Using perspective schema and a reference model to design the ETL process

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Informática

The role of molecular imaging in modern drug development

Drug development represents a highly complex, inefficient and costly process. Over the past decade, the widespread use of nuclear imaging, owing to its functional and molecular nature, has proven to be a determinant in improving the efficiency in selecting the candidate drugs that should either be abandoned or moved forward into clinical trials. This helps not only with the development of safer and effective drugs but also with the shortening of time-to-market. The modern concept and future trends concerning molecular imaging will assumedly be hybrid or multimodality imaging, including combinations between high sensitivity and functional (molecular) modalities with high spatial resolution and morphological techniques.

Gallium-67 imaging in a patient with paracoccidioidomycosis: a case report

A 26 year-old female was admitted with abdominal pain, fever and weight loss. The clinical and laboratory investigations led to the diagnosis of paracoccidioidomycosis. Gallium-67 whole body images correlated well with the clinical course of the disease and with the patient's prognosis.

A historical perspective and prospects of biomedical research on parasitic diseases

We all hope that biotechnology will answer some social and economical unavoidable requirements of the modern life. It is necessary to improve agriculture production, food abundance and health quality in a sustainable development. It is indeed a hard task to keep the progress on taking into account the rational use of genetic resources and the conservation of biodiversity. In this context, a historical perspective and prospects of the biomedical research on parasitic diseases is described in a view of three generations of investigators. This work begins with a picture of the scientific progress on biomedical research and human health over the last centuries. This black-and-white picture is painted by dissecting current advancements of molecular biology and modern genetics, which are outlined at the meaning of prospecting achievements in health science for this new millenium.

Correction of spatial distortion in magnetic resonance imaging

Dissertation to Obtain the Degree of Master in Biomedical Engineering

The patient safety journey in Portugal : challenges and opportunities from a public health perspective

ABSTRACT - Despite improvements in healthcare interventions, the incidence of adverse events and other patient safety problems constitutes a major contributor to the global burden of diseases and a concern for Public Health. In the last years there have been some successful individual and institutional efforts to approach patient safety issues in Portugal, unless such effort has been fragmented or focused on specific small areas. Long-term and global improvement has remained elusive, and most of all the improvement of patient safety in Portugal, must evaluate not only the efficacy of a change but also what was effective for implementing the change. Clearly, patient safety issues result from various combinations of individual, team, organization, system and patient factors. A systemic and integrated approach to promote patient safety must acknowledge and strive to understand the complexity of work systems and processes in health care, including the interactions between people, technology, and the environment. Safety errors cannot be productively attributed to a single human error. Our objective with this paper is to provide a brief overview of the status quo in patient safety in Portugal, highlighting key aspects that should be taken into account in the design of a strategy for improving patient safety. With these key aspects in mind, policy makers and implementers can move forward and make better decisions about which changes should be made and about the way the needed changes to improve patient safety should be implemented. The contribution of colleagues that are international leaders on healthcare quality and patient safety may also contribute to more innovative research methods needed to create the knowledge that promotes less costly successful changes.---- ---------------------- RESUMO – As questões relacionadas com a Segurança do Doente, e em particular, com a ocorrência de eventos adversos tem constituído, de há uns tempos a esta parte, uma crescente preocupação para as organizações de saúde, para os decisores políticos, para os profissionais de saúde e para os doentes/utentes e suas famílias, sendo por isso considerado um problema de Saúde Pública a que urge dar resposta. Em Portugal, nos últimos anos, têm sido desenvolvidos esforços baseados, maioritariamente, em iniciativas isoladas, para abordar os aspectos da Segurança do Doente. O facto de essas iniciativas não serem integradas numa estratégia explícita e de dimensão regional ou nacional, faz com que os resultados sejam parcelares e tenham visibilidade reduzida. Paralelamente, a melhoria da qualidade dos cuidados de saúde (a longo prazo) resultante dessas iniciativas tem sido esparsa e nem sempre a avaliação tem sido feita tendo em conta critérios de efectividade e de eficiência. A Segurança do Doente resulta da interacção de diversos factores relacionados, por um lado, com o doente e, por outro, com a prestação de cuidados que envolvem elementos de natureza individual (falhas activas) e organizacional/estrutural (falhas latentes). Devido à multifactorialidade que está na base de «problemas/falhas» na Segurança do Doente, qualquer abordagem a considerar deve ser sistémica e integrada. Simultaneamente, tais abordagens devem contemplar a compreensão da complexidade dos sistemas e dos processos de prestação de cuidados de saúde e as suas interdependências (envolvendo aspectos individuais, tecnológicos e ambientais). O presente trabalho tem por objectivo reflectir sobre o «estado da arte» da Segurança do Doente em Portugal, destacando os elementos-chave que se consideram decisivos para uma estratégia de acção nesse domínio. Com esses elementos os responsáveis pela governação da saúde poderão valorizar os aspectos que consideram decisivos para uma política de Segurança do Doente mais eficaz. A contribuição de quatro colegas internacionalmente reconhecidos como líderes na área da Qualidade em Saúde e da Segurança do Doente, constitui, por certo, uma oportunidade ímpar para a identificação e discussão de alguns dos principais desafios, ameaças e oportunidades que s

Chromatin dynamics in Arbidopsis development: a live cell imaging approach

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Biology

A Fractional Perspective to the Bond Graph Modelling of World Economies

Inspired in dynamic systems theory and Brewer’s contributions to apply it to economics, this paper establishes a bond graph model. Two main variables, a set of inter-connectivities based on nodes and links (bonds) and a fractional order dynamical perspective, prove to be a good macro-economic representation of countries’ potential performance in nowadays globalization. The estimations based on time series for 50 countries throughout the last 50 decades confirm the accuracy of the model and the importance of scale for economic performance.

A Multidimensional scaling perspective of Rostow's forecasts with the Track-record (1960s-2011) of "pioneers" and "latecomers"

Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Dynamical Systems -Theory and Applications

A Fractional Calculus Perspective in the Evolutionary Design of Combinational Circuits

This paper analyses the performance of a genetic algorithm (GA) in the synthesis of digital circuits using two novel approaches. The first concept consists in improving the static fitness function by including a discontinuity evaluation. The measure of variability in the error of the Boolean table has similarities with the function continuity issue in classical calculus. The second concept extends the static fitness by introducing a fractional-order dynamical evaluation.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Gynecological Devices

Background: Performing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on women with gynecological devices is a completely accepted practice. The goal of our review is to assess how safe it is to perform MRI on women using contraceptive implants or devices. Study Design: Literature review, searching in PubMed-Medline/Ovid for the following keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, intrauterine devices, Implanon® and Essure®. Results: Though plastic devices do not represent a contraindication to the use of the technique, those including metallic components have been submitted to several tests, after which they were classified as MR Conditional (devices presenting no risks in MR-specific environments) by the Food and Drug Administration. Thus, the use of MRI can be safely advised to women with this type of device as long as the magnetic resonance equipment is ≤3.0 T. Conclusions: Presently, there is no scientific evidence that contraindicates performing MRI on women with any kind of gynecological device. Therefore, this procedure is safe as long as it is performed under previously tested conditions.

Prostatic Arterial Supply: Anatomic and Imaging Findings Relevant for Selective Arterial Embolization

PURPOSE: To describe the anatomy and imaging findings of the prostatic arteries (PAs) on multirow-detector pelvic computed tomographic (CT) angiography and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) before embolization for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a retrospective study from May 2010 to June 2011, 75 men (150 pelvic sides) underwent pelvic CT angiography and selective pelvic DSA before PA embolization for BPH. Each pelvic side was evaluated regarding the number of independent PAs and their origin, trajectory, termination, and anastomoses with adjacent arteries. RESULTS: A total of 57% of pelvic sides (n = 86) had only one PA, and 43% (n = 64) had two independent PAs identified (mean PA diameter, 1.6 mm ± 0.3). PAs originated from the internal pudendal artery in 34.1% of pelvic sides (n = 73), from a common trunk with the superior vesical artery in 20.1% (n = 43), from the anterior common gluteal-pudendal trunk in 17.8% (n = 38), from the obturator artery in 12.6% (n = 27), and from a common trunk with rectal branches in 8.4% (n = 18). In 57% of pelvic sides (n = 86), anastomoses to adjacent arteries were documented. There were 30 pelvic sides (20%) with accessory pudendal arteries in close relationship with the PAs. No correlations were found between PA diameter and patient age, prostate volume, or prostate-specific antigen values on multivariate analysis with logistic regression. CONCLUSIONS: PAs have highly variable origins between the left and right sides and between patients, and most frequently arise from the internal pudendal artery.