Plasma alternatives in acquired bleeding disorders — factor concentrates

Much has been said and published in the past years about new approaches to coagulation management in acquired bleeding disorders. This is particularily true in the perioperative setting and in trauma induced coagulopathy, which are associated with severe bleeding and massive blood transfusion rates that might have deletirious effects, such as incresead morbidity and mortality. Our current understanding of hemostasis and new diagnostic tools such as thromboelastog­raphy and rotational thromboelastometry (point-of-care tests) offer insight into the in vivo processes ongoing in a bleeding patient. It has been demonstrated that when a patient bleeds, fibrinogen is the first coagulation factor to reach really low levels, insufficient for formation of a clot. Management of massive blood loss may also require the administration of other coagula­tion factors like those present in Prothrombin complex concentrates (PCC) and plasma. In resume, the overall use of factor concentrates for management of acquired bleeding disorders has gradually increased during the last several years, mainly that of fibrinogen concentrate. Parallel to this trend we observe the reduction in the number of transfusions of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and other blood components

Characterization of the vertebral anomalies in different phases of the production of Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis): stereoscopic, radiographic and histological approach

This Doctoral Thesis arises from the need to find solutions to prevent the high incidence of skeletal abnormalities detected in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) aquaculture. A comprehensive study of skeletal anomalies affecting the vertebral column of Senegalese sole was performed at different rearing stages and feeding regimes. Complementary diagnostic methodologies were integrated, from the macroscopic, stereoscopic, radiographic and histologic perspective. The present Thesis contributed with a new insight on the skeletal anomaly problematic affecting cultured Senegalese sole throughout the productive cycle, underlining the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to cope a multi-factorial issue in the aquaculture sector

Classification of dementias based on brain radiomics features

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia InformáticaNeurodegenerative diseases impair the functioning of the brain and are characterized by alterations in the morphology of specific brain regions. Some of the main disorders include Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, and the number of cases increases exponentially since ageing is one of the main risk factors. Trying to identify the areas in which this type of disease appears is something that can have a very positive impact in this area of Medicine and can guarantee a more appropriate treatment or allow the improvement of the quality of life of patients. With the current technological advances, computer tools are capable of performing a structural or functional analysis of neuroimaging data from Magnetic Resonance Images(MRI). Therefore, Medical Informatics uses these techniques to create and manage medical neuroimaging data to improve the diagnosis and management of these patients. MRI is the image type used in the analysis of the brain area and points to a promising and reliable diagnostic tool since it allows high-quality images in various planes or strategies and MRI methods are fundamental diagnostic tools in clinical practice, allowing the diagnosis of pathologic processes such as stroke or brain tumours. However, structural MRI has limitations for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders since it mainly identifies atrophy of brain regions. Currently, there is increased interest in informatics applications capable of monitoring and quantifying human brain imaging alterations, with potential for neurodegenerative disorders diagnosis and monitoring. One of these applications is Radiomics, which corresponds to a methodolog ythat allows the extraction of features from images of a given region of the brain. Specific quantitative metrics from MRI are acquired by this tool, and they correspond to a set of features, including texture, shape, among others. To standardize Radiomics application, specific libraries have been proposed to be used by the bioinformatics and biomedical communities, such as PyRadiomics, which corresponds to an open source Python package for extracting Radiomics of MRIs. Therefore, this dissertation was developed based on magnetic resonance images and the study of Deep Learning (DL) techniques to assist researchers and neuroradiologists in the diagnosis and prediction of neurodegenerative disease development. Two different main tasks were made: first, a segmentation, using FreeSurfer, of different regions of the brain and then, a model was build from radiomic features extracted from each part of the brain and interpreted for knowledge extraction.As doenças neurodegenerativas estão associadas ao funcionamento do cérebro e caracterizam-se pelo facto de serem altamente incapacitantes. São exemplos destas, as doenças de Alzheimer, Parkinson e Huntington, e o seu número de casos tem vindo a aumentar exponencialmente, uma vez que o envelhecimento é um dos principais factores de risco. Tentar identificar quais são as regiões cerebrais que permitem predizer o seu aparecimento e desenvolvimento é algo que, sendo possível, terá um impacto muito positivo nesta área da Medicina e poderá garantir um tratamento mais adequado, ou simplesmente melhorar a qualidade de vida dos pacientes. Com os avanços tecnológicos atuais, foram desenvolvidas ferramentas informáticas que são capazes de efetuar uma análise estrutural ou funcional de Ressonâncias Magnéticas (MRI), sendo essas ferramentas usadas para promover a melhoria e o conhecimento clínico. Deste modo, as constantes evoluções científicas têm realçado o papel da Informática Médica na neuroimagem para criar e gerenciar dados médicos, melhorando o diagnóstico destes pacientes. A MRI é o tipo de imagem utilizada na análise de regiões cerebrais e aponta para uma ferramenta de diagnóstico promissora e fiável, uma vez que permite obter imagens de alta qualidade em vários planos, permitindo assim, o diagnóstico de processos patológicos, tais como acidentes vasculares ou tumores cerebrais. Atualmente, existem inúmeras aplicações informáticas capazes de efetuar análises estruturais e funcionais do cérebro humano, pois é este o principal órgão afetado pelas doenças neurodegenerativas. Uma dessas aplicações é o Radiomics, que permite fazer a extração de features de imagens do cérebro. A biblioteca a utilizar será PyRadiomics, que corresponde a um package open source em Python para a extração de features Radiomics de imagens médicas. As features correspondem a características da imagem. Assim sendo, a presente dissertação foi desenvolvida com base em imagens de ressonância magnética e no estudo das técnicas de Deep Learning para investigar e auxiliar os médicos neurorradiologistas a diagnosticar e a prever o desenvolvimento de doenças neurodegenerativas. Foram feitas duas principais tarefas: primeiro, uma segmentação, utilizando o software FreeSurfer, de diferentes regiões do cérebro e, de seguida, foi construído um modelo a partir das features radiómicas extraídas de cada parte do cérebro que foi interpretado

Tissue engineering : key elements and some trends

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Outlook in tissue-engineered magnetic systems and biomagnetic control

The advancement of tissue engineering strategies has opened up new therapeutic avenues in the regeneration of many musculoskeletal tissues and cell niches. The burst of research in nanotechnology associated with tissue engineering brings inputs for the precise control of cells and cellular environments, that can play an important role in the development of these new therapies. Magnetic actuation, especially in combination with magnetic nanoparticles, may be a valuable tool in the interaction with living systems, such as stem cell guidance, retention, stimulation, and differentiation. Advances in the field of magnetic technology have also enabled the fabrication of increasingly complex systems such as cell sheets, organoids, or bioprinted scaffolds. Our Opinion article highlights this promising field of research and attempts to cover some of the most recent contributions to both tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The advancement of tissue engineering strategies has opened up new therapeutic avenues in the regeneration of many musculoskeletal tissues and cell niches. The burst of research in nanotechnology associated with tissue engineering brings inputs for the precise control of cells and cellular environments, that can play an important role in the development of these new therapies. Magnetic actuation, especially in combination with magnetic nanoparticles, may be a valuable tool in the interaction with living systems, such as stem cell guidance, retention, stimula- tion, and differentiation. Advances in the field of magnetic technology have also enabled the fabrication of increasingly complex systems such as cell sheets, organoids, or bioprinted scaffolds. Our Opinion article highlights this promising field of research and attempts to cover some of the most recent con- tributions to both tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.Authors acknowledge the European Research Council COG MagTendon No. 772817, the H2020 Achilles Twinning project No. 810850, and the FCT e Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under the Scientific Employment Stimulus - Individual Call (CEEC Individual) - 2020.01157. CEECIND/CP1600/CT0024

Does the nature of added bioactive lipids affect the biological properties of yogurts? — Case study coconut and avocado oils

Bioactive lipids play an important role in human health and their benefits are linked to their chemical nature; for example, medium-chain fatty acids can have an important contribution to body weight management. This work aimed to test a strategy to enhance the quality profile and gastrointestinal tract resistance of previously developed vegetable oil-functionalized yogurts and further probe the biological potential of functionalized yogurts. Fortification with coconut and avocado vegetable oils led to increased nutritional value through an increase in essential fatty acids content, particularly in yogurts with vegetable oil bigels. One of the main problems with bioactive fatty acids fortification is their poor stability during in vitro digestion and consequently poor bioavailability. Despite this, the digested samples decreased lipid accumulation in Hep G2 and 3T3-L1 cells Functionalized yogurts were also responsible for high improvements in adiponectin secretion (35% for COY, 46% for CBY, 53% for AOY, and 48% ABY) compared with control yogurt. Moreover, in the inflammatory model, a reduction between 30% (for control yogurt) and 70% (for CBY) was observed for IL-6 secretion in LPS-stimulated cells. Considering these results, yogurt’s fortification with vegetable oils can be a viable alternative strategy to be scaled up for obesity management.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Aplicação da metodologia de Box-Jenkins à procura turística na Lituânia

O presente trabalho teve como objectivo principal analisar o comportamento da procura turística na Lituânia tendo por base dados estatísticos referentes ao número de dormidas mensais registadas nos estabelecimentos hoteleiros. Para tal utilizou-se a metodologia de Box-Jenkins no sentido de encontrar um modelo que melhor se adeqúe aos dados tratados e efectuar previsões futuras a curto prazo. Utilizou-se esta variável pensando ser a que explica suficientemente o fluxo da procura turística na Lituânia. Após a aplicação da metodologia referida anteriormente, verificou-se que o modelo que produziu resultados estatísticos satisfatórios e evidenciou uma qualidade de ajustamento aceitável para efectuar previsões futuras, para a série em análise, foi SARIMA (0,2,1) (0,1,1)

Magnetic systems for regenerative medicine

[Excerpt] Over the last decade, magnetic-based systems have made remarkable breakthroughs in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The ability for contactless manipulation of magnetic responsive biomaterials, or even living cells, has been leveraged to devise innovative concepts that are widening the available bioengineering design space that can be explored in this multidisciplinary field. From the fabrication of cellular constructs with bioinspired patterns and hierarchical structures up to the concepts of levitational bioassembly, magnetic systems are enabling to engineer 3D tissues that better recapitulate the complex biophysical and biological cues of their native counterparts. Moreover, the inherent magnetic responsiveness of this living systems is being explored as mechanical and electrical nanotransducers to further stimulate cell functions, not only in vitro but also in vivo. Remarkably, recent advances in the convergence of microfabrication technologies with magnetic materials is also opening prospects to further fabricate advanced living microrobots and microphysiological systems with new added functionalities. Due to their good track record of biological tolerance and biodegradability, iron oxide-based nanoparticles remain the first choice of (superpara)magnetic nanomaterials, but new variants and combinations of nanomaterial are being increasingly explored in this field. Altogether, magnetic systems are contributing in multiple ways to boost the regenerative potential of bioengineered constructs and may lead to the development of in vitro tissue/organ models with improved physiological relevance. [...