Structural stability of adenylate kinase from the sulfate-reducing bacteria Desulfovibrio gigas

Biophysical Chemistry 110 (2004) 83–92

Synechocystis ferredoxin/ferredoxin-NADP+-reductase/NADP+ complex: Structural model obtained by NMR-restrained docking

FEBS Letters 579 (2005) 4585–4590

Structural and mechanistic studies of iron containing proteins

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Bioquímica, ramo de Bioquímica-Física, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Periplasmic nitrate reductases: structural and spectroscopic studies

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Doutor em Bioquímica, especialidade Bioquímica-Física, pela Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Estimation and hypothesis testing in mixed linear models

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Matemática, Estatística, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Integrando problem frames com aspectos

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Testing native speakers of German and Portuguese on the understanding of topological operators-line-region relations in gvSIG

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

Integrating protein structural information

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção de Grau de Doutor em Bioquímica,Bioquímica Estrutural, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Design and testing of a radiation hardened 13-bit 80 MS/s pipeline ADC implemented in a 90nm standard CMOS process

Second International Workshop on Analog and Mixed Signal Integrated Circuits for Space Applications (AMICSA 2008), Sintra, Portugal, Setembro de 2008

Natural and amyloid self-assembly of S100 proteins: structural basis of functional diversity

The S100 proteins are 10-12 kDa EF-hand proteins that act as central regulators in a multitude of cellular processes including cell survival, proliferation, differentiation and motility. Consequently, many S100 proteins are implicated and display marked changes in their expression levels in many types of cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The structure and function of S100 proteins are modulated by metal ions via Ca2+ binding through EF-hand motifs and binding of Zn2+ and Cu2+ at additional sites, usually at the homodimer interfaces. Ca2+ binding modulates S100 conformational opening and thus promotes and affects the interaction with p53, the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts and Toll-like receptor 4, among many others. Structural plasticity also occurs at the quaternary level, where several S100 proteins self-assemble into multiple oligomeric states, many being functionally relevant. Recently, we have found that the S100A8/A9 proteins are involved in amyloidogenic processes in corpora amylacea of prostate cancer patients, and undergo metal-mediated amyloid oligomerization and fibrillation in vitro. Here we review the unique chemical and structural properties of S100 proteins that underlie the conformational changes resulting in their oligomerization upon metal ion binding and ultimately in functional control. The possibility that S100 proteins have intrinsic amyloid-forming capacity is also addressed, as well as the hypothesis that amyloid self-assemblies may, under particular physiological conditions, affect the S100 functions within the cellular milieu.

Massive shift in the pneumococcal nasopharyngeal flora after the 7-valent conjugate vaccine: epidemiological studies and testing pathogenic potential in animal models

Dissertation presented to obtain the PhD degree in Biology/Molecular Biology by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica

Robustness of timber structures in seismic areas

Some of the properties sought in seismic design of buildings are also considered fundamental to guarantee structural robustness. Moreover, some key concepts are common to both seismic and robustness design. In fact, both analyses consider events with a very small probability of occurrence, and consequently, a significant level of damage is admissible. As very rare events,in both cases, the actions are extremely hard to quantify. The acceptance of limited damage requires a system based analysis of structures, rather than an element by element methodology, as employed for other load cases. As for robustness analysis, in seismic design the main objective is to guarantee that the structure survives an earthquake, without extensive damage. In the case of seismic design, this is achieved by guaranteeing the dissipation of energy through plastic hinges distributed in the structure. For this to be possible, some key properties must be assured, in particular ductility and redundancy. The same properties could be fundamental in robustness design, as a structure can only sustain significant damage if capable of distributing stresses to parts of the structure unaffected by the triggering event. Timber is often used for primary load‐bearing elements in single storey long‐span structures for public buildings and arenas, where severe consequences can be expected if one or more of the primary load bearing elements fail. The structural system used for these structures consists of main frames, secondary elements and bracing elements. The main frame, composed by columns and beams, can be seen as key elements in the system and should be designed with high safety against failure and under strict quality control. The main frames may sometimes be designed with moment resisting joints between columns and beams. Scenarios, where one or more of these key elements, fail should be considered at least for high consequence buildings. Two alternative strategies may be applied: isolation of collapsing sections and, provision of alternate load paths [1]. The first one is relatively straightforward to provide by deliberately designing the secondary structural system less strong and stiff. Alternatively, the secondary structural system and the bracing system can be design so that loss of capacity in the main frame does not lead to the collapse. A case study has been selected aiming to assess the consequences of these two different strategies, in particular, under seismic loads.

The impact of pharmaceutical policy measures: a structural-break approach

Pharmaceutical spending in many other countries has had a steep increase in the last decade. The Portuguese Government has adopted several measures to reduce pharmaceutical expenditure growth, ranging from increased co-payments to price decreases determined administratively. Promotion of generic consumption has also ranked high in political priorities. We assess the overall impact of the several policy measures on total pharmaceutical spending, using monthly data over the period January 1995 – August 2008. Endogenous structural breaks (time-series) methods were employed. Our findings suggest that policy measures aimed at controlling pharmaceutical expenditure have been, in general, unsuccessful. Two breaks were identified. Both coincide with administratively determined price decreases. Measures aimed at increasing competition in the market had no visible effect on the dynamics of Government spending in pharmaceutical products. In particular, the introduction of reference pricing had only a transitory effect of less than one year, with historical growth resuming quickly. The consequence of it is a transfer of financial burden from the Government to the patients, with no apparent effect on the dynamics of pharmaceutical spending. This strongly suggests that pharmaceutical companies have been able to adjust to policy measures, in order to sustain their sales. It remains a challenge for the future to identify firms’ strategies that supported continued growth of sales, despite the several policy measures adop

Robustness of corroded reinforced concrete structures. A structural performance approach

Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 1-17

Functional and structural characterization of the RNase II-family of enzymes

Dissertation presented to obtain a Doctoral Degree in Biology by Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa