Slaughterhouses fungal burden assessment: a contribution for the pursuit of a better assessment strategy

In slaughterhouses, the biological risk is present not only from the direct or indirect contact with animal matter, but also from the exposure to bioaerosols. Fungal contamination was already reported from the floors and walls of slaughterhouses. This study intends to assess fungal contamination by cultural and molecular methods in poultry, swine/bovine and large animal slaughterhouses. Air samples were collected through an impaction method, while surface samples were collected by the swabbing method and subjected to further macro- and micro-scopic observations. In addition, we collected air samples using the impinger method in order to perform real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) amplification of genes from specific fungal species, namely A. flavus, A. fumigatus and A. ochraceus complexes. Poultry and swine/bovine slaughterhouses presented each two sampling sites that surpass the guideline of 150 CFU/m3. Scopulariopsis candida was the most frequently isolated (59.5%) in poultry slaughterhouse air; Cladosporium sp. (45.7%) in the swine/bovine slaughterhouse; and Penicillium sp. (80.8%) in the large animal slaughterhouse. Molecular tools successfully amplified DNA from the A. fumigatus complex in six sampling sites where the presence of this fungal species was not identified by conventional methods. This study besides suggesting the indicators that are representative of harmful fungal contamination, also indicates a strategy as a protocol to ensure a proper characterization of fungal occupational exposure.

Portuguese strategy for occupational safety and health 2008-2012 for public administration : priorites for action, progress in the implementation of the proposed measures and their impact on occupational safety outcomes

Apresentação realizada no OH&S Forum 2011 - International Forum on Occupational Health and Safety: Policies, profiles and services, na Finlândia de, 20 a 22 Junho de 2011.

Personal assistance: a gap in portuguese inclusion strategy for people with impairment

Apresentação realizada no 9th European Sociological Association Conference, em Lisboa em 2009

In situ NIR spectroscopy monitoring of plasmid production processes effect of producing strain, medium composition and the cultivation strategy

BACKGROUNDWhile the pharmaceutical industry keeps an eye on plasmid DNA production for new generation gene therapies, real-time monitoring techniques for plasmid bioproduction are as yet unavailable. This work shows the possibility of in situ monitoring of plasmid production in Escherichia coli cultures using a near infrared (NIR) fiber optic probe. RESULTSPartial least squares (PLS) regression models based on the NIR spectra were developed for predicting bioprocess critical variables such as the concentrations of biomass, plasmid, carbon sources (glucose and glycerol) and acetate. In order to achieve robust models able to predict the performance of plasmid production processes, independently of the composition of the cultivation medium, cultivation strategy (batch versus fed-batch) and E. coli strain used, three strategies were adopted, using: (i) E. coliDH5 cultures conducted under different media compositions and culture strategies (batch and fed-batch); (ii) engineered E. coli strains, MG1655endArecApgi and MG1655endArecA, grown on the same medium and culture strategy; (iii) diverse E. coli strains, over batch and fed-batch cultivations and using different media compositions. PLS models showed high accuracy for predicting all variables in the three groups of cultures. CONCLUSIONNIR spectroscopy combined with PLS modeling provides a fast, inexpensive and contamination-free technique to accurately monitoring plasmid bioprocesses in real time, independently of the medium composition, cultivation strategy and the E. coli strain used.

Analysis of Forest Fires by means of Pseudo Phase Plane and Multidimensional Scaling Methods

Forest fires dynamics is often characterized by the absence of a characteristic length-scale, long range correlations in space and time, and long memory, which are features also associated with fractional order systems. In this paper a public domain forest fires catalogue, containing information of events for Portugal, covering the period from 1980 up to 2012, is tackled. The events are modelled as time series of Dirac impulses with amplitude proportional to the burnt area. The time series are viewed as the system output and are interpreted as a manifestation of the system dynamics. In the first phase we use the pseudo phase plane (PPP) technique to describe forest fires dynamics. In the second phase we use multidimensional scaling (MDS) visualization tools. The PPP allows the representation of forest fires dynamics in two-dimensional space, by taking time series representative of the phenomena. The MDS approach generates maps where objects that are perceived to be similar to each other are placed on the map forming clusters. The results are analysed in order to extract relationships among the data and to better understand forest fires behaviour.

Identification of factors and groups at risk of infection with Schistosoma mansoni: a strategy for the implementation of control measures?

A fourteen year schistosomiasis control program in Peri-Peri (Capim Branco, MG) reduced prevalence from 43.5 to 4.4%; incidence from 19.0 to 2.9%, the geometric mean of the number of eggs from 281 to 87 and the level of the hepatoesplenic form cases from 5.9 to 0.0%. In 1991, three years after the interruption of the program, the prevalence had risen to 19.6%. The district consists of Barbosa (a rural area) and Peri-Peri itself (an urban area). In 1991, the prevalence in the two areas was 28.4% and 16.0% respectively. A multivariate analysis of risk factors for schistosomiasis indicated the domestic agricultural activity with population attributive risk (PAR) of 29.82%, the distance (< 10 m) from home to water source (PAR = 25.93%) and weekly fishing (PAR = 17.21%) as being responsible for infections in the rural area. The recommended control measures for this area are non-manual irrigation and removal of homes to more than ten meters from irrigation ditches. In the urban area, it was observed that swimming at weekly intervals (PAR = 20.71%), daily domestic agricultural activity (PAR = 4.07%) and the absence of drinking water in the home (PAR=4.29%) were responsible for infections. Thus, in the urban area the recommended control measures are the substitution of manual irrigation with an irrigation method that avoids contact with water, the creation of leisure options of the population and the provision of a domestic water supply. The authors call attention to the need for the efficacy of multivariate analysis of risk factors to be evaluated for schistosomiasis prior to its large scale use as a indicator of the control measures to be implemented.

From the Lisbon strategy to EU2020: illusion or progress for european economies?

To be published at Krings, Bettina-J. ed. (2011), Brain Drain or Brain Gain? Changes of Work in Knowledge-based Societies, Berlin, Ed. Sigma. The author wants to thanks the comments and suggestions from Bettina Krings and Sylke Wintzer. They are not, however, responsible for the final result.

A go-to-market strategy for vertebral metrics

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

Backside-surface imprinting as a new strategy to generate specific plastic antibody materials

A backside protein-surface imprinting process is presented herein as a novel way to generate specific synthetic antibody materials. The template is covalently bonded to a carboxylated-PVC supporting film previously cast on gold, let to interact with charged monomers and surrounded next by another thick polymer. This polymer is then covalently attached to a transducing element and the backside of this structure (supporting film plus template) is removed as a regular “tape”. The new sensing layer is exposed after the full template removal, showing a high density of re-binding positions, as evidenced by SEM. To ensure that the templates have been efficiently removed, this re-binding layer was cleaned further with a proteolytic enzyme and solution washout. The final material was named MAPS, as in the back-side reading of SPAM, because it acts as a back-side imprinting of this recent approach. It was able to generate, for the first time, a specific response to a complex biomolecule from a synthetic material. Non-imprinted materials (NIMs) were also produced as blank and were used as a control of the imprinting process. All chemical modifications were followed by electrochemical techniques. This was done on a supporting film and transducing element of both MAPS and NIM. Only the MAPS-based device responded to oxLDL and the sensing layer was insensitive to other serum proteins, such as myoglobin and haemoglobin. Linear behaviour between log(C, μg mL−1) versus charged tranfer resistance (RCT, Ω) was observed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Calibrations made in Fetal Calf Serum (FCS) were linear from 2.5 to 12.5 μg mL−1 (RCT = 946.12 × log C + 1590.7) with an R-squared of 0.9966. Overall, these were promising results towards the design of materials acting close to the natural antibodies and applied to practical use of clinical interest.

Pseudo Phase Plane and Fractional Calculus Modelling of Western Global Economic Downturn

This paper applies Pseudo Phase Plane (PPP) and Fractional Calculus (FC) mathematical tools for modeling world economies. A challenging global rivalry among the largest international economies began in the early 1970s, when the post-war prosperity declined. It went on, up to now. If some worrying threatens may exist actually in terms of possible ambitious military aggression, invasion, or hegemony, countries’ PPP relative positions can tell something on the current global peaceful equilibrium. A global political downturn of the USA on global hegemony in favor of Asian partners is possible, but can still be not accomplished in the next decades. If the 1973 oil chock has represented the beginning of a long-run recession, the PPP analysis of the last four decades (1972–2012) does not conclude for other partners’ global dominance (Russian, Brazil, Japan, and Germany) in reaching high degrees of similarity with the most developed world countries. The synergies of the proposed mathematical tools lead to a better understanding of the dynamics underlying world economies and point towards the estimation of future states based on the memory of each time series.

Fractional Dynamics Representation in the Pseudo Phase Plane

Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Dynamical Systems Theory and Applications

Hemorragia Digestiva Alta Recorrente por Pseudo-Aneurisma da Artéria Gastroduodenal

Os autores apresentam o caso clínico de um homem de 39 anos de idade com antecedentes de pancreatite crónica, que apresenta um quadro de hemorragia digestiva alta recorrente, com repercussão hemodinâmica, endoscopias altas sucessivas sem alterações, e cujos exames imagiológicos revelam presença de mal-formação vascular do tronco celíaco. Na sequência de mais um episódio de hemorragia digestiva alta com franca repercussão hemodinâmica, é internado no Serviço de Medicina,realizando arteriografia selectiva que mostrou a presença de pseudo-aneurisma da artéria gastroduodenal. Após a embolização, verificou-se uma progressiva e mantida melhoria da sua situação clínica. Descrevem os autores um quadro de hemorragia digestiva alta recorrente por malformação arterial associada à pancreatite crónica.

O estatuto das pseudo relativas em português europeu

Dissertação apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Linguagem

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.