Melhoria do processo produtivo na indústria de componentes para automóvel

Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão IndustrialA filosofia de gestão de produção lean manufacturing envolve técnicas de criação de valor na perspetiva do cliente através da eliminação de desperdícios associados a sistemas produtivos. O relatório apresentado descreve a aplicação de práticas lean manufacturing na empresa INPLÁS - Indústria de Plásticos S.A. O projeto em que se insere é referente à produção de componentes para a indústria automóvel. O trabalho desenvolvido teve como objetivo promover o aumento da produtividade e da qualidade dos processos produtivos associado ao projeto. Foram aplicadas metodologias numa perspetiva de melhoria contínua. Efetuou-se a análise dos processos produtivos com base no Mapeamento da Cadeia de Valor e abordaram-se algumas métricas Lean e a metodologia de Troca Rápida de Ferramenta. Os resultados obtidos comprovam o grande impacto que as práticas de gestão operacional promovem em ambientes produtivos.The management philosophy of lean manufacturing production involve techniques that create values in a customer perspective through elimination of waste associated to productive systems. The report presented describes the application of lean manufacturing in INPLÁS enterprise – Plastic Industry S.A. The project in which is inserted refers to the production of components for the automobile industry. The developed work aimed the increase of productivity and quality of the productive processes associated to the project. Methodologies were applied in a perspective of continued improvement. Analyses were made to de productive processes based on the Mapping of de Value Chain and were approached the metric Lean and the methodology of Quick Tool Exchange. The results show the big impact that operational management practices promote in productive environment

A National Wide Collaborative Study

INTRODUCTION: Even though the risk of COVID-19 in pregnancy may be increased, large-scale studies are needed to better understand the impact of the infection in this population. The aim of this study is to describe obstetric complications and the rate of vertical transmission in pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Detected cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy were registered in Portuguese hospitals by obstetricians. Epidemiological, pregnancy and childbirth data were collected. RESULTS: There were 630 positive cases in 23 Portuguese maternity hospitals, most at term (87.9%) and asymptomatic (62.9%). The most frequent maternal comorbidity was obesity. The rates of preterm birth and small-to-gestational-age were 12.1% and 9.9%, respectively. In the third trimester, 2.9% of pregnant women required respiratory support. There were eight cases (1.5%) of fetal death, including two cases of vertical transmission. There were five cases of postpartum respiratory degradation, but no maternal deaths were recorded. The caesarean section rate was higher in the first than in the second wave (68.5% vs 31.5%). RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 positivity among newborns was 1.3%. CONCLUSION: SARS-Cov-2 infection in pregnancy may carry increased risks for both pregnant women and the fetuses. Individualized surveillance and the prophylaxis of this population with vaccination. is recommended in these cases.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

Viral genetic clustering and transmission dynamics of the 2022 mpox outbreak in Portugal

Pathogen genome sequencing during epidemics enhances our ability to identify and understand suspected clusters and investigate their relationships. Here, we combine genomic and epidemiological data of the 2022 mpox outbreak to better understand early viral spread, diversification and transmission dynamics. By sequencing 52% of the confirmed cases in Portugal, we identified the mpox virus sublineages with the highest impact on case numbers and fitted them into a global context, finding evidence that several international sublineages probably emerged or spread early in Portugal. We estimated a 62% infection reporting rate and that 1.3% of the population of men who have sex with men in Portugal were infected. We infer the critical role played by sexual networks and superspreader gatherings, such as sauna attendance, in the dissemination of mpox virus. Overall, our findings highlight genomic epidemiology as a tool for the real-time monitoring and control of mpox epidemics, and can guide future vaccine policy in a highly susceptible population.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Educomunicação e suas áreas de intervenção: Novos paradigmas para o diálogo intercultural

oai:omp.abpeducom.org.br:publicationFormat/1O material aqui divulgado representa, em essência, a contribuição do VII Encontro Brasileiro de Educomunicação ao V Global MIL Week, da UNESCO, ocorrido na ECA/USP, entre 3 e 5 de novembro de 2016. Estamos diante de um conjunto de 104 papers executivos, com uma média de entre 7 e 10 páginas, cada um. Com este rico e abundante material, chegamos ao sétimo e-book publicado pela ABPEducom, em seus seis primeiros anos de existência. A especificidade desta obra é a de trazer as “Áreas de Intervenção” do campo da Educomunicação, colocando-as a serviço de uma meta essencial ao agir educomunicativo: o diálogo intercultural, trabalhado na linha do tema geral do evento internacional: Media and Information Literacy: New Paradigms for Intercultural Dialogue

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is an immune escape variant with an altered cell entry pathway

Vaccines based on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 are a cornerstone of the public health response to COVID-19. The emergence of hypermutated, increasingly transmissible variants of concern (VOCs) threaten this strategy. Omicron (B.1.1.529), the fifth VOC to be described, harbours multiple amino acid mutations in spike, half of which lie within the receptor-binding domain. Here we demonstrate substantial evasion of neutralization by Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants in vitro using sera from individuals vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273. These data were mirrored by a substantial reduction in real-world vaccine effectiveness that was partially restored by booster vaccination. The Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 did not induce cell syncytia in vitro and favoured a TMPRSS2-independent endosomal entry pathway, these phenotypes mapping to distinct regions of the spike protein. Impaired cell fusion was determined by the receptor-binding domain, while endosomal entry mapped to the S2 domain. Such marked changes in antigenicity and replicative biology may underlie the rapid global spread and altered pathogenicity of the Omicron variant

Production of prebiotics using new culture techniques

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia BiológicaGiven the increasing interest for healthier and high nutritional foods, the market of prebiotics like fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) is currently growing. They can be produced via fermentation by several microorganisms with a maximum purity ranging between 55% and 60% (w/w). In order to increase the amount of FOS and their purity, the removal of the small sugars produced as by-products is crucial. In the present work, the FOS production in one step-fermentation, using the microorganisms’ whole cells of Aspergillus ibericus MUM 0.349, and their purification by Saccharomyces cerevisiae YIL162W, a yeast having the gene responsible for sucrose hydrolysis disrupted, was evaluated. The volume of the S. cerevisiae YIL162W inoculum and its respective inoculation time were optimized. The composition of the medium broth, as well as the temperature of fermentation and pH were optimized in shaken-flasks to yield a maximal FOS purity, through a central composite design (CCD). Afterwards, fermentation was scaled-up to a bioreactor size. Fermentations conducted in shakenflask using only A. ibericus yielded 0.65 ± 0.05 gFOS ginitial sucrose−1 with a purity of 60.4 ± 0.4% (w/w). The simultaneous inoculation of both species was the condition that yielded higher FOS purity. Consequently, by introducing the yeast in the broth, the percentage of FOS in the total sugar mixture increased approximately 30% (up to 91.6 ± 2.9% (w/w)). The CCD model showed that the yeast extract (YE) concentration and the temperature were the most significant factors affecting FOS purity. The optimum fermentation conditions were found to be 8.0 g L−1 of NaNO3, 6.0 g L−1 of KH2PO4 and 17.0 g L−1 of YE, 30.0 ºC and a pH of 6.0. Under these conditions, the model predicted a purity of 98.4% for assays conducted in shake flask vessels and, experimentally, a purity of 97.4 ± 0.2% (w/w) was obtained. After model validation, fermentations were carried out in the bioreactor and yielded 0.64 ± 0.02 gFOS ginitial sucrose−1, after 141 h, with a FOS content of 117.7 ± 5.1 g L−1 and a purity of 93.0 ± 0.5% (w/w). The fermentation carried out with aeration yielded 0.69 gFOS ginitial sucrose−1 with a purity of 95.4% (w/w) and a FOS content of 134.0 g L−1. In conclusion, this co-culture strategy was found to be a good alternative to produce and recover simultaneously high-purity FOS products.Devido ao crescente interesse por alimentos saudáveis e de elevado valor nutritivo, o mercado dos prebióticos, como os fructo-oligossacarídeos (FOS), tem vindo a crescer. FOS podem ser produzidos por via fermentativa por diversos microrganismos com uma pureza máxima que varia entre 55 a e 60% (p/p). De maneira a aumentar a quantidade de FOS produzidos, bem como a sua pureza, é crucial remover os pequenos açúcares que se formam durante a fermentação. No presente trabalho avaliou-se a produção de FOS pelo fungo Aspergillus ibericus MUM 0.349 e a sua purificação, na mesma fermentação, pela Saccharomyces cerevisiae YIL162W, levedura cujo gene responsável pela hidrólise da sacarose foi removido. A composição do meio de fermentação bem como a temperatura de fermentação e o pH foram otimizados em matrazes para a obtenção de uma pureza em FOS máxima, através de um desenho experimental (CCD). As fermentações realizadas com A. ibericus conduziram a um rendimento de 0,65 ± 0,05 gFOS gsacarose inicial−1 e uma pureza de 60,4 ± 0,4% (p/p). A inoculação simultânea de ambas as espécies foi a melhor condição encontrada para otimizar a pureza dos FOS. Com a introdução da levedura no meio, a percentagem de FOS em açúcares totais aumentou em cerca de 30% (para 91,6 ± 2,9% (p/p)). O modelo experimental demostrou que a concentração de extrato de levedura e a temperatura são os fatores mais significativos a afetar a pureza dos FOS. As condições ótimas de fermentação obtidas foram 8,0 g L−1 de NaNO3, 6,0 g L−1 de KH2PO4 e 17,0 g L−1 de extrato de levedura, 30,0 ºC e um pH de 6,0. Nestas condições, o modelo previu uma pureza de FOS de 98,4%, e experimentalmente obteve-se uma pureza de 97,4 ± 0,2% (p/p). Após validação do modelo, as fermentações foram conduzidas em bioreator obtendo-se um rendimento de 0,64 ± 0,02 gFOS gsacarose inicial −1, após 141 h, com um teor em FOS de 117,7 ± 5,1 g L−1 e uma pureza de 93,0 ± 0,5% (p/p). A fermentação realizada com arejamento conduziu a um rendimento de 0,69 gFOS gsacarose inicial−1 e uma pureza de 95,4 %(p/p) com um teor em FOS de 134,0 g L−1. Em suma, esta estratégia de co-cultura foi considerada uma boa alternativa para produzir e recuperar produtos de FOS com elevada pureza