60,000 years of interactions between Central and Eastern Africa documented by major African mitochondrial haplogroup L2

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup L2 originated in Western Africa but is nowadays spread across the entire continent. L2 movements were previously postulated to be related to the Bantu expansion, but L2 expansions eastwards probably occurred much earlier. By reconstructing the phylogeny of L2 (44 new complete sequences) we provide insights on the complex net of within-African migrations in the last 60 thousand years (ka). Results show that lineages in Southern Africa cluster with Western/Central African lineages at a recent time scale, whereas, eastern lineages seem to be substantially more ancient. Three moments of expansion from a Central African source are associated to L2: (1) one migration at 70-50 ka into Eastern or Southern Africa, (2) postglacial movements (15-10 ka) into Eastern Africa; and (3) the southward Bantu Expansion in the last 5 ka. The complementary population and L0a phylogeography analyses indicate no strong evidence of mtDNA gene flow between eastern and southern populations during the later movement, suggesting low admixture between Eastern African populations and the Bantu migrants. This implies that, at least in the early stages, the Bantu expansion was mainly a demic diffusion with little incorporation of local populations.

Património natural e arquitectónico: plano de intervenção na aldeia de Ermelo

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Arquitectura (área de especialização em Cidade e Território)

ACL injuries identifiable for pre-participation imagiological analysis: Risk factors

Identification of pre-participation risk factors for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries has been attracting a great deal of interest in the sports medicine and traumatology communities. Appropriate methods that enable predicting which patients could benefit from pre- ventive strategies are most welcome. This would enable athlete-specific training and conditioning or tailored equipment in order to develop appropriate strategies to reduce incidence of injury. In order to accomplish these goals, the ideal system should be able to assess both anatomic and functional features. Complementarily, the screening method must be cost-effective and suited for widespread application. Anatomic study protocol requiring only standard X rays could answer some of such demands. Dynamic MRI/CT evaluation and electronically assisted pivot-shift evaluation can be powerful tools providing complementary information. These upcoming insights, when validated and properly combined, envision changing pre-participation knee examination in the near future. Herein different methods (validated or under research) aiming to improve the capacity to identify persons/athletes with higher risk for ACL injury are overviewed. 

Acreditação e certificação em Portugal: retrato da situação portuguesa atual e comparação entre os referenciais CHKS, JCI, ACSA e ISO 9001

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (área de especialização em Engenharia Clínica)

Cerebral perfusion and automated individual analysis using SPECT among an obsessive-compulsive population

OBJECTIVE: To make individual assessments using automated quantification methodology in order to screen for perfusion abnormalities in cerebral SPECT examinations among a sample of subjects with OCD. METHODS: Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used to compare 26 brain SPECT images from patients with OCD individually with an image bank of 32 normal subjects, using the statistical threshold of p < 0.05 (corrected for multiple comparisons at the level of individual voxels or clusters). The maps were analyzed, and regions presenting voxels that remained above this threshold were sought. RESULTS: Six patients from a sample of 26 OCD images showed abnormalities at cluster or voxel level, considering the criteria described above, which represented 23.07%. However, seven images from the normal group of 32 were also indicated as cases of perfusional abnormality, representing 21.8% of the sample. CONCLUSION: The automated quantification method was not considered to be a useful tool for clinical practice, for analyses complementary to visual inspection.

Neurocognitive profile and cognitive intervention in Alzheimer's disease

Tese de Doutoramento em Psicologia (Especialidade de Psicologia Clínica)

Seismic behavior of concrete block masonry buildings

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Civil

Algorithms and computational tools for metabolic flux analysis

PhD thesis in Biomedical Engineering

Desenvolvimento de um laboratório pedagógico de vias de comunicação na Universidade do Minho

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Civil

Propolis: A complex natural product with a plethora of biological activities that can be explored for drug development

The health industry has always used natural products as a rich, promising, and alternative source of drugs that are used in the health system. Propolis, a natural resinous product known for centuries, is a complex product obtained by honey bees from substances collected from parts of different plants, buds, and exudates in different geographic areas. Propolis has been attracting scientific attention since it has many biological and pharmacological properties, which are related to its chemical composition. Several in vitro and in vivo studies have been performed to characterize and understand the diverse bioactivities of propolis and its isolated compounds, as well as to evaluate and validate its potential. Yet, there is a lack of information concerning clinical effectiveness. The goal of this review is to discuss the potential of propolis for the development of new drugs by presenting published data concerning the chemical composition and the biological properties of this natural compound from different geographic origins.

Promising blood-derived biomarkers for estimation of the postmortem interval

A precise estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most important topics in forensic pathology. However, the PMI estimation is based mainly on the visual observation of cadaverous pheno- mena (e.g. algor, livor and rigor mortis) and on alternative methods such as thanatochemistry that remain relatively imprecise. The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the kinetic alterations of several bio- chemical parameters (i.e. proteins, enzymes, substrates, electrolytes and lipids) during putrefaction of human blood. For this purpose, we performed kinetic biochemical analysis during a 264 hour period. The results showed a significant linear correlation between total and direct bilirubin, urea, uric acid, transferrin, immunoglobulin M (IgM), creatine kinase (CK), aspartate transaminase (AST), calcium and iron with the time of blood putrefaction. These parameters allowed us to develop two mathematical models that may have predictive values and become important complementary tools of traditional methods to achieve a more accurate PMI estimation

Indisciplina, violência e delinquência na escola: a perspetiva dos professores

Dissertação de mestrado em Crime, Diferença e Desigualdade

Da utilização e análise de dados de Geofísica em contextos arqueológicos: o Castro de Sapelos (Boticas) e o Seminário Conciliar de São Pedro e São Paulo (Braga)

Dissertação de mestrado em Arqueologia

Segurança no acesso ao registo clínico eletrónico

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (área de especialização em Informática Médica)

O reforço da democracia local no âmbito da reforma da administração autárquica

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito das Autarquias Locais