Milene Fernandes

Production re-sequencing for manufacturing based on discrete event simulation and fuzzy inference

The simulation technique has been used to solve many problems that occur in the production process. Whenever an event occurs, many alternatives (scenarios) can be generated in order to solve the problem. However, as much as the number of scenarios to be simulated becomes higher, the time spent in this process grows, implicating in a difficult task to find a good solution. This work proposes a method using fuzzy logic to select the best scenario in order to do the choice task on an automatic way. Using this method its possible to set the new conditions to an automated manufacturing system reorganizing it and reacting automatically if an event occurs.

P2K07 Competencies on epidemiological research : methodological details of an ongoing national study about training and education needs

The IEA-EEF European Congress of Epidemiology 2012: Epidemiology for a Fair and Healthy Society ! Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Epidemiology for a fair and healthy society: Euroepi 2012

Determinants of Health Care Utilization in Hypertensive Patients: A Longitudinal Analysis.

The count variable number of GP visits (in the previous 3 months) had a large proportion of zeros, as some patients did not visit the doctor within this period. The average number of visits ranged between 0.43 (variance=0.54) at 3 months and 0.11 (variance=0.13) at 12 months. The results of the model indicate that higher income had a negative impact on the number of visits to GP for reasons related to hypertension, probably because people with higher income use private sector more often. Domestic work had a positive impact. Health variables, such as diabetes and number of medicines, which probably reflect a higher need, had a positive impact on GP visits. As expected, those who self-assessed their hypertension as controlled went fewer times to the GP (Table 2).

Erratum to: Non-adherence to antibiotic therapy in patients visiting community pharmacies

BACKGROUND Medication adherence is a multifaceted issue that is influenced by various factors. One factor may be the concurrent use of over-the-counter (OTC)medicines. The use of OTC medicine has been reported as common amongst elderly patients. OBJECTIVE To determine if a correlation exists between the use of OTC medicines and adherence to prescribed medications in elderly patients. SETTING Non-institutionalised elderly patients in Denmark. METHODS Elderly unassisted patients aged ≥65 prescribed five or more prescription drugs were included in the study. Information on the use of concurrent OTC medications (herbal medicines, dietary supplements, or non-prescribed drugs) was elicited during home visit interviews. Prescription drug adherence was determined by pill counts. A patient was categorised as non-adherent if the me an adherence rate for all drugs consumed was\80 %. Different sensitivity analyses were made where adherence was defined different. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Medication adherence based on pill-count. RESULTS A total of 253 participants included 72 % who used OTC medicines and 11 % who did not adhere to their prescriptions. Users of OTC medicines, however, were significantly more likely to be adherent than were non-users (odds ratio 0.41; 95 %confidence interval 0.18–0.91). Sensitivity analyses where adherence was defined different show no relationship between adherence and use of OTC medicine. Furthermore,separate analyses of herbal medicines, dietary supplements,or non-prescribed drugs did not correlate with adherence to prescriptions. CONCLUSION Amongst elderly patients on multiple medications a positive relationship was found between the overall use of OTC medicines and adherence to prescription drugs, in contrast to none when adherence were defined different or herbal medicines, dietary supplements, or non-prescribed drugs were analysed separately.

Adherence to antihypertensive treatment among African migrants and Portuguese natives: results from a primary care-based cohort study in Lisbon, Portugal

The IEA-EEF European Congress of Epidemiology 2012: Epidemiology for a Fair and Healthy Society ! Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Epidemiology for a fair and healthy society: Euroepi 2012