Erythrocyte Nitric Oxide

Nitric oxide (NO) is a vasoactive molecule that, by stimulated and functional vascular endothelial cells, is released to the lumen of the vessel and into the surrounding smooth muscle cells. Once in the lumen, NO is captured by red blood cells and scavenged inside through hemoglobin and derived as NO metabolites. The delivery ability of erythrocytes allowing the NO efflux also occurs. Manipulation of NO levels inside the erythrocyte through different external (acetylcholine, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, fibrinogen and CD47 4N1K peptide) and internal (redox and protein phosphorylation levels) stimuli will be described. The values of NO efflux from the erythrocytes and its association with the data quantified in the hemorheology properties and in clinical parameters obtained from patients with vascular diseases will also be present. The in vivo animal experimental studies highlighting the ability of NO efflux (delivered) from the erythrocytes where is scavenged and its influence in inflammatory and hemorheological responses will be addressed. So, the aim of this chapter is to present the knowledge obtained about the NO signal transduction mechanism in erythrocytes and the association between erythrocyte availability in NO with clinical biomarkers obtained in inflammatory vascular diseases. A final question is raised—namely, could NO be considered a hemorheological parameter

Erythrocyte reactive nitrogen species in health and disease

Copyright: © 2018 Saldanha C. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.In general, reactive nitrogen species, like nitric oxide (NO) and peroxynitrite are classified in primary and secondary according its benefic or deleterious effects respectively. Multiple benefic roles through the body has been attributed to nitric oxide (NO), a key signaling molecule, which acts as vasodilator relaxing smooth muscles of arteries; participates in the blood pressure control; hinders the initiation of inflammation NO liberated from endothelium cells or lymphocytes to intravascular corporal fluid enter into erythrocytes through membrane band 3 protein being after captured by deoxyhemoglobin or by oxyhemoglobin. Inside the erythrocytes several chemical reactions occur with generation of S-nitrosoglutathione a NO reservoir molecules and NO derivatives (NOx) molecules namely nitrite, nitrate and peroxynitrite. The erythrocyte acts as sensor of the tissues oxygen partial pressure and consequently change its oxygen levels lead along with NO contents. NO is released through band 3 protein into the blood, at microcirculatory network, in tissues with low oxygen partial pressure. The aim of this mini review was to present the erythrocyte signal transduction pathways associated with NO and S-nitrosoglutathione efflux, metabolic behavior of the NO reservoir molecules and NO reactive species in human erythrocytes under several biological conditions. For examples, the effects of external amphipathic molecules, fibrinogen, and internal manipulation of protein phosphorylation degree and redox status on erythrocyte. NOx, NO and S-nitrosoglutathione efflux levels are herein included. Erythrocyte NO efflux evidenced as biomarkers of inflammatory vascular diseases will be herein highlighted.This work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia: LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007391, project cofunded by FEDER, through POR Lisboa 2020 - Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa, PORTUGAL 2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The CSR: financial performance link: a test of the moderation effect of industry

The CSR-Corporate performance link has been studied under the assumption that findings are universally valid. However, such findings have been diverging, which raise motives to adopt a contingency approach. Taking into consideration the contrasting nature of organizations, namely in the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries this research tests the moderation effect of industry on the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance. Covering 255 listed companies in West-Southern Europe, i.e. Portugal, Spain and France, findings show a direct effect of CSR on ROA and ROE alongside with an interaction effect with industry. Namely, the closer the industry is to tertiary level, the stronger the relation between CSR and financial performance. These findings were mirrored when predicting solvency ratio (asset based) but were not observed for EBITDA. Overall, when studying CSR effects on financial performance, findings show an industrybased contingent approach is called for.A ligação entre a RSO e o desempenho financeiro corporativo tem sido estudada assumindo a universalidade dos seus resultados. Contudo, tais resultados têm sido divergentes, o que motiva a adoção de uma abordagem contingencial. Considerando a natureza contrastante das organizações, nomeadamente nos sectores primário, secundário e terciário, esta investigação testa o efeito moderador do sector na relação entre a RSO e o desempenho financeiro corporativo. Compreendendo 255 empresas cotadas em bolsa, da Europa Sudoeste (Portugal, Espanha, França), os resultados mostraram um efeito direto da RSO no ROA e ROE bem como um efeito de interação com o sector económico. Nomeadamente, quanto mais as organizações se aproximam do sector terciário, mais forte é a relação entre a RSO e o desempenho financeiro. Estes resultados replicaram-se na predição do indicador de solvência (baseado no ativo) mas não foram observados para o EBITDA. Globalmente, os resultados mostraram que, ao estudar a relação entre a RSO e o desempenho financeiro, é justificada a adoção de uma abordagem contingente com base no sector económic

Modulation of erythrocyte hemorheological properties by band 3 phosphorylation and dephosphorylation

© 2007 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reservedThe objective of the present work was to study the effects of erythrocyte proteins phosphorylation in erythrocyte aggregation and deformability. Human whole blood samples were incubated in vitro in absent and in presence of the phosphorylation/dephosphorilation band 3 inhibitors and also with adenylyl cyclase, guanylate cyclase and PI3K inhibitors and the erythrocyte aggregation index (EAI) and deformability were assayed. The results show that when band 3 is phosphorylated in presence of a PTP inhibitor an increase in erythrocyte aggregation index is observed (p < 0.0001). A partial dephosphorylation band 3 state, induced by PTK inhibitors, show a decrease in the erythrocyte aggregation index (p < 0.002). However both manipulated states induced lower EAI values than blood samples aliquots controls. The guanylate cyclase and PI3-K inhibitors significantly decrease the erythrocyte aggregation index in relation with the control blood samples. Erythrocyte deformability in presence of all the inhibitors did not showed significant changes. PTP and PI3-K inhibitors showed a significantly increase in the plasma potassium concentrations not associated with EAI values. Methehemoglobin levels were increased significantly when guanylate cyclase inhibitor is present in the blood samples. In conclusion, the results suggest that erythrocyte aggregation index is dependent of the phosphorylated/dephosphorylated state of band 3

Noncommunicable diseases 2030 : assessing Portugal’s progress towards the noncommunicable disease-related target of the sustainable developmental goals

© 2018 World Health OrganizationBackground: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the biggest killers worldwide. One of the targets for the United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goal (SDG) 3, SDG target 3.4, is to reduce premature mortality from NCDs by one third by 2030. The object of this study was to determine whether Portugal will be able to achieve this target. Methods: Data were obtained from the Statistics Portugal online database. Linear and quadratic projections were performed using weighted and nonweighted linear and exponential regression models and confidence intervals. Results: Projections show that, for premature mortality due to diabetes, Portugal will reach the desired level of reduction a few years ahead of schedule. For premature mortality due to respiratory diseases, there is a 50% probability that the desired level of reduction will be achieved. However, premature mortality due to cardiovascular diseases is not decreasing at a rate fast enough to be reduced by one third by 2030. Similarly, premature mortality due to malignant tumours is not decreasing fast enough to reach the desired reduction in time. Conclusions: The trends analysed in this study indicate that Portugal is on track to reach target 3.4 by 2030, but further actions are needed to guarantee that the goal is accomplished.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Programa de gestão de carreiras dos alunos e diplomados do Instituto Superior Técnico

Este projecto de intervenção visou recolher todos os elementos necessários para a construção do programa de gestão de carreiras dos alunos e diplomados do IST: portal de emprego; calendário de actividades de recrutamento; programa de desenvolvimento de carreira. A pesquisa bibliográfica evidenciou a importância de um programa de gestão de carreiras que integre os três sistemas de análise, o aluno, a empresa e a universidade, sendo que os programas podem ser construídos com enfoque numa intervenção individual ou em grupo para o desenvolvimento interno ou externo de carreira. Para consolidar a informação anterior, foi realizada uma pesquisa interna e externa dos serviços de apoio à inserção profissional no IST e nas universidades nacionais de engenharia, bem como a caracterização das empresas nacionais tendo como base as reuniões com os profissionais de recursos humanos. Realizam-se 12 entrevistas a alunos e diplomados do IST, sendo que as entrevistas foram organizadas em dois grupos. O grupo 1 constituído pelos alunos que já passaram pelo processo de transição para a vida activa e o Grupo 2, pelos alunos de 2.º ciclo que iniciaram a recolha de informação sobre o mercado de trabalho. Neste sentido, conclui-se que o serviço de carreiras em contexto universitário tem de assumir um papel activo na inserção profissional dos seus alunos, através da construção de um programa de gestão de carreiras sistémico e integrado, pois quanto maior a envolvência de todos os intervenientes e a integração de diferentes actividades de inserção, maior é o sucesso do programa.This intervention project aimed at congregating all the elements needed to build the career management program of IST for its students and graduates: job bank, calendar of recruitment activities and career development program. The bibliographic research evidenced the importance of a career management program that integrates the three systems of analysis, the student, the company and the university, these programs having the possibility of being built with a focus on an individual or a group intervention for internal or external career development. To consolidate this information, an internal and external research of services provided for employability in IST as well as in other national engineering universities was carried out along with the characterization of national companies, which took place through meetings with human resources professionals. Twelve interviews, organized in two groups, were conducted with IST’s students and graduates. Group 1 was composed of students who have gone through the process of transition to the working life, and Group 2 was composed of 2nd cycle students, that have initiated the process of gathering information about the labor market. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the career management program services in the university context have to play an active role in the employability of their students through the development of a systemic and integrated career management program, given that the stronger the involvement of all the actors and the integration of the different activities in the scope of employability, the greater the success of the program

Effects of acetylcholine and SpermineNONOate on erythrocyte hemorheologic and oxygen carrying properties

© 2001 – IOS Press. All rights reservedPurpose of the study: To determine the effects of acetylcholine and SpermineNONOate – a NO donor – on RBC membrane and oxygen carrying properties. Material and methods: Aliquots of venous blood from eleven heathy subjects were incubated with ACh 10−3 M, ACh 10−5 M, SpermineNONOate 10−5 M and SpermineNONOate 10−4 M. The following parameters were determined: erythrocyte aggregation and deformability, hematocrit, plasma pH, osmolality, K+, Na+, Ca2+ concentrations, hemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin, carboxihemoglobin and methemoglobin concentrations, oxygen saturation of hemoglobin, oxygen and carbon dioxide parcial pressures and p50. Results: In presence of ACh there is an increase of erythrocyte deformability, decrease of erythrocyte aggregation, plasma pH, K+ and Na+ concentration, increase of Ca2+ concentration and p50. In presence of SpermineNONOate there an increase of erythrocyte deformability, plasma pH, decrease of Na+ and Ca2+ concentration, increase of metHb concentration and decrease of p50. Conclusion: Acetylcholine and SpermineNONOate are able to induce changes on RBC membrane and oxygen carrying properties

Preschool teachers display a flexible pattern of pedagogical actions in promoting healthy habits in children

The school represents the optimal setting for promoting the physical, emotional, and social health of children, especially during the first years of life. Understanding the pedagogical actions of teachers to address health education is an important first step in promoting healthy behaviors in children. We inhere analyzed the pedagogical action patterns in the preschool teaching of healthy habits from a holistic health perspective. We used photography as a strategy for data collection and applied a Chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) classification tree, a data mining procedure, to generate a pattern model. We found that the school space and the learning playfulness strategies for the development of executive functions, classified according to the exercise, symbolic, assembly, rules (ESAR) model, were the main factors that influence the pedagogical actions fostering healthy habits. By contrast, the school and the pedagogical resources of the classroom are factors with a much smaller impact on working with healthy habits. This pedagogical action pattern is flexible, since teachers conduct a multiplicity of pedagogical actions through different strategies, in different school spaces, at any time. In conclusion, our results unmask the interdependent relationships between the different factors that determine the teacher's actions at the preschool. It also contributes to the understanding of the teacher's practices in fostering healthy habits in a healthy learning environment

Las Bibliotecas, ¿To be Googled or not to be Googled? ¿Un contenido cultural comercial o un contenido de difusión cultural?

Google se ha expansionado a lo largo de los &uacute;ltimos a&ntilde;os alreador del mundo con una cuota de mercado de 80% aproximadamente. Google Books se lanz&oacute; en 2004 con el objetivo de ser en la Biblioteca Digital Mundial. Google Books part&iacute;a con la ventaja de su experiencia previa como buscador en Internet para poder establecer una estrategia y ejecutar su desarrollo e implementaci&oacute;n, especialmente en lo relativo a digitalizaci&oacute;n, indexaci&oacute;n y puesta a disposici&oacute;n de los libros. Google Books ha legislado sus propias normas sobre el Derecho de Autor en el entorno de Internet, incluso cuando estas normas eran contrarias a la normativa y jurisprudencia vigentes. Los Acuerdos alcanzados entre Google Books y las Bibliotecas suponen un incumplimiento de la excepci&oacute;n incluida en el Copyright Act Americano, en particular las copias a realizar por las bibliotecas. El camino corto tomado por Google Books es ilegal y cierra la entrada a posibles competidores para posicionarse en el mercado en las mismas condiciones que Google Books. Los argumentos de Fair Use expuestos por Google Books no casan con los requisitos de la Doctrina, particularmente el elemento transformador.Igualmente, la soluci&oacute;n de Google Books de optar a no estar, en el marco del Acuerdo Transaccional es una carga para aquellos autores y titulares de derechos que no quieren estar y deben ejercer de forma activa sus derechos. El impacto de Google Books en Europa ha sido por un lado con respecto de la Doctrina del Fair Use y por otro lado las Obras Hu&eacute;rfanas. La &uacute;ltima decisi&oacute;n del Juez del Caso Google Books en donde rechaza el Segundo Acuerdo Transaccional Enmendado establece unas posibles bases para la regulaci&oacute;n del Derecho de Autor en Internet, aunque Google Books sigue movi&eacute;ndose como un pulpo. La biblioteca digital mundial debe ser m&aacute;s de naturaleza p&uacute;blica que privada. Google se ha expansionado a lo largo de los &uacute;ltimos a&ntilde;os alreador del mundo con una cuota de mercado de 80% aproximadamente. Google Books se lanz&oacute; en 2004 con el objetivo de ser en la Biblioteca Digital Mundial. Google Books part&iacute;a con la ventaja de su experiencia previa como buscador en Internet para poder establecer una estrategia y ejecutar su desarrollo e implementaci&oacute;n, especialmente en lo relativo a digitalizaci&oacute;n, indexaci&oacute;n y puesta a disposici&oacute;n de los libros. Google Books ha legislado sus propias normas sobre el Derecho de Autor en el entorno de Internet, incluso cuando estas normas eran contrarias a la normativa y jurisprudencia vigentes. Los Acuerdos alcanzados entre Google Books y las Bibliotecas suponen un incumplimiento de la excepci&oacute;n incluida en el Copyright Act Americano, en particular las copias a realizar por las bibliotecas. El camino corto tomado por Google Books es ilegal y cierra la entrada a posibles competidores para posicionarse en el mercado en las mismas condiciones que Google Books. Los argumentos de Fair Use expuestos por Google Books no casan con los requisitos de la Doctrina, particularmente el elemento transformador.Igualmente, la soluci&oacute;n de Google Books de optar a no estar, en el marco del Acuerdo Transaccional es una carga para aquellos autores y titulares de derechos que no quieren estar y deben ejercer de forma activa sus derechos. El impacto de Google Books en Europa ha sido por un lado con respecto de la Doctrina del Fair Use y por otro lado las Obras Hu&eacute;rfanas. La &uacute;ltima decisi&oacute;n del Juez del Caso Google Books en donde rechaza el Segundo Acuerdo Transaccional Enmendado establece unas posibles bases para la regulaci&oacute;n del Derecho de Autor en Internet, aunque Google Books sigue movi&eacute;ndose como un pulpo. La biblioteca digital mundial debe ser m&aacute;s de naturaleza p&uacute;blica que privada

Suplementação alimentar em vitaminas hidrossolúveis

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, 2022, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia.Este trabalho avalia o papel nutricional das vitaminas hidrossolúveis e, consequentemente, as suas funções no organismo e a sua importância na manutenção da saúde. Estas vitaminas estão distribuídas nos vários grupos alimentares, embora em quantidades diferentes. Neste contexto, o trabalho abordou não só a importância da ingestão adequada deste tipo de vitaminas, como também as patologias associadas ao seu consumo deficiente ou em excesso. Com o objetivo complementar ou suplementar o regime alimentar normal, os idosos, mas também os mais jovens, têm recorrido aos suplementos alimentares, nomeadamente com o objetivo de fortificar o sistema imunitário ou melhorar o desempenho na atividade física e escolar. Para avaliarmos a utilização destes suplementos, fez-se um pequeno estudo de consumo deste tipo de produtos, com base nos dados comerciais de cinco farmácias na zona de Lisboa. Atualmente, a suplementação alimentar é utilizada como coadjuvante terapêutico em várias patologias, nomeadamente a síndrome dos ovários poliquísticos, a doença de Crohn e a tuberculose. Contudo, podem ocorrer interações entre alguns medicamentos e os suplementos alimentares, sendo importante avaliar as mesmas, de modo a melhorar a eficácia terapêutica e evitar efeitos adversos. Por último, estudou-se o papel da vitamina C na infeção pela COVID-19, devido ao seu grande potencial benéfico, nos múltiplos estadios fisiopatológicos da doença. As pesquisas confirmaram que a suplementação alimentar em vitaminas hidrossolúveis é eficaz e bastante promissora em diversas situações, principalmente, a sua utilização como coadjuvante terapêutico. Para além disso, a suplementação em vitamina C é vantajosa no tratamento da infeção pela COVID-19 e não é tóxica.This paper evaluates the nutritional role of water-soluble vitamins, their functions in the body and their importance in maintaining health. Although these vitamins are distributed among the various food groups, they are presented in different quantities. In this context, the work addressed the importance of adequate intake of this type of vitamin and the pathologies associated with their low or excess consumption. To complement or supplement the regular diet, the elderly and younger people have resorted to food supplements, namely, to fortify the immune system or improve performance in physical and school activity. To assess the use of these supplements, a small study on the consumption of these types of products was carried out based on the commercial data of five pharmacies in the Lisbon area. Currently, food supplementation is used as a therapeutic adjunct in several pathologies, namely polycystic ovarian syndrome, Crohn's disease and tuberculosis. However, interactions may occur between some medications and food supplements, and it is therefore of the utmost importance to evaluate them to improve therapeutic efficacy and avoid adverse effects. Finally, the role of vitamin C in COVID-19 infection was studied due to its great beneficial potential in the multiple physiopathological stages of the disease. Research has confirmed that dietary supplementation with water-soluble vitamins is effective and very promising in several situations, especially its use as a therapeutic adjunct. In addition, vitamin C supplementation is advantageous in the treatment of COVID-19 infection and is non-toxic