Corrosion Prevention in Historic Concrete – Monitoring the Richards Medical Laboratories

This thesis proposes to analyze current non-destructive techniques for the early detection of factors leading to reinforcement corrosion as part of a preventive conservation strategy for reinforced concrete. These techniques were theoretically evaluated for their efficiency and compatibility of use on concrete surfaces that require a minimum intervention approach, such as found on historic Modernist buildings where exposed concrete is considered an integral part of their significance. This study considered a real case scenario; the Alfred Newton Richards Medical Research Laboratories (Louis I. Kahn, 1960). The corrosion mechanism occurring on this building was assessed to assert its probable causes and the most appropriate method of investigation

Adaptation of yeasts to fructose rich environments: a role for horizontal gene transfer of a fructose transporter

Abstract of the poster presented 33rd Small Meeting on Yeast Transport and Energetics, 21-24 July 2015, Lisbon, Portugal

Stepwise functional evolution in a fungal sugar transporter family

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Molecular Biology and Evolution following peer review. The version of record Mol Biol Evol (2016) 33 (2): 352-366 is available online at: http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/2/352 DOI 10.1093/molbev/msv220."Sugar transport is of the utmost importance for most cells and is important to a wide range of applied fields. However, despite the straightforward in silico assignment of many novel transporters, including sugar porters, to existing families, their exact biological role and evolutionary trajectory often remain unclear, mainly because biochemical characterization of membrane proteins is inherently challenging, but also owing to their uncommonly turbulent evolutionary histories. In addition, many important shifts in membrane carrier function are apparently ancient, which further limits our ability to reconstruct evolutionary trajectories in a reliable manner.Here we circumvented some of these obstacles by examining the relatively recent emergence of a unique family of fungal sugar facilitators, related to drug antiporters. The former transporters, named Ffz, were previously shown to be required for fructophilic metabolism in yeasts. We first exploited the wealth of fungal genomic data available to define a comprehensive but well-delimited family of Ffz-like transporters, showing that they are only present in Dikarya. Subsequently, a combination of phylogenetic analyses and in vivo functional characterization was used to retrace important changes in function, while highlighting the evolutionary events that are most likely to have determined extant distribution of the gene, such as horizontal gene transfers (HGTs). One such HGT event is proposed to have set the stage for the onset of fructophilic metabolism in yeasts, a trait that according to our results may be the metabolic hallmark of approximately one hundred yeast species that thrive in sugar rich environments."info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Resposta da amendoeira a diferentes estratégias de rega na região de Trás-os-Montes: rendimento e eficiência do uso da água

Nas regiões de clima mediterrânico onde a amendoeira tem uma grande expressão em termos de área cultivada e importância económica, as secas sazonais que ocorrem durante parte do seu ciclo vegetativo são frequentes e responsáveis por quebras elevadas do rendimento. Apesar de a amendoeira ser uma espécie tolerante à seca, não há dúvidas de que a rega é um factor crítico para o aumento da produtividade e qualidade da amêndoa. As limitações em termos de disponibilidade de água, que tenderão a agravar-se no contexto das alterações climáticas, obrigarão os produtores a lidar com a escassez de água através da implementação de estratégias de rega deficitária que conduzam a um aumento da eficiência do uso da água.Este trabalho foi realizado no âmbito do projeto PRODER 54610 - Estratégias integradas para o aumento da produtividade da amendoeira em Trás-os-Montes, financiado pelo Programa de Desenvolvimento Rural (PRODER) no âmbito da medida 4.1 - Cooperação para a Inovação (Apoio à Inovação na Agricultura, Agroindústria e Floresta).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ciliocytophthoria in cervical cytology

The Ciliocytophthoria occurs in the glandular epithelium/cylindrical ciliated cells, which are found in the respiratory and gynaecological systems. Although this phenomenon is considered rare in both systems, it is more unusual in the gynaecological system. Of the 5781 cases analysed at the centre in 2006, only one case was diagnosed as Ciliocytophthoria. In 1975, Kobold-Wolterbeek and Beyer-Boon observed the cervical smears of 18 000 women during a period of a year and a half, during which time a total of 32 cases of Ciliocytophthoria were found. This phenomenon consists of the separation of the cylindrical cells resulting in the formation of a non-nucleus portion – terminal plate with cilia – and a nucleus portion with granular cytoplasm containing eosinophilia inclusions. The relationship between Ciliocytophthoria and any disease or tumour in the female genital tract is unknown.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

High affinity of 3D spongin scaffold towards Hg(II) in real waters

This study focuses on the ability of commercial natural bath sponges, which are made from the skeletons of marine sponges, to sorb Hg from natural waters. The main component of these bath sponges is spongin, which is a protein-based material, closely related to collagen, offering a plenitude of reactive sites from the great variety of amino acids in the protein chains, where the Hg ions can sorb. For a dose of 40 mg L-1 and initial concentration of 50 μg L-1 of Hg(II), marine spongin (MS) removed ~90% of Hg from 3 water matrixes (ultrapure, bottled, and seawater), corresponding to a residual concentration of ~5 μg L-1, which tends to the recommend value for drinking water of 1 μg L-1. This value was maintained even by increasing the MS dosage, suggesting the existence of a gradient concentration threshold below which the Hg sorption mechanism halts. Kinetic modelling showed that the Pseudo Second-Order equation was the best fit for all the water matrixes, which indicates that the sorption mechanism relies most probably on chemical interactions between the functional groups of spongin and the Hg ions. This material can also be regenerated in HNO3 and reused for Hg sorption, with marginal losses in efficiency, at least for 3 consecutive cycles.publishe

Evolução da maturação em frutos de Oleae europaea L. (Cvs. “Cobrançosa, Madural e Verdeal Transmontana”), na região de Trás-os-Montes.

A oliveira é uma cultura com grande significado económico, social e paisagístico em Trás-os-Montes, sendo as Cv. 'Cobrançosa', 'Madural' e 'Verdeal’ Transmontana' as de maior expressão na Terra Quente. Com o presente trabalho pretendeu-se estudar a evolução da maturação dos frutos destas cultivares e analisar a influência da data de colheita no tear em gordura e nos parâmetros qualitativos dos azeites obtidos

Integrated biomimetic carbon nanotube composites for in vivo systems

CESAMAs interest in using carbon nanotubes for developing biologically compatible systems continues to grow, biological inspiration is stimulating new directions for in vivo approaches. The ability to integrate nanotechnology-based systems in the body will provide greater successes if the implanted material is made to mimic elements of the biological milieu especially through tuning physical and chemical characteristics. Here, we demonstrate the highly successful capacity for in vivo implantation of a new carbon nanotube-based composite that is, itself, integrated with a hydroxyapatite-polymethyl methacrylate to create a nanocomposite. The success of this approach is grounded in finely tailoring the physical and chemical properties of this composite for the critical demands of biological integration. This is accomplished through controlling the surface modification scheme, which affects the interactions between carbon nanotubes and the hydroxyapatite-polymethyl methacrylate. Furthermore, we carefully examine cellular response with respect to adhesion and proliferation to examine in vitro compatibility capacity. Our results indicate that this new composite accelerates cell maturation through providing a mechanically competent bone matrix; this likely facilitates osteointegration in vivo. We believe that these results will have applications in a diversity of areas including carbon nanotube, regeneration, chemistry, and engineering research.NANO/NMed-AT/0115/2007SFRH/BPD/14677/2003FC

Rheological and structural characterization of gels from whey protein hydrolysates/locust bean gum mixed systems

The gelling ability of whey proteins can be changed by limited hydrolysis and by the addition of other components such as polysaccharides. In this work the effect of the concentration of locust bean gum (LBG) on the heat-set gelation of aqueous whey protein hydrolysates (10% w/w) from pepsin and trypsin was assessed at pH 7.0. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) mild hydrolysis (up to 2.5% in the case of pepsin and 1.0% in the case of trypsin) ameliorates the gelling ability. The WPC synergism with LBG is affected by the protein hydrolysis. For a WPC concentration of 10% (w/w), no maximum value was found in the G′ dependence on LBG content in the case of the hydrolysates, unlike the intact WPC. However, for higher protein concentrations, the behaviour of gels from whey proteins or whey protein hydrolysates towards the presence of LBG becomes very similar. In this case, a small amount of LBG in the presence of salt leads to a big enhancement in the gel strength. Further increases in the LBG concentration led to a decrease in the gel strength