Universidade de Pernambuco

About: Universidade de Pernambuco is a education organization based out in Recife, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Artificial neural network. The organization has 6147 authors who have published 6948 publications receiving 73648 citations.

EJFlow: taming exceptional control flows in aspect-oriented programming

Abstract: Many of the problems that stem from the use of exception handling are caused by the local way in which exceptions are handled. It demands that developers understand the source of an exception, the place where it is handled, and everything in between. As a consequence, exceptions easily get "out of control" and, as system development progresses, exceptional control flows become less well-understood, with potentially negative consequences for the program maintainability and reliability. This paper presents an innovative aspect-oriented model for exception handling implementation. In contrast to other exception handling mechanisms, our model provides abstractions to explicitly describe global views of exceptional control flows. As a result, this new model makes it possible to understand exception flows from an end-to-end perspective by looking at a single part of the program. Also, it leverages existing pointcut languages to make the association of handlers with normal code more flexible. The implementation of our proposed model, called EJFlow, extends the AspectJ programming language with the aim of promoting enhanced robustness and program modularization. We evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively the proposed exception handling model through a case study targeting a real mobile application.

Barriers to Physical Activity in Patients with Intermittent Claudication

Abstract: The main barriers reported by the patients with claudication are related to claudication symptoms. However, it remains unclear whether these barriers are associated with physical activity levels in these patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the barriers to and the factors associated with physical activity (PA) in intermittent claudication (IC) patients. The sample included 150 IC Brazilian patients and mean age 64 ± 9 years old. Sociodemographic factors, comorbid conditions and cardiovascular risk factors, personal and environmental barriers to PA, and walking capacity (claudication onset distance-COD and peak walking distance-PWD) were obtained. PA was assessed using a pedometer over seven consecutive days. Patients performed 6,041 ± 3,166 steps/day. The most prevalent personal and environmental barriers to PAs were exercise-induced pain and the presence of obstacles that aggravate the leg pain. Multiple linear regression showed that level of PA was inversely associated with age (β = −81.13; p < 0.001), lack of green areas (β = −1363.54; p < 0.001), and positively associated with PWD (β = 3.07; p < 0.001). Older IC patients who live in neighborhoods that lack green areas to walk in, and who have poor walking capacity present lower levels of PA.

Risk factors for death in children with visceral leishmaniasis.

Abstract: Background Despite the major public health importance of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Latin America, well-designed studies to inform diagnosis, treatment and control interventions are scarce. Few observational studies address prognostic assessment in patients with VL. This study aimed to identify risk factors for death in children aged less than 15 years admitted for VL treatment in a referral center in northeast Brazil.

Correlation between Waardenburg syndrome phenotype and genotype in a population of individuals with identified PAX3 mutations

Abstract: Waardenburg syndrome (WS) type 1 is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by sensorineural hearing loss, pigmentary abnormalities of the eye, hair, and skin, and dystopia canthorum. The phenotype is variable and affected individuals may exhibit only one or a combination of several of the associated features. To assess the relationship between phenotype and gene defect, clinical and genotype data on 48 families (271 WS individuals) collected by members of the Waardenburg Consortium were pooled. Forty-two unique mutations in the PAX3 gene, previously identified in these families, were grouped in five mutation categories: amino acid (AA) substitution in the paired domain, AA substitution in the homeodomain, deletion of the Ser-Thr-Pro-rich region, deletion of the homeodomain and the Ser-Thr-Pro-rich region, and deletion of the entire gene. These mutation classes are based on the structure of the PAX3 gene and were chosen to group mutations predicted to have similar defects in the gene product. Association between mutation class and the presence of hearing loss, eye pigment abnormality, skin hypopigmentation, or white forelock was evaluated using generalized estimating equations, which allowed for incorporation of a correlation structure that accounts for potential similarity among members of the same family. Odds for the presence of eye pigment abnormality, white forelock, and skin hypopigmentation were 2, 8, and 5 times greater, respectively, for individuals with deletions of the homeodomain and the Pro-Ser-Thr-rich region compared to individuals with an AA substitution in the homeodomain. Odds ratios that differ significantly from 1.0 for these traits may indicate that the gene products resulting from different classes of mutations act differently in the expression of WS. Although a suggestive association was detected for hearing loss with an odds ratio of 2.6 for AA substitution in the paired domain compared with AA substitution in the homeodomain, this odds ratio did not differ significantly from 1.0.