Initial Translation Research Articles

RNAi‐Mediated Silencing of Endogenous Wheat Genes EIF(Iso)4E‐2 and EIF4G Induce Resistance to Multiple RNA Viruses in Transgenic Wheat

ABSTRACTWheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lacks sources of effective resistance to the potyviruses Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) and Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV). Potyviruses use host eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs) to facilitate initial translation of their genomes, and many plant virus resistance genes are due to mutations in eIFs. Therefore, we hypothesized that silencing TaeIF(iso)4E and TaeIF4G would provide effective and broad‐spectrum virus resistance. Three transgenic wheat lines with an RNA interference (RNAi) hairpin construct targeting TaeIF(iso)4E and four lines with a hairpin construct targeting TaeIF4G were recovered through wheat transformation. Early generation lines were found to be resistant to WSMV and TriMV, and co‐inoculation of both. The lines were selfed to the T5 generation to insure transgene stability, as well as crossed onto the hard red winter wheat cultivar ‘Karl 92’ to test the RNAi constructs in a more adapted genetic background. Phenotypically, transgenic lines were found to be resistant to WSMV, TriMV, and mixed infections of both, were resistant to Soil‐borne wheat mosaic virus, and demonstrated a significant reduction in Barley yellow dwarf virus infection. The RNAi effectiveness on viral RNA was evaluated using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). An 18‐fold reduction in WSMV and TriMV viral RNA was found in the T5 transgenic lines when compared with control plants. Viral RNA reduction was also found in the F1, and BC1F1 crosses to Karl 92. These results demonstrate that a single, endogenously derived transgene in wheat can provide resistance to multiple viruses and provides a proof of concept for future gene editing.

Initial displacement as a risk factor for avascular necrosis of the femoral head in pediatric femoral neck fractures: a review of one hundred eight cases.

To evaluate the correlation between avascular necrosis (AVN) and the amount (severity) and direction (translation and angulation) of initial displacement of pediatric femoral neck fractures. We retrospectively reviewed 108 pediatric patients (mean age 10.3 ± 4.1 years) with femoral neck fractures. The amount of initial translation (T) and angulation (A) was measured on anteroposterior (AP; TAP% and AAP) and lateral (TL% and AL) radiographs. The direction of translation was determined on AP (medial or lateral) and lateral radiographs (anterior or posterior). Furthermore, the presence of a comminuted medial cortex on the AP pelvis radiograph was also recorded. Logistic regression analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, student's t tests, and chi-square tests were used to evaluate the correlation between AVN and the severity and direction of displacement. Twenty-eight out of 108 hips (25.9%) developed AVN of the femoral head. Logistical regression analysis indicated that TAP%, TL%, AAP, and AL were risk factors for AVN (P < 0.05). The analysis of ROC curves found that TAP% over 37.4% and TL% over 29% were the cut-off values for an increased incidence of AVN; similarly, AAP over 8° and AL over 18.6° were the cut-off values for an increased incidence of AVN. The amount of initial translation is a better predictor of AVN than angulation is; fractures with posterior translation (P = 0.002) and/or medial comminution had a significantly higher incidence of AVN (P = 0.005). The mean diagnostic accuracy of translation (74-75%) was significantly higher than that of angulation (65-66%). Displacement severity and direction are important radiological parameters to be assessed in children with femoral neck fractures. Initial translation better predicts AVN than angulation does. Posterior translation and medial comminution are associated with an increased risk of AVN.

Are TKA Kinematics During Closed Kinetic Chain Exercises Associated with Patient-reported Outcomes? A Preliminary Analysis.

Kinematic patterns after TKA can vary considerably from those of the native knee. It is unknown, however, if there is a relationship between a given kinematic pattern and patient satisfaction after TKA. Is there an association between kinematic patterns as measured by AP translation during open kinetic chain flexion-extension and closed kinetic chain exercises (rising from a chair and squatting) and a custom aggregate of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) that targeted symptoms, pain, activities of daily living (ADL), sports, quality of life (QOL), and patient satisfaction after TKA? Thirty patients who underwent TKA between 2014 and 2016 were tested at a minimum follow-up of 6 months. As three different implants were used, per implant the first 10 patients who presented themselves at the follow-up consultations and were able to bend the knee at least 90°, were recruited. Tibiofemoral kinematics during an open kinetic chain flexion-extension and closed kinetic chain exercises-rising from a chair and squatting-were analyzed using fluoroscopy. A two-step cluster analysis was performed, resulting in two clusters of patients who answered the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score and the satisfaction subscore of the Knee Society Score questionnaires. Cluster 1 (CL1) consisted of patients with better (good-to-excellent) patient-reported outcome measures scores (high-PROMs cluster); Cluster 2 (CL2) consisted of patients with poorer scores (low-PROMs cluster). Tibiofemoral kinematics were compared between patients in these clusters by performing a Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction. Concerning open kinetic chain flexion-extension, there was no difference in kinematic patterns between the patients in the high-PROMs cluster and those in the low-PROMs cluster, with the numbers available. However, during the closed-chain kinetic exercises, medially, initial anterior translation (femur relative to tibia) was found in patients in Cluster 1 during early flexion, but in those in Cluster 2, translation was steeper and ran more anteriorly (CL1 -1.5 ± 7.3%; CL2 -8.5 ± 4.4%); mean difference 7.0% [95% CI 0.1 to 13.8]; p = 0.046). In midflexion, the femur did not translate anterior nor posterior in relation to the tibia, resulting in a stable medial compartment in Cluster 1, whereas Cluster 2 had already started translating posteriorly (CL1 -0.7 ± 3.5%; CL2 3.4 ± 3.6%; mean difference -4.1% [95% CI -7.0 to -1.2]; p = 0.008). There was no difference, with the numbers available, between the two clusters with respect to posterior translation in deep flexion. Laterally, there was small initial anterior translation in early flexion, followed by posterior translation in midflexion that continued in deep flexion. Patients in Cluster 1 demonstrated more pronounced posterior translation in deep flexion laterally than patients in Cluster 2 did (CL1 8.3 ± 5.2%; CL2 3.5 ± 4.5%); mean difference 4.9% [95% CI 0.6 to 9.1]; p = 0.026). This study of total knee kinematics suggests that during closed kinetic chain movements, patients with poor PROM scores after TKA experience more anterior translation on the medial side followed by a medial mid-flexion instability and less posterior translation on the lateral side in deep flexion than patients with good PROM scores. The relationship of kinematic variations with patient-reported outcomes including satisfaction must be further elaborated and translated into TKA design and position. Reproduction of optimal kinematic patterns during TKA could be instrumental in improving patient satisfaction after total knee replacement. Future expansion of the study group is needed to confirm these findings.Level of Evidence Level II, therapeutic study.

Misalignment Detection for Web-Scraped Corpora: A Supervised Regression Approach

To build state-of-the-art Neural Machine Translation (NMT) systems, high-quality parallel sentences are needed. Typically, large amounts of data are scraped from multilingual web sites and aligned into datasets for training. Many tools exist for automatic alignment of such datasets. However, the quality of the resulting aligned corpus can be disappointing. In this paper, we present a tool for automatic misalignment detection (MAD). We treated the task of determining whether a pair of aligned sentences constitutes a genuine translation as a supervised regression problem. We trained our algorithm on a manually labeled dataset in the FR–NL language pair. Our algorithm used shallow features and features obtained after an initial translation step. We showed that both the Levenshtein distance between the target and the translated source, as well as the cosine distance between sentence embeddings of the source and the target were the two most important features for the task of misalignment detection. Using gold standards for alignment, we demonstrated that our model can increase the quality of alignments in a corpus substantially, reaching a precision close to 100%. Finally, we used our tool to investigate the effect of misalignments on NMT performance.

Кинематический анализ механизма параллельно-последовательной структуры с пятью степенями свободы

The article presents a synthesis of a mechanism of parallel-sequential structure with five degrees of freedom capable of processing objects with an extended dimention in one direction, wherein the considered mechanism can have a high bearing capacity. Corresponding problems are associated with manufacturing jet turbine airfoil as well as vertebrae operations (on the human spine). Movement along a coordinate that is linked to large dimensions of a processed object is provided using the initial translation pairs equipped with a motor. It is followed by a flat partial parallel structure mechanism with three degrees of freedom, and further – by a revolute kinematic pair. A kinematic analysis of the considered mechanism is performed, and the inverse kinematic problem is solved. The Angeles-Gosselin method for parallel structure mechanisms is used when performing velocity calculations of the parallel-sequential structure mechanism. The results of the numerical experiment are presented.

Translation-dependent unwinding of stem-loops by UPF1 licenses Regnase-1 to degrade inflammatory mRNAs.

Regnase-1-mediated mRNA decay (RMD), in which inflammatory mRNAs harboring specific stem–loop structures are degraded, is a critical part of proper immune homeostasis. Prior to initial translation, Regnase-1 associates with target stem–loops but does not carry out endoribonucleolytic cleavage. Single molecule imaging revealed that UPF1 is required to first unwind the stem–loops, thus licensing Regnase-1 to proceed with RNA degradation. Following translation, Regnase-1 physically associates with UPF1 using two distinct points of interaction: The Regnase-1 RNase domain binds to SMG1-phosphorylated residue T28 in UPF1; in addition, an intrinsically disordered segment in Regnase-1 binds to the UPF1 RecA domain, enhancing the helicase activity of UPF1. The SMG1-UPF1–Regnase-1 axis targets pioneer rounds of translation and is critical for rapid resolution of inflammation through restriction of the number of proteins translated by a given mRNA. Furthermore, small-molecule inhibition of SMG1 prevents RNA unwinding in dendritic cells, allowing post-transcriptional control of innate immune responses.

Systematic Optimization of Limonene Production in Engineered Escherichia coli.

Limonene, a cyclic monoterpene, is widely used in food and cosmetics industries as well as in agriculture. In the work described herein, employing a systematic optimization strategy, we constructed an efficient platform for producing limonene via the heterologous mevalonate pathway in Escherichia coli. By site-directed mutation of EfMvaS and tuning the initial translation of EfMvaE and EfMvaSA110G through ribosome binding site engineering, the upstream module for overproducing mevalonate was obtained. Expression of MmMK with ScPMK, ScPMD, and ScIDI under FAB80 promoter resulted in an efficient midstream module to produce 181.73 mg/L of limonene. Subsequently, coexpression of SlNPPS and MsLS in the downstream module led to a great improvement of limonene production to 694.61 mg/L. Finally, metabolically engineered strain ELIM78 produced 1.29 g/L of limonene in 84 h by fed-batch fermentation in a shake-flask. This is the first report on limonene biosynthesis in E. coli using neryl pyrophosphate synthase, which has promising potential for producing other monoterpenes.

The introduction of the IBD Disk in Poland - a new tool for assessing disability in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

IntroductionInflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, which can significantly deteriorate everyday functioning. We are, however, still lacking simple methods to assess the influence of IBD on patients’ disability. IBD Disk is a new graphical tool that allows for a quick assessment of the influence of IBD on different aspects of everyday life.AimTo present the adaptation process of the IBD Disk in Poland.Material and methodsThe Polish IBD Working Group together with the Institute of Translational Medicine in Birmingham (United Kingdom) and a professional translational agency performed a translation and re-translation of the Polish version of the IBD Disk. After full agreement was achieved, the final Polish version was accepted. In the next step, its understandability and ease of use was assessed by using a semiquantitative scale (scale from 1 to 10, where “1” means very easy to use, “10” means – very difficult to use).ResultsIn the initial translation phase, the concordance between translation agency and experts was very high. In the re-translation phase only some stylistic and grammatical corrections were made. In the final step the general assessment of understandability of all items of the tool was high. Moreover, patients with IBD assessed the ease of use of the IBD Disk as very easy (median: 1.5 points, 95% confidence interval: 1.0–2.0).ConclusionsThe Polish adaptation of IBD Disk directly reflects the original English version. Thus, it can be further used in the validation process among Polish IBD patients.

Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of the FACIT-PAL Quality of Life Instrument

ContextThe accurate measurement of quality of life (QoL) among people with chronic and incurable illnesses is essential for evaluating service delivery, understanding the impact of illness and treatment effects, and testing intervention effectiveness. Palliative care interventions are relatively new in Turkey; therefore, it is important that reliable and valid QoL instruments are available to evaluate palliative care effectiveness in Turkish speakers. ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to translate, linguistically validate, and determine the psychometric properties of the newly translated Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Palliative Care (FACIT-Pal) scale (FACIT-Pal-TR) for Turkish-speaking cancer patients. MethodsWe used standard multilingual translation and validation methods for the initial translation of the FACIT-Pal-TR and then assessed the psychometric properties of reliability and validity of the translated scale. We used the Karnofsky Performance Scale and Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale to assess concurrent and construct validity. ResultsA convenience sample of 232 cancer patients participated in this study. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of FACIT-Pal-TR was 0.932 (between 0.732 and 0.860 for subscales). There was a statistically significant relationship between test and retest scores (r = 0.877, P < 0.001). The factor loadings of FACIT-Pal-TR were between 0.205 and 0.815. FACIT-Pal-TR construct validity was acceptable with 45 items and five subscales. There were statistically significant relationships between FACIT-Pal-TR scores and Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (P < 0.001) and Karnofsky Performance Scale (r = 0.656; P < 0.001) scores. ConclusionsThe FACIT-Pal-TR demonstrates strong reliability and validity for evaluating palliative care–specific QoL in Turkish cancer patients.

Optimizing wavelet neural networks using modified cuckoo search for multi-step ahead chaotic time series prediction

Determining the optimal number of hidden nodes and their proper initial locations are essentially crucial before the wavelet neural networks (WNNs) start their learning process. In this paper, a novel strategy known as the modified cuckoo search algorithm (MCSA), is proposed for WNNs initialization in order to improve its generalization performance. The MCSA begins with an initial population of cuckoo eggs, which represent the translation vectors of the wavelet hidden nodes, and subsequently refines their locations by imitating the breeding mechanism of cuckoos. The resulting solutions from the MCSA are then used as the initial translation vectors for the WNNs. The feasibility of the proposed method is evaluated by forecasting a benchmark chaotic time series, and its superior prediction accuracy compared with that of conventional WNNs demonstrates its potential benefit.

Translation and cultural adaptation of Patient Perceptions of Hemodialysis Scale in Brazil.

To translate and adapt the Patient Perceptions of Hemodialysis Scale (PPHS) to the Brazilian context. A methodological study, in which the stages of initial translation, synthesis of translations, back translation, evaluation by an expert committee and pre-test of the PPHS were performed. Two initial translations by independent translators, experienced in the health area and fluent in English. Subsequently, the synthesis of the translations was carried out, and this synthesis was back translated to the original language (American English).The translated and back-translated versions were evaluated by an expert committee made up of six PhD experts from the health area. The judges' evaluations resulted in content validity indexes for each item of the scale, and 7 of the 36 items had to be revised. Subsequently, a pretest was carried out with 20 participants, who considered the instrument intelligible. The PPHS is adequately translated and adapted to Brazilian Portuguese.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the “barriers to incontinence care seeking questionnaire” in a elderly women population in an outpatient clinic.

Urinary incontinence is a very frequent pathology in the female population, however it remains a hidden health problem. The main objective of the work is to cross-culturally adapt the BISC-Q questionnaire to be use spanish speaking population. Material and method: The cross-cultural adaptation of the Questionnaire (BICS-Q) was carried out in the following stages: initial translation, synthesis of the translations, retro-translation, expert committee, pre-test and review of the adaptation process by the researchers. Then, a content validation was carried out through a survey looking for new barriers that were not part of the original questionnaire. The responses of the patients were unified and categorized within the 5 original domains. Women over 65 years of age were included in an outpatient specialized center for older adults. Results: The survey included 164 women, 56% reported urine losses in the last 12 months, of which 71% never consulted the doctor about this problem. The answers about the barriers to consult were predominantly related to ignorance of the disease, shame and misconceptions about the treatment. The responses of the patients were unified and categorized within the 5 original domains. The new questionnaire retains three of the five domains of the BICS-Q, the domain "costs" and "related to the site" was removed and a new one was added on "lack of information". Conclusions: The Argentine version of the BICS-Q questionnaire is an instrument adapted for the evaluation of barriers to medical consultation due to urinary incontinence in spanish speaking women over 65 years of age. The cross-cultural adaptation of the Questionnaire (BICS-Q) was carried out in the following stages: initial translation, synthesis of the translations, retro-translation, expert committee, pre-test and review of the adaptation process by the researchers. Then, a content validation was carried out through a survey looking for new barriers that were not part of the original questionnaire. The responses of the patients were unified and categorized within the 5 original domains. Women over 65 years of age were included in an outpatient specialized center for older adults. Results: The survey included 164 women, 56% reported urine losses in the last 12 months, of which 71% never consulted the doctor about this problem. The answers about the barriers to consult were predominantly related to ignorance of the disease, shame and misconceptions about the treatment. The responses of the patients were unified and categorized within the 5 original domains. The new questionnaire retains three of the five domains of the BICS-Q, the domain "costs" and "related to the site" was removed and a new one was added on "lack of information". Conclusions: The Argentine version of the BICS-Q questionnaire is an instrument adapted for the evaluation of barriers to medical consultation due to urinary incontinence in spanish speaking women over 65 years of age. The survey included 164 women, 56% reported urine losses in the last 12 months, of which 71% never consulted the doctor about this problem. The answers about the barriers to consult were predominantly related to ignorance of the disease, shame and misconceptions about the treatment. The responses of the patients were unified and categorized within the 5 original domains. The new questionnaire retains three of the five domains of the BICS-Q, the domain "costs" and "related to the site" was removed and a new one was added on "lack of information". Conclusions: The Argentine version of the BICS-Q questionnaire is an instrument adapted for the evaluation of barriers to medical consultation due to urinary incontinence in spanish speaking women over 65 years of age. The Argentine version of the BICS-Q questionnaire is an instrument adapted for the evaluation of barriers to medical consultation due to urinary incontinence in spanish speaking women over 65 years of age.

Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of SATIS-Stroke for Use in Brazil: A Satisfaction Measure of Activities and Participation in Stroke Survivors.

Introduction SATIS-Stroke was developed to measure satisfaction regarding activities and participation among stroke survivors based on the concepts contained in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. However, this measure is only available in English and French. Objective Perform the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of SATIS-Stroke to Brazilian Portuguese and test the preliminary reliability of this measure. Methods The translation process followed standardized guidelines and consisted of six phases: initial translation, back-translation, analysis of expert committee, test of final version, submission, and assessment of all written reports. To test the preliminary test-retest reliability, the measure was administered by a single observer on two occasions with an interval of 7 to 14 days for the determination of intraobserver agreement and administered again by a second observer for the determination of interobserver agreement. Reliability was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC2,1) and respective 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results All stages of the cross-cultural adaptation process were respected and the final translated version of SATIS-Stroke exhibited semantic, idiomatic, cultural, and conceptual equivalence to the original version. The preliminary analysis revealed excellent intraobserver and interobserver reliability (ICC = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.83-0.97, p = 0.001 and ICC = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.74-0.96; p = 0.001, respectively). The items demonstrated adequate internal consistency, although ceiling and floor effects were considered beyond acceptable standards for some items. In the exploratory factor analysis, three factors were extracted that aggregated more than one construct to each component, but all were related to the “Activities and Participation” component of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. Conclusion The final version of the SATIS-Stroke scale in Brazilian Portuguese proved to be adequate and reliable for use on the Brazilian population. Further studies are underway to give continuity to the validation process and analyze the others measurement properties of the scale in the Brazilian population.

TRANSLATION AND CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF DEATH ATTITUDE PROFILE REVISED (DAP-R) FOR USE IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT Objectives: to perform the translation, cultural adaptation, and content validation of Death Attitude Profile Revised to the Brazilian context. Method: a methodological study that comprised the following stages: initial translation, synthesis of these translations, back translation, expert committee and pre-test conducted with 40 nursing students. The cultural adaptation process, which preceded content validation, carried out with three expert judges. Results: the Brazilian version of Death Attitude Profile Revised maintained semantic, idiomatic, conceptual and experiential equivalences to the original version. The final content validity coefficient of the scale reached 0.85 for language clarity and theoretical relevance and 0.86 for practical relevance. Regarding the theoretical dimensions, a substantial Kappa mean value among evaluators was obtained (0.709). Data analysis on internal consistency, performed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient, displayed a reliability considered high (α = 0.892). Conclusion: it is extremely important to have an instrument adapted to the Brazilian reality that allows for measuring the attitudes towards death from both a positive and negative point of view because, by identifying these attitudes, interventions and training are designed to improve the care process in nursing. Thus, the cultural adaptation process resulted in a reliable adapted version with valid content. However, it is necessary to test the psychometric properties before using in care practice and research.

Translation and content validation of the Geriatric Institutional Assessment Profile for Brazil.

to describe the process of content adaptation and validation of the Geriatric Institutional Assessment Profile (GIAP) for nurses working in the health care for older adults in Brazilian hospitals. methodological study conducted in five stages: initial translation, synthesis of initial translation, back translation, evaluation by committee of judges, and pre-test for cultural adaptation of the instrument. the instrument evaluation had good agreement between the judges, with general content validity of 0.94. The items of the translated version evaluated as unsatisfactory by the judges were reformulated from the professionals' considerations in each group. Thirty-one subjects participated in the study. They considered the instrument easy-to-understand and suggested minor adjustments in some items. the content of the Brazilian version of the GIAP is considered adapted and validated, with potential use in hospital institutions. The next stage will be to submit the instrument to the evaluation process of its psychometric properties for use in Brazilian populations.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF THE ADOLESCENT PEDIATRIC PAIN TOOL FOR BRAZILIAN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH CANCER

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe the steps in the cross-cultural adaptation process of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool, a pain assessment measure, for use with Brazilian children and adolescents with cancer. Method: a methodological and cross-sectional study was undertaken. The steps in the cross-cultural adaptation process of the tool that resulted in the semantic validation followed an adapted method, including: initial translation, consensus version of translations, evaluation by Expert Committee, back-translation, comparison with original tool and actual semantic validation. Results: the initial translation process of the tool until the final consensus was reached took approximately four months. In the evaluation by the Expert Committee, three health professionals participated in the study, who were knowledgeable on the theme and mastered the English language. In the semantic validation, 35 children and adolescents aged between eight and 18 unfinished years participated, who were patients at the institution where children and adolescents with cancer were treated and monitored. After concluding all steps, the researchers met to discuss the proposed changes. At the end of the cross-cultural adaptation process of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool, all initially proposed 67 pain descriptors were maintained in their Portuguese version. Conclusion: the steps in the cross-cultural adaptation process of the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool were executed and described in detail, evidencing the rigorous development of the study.

Prediction of Entering Percentage into Expressway Service Areas Based on Wavelet Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms

The study on the vehicle pause rate in the expressway service area provides a theoretical basis for the evaluation and layout optimization of the social and economic adaptability of the expressway service area. This paper constructs a prediction model based on the analysis of explanatory variables using wavelet neural network (WNN) and genetic algorithm (GA). Eight variables, such as major road traffic flow and the distances to neighboring service areas, are selected as input parameters. The pause rates of a freight truck and passenger car are the prediction output. The data from 23 pairs of service areas in Henan province are used to train the model. The GA is used to optimize the initial weights, thresholds, and translation coefficients of the WNN. The experimental results show that the GA-WNN model has a higher prediction precision and a better fitting ability compared with the GA-BP and the WNN prediction models, which can overcome the shortcomings of slow convergence and local optimum of traditional WNN, and combine the advantages of GA and WNN to improve prediction accuracy effectively. The research of this paper can provide new ideas and methods to pause rate prediction of the expressway service area.

Censurar la sexualidad – la recepción filtrada de la sexualidad en los cines portugueses durante la dictadura: el caso de Helga

Censorship under the Portuguese Estado Novo (1933-1974) exerted influence on foreign films from the initial translation stage through to the final approval or rejection of a film for the cinema. The Estado Novo was an authoritarian State whose prudish morality and fear of uncontrolled ideas cast a wary eye on eroticism and sexuality. Scenes of kissing or nudity were cut before foreign films reached Portuguese cinemas. Sexual allusions, erotic dialogues or comments were omitted or overwritten in a more neutral tone. Helga – vom Werden des menschlichen Lebens, directed by Erich F. Bender in 1967, a sex-education film, was the only one of its kind shown in Portugal during the dictatorship.

Translation of the modified NUTRIC score and adaptation to the Greek ICU setting

Patients in the intensive care unit are experiencing an increased malnutrition risk. The NUTrition Risk in the Critically ill score (NUTRIC) is a validated tool for the identification of patients that will benefit the most, from nutritional intervention. The aim of the study was twofold, including: 1) to translate and adapt the NUTRIC score in the Greek language for more efficient and comprehensive use among clinicians, and 2) to assess its prognostic performance in a pilot sample. The translation process followed standardized steps: 1) initial translation, 2) synthesis of different translations, 3) back -translation to the English language, 4) revision and cultural adaptation of the instrument by an expert committee. A pilot application study was conducted on 80 critically ill patients from three ICUs in Greek hospitals. The NUTRIC score was calculated using the final translated version. The translated score was considered easy to use, fast and comprehensive. No specific corrections were suggested by the expert committee. According to the translated version of the score 56% of the screened patients were classified as of high nutritional risk (score between 5 and 9). Compared to the low - NUTRIC patients, high - NUTRIC patients were older (56.4±16.4 vs. 68.7±12.7yrs, p<0.001), had increased APACHE (13.8±6.5 vs. 23.8±6.5, p<0.001) and SOFA scores (4.7±3.1 vs. 10.4±3.1, p<0.001) and demonstrated more comorbidities. Elevated 28 -day mortality was observed among high -NUTRIC patients compared to the low - NUTRIC ones (6 vs. 18 patients, p<0.05). The Greek version of the NUTRIC score is ready for use among health care professionals employed in intensive care units in Greek speaking countries, aiming to discriminate critically ill patients benefiting from enhanced nutritional support.

A Multi-Model Consensus Forecast Technique for Tropical Cyclone Intensity Based on Model Output Calibration

ABSTRACT We analyzed the errors associated with forecasts of tropical cyclone (TC) intensity from 2010-2012 in the western North Pacific region made by seven operational numerical weather prediction models. The results show that the forecast error is significantly related to the initial error as well as the initial TC intensity, size, and translation speed. Other factors highly related to the forecast error include the environmental sea surface pressure, vertical wind shear and maximum potential intensity. We used stepwise regression to set up model forecast error estimation equations, which were used to calibrate the model output. Independent experiments showed that the calibrated model forecasts have significant skill compared to the original model output. Finally, a multimodel consensus forecast technique for TC intensity was developed based on the calibrated model output; this technique has 28% (15-20%) skill at 12 h (24-72 h) compared to the climatology and persistence forecasts of TC intensity. This consensus technique has greater skill than the consensus forecast based on the original model output and therefore it has the potential to be applied in operation.