Changes in the BCG-Induced T cell response over the first year of life

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-238).Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), the only currently available tuberculosis vaccine, is the most widely administered vaccine in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI). Despite this, many gaps in our knowledge of BCG-induced T cell responses exist. The primary objective of this study was to comprehensively delineate T cell immunity induced by BCG vaccination of newborns and to longitudinally assess BCG-specific T cell responses over the first year of life

Imagining Humans in the Age of DNA: Genetics and Contemporary British Fiction

This thesis examines to what extent modern genetics has influenced novelists to adopt a more deterministic view of human beings. It has been claimed that molecular biology, behavioural genetics and evolutionary psychology have challenged traditional ideas about humankind. My hypothesis is that if gene-centred disciplines changed the way we see ourselves, then this would have implications for the literary novel, a genre that depends greatly on representations of humans. In analysing how genetics was incorporated in contemporary British fiction, I try to uncover the ways in which the human characters deal with – or are constrained or empowered by – scientific products or concepts. In addition, I seek to understand what novelists know and think about human genetics, and whether they believe it influenced their stories. Attention is also paid to novelists’ relationship with scientists’ cognitive authority. Specifically, I am interested in whether experts and scientific knowledge were positioned hierarchically above lay audiences and other forms of knowledge. To answer those questions, extended semi-structured interviews and textual analysis were chosen as main research methods. Six literary novels were selected for analysis. This corpus consists of: A.S. Byatt’s A Whistling Woman, Carole Cadwalladr’s The Family Tree, Margaret Drabble’s The Peppered Moth, Maggie Gee’s The Ice People, Simon Mawer’s Mendel’s Dwarf and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. The main conclusion of this project is that novelists are able to incorporate ideas about genetics in their texts without simply perpetuating reductionist discourses. Literary novels offer several advantages compared to the expository writing: they are a flexible literary form; deal imaginatively with the human experience; and effortlessly accommodate multiple perspectives, open-ended questions and complex ideas such as doubt and ambiguity. As such, this genre affords the opportunity to explore contemporary science as a provisional, contingent and socially-embedded endeavour

Fermentation of fruit juices by the osmotolerant yeast Candida magnoliae

This study focuses on the assessment of the fermentation conditions required to modulate the metabolic flux in the osmotolerant yeast Candida magnoliae and evaluate its potential to produce low-alcoholic and low-caloric fermented beverages. For that purpose, two strains, PYCC 2903 and PYCC 3191, were used and fermentation conditions as oxygenation, sugar concentration and the ratio of glucose to fructose were studied using synthetic culture media. Candida magnoliae PYCC 2903 was subsequently used to ferment real industrial fructose-rich substrates such as fruit juices. Sugar consumption profiles for C.magnoliae PYCC 2903 incubated aerobically in the presence of high fructose and glucose concentrations (15%, 10% and 5%) showed a selective utilization of fructose, denoting a preference for this sugar over glucose. The lower ratio between ethanol and sugar alcohols yield was obtained for both strains incubated under oxygen limitation simulating industrial fructose-rich substrates, confirming the ability of this yeast to direct fermentation towards alternative products. Enzymatic assays for hexokinase activity in terms of capacity and affinity for glucose and fructose were performed, aiming to elucidate its contribution to the fructophilic behaviour of this yeast. Enzymatic assays for both strains showed that the Vmax is two to threefold higher for fructose than for glucose but Km is also 10-20-fold higher for this sugar than for glucose. Hence, hexokinase kinetic properties do not explain fructophily in C.magnoliae. This indicates that fructose transport is probably determining in this respect, as observed for other fructophilic yeasts. Fruit juice fermentations with C.magnoliae PYCC 2903 revealed a potential for the production of beverages with interesting sensorial properties. Pear and peach fermentations exhibited the best results with the lowest ratio between ethanol and sugar alcohols yield and the most pleasant organoleptic features

Transition to Higher Education: lifestyle changes, health condition and academic success of first-year students

Lifetime normative transitions comprising significant ecological structural changes, as the transition to higher education, represent a risk factor in the adoption and maintenance of less healthy lifestyles. Health-related behaviors and attitudes (HBA) that form part of personal lifestyle are variables that affect students’ health condition and academic success. A sample of first-year students (N = 546) from the University of Coimbra (academic year: 2009/2010) was collected in order to study “students in transition” lifestyle (viz. HBA changes; perceived impact on health condition, adaptation process and academic performance; intended changes), health condition, quality of the adaptation process and academic performance, as well as the associations among these variables. Although the prevalence of HBA had changed after university entry, most of the students maintained a high number of positive HBA but exhibited alarming levels of alcohol consumption and physical activity. The two previously mentioned HBA seemed to play an important yet conflicting role in health condition and academic success. Most of the results are consistent with the literature and provided important information for planning an initiative focused on promoting health and academic success in this specific context

Graduados Estrangeiros em Situação de Desemprego em Portugal Características e análise de expetativas

O desemprego é um fenómeno que preocupa as sociedades, sobretudo quando ele existe entre a população mais qualificada. Portugal dispõe de uma fração considerável de estrangeiros, qualificados, a maioria dos quais graduados em universidades portuguesas, em situação de desemprego. O estudo aqui desenvolvido pretende aumentar os conhecimentos sobre este grupo. Para o efeito procede-se à sua caracterização e avaliam-se as suas expetativas futuras, designadamente o desejo de regressar ao país de origem, e não fazer parte do fenómeno de Brain Drain.N/

different delays, different risk factors

Funding Information: The study was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the National School of Public Health, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal (PTDC/SAU-PUB/31346/2017). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Background: Delay in Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis affects foreign-born and nationals in different ways, especially in low-incidence countries. This study characterises total delay and its components amongst foreign-born individuals in Portugal. Additionally, we identify risk factors for each type of delay and compare their effects between foreign-born and nationals. Methods: We analysed data from the Portuguese TB surveillance system and included individuals with pulmonary TB (PTB), notified between 2008 and 2017. We described patient, healthcare, and total delays. Cox regression was used to identify factors associated with each type of delay. All analyses were stratified according to the origin country: nationals (those born in Portugal) and foreign-born. Results: Compared with nationals, foreign-born persons presented statistically significant and longer median total and patient delays (Total: 67 vs. 63; Patient: 44 vs. 36 days), and lower healthcare services delays (7 vs. 9 days). Risk factors for delayed diagnosis differed between foreign-born and nationals. Being unemployed, having drug addiction, and having comorbidities were identified as risk factors for delayed diagnosis in national individuals but not in foreigners. Alcohol addiction was the only factor identified for healthcare delay for both populations: foreign-born (Hazard Ratio 1.34 [95% confidence interval 1.17;1.53]); nationals (Hazard Ratio 1.20 [95% confidence interval 1.13;1.27]). Conclusions: Foreign-born individuals with PTB take longer to seek health care. While no specific risk factors were identified, more in-depth studies are required to identify barriers and support public health intervention to address PTB diagnosis delay in foreign-born individuals.publishersversionpublishe

O cuidado de enfermagem baseado em evidência : a influência da introdução da chupeta no primeiro mês de vida na duração da amamentação

O presente relatório de estágio pretende descrever o processo de aquisição e desenvolvimento de competências do EESMO nas áreas de cuidado de gravidez, trabalho de parto e pós-parto, tendo subjacente o Regulamento de Competências de Cuidados Especializados definidas pela Ordem dos Enfermeiros. Assim, ao longo do trabalho são apresentados e fundamentados, nas diferentes áreas, os planeamentos de cuidados prestados ao casal e sua família. Durante a transição para a parentalidade, a amamentação apresenta-se como uma das áreas mais geradora de dúvidas e sobre a qual existem, socialmente, crenças inibidoras do seu sucesso. Esta, após o parto, torna-se também numa das áreas de cuidado parentais mais desafiantes e exigentes física e emocionalmente. Atualmente, a OMS recomenda a não utilização de chupetas ou mamilos artificiais, até que a amamentação esteja bem estabelecida. A chupeta é ainda hoje considerada como um dos recursos mais eficazes para consolar o RN com dor ou desconforto promovendo, através da sucção, o seu bem-estar. Também se sabe hoje que a chupeta apresenta um importante papel na redução da SMSL, mais frequente durante os seis primeiros meses de vida do bebé. Contudo, devido à existência de dados que relacionam o uso da chupeta com o desmame precoce, a AAP apenas recomenda o seu uso após o primeiro mês de vida. Devido às recomendações recentes, fortemente impulsionadoras do seu uso, e devido ao facto de ainda não ser totalmente claro de que forma a utilização de chupeta conduz ao desmame precoce, tornou-se importante investigar a relação entre a introdução da chupeta no RN (durante o primeiro mês de vida) e a sua influência na duração do processo de amamentação através da realização de uma Revisão Integrativa da Literatura. Os resultados deste estudo não são claros, coexistindo estudos de elevada evidência científica sobre o tema com resultados divergentes. Contudo, os estudos que mostram diferenças na duração da IV amamentação, nos RN onde a chupeta foi introduzida, não consideram fatores descritos na literatura como fundamentais no estabelecimento da amamentação como a motivação da mulher para amamentar. Assim, tal como os resultados também variam nos estudos analisados, a explicação para o fenómeno do desmame associado à introdução da chupeta permanece pouco claro. Parece existir uma conjugação de fatores que pode promover a diminuição da duração da amamentação, contudo quando estudadas mulheres altamente motivadas para amamentar parecem não existir diferenças significativas entre os RN que usam chupeta e os que não a utilizam. Assim, o EESMO deve informar o casal e realizar uma avaliação dos dados referentes ao processo de amamentação de cada mulher de forma a promover uma tomada de decisão informada neste domínio da parentalidade. Considera-se pertinente a realização de estudos que evidenciem e clarifiquem quais as dificuldades enfrentadas pelas mulheres que realizam o desmame precoce. É ainda necessária a realização de mais estudos de elevada relevância científica que relacionem a introdução da chupeta e a duração da amamentação tendo em consideração a motivação para amamentar e o projeto de amamentação de cada casal

Doctor Versus Midwifery-led Care: A Commentary on a Task-shift, not Only Complex but Difficult to Accept

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