Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

About: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais is a education organization based out in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 41631 authors who have published 75688 publications receiving 1249905 citations.

Adipokines, diabetes and atherosclerosis: an inflammatory association

Abstract: Cardiovascular diseases can be considered the most important cause of death in diabetic population and diabetes can in turn increase the risk of cardiovascular events. Inflammation process is currently recognized as responsible for the development and maintenance of diverse chronic diseases, including diabetes and atherosclerosis. Considering that adipose tissue is an important source of adipokines, which may present anti and proinflammatory effects, the aim of this review is to explore the role of the main adipokines in the pathophysiology of diabetes and atherosclerosis, highlighting the therapeutic options that could arise from the manipulation of these signaling pathways both in humans and in translational models.

Lazy Associative Classification

Abstract: Decision tree classifiers perform a greedy search for rules by heuristically selecting the most promising features. Such greedy (local) search may discard important rules. Associative classifiers, on the other hand, perform a global search for rules satisfying some quality constraints (i.e., minimum support). This global search, however, may generate a large number of rules. Further, many of these rules may be useless during classification, and worst, important rules may never be mined. Lazy (non-eager) associative classification overcomes this problem by focusing on the features of the given test instance, increasing the chance of generating more rules that are useful for classifying the test instance. In this paper we assess the performance of lazy associative classification. First we demonstrate that an associative classifier performs no worse than the corresponding decision tree classifier. Also we demonstrate that lazy classifiers outperform the corresponding eager ones. Our claims are empirically confirmed by an extensive set of experimental results. We show that our proposed lazy associative classifier is responsible for an error rate reduction of approximately 10% when compared against its eager counterpart, and for a reduction of 20% when compared against a decision tree classifier. A simple caching mechanism makes lazy associative classification fast, and thus improvements in the execution time are also observed.

A general catalogue of extended objects in the Magellanic System

Abstract: We update the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), Bridge and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) catalogues of extended objects that were constructed by members of our group from 1995 to 2000. In addition to the rich subsequent literature for the previous classes, we now also include H I shells and supershells. A total of 9305 objects were cross-identified, while our previous catalogues amounted to 7900 entries, an increase of ≈12 per cent. We present the results in subcatalogues containing 1445 emission nebulae, 3740 star clusters, 3326 associations and 794 H I shells and supershells. Angular and apparent size distributions of the extended objects are analysed. We conclude that the objects, in general, appear to respond to tidal effects arising from the LMC, SMC and Bridge. Number-density profiles extracted along directions parallel and perpendicular to the LMC bar, can be described by two exponential-discs. A single exponential-disc fits the equivalent SMC profiles. Interestingly, when angular-averaged number-densities of most of the extended objects are considered, the profiles of both Clouds do not follow an exponential-disc. Rather, they are best described by a tidally truncated, core/halo profile, despite the fact that the Clouds are clearly disturbed discs. On the other hand, the older star clusters taken isolately, distribute as an exponential disc. The present catalogue is an important tool for the unambiguous identification of previous objects in current CCD surveys and to establish new findings.

Searching for Atrial Fibrillation Poststroke: A White Paper of the AF-SCREEN International Collaboration

Abstract: Cardiac thromboembolism attributed to atrial fibrillation (AF) is responsible for up to one-third of ischemic strokes. Stroke may be the first manifestation of previously undetected AF. Given the efficacy of oral anticoagulants in preventing AF-related ischemic strokes, strategies of searching for AF after a stroke using ECG monitoring followed by oral anticoagulation (OAC) treatment have been proposed to prevent recurrent cardioembolic strokes. This white paper by experts from the AF-SCREEN International Collaboration summarizes existing evidence and knowledge gaps on searching for AF after a stroke by using ECG monitoring. New AF can be detected by routine plus intensive ECG monitoring in approximately one-quarter of patients with ischemic stroke. It may be causal, a bystander, or neurogenically induced by the stroke. AF after a stroke is a risk factor for thromboembolism and a strong marker for atrial myopathy. After acute ischemic stroke, patients should undergo 72 hours of electrocardiographic monitoring to detect AF. The diagnosis requires an ECG of sufficient quality for confirmation by a health professional with ECG rhythm expertise. AF detection rate is a function of monitoring duration and quality of analysis, AF episode definition, interval from stroke to monitoring commencement, and patient characteristics including old age, certain ECG alterations, and stroke type. Markers of atrial myopathy (eg, imaging, atrial ectopy, natriuretic peptides) may increase AF yield from monitoring and could be used to guide patient selection for more intensive/prolonged poststroke ECG monitoring. Atrial myopathy without detected AF is not currently sufficient to initiate OAC. The concept of embolic stroke of unknown source is not proven to identify patients who have had a stroke benefitting from empiric OAC treatment. However, some embolic stroke of unknown source subgroups (eg, advanced age, atrial enlargement) might benefit more from non-vitamin K-dependent OAC therapy than aspirin. Fulfilling embolic stroke of unknown source criteria is an indication neither for empiric non-vitamin K-dependent OAC treatment nor for withholding prolonged ECG monitoring for AF. Clinically diagnosed AF after a stroke or a transient ischemic attack is associated with significantly increased risk of recurrent stroke or systemic embolism, in particular, with additional stroke risk factors, and requires OAC rather than antiplatelet therapy. The minimum subclinical AF duration required on ECG monitoring poststroke/transient ischemic attack to recommend OAC therapy is debated.