A demonstration case on the derivation of process-level logical architectures for ambient assisted living ecosystems

When representing the requirements for an intended software solution during the development process, a logical architecture is a model that provides an organized vision of how functionalities behave regardless of the technologies to be implemented. If the logical architecture represents an ambient assisted living (AAL) ecosystem, such representation is a complex task due to the existence of interrelated multidomains, which, most of the time, results in incomplete and incoherent user requirements. In this chap- ter, we present the results obtained when applying process-level modeling techniques to the derivation of the logical architecture for a real industrial AAL project. We adopt a V-Model–based approach that expresses the AAL requirements in a process-level perspec- tive, instead of the traditional product-level view. Additionally, we ensure compliance of the derived logical architecture with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reference architecture as nonfunctional requirements to support the implementa- tion of the AAL architecture in cloud contexts.

Promoting independent living and recreation in life through ambient assisted living technology

The increase in life expectancy with a decrease in birth rates is contributing to the ageing of the European population. This phenomenon, coupled with greater awareness of the quality of life, the need to have cost-efficient assistive care, the intention of people to live independently in their homes, and the technological developments in recent decades, have contributed to the emergence of the concept of ambient assisted living (AAL). AAL solutions aim to provide healthy and safe ageing to users through promoting independence in performing daily activities and interacting with technology, taking into consideration the deterioration of the users’ capabilities and the reduced costs of the solutions. In this chapter, AAL developments of monitoring activities of daily living (ADLs) and participation in a virtual community with the selected stakeholders are introduced, their roadmap with the expected technological developments are described, and the expected impact of these solutions on the end users of the developed solutions are discussed. This enables a real user guidance structure that represents the different needs and limitations of each user, presenting a highly structured project based on personas and possible solutions for them. The AAL4ALL Ambient Assisted Living for All (ALL4ALL) project is considered here as a case study to analyze and illustrate the ALL concepts discussed in this chapter.

Synthesis and anticancer activity of N3-substituted-6,8-diaminopurines

[Excerpt] Cancer is the second most common cause of death in developed countries appearing just after cardiovascular diseases. The treatment of cancer remains a major medical challenge and the development of new anticancer drugs is an emerging topic for the scientific community. During the past three decades several chemical classes of anticancer drugs have been identified. In particular, 2,6-diamino purines proved to be important candidates as new anti-cancer agents.

A new and efficient synthesis of N3-cycloalkylamino-6,8-diaminopurines

[Excerpt] The purine core is a privileged scaffold in medicinal chemistry and the biological relevance of purine derivatives makes them attractive targets in the preparation of combinatorial libraries.1,2 In particular, there is a great interest in the synthesis of 8-substituted purines due to their important potential as antiviral and anticancer agents.3 Reports on 8-aminopurines are limited and general methods to obtain these purine derivatives are still needed.4 Cyclic amines and hydrazines are key structural motifs in various bioactive agents.5 Here we report a novel, efficient and inexpensive method for the synthesis of 6,8-diaminopurines 4 incorporating cycloalkylamino substituents at N3position of the purine ring. (...)

A new and efficient synthesis of benzoimidazopurine derivatives

[Excerpt] Purine nucleobases are essential biomolecules in living organisms. Playing several key roles in the cell, they have been a significant inspiration for drug design.1 Benzimidazole nucleus is an important pharmacophore in the development of molecules with pharmaceutical or biological interest. Benzimidazoles have been reported to display significant pharmacological activities such as antiulcer, antifungal, antiparkinson, anticancer and antibiotic.2 Fused structures incorporating these two scaffolds might be important for medicinal chemistry and, to the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of these systems in the literature. In particular, benzo[4,5]imidazo[2,1]purines seem to be novel and must be important target molecules in the heterocyclic synthesis. (...)

The synthesis of new 6-hydrazinopurines as potential anticancer agents

[Excerpt] Purines, such as adenine, are one of the most important naturally occurring nitrogen heterocycles and they are frequently used as bioactive agents.[1,2] The increasing number of synthetic purines reveals the great potential of these compounds as enzyme inhibitors. Protein Kinases have an important regulatory role in cell proliferation, differentiation and signalling processes. Abnormal signal transduction is responsible for devastating diseases such as cancer. All of the protein kinases identified have in common the cofactor ATP indicating that the adenine nucleus is a very important scaffold for discovery of new anti-cancer agents.[3,4] Previous work identified a modest anticancer activity in a family of 6-arylaminopurines. In the view of these results, it seemed reasonable to assume that some interesting anticancer agents might result by replacement of the phenyl group by a secondary amino group linked to the N-6 atom of the adenine moiety. (...)

The synthesis of novel 5-aminoimidazoles derivatives with anticancer activity

[Excerpt] The imidazole nucleus is present in a significant number of biomolecules and the inclusion of this moiety in organic scaffolds is considered an important synthetic strategy in drug discovery.[1] 5-Aminoimidazoles are interesting building blocks in medicinal chemistry since they are key components in many bioactive molecules and their derivatives showed a wide pharmacological potential as anticancer drugs.[1] The hydrazones constitute an important class of biological active drug molecules due to their wide range of pharmacological properties that include antitumoral activities.[2] Amidrazone derivatives could be considered very promising in the perspective of new drug discovery, because they are very effective as building blocks to obtain various heterocycles.[2,3] The α-hydrazononitriles are a special case of compounds belonging to the family of hydrazones that is less common in the literature, but has a great interest due to their pharmacological applications.[4] (...)

Light-controlled resistive switching in laser-assisted annealed Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 thin films

In this work, Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 (BST)/ITO structures were grown on glass substrate and laser assisted annealing (LAA) was performed to promote the crystallization of BST. Atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies confirm the crack free and polycrystalline perovskite phase of BST. White light controlled resistive switching (RS) effect in Au/BST/ITO device is investigated. The device displays the electroforming-free bipolar RS characteristics and are explained by the modulationof the width and height of barrier at the BST/ITO interface via ferroelectric polarization. Moreover, the RS effect is signifi- cantly improved under white light illumination compared to that in the dark. The enhanced RS and photovoltaic effects are explained by considering depolarization field and charge distribution at the interface. The devices exhibit stable retention characteristics with low currents (mA), which make them attractive for non volatile memory devices.

Peptaibolin analogues by incorporation of α,α-dialkylglycines: synthesis and study of their membrane permeating ability

Analogues of Peptaibolin, a peptaibol with antibiotic activity, incorporating α,α-dialkylglycines (Deg, Dpg, and Ac6c) at selected positions were synthesised by MW-SPPS and fully characterized. A control analogue incorporating L-alanine was also prepared. The native peptide and the analogues were studied by fluorescence spectroscopy for their membrane permeating activity. Small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs) of egg phosphatidylcholine/ cholesterol (70:30) containing an encapsulated fluorescence probe (6-carboxyfluorescein) were used as membrane models. The assays of carboxyfluorescein release from SUVs upon peptide addition showed that Peptaibolin-Dpg and Peptaibolin-Ac6c are the most active peptides. These results indicate that the structure of the α,α-dialkylglycines is crucial for the membrane permeating ability of these Peptaibolin analogues.

Synthesis of polyhydroxylated compounds from Derythrose: enzymatic inhibition studies

Dissertação de mestrado em Química Medicinal

Synthesis of five-membered heterocycles by indirect electrochemical approach in "Green" media

Radical cyclization continues to be a central methodology for the preparation of natural products containing heterocyclic rings. Hence, some electrochemical results obtained by cyclic voltammetry and controlled-potential electrolysis in the study of electroreductive intramolecular cyclization of ethyl (2S, 3R)-2-bromo-3-propargyloxy-3-(2’,3’,4’,6’-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy) propanoate (1a), 2-bromo-3-allyloxy-3-(2’,3’,4’,6’-tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy)propanoate (1b), 2-bromo-[1-(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)propyl]benzene (1c) and [1-bromo-2-methoxy-2-(prop-2’-yn-1-yloxy)ethyl]benzene (1d) promoted by (1,4,8,11-tetramethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane)nickel(I), [Ni(tmc)]+, electrogenerated at glassy carbon cathodes in ethanol and ethanol:water mixtures containing tetraalkylammonium salts, are presented. During controlled-potential electrolyses of solutions containing [Ni(tmc)]2+ and bromoalkoxylated compounds (1) catalytic reduction of the latter proceeds via one-electron cleavage of the carbon–bromine bond to form a radical intermediate that undergoes cyclization to afford the substituted tetrahydrofurans.

Imidazo-benzocrown ether functionalised amino acids: synthesis and fluorimetric chemosensing studies with metal cations

Comunicação em painel - P59

Synthesis, antiangiogenesis evaluation and molecular docking studies of 1-Aryl-3-[(thieno[3,2-b]pyridin-7-ylthio)phenyl]ureas: Discovery of a new substitution pattern for type II VEGFR-2 Tyr kinase inhibitors

The synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 1-aryl-3-[2-, 3- or 4-(thieno[3,2-b]pyridin-7-ylthio)phenyl]ureas 3, 4 and 5 as VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors, are reported. The 1-aryl-3-[3-(thieno[3,2-b]pyridin-7-ylthio)phenyl]ureas 4a-4h, with the arylurea in the meta position to the thioether, showed the lowest IC50 values in enzymatic assays (10-206 nM), the most potent compounds 4d-4h (IC50 10-28 nM) bearing hydrophobic groups (Me, F, CF3 and Cl) in the terminal phenyl ring. A convincing rationalization was achieved for the highest potent compounds 4 as type II VEGFR-2 inhibitors, based on the simultaneous presence of: (1) the thioether linker and (2) the arylurea moiety in the meta position. For compounds 4, significant inhibition of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) proliferation (BrdU assay), migration (wound-healing assay) and tube formation were observed at low concentrations. These compounds have also shown to increase apoptosis using the TUNEL assay. Immunostaining for total and phosphorylated (active) VEGFR-2 was performed by Western blotting. The phosphorylation of the receptor was significantly inhibited at 1.0 and 2.5 microM for the most promising compounds. Altogether, these findings point to an antiangiogenic effect in HUVECs.

Laccase-catalyzed synthesis of conducting polyaniline-lignosulfonate composite

Enzymatic polymerization of aniline was first performed in lignosulfonate (LGS) template system. High-redox-potential catalyst laccase, isolated from Aspergillus, was used as a biocatalyst in the synthesis of conducting polyaniline/lignosulfonate (PANI-ES-LGS) complex using atmospheric oxygen as the oxidizing agent. The linear templates (LGS), also serving as the dopants, could facilitate the directional alignment of the monomer and improve the solubility of the conducting polymer. The process of the polymerization was monitored using UV-Vis spectroscopy, by which the conditions for laccase-catalyzed synthesis of PANI-ES-LGS complex were also optimized. The structure characterizations and solubility of the complex were carried out using corresponding characterization techniques respectively. The PANI-ES-LGS suspensions obtained was used as coating for cotton with a conventional padder to explore the applications of the complex. The variable optoelectronic properties of the coated cotton were confirmed by cyclic voltammetry and color strength test. The molecular weight changes of LGS treated by laccase were also studied to discuss the mechanism of laccase catalyzed aniline polymerization in LGS template system.

Synthesis of iminosugars through diastereo/enantioselective diels-alder cycloaddition

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências (Especialidade em Química)