Inertial sensor based full body 3D kinematics in the differential diagnosis between Parkinson’s Disease and mimics

The differential diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) remains challenging with frequent mis and underdiagnosis. DAT-Scan has been a useful technique for assessing the lost integrity of the nigrostriatal pathway in PD and differentiating true parkinsonism from mimics. However, DAT-Scan remains unavailable in most non-specialized clinical centres, making imperative the search for other easy and low-cost solutions. This dissertation aimed to investigate the role of inertial sensors in distinguishing between the denervated and the non-denervated individuals. In this dissertation, we've used Inertial Sensor Based 3D Full Body Kinematics (FBK) and tested if this technique was able to distinguish between patients with changes in the DAT-Scan from those without. This was divided into two parts, being that firstly, a group of individuals was referred by the attending physician for DAT-Scan (123I-FP-CIT SPECT) to be able to compare FBK in those with and without evidence of dopaminergic depletion. Second, it was tested whether FBK could be used as a metric for the severity of dopaminergic depletion. Twenty-one patients participated in this study, being recruited from the Nuclear Medicine Unit in the Champalimaud Clinical Centre (CCC), Lisbon. Within these 21 patients, 10 of them had denervation (mean age, 68.4 ± 7.8 years) and the remaining 11 (mean age, 66.6 ± 7.4 years) did not present denervation. The analysis between the worst uptake ratio features and dimensional features, as well as the asymmetry indexes in the striatum revealed significant differences between denervated and non-denervated individuals. On the contrary, the kinematics did not do it. Overall, based on the collected kinematics data, it was identified that there was not any significant correlation between the kinematics and the DAT-Scan. What means that these kinematics variables were not able to explain the DAT-Scan. On the other hand, it was also checked that the kinematics data were strongly correlated to the motor symptoms (MDS-UPDRS III). This way, it was concluded that the classical biomechanics did not distinguish denervated from non-denervated individuals. Therefore, the kinematics could not give the same answer as the DAT-Scan. In spite of these results it would be relevant to keep researching other methods in order to find out the distinction between the denervation and no denervation in a low-cost way

Central synthesis of temporomandibular dysfunction

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Water Soluble Cyclophosphamide Adducts of Rhodium(II) Keto-Gluconate and Glucuronate. Synthesis, Characterization and In Vitro Cytostatic Assays

The synthesis, characterization and biological assays of two new rhodium carboxylate sugar derivatives and respective cyclosphosphamide adducts are described. The compounds, characterized by 13C and 1H NMR, infrared and UV-visible spectra, presented high water solubility and hydration grades were confirmed given the concordance between thermal and CHN analyses. The adducts were active in vitro against K-562 cells

Anti-mycobacterial activity of labdane and halimane diterpenes obtained from Plectranthus ornatus Codd

Biomedical and biopharmaceutical research : jornal de investigação biomédica e biofarmacêuticaOs produtos naturais são uma fonte única de compostos-tipofpara o desenvolvimento de fármacos em química medicinal. Vários diterpenos das espécies Plectranthus foram referidos com actividade tuberculostática interessante, sendo que o P. omatus Codd. é usado como anti-infeccioso em algumas regiões do Brasil. Em trabalhos anteriores, um diterpeno de esqueleto de halimano outro labdano foram isolados a partir de P. ornatus Codd. Neste trabalho, avaliou-se preliminarmente a sua actividade micobacteriana com uma estirpe não virulenta de Mycobacterium smegmatis. A citotoxicidade dos compostos foi testada medindo a libertação de lactato desidrogenase (LDH) não sendo encontrados efeitos citotóxicos consideráveis até 25 ug/mL. Posteriormente, o método de microdiluição foi utilizado para determinar a concentração mínima inibitória (CMI) de M. smegmatis. A CMI>99% para o esqueleto de halimano foi 100 ug/mL e >100 ug/mL para o esqueleto de labdano. De acordo com o nosso conhecimento, este é o primeiro estudo usando diterpenos de esqueleto de halimano e de labdano isolados a partir de P. omatus em ensaios de citotoxicidade em macrófagos, e num ensaio preliminar sobre a sua atividade anti-micobacteriana. Estudos futuros são sugeridos na estirpe virulenta de M. tugerculosis, particularmente para os diterpenos de esqueleto de halimano.Plectranthus spp. have been reported to have interesting tuberculostatic activity and P. ornatus Codd. has been used in some regions of Brazil as an anti-infective. Previously, diterpenes with halimane and labdane skeletons were isolated in large quantities from P. ornatus Codd. We assessed the anti-mycobacterial activity of these compounds, performing a preliminar assay with the non-virulent strain Mycobacterium smegmatis. The cytotoxicity of the diterpenes with halimane and labdane skeletons was tested with the lactate dehydrogenase assay, where no considerable cytotoxic effects were found up to 25 μg.mL-1. Subsequently, the microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against M. smegmatis. The MIC that inhibited the growth of the non-virulent mycobacteria by ≥99% was 100 μg.mL-1 for the diterpene with halimane skeleton, whereas for the diterpene with a labdane skeleton was >100 μg.mL-1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on diterpenes with halimane and labdane skeletons isolated from P. ornatus in macrophages cytotoxicity, and in a preliminar assay for anti-mycobacterial activity. Further studies are suggested on M. tuberculosis, particularly for the diterpenes with halimane skeleton

Seroprevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Leishmania Infection in Dogs from Portugal

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ANÁLISE ESPAÇO-TEMPORAL DA COVID-19 EM UM ESTADO BRASILEIRO

Objetivo: analisar a distribuição espaço-temporal da COVID-19 no estado do Piauí. Método: texto estudo ecológico, retrospectivo com dados disponíveis no “Painel Epidemiológico COVID-19 – Piauí”. Foi construída uma série temporal dos casos e óbitos acumulados mensalmente e calculadas taxas de incidência, mortalidade e letalidade e construídos mapas cloropléticos utilizando-se o QGIS versão 2.18.6. Resultados: em março foram registrados três casos, sem óbito, chegando a setembro com 90.370 casos e 2.037 óbitos. Porém, observa-se leve redução no crescimento das taxas desde agosto. Teresina apresentou o segundo menor coeficiente de incidência do estado, o segundo maior coeficiente de mortalidade e a maior letalidade. Conclusão: observou-se amplo crescimento da pandemia no estado, especialmente até o mês de agosto, com letalidade dentro do esperado e distribuição espacial dos casos e óbitos concentrada na capital e adjacências, evidenciando a necessidade de continuar com fortes medidas preventivas

Comprehensive analysis of the cork oak (Quercus suber) transcriptome involved in the regulation of bud sprouting

Cork oaks show a high capacity of bud sprouting as a response to injury, which is important for species survival when dealing with external factors, such as drought or fires. The characterization of the cork oak transcriptome involved in the different stages of bud sprouting is essential to understanding the mechanisms involved in these processes. In this study, the transcriptional profile of different stages of bud sprouting, namely (1) dormant bud and (2) bud swollen, vs. (3) red bud and (4) open bud, was analyzed in trees growing under natural conditions. The transcriptome analysis indicated the involvement of genes related with energy production (linking the TCA (tricarboxylic acid) cycle and the electron transport system), hormonal regulation, water status, and synthesis of polysaccharides. These results pinpoint the different mechanisms involved in the early and later stages of bud sprouting. Furthermore, some genes, which are involved in bud development and conserved between species, were also identified at the transcriptional level. This study provides the first set of results that will be useful for the discovery of genes related with the mechanisms regulating bud sprouting in cork oakinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Manual and automatic image analysis segmentation methods for blood flow studies in microchannels

In blood flow studies, image analysis plays an extremely important role to examine raw data obtained by high-speed video microscopy systems. This work shows different ways to process the images which contain various blood phenomena happening in microfluidic devices and in microcirculation. For this purpose, the current methods used for tracking red blood cells (RBCs) flowing through a glass capillary and techniques to measure the cell-free layer thickness in different kinds of microchannels will be presented. Most of the past blood flow experimental data have been collected and analyzed by means of manual methods, that can be extremely reliable, but they are highly time-consuming, user-intensive, repetitive, and the results can be subjective to user-induced errors. For this reason, it is crucial to develop image analysis methods able to obtain the data automatically. Concerning automatic image analysis methods for individual RBCs tracking and to measure the well known microfluidic phenomena cell-free layer, two developed methods are presented and discussed in order to demonstrate their feasibility to obtain accurate data acquisition in such studies. Additionally, a comparison analysis between manual and automatic methods was performed.This project has been funded by Portuguese national funds of FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) through the base funding from the following research units: UIDB/00532/2020 (Transport Phenomena Research Center—CEFT), UIDB/04077/2020 (Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center—MEtRICs), UIDB/00690/2020 (CIMO). The authors are also grateful for the partial funding of FCT through the projects, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-029394 (PTDC/EMD-EMD/29394/2017) and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030171 (PTDC/EMD-EMD/30171/2017) funded by COMPETE2020, NORTE2020, PORTUGAL2020 and FEDER. D. Bento acknowledges the PhD scholarship SFRH/BD/ 91192/2012 granted by FCT

Production of vegetable oil blends and structured lipids and their effect on wound healing

;Duas misturas de óleos vegetais (girassol/canola 85/15 (BL1) e canola/linhaça, 70/30 (BL2) foram preparadas e interesterificadas por via enzimática para serem aplicadas em feridas induzidas cirurgicamente em ratos. Após a cirurgia, os animais foram submetidos ao tratamento com soro fisiológico (TPS) (grupo controle), tratamento com as misturas (TBL) e tratamento com os lipídios estruturados (TSL). O grupo controle (TPS) recebeu soro fisiológico por 15 dias. Em TBL, BL1 foi administrada durante a fase de inflamação (dias 0-3) e BL2 na fase de formação de tecido e remodelação (dias 4-15). Em TSL, os lipídios estruturados SL1 e SL2 foram usados em vez de BL1 e BL2, respectivamente. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a evolução do fechamento das feridas dos grupos de ratos tratados com as misturas ou lipídios estruturados em comparação com os ratos do grupo controle, tratados com soro fisiológico. O processo de cicatrização das feridas foi avaliado através da medição das áreas das feridas ao longo dos tratamentos e pela determinação das concentrações de citocinas. Observou-se aumento das áreas das feridas tratadas com as misturas e os lipídios estruturados na fase inflamatória, seguida por um fechamento acentuado de feridas comparado com o tratamento com solução salina. As mudanças observadas durante a fase inflamatória sugerem uma potencial aplicação terapêutica na cicatrização de feridas cutâneas, fazendo-se necessárias investigações posteriores.;;Two oil blends (sunflower/canola oils 85/15 (BL1) and canola/linseed oils 70/30 (BL2)), were prepared and enzymatically interesterified to be applied to surgically-induced wounds in rats. Following surgery, the animals were submitted to the Treatment with Physiological Saline (TPS) (control group), Blends (TBL), and Structured Lipids (TSL). The control group (TPS) received physiological saline solution for 15 days. In TBL, BL1 was administered during the inflammation phase (days 0-3) and BL2 in the tissue formation and remodeling phase (days 4-15). In TSL, Structured Lipid 1 (SL1) and Structured Lipid 2 (SL2) were used instead of BL1 and BL2, respectively. The aim of this study was to compare wound closure evolution among rats treated with the blends or structured lipids versus control rats treated with physiological saline. The wound healing process was evaluated by measuring the wound areas along the treatments and the concentrations of cytokines. An increase in the areas of wounds treated with the blends and structured lipids in the inflammatory phase was observed, followed by a steeper closure curve compared to wounds treated with physiological saline. The changes observed during the inflammatory phase suggest a potential therapeutic application in cutaneous wound healing which should be further investigated.