Sequestração geológica de dióxido de carbono: notas sobre o estado-da-arte

Após uma breve introdução sobre os conceitos de (i) Alterações climáticas vs Alterações globais e de (ii) Gases de efeito de estufa, os autores apresentam o estado-da-arte sobre os principais problemas relacionados com a redução do dióxido de carbono e sua sequestração geológica. Por fim, fazem referência aos projectos existentes neste domínio no “Grupo de Investigação em Energia” do Centro de Investigação em Alterações Globais, Energia, Ambiente e Bioengenharia - CIAGEB da Universidade Fernando Pessoa. After a short introduction regarding concepts such as (i) Climate change vs Global changes, and (ii) Greenhouse gases effect, the authors present the state-of-the-art regarding problems related with Carbon dioxide abatement and geological sequestration. Finally, the authors refer to the current projects on this particular issue being developed by the “Energy Research Group” of the Global Change, Energy, Environment and Bioengineering RDID&D Unit – CIAGEB of Universidade Fernando Pessoa

Biofixation of CO2 emissions from natural gas combined cycle power plant

6th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research, ICEERThe growing impacts of climate change mainly due to the increasing emissions of GHG, especially carbon dioxide, has led to the development and implementation of specific strategies and policies to reduce them. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is currently seen as a good option, as it contributes to reduce the net carbon emissions and fulfil the goals of the Paris Agreement. This work analyses the economic potential of CO2 biofixation by microalgae from the exhaust gas of a Portuguese Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) power plant. Literature and real operational data are used, collected from reports of Portuguese power generation companies. A preliminary design and economic analysis of the carbon biofixation system was done. Results show that, although requiring a very large investment, the process is economically viable. In further studies a more in depth approach and detailed project combined with a sensitivity analysis, and a comparison with the chemical based CO2 fixation will be done.This research was funded by: project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003 and research grants IF/01093/2014 and SFRH/BPD/112003/2015 funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES, Portugal, and project UID/EQU/00305/2013 – Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology – CIETI. This work was financially supported by: project UID/EQU/00511/2019 – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), Portugal; Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy — LEPABE, UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020-POCI and by national funds through FCT; Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION”-NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020) , under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sequestração geológica de dióxido de carbono: notas sobre o estado-da-arte

Após uma breve introdução sobre os conceitos de (i) Alterações climáticas vs Alterações globais e de (ii) Gases de efeito de estufa, os autores apresentam o estado-da-arte sobre os principais problemas relacionados com a redução do dióxido de carbono e sua sequestração geológica. Por fim, fazem referência aos projectos existentes neste domínio no “Grupo de Investigação em Energia” do Centro de Investigação em Alterações Globais, Energia, Ambiente e Bioengenharia - CIAGEB da Universidade Fernando Pessoa. After a short introduction regarding concepts such as (i) Climate change vs Global changes, and (ii) Greenhouse gases effect, the authors present the state-of-the-art regarding problems related with Carbon dioxide abatement and geological sequestration. Finally, the authors refer to the current projects on this particular issue being developed by the “Energy Research Group” of the Global Change, Energy, Environment and Bioengineering RDID&D Unit – CIAGEB of Universidade Fernando Pessoa

Variants in the inflammatory IL6 and MPO genes modulate stroke susceptibility through main effects and gene-gene interactions

A complex interplay between genetic background, clinical and life-style factors and the environment is expected to ultimately regulate the onset, acute phase and outcome of stroke. There is substantial evidence that inflammation within the Central Nervous System contributes to stroke risk, and known clinical risk factors for stroke, like atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and peripheral infection, are associated with an elevated systemic inflammatory profile. The inflammatory response is equally of major importance in recovery and healing processes after stroke. In this study we tested the genetic association of major inflammatory players IL1B (2q14), IL6 (7p21), TNF (6p21.3) and MPO (17q23.1) with stroke susceptibility and with stroke outcome at three months, in a population sample of 672 patients and 530 controls, adjusting for demographic, clinical and life-style risk factors and/or stroke severity parameters. The apparent complexity of the inflammatory mechanisms in stroke, and the multiplicity of players involved suggest a concerted process, in which implicated molecules interact to tightly regulate each other. We therefore examined both independent gene effects and the occurrence of gene-gene interactions among the tested inflammatory genes in stroke risk and stroke recovery. Two IL6 and one MPO SNP were significantly associated with stroke risk after multiple testing correction (0.022 correctedP 0.042), highlighting gene variants of low to moderate effect in stroke risk. An epistatic interaction between the IL6 and MPO genes was also identified in association with stroke susceptibility (P=0.031 after 1000 permutations). In the subset of 546 patients assessed for stroke outcome at three months using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), we found one IL6 haplotype associated with stroke outcome (correctedP=0.024). In the present study we present supporting evidence for a role of the IL6 and MPO inflammatory genes in stroke susceptibility, and show that stroke risk is modulated by main gene effects together with clinical and life-style factors as well as by gene-gene interactions. Our findings are compatible and strengthen previous genetic and biological observations, highlighting the need of further functional studies, particularly in view of the possible utility of IL-6 as a diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarker for stroke

Measuring health vulnerability: an interdisciplinary indicator applied to Mainland Portugal

Health promotion and inequality reduction are specific goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, which are interconnected with several dimensions of life. This work proposes a composite index SEHVI—socioeconomic health vulnerability index—to address Portuguese population socioeconomic determinants that affect health outcomes. Variables composing SEHVI are aligned with the sustainable development goals considering data and times series availability to enable progress monitoring, and variables adequacy to translate populations’ life conditions affecting health outcomes. Data for 35 variables and three periods were collected from official national databases. All variables are part of one of the groups: Health determinants (social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors) and health outcomes (mortality indicators). Variables were standardized and normalized by “Distance to a reference” method and then aggregated into the SEHVI formula. Several statistical procedures for validation of SEHVI revealed the internal consistency of the index. For all municipalities, SEHVI was calculated and cartographically represented. Results were analyzed by statistical tests and compared for three years and territory typologies. SEHVI differences were found as a function of population density, suggesting inequalities of communities’ life conditions and in vulnerability to health.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Construction and characterization of recombinant flaviviruses bearing insertions between E and NS1 genes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The yellow fever virus, a member of the genus <it>Flavivirus</it>, is an arthropod-borne pathogen causing severe disease in humans. The attenuated yellow fever 17D virus strain has been used for human vaccination for 70 years and has several characteristics that are desirable for the development of new, live attenuated vaccines. We described here a methodology to construct a viable, and immunogenic recombinant yellow fever 17D virus expressing a green fluorescent protein variant (EGFP). This approach took into account the presence of functional motifs and amino acid sequence conservation flanking the E and NS1 intergenic region to duplicate and fuse them to the exogenous gene and thereby allow the correct processing of the viral polyprotein precursor.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>YF 17D EGFP recombinant virus was grew in Vero cells and reached a peak titer of approximately 6.45 ± 0.4 log10 PFU/mL at 96 hours post-infection. Immunoprecipitation and confocal laser scanning microscopy demonstrated the expression of the EGFP, which was retained in the endoplasmic reticulum and not secreted from infected cells. The association with the ER compartment did not interfere with YF assembly, since the recombinant virus was fully competent to replicate and exit the cell. This virus was genetically stable up to the tenth serial passage in Vero cells. The recombinant virus was capable to elicit a neutralizing antibody response to YF and antibodies to EGFP as evidenced by an ELISA test. The applicability of this cloning strategy to clone gene foreign sequences in other flavivirus genomes was demonstrated by the construction of a chimeric recombinant YF 17D/DEN4 virus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This system is likely to be useful for a broader live attenuated YF 17D virus-based vaccine development for human diseases. Moreover, insertion of foreign genes into the flavivirus genome may also allow <it>in vivo </it>studies on flavivirus cell and tissue tropism as well as cellular processes related to flavivirus infection.</p

Indoor air quality improvement using nature-based solutions: Design proposals to greener cities

Low indoor air quality is an increasingly important problem due to the spread of urbanization. Because people spend most of their time inside, poor indoor air quality causes serious human health issues, resulting in significant economic losses. In this work, the current state of affairs is presented and analyzed, focusing on the current problems and the available solutions to improve the quality of indoor air, and the use of nature-based solutions. These involve the cultivation of microalgae in closed photobioreactors. In these systems, photosynthetic organisms can capture CO2 and other pollutants generated in indoor environments, which they use to grow and develop biomass. Several possible layouts for the implementation of microalgae-based indoor air cleaning systems are presented, taking into account the systems that are currently available at a commercial scale. A critical analysis of the microalgae indoor purification systems is presented, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages, and suggesting potential improvements and future lines of research and development in the area. (c) 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Research report of the LookCrim Project, from conceptualization to practice

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mitochondrial haplogroup H1 is protective for ischemic stroke in Portuguese patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The genetic contribution to stroke is well established but it has proven difficult to identify the genes and the disease-associated alleles mediating this effect, possibly because only nuclear genes have been intensely investigated so far. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been implicated in several disorders having stroke as one of its clinical manifestations. The aim of this case-control study was to assess the contribution of mtDNA polymorphisms and haplogroups to ischemic stroke risk.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We genotyped 19 mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) defining the major European haplogroups in 534 ischemic stroke patients and 499 controls collected in Portugal, and tested their allelic and haplogroup association with ischemic stroke risk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Haplogroup H1 was found to be significantly less frequent in stroke patients than in controls (OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.45–0.83, p = 0.001), when comparing each clade against all other haplogroups pooled together. Conversely, the pre-HV/HV and U mtDNA lineages emerge as potential genetic factors conferring risk for stroke (OR = 3.14, 95% CI = 1.41–7.01, p = 0.003, and OR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.13–7.28, p = 0.021, respectively). SNPs m.3010G>A, m.7028C>T and m.11719G>A strongly influence ischemic stroke risk, their allelic state in haplogroup H1 corroborating its protective effect.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data suggests that mitochondrial haplogroup H1 has an impact on ischemic stroke risk in a Portuguese sample.</p

HIV drug resistance levels in adults failing first-line antiretroviral therapy in an urban and a rural setting in South Africa

OBJECTIVES : Urban and rural HIV treatment programmes face different challenges in the long-term management of patients. There are few studies comparing drug resistance profiles in patients accessing treatment through these programmes. METHODS : HIV drug resistance data and associated treatment and monitoring information from adult patients failing first-line therapy in an urban and rural programme were collected. Data were curated and managed in SATuRN RegaDB before statistical analysis using Microsoft Excel 2013 and Stata Ver14 where clinical parameters, resistance profiles and predicted treatment responses were compared. RESULTS : Data from 595 patients were analyzed: 492 rural and 103 urban. The urban group had lower CD4 counts at treatment initiation (98 versus 126 cells/μl, p=0.05), had more viral loads done per year (median 3 versus 1.4, p< 0.01) and was more likely to have no drug resistance mutations detected (35.9% versus 11.2%, p<0.01). Patients in the rural group were more likely to have been on first-line treatment for a longer period, failed for longer, and have thymidine analogue mutations. Notwithstanding these differences, both groups had a comparable predicted response to standard second-line regimen, based on the genotypic susceptibility score. Mutations accumulated in a sigmoidal fashion over failure duration. CONCLUSIONS : The frequency and patterns of drug resistance, as well the intensity of virological monitoring, in adults with first-line therapy failure differed between the urban and rural site. Despite these differences, based on the genotypic susceptibility scores, the majority of patients across both sites would be expected to respond well to the standard second-line regimen.This work was supported by the European Union (SANTE 2007 147– 790). The Hlabisa HIV Treatment and Care Programme has received support through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the President’s Emergency Plan (PEPFAR) under the terms of Award No. 674-A-00-08-00001-00. Data analysis and curation were also supported by a Flagship grant from the Medical Research Council (MRC) of the Republic of South Africa (MRC- RFA-UFSP-01-2013/UKZN HIVEPI).http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1468-12932018-02-27hb2017Immunolog