Resumo: Introdução: O aneurisma da aorta abdominal é uma entidade prevalente no mundo ocidental, com elevada mortalidade associada à rotura do aneurisma. Os programas de rastreio assim como a cirurgia eletiva podem prevenir este evento com elevado risco de vida. Com este trabalho pretendemos avaliar se os internos de Medicina Interna são capazes de realizar ecografia abdominal para rastreio de aneurisma da aorta abdominal, e com isso aumentar a nossa precisão diagnóstica desta condição potencialmente ameaçadora de vida. Material e Métodos: Cinco internos de Medicina Interna, sem experiência prévia em ecografia, rastrearam para aneurisma da aorta abdominal, homens com mais de 65 anos, admitidos no internamento de Medicina Interna. Os doentes foram avaliados em dois tempos diferentes por dois internos de Medicina Interna, e um conjunto de doentes foi também avaliado por um cirurgião vascular ou por tomografia computadorizada abdominal (sendo ambas consideradas as avaliações gold standard). A concordância entre ambas avaliações dos internos de Medicina, e dos internos de Medicina e as avaliações gold standard foram analisadas. Resultados: Foram avaliados 98 doentes e diagnosticados um total de 8 aneurismas da aorta abdominal, perfazendo uma prevalência de 8,2%. Foi obtida uma boa concordância no que diz respeito à presença de aneurisma da aorta abdominal e à sua medição entre as avaliações dos internos de Medicina Interna (κ = 0,918, p < 0,01) e entre os internos de Medicina Interna e as avaliações gold standard (κ = 0,950, p < 0,01). Discussão e Conclusão: A prevalência do aneurisma da aorta abdominal no nosso estudo foi elevada. Os internos de Medicina Interna são capazes de diagnosticar esta entidade com precisão. O rastreio oportunístico e à cabeceira do doente, pode ser realizado durante o internamento na Medicina Interna, providenciando um diagnóstico precoce, com possibilidade de referenciação para cirurgia eletiva de reparação.

Abstract Introduction: Abdominal aortic aneurysm is a prevalent disease in western world, with a high mortality rate when rupture occurs. Screening programs and elective surgery may prevent such a life-threatening event. We pretend to evaluate if internal medicine residents would be able to perform quality abdominal ultrasound for abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, and therefore increase our diagnostic accuracy of this life-threatening condition. Material and Methods: Five internal medicine residents without previous experience in ultrasound screened men over 65 years admitted to Internal Medicine wards for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. The patients were evaluated in different times by two internal medicine residents, and a subset of patients was also evaluated by vascular surgery attendant or abdominal computed tomography scan (established as gold standard evaluations). Agreement between both internal medicine resident’s observations and internal medicine residents’ and gold standard evaluations were analyzed. Results: A total of 98 patients were evaluated, with 8 abdominal aortic aneurysms diagnosed, resulting in an 8.2% prevalence. There was good agreement regarding Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm presence and measurement between internal medicine residents’ examinations (κ = 0.918, p < 0.01) and internal medicine residents’/gold standard (κ = 0.950, p < 0.01). Discussion and Conclusion: Abdominal aortic aneurysm prevalence in our study was high. Internal medicine residents were able to accurately diagnose aortic abdominal aneurysm. Point of care opportunistic aortic abdominal aneurysm screening can be performed in Internal Medicine wards, providing an early diagnosis and referral for elective repair surgery.

Abstract Next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms allow the analysis of hundreds of millions of molecules in a single sequencing run, revolutionizing many research areas. NGS-based microRNA studies enable expression quantification in unprecedented scale without the limitations of closed-platforms. Yet, whereas a massive amount of data produced by these platforms is available, comparisons of quantification/discovery capabilities between platforms are still lacking. Here we compare two NGS-platforms: SOLiD and PGM, by evaluating their microRNA identification/quantification capabilities using two breast-derived cell-lines. A high expression correlation (R2 > 0.9) was achieved, encompassing 97% of the miRNAs, and the few discrepancies in miRNA counts were attributable to molecules that have very low expression. Quantification divergences indicative of artefactual representation were seen for 14 miRNAs (higher in SOLiD-reads) and another 10 miRNAs more abundant in PGM-data. An inspection of these revealed an increased and statistically significant count of uracyls and uracyl-stretches for PGM-enriched miRNAs, compared to SOLiD and to the miRBase. In parallel, adenines and adenine-stretches were enriched for SOLiDderived miRNA reads. We conclude that, whereas both platforms are overall consistent and can be used interchangeably for microRNA expression studies, particular sequence features appear to be indicative of specific platform bias, and their presence in microRNAs should be considered for database-analyses.

Resumo Este artigo objetiva analisar o sentido da escola para adolescentes em contexto de vulnerabilidade social. Utilizou-se como instrumento o Jogo de Sentenças Incompletas, e para análise o modelo quantitativo-interpretativo de Alves. Participaram 12 adolescentes entre 13 e 15 anos, estudantes do sexto ao nono ano de uma escola da rede pública municipal de João Pessoa, PB, localizada em uma área de vulnerabilidade social. Os dados revelam que o contexto de vulnerabilidade é marcado, sobretudo, pela falta de aspectos estruturais, que impõem aos sujeitos condições precárias de vida. Quanto à escola, os adolescentes a reconhecem como lugar do conhecimento e da aprendizagem, que possibilita a perspectiva de um futuro digno por meio da qualificação, mas o sentido identificado é o de escola como um espaço privilegiado para o encontro com o outro, para o cultivo de vínculos afetivos, para a troca, para o diálogo, a cooperação e a diversão.

Abstract This article aims to analyze the meaning of school for adolescents in the context of social vulnerability. It was used as a tool Incomplete Sentences game and for the analyze the quantitative-interpretative model by Alves. Tehe participantes were 12 adolescents between 13 and 15, students from the sixth to the ninth year of a municipal public school of João Pessoa, PB, located in an area of social vulnerability. The data show that the vulnerability context is marked above all by the lack of structural aspects, which require the subject precarious living conditions. As for school, teens recognize it as a place of knowledge and learning, which enables the prospect of a decent future through qualifying, but the identified direction is the school as a privileged space for the encounter with the other, for cultivation affective ties, to exchange, for dialogue, cooperation and fun.

Resumen Este artículo tiene por objetivo analizar el sentido de la escuela para adolescentes en contexto de vulnerabilidad social. Se utilizó como instrumento el Juego de Sentencias Incompletas, y para análisis el modelo cuantitativo-interpretativo de Alves. Participaron 12 adolescentes entre 13 y 15 años, estudiantes del sexto al noveno año de una escuela de la red pública municipal de João Pessoa, PB, localizada en un área de vulnerabilidad social. Los datos revelan que el contexto de vulnerabilidad es marcado, sobre todo, por la falta de aspectos estructurales, que imponen a los sujetos condiciones precarias de vida. Cuanto a la escuela, los adolescentes la reconocen como lugar del conocimiento y del aprendizaje, que posibilita la perspectiva de un futuro digno por intermedio de la cualificación, pero el sentido identificado es el de escuela como un espacio privilegiado para el encuentro con el otro, para el cultivo de vínculos afectivos, para el intercambio, para el diálogo, la cooperación y la diversión.

The present work demonstrates preparation of magnetic nanoparticles by a novel method. Magnetic nanoparticles with potential for biomedical and environmental applications were obtained by homogeneous coprecipitation method sonochemically assisted. The effect of ultrasonic cavitation on changing the reaction environment was studied. The chemical reaction media used here was very similar to those used for Sono-Fenton process. The ultrasonic energy has driven the growth of particles; smaller diameter nanoparticles were obtained by applying a higher power. For the first time, it was demonstrated the iron oxide nanoparticles synthesis at pH lower than 6.