Online transition of an international minor in physiotherapy in acute care

Introduction: To meet the global health ongoing needs, physiotherapists should have competences to intervene in conditions and contexts throughout the life cycle of their clients/patients. Educating physiotherapy students in the knowledge and skills required to operate in an acute care setting both expands and improves their entry level capabilities as well as prepares them to intervene with patients regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Alcoitão School of Health Sciences, Portugal and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands took the initiative to develop an International Minor Physiotherapy Course in Acute Care, in order to address the ongoing demand in this specific environment, using the opportunities given by the ERASMUS+, namely student and teachers mobility programs. Methodology: The content was developed using the international descriptors of competences of the Physiotherapist in Acute Care. Pedagogical and assessment strategies were chosen to reflect the competencies to be achieved, with a strong focus on active learning. This Minor as taught entirely online using asynchronous and synchronous strategies. Results: At the end of the Minor edition, students answered anonymous online questionnaire on the organizational and pedagogical aspects. The data revealed a very favourable opinion regarding the contents discussed (more than 80% strongly agree), pedagogical approaches used, such as online activities (more than 90% agree/strongly agree), teacher support (88% agree/strongly agree). Students were satisfied with Minor's adaptation to the pandemic context, allowing them to obtain the necessary skills to work in this context. Conclusions: Based on the positive responses from the students, we consider the implementation to be successful. The next steps are to integrate hybrid learning methodologies and broaden the participation of students and professors from other international institutions. Promoting skills and knowledge needed to work in acute care meets the growing need for professionals capable of working in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Forecasting Particulate Matter Concentrations: Use of Unorganized Machines

Air pollution is an environmental issue studied worldwide, as it has serious impacts on human health. Therefore, forecasting its concentration is of great importance. Then, this study presents an analysis comprising the appliance of Unorganized Machines – Extreme Learning Machines (ELM) and Echo State Networks (ESN) aiming to predict particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 m (PM2.5) and less than 10 m (PM10). The databases were from Kallio and Vallilla stations in Helsinki, Finland. The computational results showed that the ELM presented best results to PM2.5, while the ESN achieved the best performance to PM10

Poly(lactic acid)/graphite nanoplatelet nanocomposite filaments for ligament scaffolds

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most prone to injury in the human body. Due to its insufficient vascularization and low regenerative capacity, surgery is often required when it is ruptured. Most of the current tissue engineering (TE) strategies are based on scaffolds produced with fibers due to the natural ligamentâ s fibrous structure. In the present work, composite filaments based on poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA) reinforced with graphite nanoplatelets (PLA+EG) as received, chemically functionalized (PLA+f-EG), or functionalized and decorated with silver nanoparticles [PLA+((f-EG)+Ag)] were produced by melt mixing, ensuring good filler dispersion. These filaments were produced with diameters of 0.25 mm and 1.75 mm for textile-engineered and 3D-printed ligament scaffolds, respectively. The resulting composite filaments are thermally stable, and the incorporation of graphite increases the stiffness of the composites and decreases the electrical resistivity, as compared to PLA. None of the filaments suffered significant degradation after 27 days. The composite filaments were processed into 3D scaffolds with finely controlled dimensions and porosity by textile-engineered and additive fabrication techniques, demonstrating their potential for ligament TE applications.This research was funded by FCT through the National Funds Reference UIDB/05256/2020 and UIDP/05256/2020, the FCT and European Program FEDER/COMPETE through the project PTDC/BTM-MAT/28123/2017, and the FCT, European Union and European Social Fund (FSE) through the PhD Grant Reference SFRH/BD/138244/2018

Pseudotyping retrovirus like particles vaccine candidates with Hepatitis C virus envelope protein E2 requires the cellular expression of CD81

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects 3% of world population being responsible for nearly half a million deaths annually urging the need for a prophylactic vaccine. Retrovirus like particles are commonly used scaffolds for antigens presentation being the core of diverse vaccine candidates. The immunogenicity of host proteins naturally incorporated in retrovirus was hypothesized to impact the performance of retrovirus based vaccines. In this work, the capacity of engineered retrovirus like particles devoided of host protein CD81 to display HCV envelope antigens was compared to non-engineered particles. A persistent inability of CD81 negative VLPs to incorporate HCV E2 protein as a result from the inefficient transport of HCV E2 to the plasma membrane, was observed. This work enabled the identification of a CD81-mediated transport of HCV E2 while stressing the importance of host proteins for the development of recombinant vaccines.publishe

Methods for calculating nonconcave entropies

Five different methods which can be used to analytically calculate entropies that are nonconcave as functions of the energy in the thermodynamic limit are discussed and compared. The five methods are based on the following ideas and techniques: i) microcanonical contraction, ii) metastable branches of the free energy, iii) generalized canonical ensembles with specific illustrations involving the so-called Gaussian and Betrag ensembles, iv) restricted canonical ensemble, and v) inverse Laplace transform. A simple long-range spin model having a nonconcave entropy is used to illustrate each method.Comment: v1: 22 pages, IOP style, 7 color figures, contribution for the JSTAT special issue on Long-range interacting systems. v2: Open problem and references added, minor typos corrected, close to published versio

Engineering ligament scaffolds based on PLA/graphite nanoplatelet composites by 3D printing or braiding

The development of scaffolds for tissue-engineered growth of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a promising approach to overcome the limitations of current solutions. This work proposes novel biodegradable and biocompatible scaffolds matching the mechanical characteristics of the native human ligament. Poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA) scaffolds reinforced with graphite nano-platelets (PLA+EG) as received, chemically functionalized (PLA+f-EG), or functionalized and decorated with silver nanoparticles [PLA+((f-EG)+Ag)], were fabricated by conventional braiding and using 3D-printing technology. The dimensions of both braided and 3D-printed scaffolds were finely controlled. The results showed that the scaffolds exhibited high porosity (>60%), pore interconnectivity, and pore size suitable for ligament tissue ingrowth, with no relevant differences between PLA and composite scaffolds. The wet state dynamic mechanical analysis at 37 °C revealed an increase in the storage modulus of the composite constructs, compared to neat PLA scaffolds. Either braided or 3D-printed scaffolds presented storage modulus values similar to those found in soft tissues. The tailorable design of the braided structures, as well as the reproducibility, the high speed, and the simplicity of 3D-printing allowed to obtain two different scaffolds suitable for ligament tissue engineering.This research was funded by FCT through the National Funds Reference UIDB/05256/2020 and UIDP/05256/2020, the FCT and European Program FEDER/COMPETE through the project PTDC/BTM-MAT/28123/2017, and the FCT, European Union and European Social Fund (FSE) through the PhD Grant Reference SFRH/BD/138244/2018

Mosquito species distribution in mainland Portugal 2005-2008

Information on distribution and relative abundance of the mosquito fauna of mainland Portugal has been collected by several surveillance programmes and projects over a long period. The work presented here documents additional information provided by capture of adult mosquitoes by the use of CDC light traps baited with CO2 in 48 localities in 13 districts in different parts of mainland Portugal during the period 2005-2008, and by larval surveys using dippers. More than 150,000 adult mosquitoes and 3,000 larvae belonging to 16 species were identified at the National Institute of Health / Centre for Vectors and Infectious Diseases Research. The three commonest species were Ochlerotatus caspius, Culex pipiens, and Cx. theileri. The most widespread species was Cx. pipiens, followed by Culiseta longiareolata. The composition and abundance of the different mosquito populations varied between geographical locations. Only larvae of two species, Cx. hortensis and Cx. laticinctus, were found. Some effects of collection methods on a complete picture of mosquito distribution and abundance are discussed

On the physico-mechanical, electrical and dielectric properties of mullite-glass composites

Mullite-glass composites were obtained by solid-state reactive sintering of kaolinite clay and kaolin waste mixtures with waste additions up to 100 wt%. The structural and microstructural analysis of starting powders and sintered samples were evaluated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The mechanical properties were evaluated by measuring the flexural strength of sintered bodies. Electrical properties of the composites were assessed by impedance spectroscopy (at 30 °C and from 400 to 700 °C) in air. A viscous flux mechanism resulting from the glassy phase filled up the open porosity and increased the mechanical strength. Electrical conductivity, dielectric constant and dielectric loss were strongly dependent on the microstructural features, namely glassy phase and porosity. The activation energies (0.89–0.99 eV) for electrical conduction were lower than typical literature values of mullite-based materials. The results indicated that the herein synthesized mullite-glass composites with up to 53.6 wt% mullite are promising low-cost materials for electronics-related applications.publishe

Efeitos da liderança transformacional na inovação: uma revisão sistemática de literatura / Effects of transformational leadership on innovation: a systematic literature review

O objetivo principal deste artigo é sistematizar o conhecimento existente na literatura que aborda as relações entre Liderança Transformacional (LT) e Inovação nas organizações. A metodologia escolhida para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho foi a pesquisa bibliográfica, por meio de uma revisão sistemática de literatura no banco de dados SCOPUS. Os resultados demonstram uma predominante influência da liderança transformacional nos processos de inovação, uma vez que, uma liderança bem preparada, treinada e capacitada para a gestão, desenvolve mecanismos para criar um ambiente propício para inovação e processos inovadores, aumentando desta forma, a performance criativa dos colaboradores