Método semi-automático em MatLab para calcular o coeficiente de dispersão de eritrócitos em microcanais

O sangue é um fluido fisiológico de elevada importância para o normal funcionamento do organismo humano pois desempenha funções essenciais à vida. Um ser humano possui cerca de 5 litros de volume sanguíneo no organismo onde, aproximadamente, metade desse volume é composto por eritrócitos e estes influenciam fortemente as propriedades do escoamento sanguíneo. A microcirculação tem uma função muito importante na circulação sanguínea pois é nesta que ocorre a maioria das trocas de substâncias entre o sangue e os tecidos vizinhos. O estudo do comportamento dos eritrócitos apresenta uma elevada importância na avaliação precoce de alterações comportamentais dos mesmos evitando o aparecimento e a evolução de patologias no organismo. Neste estudo, com o auxílio do MatLab, foi desenvolvido um método semi-automático para o cálculo do Coeficiente de dispersão de eritrócitos em microcanais. O algoritmo desenvolvido em MatLab foi validado através da comparação com um método manual e foi testado em vários elementos selecionados e seguidos em segmentos de imagens, obtidos por um sistema de micoscopia confocal (Leble et al., 2011, Lima et al., 2006, 2008). Os resultados obtidos foram bastante satisfatórios. A validação do método automático foi positiva, apresentando um erro despresável em comparação com o método manual. Os resultados obtidos no cálculo do coeficiente de dispersão através do método semi-automático aproximaram-se dos valores teóricos esperados

Portugal

During 2011, Portugal experienced a strong reduction of electricity demand. With a decrease of 2.3%, the total consumption was 50.5 TWh (1). Due to a mild winter season, the most relevant renewable generation facilities (hydro and wind) experienced a strong production reduction in comparison with 2010. In 2011, Portuguese wind farms produced 21 GWh less than the previous year. It is only because of the decrease in consumption that wind penetration achieved a value of 18%. The growth of the wind sector has maintained the pace of 2010, and 315 MW were added. This amounts to a total installed capacity of 4,302 MW, representing 22% of the electric system’s installed capacity (1). In November 2011, a milestone for Portuguese offshore wind development was achieved with the successful deployment of its first offshore floating wind turbine – WindFloat (opening photo)

Offshore wind field: Application of statistical models as a spatial validation technique

Generally, atmospheric mesoscale models are used as tools to perform wind atlases. In recent decades, significant efforts have been applied to the development and improvement of this kind of models to reduce their systematic errors. These ones are assessed when model results are compared with observations. In practice, such errors could be statistically corrected if observational data was available for the same area. A deviation matrix of the wind field between WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) mesoscale model and wind data retrieved from the QuiKSCAT satellite was obtained by the application of two statistical techniques – kriging interpolation and composite method. The spatial validation performance was evaluated with observational wind data from an anemometric mast installed on Berlengas islet since November 2006 to the present. The following are a preliminary assessment of the statistical methods as spatial validation techniques. These are a part of the spatial validation methodology to be used within the EU FP7 NORSEWInD project

A Transcriptomic Approach to the Recruitment of Venom Proteins in a Marine Annelid

CEECIND/02699/2017The growing number of known venomous marine invertebrates indicates that chemical warfare plays an important role in adapting to diversified ecological niches, even though it remains unclear how toxins fit into the evolutionary history of these animals. Our case study, the Polychaeta Eulalia sp., is an intertidal predator that secretes toxins. Whole-transcriptome sequencing revealed proteinaceous toxins secreted by cells in the proboscis and delivered by mucus. Toxins and accompanying enzymes promote permeabilization, coagulation impairment and the blocking of the neuromuscular activity of prey upon which the worm feeds by sucking pieces of live flesh. The main neurotoxins ("phyllotoxins") were found to be cysteine-rich proteins, a class of substances ubiquitous among venomous animals. Some toxins were phylogenetically related to Polychaeta, Mollusca or more ancient groups, such as Cnidaria. Some toxins may have evolved from non-toxin homologs that were recruited without the reduction in molecular mass and increased specificity of other invertebrate toxins. By analyzing the phylogeny of toxin mixtures, we show that Polychaeta is uniquely positioned in the evolution of animal venoms. Indeed, the phylogenetic models of mixed or individual toxins do not follow the expected eumetazoan tree-of-life and highlight that the recruitment of gene products for a role in venom systems is complex.publishersversionpublishe

The reflex of the past : the role of youth victimisation trauma on the interpersonal reactivity

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The role of youth victimization trauma on the interpersonal reactivity

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/

Validation of an offshore wind atlas using the satellite data available at the coastal regions of Portugal

In this study a validation methodology for regional mesoscale model simulations when ingested with surface wind data inferred from satellite sources around Continental Portugal is evaluated. Observational wind data from a “quasi” offshore anemometric mast located in the Berlenga Island – near Peniche region – was used for the validation study. Satellite sources of wind data under assessment are the ones being used in the EC funded FP7 NORSEWInD project, such as the QuikSCAT and SAR. The validation study evolves 10 years of full wind data, starting in January 2000 to December 2009. The evaluation was performed in two different spatial validation approaches. Results from this study indicate that the wind satellite data has good quality to be assimilated on high resolution mesoscale model simulations particularly the ones concerned with long term behavior of the wind field near the coastal areas

Identificação por "Multiplex PCR" do sorotipo monofásico e atípico Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica sorotipo 1,4,[5],12:i:-, no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil: freqüência e resistência antimicrobiana

Salmonella spp. are the etiologic agents of salmonellosis, a worldwide spread zoonoses causing foodborne outbreaks and clinical diseases. By serological identification, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype 1,4,[5],12:i:- accounted for 8.8% of human and 1.6% of nonhuman Salmonella strains isolated in São Paulo State, during 1991-2000. A total of 28.6% of them amplified a fragment corresponding to H:1,2 (flagellar phase two) through PCR analysis and were further assigned as S. Typhimurium. Antimicrobial resistance was detected in 36.3% of the 369 PCR-negative strains tested, including the multiresistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, sulfonamides, tetracycline, and streptomycin.Salmonella spp. é o agente etiológico da salmonelose, zoonose mundialmente distribuída e responsável por surtos de doenças transmitidas por alimentos e doenças clínicas. Sorologicamente, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica sorotipo 1,4,[5],12:i:- correspondeu a 8,8% e 1,6% das cepas de Salmonella de origem humana e não-humana, respectivamente, isoladas no Estado de São Paulo, no decênio 1991-2000. Aproximadamente 28,6% destas cepas amplificaram o fragmento correspondente a H:1,2 (fase flagelar dois) em testes de PCR e foram, então, identificadas como S. Typhimurium. Das 369 cepas negativas em PCR, 36,3% apresentou resistência antimicrobiana, incluindo multirresistência a ampicilina, cloranfenicol, sulfonamidas, tetraciclina e estreptomicina

Using Sequential Quadratic Programming for System Identification

System identification plays an important role in the development of process simulators and controllers. The ability to determine correctly the model parameters directly affects the model quality and, therefore, the model based controller performance. This work details the development of a system identification approach and its computational implementation based on sequential quadratic programming (SQP) in which first and second order linear systems, represented in state-space, are identified from simulated and from real industrial process data. Both single-input single-output and multivariable processes are considered. The resulting optimization problem may become not trivial to solve as one of the examples illustrates. It is shown how a rescaling of the decision variables or the use of a priori process knowledge may be used in order to overcome the difficulties and to improve the quality of the results

Valorization of coffee agro-industry residues for prebiotic production by one-pot fermentation

Prebiotics are interesting compounds able to modulate the gut microbiota by inducing the growth or activity of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, while the pathogenic ones are inhibited. Several carbohydrates have been considered prebiotics including xylooligosaccarides (XOS). XOS are the only nutraceuticals that can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass. Indeed, XOS can be produced from agro-residues, which is encouraging to the food ingredient industries, as these raw materials are inexpensive, abundant and renewable in nature. In particular, the coffee agro-industry generates million tonnes of solid residues yearly worldwide, including coffee sliver skin (CSS). The use of coffee agro-industry residues for XOS production through a sustainable process is undoubtably aligned with the concept of circular economy. In this work, the production potential of XOS was evaluated for CSS and CSS pellets (CP), using one-pot fermentation by recombinant Bacillus subtills. In previous work, this strain was genetically modified to express the xylanase gene (xyn2) from Trichoderma reesei. CP presented the highest potential for XOS production. After process optimization, the highest reducing sugars yield (63 ± 3 mg.gCP-1) was achieved at 8 h, 45 °C, pH 7.0 and 10 g.L-1 of CP. One-pot fermentation proved to be a promising strategy for XOS production from CP, presenting advantages over the use of commercial enzymes. This study provides important insights for novel bioprocess integration approaches using agro-residues towards production cost reduction.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio