The Practical Application of Bio-Inspired PMA for the Detection of Partial Discharges in High Voltage Equipment.

In this paper, the practical application of a bio-inspired antenna for partial discharge (PD) detection in high voltage equipment was evaluated in order to validate the efficiency of using this technology for PD monitoring purposes. For this, PD measurements using the bio-inspired antenna were performed on operational 69 kV potential transformers (PT) in a real substation. After the field experiment, laboratory measurements using the IEC 60270 standard method and a bio-inspired antenna were performed, simultaneously, over the evaluated PT. The results obtained at the substation indicated suspicious frequencies of partial discharge activity in two out of three evaluated potential transformers, mainly for the frequencies of 461 MHz, 1366 MHz, 1550 MHz and 1960 MHz. During the laboratory tests, the presence of partial discharge activity over the suspicious potential transformers was confirmed with the detection of PD apparent charge levels above 20 pC. Finally, the frequency spectrum obtained from the PD signals detected by the bio-inspired antenna in the laboratory presented similar frequency values to those obtained during the practical application at the substation, making it a promising indicator for future defect classification studies using artificial intelligence.

The Spinal Transcriptome after Cortical Stroke: In Search of Molecular Factors Regulating Spontaneous Recovery in the Spinal Cord.

In response to cortical stroke and unilateral corticospinal tract degeneration, compensatory sprouting of spared corticospinal fibers is associated with recovery of skilled movement in rodents. To date, little is known about the molecular mechanisms orchestrating this spontaneous rewiring. In this study, we provide insights into the molecular changes in the spinal cord tissue after large ischemic cortical injury in adult female mice, with a focus on factors that might influence the reinnervation process by contralesional corticospinal neurons. We mapped the area of cervical gray matter reinnervation by sprouting contralesional corticospinal axons after unilateral photothrombotic stroke of the motor cortex in mice using anterograde tracing. The mRNA profile of this reinnervation area was analyzed using whole-genome sequencing to identify differentially expressed genes at selected time points during the recovery process. Bioinformatic analysis revealed two phases of processes: early after stroke (4-7 d post-injury), the spinal transcriptome is characterized by inflammatory processes, including phagocytic processes as well as complement cascade activation. Microglia are specifically activated in the denervated corticospinal projection fields in this early phase. In a later phase (28-42 d post-injury), biological processes include tissue repair pathways with upregulated genes related to neurite outgrowth. Thus, the stroke-denervated spinal gray matter, in particular its intermediate laminae, represents a growth-promoting environment for sprouting corticospinal fibers originating from the contralesional motor cortex. This dataset provides a solid starting point for future studies addressing key elements of the post-stroke recovery process, with the goal to improve neuroregenerative treatment options for stroke patients.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We show that the molecular changes in the spinal cord target tissue of the stroke-affected corticospinal tract are mainly defined by two phases: an early inflammatory phase during which microglia are specifically activated in the target area of reinnervating corticospinal motor neurons; and a late phase during which growth-promoting factors are upregulated which can influence the sprouting response, arborization, and synapse formation. By defining for the first time the endogenous molecular machinery in the stroke-denervated cervical spinal gray matter with a focus on promotors of axon growth through the growth-inhibitory adult CNS, this study will serve as a basis to address novel neuroregenerative treatment options for chronic stroke patients.

Design and Application of a Metamaterial Superstrate on a Bio-Inspired Antenna for Partial Discharge Detection through Dielectric Windows.

The adaptation of dielectric windows as metamaterial superstrate over a bio-inspired Printed Monopole Antenna (PMA) was evaluated in order to improve the detection sensitivity of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) sensors designed for Partial Discharge (PD) measurement. For this purpose, rectangular and circular Split Ring Resonators (SRR) structures were designed and evaluated aiming to achieve a metamaterial superstrate that improves the characteristics of the bio-inspired PMA as the gain, bandwidth, and radiation pattern. Measurements of the PMA with metamaterial superstrate were carried out in an anechoic chamber and compared to the simulations performed. The results show that the metamaterial superstrate insertion did not impact the original operating bandwidth, covering most of the characteristic frequency range of PD activity. Moreover, this insertion resulted in a mean gain enhancement of 0.7 dBi regarding the reference PMA, resulting in an antenna with better sensitivity for PD detection (mean gain of 3.61 dBi). The PMA-metamaterial set PD detection sensitivity was evaluated through laboratory tests with a point-to-plane PD generator setup and in field with measurements from a 230 kV current transformer. The developed PMA-metamaterial set was able to detect, successfully, the activity of PD for both tests, being classified as an optimized sensor for PD detection through dielectric windows.

Learning from the operation, pathology and maintenance of a bioretention system to optimize urban drainage practices.

LID practices for runoff control are increasingly being used as an integrated solution in urban drainage, helping to achieve hydrological balance close to the pre-urbanized period and decrease the diffuse pollution transported to urban rivers. Regarding bioretention, there is already broad knowledge about the detention of peak flows and their treatment capacity for many pollutants. However, there are still few field studies in microdrainage scale, which analyze the actual operation of these devices and raise common problems found, especially in subtropical climate. Therefore, this study aims to show what was learnt from the field operation of a bioretention cell on a micro-drainage scale, located in an urban catchment of a Brazilian city, suggesting maintenance actions as adaptations to the pathologies found. Five rainy events were monitored during the dry season, in order to carry out a preliminary analysis for critical conditions in terms of maintenance and diffuse pollution accumulation. From the first water balance results, low storage and low infiltration capacity of the soil were found as main pathologies. They led to a great amount of runoff passing directly through the cell surface and at a high velocity, resulting in soil erosion and low water retention efficiency. To overcome these problems, some structural adaptations were made over the cell, highlighting the semi-direct injection. The maintenance and adaptations proposed were suitable to avoid the erosion process, increasing the storage and improving the water retention efficiency in bioretention. They should be considered from the very initial stages, to using sites with low permeability.

Transformation of alignment files improves performance of variant callers for long-read RNA sequencing data.

Long-read RNA sequencing (lrRNA-seq) produces detailed information about full-length transcripts, including novel and sample-specific isoforms. Furthermore, there is an opportunity to call variants directly from lrRNA-seq data. However, most state-of-the-art variant callers have been developed for genomic DNA. Here, there are two objectives: first, we perform a mini-benchmark on GATK, DeepVariant, Clair3, and NanoCaller primarily on PacBio Iso-Seq, data, but also on Nanopore and Illumina RNA-seq data; second, we propose a pipeline to process spliced-alignment files, making them suitable for variant calling with DNA-based callers. With such manipulations, high calling performance can be achieved using DeepVariant on Iso-seq data.

A randomized trial of noninvasive positive end expiratory pressure in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome and hypoxemic respiratory failure.

BACKGROUND: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a pandemic disease commonly associated with respiratory infections, hypoxemia, and death. Noninvasive PEEP has been shown to improve hypoxemia. In this study, we evaluated the physiologic effects of different levels of noninvasive PEEP in hypoxemic AIDS patients. METHODS: Thirty AIDS patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure received a randomized sequence of noninvasive PEEP (5, 10, or 15 cm H(2)O) for 20 min. PEEP was provided through a facial mask with pressure-support ventilation (PSV) of 5 cm H(2)O and an F(IO(2)) of 1. Patients were allowed to breathe spontaneously for a 20-min washout period in between each PEEP trial. Arterial blood gases and clinical variables were recorded after each PEEP treatment. RESULTS: The results indicate that oxygenation improves linearly with increasing levels of PEEP. However, oxygenation levels were similar regardless of the first PEEP level administered (5, 10, or 15 cm H(2)O), and only the subgroup that received an initial treatment of the lowest level of PEEP (ie, 5 cm H(2)O) showed further improvements in oxygenation when higher PEEP levels were subsequently applied. The P(aCO(2)) also increased in response to PEEP elevation, especially with the highest level of PEEP (ie, 15 cm H(2)O). PSV of 5 cm H(2)O use was associated with significant and consistent improvements in the subjective sensations of dyspnea and respiratory rate reported by patients treated with any level of PEEP (from 0 to 15 cm H(2)O). CONCLUSIONS: AIDS patients with hypoxemic respiratory failure improve oxygenation in response to a progressive sequential elevation of PEEP (up to 15 cm H(2)O). However, corresponding elevations in P(aCO(2)) limit the recommended level of PEEP to 10 cm H(2)O. At a level of 5 cm H(2)O, PSV promotes an improvement in the subjective sensation of dyspnea regardless of the PEEP level employed.

Shedding Light on the Transcriptomic Dark Matter in Biological Psychiatry: Role of Long Noncoding RNAs in D-cycloserine-Induced Fear Extinction in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Biological psychiatry scholarship on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is making strides with new omics technologies. In this context, there is growing recognition that noncoding RNAs are vital for the regulation of gene and protein expression. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can modulate splicing, influence RNA editing, messenger RNA (mRNA) stability, translation activation, and microRNA-mRNA interactions, are highly abundant in the brain, and have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. The largest subclass of lncRNAs is long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs). We report on lincRNAs and their predicted mRNA targets associated with fear extinction induced by co-administration of D-cycloserine and behavioral fear extinction in a PTSD animal model. Forty-three differentially expressed lincRNAs and 190 differentially expressed mRNAs were found to be associated with fear extinction. Eight lincRNAs were predicted to interact with and regulate 108 of these mRNAs, while seven lincRNAs were predicted to interact with 22 of their pre-mRNA transcripts. Based on the functions of their target mRNAs, we inferred that these lincRNAs bind to nucleotides, ribonucleotides, and proteins; subsequently influence nervous system development, morphology, and immune system functioning; and could be associated with nervous system and mental health disorders. We found the quantitative trait loci that overlapped with fear extinction-related lincRNAs included traits such as serum corticosterone level, neuroinflammation, anxiety, stress, and despair-related responses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to identify lincRNAs and their RNA targets with a putative role in transcriptional regulation during fear extinction in the context of an animal model of PTSD.

Selective Hepatitis B Birth-Dose Vaccination in São Tomé and Príncipe: A Program Assessment and Cost-Effectiveness Study.

São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) uses a selective hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination (HepB-BD) strategy targeting infants born to mothers who test positive for hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen. We conducted a field assessment and economic analysis of the HepB-BD strategy to provide evidence to guide development of cost-effective policies to prevent perinatal HBV transmission in STP. We interviewed national stakeholders and key informants to understand policies, knowledge, and practices related to HepB-BD, vaccine management, and data recording/reporting. Cost-effectiveness of the existing strategy was compared with an alternate approach of universal HepB-BD to all newborns using a decision analytic model. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated in 2015 USD per HBV-associated death and per chronic HBV case prevented, from the STP health-care system perspective. We found that STP lacked national or facility-specific written policies and procedures related to HepB-BD. Timely HepB-BD to eligible newborns was considered a high priority, although timeliness of HepB-BD was not monitored. Compared with the existing selective vaccination strategy, universal HepB-BD would result in a 19% decrease in chronic HBV infections per year at overall cost savings of approximately 44% (savings of USD 5,441 each year). We estimate an ICER of USD 5,012 saved per HBV-associated death averted. The existing selective HepB-BD strategy in STP could be improved through documentation of policies, procedures, and timeliness of HepB-BD. Expansion to universal newborn HepB-BD without maternal screening is feasible and could result in cost savings if actual implementation costs and effectiveness fall within the ranges modeled.

Efeito da Estimulação Elétrica Nervosa Transcutânea no tratamento da Dismenorreia Primária / Effect of Transcutaneous Nervous Electrical Stimulation on treatment of Primary Dysmenorrhea

Objetivo: Comparar dois tipos de Estimulação Elétrica Nervosa Transcutânea (TENS), convencional e acupuntura, no tratamento da dismenorreia primária. Métodos: Participaram do estudo 24 voluntárias com quadro clínico de dismenorreia primária, com idade entre 18 e 35 anos, divididas aleatoriamente em: grupo convencional (GC n=12), tratado com TENS convencional e grupo acupuntura (GA n=12), tratado com TENS acupuntura. As participantes foram avaliadas antes, imediatamente depois e duas horas após a terapêutica através da Escala Visual Analógica de dor (EVA). Resultados: Ao analisar os dados referentes ao GC e GA, verificou-se redução significativa do quadro álgico ao se comparar os tempos antes e depois do tratamento (p≤0,01), assim como depois e duas horas após o seu término (p≤0,01), sem diferença entre os grupos. Conclusões: A TENS reduziu a dor pélvica causada pela síndrome da dismenorreia primária das participantes da pesquisa, porém, sem diferença estatística entre os grupos.

Saneamento básico e saúde pública na Bacia Hidrográfica do Riacho Reginaldo em Maceió, Alagoas / Sanitation and public health in the hydrographic basin of Reginaldo creek, Maceió, Alagoas

RESUMO As bacias hidrográficas urbanas apresentam uma realidade muito complexa no que se refere à qualidade das águas, geralmente afetadas pela carência dos serviços de saneamento, com consequências diretas sobre a saúde da população. A bacia do riacho Reginaldo em Maceió, Alagoas, apresenta grande variação espacial nos padrões da prestação dos serviços de saneamento básico e, consequentemente, grande variação nos indicadores de salubridade ambiental que impactam na incidência de doenças de veiculação hídrica. Este trabalho buscou relacionar ocorrência e incidência de doenças de veiculação hídrica com o Índice de Salubridade Ambiental (ISA). O ISA utilizado baseia-se na ocorrência, magnitude e abrangência de alagamentos e na qualidade e abrangência da prestação dos serviços de abastecimento de água, esgotamento sanitário e coleta de resíduos sólidos. Os resultados indicam uma relação entre os indicadores que compõem o ISA e a incidência de doenças específicas (relacionadas a determinado componente do ISA), mas mostram também que a resolução espacial e a forma de obtenção dos indicadores primários afetam substancialmente os resultados. Os resultados mostram, também, que a forma de obtenção dos dados é determinante para permitir identificar com clareza qual é o componente do saneamento básico que mais interfere na ocorrência e incidência de determinada doença, bem como a sua abrangência espacial. Na área estudada, os maiores números de diagnoses recaem principalmente sobre dengue, hepatites e leptospirose, com incidência majoritária da dengue. Os resultados são apresentados em mapa, com divisão por setor censitário.

ABSTRACT Urban watersheds have a rather complex reality with regard to water quality, usually as a result from the lack of sanitation services, with direct consequence on the health of population. Reginaldo creek bay in Maceió, Alagoas, has great spatial variation in the patterns of basic sanitation providing and, thus, great variation in environmental health indicators which impact in the incidence of waterborne diseases. This study aims to correlate the occurrence and incidence of waterborne diseases with the Environmental Health Index (ISA). The ISA index used is based on the occurrence, magnitude and extent of flooding and on the quality and scope of the provision of water supply, sanitation services and solid waste collection. Results indicate a relationship between ISA and the incidence of specific diseases (related to a particular ISA component), but they also show that results are substantially affected by spatial resolution of data and the methodology for obtaining primary indicators. It was also observed that the method to obtain and classify spatial data is crucial to identify the relations between each sanitation component and the incidence of a specific disease, as well as their spatial extent. Within the area studied, most diagnosis are attributed to dengue, hepatitis and leptospirosis, especially dengue over the others. Results were mapped in the studied area by census tract.

A prevalência de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis em usuários acamados assistidos em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde da Família / Prevalence of chronic diseases in bedridden nurses attended in a Basic Health Unit Family

Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar a prevalência de Doenças Crônicas Não Transmissíveis (DCNTs) em usuários acamados assistidos em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde da Família (UBSF). Foram analisados os prontuários de 46 usuários de ambos os sexos e com idade entre 16 e 93 anos. Observou-se que 82,6% desses usuários apresentavam doenças crônicas não transmissíveis, sendo a Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica a mais prevalente entre eles. Concluiu-se que houve uma prevalência significativa de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis entre os usuários acamados e assim, sugere-se a necessidade de ações voltadas para a identificação precoce dessas doenças nessa população específica.(AU)

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of chronic diseases in bedridden nurses attended in a Basic Health Unit of the Family. The medical records of 46 users were analyzed in both genders aged between 16 and 93 years. It was observed that 82,6% of these users have chronic diseases, and the Hypertension the most prevalent among them. It was concluded that there was a significant prevalence of chronic diseases among the bedridden nurses and thus suggest the need for actions aimed at early detection of these diseases in this specific population. (AU)