Neurodegenerative diseases feature specific misfolded or misassembled proteins associated with neurotoxicity. The precise mechanisms by which protein aggregates first arise in the majority of sporadic cases have remained unclear. Likely, a first critical mass of misfolded proteins starts a vicious cycle of a prion-like expansion. We hypothesize that viruses, having evolved to hijack the host cellular machinery for catalyzing their replication, lead to profound disturbances of cellular proteostasis, resulting in such a critical mass of protein aggregates. Here, we investigated the effect of influenza virus (H1N1) strains on proteostasis of proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases in Lund human mesencephalic dopaminergic cells in vitro and infection ofRagknockout mice in vivo. We demonstrate that acute H1N1 infection leads to the formation of α-synuclein and Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) aggregates, but not of tau or TDP-43 aggregates, indicating a selective effect on proteostasis. Oseltamivir phosphate, an antiinfluenza drug, prevented H1N1-induced α-synuclein aggregation. As a cell pathobiological mechanism, we identified H1N1-induced blocking of autophagosome formation and inhibition of autophagic flux. In addition, α-synuclein aggregates appeared in infected cell populations connected to the olfactory bulbs following intranasal instillation of H1N1 inRagknockout mice. We propose that H1N1 virus replication in neuronal cells can induce seeds of aggregated α-synuclein or DISC1 that may be able to initiate further detrimental downstream events and should thus be considered a risk factor in the pathogenesis of synucleinopathies or a subset of mental disorders. More generally, aberrant proteostasis induced by viruses may be an underappreciated factor in initiating protein misfolding.

Much attention has recently been focused on thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), IL-33, and periostin in allergic disease, but less is known about their role in viral bronchiolitis.The aim of the study was to investigate whether infants exhibit enhanced nasal airway secretion of TSLP, IL-33, and periostin during natural respiratory viral bronchiolitis compared to healthy controls.In total, 213 infants < 2 years of age, hospitalized with bronchiolitis from October/2013 to April/2016 were enrolled alongside 45 healthy infants. Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were screened for respiratory viruses by the polymerase chain reaction. TSLP, IL-33, and periostin were measured in NPAs. Clinical data were recorded.At least 1 virus was detected in 186 (87.3%) hospitalized infants: 149 (70%) respiratory syncytial virus (RSV); 42 (19.7%) rhinovirus (HRV); 16 (7.5%) parainfluenza virus (PIV); 9 (4.2%) adenovirus; 10 (4.7%) bocavirus; and 7 (3.3%) metapneumovirus (hMPV). Infants with bronchiolitis had higher levels of TSLP (P = .02), IL-33 (P<.001), and periostin (P = .003) than healthy controls.Detectable levels of TSLP and periostin were more frequent in virus-positive than in virus-negative patients (P = .05). TSLP and IL-33 were also more common in coinfections, mainly RSV and HRV, than in single-infections (P < .05). No patient with bronchiolitis but with negative viral detection had detectable levels of nasal TSLP or IL-33. Infants with hospital stay ≥5 days were more likely to have detectable levels of nasal TSLP and periostin after adjusting by age (P = .01).Bronchiolitis by common respiratory viruses is associated with elevated nasal levels of TSLP, IL-33, and periostin, factors known to be important in the development of Th2-response. Respiratory viruses in early life might shift immune responses toward Th2, involving asthma, and allergic diseases.

The development of robotic solutions for agriculture requires advanced perception capabilities that can work reliably in any crop stage. For example, to automatise the tomato harvesting process in greenhouses, the visual perception system needs to detect the tomato in any life cycle stage (flower to the ripe tomato). The state-of-the-art for visual tomato detection focuses mainly on ripe tomato, which has a distinctive colour from the background. This paper contributes with an annotated visual dataset of green and reddish tomatoes. This kind of dataset is uncommon and not available for research purposes. This will enable further developments in edge artificial intelligence for in situ and in real-time visual tomato detection required for the development of harvesting robots. Considering this dataset, five deep learning models were selected, trained and benchmarked to detect green and reddish tomatoes grown in greenhouses. Considering our robotic platform specifications, only the Single-Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) and YOLO architectures were considered. The results proved that the system can detect green and reddish tomatoes, even those occluded by leaves. SSD MobileNet v2 had the best performance when compared against SSD Inception v2, SSD ResNet 50, SSD ResNet 101 and YOLOv4 Tiny, reaching an F1-score of 66.15, an mAP of 51.46 and an inference time of 16.44ms with the NVIDIA Turing Architecture platform, an NVIDIA Tesla T4, with 12 GB. YOLOv4 Tiny also had impressive results, mainly concerning inferring times of about 5ms.

The sensors that acquire 3D data play an important role in many applications. In addition, they have been used in the robotic field for several purposes, for instance, enhancing the navigation of mobile robots, object detection, scene reconstruction, 3D inspection of parts and others. Moreover, a significant amount of devices with distinct cost, accuracy and features have been released in the recent years which increases the difficulty of comparing each sensor in a proper manner or choosing the most suitable device for a specific task and operation field. This paper compares the Kinect v1, Kinect v2, Structure Sensor and Mesa Imaging SR4000. The noise of each sensor is characterized for different distances and considering objects with different colors. Therefore, this paper proposes a simple but quantitative benchmark for evaluating 3D devices that characterizes the most relevant features for the robotic field and in accordance with different type of operations.

Objectives:To identify what are the diffi culties of the nursing staff in the management of technologies during intravenous therapy (IVT) and discuss the diffi culties identifi ed under the perspective of patient's safety. Method: Descriptive study of qualitative approach with data collected by semi-structured interview and analyzed by the Alceste software. Results: The greatest diffi culty of cognitive and technical emphasis was the lack of training; and regarding administrative emphasis, the greatest diffi culty was the lack of material and human resources. Infusion pumps and their proper use were highlighted as the technological resource that most contributed to patient safety. Final considerations: The lack of training is presented as the greatest diffi culty of nursing professionals and permeates safety issues of both patient and professional when using the hard technologies in IVT. Training is essential to the development of techniques, considered nursing tools. Descriptors: Infusion Pumps; Patient Safety; Critical Care; Nursing; Intravenous Infusions. RESUMO Objetivos: Identifi car quais são as difi culdades da equipe de Enfermagem no manejo das tecnologias durante a terapia intravenosa (TIV) e discutir as difi culdades identifi cadas sob a perspectiva da segurança do paciente. Método: abordagem qualitativa, do tipo descritivo com dados coletados por entrevista semiestruturada e analisados pelo programa Alceste. Resultados: A maior difi culdade de ênfase cognitiva e técnica foi a falta de treinamento; e de ênfase administrativa, foi a falta de recursos materiais e humanos. As bombas de infusão e sua utilização adequada foram destacadas como o recurso tecnológico que mais contribuiu para a segurança do paciente. Considerações fi nais: A falta de treinamento é apresentada como a maior difi culdade dos profi ssionais de Enfermagem e permeia as questões de segurança do paciente e do profi ssional ao utilizar as tecnologias duras na TIV. O treinamento é imprescindível para o desenvolvimento das técnicas, consideradas como ferramentas do fazer da Enfermagem. Descritores: Bombas de Infusão; Segurança do Paciente; Cuidados Críticos; Enfermagem; Infusões Intravenosas. RESUMENObjetivos: Identifi car las difi cultades del personal de enfermería en utilizar tecnologías durante la terapia intravenosa (TIV) y discutir las difi cultades encontradas bajo el punto de vista de la seguridad del paciente. Método: estudio cualitativo, de tipo descriptivo, en el cual se empleó entrevista semiestructurada para la recolección de los datos y los analizó por el programa Alceste. Resultados: La difi cultad de énfasis cognitiva y técnica más frecuente fue la ausencia de capacitación para utilizar la tecnología; y la de énfasis administrativa fue la ausencia de recursos materiales y humanos. El recurso tecnológico que más contribuye para garantizar la seguridad del paciente fue las bombas de infusión y su correcto empleo. Consideraciones fi nales: El personal de enfermería relató que la ausencia de capacitación es la difi cu...

In this work, microcapsules were formed by coating thyme oil with a biodegradable polymer, poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic) acid (PLGA), through a coacervation process recently developed at our laboratory and previously studied for poly lactic acid (PLA). The coacervation method involves dissolution of the polymer (PLGA 50:50) in dimethylformamide. After adding this solution to the oil/water (o/w) emulsion, and due the insolubility of the polymer in water, polymer deposition occurs around the oil droplets and microcapsule formation starts. PLGA was chosen due to its easy biodegradation and biocompatibility. The active principle, thyme oil, is characterized by excellent antimicrobial activity ascribed to the presence of thymol and carvacrol, its major components. Two types of thyme oil (red and white) were microencapsulated and the produced microcapsules were characterized using optical microscopy, particle size analysis, and gas chromatography (used to evaluate encapsulation efficiency). Antimicrobial activity was preliminarily evaluated following ASTM E2149‐01. Microscopy and particle size analysis confirmed the existence of microcapsules with round shapes, smooth surfaces, particle diameters between ∼45–49 μm, and wall thicknesses ∼3.5 μm. Global encapsulation efficiencies of thyme oil (both red and white) were 70 % and 57 %, respectively. The produced microcapsules exhibited a sustained oil release that ensures a level of antimicrobial activity maintenance desirable for cosmetic applications.

Introduction. The medical course is extremely stimulating but also demanding, and it can interfere with students’ mental health. Stress leads to lower life quality, academic performance, and ultimately to a lower quality of patient care delivered. Objective. To analyse stress levels of sixth-year medical students who attend Portuguese colleges. Methodology. This observational cross-sectional study involved Portuguese medical students attending the sixth year of all Portuguese faculties. We applied an online self-response questionnaire, including the 10 items Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to assess stress levels and sociodemographic variables. Logistic regression was used to estimate the weight of the studied determinants on stress levels. Results. A total of 501 participants were included for analysis (69.5% females), with a median age of 24 years old. We found significant levels of stress in 49.9% (95% CI: 45.5–54.3%), with 20.8% of total students presenting extremely high levels, irrespective of age, gender, and faculty. Stress was higher when students presented bad sleeping and eating habits, lack of ability to manage time, dissatisfaction with social life and academic experience, and low family support. Also, these students are more worried about their future and present a higher degree of concern about their graduation test performance. Conclusion. This study found high stress levels among Portuguese medical students, associated with social determinants and the intrinsic complexity of the course. This is worrying, and it elucidates the importance of coping strategies to make students deal with stress and be healthier, currently and in the future.

The use of robots in architectural construction has been a research field since the 1980's. Driven by both productive and creative concerns, different systems have been devised based on large-scale robotic structures, mobile robotic units or flying robotic vehicles. By analyzing these approaches and discussing their advantages and limitations, this paper presents an alternative strategy to automate the building construction processes in on-site scenarios. The SPIDERobot is a cable-robot system developed to perform assembly operations, which is driven by a specific Feedback Dynamic Control System (FDCS) based on a vision system. By describing and illustrating this research work, the authors argue about the advantages of this cable robot system to deal with the complexity and the scale of building construction in architecture.