Desenvolvimento de um dashboard aplicado ao departamento de compras de uma cadeia hoteleira

Com a evolução da tecnologia e as novas tendências associadas à obtenção e armazenamento de dados (Data Warehouse) surgiu a necessidade de soluções que permitem aos gestores e responsáveis tomarem melhores decisões em tempo real, de forma prática e rápida. O presente projeto tem como principal objetivo desenvolver uma ferramenta (dashboard), que servirá de apoio aos gestores para esse fim. O dashboard foi desenvolvido para o departamento de compras de uma cadeia hoteleira, a partir de dados reais, e validado e aplicado pela mesma. Dos três tipos de dashboards (Operacional, Tático e Estratégico), optou-se pelo tático com vistas mensal e anual, por se revelar útil e prático. A metodologia adotada - Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) – foca-se no setor hoteleiro e fornece o apoio aos gestores da cadeia hoteleira nas várias fases da sua implementação, nomeadamente para a definição dos indicadores de gestão, características do dashboard e dos tipos de gráficos a incluir no mesmo. Do ponto de vista da cadeia Jupiter Hotel Group, com indicadores bem definidos e dados devidamente bem organizados, os resultados podem ser visualizados através de um dashboard. E desta forma, o modo de análise e de apresentação dos resultados, proporcionam informação sobre os indicadores de gestão e, em particular, do departamento de compras. O desenvolvimento do dashboard, através da adaptação na metodologia CRISP-DM, contribui para a redução de tempo de análise e para uma maior celeridade na tomada de decisões, em qualquer momento e lugar.With the evolution of technology and the new trends associated with data storage and acquisition (Data Warehouse), the need for solutions to allow managers to make decisions in real time, in a practical and faster way, has emerged. The main objective of this project is to develop a tool (dashboard), which will support managers for this purpose. The dashboard was developed from real data of a purchasing department of Jupiter Hotel Group, a hotel chain. Of the three types of dashboards (Operational, Tactical and Strategic), the choice fell on the tactical one with monthly and annual views. The methodology adopted - Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) - focuses on the hospitality sector and provides support to the managers of the hotel chain in the various stages of its implementation. CRISP-DM defines management indicators, dashboard characteristics and the types of charts to be included in it. From the point of view of the Jupiter Hotel Group chain, with well-defined indicators and properly well-organized data, the results can be viewed through a dashboard. Thus, the way of analysis and presentation of the results provide information on the management indicators especially on the purchasing department’s ones. dashboard development through adaptation to CRISP-DM methodology contributes to reduced analysis time and faster decision making, anytime, anywhere

a randomized comparative effectiveness trial

Funding Information: The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was sponsored by CUF and Pingo Doce, as part of the Menos Sal Portugal project, and with support from the Centro de Medicina Laboratorial Germano de Sousa. The sponsors did not play a role in the study design or the interpretation of the results. The study was also promoted by the CINTESIS@RISE (UIDB/4255/2020 and UIDP/4255/2020), NOVA Medical School of Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and supported by national funds through FCT Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., within the scope of the project “RISE-LA/P/0053/2020”. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2023 Moreira-Rosário, Ismael, Barreiros-Mota, Morais, Rodrigues, Castela, Mendes, Soares, da Costa, Oliveira, Henriques, Pinto, Pita, de Oliveira, Maciel, Serafim, Araújo, Rocha, Pestana, Silvestre, Marques, Faria, Polonia and Calhau.Introduction: Empowerment lifestyle programs are needed to reduce the risk of hypertension. Our study compared the effectiveness of two empowerment-based approaches toward blood pressure (BP) reduction: salt reduction-specific program vs. healthy lifestyle general program. Methods: Three hundred and eleven adults (median age of 44 years, IQR 34–54 years) were randomly assigned to a salt reduction (n = 147) or a healthy lifestyle program (n = 164). The outcome measures were urinary sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) excretion, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, weight, and waist circumference. Results: There were no significant differences in primary and secondary outcomes between the two program groups. When comparing each program to baseline, the program focused on salt reduction was effective in lowering BP following a 12-week intervention with a mean change of −2.5 mm Hg in SBP (95% CI, −4.1 to −0.8) and − 2.7 mm Hg in DBP (95% CI, −3.8 to −1.5) in the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. In the complete-case (CC) analysis, the mean change was −2.1 mm Hg in SBP (95% CI, −3.7 to −0.5) and − 2.3 mm Hg in DBP (95% CI, −3.4 to −1.1). This effect increases in subjects with high-normal BP or hypertension [SBP − 7.9 mm Hg (95% CI, −12.5 to −3.3); DBP − 7.3 mm Hg (95% CI, −10.2 to −4.4)]. The healthy lifestyle group also exhibited BP improvements after 12 weeks; however, the changes were less pronounced compared to the salt reduction group and were observed only for DBP [mean change of −1.5 mm Hg (95% CI, −2.6 to −0.4) in ITT analysis and − 1.4 mm Hg (95% CI, −2.4 to −0.3) in CC analysis, relative to baseline]. Overall, improvements in Na+/K+ ratio, weight, and Mediterranean diet adherence resulted in clinically significant SBP decreases. Importantly, BP reduction is attributed to improved dietary quality, rather than being solely linked to changes in the Na+/K+ ratio. Conclusion: Salt-focused programs are effective public health tools mainly in managing individuals at high risk of hypertension. Nevertheless, in general, empowerment-based approaches are important strategies for lowering BP, by promoting health literacy that culminates in adherence to the Mediterranean diet and weight reduction.publishersversionpublishe

The stress granule protein G3BP1 alleviates spinocerebellar ataxia-associated deficits

Koppenol et al. show that overexpression of G3BP1 in cell models of SCA2 and SCA3 leads to a reduction in ataxin-2 and ataxin-3 aggregation. G3BP1 lentiviral delivery reduces motor deficits and neuropathology in preclinical models, suggesting that G3BP1 may be a potential therapeutic target for polyQ disorders. Polyglutamine diseases are a group of neurodegenerative disorders caused by an abnormal expansion of CAG repeat tracts in the codifying regions of nine, otherwise unrelated, genes. While the protein products of these genes are suggested to play diverse cellular roles, the pathogenic mutant proteins bearing an expanded polyglutamine sequence share a tendency to self-assemble, aggregate and engage in abnormal molecular interactions. Understanding the shared paths that link polyglutamine protein expansion to the nervous system dysfunction and the degeneration that takes place in these disorders is instrumental to the identification of targets for therapeutic intervention. Among polyglutamine diseases, spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) share many common aspects, including the fact that they involve dysfunction of the cerebellum, resulting in ataxia. Our work aimed at exploring a putative new therapeutic target for the two forms of SCA with higher worldwide prevalence, SCA type 2 (SCA2) and type 3 (SCA3), which are caused by expanded forms of ataxin-2 (ATXN2) and ataxin-3 (ATXN3), respectively. The pathophysiology of polyglutamine diseases has been described to involve an inability to properly respond to cell stress. We evaluated the ability of GTPase-activating protein-binding protein 1 (G3BP1), an RNA-binding protein involved in RNA metabolism regulation and stress responses, to counteract SCA2 and SCA3 pathology, using both in vitro and in vivo disease models. Our results indicate that G3BP1 overexpression in cell models leads to a reduction of ATXN2 and ATXN3 aggregation, associated with a decrease in protein expression. This protective effect of G3BP1 against polyglutamine protein aggregation was reinforced by the fact that silencing G3bp1 in the mouse brain increases human expanded ATXN2 and ATXN3 aggregation. Moreover, a decrease of G3BP1 levels was detected in cells derived from patients with SCA2 and SCA3, suggesting that G3BP1 function is compromised in the context of these diseases. In lentiviral mouse models of SCA2 and SCA3, G3BP1 overexpression not only decreased protein aggregation but also contributed to the preservation of neuronal cells. Finally, in an SCA3 transgenic mouse model with a severe ataxic phenotype, G3BP1 lentiviral delivery to the cerebellum led to amelioration of several motor behavioural deficits. Overall, our results indicate that a decrease in G3BP1 levels may be a contributing factor to SCA2 and SCA3 pathophysiology, and that administration of this protein through viral vector-mediated delivery may constitute a putative approach to therapy for these diseases, and possibly other polyglutamine disorders.PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Empowerment-based nutrition interventions on blood pressure: a randomized comparative effectiveness trial

IntroductionEmpowerment lifestyle programs are needed to reduce the risk of hypertension. Our study compared the effectiveness of two empowerment-based approaches toward blood pressure (BP) reduction: salt reduction-specific program vs. healthy lifestyle general program.MethodsThree hundred and eleven adults (median age of 44 years, IQR 34–54 years) were randomly assigned to a salt reduction (n = 147) or a healthy lifestyle program (n = 164). The outcome measures were urinary sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) excretion, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, weight, and waist circumference.ResultsThere were no significant differences in primary and secondary outcomes between the two program groups. When comparing each program to baseline, the program focused on salt reduction was effective in lowering BP following a 12-week intervention with a mean change of −2.5 mm Hg in SBP (95% CI, −4.1 to −0.8) and − 2.7 mm Hg in DBP (95% CI, −3.8 to −1.5) in the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. In the complete-case (CC) analysis, the mean change was −2.1 mm Hg in SBP (95% CI, −3.7 to −0.5) and − 2.3 mm Hg in DBP (95% CI, −3.4 to −1.1). This effect increases in subjects with high-normal BP or hypertension [SBP − 7.9 mm Hg (95% CI, −12.5 to −3.3); DBP − 7.3 mm Hg (95% CI, −10.2 to −4.4)]. The healthy lifestyle group also exhibited BP improvements after 12 weeks; however, the changes were less pronounced compared to the salt reduction group and were observed only for DBP [mean change of −1.5 mm Hg (95% CI, −2.6 to −0.4) in ITT analysis and − 1.4 mm Hg (95% CI, −2.4 to −0.3) in CC analysis, relative to baseline]. Overall, improvements in Na+/K+ ratio, weight, and Mediterranean diet adherence resulted in clinically significant SBP decreases. Importantly, BP reduction is attributed to improved dietary quality, rather than being solely linked to changes in the Na+/K+ ratio.ConclusionSalt-focused programs are effective public health tools mainly in managing individuals at high risk of hypertension. Nevertheless, in general, empowerment-based approaches are important strategies for lowering BP, by promoting health literacy that culminates in adherence to the Mediterranean diet and weight reduction

Unraveling the genetic background of individuals with a clinical familial hypercholesterolemia phenotype

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common genetic disorder of lipid metabolism caused by pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9 genes. Variants in FH-phenocopy genes (LDLRAP1, APOE, LIPA, ABCG5, and ABCG8), polygenic hypercholesterolemia, and hyperlipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] can also mimic a clinical FH phenotype. We aim to present a new diagnostic tool to unravel the genetic background of clinical FH phenotype. Biochemical and genetic study was performed in 1,005 individuals with clinical diagnosis of FH, referred to the Portuguese FH Study. A next-generation sequencing panel, covering eight genes and eight SNPs to determine LDL-C polygenic risk score and LPA genetic score, was validated, and used in this study. FH was genetically confirmed in 417 index cases: 408 heterozygotes and 9 homozygotes. Cascade screening increased the identification to 1,000 FH individuals, including 11 homozygotes. FH-negative individuals (phenotype positive and genotype negative) have Lp(a) >50 mg/dl (30%), high polygenic risk score (16%), other monogenic lipid metabolism disorders (1%), and heterozygous pathogenic variants in FH-phenocopy genes (2%). Heterozygous variants of uncertain significance were identified in primary genes (12%) and phenocopy genes (7%). Overall, 42% of our cohort was genetically confirmed with FH. In the remaining individuals, other causes for high LDL-C were identified in 68%. Hyper-Lp(a) or polygenic hypercholesterolemia may be the cause of the clinical FH phenotype in almost half of FH-negative individuals. A small part has pathogenic variants in ABCG5/ABCG8 in heterozygosity that can cause hypercholesterolemia and should be further investigated. This extended next-generation sequencing panel identifies individuals with FH and FH-phenocopies, allowing to personalize each person’s treatment according to the affected pathway

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