Improving the early diagnostic of prostate cancer by multiple biomarker detection with new biosensing devices

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common form of cancer in men, in Europe (World Health Organization data). The most recent statistics, in Portuguese territory, confirm this scenario, which states that about 50% of Portuguese men may suffer from prostate cancer and 15% of these will die from this condition. Its early detection is therefore fundamental. This is currently being done by Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) screening in urine but false positive and negative results are quite often obtained and many patients are sent to unnecessary biopsy procedures. This early detection protocol may be improved, by the development of point-of-care cancer detection devices, not only to PSA but also to other biomarkers recently identified. Thus, the present work aims to screen several biomarkers in cultured human prostate cell lines, serum and urine samples, developing low cost sensors based on new synthetic biomaterials. Biomarkers considered in this study are the following: prostate specific antigen (PSA), annexin A3 (ANXA3), microseminoprotein-beta (MSMB) and sarcosine (SAR). The biomarker recognition may occurs by means of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP), which are a kind of plastic antibodies, and enzymatic approaches. The growth of a rigid polymer, chemically stable, using the biomarker as a template allows the synthesis of the plastic antibody. MIPs show high sensitivity/selectivity and present much longer stability and much lower price than natural antibodies. This nanostructured material was prepared on a carbon solid. The interaction between the biomarker and the sensing-material produces electrical signals generating quantitative or semi-quantitative data. These devices allow inexpensive and portable detection in point-of-care testing.

Anatomic study of the dorsal arterial system of the hand

Historically, the dorsal arterial system of the hand received less attention than the palmar system. The studies concerning dorsal arterial anatomy present some controversies regarding the origin and presence of the dorsal metacarpal artery branches. Knowledge of the anatomy of dorsal metacarpal arteries is especially applied in the surgical planning for flaps taken from the dorsum of the hand. The purpose of this study is to analyze the arterial anatomy of the dorsum of the hand, compare our observations with those of previous studies from the literature, and therefore to define parameters for surgical planning for flaps supplied by the dorsal metacarpal arteries. METHOD: Twenty-six dissections were performed at the dorsum of the right hand of 26 cadavers by making a distal-based U-shaped incision. After catheterization of the radial artery at the wrist level, a plastic dye solution with low viscosity and quick solidification was injected to allow adequate exposure of even small vessels. The radial artery and its branches, the dorsal arterial arch, the dorsal metacarpal arteries, the distal and proximal communicating branches of the palmar system, and the distal cutaneous branches were carefully dissected and identified. RESULTS: The distal cutaneous branches originating from the dorsal metacarpal arteries were observed in all cases; these were located an average of 1.2 cm proximal from the metacarpophalangeal joint. The first dorsal metacarpal artery presented in 3 different patterns regarding its course: fascial, subfascial, and mixed. The branching pattern of the radial artery at the first intermetacarpal space was its division into 3 branches. We observed the presence of the dorsal arterial arch arising from the radial artery in 100% of the cases. The distance between the dorsal arterial arch and the branching point of the radial artery was an average of 2 cm. The first and second dorsal metacarpal arteries were visualized in all cases. The third and fourth dorsal metacarpal arteries were visualized in 96.2% and 92.3% of cases, respectively. There was proximal and distal communication between the dorsal arterial arch and the palmar system through the communicating branches contributing to the dorsal metacarpal artery formation. CONCLUSION: At the dorsum of the hand there is a rich arterial net that anastomoses with the palmar arterial system. This anatomical characteristic allows the utilization of the dorsal aspect of the hand as potential donor site for cutaneous flaps.

Project management: evaluation of the problems in the portuguese construction industry

During recent decades it has been possible to identify several problems in construction industry project management, related with to systematic failures in terms of fulfilling its schedule, cost and quality targets, which highlight a need for an evaluation of the factors that may cause these failures. Therefore, it is important to understand how project managers plan the projects, so that the performance and the results can be improved. However, it is important to understand if other areas beyond cost and time management that are mentioned on several studies as the most critical areas, receive the necessary attention from construction project managers. Despite the cost and time are the most sensitive areas/fields, there are several other factors that may lead to project failure. This study aims at understand the reasons that may cause the deviation in terms of cost, time and quality, from the project management point of view, looking at the knowledge areas mentioned by PMI (Project Management Institute).

Out-of-plane behavior of masonry infill walls

In order to investigate the out-of-plane behaviour of masonry infill walls, quasi-static testing was performed on a masonry infill walls built inside a reinforced concrete frame by means of an airbag system to apply the uniform out-of-plane load to each component of the infill. The main advantage of this testing setup is that the out-of-plane loading can be applied more uniformly in the walls, contrarily to point load configuration. The test was performed under displacement control by selecting the mid-point of the infill as control point. Input and output air in the airbag was controlled by using a software to apply a specific displacement in the control point of the infill wall. The effect of the distance between the reaction frame of the airbag and the masonry infill on the effective contact area was previously analysed. Four load cells were attached to the reaction frame to measure the out-of-plane force. The effective contact area of the airbag was calculated by dividing the load measured in load cells by the pressure inside the airbag. When the distance between the reaction walls and the masonry infill wall is smaller, the effective area is closer to the nominal area of the airbag. Deformation and crack patterns of the infill confirm the formation of arching mechanism and two-way bending of the masonry infill. Until collapse of the horizontal interface between infill and upper beam in RC frame, the infill bends in two directions but the failure of that interface which is known as weakest interface due to difficulties in filling the mortar between bricks of last row and upper beam results in the crack opening trough a well-defined path and the consequent collapse of the infill.

In-plane and out-of plane experimental characterization of rc masonry infilled frames

Seismic investigations of typical south European masonry infilled frames were performed by testing two reduced scale specimens: one in the in-plane direction and another in the out-ofplane direction. Information about geometry and reinforcement scheme of those structures constructed in 1980s were obtained by [1]. The specimen to be tested in the in-plane direction was constructed as double leaf masonry while the specimen for testing in the out-of-plane direction is constructed with only its exterior leaf since the recent earthquakes have highlighted the vulnerability of the external leaf of the infills in out-of-plane direction [2]. The tests were performed by applying the pre-defined values of displacements in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions in the control points. For in-plane testing it was done by hydraulic actuator and for out-of-plane testing through the application of an airbag. Input and output air in the airbag was controlled by using a software to apply a specific displacement in the control point of the infill wall. Mid-point of the infill was assumed as a control point for outof- plane testing. Deformation and crack patterns of the infill confirm the formation of two-way arching mechanism of the masonry infill until collapse of the upper horizontal interface between infill and frame which is known as weakest interface due to difficulties in filling the mortar between bricks of last row and upper beam. This results in the crack opening through a welldefined path and the consequent collapse of the infill.

Nonsolvent induced phase separation preparation of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene) membranes with tailored morphology, piezoelectric phase content and mechanical properties

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene) – P(VDF-CTFE) membranes are increasingly interesting for a wide range of applications, including battery separators, filtration membranes and biomedical applications. This work reports on the morphology, hydrophobicity, thermal and mechanical properties variation of P(VDF-CTFE) membranes processed by nonsolvent induced phase separation technique (NIPS) as a function of the main processing parameters. All membranes show a porous structure composed of large spherulites, (interconnected) micropores and/or microvoids depending on the processing conditions used that in turn affect their hydrophobicity and mechanical properties. The degree of crystallinity of the membranes remains approximately constant with a value of about 15 %, except for the membranes immediately immersed in ethanol, which is of about 23 %. In turn, the crystalline phases present in the copolymer is mainly affected by the temperature and nonsolvent characteristics of the coagulation bath, the β-phase content ranging from 33 to 100 %, depending on those processing parameters. It was show that the temperature of water-based coagulation bath plays an important role in order to produce structurally uniform and homogeneous porous membranes, which is particularly important from the point of view of technological applications.

Uma teoria da justiça libertarista: contribuições de Nozick e Steiner

Dissertação de mestrado em Filosofia Política

Population Dynamics Modeling of Arapaima gigas

Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) has been of the most important natural fishing resources of the Amazon region. Due to its economic importance, and the necessity to preserve the species hand, field research concerning the habits and behavior of the pirarucu has been increasing for the last 20 years. The aim of this paper is to present a mathematical model for the pirarucu population dynamics considering the species peculiarities, particularly the male parental care over the offspring. The solution of the dynamical systems indicates three possible equilibrium points for the population. The first corresponds to extinction; the third corresponds to a stable population close to the environmental carrying capacity. The second corresponds to an unstable equilibrium located between extinction and full use of the carrying capacity. It is shown that lack of males’ parental care closes the gap between the point corresponding to the unstable equilibrium and the point of stable non-trivial equilibrium. If guarding failure reaches a critical point the two points coincide and the population tends irreversibly to extinction. If some event tends to destabilize the population equilibrium, as for instance inadequate parental care, the model responds in such a way as to restore the trajectory towards the stable equilibrium point avoiding the route to extinction. The parameters introduced to solve the system of equations are partially derived from limited but reliable field data collected at the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve (MSDR) in the Brazilian Amazonian Region.

Local non-negative initial data scalar characterization of the Kerr solution

For any vacuum initial data set, we define a local, non-negative scalar quantity which vanishes at every point of the data hypersurface if and only if the data are Kerr initial data. Our scalar quantity only depends on the quantities used to construct the vacuum initial data set which are the Riemannian metric defined on the initial data hypersurface and a symmetric tensor which plays the role of the second fundamental form of the embedded initial data hypersurface. The dependency is algorithmic in the sense that given the initial data one can compute the scalar quantity by algebraic and differential manipulations, being thus suitable for an implementation in a numerical code. The scalar could also be useful in studies of the non-linear stability of the Kerr solution because it serves to measure the deviation of a vacuum initial data set from the Kerr initial data in a local and algorithmic way.

A new perspective of students allocation satisfaction in engineering courses in Portugal

Publicado em "AIP Conference Proceedings" Vol. 1648

Tailored deposition of coloured coatings: on the widening of the available colour range

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia de Materiais

Evaluation of temperature influence on embedded kinematic system

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Mecânica

Systems biology approaches for the design of novel Saccharomyces cerevisiae winemaking strains for enhanced flavour compounds synthesis

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia Ambiental e Molecular

Development of hybrid composite plate (HCP) for strengthening and repair of RC structures

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Civil

Exploring the factor structure of neurocognitive measures in older individuals

Here we focus on factor analysis from a best practices point of view, by investigating the factor structure of neuropsychological tests and using the results obtained to illustrate on choosing a reasonable solution. The sample (n=1051 individuals) was randomly divided into two groups: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and principal component analysis (PCA), to investigate the number of factors underlying the neurocognitive variables; the second to test the "best fit" model via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For the exploratory step, three extraction (maximum likelihood, principal axis factoring and principal components) and two rotation (orthogonal and oblique) methods were used. The analysis methodology allowed exploring how different cognitive/psychological tests correlated/discriminated between dimensions, indicating that to capture latent structures in similar sample sizes and measures, with approximately normal data distribution, reflective models with oblimin rotation might prove the most adequate.