Famílias de crianças com perturbações do espectro do autismo: contributos para a compreensão das suas necessidades

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialização em Intervenção Precoce

Avaliação de atividades de controle para enteroparasitos em uma aldeia Kaingáng do Paraná

OBJETIVO: Analisar o estado parasitológico de famílias de comunidade indígena após instituição de medidas de controle para enteroparasitos. MÉTODOS: Estudo longitudinal realizado entre 2004 e 2006 com 447 pessoas da etnia Kaingáng, no município de Cândido de Abreu, PR. As medidas de controle de enteroparasitos foram: melhorias sanitárias em 2003, tratamentos antiparasitários realizados durante o período de estudo e atividades de educação em saúde iniciadas em 2005. Foram obtidos indicadores parasitológicos de saúde em três inquéritos coproparasitológicos em 2004, 2005 e 2006 quando foram coletadas 250, 147 e 126 amostras de fezes, respectivamente. Foram utilizados os métodos de sedimentação espontânea, centrífugo-flutuação e Kato/Katz. As condições de moradia e higiene foram determinadas utilizando-se questionário aplicado a 69 (2004), 57 (2005) e 38 (2006) das 90 famílias. RESULTADOS: As prevalências totais de enteroparasitos de 2004-06 foram, respectivamente: 91,6%, 94,6% e 87,3%, sem redução significativa. A prevalência de algumas espécies reduziu enquanto que a de outras aumentou significativamente. As infecções de alta intensidade por geoelmintos apresentaram taxas menores de 2% no período do estudo. Houve aumento nas taxas de entrevistados que relataram usar o banheiro (p<0,005) de 38,8% para 71,1% e ter tomado antiparasitário (p=0,001) de 70,2% para 100,0%. CONCLUSÕES: Houve melhora significativa de indicadores parasitológicos de saúde da população como a redução na prevalência de algumas espécies de enteroparasitos, além da manutenção de baixa carga parasitária, mostrando a importância de se associar o tratamento antiparasitário às melhorias sanitárias.

Assertividade em adolescentes do 3.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e Ensino Secundário : um contributo para o desenvolvimento de um instrumento de avaliação

Dissertação de Mestrado, Psicologia da Educação, especialidade de Contextos Educativos, 2 de Março de 2016, Universidade dos Açores.

STIR, SPIR and SPAIR techniques in magnetic resonance of the breast: a comparative study

The amount of fat is a component that complicates the clinical evaluation and the differential diagnostic between benign and malign lesions in the breast MRI examinations. To overcome this problem, an effective erasing of the fat signal over the images acquisition process, is essentials. This study aims to compare three fat suppression techniques (STIR, SPIR, SPAIR) in the MR images of the breast and to evaluate the best image quality regarding its clinical usefulness. To mimic breast women, a breast phantom was constructed. First the exterior contour and, in second time, its content which was selected based on 7 samples with different components. Finally it was undergone to a MRI breast protocol with the three different fat saturation techniques. The examinations were performed on a 1.5 T MRI system (Philips®). A group of 5 experts evaluated 9 sequences, 3 of each with fat suppression techniques, in which the frequency offset and TI (Inversion Time) were the variables changed. This qualitative image analysis was performed according 4 parameters (saturation uniformity, saturation efficacy, detail of the anatomical structures and differentiation between the fibroglandular and adipose tissue), using a five-point Likert scale. The statistics analysis showed that anyone of the fat suppression techniques demonstrated significant differences compared to the others with (p > 0.05) and regarding each parameter independently. By Fleiss’ kappa coefficient there was a good agreement among observers P(e) = 0.68. When comparing STIR, SPIR and SPAIR techniques it was confirmed that all of them have advantages in the study of the breast MRI. For the studied parameters, the results through the Friedman Test showed that there are similar advantages applying anyone of these techniques.

Direitos de participação das crianças: estudo de caso num jardim de Infância em contexto do movimento da escola moderna

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para a obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação, Especialização em Intervenção Precoce

Variabilidade introduzida pelo operador no processamento dos estudos Gated-SPECT do miocárdio

Introdução – Os estudos Gated – Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) são uma das técnicas de imagiologia cardíaca que mais evoluiu nas últimas décadas. Para a análise das imagens obtidas, a utilização de softwares de quantificação leva a um aumento da reprodutibilidade e exatidão das interpretações. O objetivo deste estudo consiste em avaliar, em estudos Gated-SPECT, a variabilidade intra e interoperador de parâmetros quantitativos de função e perfusão do miocárdio, obtidos com os softwares Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) e Quantitative Perfusion SPECT (QPS). Material e métodos – Recorreu-se a uma amostra não probabilística por conveniência de 52 pacientes, que realizaram estudos Gated-SPECT do miocárdio por razões clínicas e que integravam a base de dados da estação de processamento da Xeleris da ESTeSL. Os cinquenta e dois estudos foram divididos em dois grupos distintos: Grupo I (GI) de 17 pacientes com imagens com perfusão do miocárdio normal; Grupo II (GII) de 35 pacientes que apresentavam defeito de perfusão nas imagens Gated-SPECT. Todos os estudos foram processados 5 vezes por 4 operadores independentes (com experiência de 3 anos em Serviços de Medicina Nuclear com casuística média de 15 exames/semana de estudos Gated-SPECT). Para a avaliação da variabilidade intra e interoperador foi utilizado o teste estatístico de Friedman, considerando α=0,01. Resultados e discussão – Para todos os parâmetros avaliados, os respectivos valores de p não traduziram diferenças estatisticamente significativas (p>α). Assim, não foi verificada variabilidade intra ou interoperador significativa no processamento dos estudos Gated-SPECT do miocárdio. Conclusão – Os softwares QGS e QPS são reprodutíveis na quantificação dos parâmetros de função e perfusão avaliados, não existindo variabilidade introduzida pelo operador.

Determination of airborne nanoparticles in elderly care centres

According to numerous studies, airborne nanoparticles have a potential to produce serious adverse human health effects when deposited into the respiratory tract. The most important parts of the lung are the alveolar regions with their enormous surface areas and potential to transfer nanoparticles into the blood stream. These effects may be potentiated in case of the elderly, since this population is more susceptible to air pollutants in general and more to nanoparticles than larger particles. The main goal of this investigation was to determine the exposure of institutionalized elders to nanoparticles using Nanoparticle Surface Area Monitor (NSAM) equipment to calculate the deposited surface area (DSA) of nanoparticles into elderly lungs. In total, 193 institutionalized individuals over 65 yr of age were examined in four elderly care centers (ECC). The occupancy daily pattern was achieved by applying a questionnaire, and it was concluded that these subjects spent most of their time indoors, including the bedroom and living room, the indoor microenvironments with higher prevalence of elderly occupancy. The deposited surface area ranged from 10 to 46 μm2/cm3. The living rooms presented significantly higher levels compared with bedrooms. Comparing PM10 concentrations with nanoparticles deposited surface area in elderly lungs, it is conceivable that living rooms presented the highest concentration of PM10 and were similar to the highest average DSA. The temporal distribution of DSA was also assessed. While data showed a quantitative fluctuation in values in bedrooms, high peaks were detected in living rooms.

Síntese e caracterização de redes metalo-orgânicas de fármacos

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Biológica

Avaliação comparativa dos efeitos da introdução dos eurocódigos no cálculo sísmico de edifícios de betão armado

Dissertação de natureza Científica para obtenção do grau de Mestre na Área de Especialização de Estruturas

Static and hydrodynamic monitoring of citalopram based on its electro-oxidation behavior at a glassy-carbon surface

The electrooxidative behavior of citalopram (CTL) in aqueous media was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square-wave voltammetry (SWV) at a glassy-carbon electrode. The electrochemical behaviour of CTL involves two electrons and two protons in the irreversible and diffusion controlled oxidation of the tertiary amine group. The maximum analytical signal was obtained in a phosphate buffer (pH ¼ 8.2). For analytical purposes, an SWV method and a flow-injection analysis (FIA) system with amperometric detection were developed. The optimised SWV method showed a linear range between 1.10 10 5–1.20 10 4 molL 1, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 9.5 10 6 molL 1. Using the FIA method, a linear range between 2.00 10 6–9.00 10 5 molL 1 and an LODof 1.9 10 6 molL 1 were obtained. The validation of both methods revealed good performance characteristics confirming applicability for the quantification of CTL in several pharmaceutical products.

Direct electroanalytical determination of fluvastatin in a pharmaceutical dosage form: batch and flow analysis

The reduction of luvastatin (FLV) at a hanging mercury-drop electrode (HMDE) was studied by square-wave adsorptive-stripping voltammetry (SWAdSV). FLV can be accumulated and reduced at the electrode, with a maximum peak current intensity at a potential of approximately 1.26V vs. AgCl=Ag, in an aqueous electrolyte solution of pH 5.25. The method shows linearity between peak current intensity and FLV concentration between 1.0 10 8 and 2.7 10 6 mol L 1. Limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were found to be 9.9 10 9 mol L 1 and 3.3 10 8 mol L 1, respectively. Furthermore, FLV oxidation at a glassy carbon electrode surface was used for its hydrodynamic monitoring by amperometric detection in a flow-injection system. The amperometric signal was linear with FLV concentration over the range 1.0 10 6 to 1.0 10 5 mol L 1, with an LOD of 2.4 10 7 mol L 1 and an LOQ of 8.0 10 7 mol L 1. A sample rate of 50 injections per hour was achieved. Both methods were validated and showed to be precise and accurate, being satisfactorily applied to the determination of FLV in a commercial pharmaceutical.

An insight into dapsone co-crystals: sulfones as participants in supramolecular interactions

Agência Financiadora: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - Pest-OE/QUI/UI0100/2013; PTDC/CTM-BPC/122447/2010; RECI/QEQ-QIN/0189/2012; SFRH/BPD/78854/2011

Nanohybrid materials as transducer surfaces for electrochemical sensing applications

A nanohybrid electrochemical transducer surface was developed using carbon and gold nanomaterials. The strategy relayed on casting multiwalled carbon nanotubes or carbon nanofibers onto a screen-printed carbon electrode surface, followed by in situ generation of gold nanoparticles by electrochemical deposition of ionic gold, in a reproducible manner. These transducers, so fabricated, were characterized using both electrochemical and microscopic techniques. Biofunctionality was evaluated using the streptavidin-biotin interaction system as the biological reaction model. These platforms allow to achieve low detection limits (in the order of pmoles), are reproducible and stable at least for a month after their preparation, being a perfect candidate to be used as transducer of different sensor devices.

Life cycle analysis of biodiesel production

Biodieselhas attracted considerable attention as a renewable, biodegradable, and nontoxic fuel and can contribute to solving the energy problems, significantly reducing the emission of gases which cause global warming. The first stage of this work was to simulate different alternative processes for producing biodiesel. The method used for the production of biodiesel is the transesterification of vegetable oilswith an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The raw materials used were palm oils and waste cooking oil. The second stage was a life cycle analysis for all alternatives under study, followed by an economic analysis for the alternatives that present minor impacts and which are more promising from an economic point of view. Finally,we proceeded to compare the different alternatives fromboth the point of view of life cycle and economic analysis. The feasibility of all processes was proven and the biodiesel obtained had good specifications. From the standpoint of life cycle analysis, the best alternative was the process of alkaline catalysiswith acid pretreatment for waste cooking oil. The economic analysis was done to the previous mentioned process and to the process that uses raw virgin oils, methanol, and sodium hydroxide. This process has lower investment costs but the process of alkaline catalysis with acid pre-treatment, whose main raw material is waste oil, is much more profitable and has less environmental impacts.

Prática de ensino supervisionado no 1.º e 2.º ciclo do ensino básico: a comunicação (em) matemática em contexto de sala de aula

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e 2.º ciclo do Ensino Básico