Integrated urban monitoring framework: a conceptual framework for land dynamics monitoring

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Structural reliability assessment based on optical monitoring system: case study

ABSTRACT Optical systems are recognized to be an important tool for structural health monitoring, especially for real time safety assessment, due to simplified system configuration and low cost when compared to regular systems, namely electrical systems. This work aims to present a case study on structural health monitoring focused on reliability assessment and applying data collected by a simplified optical sensing system. This way, an elevated reinforced concrete water reservoir was instrumented with a bi-axial optical accelerometer and monitored since January 2014. Taking into account acceleration data, the natural frequencies and relative displacements were estimated. The reliability analysis was performed based on generalized extreme values distribution (GEV) and the results were employed to build a forecast of the reliability of the water elevated reservoir for the next 100 years. The results showed that the optical system combined with GEV analysis, implemented in this experimental work, can provide adequate data for structural reliability assessment

Novel 1-hydroxy-1,1-bisphosphonates derived from indazole: synthesis and characterization

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are an important class of drugs used in the treatment of abnormal calcium metabolism diseases. The first syntheses of bisphosphonates derived from indazole, substituted at the N-1, N-2 and C-3 positions are reported. The 1-hydroxy-1,1-bisphosphonates were synthesized from the corresponding carboxylic acid or acyl chloride compounds, by two different methods. These BPs have a side chain with different lengths ((CH2)n, n = 0-5) between the indazole ring and the bisphosphonate group

Global overview on advances in structural health monitoring platforms

Advances in the development of sensors, data processing systems, and numerical models have motivated the implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM) specially focused on the assessment of structural safety. Thus, this work presents a literature review about SHM platforms, especially from 1993 to 2015. In this way, a short history review about the recent advances on SHM, mainly related with dynamic monitoring, was summarized, and a benchmark and the main guidelines related with SHM platforms were also included in this review. Some case studies are also described here. Special attention was given to SHM platforms, and a method for their classification (an extension of Rytter's method) is presented. In addition, experiences related with heritage constructions, specially focused on maintenance, were included in this work. In the final section, some observations are made about the new prospects for SHM. The recent advances on SHM platforms contributed to the development of adaptive systems and to the cost reduction of the monitoring systems implementation, allowing the increase of its application in real structures. However, the monitoring systems should be implemented, optimizing all the available sensing technologies

Copper Acts Synergistically With Fluconazole in Candida glabrata by Compromising Drug Efflux, Sterol Metabolism, and Zinc Homeostasis

Funding Information: This work was supported by (1) Project LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007660 (“Microbiologia Molecular, Estrutural e Celular”) funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 – “Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização” (POCI); (2) “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia” (FCT) through programme IF (IF/00124/2015) to CP; (3) the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 810856; (4) COST Action CA15133, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology); and (5) PPBI – Portuguese Platform of BioImaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122) co-funded by national funds from OE – “Orçamento de Estado” and by FEDER. AG-C was supported by a FCT Ph.D. fellowship (SFRH/BD/118866/2016), and CA and VP by a FCT contract according to DL57/2016 (SFRH/BPD/74294/2010 and SFRH/BPD/87188/2012, respectively). Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Gaspar-Cordeiro, Amaral, Pobre, Antunes, Petronilho, Paixão, Matos and Pimentel.The synergistic combinations of drugs are promising strategies to boost the effectiveness of current antifungals and thus prevent the emergence of resistance. In this work, we show that copper and the antifungal fluconazole act synergistically against Candida glabrata, an opportunistic pathogenic yeast intrinsically tolerant to fluconazole. Analyses of the transcriptomic profile of C. glabrata after the combination of copper and fluconazole showed that the expression of the multidrug transporter gene CDR1 was decreased, suggesting that fluconazole efflux could be affected. In agreement, we observed that copper inhibits the transactivation of Pdr1, the transcription regulator of multidrug transporters and leads to the intracellular accumulation of fluconazole. Copper also decreases the transcriptional induction of ergosterol biosynthesis (ERG) genes by fluconazole, which culminates in the accumulation of toxic sterols. Co-treatment of cells with copper and fluconazole should affect the function of proteins located in the plasma membrane, as several ultrastructural alterations, including irregular cell wall and plasma membrane and loss of cell wall integrity, were observed. Finally, we show that the combination of copper and fluconazole downregulates the expression of the gene encoding the zinc-responsive transcription regulator Zap1, which possibly, together with the membrane transporters malfunction, generates zinc depletion. Supplementation with zinc reverts the toxic effect of combining copper with fluconazole, underscoring the importance of this metal in the observed synergistic effect. Overall, this work, while unveiling the molecular basis that supports the use of copper to enhance the effectiveness of fluconazole, paves the way for the development of new metal-based antifungal strategies.publishe

Effects of low-frequency noise on cardiac collagen and cardiomyocyte ultrastructure: an immunohistochemical and electron microscopy study

"Introduction: Low-frequency noise (LFN) leads to the development of tissue fibrosis. We previously reported the development of myocardial and perivascular fibrosis and a reduction of cardiac connexin43 in rats, but data is lacking concerning the affected type of collagen as well as the ultrastructural myocardial modifications. Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify cardiac collagens I and III and to evaluate myocardial ultrastructural changes in Wistar rats exposed to LFN. Methods: Two groups of rats were considered: A LFN-exposed group with 8 rats continuously submitted to LFN during 3 months and a control group with 8 rats. The hearts were sectioned and the mid-ventricular fragment was selected. After immunohistochemical evaluation, quantification of the collagens and muscle were performed using the image J software in the left ventricle, interventricular septum and right ventricle and the collagen I/muscle and collagen III/muscle ratios were calculated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to analyze mid-ventricular samples taken from each group. Results: The collagen I/muscle and collagen III/muscle ratios increased in totum respectively 80% (p<0.001) and 57.4% (p<0.05) in LFN-exposed rats. TEM showed interstitial collagen deposits and changes in mitochondria and intercalated discs of the cardiomyocytes in LFN-exposed animals. Conclusions: LFN increases collagen I and III in the extracellular matrix and induces ultrastructural alterations in the cardiomyocytes. These new morphological data open new and promising paths for further experimental and clinical research regarding the cardiac effects of low-frequency noise.

Internet Severity and Activities Questionnaire (ISAAQ): tradução e adaptação para Português Europeu

Introdução: A internet, ao potenciar comportamentos que se podem configurar como adições comportamentais, pode ter efeitos particularmente negativos em grupos vulneráveis que importa compreender melhor (Fineberg et al., 2018; Dores et al., 2021). Por se tratar de uma área recente, o reduzido número de instrumentos padronizados disponíveis para o seu estudo tem sido uma limitação, designadamente em Portugal. Objetivos: Este trabalho tem como objetivo traduzir, adaptar para Português Europeu o Internet Severity and Activities Questionnaire (ISAAQ; Ioannidis et al., 2023; Omrawo et al., 2023) e estudar as propriedades psicométricas da nova versão. Métodos: Participaram neste estudo 590 estudantes do Ensino Superior (ES), sendo 502 do género feminino (85.1%). Responderam a um inquérito online, constituído por questões sociodemográficas, e pelos instrumentos ISAAQ, Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) e Internet Gaming Disorder Scale –Short-Form (IGDS9-SF). Procedeu-se à tradução, retroversão e adaptação do instrumento original, parte A – Escala de Severidade e Parte B – Escala de Atividades Online. Foi analisada a consistência interna, a fiabilidade teste-reteste, efetuada a análise fatorial exploratória (AFE), e calculadas a validade convergente e a validade de critério. Foi efetuada a correlação entre as características sociodemográficas e o ISAAQ, e uma análise de frequências da secção B do instrumento. Resultados: A consistência interna revlou-se quase excelente (α = .892). A validade convergente do ISAAQ foi estabelecida através de uma correlação alta com o IAT e a validade do critério foi estabelecida através de uma correlação moderada com o número de horas diárias despendidas nas redes sociais. Os participantes do género feminino e os participantes com doença mental obtiveram pontuações mais altas na secção A do ISAAQ. O mesmo sucedeu com os utilizadores das redes sociais Instagram, Twitter e TikTok. Foi estabelecida uma correlação significativa positiva baixa entre as pontuações do BSMAS e do IGDS-9. Conclusão: O instrumento apresentou boas propriedades psicométricas, revelando-se um instrumento válido e fiável para o contexto português. Em trabalhos futuros espera-se a tradução deste instrumento para outros países da Lusofonia

Internet severity and activities questionnaire (ISAAQ): tradução e adaptação para português europeu

A internet, ao potenciar comportamentos que se podem configurar como adições comportamentais, pode ter efeitos particularmente negativos em grupos vulneráveis que importa compreender melhor (Fineberg et al., 2018; Dores et al., 2021). Por se tratar de uma área recente, o reduzido número de instrumentos padronizados disponíveis para o seu estudo tem sido uma limitação, designadamente em Portugal. Este trabalho tem como objetivo traduzir, adaptar para Português Europeu o Internet Severity and Activities Questionnaire (ISAAQ; Ioannidis et al., 2023; Omrawo et al., 2023) e estudar as propriedades psicométricas da nova versão. Participaram neste estudo 590 estudantes do Ensino Superior (ES), sendo 502 do género feminino (85.1%). Responderam a um inquérito online, constituído por questões sociodemográficas, e pelos instrumentos ISAAQ, Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) e Internet Gaming Disorder Scale –Short-Form (IGDS9-SF). Procedeu-se à tradução, retroversão e adaptação do instrumento original, parte A – Escala de Severidade e Parte B – Escala de Atividades Online. Foi analisada a consistência interna, a fiabilidade teste-reteste, efetuada a análise fatorial exploratória (AFE), e calculadas a validade convergente e a validade de critério. Foi efetuada a correlação entre as características sociodemográficas e o ISAAQ, e uma análise de frequências da secção B do instrumento. Resultados: A consistência interna revlou-se quase excelente (α = .892). A validade convergente do ISAAQ foi estabelecida através de uma correlação alta com o IAT e a validade do critério foi estabelecida através de uma correlação moderada com o número de horas diárias despendidas nas redes sociais. Os participantes do género feminino e os participantes com doença mental obtiveram pontuações mais altas na secção A do ISAAQ. O mesmo sucedeu com os utilizadores das redes sociais Instagram, Twitter e TikTok. Foi estabelecida uma correlação significativa positiva baixa entre as pontuações do BSMAS e do IGDS-9. O instrumento apresentou boas propriedades psicométricas, revelando-se um instrumento válido e fiável para o contexto português. Em trabalhos futuros espera-se a tradução deste instrumento para outros países da Lusofonia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A validated predictive biomarker and a potential therapeutic strategy in breast cancer

Funding Information: Funding: This work was supported by Terry Fox Research Grant 2019 from Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro; Clinical Research Prize 2018 from Consortium Tagus Tank; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PD/BD/114023/2015 for DPS and SFRH/BD/148422/2019 for RS) and iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020, DAI/2019/46). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is common in breast cancer (BC) treatment, though more than half of the patients lack an effective response. Therefore, new predictive biomarkers and alternative therapies are crucial. Previously, we proposed HLA-DR-expressing cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) as a potential biomarker of the response to NACT. To validate this observation and further investigate these cells, 202 BC patients were enrolled. Flow cytometry analyses were performed in 61 biopsies and 41 blood samples pre-NACT and 100 non-NACT tumor samples. All the patients were followed up for 34 months. Blood-isolated immune cells were cultured with BC cell lines in a 3D system. We confirmed that HLA-DR level in CTLs is a highly sensitive, specific, and independent biomarker to predict response to NACT and developed a predictive probability model. This biomarker was also associated with progression-free survival, regardless of the treatment. The clinical observations are substantiated by the anti-tumor properties of HLA-DR-expressing CTLs. Intriguingly, HLA-DR level in CTLs can be modulated ex vivo, boosting their capacity to kill tumor cells synergistically with doxorubicin. Thus, HLA-DR expression in CTLs is a validated tool to select patients that will actually benefit from NACT, and its stimulation might be a novel therapeutic approach for BC.publishersversionpublishe

A tutorial

PM003/2016. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)The capabilities of bioanalytical mass spectrometry to (i) detect and differentiate viruses at the peptide level whilst maintaining high sample throughput and (ii) to provide diagnosis and prognosis for infected patients are presented as a tutorial in this work to aid analytical chemists and physicians to gain insights into the possibilities offered by current high-resolution mass spectrometry technology and bioinformatics. From (i) sampling to sample treatment; (ii) Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization- to Electrospray Ionization -based mass spectrometry; and (iii) from clustering to peptide sequencing; a detailed step-by-step guide is provided and exemplified using SARS-CoV-2 Spike Y839 variant and the variant of concern SARS-CoV-2 Alpha (B.1.1.7 lineage), Influenza B, and Influenza A subtypes AH1N1pdm09 and AH3N2.publishersversionpublishe