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Modern Living, as we know it, has been impacted meaningfully by the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT consists of a network of things that collect data from machines (e.g., mobile devices) and people. Mobile application development is a flourishing tendency, given the increasing popularity of smartphones. Nowadays, users are accessing their desired services on the smartphone by means of dedicated applications as the latter offers a more customized and prompt service. In addition, companies are also looking to persuade users by offering interactive and effective mobile applications. Mobile application developers are using IoT to develop better applications. However, there is no generalized consensus on the selection of best architecture or even the most suitable communications protocols to be used on an IoT application development. Therefore, this article aims at presenting approaches, architectures, and methodologies relevant to the development of mobile IoT solutions.

The usage of non-traditional data in credit scoring, from microfinance institutions, is very useful when trying to address the problem, very common in emerging markets, of the lack of a verifiable customers’ credit history. In this context, this paper relies on data acquired from smartphones in a loan classification problem. We conduct a set of experiments concerning feature selection, strategies to deal with imbalanced datasets and algorithm choice, to define a baseline model. This model is, then, compared to others adding network features to the original ones. For that comparison, we generate a network that links a given user to its phone book contacts which are users of a given mobile application, taking into account the ethics and privacy concerns involved, and use some feature extraction techniques, such as the introduction of centrality measures and the definition of node embeddings, in order to capture certain aspects of the network’s topology. Several node embedding algorithms are tested, but only Node2Vec proves to be significantly better than the baseline model, applying Friedman’s post hoc tests. This node embedding algorithm outperforms all the other, representing a relative improvement, in comparison with the baseline model, of 5.74% on the mean accuracy, 7.13% on the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve and 30.83% on the Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic scores. This method, therefore, proves to be very promising when trying to discriminate between “good” and “bad” customers, in credit scoring classification problems.

Contains fulltext : 237261.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Adherence to national and international clinical practice guidelines is suboptimal throughout Europe. The European Association of Urology Guidelines Office project "IMAGINE" (IMpact Assessment of Guidelines Implementation and Education) has been developed to measure baseline adherence to urological guideline recommendations across Europe and to identify issues that drive nonadherence.

Environmental factors are at least as important as genetic factors for the development of obsessive–compulsive symptoms (OCS), but the identification of such factors remain a research priority. Our study aimed to investigate the association between a broad scope of potential risk factors and OCS in a large community cohort of children and adolescents. We evaluated 1877 participants and their caregivers at baseline and after 3 years to assess various demographic, prenatal, perinatal, childhood adversity, and psychopathological factors. Mean age at baseline was 10.2 years (SD 1.9) and mean age at follow-up was 13.4 years (SD 1.9). Reports of OCS at baseline and follow-up were analyzed using latent variable models. At preliminary regression analysis, 15 parameters were significantly associated with higher OCS scores at follow-up. At subsequent regression analysis, we found that eight of these parameters remained significantly associated with higher follow-up OCS scores while being controlled by each other and by baseline OCS scores. The significant predictors of follow-up OCS were: lower socioeconomic status (p = 0.033); lower intelligence quotient (p = 0.013); lower age (p

Combining Phonocardiography (PCG) and Electrocardiography (ECG) data has been recognized within the state-of-the-art as of added value for enhanced cardiovascular assessment. However, multiple aspects of ECG data acquisition in a stethoscope form factor remain unstudied, and existing devices typically enforce a substantial change into routine clinical auscultation procedures, with predictably low technology acceptance. As such, in this paper, we present a novel approach to ECG data acquisition throughout the five main cardiac auscultation points, and that intends to be incorporated in a commonly used electronic stethoscope. Therefore, it enables analysis and acquisition of both PCG and ECG signals in a single pass. We describe the development, experimental evaluation, and comparison of the ECG signals obtained using our proposed approach and a gold standard medical device, through metrics that allow the evaluation of morphological similarities. Results point to a high correlation between the two evaluated setups, thus supporting the idea of meaningfully collecting ECG data along medical auscultation points with the proposed form factor. Moreover, this work has led us to conclude that for the studied population, signals acquired on focuses F1, F2, and F3 are usually highly correlated with leads V1 and V2 of the standard ECG medical recording procedure.

Introduction: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD) are considered a public health problem because of their high prevalence in various professions, including dental professionals. Because of poor posture and organization at work, for example, dental surgeons occupy the top spot on sick leave due to temporary or permanent disability, accounting for approximately 30% of the causes of premature abandonment between medical activities.Objectives: To identify the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and their relationship with dentist activity and to evaluate the relationship between symptomatology and laboratory test results.Methodology: A scan was performed, but Scopus, Web of Sciences and Google Scholar indexing databases were used to unite musculoskeletal disorders, dental surgeons, prevalence, laboratory tests. We found 15,000 articles, of which 56 were selected based on the best h index score or Qualis rating on the Sucupira platform.Conclusion: The relationship between musculoskeletal pain and dentist activity is strong and in some cases, these disorders can be detected on laboratory tests.

Background Purified diets combine refined ingredients that convey a precise nutritional load. At a preclinical level, these formulas are used to dissect the impact of each nutrient on a given phenotype, from excess [e.g. High Fat (HF) diet] to deficiency [e.g. Low Fat (LF) diet; a nutrient-matched control]. Yet, processing strategies deteriorate the health potential of cereal-based diets as reported in a panoply of diseased conditions. Herein, we aim to disclose the impact of refined ingredients in the kidney. Methods Twenty-four male Wistar rats were divided in three groups (n = 8) for 24 weeks: Control group (8.57 Kcal/fat), HF group (45% Kcal/fat) and the LF group (13% Kcal/fat). In vivo glycemic/insulinemic/lipidic profiles were assessed. Renal parameters evaluated were serum/urinary measures of uric acid/albumin/creatinine/glucose. Periodic Acid-Shiff and Gomori’s green trichrome staining were used to gauge kidney histology. Renal KIM-1/NLRP3 relative gene expression (RT-PCR) was also evaluated. Values are means ± S.E.M (ANOVA/post-hoc tests). This work was approved by the ORBEA of iCBR-FMUC (9/2018). Results HF-fed animals displayed a phenotype aligned with a prediabetic condition: glucose intolerance, postprandial hyperinsulinemia, hepatic/renal lipidosis, mild renal dysfunction and initial histological lesions. Surprisingly, LF-fed animals also displayed glucose intolerance and postprandial hyperinsulinemia paralleling an exacerbated renal injury phenotype: LF-fed animals displayed a decrease in creatinine clearance along with glycosuria (P < 0.05). Histological/gene expression markers collectively indicate kidney damage. Conclusions Our findings allude for prominent renal impairments arising from LF feeding. These results claim for a cautious selection of ‘control’ diets when kidney diseases are foreseen.

Background Prediabetic Nephropathy (PreDN) therapeutic arsenal remains scarce. Blueberries (BB) display insulin sensitizing, lipid-lowering, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, we aimed to assess the putative benefits arising from BB supplementation in experimental PreDN. Methods BB polyphenol (PP) content was assessed by HPLC/PDA/ESI-MSn. Twenty-four male Wistar rats were divided in three groups (n = 8) for 24 weeks: Control group (Standard chow, Sd), 45% High-Fat (HF) diet-induced PreDN group and BJ-treated group (HF+BJ) [25 g/kg BW per day from week 16 onwards]. Glycemic/insulinemic/lipidic profiles were examined. Renal function was assessed by serum/urinary measures of creatinine, albumin, uric acid and glucose. Kidney histological characterization was performed by Periodic Acid-Shiff and Gomori’s green trichrome staining. Relative gene expression (RT-PCR) was also evaluated (KIM-1, NLRP3). Values are means ± S.E.M (ANOVA/post-hoc tests). This work was approved by the ORBEA of iCBR-FMUC (9/2018). Results HPLC/PDA/ESI-MSn analysis revealed that the main PP’s present in BB are malvidin derivatives, quercetin-O-hexoside and caffeic acid. HF animals displayed increased BW, glucose intolerance, postprandial hyperinsulinemia, elevated circulating LDL-c, hepatic/renal lipidosis, mild impairments in renal function and histological lesions resembling the stages I/II of PreDN. Apart from ameliorating prediabetic glucose intolerance, BJ supplementation elicited hepatic lipid accumulation and increased gene expression of renal inflammasome and KIM-1 without major improvements on renal function and/or histopathology. Conclusions Even though BB was able to ameliorate prediabetic glucose intolerance, the BB dosage employed herein (25 g/kg BW) elicited deleterious effects in the kidney only perceived at a sub-clinical level.

International audience; In the past few years, calls for innovative urban projects (CIUPs) have become the most mediatized symbol of the ongoing transformations within the public-led French urban development system. In the name of urban innovation, CIUP is a policy instrument that brings together, early in the design phase of urban development projects, extended teams of real estate developers and other actors who usually intervene downstream in the development process. We explore these calls as a form of real estate led start-up urbanism and analyse its modalities in Greater Paris, with the first edition of the Inventing the Greater Paris Metropolis (IGPM) call as a case study. We begin by tracing the genealogy of CIUPs and their particular articulation of urban innovation and urban development principles. In the remainder of the paper, we explore the implications of such urban innovation and spatial planning hybrids, by honing in on the relational work of real estate developers, i.e. the production of social relationships and networks that enables real estate developers adherence to the political ambitions during the bidding process. After establishing their centrality in the social networks defined by IGPM, we explore the apparent paradox between projects that are perceived as ordinary by call organizers and a visible effervescence of the urban planning milieu, including recruitment practices within real estate development firms, the emergence of small operators embodying imaginaries of urban innovation and the growing role of consultancies in supporting developers in responding to public authorities’ ambitions. In the final empirical section of the paper, we focus on real estate developers’ innovation strategies as a way of understanding the apparent contradiction between project content and the changing organizational landscape of the urban development milieu. In the concluding section, we bring these elements together through a discussion of the policy outputs and outcomes of CIUPs in general, and of IGPM in particular.

OBJECTIVES: To test conjunctival swabs from patients with laboratory-confirmed severe forms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR). METHODS: Fifty conjunctival swabs were collected from 50 in-patients with laboratory-confirmed severe forms of COVID-19 at the largest teaching hospital and referral center in Brazil (HCFMUSP, São Paulo, SP). The samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 on rRT-PCR with the primers and probes described in the CDC protocol which amplify the region of the nucleocapsid N gene (2019_nCoV_N1 and 2019_nCoV_N2) of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and compared with naso/oropharyngeal swabs collected within 24 hours of the conjunctival swabs. RESULTS: Five conjunctival samples (10%) tested positive (amplification of the N1 and N2 primer/probe sets) while two conjunctival samples (4%) yielded inconclusive results (amplification of the N1 primer/probe set only). The naso/oropharyngeal swabs were positive for SARS-CoV-2 on rRT-PCR in 34 patients (68%), negative in 14 (28%) and inconclusive in 2 (4%). The 5 patients with positive conjunctival swabs had positive (n=2), negative (n=2) or inconclusive (n=1) naso/oropharyngeal swabs on rRT-PCR. Patients with negative or inconclusive naso/oropharyngeal swabs had the diagnosis of COVID-19 confirmed by previous positive rRT-PCR results or by serology. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to present conjunctival swab rRT-PCR results for SARS-CoV-2 in a Brazilian population. In our sample of 50 patients with severe forms of COVID-19, 10% had positive conjunctival swabs, most of which were correlated with positive naso/oropharyngeal rRT-PCR results.

Closed loops are key enablers for automation that have been successfully used in many industries for long, and more recently for computing and networking applications. The Zero-touch network and service management (ZSM) framework introduced standardized components that allow the creation, execution, and governance of multiple closed loops, enabling zero-touch management of end-to-end services across different management domains. However, the coordinated and optimal instantiation and operation of multiple closed loops is an open question that is left for implementation by the ZSM specifications. In this paper, we propose a methodology that uses intents as a way of communicating requirements to be considered by autonomous management domains to coordinate hierarchies of closed loops. The intent-driven methodology facilitates hierarchical and peer interactions for delegation and escalation of intents. Furthermore, it extends the existing management capabilities of the ZSM framework and facilitates conflict-free integration of closed loops by setting optimal (and non-conflicting) goals that each closed loop in the hierarchy needs to account for. We show an example of the application of the proposed methodology in a network slicing assurance use case. The new capabilities introduced in this paper can be considered as an extension of the ZSM framework to be used in scenarios where multiple intent-driven closed loops exist.

Background: Thalamic volume measures have been linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in children and adolescents. However, it is unclear if alterations in thalamic volumes occur before or after symptom onset and if there is a relation to the presence of sub-clinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). Here, we explore the relationship between OCS and the rate of thalamic volume change in a cohort of children and youth at high risk to develop a mental disorder. A secondary aim was to determine if there is a relationship between OCS and the individual's OCD polygenic risk score (OCD-PRS) and between the rate of thalamic volume change and the OCD-PRS.Methods: The sample included 378 children enrolled in the longitudinal Brazilian High-Risk Cohort for Mental Conditions. Participants were assessed for OCS and the symmetrized percent change (SPC) of thalamic volume across two time-points separated by 3 years, along with the OCD-PRS. Zero-altered negative binomial models were used to analyze the relationship between OCS and thalamic SPC. Multiple linear regressions were used to examine the relationship between thalamic SPC and OCD-PRS.Results: A significant relationship between OCS and the right thalamus SPC (p = 0.042) was found. There was no significant relationship between changes in thalamic volume SPC and OCD-PRS.Conclusions: The findings suggest that changes in the right thalamic volume over the course of 3 years in children may be associated to OCS. Future studies are needed to confirm these results and further characterize the specific nature of OCS symptoms associated with thalamic volumes.

Autonomous management capability is the main pillar for paving Zero-touch Networks and efficiently deliver and operate use cases under the light of 5G requirements. To this end, Closed Control Loop (CCL), Intent-Based Networking (IBN), and Machine Learning (ML) are regarded as enablers to automatically executed all operational processes, ideally without human intervention. In this context, the ETSI Zero-touch network and Service Management (ZSM) framework specifies an end-to-end network and service management reference architecture for managing the full lifecycle of services. However, the whole process of service monitoring is not yet well-consolidated in ETSI ZSM. In this work, we propose the Monitoring Model Generator (MMG) component to automatically construct templates for service monitoring. MMG implements a novel methodology where service deployment models and standard information models are used as inputs to generate a high-level monitoring template, called Service Monitoring Model (SMM) and built upon an ontology-based schema based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF) vocabulary. We present a proof of concept implementation along with an experimental functional validation of the MMG and using RDF data in turtle syntax and format. The resulting monitoring models are then used to define actual monitoring KPIs and construct management policies in a control loop architecture.

Several studies in the field of human-computer interaction have focused on the importance of emotional factors related to the interaction of humans with computer systems. According to the knowledge of the users' emotions, intelligent software can be developed for interacting and even influencing users. However, such a scenario is still a challenge in the field of human-computer interaction. This article endeavors to enhance intelligence in such types of systems by adopting an ensemble-based model that is able to identify and classify emotions. We developed a system (music player) that can be used as a mechanism to interact and/or persuade someone to "change" his/her current emotional state. In order to do this, we also designed a generic model that accepts any kind of interaction or persuasion mechanism (e.g., preferred YouTube channel videos, games, etc.) to be deployed at runtime based on the needs of each user. We showed that the approach based on a genetic algorithm for the weight assignment of the ensemble achieved an accuracy average of 80%. Moreover, the results showed a 60% increase in the level of user's satisfaction regarding the interaction with users' emotions.

Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer worldwide. The mutational frequency of EGFR and KRAS genes in lung adenocarcinoma varies worldwide per ethnicity and smoking. The impact of EGFR and KRAS mutations in Brazilian lung cancer remains poorly explored. Thus, we investigated the frequency of EGFR and KRAS mutations in a large Brazilian series of lung adenocarcinoma together with patients' genetic ancestry, clinicopathological and sociodemographic characteristics. The mutational frequency of EGFR was 22.7% and KRAS was 20.4%. The average ancestry proportions were 73.1% for EUR, 13.1% for AFR, 6.5% for AME and 7.3% for ASN. EGFR mutations were independently associated with never-smokers, high-Asian ancestry, and better performance status. KRAS mutations were independently associated with tobacco exposure and non-Asian ancestry. EGFR-exon 20 mutations were associated with worse outcome. The Cox regression model indicated a worse outcome for patients whose were older at diagnosis (>61 y), solid histological subtype, loss of weight (>10%), worse performance status (≥2), and presence of KRAS mutations and EGFR mutational status in TKi non-treated patients. In conclusion, we assessed the clinicopathological and ethnic impact of EGFR and KRAS mutations in the largest series reported of Brazilian lung adenocarcinomas. These findings can support future clinical strategies for Brazilian lung cancer patients., This work was supported by the Barretos Cancer Hospital; FINEP (MCTI/FINEP/MS/SCTIE/DECIT-CT-INFRA grant number 02/2010); Public Ministry of Labor Campinas (Research, Prevention, and Education of Occupational Cancer); and National Council for Scientifc and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil).

Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a rare autoimmune disease that is characterized by a progressive skin fibrosis, an obliteration of the microvasculature and an exaggerated extracellular matrix deposition, which lead to a multisystemic dysfunction. Various pathogenetic mechanisms were described. The lack of a successful therapy make SSc a disease with a poor prognosis. The intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been used for a long time in different autoimmune diseases, and firstly used in SSc patients in 2000. IVIG has multiple non-specific mechanisms of action and, beyond an impressive improvement in muscle symptoms, a French nationwide cohort demonstrated that IVIG ameliorates the skin disease and systemic inflammation, and helps the daily dose corticosteroid's tapering at the end of the treatment. The benefits on gastrointestinal symptoms of IVIG was reported by a recent English article, in which the patients consistently reported a decrease in the gastro-esophageal reflux disease symptoms and their frequencies. The impact on the lung involvement still remains unclear. One of the advantages of IVIG is its safe profile. Few adverse effects were reported and most of them are mild, and can be managed and usually they do not relapse. Harmful effects were described, but they can be avoid with cautious and judicious use of this therapy.

In this paper, we propose an end-to-end learning network to predict future frames in a point cloud sequence. As main novelty, an initial layer learns topological information of point clouds as geometric features, to form representative spatio-temporal neighborhoods. This module is followed by multiple Graph-RNN cells. Each cell learns points dynamics (i.e., RNN states) by processing each point jointly with the spatio-temporal neighbouring points. We tested the network performance with a MINST dataset of moving digits, a synthetic human bodies motions and JPEG dynamic bodies datasets. Simulation results demonstrate that our method outperforms baseline ones that neglect geometry features information.

SUMMARY Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Portuguese healthcare institutions to adapt management protocols and prioritize resources. These adjustments had a significant impact, affecting both clinical care and also training programs. The aim of this study was to access the maxillofacial surgery resident’s perspective on the pandemic’s impact on specialty training. Methods We designed a nationwide questionnaire to evaluate surgical activity of maxillofacial surgery residents, the impact on surgical training and the perceived effect on their future. Results We collected results of all maxillofacial surgery residents currently in training. Three out of 32 reported a decline in surgical activity of 90-100%, 11 stated a reduction of 75%, 12 expressed a decrease of 50% and 6 described a decline of 25%. Discussion The majority of residents stated the need to consider an extension of training time. Alternative training tools such as virtual activities and simulation training should be considered as formal complements to residency programs. Conclusion We found a significant decrease in surgical activity among all trainees coupled with a unanimous concern regarding their training progression.

Prediabetes, a subclinical impairment between euglycemia and hyperglycemia, is a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and associated micro-and macrovascular complications. Lifestyle therapy, the first-line treatment of prediabetes, includes physical exercise and dietary regimens enriched in phytochemicals with health-related properties. Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), given their pleasant taste and great abundance in beneficial phytochemicals, have gained public interest all over the world. Along with a high antioxidant activity, this functional fruit is also well-recognized due to its hypoglycemic and insulin-sensitizing effects and has been recommended for overt T2DM management. Yet blueberries target several other pathophysiological traits, namely gut microbiota dysbiosis and hepatic dysmetabolism, that ensue when prediabetes begins and for which pharmacological interventions tend to be delayed. In this work, we revisited preclinical data from in vitro assays, animal models and human studies, aiming to disclose the potential mechanisms by which blueberries may be a fruitful source of phytochemicals able to prevent (pre)diabetes progression. Collectively, future efforts should focus on longer-term studies with standardized interventions and readouts, particularly in humans, that will hopefully bring more robust evidence and concrete guidance for blueberries’ effective use in prediabetes. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The evolution of technology in the last decade predicts a future where technology is disseminated in the environment in order to merge with the environment itself, being omnipresent. This world paradigm has been associated with the Internet of Things concept or, according to several authors, with the Internet of Everything concept. The potential massive dispersion of technology, which, with the progress of nanotechnology, will be increasingly miniaturized, combined with high-performance and universal communication networks, will revolutionize the concept of monitoring, resulting in profound changes in various sectors of activ- ity and knowledge. In this context, this article presents a cloud-based Internet of Things architecture in order to respond to the growing needs of monitoring by the Civil Protection Public Organizations, who are responsible for monitoring several parameters and produce multiple information and reports in the context of the security of populations and territories. Finally, it is presented a prototype imple- mented according to the proposed architecture capable of monitoring monoliths dispersed in the territory, as a way of acting preventively, avoiding merely reactive actions after disaster situations. UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. UIDB/04752/2020. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant condition that predisposes to a variety of primary neoplasias, having a wide presentation spectrum. Studies have suggested that the risk of developing benign and malignant tumors in NF1 patients could be approximately 2 to 5-fold higher than what is expected in the general population. We present the case of a 52-year-old caucasian man with NF1, recently diagnosed with a retroperitoneal Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST). The patient had already been diagnosed with a Pheochromocytoma (PHEO) and a Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC) in the past. Here we discuss the rare concomitance of these three neoplasms in a NF1 patient, as well as the clinical presentation and proposed oncological pathways linking NF1 to each of the neoplasms presented by the patient. To the best of our knowledge a similar set of tumors in a NF1 patient has never been described in literature.

In recent years, nurses have developed projects in the area of hospital to community transition. The objective of the present study was to analyze the transitional care offered to elderly people after they used emergency services and were discharged to return to the community. The action research method was chosen. The participants were nurses, elderly people 70 years old or older, and their caregivers. The study was carried out from October 2018 to August 2019. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with the nurses, analysis of medical records, participatory observation, phone calls to the elderly people and caregivers, and team meetings. The qualitative data were submitted to Bardin’s content analysis. Statistical treatment was carried out by applying SPSS version 23.0. The institution’s research ethics committee approved the research. Only 31.4% of the sample experienced care continuity after discharge, and the rate of readmission to emergency services during the first 30 days after discharge was 33.4%. The referral letters lacked data on information provided to patients or caregivers, and nurses mentioned difficulties in communication between care levels, as well as obstacles to teamwork, they also mentioned that the lack of health policies and clinical rules to formalize transitional care between the hospital and the community perpetuated non-coordination of care between the two contexts. The low level of literacy of patients and their relatives are mentioned as a cause for not understanding the information regarding seeking primary health care services and handing the discharge letter. It was concluded that there is an urgent need to mobilize health teams toward action in the patients’ process of returning home, and this factor must be taken into account in care planning.

The Internet of Things has revolutionized the way we can think about sales and customer relationship management strategies. In this context, a view of the world where technology is embedded in practically all objects and physical spaces will be an expectable reality. This reality opens up unprecedented oppor- tunities with regard to the levels of customization in the sales process, whether in virtual spaces or in physical spaces. However, IoT also poses enormous chal- lenges in the field of security and in particular in the field of user privacy. In this context, this article, after analyzing some of the main challenges for IoT in the privacy domain and what impact the IoT may have in the business domain and in particular in the subdomains of sales and advertising, presents a conceptual model to support customer empowerment while citizen with regard to the definition and management of privacy policies concerns a context that may go beyond the bound- aries of citizenship and be applied in scenarios without borders, whenever there is the possibility of defining policies and legislation above Country. UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education UIDB/04752/2020. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

espanolRESUMEN Las metastasis de la cavidad oral son lesiones raras y constituyen el 1 % de las enfermedades orales malignas. El cancer de pulmon es el tumor primario que se disemina con mas frecuencia en los maxilares, sobre todo en hombres, viendose la mandibula mas afectada que la maxila. El caso que presentamos corresponde a una paciente de 64 anos que acudio a nuestro hospital con una tumefaccion del angulo y de la rama ascendente mandibular de 7 meses de evolucion. Inicialmente en el diagnostico diferencial se incluyeron los tumores primarios de la cavidad oral, pero tras el resultado de la biopsia, se identifico un carcinoma de origen desconocido. El estudio de extension puso de manifiesto un adenocarcinoma de pulmon en estadio avanzado. La presencia de metastasis orales es una evidencia de enfermedad diseminada y se asocian a un mal pronostico, por lo cual los tratamientos para estos pacientes suelen ser paliativos. EnglishABSTRACT Metastatic disease of the oral cavity is rare and constitutes 1 % of all oral cavity malignancies. Lung cancer is the most common primary site metastasizing to the jaws, especially in man, and the mandible is more affected than the maxilla. We present the case of a 64 year-old-female patient who was admitted to hospital complaining of pain and swelling located to the left mandibular ascending ramus and angle, with 7 month duration. The first differential diagnosis was between primary malignances of the oral cavity, but the biopsy revealed a carcinoma of unknown origin. Further investigation revealed an advanced stage primary adenocarcinoma of the lung. Oral metastasis are usually evidence of a widespread disease and indicate a poor prognosis. As consequence, the treatment modalities for these patients are palliative in most cases. The clinical case of a 41-year-old male evaluated for a tumor in the attached gingiva with previous periodontal treatment and a history of kidney transplantation is described. Excisional biopsy was performed with a diagnosis of KS, which after completing the study confirmed disseminated iatrogenic-type KS requiring a change in immunosuppressive medication and 6 cycles of chemotherapy treatment with complete response.

Nowadays the tourism industry demands real-time data and advanced breakdown of indicators. The increasing availability of contents generated by users, such as Internet and Social Networks allow users to express their points of view while making them available. 22% of the time a user was online, it's in social networks, corresponding to 110 billion minutes. The study intends to show an example of an Integrated Tourism Analysis Platform (ITAP) with the use of mobile data linked to touristic venues and events; social media data; Open and Crowdsourced data with the geotagged and sensor city information related to environmental aspects, such as crowding, human movement, noise, light and pollution. Advanced Big Data techniques to produce Interactive Dashboards, Web-based Crowdsourcing Framework and a Responsive and Augmented GeoViewer will be used to ensure a more robust Integral Tourism service, enhancing the displaying of the relationship between the local attractions (events, cultural venues) and the foreign visitors in an interactive and visual immersive way.

In 5G networks of high complexity, autonomous management of the end-to-end (E2E) services is desired. Closed-loop (CL) control is a future-proof means to enable this autonomy. In the multi-provider, multi-vendor, and multi-tenant environment, the autonomous service management demands collaborations of all providers and vendors. In this paper, the collaboration problem is formulated as cross-CL collaboration involving multiple CLs participating in the E2E service management. We present a cross-CL collaboration framework with key elements, e.g., APIs, governance models, intent and policies management. Then a representative use case of service assurance with edge clouds is described to exemplify how the framework is applied to implement cross-CL collaborations and answer key questions: WHEN collaboration is needed; and HOW collaboration is enabled.

This paper uses non-traditional data, from a MicroFinance Institution (MFI), in a Credit Scoring loan classification problem and addresses a common problem in emerging markets of the lack of a verifiable customers’ credit history. We perform a set of experiments to define a baseline model and prove the relevance of node embedding features, in credit scoring models, using a real world dataset.

Over the years, important insight on the neurocircuitry of psychiatric symptoms have emerged from side effects recorded during deep brain stimulation (DBS). We have recently treated obesity in Prader Willi syndrome (PWS) using lateral hypothalamic region (LH) DBS[1Franco R.R. Fonoff E.T. Alvarenga P.G. Alho E.J.L. Lopes A.C. Hoexter M.Q. et al.Assessment of Safety and Outcome of Lateral Hypothalamic Deep Brain Stimulation for Obesity in a Small Series of Patients With Prader-Willi Syndrome.JAMA Netw Open. 2018; 1e185275Crossref Scopus (1) Google Scholar, 2Talakoub O. Paiva R.R. Milosevic M. Hoexter M.Q. Franco R. Alho E. et al.Lateral hypothalamic activity indicates hunger and satiety states in humans.Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2017; 4: 897-901Crossref Scopus (2) Google Scholar] and noticed that two out of four patients developed stimulation-induced hypomania/mania.

Scenarios for distributed cloud with multiple edge clouds and centralized data centers are being investigated as the computing and networking underpinnings of next-generation network services such as augmented reality, self-driving vehicles, drones, and more. In such distributed environments, service providers will typically face tens, hundreds, or thousands of compute location candidates (edge, regional, and central) where network service components can be placed. To take optimized placement decisions of network services and execute the management workflows, orchestration systems require up-to-date and accurate resource availability representation, in the form of a network inventory that can be immense in distributed cloud scenarios. As a result, the service management and placement problems may become not tractable. In this work, we propose the Abstracted Network Inventory (ANI) component to generate service-optimized network views over the same network inventory. ANI implements a novel abstraction method where network service requirements are used as an input to generate an optimized abstract network inventory representation, called Logical Network Inventory (LNI). We also provide a formal definition of the network model and problem statement along with the development of three algorithms to efficiently build an LNI. Results show the potential benefits of using an LNI to streamline service management and placement: (i) the relationship between compute nodes and links (i.e., density) in an LNI is reduced between 1.8-2.7x compared to a full network inventory topology; and (ii) up to 50% of time can be saved for service placement after abstracting around 20% of the compute nodes.

Intent-Based Networking (IBN) proposals are based on autonomous closed-loop orchestration architectures that monitor and tune network performance. To this end, IBN defines high-level policies and actions implemented by a closed-loop system. This work demonstrates a Closed Control Loop (CCL) architecture for video service assurance using Machine Learning (ML) based Quality of Experience (QoE) estimation at edge nodes. As part of the solution, network-level Quality of Service (QoS) metrics patterns (e.g., RTT, Throughput) collected through flow-level monitoring are used to build a QoS-to-QoE correlation model tailored to specific target network regions, user groups, and services, in our case DASH video streaming. The demo will showcase the CCL workflow triggering the Orchestrator to take appropriate network-level actions to overcome network QoS degradations and restore the QoE target based on the intent associated with the video service.

Background: Hypophysitis is a rare condition characterized by inflammation of the pituitary gland, usually resulting in hypopituitarism and pituitary enlargement with mass effect symptoms. IgG4-related hypophysitis can occur alone or as part of a multiorgan disease. Treatment with glucocorticoids is effective in 97% of the cases in reducing pituitary mass. Clinical cases: Case #1. A 56-yrs man with previous diagnosis of Mikulicz syndrome was referred to our service with fatigue and erectile dysfunction. Laboratory evaluation revealed hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, hyperprolactinemia (PRL=108 ng/mL) and central hypothyroidism. Sellar MRI depicted a pituitary mass with pituitary stalk thickening and a homogeneous uptake of gadolinium. During clinical follow-up, he also presented retroperitoneal fibrosis and IgG4-related disease was confirmed by serum IgG4 elevation and a pathological review of the previous salivary gland biopsy.Prednisone 80 mg/d treatment was initiated, with recovery of the thyrotrophic axis, reduction of PRL levels and significant reduction of the pituitary lesion. Due to maintenance of inflammatory activity and worsening of renal function, azathioprine therapy was associated, with subsequent inclusion of rituximab. Case #2. A 16-yrs boy was referred to our service presenting severe headache, bilateral visual deficit, right eyelid ptosis, hyposmia, polyuria and polydipsia. Cranial MRI depicted an extensive skull base mass involving pituitary gland, optic nerves, cavernous sinuses, olfactory bulb and clivus). Hormonal evaluation confirmed normoprolactinemia, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and diabetes insipidus. Biopsy of the lesion revealed meningeal inflammation with immunohistochemistry suggesting IgG4-related sclerosing disease. No other organs were affected. An important lesion reduction and gonadotropic axis recovery occurred after 40 days of prednisone 60mg/d. After the drug withdrawal, methotrexate was introduced. However, after three years, headache and hyposmia recurred. A new MRI revealed increase of lesion and mycophenolate and rituximab were initiated, with clinical improvement without recurrences over time. Conclusion: Although a rare disease, IgG4-related disease should be included in the differential diagnosis amongst pituitary masses, with or without other affected organs. Immunosuppression with corticosteroids is the first treatment choice and other alternatives must be used in case of persistence of disease activity or relapse. These are very few Brazilian patients reported with IgG4 related disease. We described two cases with IgG4-related hypophysitis: one young patient, without involvement of other organs and another of middle age with systemic involvement, reinforcing the pleotropic clinical picture. Both required rituximab therapy due to disease progression.

Diet is a critical element determining human health and diseases, and unbalanced food habits are major risk factors for the development of obesity and related metabolic disorders. Despite technological and pharmacological advances, as well as intensification of awareness campaigns, the prevalence of metabolic disorders worldwide is still increasing. Thus, novel therapeutic approaches with increased efficacy are urgently required, which often depends on cellular and molecular investigations using robust animal models. In the absence of perfect rodent models, those induced by excessive consumption of fat and sugars better replicate the key aspects that are the root causes of human metabolic diseases. However, the results obtained using these models cannot be directly compared, particularly because of the use of different dietary protocols, and animal species and strains, among other confounding factors. This review article revisits diet-induced models of obesity and related metabolic disorders, namely, metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. A critical analysis focused on the main pathophysiological features of rodent models, as opposed to the criteria defined for humans, is provided as a practical guide with a translational perspective for the establishment of animal models of obesity-related metabolic diseases.

Yeasts directly impact the efficiency of brewery fermentations as well as the character of the beers produced. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in yeast selection and development inspired by the demand to utilize resources more efficiently and the need to differentiate beers in a competitive market. Reviewed here are the different, non-genetically modified (GM) approaches that have been considered, including bioprospecting, hybridization, and adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE). Particular emphasis is placed on the latter, which represents an extension of the processes that have led to the domestication of strains already used in commercial breweries. ALE can be used to accentuate the positive traits of brewing yeast as well as temper some of the traits that are less desirable from a modern brewer's perspective. This method has the added advantage of being non-GM and therefore suitable for food and beverage production.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept that proposes the inclusion of physical devices as a new form of communication, connecting them with various information systems. Nowadays, IoT cannot be reduced to smart homes as due to the recent technological advances, this concept has evolved from small to large-scale environments. There was also a need to adopt IoT in several business sectors, such as manufacturing, logistics or transportation in order to converge information technologies and technological operations. Due to this convergence, it was possible to arrive at a new IoT paradigm, called the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). However, in IIoT, it is also necessary to analyze and interact with a real system through a virtual production, which refers to the use of Augmented Reality (AR) as a method to achieve this interaction. AR is the overlay of digital content in the real world, and even play an important role in the life cycle of a product, from its design to its support, thus allowing greater flexibility. The adoption of interconnected systems and the use of IoT have motivated the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) because much of the data coming from several sources is unstructured. Several AI algorithms have been used for decades aiming at “making sense” of unstructured data, and transforming it into relevant information. Therefore, converging IoT, AR, and AI makes systems become increasingly autonomous and problem solving in many scenarios.

Since early 2000, Microfinance Institutions (MFI) have been using credit scoring for their risk assessment. However, one of the main problems of credit scoring in microfinance is the lack of structured financial data. To address this problem, MFI have started using non-traditional data which can be extracted from the digital footprint of their users. The non-traditional data can be used to build algorithms that can identify good borrowers as in traditional banking. This paper proposes an assembled method to evaluate the predictive power of the non-traditional method. By using the Weight of Evidence (WoE), a transformation based on the distribution within the feature, as feature transformation method, and then applying extremely randomized trees for feature selection, we were able to improve the accuracy of the credit scoring model by 20.20% when compared to the credit scoring model built with the traditional implementation of WoE. This paper shows how the assembling of WoE with different feature selection criteria can result in more robust credit scoring models in microfinance.

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) plays a major role in tourism, travel and hospitality industry. The Integration of ICT in the tourism industry is essential for success of tourism enterprise, as such it is necessary to integrate ICT in higher education curricula. This paper analyzes the relevance given by the various Portuguese and Spanish institutions of higher education to ICT in their degrees. The analysis carried out was done in degree courses operating in the academic year 2018/2019, in Portuguese and Spanish universities and polytechnics. A comparison was also made with the reality of 2012/2013. UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. UIDB/04752/2020. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

We set up a model with search and matching frictions to understand the effects of employment and wage policies, as well as nepotism in hiring in the public sector, on unemployment and rent seeking. Conditional on inefficiently high public-sector wages, more nepotism in public-sector hiring lowers the unemployment rate because it limits the size of queues for public-sector jobs. Wage and employment policies impose an endogenous constraint on the number of workers the government can hire through connections.

Rural regions are a typology of region rooted around the world. Itsidentity and matrix are differentiated from the most urbanized regions. Associatedwith rural areas is a strong negative feeling of depopulation, undevelopedbusiness fabric, less wealth and less ability to attract investment and wherepublic and private services from various sectors of activity are not concentrated.This reality cannot be socially accepted and must be fought for greater equitywithin countries. To leverage this change, rural regions will have to become cocompetitiveand attractive regions. In order for this transformation to take place,Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play a major role. Thisarticle characterizes the rural regions in their demographic and economicdimensions, emphasizing the case of the Northeast region of Portugal. Analyseand review a set of fundamental vectors where ICT can be a key driver andenabler for smart rural regions to be created. Finally, it is presented a conceptualmodel of what can be a smart rural region. UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. UIDB/04752/2020. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Unhealthy dietary habits are major modifiable risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disease with increasing prevalence and serious consequences. Microvascular complications of diabetes, namely diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), retinopathy (DR), and nephropathy (DN), are associated with high morbidity rates and a heavy social and economic burden. Currently, available therapeutic options to counter the evolution of diabetic microvascular complications are clearly insufficient, which strongly recommends further research. Animal models are essential tools to dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying disease progression, to unravel new therapeutic targets, as well as to evaluate the efficacy of new drugs and/or novel therapeutic approaches. However, choosing the best animal model is challenging due to the large number of factors that need to be considered. This is particularly relevant for models induced by dietary modifications, which vary markedly in terms of macronutrient composition. In this article, we revisit the rodent models of diet-induced DPN, DR, and DN, critically comparing the main features of these microvascular complications in humans and the criteria for their diagnosis with the parameters that have been used in preclinical research using rodent models, considering the possible need for factors which can accelerate or aggravate these conditions.

Background: Acid suppressing drugs (ASD) are generally used in acute pancreatitis (AP); however, large cohorts are not available to understand their efficiency and safety. Therefore, our aims were to evaluate the association between the administration of ASDs, the outcome of AP, the frequency of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and GI infection in patients with AP. Methods: We initiated an international survey and performed retrospective data analysis on AP patients hospitalized between January 2013 and December 2018. Results: Data of 17,422 adult patients with AP were collected from 59 centers of 23 countries. We found that 23.3% of patients received ASDs before and 86.6% during the course of AP. ASDs were prescribed to 57.6% of patients at discharge. ASD administration was associated with more severe AP and higher mortality. GI bleeding was reported in 4.7% of patients, and it was associated with pancreatitis severity, mortality and ASD therapy. Stool culture test was performed in 6.3% of the patients with 28.4% positive results. Clostridium difficile was the cause of GI infection in 60.5% of cases. Among the patients with GI infections, 28.9% received ASDs, whereas 24.1% were without any acid suppression treatment. GI infection was associated with more severe pancreatitis and higher mortality. Conclusions: Although ASD therapy is widely used, it is unlikely to have beneficial effects either on the outcome of AP or on the prevention of GI bleeding during AP. Therefore, ASD therapy should be substantially decreased in the therapeutic management of AP. (C) 2020 IAP and EPC. Published by Elsevier B.V.

International audience; How realistic is the connectivity in a testbed? The question determines whether a protocol that performs well in a testbed also works in a real-world environment. We answer this question by gathering 11 datasets, a total of 2,873,156 connectivity measurements, on both testbeds and real-world deployments. We determine that real-world deployments feature some quantifiable level of external interference, multi-path fading and dynamics in the environment. We further show that some testbeds do not have all three components. We develop a 5-point checklist to assess the realism of a testbed deployments and introduce the visual "waterfall plot" tool to instantaneously evaluate the connectivity characteristics of a deployment.

Sirtuins (SIRT1-7), a class of NAD+-dependent deacylases, are central regulators of metabolic homeostasis and stress responses. While numerous salutary effects associated with sirtuin activation, especially SIRT1, are well documented, other reports show health benefits resulting from sirtuin inhibition. Furthermore, conflicting findings have been obtained regarding the pathophysiological role of specific sirtuin isoforms, suggesting that sirtuins act as 'double-edged swords'. Here, we provide an integrated overview of the different findings on the role of mammalian sirtuins in neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic disorders and attempt to dissect the reasons behind these different effects. Finally, we discuss how addressing these obstacles may provide a better understanding of the complex sirtuin biology and improve the likelihood of identifying effective and selective drug targets for a variety of human disorders.

A model with search and matching frictions and heterogeneous workers was established to evaluate a reform of the public sector wage policy in steady-state. The model was calibrated to the UK economy based on Labour Force Survey data. A review of the pay received by all public sector workers to align the distribution of wages with the private sector reduces steady-state unemployment by 1.4 percentage points.

Mental disorders are common health problems associated with serious impairment and economic impact.To estimate the costs of clinical and subthreshold mental disorders in a sample of Brazilian children.The High Risk Cohort Study is a community study conducted in two major Brazilian cities. Subjects were 6-14 years old children being registered at school. From an initial pool of 9937 children, two subgroups were further investigated using a random-selection (n = 958) and high-risk group selection procedure (n = 1554), resulting in a sample of 2512 subjects. Mental disorder assessment was made using the Development and Well-Being Assessment. Costs for each child were estimated from the following components: mental health and social services use, school problems and parental loss of productivity.Child subthreshold and clinical mental disorders showed lifetime mean total cost of $1750.9 and $3141.2, respectively. National lifetime cost estimate was $9.9 billion for subthreshold mental disorders and $11.6 billion for clinical mental disorders (values in US$ purchasing power parity).This study provides evidence that child mental disorders have a great economic impact on society. There is an urgent need to plan an effective system of care with cost-effective programs of treatment and prevention to reduce economic burden.

Nicotine, the major component of cigarettes, has demonstrated conflicting impact on the immune system: some authors suggest that increases pro-inflammatory cytokines and provokes cellular apoptosis of neutrophils, releasing intracellular components that act as auto-antigens; others claimed that nicotine has a protective and anti-inflammatory effects, especially by binding to α7 subunit of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The cholinergic pathway contributes to an anti-inflammatory environment characterized by increasing T regulatory cells response, down-regulating of pro-inflammatory cytokines and a pro-inflammatory cells apoptosis. The effects of nicotine were studied in different autoimmune disease, as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, Behcet’s disease and inflammatory bowel diseases. The major problems about nicotine are the addiction and the adverse effects of related to each commercialized formulation. We sought in this review to summarize the knowledge accumulated to date concerning the relationship between nicotine and autoimmunity.