Universidade Positivo

About: Universidade Positivo is a education organization based out in Curitiba, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 1290 authors who have published 1237 publications receiving 9335 citations. The organization is also known as: Positive University.

Combination of organic acids and heat-moisture treatment on the normal and waxy corn starch: thermal, structural, pasting properties, and digestibility investigation

Abstract: Resistant starch (RS) has gained interesting because of its health benefits as the control of diseases, such as diabetes. Modifications in starches have been applied in order to increase RS content and consequently the range of industrial food applications. The heat-moisture treatment (HMT) combined with the addition of organic acids was the aim of this study, and also to evaluate the in vitro digestibility and other properties of corn starches. In both botanical sources, the RS content increased significantly, for the normal type and the waxy. Among organic acids used, citric, followed by lactic and acetic acid, promoted the most evident alterations and showed promising results in the increasing of RS. The results obtained by this combined method open opportunities for further applications in functional foods as well as starch based encapsulation process.

Flexibility Practices in Disaster Response—A Process Approach Based Evaluation

Abstract: Organizational systems based on flexible processes are gaining increasing importance because they do not present a predefined sequence of actions. The prevention, relief, assistance and reconstruction actions carried out by government agencies that seek to avoid or minimize the disasters’ consequences can be classified as flexible processes. The objective of this article is to propose an evaluation process capable of identifying and classifying these agencies’ actions as flexible processes, for meeting the guidelines from the organizational engineering initiatives previously developed. The method was created using as reference the Cambridge Process Approach, and it was validated by a group of experts. This assessment method was applied in a real case study. Finally, the method displays the flexibility degree of the actions implemented in the real case. In this research, the procedures created by the Brazilian Protection and Civil Defense agencies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), from the United States, were analyzed and compared.

Electrical and Mechanical Technologies in Sensory System Feedback and Control: Cybernetics in Physical Rehabilitation

Abstract: Studies involving sensory substitution or feedback date back to the 1960s. These seek to apply stimuli to body regions with full sensitivity to replace the information lost due to damaged, deficient, or absent sensory pathway. The main techniques applied are electrotactile stimulation (ETS) and vibrotactile stimulation. The objective of this article is to present a synopsis of current knowledge regarding technologies that employ electrical, mechanical, and pneumatic resources in the sensory system as tools for physical rehabilitation. ETS can be applied as a therapeutic intervention in the treatment of equilibrium disorders, as systems of myoelectric prostheses in amputees whose mechanoreceptors were removed together with the limb, as artificial skins developed prior to the application of prostheses and as prophylactic treatments for pressure sores. Vibrotactile or mechanotactile sensory substitutions that employ electromechanical and piezoelectric devices or inert gas jets facilitate the training of equilibrium maintenance in patients with vestibular alterations, as well as the development of alternative and expanded communication technologies in signaling and augmented reality for people with auditory and/or visual disabilities. The cybernetic resources developed for physical rehabilitation described herein were shown to efficiently generate sensory stimuli and the artificial control of tactile perception. Notwithstanding the greater functional simplicity of mechanotactile systems, the majority of the reviewed studies focused on ETS systems. The results of this study demonstrate the progress and potential of these technologies, as well as the results of evaluations of their use and current limitations in the electrical and mechanical devices employed in functional sensory system rehabilitation.

Periodontal disease and its influence on the metabolic control of diabetes

Abstract: Introduction: Currently, it is accepted that the periodontal disease is more prevalent and severe in people with diabetes mellitus compared to non-diabetic people. On the other hand, patients with severe periodontitis may present difficulty in performing glycemic control. Objective: The objective of the present study is to determine, through a literature review, the influence of the periodontal disease on the metabolic control of diabetic patients. Literature review: PubMed database was searched, from November to December of 2008, and several studies comprising the current and classic literature were listed, using the following uniterms: periodontitis and diabetes mellitus. Forty and four reports were found. Half of them (n = 22) was conducted in humans after the mechanic periodontal treatment alone or associated with a topic or systemic antimicrobial therapy. Ten of these studies presented beneficial results regarding to the glycemic control. Three studies (n = 3) were conducted in animals, simulating periodontitis in pre-diabetic or diabetic rats. The results of epidemiologic (n = 5), literature review, and meta-analysis (n = 14) studies were positively similar to the studies in humans after the periodontal treatment, in 4 and 11 articles, respectively. The most common possible patho-physiological paths between periodontal disease (DP) and diabetes mellitus (DM) evaluated by the authors were related to the inflammatory markers, the host’s modified response, and the resistance to insulin. Conclusion: Periodontitis may influence on the glycemic control of diabetes. However, the study’s standardization in relation to both the periodontal therapy and the studied groups are necessary to consolidate the bidirectional relationship between DP and DM and to help in the multidisciplinary treatment of the patients suffering of these diseases.