Gestão de dados pessoais em saúde

Na presente dissertação pretendemos averiguar da pertinência prática do actual modelo de protecção de dados clínicos, ou seja, se nele está devidamente consagrada a autonomia e a individualidade do utente; pretendemos ainda perceber a tendência evolutiva do sistema português de protecção de dados clínicos, nomeadamente a sua capacidade de inovação e adaptação aos sistemas internacionais, respeitando o nosso ordenamento jurídico. Concretamente, pretendemos perceber de que forma esta informação estará protegida, bem como até onde os utentes estarão consciencializados dos perigos que enfrentam. Embora este seja um problema mundial, o facto é que a Gestão do Sistema de Protecção de Dados Pessoais e Clínicos suscita polémica e interpretações diferentes, dada a sensibilidade ética do tema, a integridade humana. Além deste facto, estamos perante uma problemática que irá sempre envolver vários interesses e consequentemente um confronto de posições. Este trabalho procura ilustrar de que forma se lida com a gestão de dados pessoais no nosso país, de que modo se harmonizam os diferentes interesses e perspectivas, que prioridades se encontram na orientação governamental nesta matéria, quais as penalizações para os eventuais incumpridores e qual o futuro possível dos dados pessoais em saúde, tendo como objectivo comum uma eficácia e sustentabilidade dos mecanismos utilizados. Vamos encontrar interesses divergentes, compromissos permissivos ou restritivos de tratamento de dados, tendências que suportam interesses privados e públicos que se vão concretizar em escolhas eficientes de gestão de dados. Esta diversidade de comportamentos vai ser objecto de estudo e análise neste trabalho, procurando aferir das vantagens e desvantagens de um sistema de informação em saúde: universal com a população coberta, e integrado a fim de compartilhar informações de todos os pacientes, de todas as unidades de prestação de cuidados de saúde.

Electrochemical evaluation of total antioxidant capacity of beverages using a purine-biosensor

In this paper, it was evaluated the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of beverages using an electrochemical biosensor. The biosensor consisted on the purine base (guanine or adenine) electro-immobilization on a glassy carbon electrode surface (GCE). Purine base damage was induced by the hydroxyl radical generated by Fenton-type reaction. Five antioxidants were applied to counteract the deleterious effects of the hydroxyl radical. The antioxidants used were ascorbic acid, gallic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid and resveratrol. These antioxidants have the ability to scavenger the hydroxyl radical and protect the guanine and adenine immobilized on the GCE surface. The interaction carried out between the purinebase immobilized and the free radical in the absence and presence of antioxidants was evaluated by means of changes in the guanine and adenine anodic peak obtained by square wave voltammetry (SWV). The results demonstrated that the purine-biosensors are suitable for rapid assessment of TAC in beverages.

DNA-based biosensor for the electrocatalytic determination of antioxidant capacity in beverages

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced as a consequence of normal aerobic metabolism and are able to induce DNA oxidative damage. At the cellular level, the evaluation of the protective effect of antioxidants can be achieved by examining the integrity of the DNA nucleobases using electrochemical techniques. Herein, the use of an adenine-rich oligonucleotide (dA21) adsorbed on carbon paste electrodes for the assessment of the antioxidant capacity is proposed. The method was based on the partial damage of a DNA layer adsorbed on the electrode surface by OH• radicals generated by Fenton reaction and the subsequent electrochemical oxidation of the intact adenine bases to generate an oxidation product that was able to catalyze the oxidation of NADH. The presence of antioxidant compounds scavenged hydroxyl radicals leaving more adenines unoxidized, and thus, increasing the electrocatalytic current of NADHmeasured by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Using ascorbic acid (AA) as a model antioxidant species, the detection of as low as 50nMof AA in aqueous solution was possible. The protection efficiency was evaluated for several antioxidant compounds. The biosensor was applied to the determination of the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in beverages.

Electrochemical DNA-sensor for evaluation of total antioxidant capacity of flavours and flavoured waters using superoxide radical damage

In this paper, a biosensor based on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was used for the evaluation of the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of flavours and flavoured waters. This biosensor was constructed by immobilising purine bases, guanine and adenine, on a GCE. Square wave voltammetry (SWV) was selected for the development of this methodology. Damage caused by the reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide radical (O2·−), generated by the xanthine/xanthine oxidase (XOD) system on the DNA-biosensor was evaluated. DNA-biosensor encountered with oxidative lesion when it was in contact with the O2·−. There was less oxidative damage when reactive antioxidants were added. The antioxidants used in this work were ascorbic acid, gallic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid and resveratrol. These antioxidants are capable of scavenging the superoxide radical and therefore protect the purine bases immobilized on the GCE surface. The results demonstrated that the DNA-based biosensor is suitable for the rapid assess of TAC in beverages.

Flavored waters: influence of ingredients on antioxidant capacity and terpenoid profile by HS-SPME/GC-MS

The antioxidant profiles of 39 water samples (29 flavored waters based on 10 natural waters) and 6 flavors used in their formulation (furnished by producers) were determined. Total phenol and flavonoid contents, reducing power, and DPPH radical scavenging activity were the optical techniques implemented and included in the referred profile. Flavor extracts were analyzed by HS-SPME/GC-MS to obtain the qualitative and quantitative profiles of the volatile fraction of essential oils. Results pointed out a higher reducing power (0.14 11.8 mg of gallic acid/L) and radical scavenging activity (0.29 211.5 mg Trolox/L) of flavored waters compared with the corresponding natural ones, an interesting fact concerning human health. Bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, were present in all samples (0.5 359 mg of gallic acid/L), whereas flavonoids were not present either in flavored waters or in flavors. The major components of flavor extracts were monoterpenes, such as citral, R-limonene, carveol, and R-terpineol.

Electrocatalytic evaluation of DNA damage by superoxide radical for antioxidant capacity assessment

The integrity of DNA purine bases was herein used to evaluate the antioxidant capacity. Unlike other DNA-based antioxidant sensors reported so far, the damaging agent chosen was the O 2 radical enzymatically generated by the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system. An adenine-rich oligonucleotide was adsorbed on carbon paste electrodes and subjected to radical damage in the presence/absence of several antioxidant compounds. As a result, partial damage on DNA was observed. A minor product of the radical oxidation was identified by cyclic voltammetry as a diimine adenine derivative also formed during the electrochemical oxidation of adenine/guanine bases. The protective efficiency of several antioxidant compounds was evaluated after electrochemical oxidation of the remaining unoxidized adenine bases, by measuring the electrocatalytic current of NADH mediated by the adsorbed catalyst species generated. A comparison between O 2 and OH radicals as a source of DNA lesions and the scavenging efficiency of various antioxidant compounds against both of them is discussed. Finally, the antioxidant capacity of beverages was evaluated and compared with the results obtained with an optical method.

Evaluation of the total antioxidant capacity of flavored water and electrochemical purine damage by sulfate radicals using a purine-based sensor

In this study, a method for the electrochemical quantification of the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in beverages was developed. The method is based on the oxidative damage to the purine bases, adenine or guanine, that are immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface. The oxidative lesions on the DNA bases were promoted by the sulfate radical generated by the persulfate/iron(II) system. The presence of antioxidants on the reactive system promoted the protection of the DNA bases immobilized on the GCE by scavenging the sulfate radical. Square-wave voltammetry (SWV) was the electrochemical technique used to perform this study. The efficiencies of five antioxidants (ascorbic acid, gallic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid and resveratrol) in scavenging the sulfate radical and, therefore, their ability to protect the purine bases immobilized on the GCE were investigated. These results demonstrated that the purine-based biosensor is suitable for the rapid assessment of the TAC in flavors and flavored water.

Towards a reliable technology for antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage evaluation: Electrochemical (bio)sensors

To counteract and prevent the deleterious effect of free radicals the living organisms have developed complex endogenous and exogenous antioxidant systems. Several analytical methodologies have been proposed in order to quantify antioxidants in food, beverages and biological fluids. This paper revises the electroanalytical approaches developed for the assessment of the total or individual antioxidant capacity. Four electrochemical sensing approaches have been identified, based on the direct electrochemical detection of antioxidant at bare or chemically modified electrodes, and using enzymatic and DNA-based biosensors.

Monitoring of ochratoxin a exposure of the Portuguese population through a nationwide urine survey — winter 2007

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by a variety of fungi, such as Penicillium verrucosum and Aspergillium spp., which has been found to have a wide number of potentially deadly toxic effects, and can enter the human organism through a variety of means. It then finds its way into the bloodstream and, after a lengthy process, is eventually excreted through the urine. It can thus be detected in its original form not only in blood samples but also in this biological medium. As such, and in an attempt to evaluate the exposure of the Portuguese population to this mycotoxin, morning urine samples were collected during the Winter of 2007, from each of five geographically distinct Portuguese locations — Bragança, Porto, Coimbra, Alentejo, and Algarve — and subjected to extraction by immunoaffinity columns and to OTA quantification through liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection. Prevalent incidence was higher than 95% with Coimbra being the exception (incidence of 73.3%). In nearly all locations, the OTA content of most samples was found to be above the limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.008 ng/ml. Indeed, excluding Coimbra, with an OTA content level of 0.014 ng/ml, all regions featured content values over 0.021 ng/ml.

Control and comparison of the antioxidant capacity of beers

The purpose of the present work is to determine the antioxidant capacity (AC) of 27 commercial beers. The AC indicates the degree of protection of a certain organism against oxidative damage provoked by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Assays were carried out by the following methods: (i) total radical trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP); (ii) trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC); (iii) trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (DPPH); (iv) ferric-ion reducing antioxidant parameter (FRAP); (v) cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC); (vi) oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Ascorbic acid (AA), gallic acid (GA) and trolox (TR) were used as standards. All beers showed antioxidant power, but a wide range of ACs was observed. The effect of several factors upon these differences was studied. Statistical differences were found between ACs of beers of different colours. ORAC method provided always higher experimental ACs, of significant statistical differences to other assays.

Capacity sharing and stealing in serverbased real-time systems

A dynamic scheduler that supports the coexistence of guaranteed and non-guaranteed bandwidth servers is proposed. Overloads are handled by an efficient reclaiming of residual capacities originated by early completions as well as by allowing reserved capacity stealing of non-guaranteed bandwidth servers. The proposed dynamic budget accounting mechanism ensures that at a particular time the currently executing server is using a residual capacity, its own capacity or is stealing some reserved capacity, eliminating the need of additional server states or unbounded queues. The server to which the budget accounting is going to be performed is dynamically determined at the time instant when a capacity is needed. This paper describes and evaluates the proposed scheduling algorithm, showing that it can efficiently reduce the mean tardiness of periodic jobs. The achieved results become even more significant when tasks’ computation times have a large variance.

Differences of absorptive capacity between firms within a cluster

Firms located within a cluster have access to tacit, complex and specific local knowledge which allow them to develop competitive advantage. However, firms have no equal ability to access and to apply that knowledge, meaning that not all have a similar knowledge absorptive capacity. Using a sample of the largest Portuguese firms within a footwear cluster, this paper examine whether there are significant differences in firm’s absorptive capacity and whether such differences within a cluster are related to firms’ specific characteristics. The results suggest that absorptive capacity is significantly associated with the firms’ characteristics, namely size, export intensity and position within the cluster.

A capacity sharing and stealing strategy for open real-time systems

This paper focuses on the scheduling of tasks with hard and soft real-time constraints in open and dynamic real-time systems. It starts by presenting a capacity sharing and stealing (CSS) strategy that supports the coexistence of guaranteed and non-guaranteed bandwidth servers to efficiently handle soft-tasks’ overloads by making additional capacity available from two sources: (i) reclaiming unused reserved capacity when jobs complete in less than their budgeted execution time and (ii) stealing reserved capacity from inactive non-isolated servers used to schedule best-effort jobs. CSS is then combined with the concept of bandwidth inheritance to efficiently exchange reserved bandwidth among sets of inter-dependent tasks which share resources and exhibit precedence constraints, assuming no previous information on critical sections and computation times is available. The proposed Capacity Exchange Protocol (CXP) has a better performance and a lower overhead when compared against other available solutions and introduces a novel approach to integrate precedence constraints among tasks of open real-time systems.

On the capacity of cluster-tree ZigBee networks

Modeling the fundamental performance limits of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is of paramount importance to understand their behavior under worst-case conditions and to make the appropriate design choices. In that direction this paper contributes with an analytical methodology for modeling cluster-tree WSNs where the data sink can either be static or mobile. We assess the validity and pessimism of analytical model by comparing the worst-case results with the values measured through an experimental test-bed based on Commercial-Off- The-Shelf (COTS) technologies, namely TelosB motes running TinyOS.

Capacity sharing and stealing in dynamic server-based real-time systems

This paper proposes a dynamic scheduler that supports the coexistence of guaranteed and non-guaranteed bandwidth servers to efficiently handle soft-tasks’ overloads by making additional capacity available from two sources: (i) residual capacity allocated but unused when jobs complete in less than their budgeted execution time; (ii) stealing capacity from inactive non-isolated servers used to schedule best-effort jobs. The effectiveness of the proposed approach in reducing the mean tardiness of periodic jobs is demonstrated through extensive simulations. The achieved results become even more significant when tasks’ computation times have a large variance.