Hybrid magnetic systems for the purification of biopharmaceuticals

Monoclonal antibodies are used as therapeutic agents worldwide and have a great market demand. However, the downstream processing of these biopharmaceuticals represents between 50-80% of the total manufacturing costs and therefore new methods which are less expensive but also efficient are needed. The aim of this work was to develop a non-chromatographic method for the purification of antibodies from cell culture supernatants by process integration of two methods, namely aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE) and magnetic fishing. The behavior of a new aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) was investigated by varying the NaCl concentration and the molecular weight of a polymer. This study allowed to select the composition of the systems that would be used in the study of the partition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) used as a model contaminant and immunoglobulin G (IgG). Simultaneously, magnetic particles (MNPs) with 2 different coatings were synthesized and assessed for protein binding. One of the particles was selected due to the easier synthesis and the high affinity and selectivity towards human IgG. Furthermore, one system was chosen as the most suitable magnetic aqueous two phase fishing system (MATPFS) to recover IgG. The control studies, which consisted of using separately the ATPE and magnetic fishing to purify IgG from a cell culture supernatant, presented low values of yield and purity when compared with the results obtained by combining these two methods

A influência das culturas individuais num ambiente empresarial multucultural

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Estudos Interculturais Português/Chinês - Formação, Tradução e Comunicação EmpresarialDurante o segundo semestre do ano letivo de 2011/2012, em sede do mestrado Estudos Interculturais Português/Chinês: Formação, Tradução e Comunicação Empresarial, efetuei um estágio com o objetivo de praticar os conhecimentos adquiridos ao longo do mestrado. O presente relatório apresenta o trabalho efetuado assim como a sua relevância para o meu percurso académico. O estágio foi realizado num restaurante ocidental localizado na cidade chinesa de Tianjin. O restaurante é gerido por uma empresa ocidental e, estando localizado numa cidade chinesa com um staff que inclui tanto empregados locais como estrangeiros e servindo clientes das mais diversas proveniências, é um local ideal para praticar os conhecimentos relacionados com comunicação internacional adquiridos ao longo do mestrado. O presente relatório pode ser divido em três partes principais: Na primeira parte começo por fazer o enquadramento deste estágio no âmbito académico e por explicitar as razões e os objetivos para o realizar. De seguida apresento a instituição de acolhimento do estágio, apresento a sua situação, localização e relevância para a área em estudo. Na segunda parte apresento a fundamentação teórica para a minha atuação nesta empresa e para a situação encontrada. Começo por introduzir a definição do complexo termo “cultura”, de seguida demonstro a sua importância num contexto empresarial multicultural, e acabo por especificar as suas implicações no caso chinês, focando-me no sistema de gestão chinês e nas suas diferenças em relação aos sistemas ocidentais. Na última parte, apresento a experiência que adquiri com este estágio. Apresento as minhas responsabilidades, as minhas descobertas, os problemas com que me deparei e as soluções encontradas. Dedico grande parte desta secção à apresentação de casos concretos que experienciei, procurando sempre relacionar a minha aprendizagem prática aos conhecimentos teóricos já adquiridos. No final do relatório, apresento ainda os resultados da minha experiência, o que aprendi através da prática e a sua relevância para o meu percurso.During the second semester of the 2011/2012 school year, as part of the master's degree in Intercultural Studies in Portuguese and Chinese: Translation, Education and Communication, I took part in an internship with the objective of practising the knowledge gained throughout the master's degree. This report presents the work performed as well as its relevance to my the academic course. The internship was carried out in a western restaurant on the Chinese city of Tianjin. The restaurant is managed by a western company and, being located in a Chinese city with a staff of local as well as foreign employees and serving customers from the most different geographic origins, it is an ideal location to practice all the knowledge related to international communication I have gained throughout the master's degree. This report can be divided into three main parts: In the first part I start by presenting this internship and by showing the reasons and objectives of taking part in it. Then, I present the company in which I carried out my internship, its situation, location and relevance to the subject being studied. In the second part I present the theoretic base for my performance in this company and for the situation I found there. I start by giving an introduction about the complex term “culture”, I then demonstrate its importance in a multicultural business setting, and conclude by specifying its implications in the Chinese case, focussing on the Chinese management system and in its difference when compared to the western systems. In the last part, I present the experience I acquired with this internship. I present my responsibilities, my discoveries, the problems I met and the solutions found. A great part of this section is dedicated to the presentation of particular cases I experienced, always trying to relate my practical learning experience to the theoretical knowledge I had already gained. In the ending of this report, I present the results of my experience, what I learned through practice and its relevance to my academic and professional path

Prevalence, risk factors and complications of post-implantation syndrome after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm exclusion: a systematic review

INTRODUÇÃO Apesar dos benefícios comprovados do tratamento endovascular dos aneurismas da aorta (endovascular aneurysm repair - EVAR), tem sido demonstrado que esta técnica pode desencadear uma resposta inflamatória sistémica, denominada de Síndrome pós implantação 1. A etiologia e as implicações no prognóstico deste síndrome têm sido descritas na literatura, com resultados discordantes. Através deste trabalho, pretendemos rever a prevalência, fatores de risco e complicações do SPI (síndrome pós-implantação) após EVAR. MÉTODOS Foi realizada pesquisa de literatura via MedLine Scopus e Web of Science, resultando num total de 41 estudos. Destes, 19 estudos foram incluídos. Os dados foram extraídos de acordo com as normas e, caso necessário, os autores foram contactados para obter informação adicional. RESULTADOS Nesta revisão sistemática, analisámos 19 estudos que reportavam evidência significativa acerca da prevalência, fatores de risco e complicações do SPI após EVAR. A prevalência variou entre 11.4% e 44%, demonstrando uma grande variabilidade entre os estudos. A única variável que foi sistematicamente reportada como estando em associação com a ocorrência de SPI foi a utilização de stents de poliéster. Esta associação foi demonstrada em sete estudos, sendo que a prevalência de SPI variou entre 14%-56.1% no grupo de pacientes nos quais se utilizou stents de poliéster enquanto que no grupo submetido a stents de ePTFE a prevalência variou entre 0%-17.9%. Relativamente às complicações associadas ao SPI, sete estudos reportaram uma associação entre a ocorrência de SPI e um pior prognóstico após a intervenção. Destes, três estudos demonstraram que o SPI se associava a um maior risco de complicações cardiovasculares nos primeiros 30 dias pós operatório, sendo que um destes estudos verificou, ainda, um maior risco de complicações durante o primeiro ano. Cinco estudos verificaram um aumento do tempo de hospitalização associado à ocorrência de SPI, enquanto que outro estudo reportou uma pior qualidade de vida associada a este síndrome. CONCLUSÃO A prevalência do SPI apresenta elevada discrepância na literatura, devido à ausência de critérios de diagnósticos uniformizados. Alguns estudos demonstram uma associação entre a ocorrência do SPI e a ocorrência de efeitos adversos a longo e a curto prazo, incluindo eventos cardiovasculares major. Contudo, a evidência atual é escassa, não sendo possível tirar conclusões significativas.INTRODUCTION Despite the proven benefits of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), it has been demonstrated that such procedures can trigger a systemic inflammatory response, named post-implantation syndrome (PIS). The etiology and prognostic implications of this condition have been described in the literature, with conflicting results. Through this work, we aim to review the prevalence, risk factors and complications of post-implantation syndrome after EVAR. EVIDENCE ACQUISITON A literature search was performed on MedLine, Scopus and Web of Science databases, which returned 41 studies. Nineteen studies were included. Data were extracted using piloted forms, and, if necessary, authors were contacted to obtain further information. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS In this systematic review, 19 studies reporting significant evidence about prevalence, risk factors and complications of PIS after EVAR were analyzed. PIS prevalence ranged from 11.4% to 44%, with four different definitions of PIS applied in sixteen different studies where they were reported. The only variable found to be systematically associated with the occurrence of PIS was polyester stentgraft fabric. Seven studies reported such findings, with PIS prevalence ranging from 14%-56.1% for patients treated with polyester grafts comparing to 0%-17.9% for those treated with ePTFE grafts. Regarding PIS-related complications, seven studies reported an association between PIS and worse outcomes after intervention. Out of these, three reported PIS to be associated with a significant higher risk of post-operative cardiovascular complications during the first 30 days after surgery, while one also determined an higher risk of complications in the first year of follow up. Five studies demonstrated that PIS increases length of hospital stay while one reported lower quality of life for patients with this condition. CONCLUSION Prevalence of PIS varies greatly in literature due to the absence of standardized diagnostic criteria. Some studies report an association between PIS and short-term as well as long-term adverse events, including MACE. Nonetheless, current evidence is scarce and no conclusion can be strongly drawn

A NOTE ON COMONOTONICITY AND POSITIVITY OF THE CONTROL COMPONENTS OF DECOUPLED QUADRATIC FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Ic paper on elekta ab - mitigation of structural differences in cancer treatment

The following Investment Committee paper focuses on a proposal for a leveraged buyout on Elekta AB, a key player in the global radiotherapy market which sells in more than 120 countries. In fact, this paper develops a set of value creation strategies (with an emphasis on the Buy & Build strategy) through a detailed analysis of the radiotherapy market and of the competitive advantages of the company. Subsequently, a capital structure is suggested by assessing past buyout transactions in the healthcare sector and by leveraging the bank case. Finally, the exit returns are estimated complying with industry threshold and a range of exit strategies are analyzed

A strategy revision to guide Biovilla on the path towards environmental, social, and financial sustainability - evaluation of Biovilla´s current growth strategy

Biovilla is a cooperative that intends to boost a culture of regeneration and currently faces many challenges. With newly acquired funding, Biovilla aims to overcome these challenges by expanding its organization and increasing its environmental, social, and financial impact. To guide Biovilla on the path towards organizational sustainability, this project revises of the organization’s current growth strategy. The evaluation of the strategy reveals that it will provide Biovilla with sustainable growth. To further improve the strategy, recommendations are provided to fine-tune it. Lastly, an implementation roadmap is developed to ensure a successful execution. Overall, the fine-tuned strategy will improve Biovilla’s impact and make the organization as how room for sustainability

An evaluation of the replicate pool method: quick estimation of genome-wide linkage peak p -values

The calculation of empirical p -values for genome-wide non-parametric linkage tests continues to present significant computational challenges for many complex disease mapping studies. The gold standard approach is to use gene dropping to simulate null genome scans. Unfortunately, this approach is too computationally expensive for many data sets of interest. An alternative, more efficient method for sampling null genome scans is to pre-calculate pools of family-specific statistics and then resample from these replicate pools to generate “pseudo-replicate” genome scans. In this study, we use simulations to explore properties of the replicate pool p -value estimator [pcirc] RP and show that it provides an excellent approximation to the traditional gene-dropping estimator for significantly less computational effort. While the computational efficiency of the replicate pool estimator is noticeable in almost all data sets, by applying the replicate pool method to several previously characterized data sets we show that savings in computational effort can be especially significant (on the order of 10,000-fold or more) when one or more large families are analyzed. We also estimate replicate pool p -values for the schizophrenia data described by Abecasis et al. and show that [pcirc] RP closely approximates gene-drop p -values for all linkage peaks reported for this study. Lastly, we expand upon Song et al.'s previous work by deriving a conservative estimator of the variance for [pcirc] RP that can easily be computed in practical settings.We have implemented the replicate pool method along with our variance estimator in a new program called Pseudo, which is the first widely available automated implementation of the replicate pool method. Genet . Epidemiol . 30, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50657/1/20147_ftp.pd

Ceramide in the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane and its Role in Apoptosis

"Ceramides constitute a class of lipids found in different locations such as the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM), whose permeabilization is a point-of-no-return in apoptosis. This phenomenon has been linked to the Voltage Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC), with which Ceramides can interact via a membrane-buried Glutamate residue in isoforms 1 and 2. To study the role of Ceramides in apoptosis, a Coarse Grain (CG) model of this lipid was created and subsequently optimized in terms of Solvent Accessible Surface Area and topology parameters. The latter were developed through a trial-and-error approach until the CG behavior resembled the atomistic references. The obtained parameters were further tested but results were inconclusive, probably due to the method used. Nevertheless, preliminary data demonstrated the model to properly interact with the Glutamate of VDAC."N/

Equity valuation of Manchester United plc

Manchester United is a football club based of Manchester and has been at the forefront of football since the early nineties. It competes in the English Premier League, the most competitive and lucrative football league. The club is owned by the Glazer family, known by the supporters as “The Glazers”, who own 70% of the shares. It has been listed in stock exchanges since 2014 and has been paying a stable annual dividend of 0.18$ for the last 5 years, with a yield of around 1%. It has been considered by Deloitte, in their annual football report, as the fourth largest football club in the world. They had a social media following, as of 2020, of 141 million people, an average league attendance of 74 thousand people a game and have generated about 309 million pounds in commercial revenue in 2022. The purpose of this thesis was to issue a buy or sell recommendation of the shares, as of 28th of April 2023. To do so, the method applied was the Discounted Cash Flows Multiples. An extra valuation approach was also implemented, and although it was not a conventional one, the goal was to try and surpass some of the typical problems that are faced when trying to value sports clubs, by innovating in the approach taken, as well as to give some confirmation to our DCF model’s results. Our final recommendation is that investors should sell the shares of Manchester United.Manchester United é um clube de futebol com sede em Manchester e tem estado na vanguarda do futebol desde o início dos anos noventa. Compete na Premier League, a liga de futebol mais competitiva e lucrativa da indústria. O clube é propriedade da família Glazer, conhecida pelos adeptos como "Os Glazers", que detêm 70% das ações. Está na bolsa de valores desde 2014 e tem distribuído um dividendo anual estável de 0,18 dólares nos últimos 5 anos, com um rendimento de cerca de 1%. Foi considerado pela Deloitte, no seu relatório anual sobre futebol, como o quarto maior clube de futebol do mundo. Tinham uma presença nas redes sociais, em 2020, de 141 milhões de pessoas, uma média de assistência de 74 mil pessoas por jogo e geraram cerca de 309 milhões de libras em receita comercial em 2022. O objetivo desta tese foi emitir uma recomendação de compra ou venda das ações, a 28 de abril de 2023. Para o fazer, o método aplicado foi o Free Cash Flow to the Firm. Foi também implementada uma abordagem adicional, e embora não tenha sido convencional, o objetivo foi tentar superar alguns dos problemas típicos enfrentados ao tentar valorizar clubes desportivos, inovando na abordagem adotada, bem como dar alguma confirmação aos resultados do nosso modelo FCFF. A nossa recomendação final é que os investidores devem vender as ações do Manchester United