Articulação entre a vida profissional, familiar e pessoal: Um estudo de caso na PSP do COMETLIS

Dissertação de Mestrado em Sociologia das Organizações e do TrabalhoO risco e stress da profissão de polícia desencadeiam um desgaste físico e psicológico, que coloca desafios consideráveis à articulação entre a vida profissional, familiar e pessoal. O presente estudo tem como objectivo geral conhecer as condições familiares e profissionais que influenciam a articulação entre a vida profissional, familiar e pessoal dos/as Agentes da Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP). A nível metodológico foi aplicado um inquérito por questionário a 414 Agentes de 11 Divisões do Comando Metropolitano de Polícia de Lisboa (COMETLIS). No plano empírico testaram-se os modelos de Allen (2001), Carlson, Kacmar e Williams (2000) e Neto (2014), com vista a avaliar a articulação entre a vida profissional, familiar e pessoal dos/as Agentes da PSP do COMETLIS. Os resultados apontam para a influência de ter filhos/as menores de idade, ter idosos/as ou pessoas dependentes a seu cargo, assim como a idade como variáveis com influência considerável na articulação com a vida profissional. A nível profissional, as variáveis, trabalho por turnos, categoria profissional, anos de serviço e estar deslocado/a em serviço, foram apontadas pelos/as Agentes como condicionantes na articulação com a vida familiar e pessoal. Neste estudo verificam-se ainda diferenças de género na articulação entre a vida profissional, familiar e pessoal.The danger and stress of police officer career induce physical and psychological distress, which poses considerable challenges articulating professional and familiar/personal life. The present study aimed to know the family and professional conditions that influence the articulation between personal, family and professional lives of the Public Security Police (PSP) police agents. At the methodological level, a questionnaire survey was applied to 414 police agents of 11 divisions of Lisbon Metropolitan Police Command (COMETLIS). At the empirical level, the models of Allen (2001), Carlson, Kacmar and Williams (2000) and Neto (2014) were tested in order to evaluate the articulation between professional and familiar/personal life of police agents. The results point to the influence of having underage children, having elderly or dependent people, as well as age as variables with considerable influence on the articulation with professional life. At the professional level, the variables, shift work, professional category, years of service and being displaced in service, were pointed out by the Agents as conditioning factors in the articulation with family and personal life. In this study there are also gender differences in the articulation between professional, family and personal life.N/

Avaliação do papel de DLL4 na neo-angiogénese tumoral em modelos murinos de cancro da próstata

O cancro da próstata é hoje em dia um importante problema de saúde pública. Em Portugal, é o tipo de cancro mais frequente no homem, causando cerca de 10% da mortalidade por cancro. A maioria dos homens são diagnosticados em estádios iniciais da doença e nalguns casos é desenvolvida recorrência e, eventualmente, doença metastática. Hoje em dia, a terapia utilizada no tratamento do cancro da próstata, na maioria dos casos, provoca efeitos secundários e não fornece uma cura, surgindo a necessidade do desenvolvimento de novas estratégias de quimioterapia para o controlo eficaz desta patologia. A terapia anti-angiogénica tem vindo a ser incorporada em vários protocolos terapêuticos contra o cancro, constituindo uma abordagem promissora como adjuvante da quimioterapia convencional. Contudo, sabe-se que os tumores tratados com fármacos bloqueadores do fator de crescimento vascular endotelial A (VEGFA), desenvolvem resistência ao tratamento e nem todos os tipos de tumores são sensíveis a esta terapia. Deste modo, surge a necessidade do desenvolvimento de terapias anti-angiogénicas alternativas para complementar os tratamentos existentes, melhorando-as e impedindo o desenvolvimento de resistências. Recentemente, a sinalização Delta-like 4 (Dll4)/Notch tem sido identificada como um novo e promissor alvo na angiogénese tumoral. O bloqueio da função de Dll4 tem demonstrado ter um efeito pró-angiogénico nos tumores, promovendo um aumento da neo-vasculatura tumoral. Paradoxalmente, este bloqueio inibe o desenvolvimento tumoral devido à formação de vasos imaturos e não-funcionais, com subsequente aumento do nível de hipoxia no tumor. Contudo, apesar da notoriedade destas informações, é fundamental a realização de mais estudos, nomeadamente, utilizando-se modelos de tumores autóctones, de forma a ser feita uma avaliação mais fiável da eficácia de terapias anti-angiogénicas baseadas no bloqueio de Dll4. Neste sentido, o trabalho de investigação desenvolvido tem como objetivo a caracterização da expressão alterada de Dll4 no desenvolvimento de tumores prostáticos. Para isso recorreu-se à análise de uma linha de murganhos TRAMP (TRansgenic Adenocarcinoma of the Mouse Prostate), que desenvolve adenocarcinoma da próstata, com sobre-expressão ou deleção de Dll4, no endotélio. A caracterização fenotípica dos mutantes com ganho-de-função endotelial de Dll4 revelou uma diminuição do crescimento tumoral, devido ao efeito anti-angiogénico de Dll4, impedindo a resposta das células endoteliais aos estímulos pró-angiogénicos. Simultaneamente verificou-se que o aumento dos níveis de expressão de Dll4 promove a estabilização dos vasos já existentes, através do recrutamento de células de suporte. iii Por outro lado, confirmou-se os resultados anteriormente referidos em outros modelos animais, em relação aos mutantes com perda-de-função endotelial de Dll4. No seu conjunto os resultados mostram que o gene Dll4 desempenha um papel fulcral como regulador negativo do crescimento vascular angiogénico e, ao mesmo tempo, como regulador positivo dos fatores de normalização da vasculatura tumoral. Estes fatos sustentam a hipótese do controlo do funcionamento de Dll4 apresentar potencial terapêutico na luta contra o cancro da próstata, como agonista ou antagonista, dependendo do tipo tumoral e do resultado da avaliação de segurança e eficácia destas terapias que deverão ser feitos, especialmente quando combinada com outros fármacos.Prostate cancer is an important public health problem. In Portugal, this is the most common type in humans, causing about 10% of cancer mortality. Most patients are diagnosed at early stages of the disease and in some cases develope recurrence and metastatic disease. Current treatments for prostate cancer are mainly associated with side effects and fail to provide a cure. The anti-angiogenic therapy has been incorporated in various cancer therapeutic protocols and it is a promising approach as an adjuvant to conventional chemotherapy. However, it is known that tumors treated with the currently approved anti-angiogenic VEGF-targeting drug can develop resistance and not all tumor types are sensitive to such therapy. Therefore, alternative angiogenesis-based therapies are required to complement the existing treatments, improve them and prevent the development of resistance. Recently, the Delta 4 (Dll4) / Notch signaling has been identified as a promising new target in tumor angiogenesis. The inhibition of Dll4 in tumors has revealed a pro-angiogenic effect, which leads to an increase in tumor neo-vasculature. Paradoxically, this blockage inhibits the tumor growth due to the formation of immature and non-functional vessels, with subsequent increased levels of tumor hypoxia. However, further studies using autochthones tumor models are needed for a more reliable evaluation the efficacy of Dll4-based anti-angiogenic therapies. In this work were carried out trials to characterize the altered expression of Dll4 in prostatic tumor development. For this we used the animal model TRAMP (TRansgenic Adenocarcinoma of the Mouse Prostate), which develops prostate adenocarcinoma with Dll4 overexpression or Dll4 deletion in the endothelium. Phenotypic characterization of mutants with gain-of-function endothelial Dll4 showed a decrease of tumor growth due to an anti-angiogenic effect of Dll4, preventing the endothelial cell’s response to pro-angiogenic stimuli. Simultaneously, the increased expression of Dll4 promoted the stabilization of existing vessels through the recruitment of support cells. Moreover, the results previously described in other animal models with Dll4 endothelial loss-of-function were confirmed. Taken together, these results show that the Dll4 gene plays an important role in prostatic tumor angiogenesis, both as a negative regulator of vascular growth and as a positive regulator of pro-maturation and vascular normalization factors. These observations support the hypothesis that controlling the function of Dll4 may represent an effective therapeutic approach for the treatment of solid tumors. The use of Dll4 agonists or antagonists will probably depend on the tumor type as well as on further toxicity and efficacy analyses, especially when combined with other drugs

Modelos de cura: aplicação ao cancro da mama feminino

A Análise de Sobrevivência tem como objetivo o estudo do tempo desde um instante inicial bem definido até ao acontecimento de determinado evento. Por exemplo, poderá ser o tempo de vida de um indivíduo desde o momento em que lhe é diagnosticada uma doença até a sua morte ou cura. Com a evolução da medicina, começou a se verificar a existência de indivíduos para os quais nunca se observava o acontecimento de interesse e designaram-se esses indivíduos por curados, imunes, ou não suscetíveis. Assim, da Análise de Sobrevivência clássica surgem os modelos de cura. Neste trabalho, aplicaram-se estes conceitos a uma base de dados referentes a 833 mulheres diagnosticadas com cancro da mama, entre 1998 e 2005. Verificou-se a existência de um risco de morte maior em mulheres na faixa etária dos 50 a 59 anos. Comprovou-se que o estadiamento tem um papel preponderante em relação ao prognóstico, sendo que, quanto mais avançado o estadio pior o prognóstico. Dos tratamentos a que os doentes foram submetidos, a realização de cirurgia é indicativa de um melhor prognóstico, assim como a realização de hormonoterapia e de radioterapia. No entanto, este último tratamento não se revelou estatisticamente significativo para o modelo de regressão de Cox. A realização de quimioterapia apenas reflete um melhor prognóstico nos primeiros dois anos, o que já não acontece a partir dai. Esta caraterística inesperada ficou-se a dever à esperança de vida que o tratamento oferece aos doentes no estadio IV e da associação entre a existência de gânglios metastizados e o agravamento do prognóstico, no caso do estadio II. O modelo de cura foi aplicado apenas ao grupo de mulheres no estadio IV, pois só neste caso se admitiu que o tempo de follow-up era suficiente, obtendo-se uma taxa de cura de 7;4%.Universidade da Madeir

From Moore to Cavino: the invisible cities of 20th Century planning

The contrast between the social and urban Utopia of Thomas Moore and the English Society of the sixteenth century can be used as an excuse to reflect on the concept of Utopia as an idea that is not possible to concretize when it is proposed but can be feasible some years later. In the planning of 20th-Century New Towns we often find a strong component of Utopia due to the inadequacy to the social and/or technical conditions of the moment. The contrast between the ideal plan and the construct results (when there are any) is often strong, allowing us to consider the existing of an invisible city that is hidden behind the actual urban spaces; it can be a utopia waiting to be concretized or a dystopia caused by an unforeseen evolution of urban spaces and social dynamics. In the 1972 work of Calvino, The Invisible Cities, we find a poetic discourse about the city that can be interpreted as a critical reflection on the ideas and results of the coeval urban practices. In this paper, we intent to present an interpretation of some of the 20th Century urban ideas based on the reading of the eleven themes of this book. The links that can be established between the various Invisible Cities (moving and combining them, like the pieces of a chess game) inspire the formulation of several assumptions that can be related to the images, forms and ideas of some Archetypes and Utopias of 20th Century planning: Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, Mies van der Rohe’s plan for the IIT in Chicago, Minoru Yamasaki’s Pruitt-Igoe housing complex, Robert Ventury’s (et al.) studies on Las Vegas and Levittown, the images produced by Archigram and the theoretical work of Jane Jacobs, Aldo Rossi, Kevin Lynch, Rem Koolhaas, François Ascher and Joel Garreau

Association between bilirubin and lipid profile in Portuguese elderly individuals

Several studies showed that mildly elevated bilirubin blood concentration is inversely associated to coronary artery disease (CAD). The most commonly mechanism contributing to CAD prevention is the bilirubin antioxidant effect, protecting several macromolecules from oxidation. Recently, other studies have found that higher serum bilirubin levels (BL) are associated with beneficial effects improving lipid profile and that might contribute to decrease cholesterol and triacylglycerol. In the meantime, a consistently negative association between BL and body mass index (BMI) was observed. The aim of this study was evaluate the cardiovascular risk protection by bilirubin analyzing the association between bilirubin levels and lipid profile in elderly. Clinical data, anthropometric measurements (BMI, Visceral Fat and Body Fat Percentage), lipid profile (total cholesterol-TC; triglycerides-TG; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol-HDL-c; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol-LDL-c; apoliprotein A-Apo-A; apoliprotein B-Apo-B) were evaluated in 70 institutionalized elderly, 43 females (mean age= 88.2±5.5 years old) and 27 males (mean age= 87.7±7.7 years old). Anthropometric measurements were obtained by bioimpedance, using specific scale (Tanita BC Model: 545). The lipid parameters were performed in autoanalyzer (Cobas Mira S, Roche, Switzerland) using available commercial kits. Correlation analysis revealed positive associations between BL and the HDL-c in males (total bilirubin: r=0.51; p<0.007) and no association in females (r=0.40; p<0.50). Positive associations were also found to TB levels and Apo-A (males: r=0.40; p<0.50 and females: r=0.270; p<0.013). Interestingly, the conjugated bilirubin present a stronger positive association with this two parameters (male: r=0.64; p<0.000; female: r=0.29; p<0.052). No associations were found between bilirubin and triglycerides; total cholesterol and anthropometric measurements. Low levels of HDL-c are a risk factor for coronary heart disease. A similar association has been shown for Apo-A1. These results suggest higher bilirubin is associated with higher cardioprotective agents, which indicates that the determination of total bilirubin should be included for more accurate cardiovascular disease risk assessment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effects of age on the identification of emotions in facial expressions: a meta-analysis

© 2018 Gonçalves et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.Background: Emotion identification is a fundamental component of social cognition. Although it is well established that a general cognitive decline occurs with advancing age, the effects of age on emotion identification is still unclear. A meta-analysis by Ruffman and colleagues (2008) explored this issue, but much research has been published since then, reporting inconsistent findings. Methods: To examine age differences in the identification of facial expressions of emotion, we conducted a meta-analysis of 24 empirical studies (N = 1,033 older adults, N = 1,135 younger adults) published after 2008. Additionally, a meta-regression analysis was conducted to identify potential moderators. Results: Results show that older adults less accurately identify facial expressions of anger, sadness, fear, surprise, and happiness compared to younger adults, strengthening the results obtained by Ruffman et al. (2008). However, meta-regression analyses indicate that effect sizes are moderated by sample characteristics and stimulus features. Importantly, the estimated effect size for the identification of fear and disgust increased for larger differences in the number of years of formal education between the two groups. Discussion: We discuss several factors that might explain the age-related differences in emotion identification and suggest how brain changes may account for the observed pattern. Furthermore, moderator effects are interpreted and discussed.This research was supported by a grant from the Fundação BIAL. Carina Fernandes was supported by a doctoral grant from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Carina Fernandes - SFRH/BD/112101/2015).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vapor-phase of essential oils as a promising solution to prevent Candida vaginal biofilms caused by antifungal resistant strains

Background: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a disease with high incidence, a huge impact on the quality of life and health of women, and which represents a great challenge to treat. The growing need to apply antifungal intensive therapies have contributed to an emergence of drug-resistant Candida strains. Thus, effective therapeutic options, to meet the antifungal-resistance challenge and to control high resilient biofilms, are urgently needed. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of essentials oils (EOs) on drug-resistant Candida vaginal isolates. Method: Therefore, the antimicrobial effect of tea tree, niaouli, white thyme, and cajeput EOs on the planktonic growth of Candida isolates was initially evaluated by an agar disc diffusion method. Then, the vapor-phase effect of tea tree EO (VP-TTEO) on biofilm formation and on pre-formed biofilms was evaluated by crystal violet staining, XTT reduction assay, colony forming units’ enumeration, and scanning electron microscopy. Results: The results revealed high antifungal activity of EOs against drug-resistant Candida isolates. Additionally, the VP-TTEO showed a significant inhibitory effect on the biofilm formation of all tested isolates and was able to provoke an expressive reduction in mature Candida albicans biofilms. Conclusions: Overall, this study suggests that the VP-EO may be a promising solution that is able to prevent biofilm-related VVC caused by antifungal-resistant strains.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit and grant ref 2020.05720.BD for Liliana Fernandes. Also, this study was supported by LABBELS—Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Microelectromechanical Systems, LA/P/0029/2020 and Maria Elisa Rodrigues thanks FCT for funding through program DL 57/2016—Norma transitória.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Studies on the interaction of three lytic bacteriophages with a wide collection of Escherichia coli strains implicated in swine enteric colibacillosis

bioRxiv - the Preprint Server for BiologyThe misuse of antibiotics in the swine industry and their on-going restriction requires alternatives to control enterotoxigenic and shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (ETEC and STEC, respectively). This study evaluates the potential of three coliphages, vB_EcoM_FJ1, vB_EcoM_FN and vB_EcoM_SP1 against 104 ETEC, STEC and ETEC/STEC strains isolated from pig colibacillosis in Portuguese (2018-2020) and Spanish farms (2006-2016), encompassing 71.2% mcr-positive strains (33.7% with mcr-1, 1.9% mcr-2, 35.6% mcr-4 and 2.9% mcr-5) and 18.3% positive strains for TEM (1%), SHV (6.7%), and CTX-M (11.5%) extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-encoding genes. In general, all bacteriophages presented a narrow lytic spectrum (up to 2.9%) against the 104 ETEC, STEC and ETEC/STEC. Bacteriophages shared >80% overall nucleotide identity with E. coli phage T4 (Tevenvirinae subfamily), but a particular look at the distal part of the long tail fiber (gp38) revealed no homology. All bacteriophages recognize lipopolysaccharides as receptors, and additionally, FN binds to an outer membrane protein A. Bacteriophage-insensitive mutants of vB_EcoM_FJ1 (90%) and vB_EcoM_FN (100%) were shown to be more susceptible to pig serum inactivation comparatively to the parental strain and furthermore, their adhesion capacity to porcine intestinal cells was diminished by, approximately, 90%. Contrariwise, vB_EcoM_SP1 insensitive variants did not display phenotypic differences comparing to the wild-type strain. This study demonstrates that besides being T4-like, these bacteriophages revealed a narrow lytic spectrum against diarrhoeagenic E. coli strains and that the acquisition of novel bacteriophage-encoded adhesins (gp38) seems to be determinant for such results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Molecular identification of lactic acid producing bacteria isolated from alheira, a traditional Portuguese fermented sausage

Portuguese traditional fermented meat products constitute a valued economic and cultural heritage. The objective of this work was to screen the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) present in thealheira. 25 LABs were identified by Sanger sequencing of the 16S ribosomal gene. Sequencing results were aligned with sequences from the NCBI database using the BLAST algorithm. Genetic analysis showed a diverse lactic acid producing microbiome, and LABs from the family Lactobacillaceae and Leuconostocaceae were dominant, found in 64% of samples, while other organisms of the family Streptococcaceae and Enterococcaceae were found in 36% of samples. This work enabled the identification of LAB normally present in a traditional Portuguese product, as well as the desired technological characteristics that they can bestow to the product.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). The authors are also grateful to the EU PRIMA programme, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for funding the ArtiSaneFood project (PRIMA/0001/2018).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio