SUMMARY

Introdução: A automedicação pode ser definida como a utilização de medicamentos por conta própria para tratar patologias. O uso indevido de medicamentos pode acarretar danos ao equilíbrio saudável do organismo humano, até porque medicamentos utilizados sem orientação podem camuflar certas patologias dificultando ainda mais o seu tratamento. Objetivo: Avaliar o perfil da prática de automedicação em crianças de 0-14 anos na cidade de Manaus – Amazonas. Metodologia: Trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa. Resultados: A frequência de automedicação entre os pais entrevistados foi de 90%. Os fatores influenciadores da automedicação mais citados foram: orientação informal de um profissional de saúde (31,06%); Indicação de amigos e familiares (20,45%) e Conhecimento próprio (20,45%). Os principais grupos de medicamentos utilizados na automedicação foram: analgésicos e antitérmicos (51,06%) e anti-inflamatórios (12,77%). As situações clínicas em que mais ocorreu a prática da automedicação foram: gripes e resfriados (30,77%); febre (26,28%) e dor (19,87%). Conclusão: A automedicação em crianças até 14 anos de idade é frequentemente praticada no dia a dia e normalmente acontece sob a responsabilidade dos pais e/ou responsáveis, na maioria das vezes, em situação de gripe/resfriado e febre, seja por orientação de um profissional de saúde ou pelo conhecimento próprio. A diminuição dessa prática deve ser incentivada, através da mobilização do uso racional de medicamentos e do auxílio na segurança da administração de fármacos em crianças.

SummaryActive optical atomic clocks are emerging as a new promising tool for time and frequency metrology. Such clocks have the potential to reach a fractional frequency instability in the 10-18 range at one second [1]. These references are based on the superradiant emission of an ensemble of atoms coupled to a single mode of the electromagnetic field [2]. For optical references, this coupling is achieved through a resonant high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity that therefore plays a crucial role to reach superradiant lasing. Specific characteristics are required to permit superradiant emission in a metrologically relevant regime: tunability of the cavity resonant frequency, ability to accommodate atoms and low fractional length fluctuations, in the order of 10-13. This work shows the conception, through simulation, assembly and preliminary characterization of this Fabry Perot cavity.

SummaryWe demonstrate a fiber link with instability in the 10-18 range for optical frequency dissemination. It relies on a fully-digital Doppler cancellation platform that makes a novel use of aliasing to generate signals above Nyquist frequency. Furthermore, we present an automatic method to measure the disturbance rejection of the system without a direct comparison between the input and the output of the fiber link. Finally, we have investigated the low-frequency noise at the Red Pitaya output.

SummaryWe present our progress on the construction of a ¹⁷¹Yb-based active optical atomic clock. The ytterbium (Yb) atoms, initially in a collimated thermal beam generated in an oven, are decelerated using a Zeeman slower to the capture velocity (~ 10 ms^-1) for a magneto-optical trap on the ¹S<inf>0</inf> → ³P<inf>1</inf> transition at 556 nm. This allows us to generate an ensemble of N >10⁶ atoms at temperatures below 100 μK, which will be transported using an optical conveyor belt to an ultra-stable (σ<inf>y</inf> ~ 10^-13) cavity of finesse on the order of 10⁴. Here, the atoms will be prepared in order to generate a superradiant emission which will serve as the frequency reference on the ¹S<inf>0</inf> → ³P<inf>0</inf> clock transition in ¹⁷¹Yb.

Short-distance new physics at (or slightly) above the TeV scale should not excessively violate the approximate flavor symmetries of the SM in order to comply with stringent constraints from flavor-changing neutral currents. In this respect, flavor symmetries provide an effective organizing principle for the vast parameter space of the SMEFT. In this work, we classify all possible irreducible representations under U(3)5 flavor symmetry of new heavy spin-0, 1/2, and 1 fields which integrate out to dimension-6 operators at the tree level. For a general perturbative UV model, the resulting flavor-symmetric interactions are very restrictive and, in most cases, predict a single Hermitian operator with a definite sign. These leading directions in the SMEFT space deserve particular attention. We derive an extensive set of present experimental constraints by utilizing the existing global SMEFT fits, which incorporate data from top quark, Higgs boson, and electroweak measurements, along with constraints on dilepton and 4-lepton contact interactions. The derived set of bounds comprehensively summarises the present knowledge from indirect searches of flavor-blind new physics mediators.

Background Postgraduate rheumatology training programmes are already established at a national level in most European countries. However, previous work has highlighted a substantial level of heterogeneity in the organisation and, in part, content of programmes. Objective To define competences and standards of knowledge, skills and professional behaviours required for the training of rheumatologists. Methods A European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) task force (TF) of 23 experts, including two members of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) section of rheumatology, was convened. The mapping phase consisted of the retrieval of key documents on specialty training in rheumatology and other related specialties across a broad set of international sources. The content of these documents was extracted and represented the foundation for the document draft that underwent several rounds of online discussion within the TF, and afterwards was also distributed to a broad group of stakeholders for collecting feedback. The list of generated competences was voted on during the TF meetings, while the level of agreement (LoA) with each statement was established by anonymous online voting. Results A total of 132 international training curricula were retrieved and extracted. In addition to the TF members, 253 stakeholders commented and voted on the competences through an online anonymous survey. The TF developed (1) an overarching framework indicating the areas that should be addressed during training, (2) 7 domains defining broad areas that rheumatology trainees should master by the end of the training programme, (3) 8 core themes defining the nuances of each domain and (4) 28 competences that trainees should acquire to cover each of the areas outlined in the overarching framework. A high LoA was achieved for all competences. Conclusion These points to consider for EULAR–UEMS standards for the training of European rheumatologists are now defined. Their dissemination and use can hopefully contribute to harmonising training across European countries.

Abstract Background An increased premature ventricular complex (PVC) frequency is related to an increased risk of cardiomyopathy. Changes in myocardial work (MW) parameters in patients with PVC may be a predictor of the development of cardiomyopathy. Methods The study included 56 patients with PVC and 50 healthy volunteers as a control group. A comprehensive echocardiographic examination was done. A speckle tracking echocardiography was used to obtain the left ventricle (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS). A bull’s eye plot of the global MW index and the global work efficiency of 17 left ventricle segments with MW component values were generated. Results Global work index (GWI), global constructive work (GCW), and global work efficiency (GWE) were significantly lower in the patient group (2377.84 ± 216.52 vs.1818.30 ± 283.73, 2734.00 ± 208.90 vs. 2283.73 ± 321.65, 92.48 ± 2.85 vs. 87.75 ± 3.87, respectively, all p values <0.001). Global wasted work (GWW) was significantly higher in the patient group (216.80 ± 26.86 vs. 302.13 ± 41.81, p < 0.001) Patients were compared according to the origin of PVCs. GWI, GCW, GWE were significantly lower and GWW was significantly higher in patients with PVC originating from the right ventricle or the epicardial region (p < 0.001). Conclusions Compared to healthy individuals, patients with PVC had lower GCW, GWI, GWE values and a higher GWW value than healthy individuals, similar to cardiomyopathy patients. Therefore, the detoriation in MW parameter in patients with PVC may be a predictor of cardiomyopathy development.

ABSTRACT Primarily, this study explored attitudes toward stuttering of public school teachers in two countries, Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H) (n = 125) and Egypt (n = 58), in order to identify differences in stuttering attitudes, that may exist between the two samples. Secondarily, it compared teacher attitudes from B&H and Egypt with stuttering attitudes of non-teacher samples from these two countries as well as from teacher and non-teacher samples from other European and Middle Eastern countries. All samples utilized the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes – Stuttering (POSHA – S). Comparing mean ratings, teachers from B&H held significantly more positive (accurate and sensitive) stuttering attitudes than Egyptian teachers on a majority of POSHA – S items and summary scores. Lack of knowledge and geo-cultural differences between B&H and Egypt are likely major factors in explaining the differences observed. Teachers’ attitudes were no more positive than the attitudes of the public or parents in either country. They also confirmed a pattern from previous research showing more positive attitudes in European samples than Middle Eastern samples. Educating teachers about stuttering will contribute to creating a more favorable school environment for children who stutter.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of thermal modification on the physical and mechanical properties of three different wood species from Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely beech wood (Fagus sylvatica L.), linden wood (Tilia cordata), and silver fir wood (Abies alba). The samples underwent thermal modification at five different temperatures (170 °C, 180 °C, 195 °C, 210 °C, and 220 °C) for varying durations (ranging from 78 to 276 min). After treatment, they were exposed to outdoor conditions for twelve months. The study examined the four-point bending strength, tensile force, color change, and surface quality of the modified and unmodified samples. The results showed that outdoor exposure negatively impacted the mechanical properties of the unmodified samples, especially in the linden wood which was 41% and the beech wood which was 42%. Additionally, outdoor exposure caused significant surface cracks in the thermally modified linden and beech wood. The study also found prominent color changes in the modified and unmodified samples during twelve months of exposure. The roughness of the samples was determined with a confocal laser scanning microscope, which showed that the roughness increased on both the axial and the longitudinal surfaces after weathering. The highest roughness for the fir wood was determined to be 15.6 µm. Overall, this study demonstrates the importance of wood modification and its impact on the use-value of wood products.

Purpose: To determine the level of awareness, beliefs and experience of healthcare professionals (HCPs) regarding mobile applications for self-management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: This review was done by searching the literature using three databases viz: PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus. Assessment of quality of studies was carried out using the scale of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The results were presented in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Results: The search strategy identified 725 unique research papers, 4 of which were included. A survey among pharmacists showed that 56 % of participants were aware of the existence of mobile health applications, and that 60 % of those who were aware recommended their use. In the multi-HCPs setting, depending on the study, apps recommendation rate varied from 45.5 to 62 %. Most of the participants (88 %) agreed that a mobile app would help strengthen their treatment recommendations to the patients (88 %), and 84 % also agreed that it would help patients manage diabetes better. Conclusion: Not much research has been done on this topic. Available data suggest that the awareness of HCPs regarding mobile applications is unsatisfactory, and that those familiar with these apps find them useful and are ready to recommend them to patients. There is need for further research and measures to increase awareness and knowledge of HCPs about available mobile applications, in order to ensure adequate support to patients with diabetes.

Tropical semiring has proven successful in several research areas, including optimal control, bioinformatics, discrete event systems, and decision problems. Previous studies have applied a matrix two-factorization algorithm based on the tropical semiring to investigate bipartite and tripartite networks. Tri-factorization algorithms based on standard linear algebra are used to solve tasks such as data fusion, co-clustering, matrix completion, community detection, and more. However, there is currently no tropical matrix tri-factorization approach that would allow for the analysis of multipartite networks with many parts. To address this, we propose the triFastSTMF algorithm, which performs tri-factorization over the tropical semiring. We applied it to analyze a four-partition network structure and recover the edge lengths of the network. We show that triFastSTMF performs similarly to Fast-NMTF in terms of approximation and prediction performance when fitted on the whole network. When trained on a specific subnetwork and used to predict the entire network, triFastSTMF outperforms Fast-NMTF by several orders of magnitude smaller error. The robustness of triFastSTMF is due to tropical operations, which are less prone to predict large values compared to standard operations.