Development of an integrative approach for the characterization of ecological risk on marine transition ecosystems: the Sado Estuary as a case study

Estuaries and other transitional waters are complex ecosystems critically important as nursery and shelter areas for organisms. Also, humans depend on estuaries for multiple socio-economical activities such as urbanism, tourism, heavy industry, (taking advantage of shipping), fisheries and aquaculture, the development of which led to strong historical pressures, with emphasis on pollution. The degradation of estuarine environmental quality implies ecologic, economic and social prejudice, hence the importance of evaluating environmental quality through the identification of stressors and impacts. The Sado Estuary (SW Portugal) holds the characteristics of industrialized estuaries, which results in multiple adverse impacts. Still, it has recently been considered moderately contaminated. In fact, many studies were conducted in the past few years, albeit scattered due to the absence of true biomonitoring programmes. As such, there is a need to integrate the information, in order to obtain a holistic perspective of the area able to assist management and decision-making. As such, a geographical information system (GIS) was created based on sediment contamination and biomarker data collected from a decade-long time-series of publications. Four impacted and a reference areas were identified, characterized by distinct sediment contamination patterns related to different hot spots and diffuse sources of toxicants. The potential risk of sediment-bound toxicants was determined by contrasting the levels of pollutants with available sediment quality guidelines, followed by their integration through the Sediment Quality guideline Quotient (SQG-Q). The SQG-Q estimates per toxicant or class was then subjected to georreferencing and statistical analyses between the five distinct areas and seasons. Biomarker responses were integrated through the Biomarkers Consistency Indice and georreferenced as well through GIS. Overall, in spite of the multiple biological traits surveyed, the biomarker data (from several organisms) are accordant with sediment contamination. The most impacted areas were the shipyard area and adjacent industrial belt, followed by urban and agricultural grounds. It is evident that the estuary, although globally moderately impacted, is very heterogeneous and affected by a cocktail of contaminants, especially metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Although elements (like copper, zinc and even arsenic) may originate from the geology of the hydrographic basin of the Sado River, the majority of the remaining contaminants results from human activities. The present work revealed that the estuary should be divided into distinct biogeographic units, in order to implement effective measures to safeguard environmental quality.

Proteomics based approach to understand tissue regeneration

Dissertation presented to obtain the PhD degree in Biochemistry

Wound Healing: a genetic approach in Drosophila

The wound healing response is an essential mechanism to maintain the integrity of epithelia and protect all organisms from the surrounding milieu. In the “purse-string” mechanism of wound closure, an injured epithelial sheet cinches its hole closed via an intercellular contractile actomyosin cable.(...)

Spiteful Strategies. The ontogeny and the practice of spite in human interaction: an experimental game theory approach and empirical applications

As estratégias de malevolência implicam que um indivíduo pague um custo para infligir um custo superior a um oponente. Como um dos comportamentos fundamentais da sociobiologia, a malevolência tem recebido menos atenção que os seus pares o egoísmo e a cooperação. Contudo, foi estabelecido que a malevolência é uma estratégia viável em populações pequenas quando usada contra indivíduos negativamente geneticamente relacionados pois este comportamento pode i) ser eliminado naturalmente, ou ii) manter-se em equilíbrio com estratégias cooperativas devido à disponibilidade da parte de indivíduos malevolentes de pagar um custo para punir. Esta tese propõe compreender se a propensão para a malevolência nos humanos é inerente ou se esta se desenvolve com a idade. Para esse efeito, considerei duas experiências de teoria de jogos em crianças em ambiente escolar com idades entre os 6 e os 22 anos. A primeira, um jogo 2x2 foi testada com duas variantes: 1) um prémio foi atribuído a ambos os jogadores, proporcionalmente aos pontos acumulados; 2), um prémio foi atribuído ao jogador com mais pontos. O jogo foi desenhado com o intuito de causar o seguinte dilema a cada jogador: i) maximizar o seu ganho e arriscar ter menos pontos que o adversário; ou ii) decidir não maximizar o seu ganho, garantindo que este não era inferior ao do seu adversário. A segunda experiência consistia num jogo do ditador com duas opções: uma escolha egoísta/altruísta (A), onde o ditador recebia mais ganho, mas o seu recipiente recebia mais que ele e uma escolha malevolente (B) que oferecia menos ganhos ao ditador que a A mas mais ganhos que o recipiente. O dilema era que se as crianças se comportassem de maneira egoísta, obtinham mais ganho para si, ao mesmo tempo que aumentavam o ganho do seu colega. Se fossem malevolentes, então prefeririam ter mais ganho que o seu colega ao mesmo tempo que tinham menos para eles próprios. As experiências foram efetuadas em escolas de duas áreas distintas de Portugal (continente e Açores) para perceber se as preferências malevolentes aumentavam ou diminuíam com a idade. Os resultados na primeira experiência sugerem que (1) os alunos compreenderam a primeira variante como um jogo de coordenação e comportaram-se como maximizadores, copiando as jogadas anteriores dos seus adversários; (2) que os alunos repetentes se comportaram preferencialmente como malevolentes, mais frequentemente que como maximizadores, com especial ênfase para os alunos de 14 anos; (3) maioria dos alunos comportou-se reciprocamente desde os 12 até aos 16 anos de idade, após os quais começaram a desenvolver uma maior tolerância às escolhas dos seus parceiros. Os resultados da segunda experiência sugerem que (1) as estratégias egoístas eram prevalentes até aos 6 anos de idade, (2) as tendências altruístas emergiram até aos 8 anos de idade e (3) as estratégias de malevolência começaram a emergir a partir dos 8 anos de idade. Estes resultados complementam a literatura relativamente escassa sobre malevolência e sugerem que este comportamento está intimamente ligado a preferências de consideração sobre os outros, o paroquialismo e os estágios de desenvolvimento das crianças.************************************************************Spite is defined as an act that causes loss of payoff to an opponent at a cost to the actor. As one of the four fundamental behaviours in sociobiology, it has received far less attention than its counterparts selfishness and cooperation. It has however been established as a viable strategy in small populations when used against negatively related individuals. Because of this, spite can either i) disappear or ii) remain at equilibrium with cooperative strategies due to the willingness of spiteful individuals to pay a cost in order to punish. This thesis sets out to understand whether propensity for spiteful behaviour is inherent or if it develops with age. For that effect, two game-theoretical experiments were performed with schoolboys and schoolgirls aged 6 to 22. The first, a 2 x 2 game, was tested in two variants: 1) a prize was awarded to both players, proportional to accumulated points; 2), a prize was given to the player with most points. Each player faced the following dilemma: i) to maximise pay-off risking a lower pay-off than the opponent; or ii) not to maximise pay-off in order to cut down the opponent below their own. The second game was a dictator experiment with two choices, (A) a selfish/altruistic choice affording more payoff to the donor than B, but more to the recipient than to the donor, and (B) a spiteful choice that afforded less payoff to the donor than A, but even lower payoff to the recipient. The dilemma here was that if subjects behaved selfishly, they obtained more payoff for themselves, while at the same time increasing their opponent payoff. If they were spiteful, they would rather have more payoff than their colleague, at the cost of less for themselves. Experiments were run in schools in two different areas in Portugal (mainland and Azores) to understand whether spiteful preferences varied with age. Results in the first experiment suggested that (1) students understood the first variant as a coordination game and engaged in maximising behaviour by copying their opponent’s plays; (2) repeating students preferentially engaged in spiteful behaviour more often than maximising behaviour, with special emphasis on 14 year-olds; (3) most students engaged in reciprocal behaviour from ages 12 to 16, as they began developing higher tolerance for their opponent choices. Results for the second experiment suggested that (1) selfish strategies were prevalent until the age of 6, (2) altruistic tendencies emerged since then, and (3) spiteful strategies began being chosen more often by 8 year-olds. These results add to the relatively scarce body of literature on spite and suggest that this type of behaviour is closely tied with other-regarding preferences, parochialism and the children’s stages of development.

State detection in a financial portfolio: a self-organizing maps approach for financial time series

This study analyses financial data using the result characterization of a self-organized neural network model. The goal was prototyping a tool that may help an economist or a market analyst to analyse stock market series. To reach this goal, the tool shows economic dependencies and statistics measures over stock market series. The neural network SOM (self-organizing maps) model was used to ex-tract behavioural patterns of the data analysed. Based on this model, it was de-veloped an application to analyse financial data. This application uses a portfo-lio of correlated markets or inverse-correlated markets as input. After the anal-ysis with SOM, the result is represented by micro clusters that are organized by its behaviour tendency. During the study appeared the need of a better analysis for SOM algo-rithm results. This problem was solved with a cluster solution technique, which groups the micro clusters from SOM U-Matrix analyses. The study showed that the correlation and inverse-correlation markets projects multiple clusters of data. These clusters represent multiple trend states that may be useful for technical professionals.

Antimicrobial use and incidence of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a teaching hospital: an ecological approach

INTRODUCTION: Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major threat in healthcare settings. The use of antimicrobials can influence the incidence of resistant strains by direct and indirect mechanisms. The latter can be addressed by ecological studies. METHODS: Our group attempted to analyze the relation between the use of antipseudomonal drugs and the incidence of MDR-PA among 18 units from a 400-bed teaching hospital. The study had a retrospective, ecological design, comprising data from 2004 and 2005. Data on the use of four antimicrobials (amikacin, ciprofloxacin, ceftazidime and imipenem) were tested for correlation with the incidence of MDR-PA (defined as isolates resistant to the four antimicrobials of interest) in clinical cultures. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Significant correlations were determined between use and resistance for all antimicrobials in the univariate analysis: amikacin (standardized correlation coefficient = 0.73, p = 0.001); ciprofloxacin (0.71, p = 0.001); ceftazidime (0.61, p = 0.007) and imipenem (0.87, p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, only imipenem (0.67, p = 0.01) was independently related to the incidence of multidrug-resistant strains. CONCLUSIONS: These findings share similarities with those reported in individual-based observational studies, with possible implications for infection control.

Enhancement of an implemented rating model and impact on existing risk management processes: A hands-on approach from financial supplier risk management within the automotive industry

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a methodical drawback analysis of a financial supplier risk management approach which is currently implemented in the automotive industry. Based on identified methodical flaws, the risk assessment model is further developed by introducing a malus system which incorporates hidden risks into the model and by revising the derivation of the most central risk measure in the current model. Both methodical changes lead to significant enhancements in terms of risk assessment accuracy, supplier identification and workload efficiency.

A Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade, Incapacidade e Saúde : um modelo multidimensional e multideterminado da funcionalidade em idosos assistidos na Rede

RESUMO: Os estudos sobre a funcionalidade da população idosa têm uma representação importante naquilo que é o atual conhecimento da demografia do mundo. Portugal posiciona-se e perspetiva-se como pertencendo aos países mais envelhecidos, possuindo uma rede de cuidados pós-agudos – a Rede Nacional de Cuidados Continuados Integrados (RNCCI)– que assiste uma parcela importante dessa população. Os aspetos conceptuais da funcionalidade de acordo com a OMS e operacionalizados pela Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade (CIF), não mereceram até agora suficiente aplicabilidade no nosso país, inviabilizando a possibilidade de oferecermos contributos para a sua operacionalização. Da mesma forma, também os Core Sets da Classificação não têm sido sujeitos a processos de validação que contemplem amostras portuguesas, mantendo-se desconhecimento da especificidade dos fatores contextuais na nossa população. O presente estudo tem como objetivos conhecer a evolução da funcionalidade dos idosos assistidos na RNCCI na região do Algarve nas unidades de convalescença e média duração, validar o Core Set Geriátrico da OMS e propor uma versão abreviada da sua modalidade abrangente, no contexto destes cuidados. A amostra constituída por 451 idosos, dos quais 62,1% eram mulheres, revelou na pré-morbilidade níveis favoráveis de funcionalidade, com exceção para as Atividades Domésticas. Contudo, os mais idosos (≥ 85 anos), os indivíduos sem escolaridade, as mulheres e os viúvos/solteiros apresentaram mais casos desfavoráveis quando comparados com os seus pares. Na evolução da funcionalidade observámos melhorias significativas em todos os domínios avaliados, com diferenças relativamente à idade e à escolaridade; apesar dos resultados positivos os mais idosos e os indivíduos sem escolaridade apresentaram níveis inferiores de evolução. No entanto, a funcionalidade alcançada revelou ficar com resultados significativamente inferiores na comparação com aquela que os indivíduos possuíam na pré-morbilidade. Os modelos de regressão revelaram que as Funções Mentais, a Perceção do Estado de Saúde e a atividade Usar o Telefone, foram as variáveis que melhor explicaram os outcomes da funcionalidade alcançada. A validação do Core Set Geriátrico foi possível na maioria das categorias, sendo que foi no componente das Funções do Corpo onde esse processo revelou maior fragilidade. As Funções Neuromusculoesqueléticas e Relacionadas com o Movimento foram aquelas que registaram em ambos os momentos avaliativos frequências mais elevadas de deficiência, enquanto no componente Atividades & Participação isso ocorreu na atividade Utilização dos Movimentos Finos da Mão. Os capítulos Apoios e Relacionamentos e Atitudes foram considerados os Fatores Ambientais mais Facilitadores mas também com maior impacto Barreira. A proposta para o Core Set Geriátrico Abreviado resultou das categorias independentes que explicaram os modelos da funcionalidade alcançada e cujo resultado engloba um conjunto de 27 categorias, com um enfoque importante no componente Atividades/Participação de onde se destacam os domínios da Mobilidade e dos Auto Cuidados. A funcionalidade dos indivíduos e das populações deve ser considerada uma variável incontornável da Saúde Pública, cuja avaliação deve refletir uma abordagem biopsicossocial, apoiada na Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade. A operacionalização da Classificação a partir dos Core Sets necessita de pesquisa mais aprofundada relativamente às caraterísticas psicométricas dos seus qualificadores e dos seus processos de validação.-----------ABSTRACT: The studies about the functioning of the elderly play an important role on what the present knowledge of the demography in the world is. Portugal figures high on the most aged countries, having a network of post-acute care - the National Network of Integrated Continuous Care (RNCCI) - which assists a large part of that population. The conceptual aspects of functioning according to WHO and operated by the International Classification of Functioning (ICF), have been insufficiently addressed concerning its adequate applicability in our country, hindering the contributions of its operation. In the same way, also the Core Sets of the Classification have not been subjected to validation procedures that include portuguese samples, keeping the unawareness of specificity of the contextual factors in our population. The objectives of the present study were to know the evolution of the functioning of the elderly assisted in the RNCCI in the Algarve region in units of convalescence and average duration, validate the WHO Geriatric Core Set and propose an abridged version of this comprehensive core set in this healthcare context. The sample was composed by 451 elderly people, of which 62.1% were women, they showed favourable levels in functioning in the pre-morbid state, except for Domestic Activities. However, the oldest (≥ 85 years), the individuals with no education, women and widowed/ unmarried showed more unfavourable cases when compared to their peers. In the evolution of functioning we observed significant improvements in all domains assessed, with diferences with respect to age and education. In spite of positive results, the oldest and the individuals with no education showed lower levels of evolution. However, the functioning achieved showed significantly lower results when compared to the those observed in pre-morbidity state. Regression models reveal that Mental Functions, the Perceived Health Status and the Use of the Phone activity, were the variables that better explain the functioning of the outcomes achieved. The validation of the Geriatric Core Set of ICF was possible in most categories, and Body Functions was the component where this process showed greatest weakness. Neuromusculoskeletal and Movement-Related Functions experienced in both evaluation times with higher rates of disability, while in the Activities & Participation component this occurred in the Fine Hand Use activity. The Support and Relationships and Attitudes chapters were considered the Environmental Factors most Facilitators but also with greater impact Barrier. The proposal for the Brief Geriatric Core Set has resulted from the independent categories that explained the regression models of functioning and includes a set of 27 categories, with na important emphasis on Activities & Participation component where we can highlight the areas of Mobility and Self Care domains. The functioning of individuals and populations should be considered as an unavoidable variable of Public Health, of which the assessment should reflect a biopsychosocial approach, based on the International Classification of Functioning. The operationalization of the Classification from the Core Sets requires further research regarding the psychometric characteristics of their qualifiers and their validation procedure.

An integrated approach to Physcomitrella patens transcriptomics reveals importantclues of the evolutionary development of plant organs and sexual reproduction

Land plant evolution required the generation of a new body plan that could resist the harsher and fluctuating environmental conditions found outside of aquatic environments. Unraveling the genetic basis of plant developmental innovations is not only revealing in terms of an evolutionary point of view, but it is also important for understanding the emergence of agronomically important traits. Comparative genetic studies between basal and modern land plants, both at the genome and trancriptome levels, can help in the generation of hypotheses related to the genetic basis of plant evolutionary development.(...)

Fungemia in a university hospital: an epidemiological approach

INTRODUCTION: Fungemia corresponds to the isolation of fungi in the bloodstream and occurs mostly in immunosuppressed patients. The early diagnosis and treatment of these infections are relevant given the serious threat to the affected patients and possible spread to other organs, often becoming fatal. The growing number of fungemia associated with poor prognosis resulted in this research aiming to diagnose and assess the epidemiological aspects of hematogenous infections by fungi. METHODS: The study included 58 blood samples collected within a 1-year period, from patients at the Hospital das Clinicas, Federal University of Pernambuco, by venipuncture in vacuum tubes. Blood samples were processed for direct examination and culture and identification, conducted by observing the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics, as well as physiological characteristics when necessary. RESULTS: Eight (13.8%) episodes of fungemia were identified, accounting for the total sample, and these pathogens were Candida, Histoplasma, Trichosporon, Cryptococcus, and a dematiaceous fungus. C. albicans was the prevalent species, accounting for 37.5% of the cases. Most affected patients were adult males. There was no predominance for any activity, and the risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was the underlying pathology most often cited. CONCLUSIONS: The isolation of fungi considered as emergent species, such as C. membranifaciens and dematiaceous species, highlights the importance of epidemiological monitoring of cases of fungemia in immunocompromised patients, as the therapy of choice depends on the knowledge of the aethiological agent.

Fiscal policy under financial stress: A threshold VAR approach

The purpose of the project is to measure the impact of fiscal policy on the Portuguese GDP and how it may vary according to the state of the financial market. A Threshold VAR model is presented in which the two regimes are found using a financial stress index that divides the economy into a situation of financial stress and financial stability.