Characterization of new 5-aminoimidazole derivatives

Comunicação apresentada no "III Encontro de Técnicas de Caracterização e Análises Químicas", Braga, Portugal (Junho 2014).Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia [PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2013 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037302)], PTNMR and a PhD grant awarded to Nádia Senhorães (SFRH/BD/73721/2010)

Crystal structures of ethyl 6-(4-methylphenyl)-4-oxo-4H-chromene-2-carboxylate and ethyl 6-(4-fluorophenyl)-4-oxo-4H-chromene-2-carboxylate

The crystal structures of two chromone derivatives, viz. ethyl 6-(4-methyl­phen­yl)-4-oxo-4H-chromene-2-carboxyl­ate, C19H16O4, (1), and ethyl 6-(4-fluoro­phen­yl)-4-oxo-4H-chromene-2-carboxyl­ate C18H13FO4, (2), have been determined: (1) crystallizes with two mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit. A comparison of the dihedral angles beween the mean planes of the central chromone core with those of the substituents, an ethyl ester moiety at the 2-position and a para-substituted phenyl ring at the 6-position shows that each mol­ecule differs significantly from the others, even the two independent mol­ecules (a and b) of (1). In all three mol­ecules, the carbonyl groups of the chromone and the carboxyl­ate are trans-related. The supra­molecular structure of (1) involves only weak C-H...[pi] inter­actions between H atoms of the substituent phenyl group and the phenyl group, which link mol­ecules into a chain of alternating mol­ecules a and b, and weak [pi]-[pi] stacking inter­actions between the chromone units. The packing in (2) involves C-H...O inter­actions, which form a network of two inter­secting ladders involving the carbonyl atom of the carboxyl­ate group as the acceptor for H atoms at the 7-position of the chromone ring and from an ortho-H atom of the exocyclic benzene ring. The carbonyl atom of the chromone acts as an acceptor from a meta-H atom of the exocyclic benzene ring. [pi]-[pi] inter­actions stack the mol­ecules by unit translation along the a axis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A shifted hyperbolic augmented Lagrangian-based artificial fish two swarm algorithm with guaranteed convergence for constrained global optimization

This article presents a shifted hyperbolic penalty function and proposes an augmented Lagrangian-based algorithm for non-convex constrained global optimization problems. Convergence to an ε-global minimizer is proved. At each iteration k, the algorithm requires the ε(k)-global minimization of a bound constrained optimization subproblem, where ε(k) → ε. The subproblems are solved by a stochastic population-based metaheuristic that relies on the artificial fish swarm paradigm and a two-swarm strategy. To enhance the speed of convergence, the algorithm invokes the Nelder–Mead local search with a dynamically defined probability. Numerical experiments with benchmark functions and engineering design problems are presented. The results show that the proposed shifted hyperbolic augmented Lagrangian compares favorably with other deterministic and stochastic penalty-based methods.This work was supported by COMPETE [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043]; FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope [UID/CEC/00319/2013]; and partially supported by CMAT-Centre of Mathematics of the University of Minho

High in vitro activity of synthetic 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamidrazones against Candida biofilms formation on nanohydroxyapatite

Comunicação apresentada no: "4th I3S Annual Meeting"Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia [PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2013 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037302)], PTNMR and a PhD grant awarded to Nádia Senhorães (SFRH/BD/73721/2010)

Aplicando Raciocínio Baseado em Casos no Auxílio ao Diagnóstico Médico da Síndrome de Kawasaki

A Síndrome de Kawasaki é uma doença infantil rara, considerada a principal causa de cardiopatia adquirida em crianças abaixo de cinco anos nos países desenvolvidos. Ainda não existe um teste de diagnóstico específico capaz de comprovar sua presença ou ausência, bem ela se manifesta de forma completa e incompleta. Apresenta-se neste artigo o uso de Raciocínio Baseado em Casos para auxiliar o diagnóstico médico desta doenç

Formation of graphene nanoribbons in solution

Recently, the formation of graphene by exfoliation of carbon nanotubes (CNT) has shown increasing interest. This process originates graphene nanoribbons (GNR) that are expected to present excellent electrical properties, depending on their width and on their edge shape [1]. Several methods for the unzipping of graphene from CNT were proposed along the past few years [2-6]. These methods often present some limitation, such as low yield of GNR, or extensively oxidized GNR without electrical conductivity. Recently, the formation of GNR was observed “in situ” by unzipping of carbon nanotubes under ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (UHV STM) [7]. The CNT under observation were functionalized by the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction [8]. This particular functionalization route seems to be responsible for the unzipping of the CNT under STM imaging conditions. The present work demonstrates the formation of GNR in solution by unzipping of functionalized CNT, in different solvents. The GNR thus formed were analyzed by UV-vis and Raman spectroscopy, and by transmission electron spectroscopy. GNR bundles were deposited from an ethanol solution and observed by TEM.Institute for Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication (I3N

Cancer Theranostic Dyes

Funding Information: This work was financed by national funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., within the scope of the projects of the Ministry of Science Technology and Higher Education: UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences—UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy—i4HB and, in part, by the Jeanne and J.-Louis Lévesque foundation, Montreal, QC, Canada (J.E.v.L.). J.E.v.L. is a member of the Research Center of the CHUS (CRCHUS), Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, supported by the Fonds de la Recherche du Québec—Santé. C.R.R., A.L. and R.V. were funded by FCT/MCTES, grant numbers SFRH/BPD/124612/2016, SFRH/BD/12161/2022, and SFRH/BD/09845/2022, respectively. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Estradiol-BODIPY linked via an 8-carbon spacer chain and 19-nortestosterone- and testosterone-BODIPY linked via an ethynyl spacer group were evaluated for cell uptake in the breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 and prostate cancer cell lines PC-3 and LNCaP, as well as in normal dermal fibroblasts, using fluorescence microscopy. The highest level of internalization was observed with 11β-OMe-estradiol-BODIPY 2 and 7α-Me-19-nortestosterone-BODIPY 4 towards cells expressing their specific receptors. Blocking experiments showed changes in non-specific cell uptake in the cancer and normal cells, which likely reflect differences in the lipophilicity of the conjugates. The internalization of the conjugates was shown to be an energy-dependent process that is likely mediated by clathrin- and caveolae-endocytosis. Studies using 2D co-cultures of cancer cells and normal fibroblasts showed that the conjugates are more selective towards cancer cells. Cell viability assays showed that the conjugates are non-toxic for cancer and/or normal cells. Visible light irradiation of cells incubated with estradiol-BODIPYs 1 and 2 and 7α-Me-19-nortestosterone-BODIPY 4 induced cell death, suggesting their potential for use as PDT agents.publishersversionpublishe

Co-creation of educational commons spaces to reverse inequalities: project SMOOTH and the Children's Club

This article presents an action-research project from the EU-funded SMOOTH project, which focuses on the potential of Educational Commons to address educational inequalities. The project adopts an emergent paradigm that views spaces for collaboration, content co-creation, socialization, governance, and play as catalysts for reversing inequalities. The action-research, conducted in a disadvantaged non-formal education setting in northern Portugal, involved children aged 8–10 years old. Over a span of 10 months, the innovative action-research program aimed to achieve several objectives: (1) reversing inequalities faced by vulnerable social groups, (2) strengthening inter-cultural and inter-generational dialogue and social integration, (3) developing essential social and personal skills, and (4) creating smooth spaces of democratic citizenship based on equality, collaboration, sharing, and caring. By understanding the tensions and conflicts that emerge in children's everyday situations, the project sought to build and foster community through embracing differences. This article analyzes the characteristics, behaviors, challenges, and strengths observed during the 30 sessions. The results provide insights into the dimensions of Children as commoners, in terms of sharing and care, cooperation and collective creativity and active citizenship. This research contributes to the exploration of Educational Commons as a means to promote equity and transform educational contexts

Blocking Zika virus vertical transmission.

The outbreak of the Zika virus (ZIKV) has been associated with increased incidence of congenital malformations. Although recent efforts have focused on vaccine development, treatments for infected individuals are needed urgently. Sofosbuvir (SOF), an FDA-approved nucleotide analog inhibitor of the Hepatitis C (HCV) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) was recently shown to be protective against ZIKV both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that SOF protected human neural progenitor cells (NPC) and 3D neurospheres from ZIKV infection-mediated cell death and importantly restored the antiviral immune response in NPCs. In vivo, SOF treatment post-infection (p.i.) decreased viral burden in an immunodeficient mouse model. Finally, we show for the first time that acute SOF treatment of pregnant dams p.i. was well-tolerated and prevented vertical transmission of the virus to the fetus. Taken together, our data confirmed SOF-mediated sparing of human neural cell types from ZIKV-mediated cell death in vitro and reduced viral burden in vivo in animal models of chronic infection and vertical transmission, strengthening the growing body of evidence for SOF anti-ZIKV activity