Aspects of safety: what should be considered?

Main objectives: 1. To appreciate the core competencies and the radiographer's role as a key element to ensure patient safety at the imaging department. 2. To learn about the main concepts of patient safety related to the radiographer's professional responsibility and ethics outlines at the imaging department level from a public or private hospital or even at the private practice level. 3. To discuss ways to promote patient safety and quality in imaging

Evidence based practice in radiology: the radiographer perspective

This study is included in the exploratory-descriptive type, since it aims to analyze the applicability of knowledge and evidence based radiology by radiographers during their daily work and their academic education

Forests as promoters of water ecosystem services: insights from Portugal

Forests provide multiple ecosystem services, with relevance for the ones related to water. It is widely accepted that forests greatly influence the water cycle, promoting evapotranspiration, improving infiltration, reducing surface runoff and consequently soil erosion, although sometimes at expenses of a reduction in total water yield. In fact, forests are targeted for several measures to restore freshwater and land ecosystems, conserving biodiversity and at the same time improving the revenues of landowners, especially if Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are in place. However, the environmental effectiveness of these measures is not always acknowledged, especially due to the lack of local studies. Therefore, the objective of this presentation is to gather information based on modelling exercises applied to case-studies in Portugal, in which forests influence the provision of ecosystem services related to water in terms of quantity and quality. First, the results from an econometric model based on spatial variables applied to continental Portugal will be presented. Results suggested the existence of a positive and significant effect of local forest cover on water treatment cost savings of 0.056%. Secondly, scenarios of afforestation were simulated in SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) for two watersheds of northern Portugal. Results revealed that forests have a positive role on the regulation of water, in particular for the scenario of native deciduous type of trees, such as oak. Moreover, forests influence water quality, in terms of less nitrates in the river, and less soil erosion, when compared to a scenario of agricultural expansion. Lastly, a SWAT application in a small watershed in Central Portugal with scenarios of afforestation vs. fires, showed that soil erosion protection and water quality regulation provided by forests might be negatively affected by fire occurrence. Overall, further work should be done to consider fire risk over PES schemes applied to the Mediterranean forest.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Design of a lipid nanovesicle system encapsulating bacteriophages integrated in a multiple emulsion formulation: A proof-of-concept

Development of a biotechnological process for the inhalational administration of a bacteriophage was pursued, using strategies of nanoencapsulation within lipid nanovesicles. As a proof-of-concept for the nanoencapsulation strategy, a bacteriophage with broad lytic spectrum was entrapped within W/O/W multiple nanoemulsions. Physicochemical characterization of the optimized bacteriophage-encasing nanovesicles encompassed determination of particle hydrodynamic size, size distribution and particle charge via DLS, surface morphology via CRYO-SEM, and thermal analysis via DSC, whereas antimicrobial activity of the nanoemulsions produced was assessed in vitro using several bacterial strains. The optimized nanosystems showed no phase separation and encompassed nanovesicles with an average size of ca. 114 nm and an average Zeta Potential of ca. -13 mV, which were maintained stable over a storage timeframe of ca. 3 months.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Potential association of HCF164, a chloroplast nuclear-encoded thioredoxin-like protein, with Coffea SH9 resistance factor against Hemileia vastatrix

29th Conference of Association for the Science and Information on Coffee, 11 Sept. - 14 Sept. 2023 Hanoi, Vietnaminfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

N-terminal-pro-B type natriuretic peptide as a useful tool to evaluate pulmonary hypertension and cardiac function in CDH infants

Objective: In congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) the severity of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is considered, by several authors, determinant of clinical outcome. Plasmatic N-terminal-pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) might be useful in diagnosis and management of PH in newborns, although its interest in CDH infants remains to be defined. Early NT-proBNP levels were assessed in CDH infants and correlated with cardiovascular echocardiographic parameters. Patients and Methods: 28 newborns, CDH and age-matched controls were enrolled in a prospective study. Clinical condition, NT-proBNP plasmatic levels, echo parameters of PH and biventricular function were assessed at 24 h after delivery as well as survival outcome. Results: Estimated mean pulmonary pressure and NT-proBNP were significantly higher in CDH than control infants. NT-proBNP significantly correlated with estimated pulmonary artery pressure, right ventricular Tei index, and tricuspid E/A ratio. Additionally, we found that CDH infants with NT-proBNP >11,500 pg/ml experienced a worse prognosis. Conclusions: We demonstrated that PH is associated with NT-proBNP elevation and diastolic impairment in CDH infants. Early elevations in NT-proBNP levels seem to alert for a subset of CDH infants with worse prognosis. Copyrigh

Conditional expression of apical membrane antigen 1 in Plasmodium falciparum shows it is required for erythrocyte invasion by merozoites

Malaria is caused by obligate intracellular parasites, of which Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal species. In humans, P. falciparum merozoites (invasive forms of the parasite) employ a host of parasite proteins to rapidly invade erythrocytes. One of these is the P. falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (PfAMA1) which forms a complex with rhoptry neck proteins at the tight junction. Here, we have placed the Pfama1 gene under conditional control using dimerizable Cre recombinase (DiCre) in P. falciparum. DiCre‐mediated excision of the loxP‐flanked Pfama1 gene results in approximately 80% decreased expression of the protein within one intraerythrocytic growth cycle. This reduces growth by 40%, due to decreased invasion efficiency characterized by a post‐invasion defect in sealing of the parasitophorous vacuole. These results show that PfAMA1 is an essential protein for merozoite invasion in P. falciparum and either directly or indirectly plays a role in resealing of the red blood cell at the posterior end of the invasion event.Alan Yap, Mauro F. Azevedo, Paul R. Gilson, Greta E. Weiss, Matthew T. O’Neill, Danny W. Wilson, Brendan S. Crabb and Alan F. Cowma

Analyzing and modelling the effect of long-term fertilizer management on crop yield and soil organic carbon in China

This study analyzes the influence of various fertilizer management practices on crop yield and soil organic carbon (SOC) based on the long-term field observations and modelling. Data covering 11 years from 8 long-term field trials were included, representing a range of typical soil, climate, and agro-ecosystems in China. The process-based model EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate model) was used to simulate the response of crop yield and SOC to various fertilization regimes. The results showed that the yield and SOC under additional manure application treatment were the highest while the yield under control treatment was the lowest (30%–50% of NPK yield) at all sites. The SOC in northern sites appeared more dynamic than that in southern sites. The variance partitioning analysis (VPA) showed more variance of crop yield could be explained by the fertilization factor (42%), including synthetic nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) fertilizers, and fertilizer NPK combined with manure. The interactive influence of soil (total N, P, K, and available N, P, K) and climate factors (mean annual temperature and precipitation) determine the largest part of the SOC variance (32%). EPIC performs well in simulating both the dynamics of crop yield (NRMSE = 32% and 31% for yield calibration and validation) and SOC (NRMSE = 13% and 19% for SOC calibration and validation) under diverse fertilization practices in China. EPIC can assist in predicting the impacts of different fertilization regimes on crop growth and soil carbon dynamics, and contribute to the optimization of fertilizer management for different areas in China

Integrative transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches to unravel the resistance profile of Kawisari coffee against Hemileia vastatrix

29th Conference of Association for the Science and Information on Coffee, 11 Sept. - 14 Sept. 2023 Hanoi, Vietnaminfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio