Alginate-chitosan particulate delivery systems for mucosal immunization against tuberculosis

Although vaccination is still the most cost-effective strategy for tuberculosis control, there is an urgent need for an improved vaccine. Current BCG vaccine lacks efficacy in preventing adult pulmonary tuberculosis, the most prevalent form of the disease. Targeting nasal mucosa, Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection site, will allow a simpler, less prone to risk of infection and more effective immunization against disease. Due to its biodegradable, immunogenic and mucoadhesive properties, chitosan particulate delivery systems can act both as carrier and as adjuvant, improving the elicited immune response. In this study, BCG was encapsulated in alginate and chitosan microparticles, via a mild ionotropic gelation procedure with sodium tripolyphosphate as a counterion. The particulate system developed shows effective modulation of BCG surface physicochemical properties, suitable for mucosal immunization. Intracellular uptake was confirmed by effective transfection of human macrophage cell lines.

Conceções e práticas dos professores de língua portuguesa em relação ao ensino e à aprendizagem da gramática: um estudo exploratório no 2.º ciclo do ensino básico

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Didática da Língua Portuguesa no 1.º e no 2.º Ciclos.

Chitosan-alginate microparticulate delivery system for an alternative route of administration of BCG vaccine

Immunisation against M. tuberculosis with current available BCG vaccine lacks efficacy in preventing adult pulmonary tuberculosis. Targeting nasal mucosa is an attractive option for a more effective immunization. The delivery of BCG via the intranasal route involves overcoming barriers such as crossing the physical barrier imposed by the mucus layer and ciliar remotion, cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking by antigen presenting cells. Due to its biodegradable, immunogenic and mucoadhesive properties, chitosan particulate delivery systems can act both as vaccine carrier and adjuvant, improving the elicited immune response. In this study, different combinations of Chitosan/Alginate/TPP microparticles with BCG were produced as vaccine systems. The developed microparticle system successfully modulates BCG surface physicochemical properties and promotes effective intracellular uptake by human macrophage cell lines Preliminary immune responses were evaluated after s.c. and intranasal immunisation of BALB/c mice. BCG vaccination successfully stimulated the segregation of IgG2a and IgG1, where intranasal immunisation with chitosan/alginate particulate system efficiently elicited a more equilibrated cellular/humoral immune response.

Drogas, sujeito e proibicionismo: uma discussão sobre os modelos de atenção aos usuários de drogas

Pós-graduação em Psicologia - FCLAS

Synthesis, characterization and antiproliferative activity on cancer cell lines of new ionic liquids from ampicillin

Ionic Liquids (ILs) are ionic compounds that possess melting temperature below 100ºC and they have been a topic of great interest since the mid-1990s due to their unique properties. The range of IL uses has been broadened, due to a significant increase in the variety of physical, chemical and biological ILs properties. They are now used as Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and recent interests are focused on their application as innovative solutions in new medical treatment and delivery options.1 In this work, our principal objective was the synthesis and investigation of physicochemical and medical properties of ionic liquids (ILs) and organic salts from ampicillin. This approach is of huge interest in pharmaceutical industry as cation and anion composition of ILs and organic salts can greatly alter their desired properties, namely the melting temperature and even synergistic effects can be obtained.2,3 For the synthesis of these compounds we used a recently developed method proposed by Ohno et al.4 for the preparation of quaternary ammonium and phosphonium hydroxides, that were neutralized by ampicillin. After purification we obtained pure ILs and salts in good yields. These ILs shows good antimicrobial and antifungal activities. As it is well known that some ionic liquids containing phosphonium and ammonium cation also shows anti-cancer activity1,5 we also decided to study these compounds against some cancer cell lines.

Tópicos da teoria da relatividade

Dissertação de Mestrado, Matemática para Professores, 25 de Outubro 2013, Universidade dos Açores.

Contribuição para o planeamento de emergência no concelho da Praia da Vitória: caso de estudo na freguesia da Agualva (Terceira, Açores)

Dissertação de Mestrado, Vulcanologia e Riscos Geológicos, 25 de Novembro de 2013, Universidade dos Açores.

Azorean Agriculture Efficiency by PAR

Copyright © 2013 Springer Netherlands.

Género e profissões: uma análise empírica para Portugal

Dissertação de Mestrado, Ciências Económicas e Empresariais, 9 de Janeiro de 2014, Universidade dos Açores.

Determinação preliminar de parâmetros construtivos de barreiras reactivas permeáveis com recurso a colunas para remediação de crómio com ferro zerovalente

Um dos principais problemas com que se deparam as sociedades actuais, e que é consequência da sua forma de se organizar prende-se com a mudança das características originais dos locais onde habitam e dos seus componentes como resultado das actividades humanas que transformam solos e águas em depósitos de resíduos. Entre as substâncias que são depositadas no meio físico, que requerem especial atenção, encontra-se o grupo dos metais pesados, uma vez que são considerados como perigosos pela sua toxicidade e potencial cancerígeno quando em contacto com populações ou ecossistemas. Destes metais, o crómio é um dos metais que requer especial atenção devido a sua relativa abundância como contaminante, e à periculosidade dos seus iões, em especial o Cr6+. Este trabalho pretende contribuir para o conhecimento dos fenómenos geoambientais associados à remediação de águas contaminadas com Cr6+ recorrendo ao ferro monovalente de forma a estabelecer parâmetros de aplicabilidade através de estudos laboratoriais baseados em ensaios em colunas.

Modelo de previsão meteorológica baseado em sistemas de inferência difusa

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Nanofiltration of Cork Wastewaters and Their Possible Use in Leather Industry as Tanning Agents

Cork processing wastewater is a very complex mixture of vegetal extracts and has, among other natural compounds, a very high content of phenolic/tannic colloidal matter that is responsible for severe environmental problems. In the present work, the concentration of this wastewater by nanofiltration was investigated with the aim of producing a cork tannin concentrate to be utilized in tanning. Permeation results showed that the permeate fluxes are controlled by both osmotic pressure and fouling/gel layer phenomena, leading to a rapid decrease of permeate fluxes with the concentration factor. The rejection coefficients to organic matter were higher than 95%, indicating that nanofiltration has a very good ability to concentrate the tannins and produce a permeate stream depleted from organic matter. The cork tannin concentrate obtained by nanofiltration and evaporation had total solids concentration of 34.8 g/l. The skins tanned by this concentrate were effectively converted to leather with a shrinking temperature of 7 degrees C.

Efeitos tridimensionais no escoamento em torno de cilindros confinados

Mestrado em Engenharia Química

Estudo da desgaseificação difusa no Vulcão das Furnas (Ilha de S. Miguel) : o caso do ²²²Rn

Dissertação de Mestrado, Vulcanologia e Riscos Geológicos, 20 de Fevereiro de 2008, Universidade dos Açores.

Desenvolvimento de pastilha potencialmente probiótica

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)