Sustainable Development Action Plan at ISEP - From Concept to Engineering Practice

Some of the main challenges in Incorporating Sustainable Development practices into Engineering Education reside in establishing the bridge between concept and application. In particular the relation between value creation and the knowledge economy, innovation and entrepreneurship, as the main vehicles to a relevant application of the sustainable development concept, is not yet part of the majority of the engineering curricula in schools. Porto Polytechnical Engineering School (ISEP), a Global Reporting Initiative training partner in Portugal, as just presented its Sustainable Development Action Plan, with the main objective of creating a new kind of engineers, with Sustainable Development at the core of their degrees. The plan has several issues like publish an annual sustainability report, sustainable buildings, minimization of energy consumption and water policy, waste management, sustainable mobility, green procurement, EMAS certification, research and postgraduate activity and promotion of lectures and seminars in Sustainable Development.

Pre-meal tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) intake can have anti-obesity effects in young women?

The effect of pre-meal tomato intake in the anthropometric indices and blood levels of triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, and uric acid of a young women population (n=35, 19.6 ± 1.3 years) was evaluated. During 4 weeks, daily, participants ingested a raw ripe tomato (~90 g) before lunch. Their anthropometric and biochemical parameters were measured repeatedly during the follow-up time. At the end of the 4 weeks, significant reductions were observed on body weight (-1.09 ± 0.12 kg on average), % fat (-1.54 ± 0.52%), fasting blood glucose (-5.29 ± 0.80 mg/dl), triglycerides (-8.31 ± 1.34 mg/dl), cholesterol (-10.17 ± 1.21 mg/ dl), and uric acid (-0.16 ± 0.04 mg/dl) of the participants. The tomato pre-meal ingestion seemed to interfere positively in body weight, fat percentage, and blood levels of glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, and uric acid of the young adult women that participated in this study.

Virtual Communities of Practice: Design and Development of Support Platforms and Participation Fostering

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática - Área de Especialização em Sistemas Gráficos e Multimédia

Anti-neoplastic properties of hydralazine in prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although early disease is often efficiently managed therapeutically, available options for advanced disease are mostly ineffective. Aberrant DNA methylation associated with gene-silencing of cancer-related genes is a common feature of PCa. Therefore, DNA methylation inhibitors might constitute an attractive alternative therapy. Herein, we evaluated the anti-cancer properties of hydralazine, a non-nucleoside DNA methyltransferases (DNMT) inhibitor, in PCa cell lines. In vitro assays showed that hydralazine exposure led to a significant dose and time dependent growth inhibition, increased apoptotic rate and decreased invasiveness. Furthermore, it also induced cell cycle arrest and DNA damage. These phenotypic effects were particularly prominent in DU145 cells. Following hydralazine exposure, decreased levels of DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b mRNA and DNMT1 protein were depicted. Moreover, a significant decrease in GSTP1, BCL2 and CCND2 promoter methylation levels, with concomitant transcript re-expression, was also observed. Interestingly, hydralazine restored androgen receptor expression, with upregulation of its target p21 in DU145 cell line. Protein array analysis suggested that blockage of EGF receptor signaling pathway is likely to be the main mechanism of hydralazine action in DU145 cells. Our data demonstrate that hydralazine attenuated the malignant phenotype of PCa cells, and might constitute a useful therapeutic tool.

Ensemble: an innovative approach to practice computer programming

Currently, the teaching-learning process in domains, such as computer programming, is characterized by an extensive curricula and a high enrolment of students. This poses a great workload for faculty and teaching assistants responsible for the creation, delivery, and assessment of student exercises. The main goal of this chapter is to foster practice-based learning in complex domains. This objective is attained with an e-learning framework—called Ensemble—as a conceptual tool to organize and facilitate technical interoperability among services. The Ensemble framework is used on a specific domain: computer programming. Content issues are tacked with a standard format to describe programming exercises as learning objects. Communication is achieved with the extension of existing specifications for the interoperation with several systems typically found in an e-learning environment. In order to evaluate the acceptability of the proposed solution, an Ensemble instance was validated on a classroom experiment with encouraging results.

Assessment of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic pharmaceuticals in seawaters of North of Portugal: Occurrence and environmental risk

The occurrence of seven pharmaceuticals and two metabolites belonging to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics therapeutic classes was studied in seawaters. A total of 101 samples covering fourteen beaches and five cities were evaluated in order to assess the spatial distribution of pharmaceuticals among north Portuguese coast. Seawaters were selected in order to embrace different bathing water quality (excellent, good and sufficient). Acetaminophen, ketoprofen and the metabolite hydroxyibuprofen were detected in all the seawater samples at maximum concentrations of 584, 89.7 and 287 ng L− 1, respectively. Carboxyibuprofen had the highest seawater concentration (1227 ng L− 1). The temporal distribution of the selected pharmaceuticals during the bathing season showed that, in general, higher concentrations were detected in August and September. The environmental risk posed by the pharmaceuticals detected in seawaters towards different trophic levels (fish, daphnids and algae) was also assessed. Only diclofenac showed hazard quotients above one for fish, representing a potential risk for aquatic organisms. These results were observed in seawaters classified as excellent bathing water. Additional data is needed in order to support the identification and prioritization of risks posed by pharmaceuticals in marine environment.

Development of a SPE–UHPLC–MS/MS methodology for thedetermination of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesicpharmaceuticals in seawaterPaula

An analytical methodology for the simultaneous determination of seven pharmaceuticals and two metabolites belonging to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and analgesics therapeutic groups was developed based on off-line solid-phase extraction and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (SPE–UHPLC–MS/MS). Extraction conditions were optimized taking into account parameters like sorbent material, sample volume and sample pH. Method detection limits (MDLs) ranging from 0.02 to 8.18 ng/L were obtained. This methodology was successfully applied to the determination of the selected pharmaceuticals in seawater samples of Atlantic Ocean in the Northern Portuguese coast. All the pharmaceuticals have been detected in the seawater samples, with pharmaceuticals like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, ketoprofen and the metabolite hydroxyibuprofen being the most frequently detected at concentrations that can reach some hundreds of ng/L.

Is mental practice an effective adjunct therapeutic strategy for upper limb motor restoration after stroke? A systematic review and meta- analysis

Stroke is one of the most common conditions requiring rehabilitation, and its motor impairments are a major cause of permanent disability. Hemiparesis is observed by 80% of the patients after acute stroke. Neuroimaging studies showed that real and imagined movements have similarities regarding brain activation, supplying evidence that those similarities are based on the same process. Within this context, the combination of mental practice (MP) with physical and occupational therapy appears to be a natural complement based on neurorehabilitation concepts. Our study seeks to investigate if MP for stroke rehabilitation of upper limbs is an effective adjunct therapy. PubMed (Medline), ISI knowledge (Institute for Scientific Information) and SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library) were terminated on 20 February 2015. Data were collected on variables as follows: sample size, type of supervision, configuration of mental practice, setting the physical practice (intensity, number of sets and repetitions, duration of contractions, rest interval between sets, weekly and total duration), measures of sensorimotor deficits used in the main studies and significant results. Random effects models were used that take into account the variance within and between studies. Seven articles were selected. As there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (MP vs control), showed a - 0.6 (95% CI: -1.27 to 0.04), for upper limb motor restoration after stroke. The present meta-analysis concluded that MP is not effective as adjunct therapeutic strategy for upper limb motor restoration after stroke.

From Mind to Body: Is Mental Practice Effective on Strength Gains? A Meta-Analysis

Mental practice is an internal reproduction of a motor act (whose intention is to promote learning and improving motor skills). Some studies have shown that other cognitive strategies also increase the strength and muscular resistance in healthy people by the enhancement of the performance during dynamic tasks. Mental training sessions may be primordial to improving muscle strength in different subjects. The aim of this study was to systematically review and meta-analiyze studies that assessed whether mental practice is effective in improving muscular strength. We conducted an electronic-computed search in Pub-Med/Medline and ISI Web of Knowledge, Scielo and manual searchs, searching papers written in English between 1991 and 2014. There were 44 studies in Pub-Med/Medline, 631 in ISI Web of Knowledge, 11 in Scielo and 3 in manual searchs databases. After exclusion of studies for duplicate, unrelated to the topic by title and summary, different samples and methodologies, a meta-analysis of 4 studies was carried out to identify the dose-response relationship. We did not find evidence that mental practice is effective in increasing strength in healthy individuals. There is no evidence that mental practice alone can be effective to induce strength gains or to optimize the training effects.

Neural Mechanisms of Exercise: Anti-Depression, Neurogenesis, and Serotonin Signaling

Depression is associated with decreased serotonin metabolism and functioning in the central nervous system, evidenced by both animal models of depression and clinical patient studies. Depression is also accompanied by decreased hippocampal neurogenesis in diverse animal models. Neurogenesis is mainly defined in dentate gyrus of hippocampus as well as subventricular zone. Moreover, hypothalamus, amygdala, olfactory tubercle, and piriform cortex are reported with evidences of adult neurogenesis. Physical exercise is found to modulate adult neurogenesis significantly, and results in mood improvement. The cellular mechanism such as adult neurogenesis upregulation was considered as one major mood regulator following exercise. The recent advances in molecular mechanisms underlying exercise-regulated neurogenesis have widen our understanding in brain plasticity in physiological and pathological conditions, and therefore better management of different psychiatric disorders.

Calcium signaling and the novel anti-proliferative effect of the UTP-sensitive P2Y11 receptor in rat cardiac myofibroblasts

During myocardial ischemia and reperfusion both purines and pyrimidines are released into the extracellular milieu, thus creating a signaling wave that propagates to neighboring cells via membrane-bound P2 purinoceptors activation. Cardiac fibroblasts (CF) are important players in heart remodeling, electrophysiological changes and hemodynamic alterations following myocardial infarction. Here, we investigated the role UTP on calcium signaling and proliferation of CF cultured from ventricles of adult rats. Co-expression of discoidin domain receptor 2 and -smooth muscle actin indicate that cultured CF are activated myofibroblasts. Intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) signals were monitored in cells loaded with Fluo-4 NW. CF proliferation was evaluated by the MTT assay. UTP and the selective P2Y4 agonist, MRS4062, caused a fast desensitizing [Ca2+]i rise originated from thapsigargin-sensitive internal stores, which partially declined to a plateau providing the existence of Ca2+ in the extracellular fluid. The biphasic [Ca2+]i response to UTP was attenuated respectively by P2Y4 blockers, like reactive blue-2 and suramin, and by the P2Y11 antagonist, NF340. UTP and the P2Y2 receptor agonist MRS2768 increased, whereas the selective P2Y11 agonist NF546 decreased, CF growth; MRS4062 was ineffective. Blockage of the P2Y11receptor or its coupling to adenylate cyclase boosted UTP-induced CF proliferation. Confocal microscopy and Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of P2Y2, P2Y4 and P2Y11 receptors. Data indicate that besides P2Y4 and P2Y2 receptors which are responsible for UTP-induced [Ca2+]i transients and growth of CF, respectively, synchronous activation of the previously unrecognized P2Y11 receptor may represent an important target for anti-fibrotic intervention in cardiac remodeling.