Production of co-amorphous materials with therapeutic activity

Poster presented at the 2nd International Congress of CiiEM: “Translational Research and Innovation in Human and Health Sciences”. Egas Moniz, Caparica, Portugal, 11-13 June 2017N/

Co-formability, solubility enhancement and stability of Olanzapine co-amorphous systems produced with different co-formers

Abstract of the poster presented at the 4th International Congress of CiiEM - "Health, Well-being and Ageing in the XXI Century." 2-5 June 2019, Campus Egas Moniz, Monte de Caparica, PortugalN/

Aplicações de LiDAR terrestre ao estudo da morfodinâmica de praias encaixadas

Tese de mestrado em Geologia Aplicada, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2013Este trabalho teve como principal objectivo investigar a aplicabilidade do LiDAR terrestre ao estudo de evolução morfológica de praias encaixadas. Nesse sentido, este método de aquisição de dados topográficos foi testado em quatro praias do litoral do distrito de Lisboa e de Leiria caracterizadas por singularidades na sua morfologia (presença de afloramentos rochosos, depósitos de sopé da arriba, dunas embrionárias, meandrização da secção terminal de ribeiras e estruturas de defesa costeira), difíceis de caracterizar com recurso aos métodos tradicionais de levantamento topográfico (estação total e equipamentos GPS). Com base nos dados iniciais (que tipicamente se designam por nuvem de pontos) derivaram-se modelos digitais de superfície (MDS) de alta resolução, a partir dos quais se extraiu toda a informação necessária, para estudar a evolução morfológica das praias: perfis e superfícies com a representação das diferenças topográficas. Neste trabalho procurou-se avaliar o erro associado ao equipamento e à metodologia. A comparação entre os resultados obtidos com LiDAR terrestre e GPS-RTK revelou uma elevada correlação. A exploração dos dados centrou-se no estudo da evolução morfodinâmica das praias, através da análise de perfis topográficos e em cálculos de balanço sedimentar. Verificou-se que os levantamentos de LiDAR terrestre facultam grande pormenor na caracterização de padrões espaciais complexos, inclusive ao nível da topografia detalhada do areal, incluindo a avaliação da respectiva micro-rugosidade. Em condições óptimas, observou-se a possibilidade de avaliar as características da agitação marítima incidente.This study's main objective was to investigate the applicability of terrestrial LiDAR in studies of the morphological evolution of pocket beaches. Thus, this method of acquiring topographic data has been tested on four beaches of the Lisbon and Leiria district coast characterized by singularities in their morphology (presence of rocky outcrops, slope deposits, dunes, meanders of terminal section of water lines and costal structures) which are difficult to characterize using traditional methods of surveying (total station and GPS equipment). High resolution digital surface models (DSM) were derived from the initial data (point cloud) and the necessary information was extracted to study the morphological evolution of beaches: profiles and surfaces with the representation of topographical differences. This study sought to evaluate the error associated with the equipment and the methodology. The comparison between results obtained using terrestrial LiDAR and GPS-RTK showed a high correlation. Data analysis focused on the study of the morphodynamic evolution of beaches through the topographic profiles analysis and calculations of the sediment budget. It was found that terrestrial LiDAR surveys provide great detail in the characterization of complex spatial patterns, including detailed topography of the beach to the level of its micro-roughness. Under optimal conditions, it was possible of evaluate the characteristics of the incident wave regime

Comparison of the co-amorphization ability of Olanzapine with amino, carboxylic and sulfonic acids

Abstract of the poster presented at the 3rd European Conference on Pharmaceutics. 25-26 March 2019, Bologne, ItalyN/

GC-MS-based endometabolome analysis differentiates prostate cancer from normal prostate cells

Prostate cancer (PCa) is an important health problem worldwide. Diagnosis and management of PCa is very complex because the detection of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) has several drawbacks. Metabolomics brings promise for cancer biomarker discovery and for better understanding PCa biochemistry. In this study, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabolomic profiling of PCa cell lines was performed. The cell lines include 22RV1 and LNCaP from PCa with androgen receptor (AR) expression, DU145 and PC3 (which lack AR expression), and one normal prostate cell line (PNT2). Regarding the metastatic potential, PC3 is from an adenocarcinoma grade IV with high metastatic potential, DU145 has a moderate metastatic potential, and LNCaP has a low metastatic potential. Using multivariate analysis, alterations in levels of several intracellular metabolites were detected, disclosing the capability of the endometabolome to discriminate all PCa cell lines from the normal prostate cell line. Discriminant metabolites included amino acids, fatty acids, steroids, and sugars. Six stood out for the separation of all the studied PCa cell lines from the normal prostate cell line: ethanolamine, lactic acid, β-Alanine, L-valine, L-leucine, and L-tyrosine.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inhibition of several bacterial species isolated from squid and shrimp skewers by different natural edible compounds

Seafood is an excellent source of nutrients, essential for a healthy diet, ranging from proteins and fatty acids to vitamins and minerals. Seafood products are highly perishable foods due to their nutritional characteristics and composition. The application of nontoxic, natural, and edible preservatives to extend the shelf-life and inhibit bacterial proliferation of several foods has been a hot topic. Consequently, this work aimed to perform the microbiological characterization of squid and shrimp skewers during their shelf-life (five days) and evaluate the susceptibility of randomly isolated microorganisms to several natural edible compounds so that their application for the preservation and shelf-life extension of the product might be analyzed in the future. The product had considerably high total microorganisms loads of about 5 log CFU/g at day zero and 9 log CFU/g at day five. In addition, high bacterial counts of Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacterales, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were found, especially on the last day of storage, being Pseudomonas the dominant genus. However, no Escherichia coli or Listeria monocytogenes were detected on the analyzed samples. One hundred bacterial isolates were randomly selected and identified through 16s rRNA sequencing, resulting in the detection of several Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas spp., and LAB. The antibacterial activity of carvacrol, olive leaf extract, limonene, Citrox®, different chitosans, and ethanolic propolis extracts was evaluated by the agar diffusion method, and the minimum inhibitory concentration was determined only for Citrox® since only this solution could inhibit all the identified isolates. At concentrations higher than or equal to 1.69% (v/v), Citrox® demonstrated bacteriostatic and bactericidal activity to 97% and 3% of the isolates, respectively. To our knowledge, there are no available data about the effectiveness of this commercial product on seafood isolates. Although preliminary, this study showed evidence that Citrox® has the potential to be used as a natural preservative in these seafood products, improving food safety and quality while reducing waste. However, further studies are required, such as developing a Citrox®-based coating and its application on this matrix to validate its antimicrobial effect.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Discrimination between the human prostate normal and cancer cell exometabolome by GC-MS

Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is currently the most used biomarker in clinical practice for prostate cancer (PCa) detection. However, this biomarker has several drawbacks. In this work, an untargeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabolomic profiling of PCa cells was performed to prove the concept that metabolic alterations might differentiate PCa cell lines from normal prostate cell line. For that, we assessed the differences in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profile in the extracellular medium (exometabolome) of four PCa cell lines and one normal prostate cell line at two pH values (pH 2 and 7) by GC-MS. Multivariate analysis revealed a panel of volatile metabolites that discriminated cancerous from normal prostate cells. The most altered metabolites included ketones, aldehydes and organic acids. Among these, we highlight pentadecane-2-one and decanoic acid, which were significantly increased in PCa compared to normal cells, and cyclohexanone, 4-methylheptan-2-one, 2-methylpentane-1,3-diol, 4-methylbenzaldehyde, 1-(3,5-dimethylfuran-2-yl)ethanone, methyl benzoate and nonanoic acid, which were significantly decreased in PCa cells. The PCa volatilome was markedly influenced by the VOCs extraction pH, though the discriminant capability was similar. Overall, our data suggest that VOCs monitoring has the potential to be used as a PCa screening methodology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Advances and perspectives in prostate cancer biomarker discovery in the last 5 years through tissue and urine metabolomics

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most diagnosed cancer in men worldwide. For its screening, serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) test has been largely performed over the past decade, despite its lack of accuracy and inability to distinguish indolent from aggressive disease. Metabolomics has been widely applied in cancer biomarker discovery due to the well-known metabolic reprogramming characteristic of cancer cells. Most of the metabolomic studies have reported alterations in urine of PCa patients due its noninvasive collection, but the analysis of prostate tissue metabolome is an ideal approach to disclose specific modifications in PCa development. This review aims to summarize and discuss the most recent findings from tissue and urine metabolomic studies applied to PCa biomarker discovery. Eighteen metabolites were found consistently altered in PCa tissue among different studies, including alanine, arginine, uracil, glutamate, fumarate, and citrate. Urine metabolomic studies also showed consistency in the dysregulation of 15 metabolites and, interestingly, alterations in the levels of valine, taurine, leucine and citrate were found in common between urine and tissue studies. These findings unveil that the impact of PCa development in human metabolome may offer a promising strategy to find novel biomarkers for PCa diagnosis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Understanding uncontrolled eating after bariatric surgery: the role of excessive skin and body image shame

Excess skin and disordered eating behaviors are referred to as some of the major negative consequences of bariatric surgery as well as body image shame. This study sought to explore how discomfort with excessive skin, body image shame, psychological distress, eating-related psychopathology, and negative urgency interact to understand uncontrolled eating among woman submitted to bariatric surgery. A cross-sectional sample of 137 women was evaluated postoperatively through self-report questionnaires assessing discomfort with excess skin, body image shame, eating-related psychopathology, negative urgency, and uncontrolled eating in a hospital center in the north of Portugal. Pearson correlations and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were performed. Body image shame mediated the relationship between discomfort with excess skin and eating-related psychopathology. In turn, the relationship between eating-related psychopathology and uncontrolled eating was mediated by negative urgency. This study highlights the impact of excess skin and body image shame on eating behavior post-bariatric-surgery. Considering the proven impact of uncontrolled eating on weight-loss results post-surgery, understanding the mechanisms underlying this problem is highly important. Our findings provide helpful insight for multidisciplinary teams committed to providing care to bariatric patients struggling with body image and eating difficulties.This research was partially conducted at Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), University of Minho, through support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2020), through the national funds (PIDDAC) and by grants to Eva Conceição (2020.01538.CEECIND and PTDC/PSI-GER/28209/2017) and Marta de Lourdes (SFRH/BD/146470/2019)