim is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of eosinophils granules proteins for the detection of acute appendicitis, as well as for distinguishing between complicated and uncomplicated acute appendicitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Smart, and ultra-low energy consuming Internet of Things (IoTs), wireless sensor networks (WSN), and autonomous devices are being deployed to smart buildings and cities, which require continuous power supply, whereas battery usage has accompanying environmental problems, coupled with additional maintenance cost. We present Home Chimney Pinwheels (HCP) as the Smart Turbine Energy Harvester (STEH) for wind; and Cloud-based remote monitoring of its output data. The HCP commonly serves as an external cap to home chimney exhaust outlets; they have very low inertia to wind; and are available on the rooftops of some buildings.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency, but its aetiology is not fully understood. We and others have proposed that allergic responses play significant roles in its pathophysiology. Eosinophils and Interleukin (IL)-5 are involved in a hypersensitivity type I reaction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The highest beam efficiency in a wireless power transfer (WPT) system that uses focusing components was 51%, using a [Formula: see text] diameter reflector for a transfer distance of [Formula: see text]. We have beaten that record, and present here a system that surpasses it by 25%. Using the quasioptical framework for reducing spillover losses in WPT, we present a double-reflector system that achieved a higher beam efficiency than the state-of-the-art.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Gambling tourism is a subject that has been gaining a lot of interest and notoriety over the last two decades. Push and pull factors have for long been the backbone of tourism studies and this research seeks to expound on this theory within the area of casinos. In this study, 1383 google reviews from five different countries in coastal Europe: Casino Vila Moura, Algarve (Portugal), Casino Barrière Le Croisette, Cannes (France), Casino de Monte-Carlo, (Monaco), Casino Malta, (Malta), and Regency Casino Thessaloniki, (Greece) were analyzed with the software Leximancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this paper, we present the results of a 6-year experiment in space that studied the effects of radiation in Gallium Nitride (GaN) electronics in geostationary orbit. Four GaN transistors in a Colpitts oscillator configuration were flown in the Component Technology Test-Bed aboard the Alphasat telecommunication satellite. A heuristic analysis was performed by observing the variation in the power output of the oscillators with the total ionizing dose gathered during the mission.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Internet of Things (IoT) and recently Internet of Nano Things (IoNT) bear the promise of new devices able to communicate and assist our daily lives toward wearable technologies which demand a versatile integration such as in wireless body networks (WBN), sensing, and health monitorization. These must comply with stringent constraints on energy usage. Dimensions and complexity intensify the need for small and maintenance-free power sources.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is the complete or partial occlusion of the main venous sinuses or cortical veins. The most known risk factors are oral contraceptives, pregnancy, thrombophilias, malignancy and infections. The SARS-CoV-2 infection has been associated with a hypercoagulable state and there are some reported cases of CVST in SARS-CoV-2 patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To the Editor, Radical Prostatectomy (RP) is one of the preferred treatments for localized prostatic cancer and although surgical complications have been reduced over the years, urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction are still common and significantly impact the patient's life. Therefore, adequate patient education and counselling before RP is essential. Informed Consent (IC) is a crucial element of doctor-patient interaction, and it must ensure that patients receive and understand all the information regarding their diseases and treatments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: IgE mediates type I hypersensitivity reaction and can be found in the mucosa of organs affected by allergy. Acute appendicitis (AA) is a common disease, but its etiology remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated IgE deposition in histological sections of AA samples to test the hypothesis that an allergic reaction may substantially contribute to the pathophysiology of AA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Kawasaki disease (KD) with cardiac involvement can result in the development of coronary aneurysm, stenosis or thrombosis with significant cardiovascular implications. We report the case of a 23-month-old male with a late diagnosis of KD, in whom intravenous immunoglobulin treatment was not feasible. The patient's course was assessed by routine echocardiography.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The main goal of this paper is to present a three-dimensional (3D) antenna array to improve the performance of wireless power transmission (WPT) systems, as well as its characterization with over-the-air (OTA) multi-sine techniques. The 3D antenna consists of 15 antenna elements attached to an alternative 3D structure, allowing energy to be transmitted to all azimuth directions at different elevation angles without moving. The OTA multi-sine characterization technique was first utilized to identify issues in antenna arrays.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: This study aimed to compare trainees' laparoscopic performance concerning the peg-transfer (PT) and needle-guidance (NG) exercises after watching the original European Basic Laparoscopic Urologic Skills (E-BLUS) video or after watching a video-mentored tutorial (VMT) with 'tips and tricks', narration and didactic illustrations.

Material And Methods: An experimental, unblinded, parallel, 2-intervention, 2-period randomized trial with an allocation ratio of 1:1 was conducted. Forty-two participants were randomized into 2 groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Internet of Things (IoT) has been developing to become a free exchange of useful information between multiple real-world devices. Already spread all over the world in the most varied forms and applications, IoT devices need to overcome a series of challenges to respond to the new requirements and demands. The main focus of this manuscript is to establish good practices for the design of IoT devices (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction condition caused by a dysregulated host response to an infection. Here we report that the circulating levels of growth and differentiation factor-15 (GDF15) are strongly increased in septic shock patients and correlate with mortality. In mice, we find that peptidoglycan is a potent ligand that signals through the TLR2-Myd88 axis for the secretion of GDF15, and that -deficient mice are protected against abdominal sepsis due to increased chemokine CXC ligand 5 (CXCL5)-mediated recruitment of neutrophils into the peritoneum, leading to better local bacterial control.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Canine leishmaniasis is a major veterinary issue and also a public health challenge due to its zoonotic potential. In this context, serological evaluation is essential for Canine leishmaniasis management. Several serological alternatives, such as rapid diagnostic tests, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT), are well established.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Intestinal malrotation is a rare condition, with an incidence estimated between 0,2 to 1%. Most cases are diagnosed and treated during childhood. Adult presentations are rare and most adults present with chronic nonspecific complaints.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute appendicitis is the most frequent surgical abdominal emergency, but its etiology remains poorly understood. Histological examination of the appendix, following its removal due to acute appendicitis, consistently shows features in common with bronchial asthma, suggesting an allergic reaction as a candidate etiologic factor. Here, we propose the concept of appendicular lavage and use it to study the levels of the Th2 cytokines IL-4, IL-5, and IL-9 in patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF