Diversos estudos apontam o impacto socio-economico gerado pelo grande numero de pessoas incapacitadas para o trabalho. Neste contexto, as doencas cronicas nao transmissiveis exercem um papel relevante, sobretudo quando se considera o envelhecimento da populacao brasileira e sua crescente exposicao a fatores de risco. Ha incontestaveis evidencias da crescente prevalencia e do gasto do Sistema de Saude pelo diabetes mellitus (DM). Objetivo: avaliar os beneficios por incapacidade (Auxilio Doenca e Aposentadoria por Invalidez) e assistenciais (BPC) concedidos por diabetes mellitus na GEX–Salvador, Estado da Bahia, Brasil, nos anos de 2009 e 2010. Material e Metodo: Coleta de informacoes e analise de beneficios por incapacidade e assistenciais concedidos por diabetes mellitus, em 2009/ 2010, pela Previdencia Social – GEX-Salvador (Gerencia Executiva Salvador), atraves dos Sistemas Informatizados da Previdencia Social, em particular o Sistema Unico de Informacoes de Beneficios. Resultados: os beneficios concedidos pela constatacao de incapacidade determinada pelo DM demonstram ter sido, apenas, 0,94% do total. Na titularidade destes beneficios predominaram individuos do sexo masculino, com idade entre 45 e 64 anos. A avaliacao do codigo da CID ensejador do beneficio revelou que grande parte destes beneficios foi concedida por codigos de natureza mais generica (E10 e E11). Quando as complicacoes sao especificadas, predominaram as circulatorias perifericas (E10.5 e E11.5) e oftalmicas (E10.3 e E11.3) e a retinopatia diabetica (H36.0). Apenas um pequeno numero de beneficios por DM teria sido cessado ate junho de 2011 pela recuperacao da capacidade laborativa. Conclusao: e essencial qualificar o sistema de notificacao das incapacidades induzidas pelo DM, tendo em vista a ausencia de importantes codigos da CID referentes a este disturbio nos Sistemas Informatizados do INSS e pela definicao de codigos genericos pelos Peritos Medicos. A informacao de que as complicacoes oftalmologicas e vasculares perifericas foram as que mais determinaram incapacidade laborativa, e essencial para o melhor planejamento da assistencia aos diabeticos. A maior parcela dos individuos que iniciaram a titularidade de beneficios em 2009 e 2010 tinham entre 40 e 64 anos, contudo, apenas um pequeno numero teria sido cessado ate junho de 2011. Estudos adicionais investigando o tempo medio de duracao destes beneficios serao uteis no sentido de melhor compreender o impacto desta condicao incapacitante.

OBJECTIVE Anti-β2 GPI are a formal laboratory criterion for the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). They were demonstrated to be a risk factor for thrombosis and fetal losses but can also be detected in patients with systemic autoimmune disease (SAD), in healthy adults individuals and pre-school children. It has been suggested that different subpopulations of anti-β2GPI may carry different pathogenetic potential: autoantibodies against Domain1 seem to be associated with thrombosis; autoantibodies against Domain4/5 have been identified in patients with non-thrombotic conditions. METHODS We studied 48 patients with SAD (32 systemic lupus erythematosus, 16 undifferentiated connettive tissue disease), 64 patients with APS, 57 one-year-old healthy children born to mother with SAD, 33 children with atopic dermatitis. All subjects were IgG anti-β2 GPI positive. The specificity of anti-β2 GPI was investigated using ELISA research products containing recombinant β2 GPI D1 and D4/5 antigens. Cut-off values are calculated as 95th percentile on 100 NHD. IgG anti-β2 GPI were tested at a validated home-made ELISA routinely performed in our laboratory. No thrombotic events were recordered in patients with SAD and in both groups of children. RESULTS Patients with SAD and APS showed prevalent reactivity for D1 while children in both groups preferentially recognize D4/5. CONCLUSIONS IgG anti-β2 GPI against D1 seem to cluster in patients with systemic autoimmune conditions. Their pathogenic potential in determine APS manifestations may be mitigated by adequate prophylaxis.

. Visually grounded human-robot interaction is recognized to be an essential ingredient of socially intelligent robots, and the integration of vision and language increasingly attracts attention of researchers in diverse fields. However, most systems lack the capa-bility to adapt and expand themselves beyond the preprogrammed set of communicative behaviors. Their linguistic capabilities are still far from being satisfactory which make them unsuitable for real-world applications. In this paper we will present a system in which a robotic agent can learn a grounded language model by actively interacting with a human user. The model is grounded in the sense that meaning of the words is linked to a concrete sensorimotor experience of the agent, and linguistic rules are automatically extracted from the interaction data. The system has been tested on the NAO humanoid robot and it has been used to understand and generate appropriate natural language descriptions of real objects. The system is also capable of conducting a verbal interaction with a human partner in potentially ambiguous situations.

High prevalence of metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents is seriuous problem of modern society. In order to prevent development of possible complications (cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus type 2) later in life, early recognition of children at risk for developing metabolic syndrome is of great importance. Previous differences in criteria for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents have been significantly decreased by new criteria issued by the International Diabetes Federation. From the aspect of prevention, key elements are proper nutrition and regular physical activity. In a view of treatment recommendations, initial steps should be regulation of energy balance in the diet and increase in physical activity; the drug treatment is reserved for patients with high risk of complications.

Congenital anomalies are the cause of 20.0-25.0% of cases of perinatal death, while 3.0% of children are born with malformations of varying size. We examined the predictive values and defined the credibility ratio of the combined test results. Sensitivity of the test is 94.0%, and specificity is 99.0%. The positive likelihood ratio [likelihood ratio test (LR+)] is 94.00; a negative likelihood ratio [likelihood ratio test (LR-)] is 0.06. The pretest probability that pregnant women carry a fetus with chromosomal abnormality is 1:250. Posttest odds after the combined test to discover this abnormality are 0.3760, and probability of the same case is 0.2732 if it happens that the test result is positive. The result of our study confirms the justification of combined test usage in routine clinical practice, since the posttest odds rate in the case of a positive screening increases several times over (almost 90 times); the probability of detecting a chromosomal abnormality was about 70 times.

During the process of developing herbal drugs with antimicrobial action, one of the most important phases is testing of antimicrobial activity in vitro. The disk-diffusion method is performed in Petri dish, on solid feeding surface. The disks with definite concentrations of antibiotics, pure substances or plant extracts are placed on the top of feeding plates previously inoculated with pure bacterial culture. Growth of the bacterial culture depends on its susceptibility to a tested substance; if the substance has antibacterial effect, a clear zone free of bacteria will form around the disk. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the tested substance is determined by extrapolation of the regression line: concentration of the tested substance/radius or surface of area where growth of bacteria was inhibited. This method of testing microbial susceptibility to antibiotics, pure substances or plant extracts is highly sensitive and specific.

Primary psychiatric disorders are frequently associated with electrolyte disorders, which could be caused by medication. We performed a systematic review of the literature in order to discover published cases of electrolyte disorders associated with risperidone use. The databases Medline and Scopus were searched and 317 publications were retrieved containing the following keywords: risperidone, hyponatremia, hypernat remia, hypokalemia, hyperkalemia, hypocalcemia and hypercalcemia. We included in our review the following publication types: the original scientific research, case reports, review of literature and letters to the editor. Case reports and observational studies associating risperidone with hyponatremia or hypokalemia, as well as with hypocalcemia were found. In spite of sporadic case reports of risperidone induced electrolyte disorders, conflicting opinions and results of other studies quest ion the certainty of this association. Further research is necessary to confirm and enlighten the association between risperidone and electrolyte disorders.

Background: Quality of life assessment in patients with Multiple sclerosis (MS) is invaluable for a proper evaluation of disease severity, appropriate choice of therapy and monitoring of its effects. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life of patients with MS and to identify gender differences in examined outcome. Patients and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2010 to May 2011. The data were obtained by anonymous survey of 110 patients. Quality of life of the patients was measured by the instrument 'The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) - BREF'. Data on gender and age of patients, type of MS, the number of relapses during the last 2 years, current therapy, dose regimens of certain drugs, and the amount of money the patients spend each month for the purchase of drugs that are not issued at the expense of health insurance fund, were obtained using a distinct structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and Student's t-test for independent samples. Results: Of the total 110 interviewed patients, 70% (n = 77) were female and 30% (n = 33) male. There were no significant gender differences in the disease duration, number of relapses in the last two years and spending of more than 1000 RSD per month for purchase of drugs that were not issued at the expense of the health insurance fund. Significantly better quality of life was recorded in women than men (p = 0.031), mainly on account of differences in the assessment of the domain of 'Environment' (p = 0.025), as measured by WHOQOL-BREF scale. Conclusion: This study has shown that females tolerate difficulties caused by multiple sclerosis better than men, and also have a better quality of life than men with the same clinical form of the disease and identical symptoms, treated with the same therapy.