Perfil lipídico da carne vermelha e doença cardiovascular

Trabalho complementar (Trabalho de Investigação) realizado no âmbito da Unidade Curricular Estágio da Licenciatura em Ciências da Nutrição da Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do Porto, sob orientação de Dr. Fernando Pichel (Hospital de Santo António do Porto)Resumo da tese: As doenças cardiovasculares (DCV) são a principal causa de morte, por doenças não transmissíveis, matando mais que os tumores e as doenças respiratórias crónicas. Tratando-se de uma doença tão relevante, que em Portugal é responsável por 37% das mortes anuais, existe um conjunto de medidas criadas para intervir sobre os principais fatores de risco: a tensão arterial elevada, a obesidade, a hiperglicemia e a hiperlipidemia. Algumas destas medidas focam-se na mudança do estilo de vida, nomeadamente na alteração de certos hábitos alimentares como o consumo de carne, especialmente, de carne vermelha. Este alimento é considerado como uma fonte de ácidos gordos saturados (AGS) e colesterol, componentes que intervêm na aterogénese, uma doença que contribui para as DCV. No entanto, o perfil de saturação dos ácidos gordos da carne vermelha varia de acordo com um conjunto de fatores extrínsecos e intrínsecos ao animal que a criginou. A análise da literatura mais recente revela duas conclusões opostas: a mata-análise de Micha et al. 2012 conclui que não há associação entre o consumo de carne vermelha e a mortalidade por DCV, enquanto que 2 estudos coorte prospetivos concluem que existe uma associação positiva. Quanto à relação entre os ácidos gordos e o risco de DCV há estudos que afirmam não existir uma associação entre o consumo de AGS e a DCV. Os ácidos gordos monoinsaturados também não estão associados com a doença cardiovascular, estando apenas os ácidos gordos polinsaturados associados à redução do risco de DCV.Thesis abstract: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death for non-communicable diseases, Killing more than tumors and chronic respiratory diseases. Having such impact, and being responsible for 37% of Portuguese deaths annually, there are a set of measures designed to intervence on the main risk factors: high blood pressure, obesity, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia. Some of these measures focus on changing lifestyle, particularly in changing food habits and consumption of meat, especially red meat. This food is considered a source of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and cholesterol, components involved in atherogenesis, a disease which contribute to Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). However, the saturation profile of red meats fatty acids changes according to a set of extrinsic and intrinsic factors related to the animal. The analysis of recent literature reveals two opposite conclusions: the meta-analysis of Micha et al., 2010 concludes that there is no association between red meat consumption and mortality from CVD, while two prospective cohorts conclude that there is a positive association. As for the relationship between fatty acids and CVD risk, there are studies concluding that there is no association between the consumption of SFA and CVD. Also monounsaturated fatty acids are not associated with cardiovascular disease being polyunsaturated fatty acids the ones associated with the reduction of such risk

Investigação sobre a estrutura das ruínas da igreja visigótica da Plaza del Rey em Barcelona

Durante uns trabalhos arqueológicos efectuados no subsolo da Plaza del Rey em Barcelona, uma equipa de arqueólogos e investigadores do Museo de Historia de la Ciudad de Barcelona, encontrou vestígios de fundações do que parecia ser uma igreja visigótica, de planta cruciforme, datada dos finais do século VI. Vários vestígios de cerâmica foram encontrados nestas ruínas, todos eles claramente pertencentes à civilização visigoda, não parecendo existir dúvidas quanto à sua datação e à sua atribuição a esta arquitectura. Em virtude desta descoberta arqueológica surgiu o desafio de propor uma solução estrutural viável, isto é, uma solução que permitisse a estabilidade e durabilidade do edifício uma vez construído e carregado, que respeitasse a linha arquitectónica da época assim como os conhecimentos técnicos adquiridos até então. Para se chegar a uma solução foi necessário, em primeiro lugar, estudar a técnica da construção antiga, analisando com algum rigor exemplos da arquitectura visigoda ou de outras que a tenham ou possam ter influenciado. Só depois foi possível tentar encontrar uma ou mais soluções coerentes para a época e para a arquitectura em questão

The Impact of Plasma Instabilities on the Spectra of TeV Blazars

Relativistic jets from blazars are known to be sources of very-high-energy gamma rays (VHEGRs). During their propagation in the intergalactic space, VHEGRs interact with pervasive cosmological photon fields such as the extragalactic background light (EBL) and the cosmic microwave background (CMB), producing electron-positron pairs. These pairs can upscatter CMB/EBL photons to high energies via inverse Compton scattering, thereby continuing the cascade process. This is often used to set limits on intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs). However, the picture may change if plasma instabilities, arising due to the interaction of the pairs with the intergalactic medium (IGM), cool down the electrons/positrons faster than inverse Compton scattering. As a consequence, the kinetic energy lost by the pairs to the IGM could cause a hardening in the observed gamma-ray spectrum at energies below $\sim$100 GeV. Here we study several types and models of instabilities and assess their impact for interpreting observations of distant blazars. Our results suggest that plasma instabilities can describe the spectra of some blazars and mimic the effects of IGMFs, depending on parameters such as intrinsic spectrum of the object, the density and temperature of the IGM, and the luminosity of the beam. On the other hand, we find that for our fiducial set of parameters plasma instabilities do not have a major impact on the spectra of some of the blazars studied. Therefore, they may be used for constraining IGMFs.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures; minor changes to match published versio

Food Packaging Trends for the Refrigerator

Issue of study: Consumers interact with primary food packaging and the refrigerator on a daily basis, although the interaction and impact food packaging has on the design of refrigerators is not clear. The Swedish home appliances company Electrolux, manufacturer’s refrigerators with the consumer needs in mind. The food packaging market is diversified in terms of formats, dimensions, functions and materials. Thus, anticipating the potential changes might help Electrolux to improve even further. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the primary packaging trends of chilled and frozen foods in order to analyse how they might impact the design and development of future refrigerators. Method: A qualitative research was conducted; primary data was collected with resource to an exploratory method of in-depth semi-structured interviews of packaging professionals and to an online observation of four food categories in Sweden and in the United Kingdom; secondary data was collected by literature research. The methods resulted in inductive and deductive inferencing respectively, therefore in this study, results and discussion lead to an abductive reasoning, with conclusions generated from the collected data. Conclusions: Convenience is one of the most important drivers of packaging changes. Other trends are sustainability, health and safety, although incorporation of technology and package / product personalization are likely to grow in importance. Primary food packaging will likely become more environmental friendly, with the use of bioplastics in detriment of glass in formats such as flexible pouches. The future will potentially have both smaller and bulkier packages, as well as portion control and multipacks. In the next five to ten years, the future of packaging will not likely be focused on the older population, new formats, incorporation of radio frequency identification, edible packaging and nanotechnology. Currently, differences between the English and the Swedish market are noticeable mostly in the type of materials used, formats and number of products available. In the future, the refrigerator development is likely to respond to personalization by exploring a new feature: detachable compartments

VHE Emission from Magnetic Reconnection in the RIAF of SgrA*

The cosmic-ray (CR) accelerator at the galactic centre (GC) is not yet established by current observations. Here we investigate the radiative-inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) of Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) as a CR accelerator assuming acceleration by turbulent magnetic reconnection, and derive possible emission fluxes of CRs interacting within the RIAF (the central $\sim10^{13}$cm). The target environment of the RIAF is modelled with numerical, general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics (GRMHD) together with leptonic radiative transfer simulations. The acceleration of the CRs is not computed here. Instead, we inject CRs constrained by the magnetic reconnection power of the accretion flow and compute the emission/absorption of $\gamma$-rays due to these CRs interacting with the RIAF, through Monte Carlo simulations employing the {\tt CRPropa 3} code. The resulting very-high-energy (VHE) fluxes are not expected to reproduce the point source HESS J1745-290 as the emission of this source is most likely produced at pc scales. The emission profiles derived here intend to trace the VHE signatures of the RIAF as a CR accelerator and provide predictions for observations of the GC with improved angular resolution and differential flux sensitivity as those of the forthcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Within the scenario presented here, we find that for mass accretion rates $\gtrsim 10^{-7}$M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$, the RIAF of SgrA* produces VHE fluxes which are consistent with the H.E.S.S. upper limits for the GC and potentially observable by the future CTA. The associated neutrino fluxes are negligible compared with the diffuse neutrino emission measured by the IceCube.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Ap

Vesicle-micelle transition in aqueous mixtures of the cationic dioctadecyldimethylammonium and octadecyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactants

The vesicle-micelle transition in aqueous mixtures of dioctadecyldimethylammonium and octadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DODAB and C18TAB) cationic surfactants, having respectively double and single chain, was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), steady state fluorescence, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and surface tension. The experiments performed at constant up to 1.0 mM total surfactant concentration reveal that these homologue surfactants mix together to form either mixed vesicles and/or micelles, or both of these structures in equilibrium, depending on the relative amount of the surfactants. The main transition melting temperature Tm of the mixed DODAB-C18TAB vesicles is larger than that for the neat DODAB in water owing to the incorporation of C18TAB in the vesicle bilayer, however, little amount of C18TAB having a minor effect on the Tm of DODAB. The surface tension decreases sigmoidally with C18TAB concentration and the inflection point lies around xDODAB ≈ 0.4, indicating the onset of micelle formation owing to saturation of DODAB vesicles by C18TAB molecules and formation of vesicle structures. At low C18TAB concentrations When xDODAB > 0.5 C18TAB molecules are mainly solubilized by the vesicles bilayers, while at high C18TAB concentrations but when xDODAB < 0.25 micelles are dominant. Fluorescence data of the Nile Red probe incorporated in the system at different surfactant molar fractions indicate the formation of micelle and vesicle structures. These structures have apparent hydrodynamic radius RH of about 180 and 500-800 nm, respectively, as obtained by DLS measurements.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Age and growth of the blue jack mackerel, Trachurus picturatus Bowdich, 1825 (Pisces: Teleostei) off Madeira archipelago.

Between 1984 and 1986, 630 pairs of sagitta otoliths were collected to determine the age and growth of the blue jack mackerel, Trachurus picturatus from Madeiran waters. The oldest specimen in this study was nine years old and the largest was 46 cm of total length (TL). The parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth curve were estimated for the whole period studied for all fish (L∞=42.32 cm, k=0.161 year-1, t0= -2.563 year; r2=0.743) for males (L∞=39.57 cm, k=0.194 year-1, t0=-2.282 year; r2=0.722) and for females (L∞=49.78 cm, k=0.114 year-1, t0=-3.052 year; r2 = 0.747). There was no significant differences in mean lengths (t–test, p>0,05) and in the von Bertalanffy growth curves (Ftest, p>0,05) between sexes. The validity of otolith readings for estimating age and growth was supported by results from backcalculation method. No significant differences were found in the Bertalanffy growth curves between direct reading of otoliths and backcalculation. Growth parameters estimated from backcalculated sizes-at-age were: for both sexes, L∞=48.28 cm, k=0.135 year-1, t0=-2.898 year and r2=0.999; for males, L∞=44.79 cm, k=0.143 year-1, t0=-3.207 year, r2=0.999; and females, L∞=44.63 cm, k=0.163 year-1, t0=-2.430 year, r2=0.999. The relationship between length and weight was calculated for all fish (Wt=0.00764Lt3.05746; r2=0.951), for males (Wt=0.01271Lt2.90807; r2=0.915) and for females (Wt=0.00604Lt3.12613; r2=0.948)

Factores que condicionam a adesão dos utentes à componente de exercício dos programas de reabilitação cardíaca: perspectiva dos fisioterapeutas

Enquadramento - A reduzida adesão aos programas de Reabilitação Cardíaca (RC) constitui um problema actual. Várias investigações debruçaram-se sobre o estudo dos factores que, na opinião dos utentes, condicionam a sua adesão à RC. No entanto, não se conhece a opinião dos profissionais em relação a esta questão. Objectivos - Identificar os factores que condicionam a adesão dos utentes à componente de exercício dos programas de RC, segundo a perspectiva dos fisioterapeutas que intervêm nesta área, e verificar se a percepção dos profissionais, relativamente a esses mesmos factores, depende das suas características pessoais, experiência profissional e fase de intervenção; ou se está relacionada com a sua percepção do nível de adesão dos utentes ou com o seu conceito de adesão. Metodologia - Procedeu-se a um estudo transversal, com uma amostra de 20 fisioterapeutas a desenvolver a sua actividade em RC, através da aplicação de um questionário. Resultados - Os factores que reuniram maior consenso, enquanto condicionantes de adesão, foram os aspectos relacionados com os profissionais, com a patologia e com as características sociais dos utentes. Neste estudo as únicas correlações estatisticamente significativas na população referem-se às variáveis: opinião relativa ao índice “Aspectos sociais” e “Percepção do nível de adesão” (correlação negativa modera) e ao índice “Aspectos relacionados com os profissionais” e “Conceito de adesão” (correlação moderada). Conclusão - Este estudo permitiu identificar os factores que, de acordo com a amostra, condicionam a adesão dos utentes à componente de exercício dos programas de RC. Porém, não permitiu verificar se as características dos elementos da amostra influenciaram as suas opções

Lifelong learning: conceptualizations in european educational policy documents

Over recent years, lifelong learning has been a central and guiding principle in the formulation of European educational policies. Within this general framework, the authors have been developing a research project that allows them to approach the theme of lifelong learning and European educational policies, taking into account four levels of analysis, namely: the supranational, the national, the institutional and, finally, the individual level of analysis. This methodological strategy reflects a theoretical understanding of policy as the result of the actions of a diversity of actors at different levels. This article focuses on the supranational level of analysis, drawing on data from an analysis of European educational policy documents. First, the authors clarify the methodological issues raised by the research findings presented. Second, they discuss the results concerning the process of definition of European educational policies. Third, the authors briefly revisit the evolution of the idea of lifelong learning and discuss the results regarding its plurality of meanings and conceptualizations within the documents considered for analysis.Fundação Ciência e Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio