Da procriação medicamente assistida (aspetos gerais) aos efeitos sucessórios: inseminação homóloga Post Mortem

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito das Crianças, Família e Sucessões

New approach on the bioconversion of vineyard pruning waste into surface-active compounds by Lactobacillus paracasei

Strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and project ref RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (project number FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and Xanel Vecino post-doctoral grant (ref SFRH/BPD/101476/2014) funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal

FISHji: new ImageJ macros for the quantification of fluorescence in epifluorescence images

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is based on the use of fluorescent staining dyes, however, the signal intensity of the images obtained by microscopy is seldom quantified with accuracy by the researcher. The development of innovative digital image processing programs and tools has been trying to overcome this problem, however, the determination of fluorescent intensity in microscopy images still has issues due to the lack of precision in the results and the complexity of existing software. This work presents FISHji, a set of new ImageJ methods for automated quantification of fluorescence in images obtained by epifluorescence microscopy. To validate the methods, results obtained by FISHji were compared with results obtained by flow cytometry. The mean correlation between FISHji and flow cytometry was high and significant, showing that the imaging methods are able to accurately assess the signal intensity of fluorescence images. FISHji are available for non-commercial use at http://paginas.fe.up.pt/nazevedo/.

Valorization of agro-industrial wastes towards the production of rhamnolipids

In this work, oil mill wastewater (OMW), a residue generated during olive oil extraction, was evaluated as an inducer of rhamnolipid production. Using a medium containing as sole ingredients corn steep liquor (10%, v/v), sugarcane molasses (10%, w/v) and OMW (25%, v/v), Pseudomonas aeruginosa #112 produced 4.5 and 5.1 g of rhamnolipid per liter in flasks and reactor, respectively, with critical micelle concentrations as low as 13 mg/l. Furthermore, in the medium supplemented with OMW, a higher proportion of more hydrophobic rhamnolipid congeners was observed comparing with the same medium without OMW. OMW is a hazardous waste which disposal represents a serious environmental problem; therefore, its valorization as a substrate for the production of added-value compounds such as rhamnolipids is of great interest. This is the first report of rhamnolipid production using a mixture of these three agro-industrial by-products, which can be useful for the sustainable production of rhamnolipids.

Production of whey protein-based aggregates under ohmic heating

Formation of whey protein isolate protein aggregates under the influence of moderate electric fields upon ohmic heating (OH) has been monitored through evaluation of molecular protein unfolding, loss of its solubility, and aggregation. To shed more light on the microstructure of the protein aggregates produced by OH, samples were assayed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results show that during early steps of an OH thermal treatment, aggregation of whey proteins can be reduced with a concomitant reduction of the heating chargeby reducing the come-up time (CUT) needed to reach a target temperatureand increase of the electric field applied (from 6 to 12 V cm1). Exposure of reactive free thiol groups involved in molecular unfolding of -lactoglobulin (-lg) can be reduced from 10 to 20 %, when a CUT of 10 s is combined with an electric field of 12 V cm1. Kinetic and multivariate analysis evidenced that the presence of an electric field during heating contributes to a change in the amplitude of aggregation, as well as in the shape of the produced aggregates. TEM discloses the appearance of small fibrillar aggregates upon the influence of OH, which have recognized potential in the functionalization of food protein networks. This study demonstrated that OH technology can be used to tailor denaturation and aggregation behavior of whey proteins due to the presence of a constant electric field together with the ability to provide a very fast heating, thus overcoming heat transfer limitations that naturally occur during conventional thermal treatments.

Typologies of post-divorce coparenting and parental well-being, parenting quality and children’s psychological adjustment

First published online: 30 October 2015

Post-divorce representations of marital negotiation during marriage predict parenting alliance in newly divorced parents

Literature demonstrates that marital and co-parenting subsystems are intercorrelated and have autonomous functions in the family system. This study explored representations of marital negotiation strategies for conflict resolution during marriage and parenting alliance relationship after divorce, using data from Portuguese newly divorced parents. In multiple regression analysis, representations of marital negotiation strategies for conflict resolution during marriage used by ex-spouses predict positive parenting alliance relationship after divorce. These results suggest that representations of pre-divorce marital relationship influence positively current interparental relationship regarding child rearing after marital dissolution. Implications for clinical interventions are also discussed.

Pre-clinical trials for Machado-Joseph Disease: Hypothesis-based and hypothesis-free therapeutic approaches

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Saúde

Oficina de escrita criativa: como se conta uma história?

Projecto de mestrado em Mediação Cultural e Literária

The real economic effects of cross-delistingfrom the united states: evidence on post-operating performance, financial constraints and stock crash risk

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências Empresariais.