A prevenção de ataques terroristas na União Europeia: o controlo dos percursores de explosivos

Entre 2014 e 2019 a União Europeia (UE) foi atingida por vários atentados terroristas, muitos de matriz islamita (Estado Islâmico), causando efeitos extremamente devastadores (e.g. Segundo a Europol no ano de 2017 ocorreram 33 ataques, nos quais registaram-se 62 mortos). Em 2018 e 2019, apesar de existir uma diminuição do número de ataques e de mortos, o terrorismo continuou a representar uma ameaça importante para os países da UE. As bombas/explosões têm sido o modus operandi na Europa que causa maior número de vítimas. Os terroristas têm recorrido sobretudo ao uso dos designados explosivos caseiros (e.g. Para a Europol, entre 2014 e 2017, as bombas/explosões, representaram mais de 80% dos incidentes terroristas jihadistas), nomeadamente, TATP (mais de 70%), sólido que resulta da junção de peróxido de hidrogénio e acetona num meio ácido. Para fabricar estes explosivos caseiros, os terroristas têm, assim, recorrido a precursores de explosivos, principalmente o peróxido de hidrogénio, e, por esta razão, este será um dos temas da nossa investigação. Deste modo, a prevenção desta prática constitui uma das prioridades da UE, através do desenvolvimento de várias medidas na ótica da política de segurança, e, consequentemente será o objetivo desta investigação identificar o tipo de medidas que têm sido adotadas pela UE na prevenção dos ataques terroristas, nomeadamente, através do incremento do controlo dos precursores de explosivos. Pretende-se, também, verificar se estas medidas têm respaldo teórico na criminologia ambiental através da aplicação de técnicas de prevenção situacional. Finalmente, o panorama português será também objeto de análise.Between 2014 and 2019 the European Union (EU) has been hit by several terrorist attacks, many by Islamist groups (Islamic State), having a devasting impact (e.g. According to Europol in the year 2017 there were 33 attacks, in which 62 people were killed). In 2018 and 2019, has been a decrease in the number of attacks and deaths, but terrorism continued to represent a major threat in EU countries. Bombs/explosions have been the modus operandi in Europe that causes the highest number of victims. Terrorists have mainly use of so-called homemade explosives (e.g. For Europol, between 2014 and 2017, bombs/explosions accounted for more than 80% of jihadist terrorist incidents), mostly, TATP (more than 70%), solid that results from the combination of hydrogen peroxide and acetone in the presence of an acid. To manufacture these homemade explosives, terrorists use explosive precursors, mainly hydrogen peroxide, and for this reason, this will be one of the topics of our investigation. Thus, the prevention of this practice is one of the EU's priorities, by the development of various measures from the perspective of security policy, and, consequently, the aim of this investigation will be to identify the type of measures that have been adopted by the EU in preventing attacks terrorists, namely by increase the control of explosive precursors. It is also intended to verify whether these measures have theoretical support in environmental criminology by the application of situational prevention techniques. Finally, the portuguese panorama will also be the object of analysis

Cirurgia para epilepsia na infância: avaliação neuropsicológica e de qualidade de vida Epilepsy surgery in childhood: neuropsychological and quality of life assessments

<abstract language="eng">OBJETIVO: Avaliar e descrever os efeitos advindos da cirurgia para epilepsia quanto aos aspectos neuropsicológicos e de qualidade de vida e relacionar os resultados ao quadro clínico do paciente. MÉTODO: Foram avaliadas nove crianças com epilepsia refratária antes e seis meses após a cirurgia através de uma ampla bateria de instrumentos neuropsicológicos e questionário de qualidade de vida. As etiologias e os procedimentos cirúrgicos foram variados. RESULTADOS: Mudanças significativas no QI, no geral, não ocorreram; duas crianças cuja etiologia da epilepsia de lobo temporal era lesão neoplásica tiveram importante piora comportamental na avaliação pós-cirúrgica apesar do controle de crises; o sujeito que obteve maiores ganhos nas avaliações foi aquele que apresentou o quadro pré-cirúrgico mais grave e foi submetido à hemisferectomia esquerda devido à síndrome de Rasmussen. Houve melhora dos aspectos sociais, ambientais, efeitos de medicação, percepção de controle de crises e do nível geral de qualidade de vida do grupo, havendo correlação positiva entre o controle de crises epilépticas e a percepção dos pais quanto à melhora da qualidade de vida. CONCLUSÃO: A melhora da qualidade de vida detectada na avaliação pós-cirúrgica correlacionou-se com o controle de crises; diferentemente, as repercussões neuropsicológicas dependeram de vários fatores como tipo de epilepsia, etiologia e tipo de cirurgia

Identification of human chromosome 22 transcribed sequences with ORF expressed sequence tags

Transcribed sequences in the human genome can be identified with confidence only by alignment with sequences derived from cDNAs synthesized from naturally occurring mRNAs. We constructed a set of 250,000 cDNAs that represent partial expressed gene sequences and that are biased toward the central coding regions of the resulting transcripts. They are termed ORF expressed sequence tags (ORESTES). The 250,000 ORESTES were assembled into 81,429 contigs. Of these, 1,181 (1.45%) were found to match sequences in chromosome 22 with at least one ORESTES contig for 162 (65.6%) of the 247 known genes, for 67 (44.6%) of the 150 related genes, and for 45 of the 148 (30.4%) EST-predicted genes on this chromosome. Using a set of stringent criteria to validate our sequences, we identified a further 219 previously unannotated transcribed sequences on chromosome 22. Of these, 171 were in fact also defined by EST or full length cDNA sequences available in GenBank but not utilized in the initial annotation of the first human chromosome sequence. Thus despite representing less than 15% of all expressed human sequences in the public databases at the time of the present analysis, ORESTES sequences defined 48 transcribed sequences on chromosome 22 not defined by other sequences. All of the transcribed sequences defined by ORESTES coincided with DNA regions predicted as encoding exons by genscan. (http://genes.mit.edu/GENSCAN.html)

A Transcript Finishing Initiative for Closing Gaps in the Human Transcriptome

We report the results of a transcript finishing initiative, undertaken for the purpose of identifying and characterizing novel human transcripts, in which RT-PCR was used to bridge gaps between paired EST clusters, mapped against the genomic sequence. Each pair of EST clusters selected for experimental validation was designated a transcript finishing unit (TFU). A total of 489 TFUs were selected for validation, and an overall efficiency of 43.1% was achieved. We generated a total of 59,975 bp of transcribed sequences organized into 432 exons, contributing to the definition of the structure of 211 human transcripts. The structure of several transcripts reported here was confirmed during the course of this project, through the generation of their corresponding full-length cDNA sequences. Nevertheless, for 21% of the validated TFUs, a full-length cDNA sequence is not yet available in public databases, and the structure of 69.2% of these TFUs was not correctly predicted by computer programs. The TF strategy provides a significant contribution to the definition of the complete catalog of human genes and transcripts, because it appears to be particularly useful for identification of low abundance transcripts expressed in a restricted set of tissues as well as for the delineation of gene boundaries and alternatively spliced isoforms

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved