Characterisation of physiological conditions and evaluation of well-being in two species of bivalve molluscs (Ruditapes philippinarum and Chamelea gallina) intensively exploited in coastal and lagoon areas of the Northern Adriatic Sea (Italy)

Tese de Doutoramento, Ecologia, Especialidade de Ecofisiologia, Faculdade de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente, Universidade do Algarve, 2007

Assessment of the mineralogenic toxicity of aquatic pollutants

In ecotoxicology a major focus is in the aquatic environment, not only because it presents a great economic value to man but it is an ecosystem widely affected by the growing anthropogenic pollution. Most of the studies performed relate to adverse effects in development, reproductive or endocrine disruption but little is known about the possible effects in bone formation and skeletal development. In this study, we set out to evaluate the effects of 8 aquatic pollutants on the skeletal development using an in vivo system, the zebrafish larvae aged 20 days post-fertilization, through chronic exposure. Several endpoints were considered such as the cumulative mortality, total length, occurrence of skeletal deformities and marker gene expression. We were able to establish LD50 values for some pollutants, like 3-methylcholanthrene, lindane, diclofenac, cobalt and vanadate and found that the total length was not affected by any of the pollutants tested. Cobalt was the most harmful chemical to affect hatching time, severely affecting the ability of the zebrafish embryos to hatch and overall the number of deformities increased upon exposure to tested chemicals but no patterns of deformities were identified. We also propose that 3-methylcholanthrene has an osteogenic effect, affecting osteoblast and osteoclast function and that op levels can act as a mediator of 3-methylcholanthrene toxic stress to the osteoblast. In turn we found naphthalene to probably have a chondrogenic effect. Our results provided new insights into the potential osteotoxicity of environmental pollutants. Future studies should aim at confirming these preliminary data and at determining mechanisms of osteotoxicity.

Toxicity risks linked to cyanobacteria blooms in southern Portugal reservoirs

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências e Tecnologias do Ambiente, Escola Superior de Saúde, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Environmental governance in China: weakness and potential from an environmental policy integration perspective

Interest in China’s capacity for environmental governance is growing, in line with its environmental woes and exponential economic growth. Environmental policy efforts have lacked effectiveness, confirming the persistence of a disjuncture between promise and performance. This article contributes to the debate through the analytical lens of Environmental Policy Integration (EPI): a normative concept and governance regime indispensable to sustainable development. It finds that China,like most OECD countries, falls short of the concept. Despite encouraging recent changes, driven by the Hu-Wen regime, and encapsulated in the idea of scientific development, the analysis reveals weaknesses in all three EPI-type responses: normative, organisational and procedural. The disjuncture is confirmed, but drawing on EPI’s normative perspective, it is suggested that the reasons for this lie as much in the framing of the promise, as in the performance, or implementation, itself. Based on this interpretation and on China’s unique extreme characteristics, it is recommended that environmental policy objectives be given principled priority status, as a condition for effective governance.

The role of reciprocal regulation between TAL1 and miRNA expression in T-cell leukemia progression

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Biomédicas (Biologia Celular e Molecular), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2015

Fear and Urban Planning in Ordinary Cities: From Theory to Practice

The paper complements Abu-Orf's theory about violent settings by setting out a theory of fear in urban planning in ordinary urban contexts around three arguments: spatialization of fear; (modernist) spatialities and the encounter and political economies of urban fear. The three theoretical arguments are used to re-frame the planning history of Chelas, an affordable housing district in Lisbon, Portugal, and debate the way fear shapes, and is shaped in turn by, planning practice. Confirming that (growing) fear in ordinary urban contexts is not just an effect of the contemporary organization of cities, the paper argues for a theorization of fear that combines global (hegemonic) and a local (discursive/contingent) perspectives in the theorization of urban fear, and advocates for the need to put fear, and its capacity to create a crisis in urban policy, at the heart of planners' agendas.

Despesa e redistribuição na segurança social em Portugal : análise da reforma de 2007

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Sociais (Sociologia Política), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2015

Effectiveness of resilience assessment tools in different case studies

Tese de doutoramento, Biologia (Biologia Marinha e Aquacultura), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2015

Nanoporous carbons from sisal residues and their application in hybrid TiO2/carbon photocatalysts for the removal and degradation of phenol in solution

Tese de doutoramento, Química (Química Tecnológica), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2016

Antifungal nanofibers made by controlled release of sea animal derived peptide

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015

Sex-specific disruption of murine midbrain astrocytic and dopaminergic developmental trajectories following antenatal GC treatment

The mammalian midbrain dopaminergic systems arising in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) are critical for coping behaviours and are implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders where early life challenges comprise significant risk factors. Here, we aimed to advance our hypothesis that glucocorticoids (GCs), recognised key players in neurobiological programming, target development within these systems, with a novel focus on the astrocytic population. Mice received antenatal GC treatment (AGT) by including the synthetic GC, dexamethasone, in the mothers' drinking water on gestational days 16-19; controls received normal drinking water. Analyses of regional shapes and volumes of the adult SNc and VTA demonstrated that AGT induced long-term, dose-dependent, structural changes that were accompanied by profound effects on astrocytes (doubling/tripling of numbers and/or density). Additionally, AGT induced long-term changes in the population size and distribution of SNc/VTA dopaminergic neurons, confirming and extending our previous observations made in rats. Furthermore, glial/neuronal structural remodelling was sexually dimorphic and depended on the AGT dose and sub-region of the SNc/VTA. Investigations within the neonatal brain revealed that these long-term organisational effects of AGT depend, at least in part, on targeting perinatal processes that determine astrocyte density and programmed cell death in dopaminergic neurons. Collectively, our characterisation of enduring, AGT-induced, sex-specific cytoarchitectural disturbances suggests novel mechanistic links for the strong association between early environmental challenge (inappropriate exposure to excess GCs) and vulnerability to developing aberrant behaviours in later life, with translational implications for dopamine-associated disorders (such as schizophrenia, ADHD, autism, depression), which typically show a sex bias

Kroppenstedtia pulmonis sp. nov. and Kroppenstedtia sanguinis sp. nov., isolated from human patients

Three human clinical strains (W9323T , X0209T and X0394) isolated from lung biopsy, blood and cerebral spinal fluid, respectively, were characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed the three strains belonged to two novel branches within the genus Kroppenstedtia : 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of W9323T showed closest sequence similarity to Kroppenstedtia eburnea JFMB- ATET (95.3 %), Kroppenstedtia guangzhouensis GD02T (94.7 %) and strain X0209T (94.6 %); sequence analysis of strain X0209T showed closest sequence similarity to K . eburnea JFMB- ATET (96.4 %) and K. guangzhouensis GD02T (96.0 %). Strains X0209T and X0394 were 99.9 % similar to each other by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The DNA- DNA relatedness was 94.6 %, confirming that X0209T and X0394 belong to the same species. Chemotaxonomic data for strains W9323T and X0209T were consistent with those described for the genus Kroppenstedtia : whole- cell peptidoglycan contained LL- diaminopimelic acid; the major cellular fatty acids were iso- C15 and anteiso- C15 ; and the major menaquinone was MK- 7. Different endospore morphology, carbon utilization profiles, and whole cell wall sugar patterns of strains W9323T and X0209T supported by phylogenetic analysis enabled us to conclude that the strains represent two new species within the genus Kroppenstedtia , for which the names Kroppenstedtia pulmonis sp. nov. (type strain W9323T = DSM 45752T = CCUG 68107T) and Kroppenstedtia sanguinis sp. nov. (type strain X0209T = DSM 45749T = CCUG 38657T) are proposed.

Diversity and characterisation of coagulasenegative staphylococci isolated from healthy individuals in Portugal

In the past few years the interest in coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) has significantly increased in human medicine. CoNS are common commensal colonisers of the human skin, although now also recognised as major nosocomial pathogens. Over the last decades, several studies have been carried out in order to understand the pathogenicity mechanisms of CoNS. The well known determinants in the pathogenesis of CoNS infections are their ability to form biofilms and an exceptional resistance to several antibiotics. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies regarding the commensal lifestyle of these microorganisms. Additionally, it is now hypothesised that commensal bacteria might be a reservoir of pathogenic determinants. Therefore, the work described throughout this thesis was aimed to perform a phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of different CoNS species isolated from healthy Portuguese individuals. A total of 61 CoNS isolates, comprising 7 different species, were obtained and characterised at the level of biofilm formation and antibiotic susceptibility profiles. According to the results, biofilm formation ability and presence of biofilm-associated genes were commonly found features, highlighting their pivotal role in the colonising lifestyle of CoNS. This study also addressed the correlation between phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of biofilm formation, corroborating and raising questions about the importance of some genes in this process. Moreover, it was observed a great proportion of isolates with decreased susceptibility and multiple resistances to some important antibiotics. A significant association between antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation was also demonstrated, and some hypotheses about the nature of such association were provided. Lastly, the expression patterns of two biofilm-associated genes at two distinct biofilm developmental stages were determined, confirming their importance in the accumulative stage of biofilm formation. Overall, the results presented in this thesis indicate that staphylococcal skin flora might be an important reservoir of potentially pathogenic bacteria and, simultaneously, bring to light new perceptions about the molecular basis of staphylococcal biofilm formation, and the nature of the association between antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation.

Ciprofloxacin-imprinted polymeric receptors as ionophores for potentiometric transduction

A 3D-mirror synthetic receptor for ciprofloxacin host–guest interactions and potentiometric transduction is presented. The host cavity was shaped on a polymeric surface assembled with methacrylic acid or 2-vinyl pyridine monomers by radical polymerization. Molecularly imprinted particles were dispersed in 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether and entrapped in a poly(vinyl chloride) matrix. The sensors exhibited a near-Nernstian response in steady state evaluations. Slopes and detection limits ranged from 26.8 to 50.0mVdecade−1 and 1.0×10−5 to 2.7×10−5 mol L−1, respectively. Good selectivity was observed for trimethoprim, enrofloxacin, tetracycline, cysteine, galactose, hydroxylamine, creatinine, ammonium chloride, sucrose, glucose, sulphamerazine and sulfadiazine. The sensors were successfully applied to the determination of ciprofloxacin concentrations in fish and in pharmaceuticals. The method presented offered the advantages of simplicity, accuracy, applicability to colored and turbid samples and automation feasibility, as well as confirming the use of molecularly imprinted polymers as ionophores for organic ion recognition in potentiometric transduction.

Diagnóstico de avarias em máquinas rotativas utilizando a análise de órbitas

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica Perfil Manutenção e Produção