Assessment of solar XXI building sustainability by SBToolPT methodology

In this paper that focus on the building sector, it’s presented the evaluation of the sustainable performance of an office building in Lisbon – Solar XXI. This analysis was performed using the SBTool PT methodology, which is a methodology initially developed by (Mateus and Bragança 2006) at Minho’s University, for application in residential buildings. This study confirmed not only the high performance of Solar XXI but also the flexibility and adaptability of SBTool PT to different kinds of buildings, locations and cultural concepts.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

BiGGEsTS: integrated environment for biclustering analysis of time series gene expression data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The ability to monitor changes in expression patterns over time, and to observe the emergence of coherent temporal responses using expression time series, is critical to advance our understanding of complex biological processes. Biclustering has been recognized as an effective method for discovering local temporal expression patterns and unraveling potential regulatory mechanisms. The general biclustering problem is NP-hard. In the case of time series this problem is tractable, and efficient algorithms can be used. However, there is still a need for specialized applications able to take advantage of the temporal properties inherent to expression time series, both from a computational and a biological perspective.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>BiGGEsTS makes available state-of-the-art biclustering algorithms for analyzing expression time series. Gene Ontology (GO) annotations are used to assess the biological relevance of the biclusters. Methods for preprocessing expression time series and post-processing results are also included. The analysis is additionally supported by a visualization module capable of displaying informative representations of the data, including heatmaps, dendrograms, expression charts and graphs of enriched GO terms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>BiGGEsTS is a free open source graphical software tool for revealing local coexpression of genes in specific intervals of time, while integrating meaningful information on gene annotations. It is freely available at: <url>http://kdbio.inesc-id.pt/software/biggests</url>. We present a case study on the discovery of transcriptional regulatory modules in the response of <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>to heat stress.</p

The first 8-13 micron spectra of globular cluster red giants: circumstellar silicate dust grains in 47 Tucanae (NGC 104)

We present 8-13 micron spectra of eight red giants in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), obtained at the European Southern Observatory 3.6m telescope. These are the first mid-infrared spectra of metal-poor, low-mass stars. The spectrum of at least one of these, namely the extremely red, large-amplitude variable V1, shows direct evidence of circumstellar grains made of amorphous silicate.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 5 page

The social network analysis of Switzerland football team on FIFA World Cup 2014

The aim of this study was to apply the social network analysis approach to the football match analysis case. For such, it was analyzed the Switzerland national football team during the FIFA World Cup 2014 tournament. Two general network metrics (total links and network density) and two centrality metrics (degree centrality and degree prestige) were computed. Four matches from Switzerland in FIFA World Cup 2014 were analysed in this study. A total of 334 adjacency matrices corresponding to 334 units of attack were generated based on the teammates’ interactions and then converted in 4 network graphs. A total of 1129 passes were analysed. The greatest value of total links and network density was achieved in the first match (88 total links and 0.80 of density value). Degree centrality revealed that the defenders and midfielders were the players with greatest prominent values in the attacking building. Degree prestige showed that midfielders were the main targets of the team to pass the ball in the attacking process. In summary, this study showed that centrality metrics can be an important tool in match analysis to identify the style of play of football teams, revealing the most prominent tactical roles in the attacking process.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hydrogels in acellular and cellular strategies for intervertebral disc regeneration

Article first published online: 9 nov. 2011Low back pain is an extremely common illness syndrome causing patient’s suffering and disability which demands for urgent solutions in order to improve life quality of the patients. Treatment options aimed to regenerate the intervertebral disc (IVD) are still under development. The huge cellular complexity of IVD, and consequently its fine regulatory system, makes it a challenge to the scientific community. Biomaterials-based therapies are the most interesting solutions nowadays, wherein tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TE&RM) strategies are included. By using such strategies, i.e., combining biomaterials, cells and biomolecules, the ultimate goal of reaching a complete integration between native and neo-tissue can be achieved. Hydrogels are promising materials to restore IVD, mainly nucleus pulposus (NP). Herein, an overview of the use of hydrogels in acellular and cellular strategies for intervertebral disc regeneration is presented. To better understand the IVD and its functioning, several topics will be focused, i.e., anatomy, pathophysiology, cellular and biomolecular performance, intrinsic healing processes and current therapies. In this review, the application of hydrogels as NP substitutes will be addressed, due to the similarity to NP mechanical properties and extracellular matrix. These hydrogels can be used in cellular strategies, when combined with cells from different sources,, or in acellular strategies, by performing the functionalization of the hydrogels with biomolecules. In addition, a brief summary of therapies based on simple injection envisaging primarily the biological repair will be tackled. At last, a special emphasis has been given to original works reporting the use of autologous cells and biomolecules (e.g.,Platelet-rich plasma) and envisioning the clinical application.Fundação para a Ciência e tecnologia (FCT) through POCTI and FEDER including Project Proteolight. European Union-funded Collaborative Project Disc Regeneratio

Rheological and mechanical properties of acellular and cellladen methacrylated gellan gum hydrogels

Tissue engineered hydrogels hold great potential as nucleus pulposus substitutes (NP), as they promote intervertebral disc (IVD) regeneration and re-establish its original function. But, the key to their success in future clinical applications greatly depends on its ability to replicate the native 3D micro-environment and circumvent their limitation in terms of mechanical performance. In the present study, we investigated the rheological/mechanical properties of both ionic- (iGG-MA) and photo-crosslinked methacrylated gellan gum (phGG-MA) hydrogels. Steady shear analysis, injectability and confined compression stress-relaxation tests were carried out. The injectability of the reactive solutions employed for the preparation of iGG-MA and phGG-MA hydrogels was firstly studied, then the zero-strain compressive modulus and permeability of the acellular hydrogels were evaluated.In addition, human intervertebral disc (hIVD) cells encapsulated in both iGG-MA and phGG-MA hydrogels were cultured in vitro, and its mechanical properties also investigated under dynamic mechanical analysis at 37ºC and pH 7.4. After 21 d of culturing, hIVD cells were alive (Calcein AM) and the E’ of ionic-crosslinked hydrogels and photo-crosslinked was higher than that observed for acellular hydrogels. Our study suggests that methacrylated gellan gum hydrogels present promising mechanical and biological performance as hIVD cells were producing extracellular matrix

A kinetic model of the central carbon metabolism for acrylic acid production in Escherichia coli

Acrylic acid (AA) is an important chemical that can be used in the production of a broad spectrum of products used on a daily basis, such as diapers, coatings paints, adhesives, textiles, detergents and plastic additives [1]. In addition, this chemical can also be used in the production of a superabsorbent polymer, which further increases its worldwide demand and commercial value in the industrial business [2]. However, most of the AA currently commercialized is produced by the oxidation of propylene or propane [3]. The production of AA contributes to the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere and relies on the worlds petroleum reserves, which are not renewable and are in rapid decline [2, 4]. Hence, the need for the development of innovative, clean and sustainable biological methods for the production of AA has attracted considerable attention from the scientific community [2, 5, 6]. In the last few years, there has been an effort to optimize the bio-based production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) by Escherichia coli. In this process, 3-HP is purified and converted to AA by catalytic dehydration. Despite such efforts, this method is still energetically demanding and has high production costs, associated with the catalytic process that takes place in the final step. Hence, the current process for the production of AA is not ideal [2]. A method that does not require the catalytic dehydration of 3-HP was put forward to overcome this issue. This method allows producing AA through fermentation by recombinant E. coli [2, 5]. The aim of this work was to perform the in silico insertion of different alternatives of the heterologous pathways for AA production in kinetic models of the central carbon metabolism of E. coli, which will allow to select the best approach to be implemented in vivo. Five models namely, the Chassagnole [7], the Jaham [8], the Kadir [9], the Peskov [10] and the Khodayari [11] models, were evaluated to select the one that better complies with the requirements of this project. The selected model was used to test the different knock-in strategies. References 1. Rolf Beerthuis, Gadi Rothenberg, and Raveendran Shiju. Catalytic routes towards acrylic acid, adipic acid and -caprolactam starting from biorenewables. Green Chemistry, 17(3):13411361, 2015. 2. Hun Su Chu, Jin Ho Ahn, Jiae Yun, In Suk Choi, TaeWook Nam, and Kwang Myung Cho. Direct fermentation route for the production of acrylic acid. Metabolic Engineering, 32:23 29, 2015. 3. Avelino Corma, Sara Iborra, and Alexandra Velty. Chemical routes for the transformation of biomass into chemicals. Chemical Reviews, 107(6):24112502, 2007. 4. Rojan John, Madhavan Nampoothiri, and Ashok Pandey. Fermentative production of lactic acid from biomass: an overview on process developments and future perspectives. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 74(3):524534, 2007. 5. Wenhua Tong, Ying Xu, Mo Xian, Wei Niu, Jiantao Guo, Huizhou Liu, and Guang Zhao. Biosynthetic pathway for acrylic acid from glycerol in recombinant Escherichia coli. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 100(11):49014907, 2016. 6. Zhijie Liu and Tiangang Liu. Production of acrylic acid and propionic acid by constructing a portion of the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle from Metallosphaera sedula in Escherichia coli. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology, 43(12):1659 1670, 2016. 7. Christophe Chassagnole, Naruemol Noisommit-Rizzi, Joachim W. Schmid, Klaus Mauch, and Matthias Reuss. Dynamic modeling of the central carbon metabolism of Escherichia coli. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 79(1): 5373, 2002. 8. Nusrat Jahan, Kazuhiro Maeda, Yu Matsuoka, Yurie Sugimoto, and Hiroyuki Kurata. Development of an accurate kinetic model for the central carbon metabolism of Escherichia coli. Microbial Cell Factories, 15(1): 112, 2016. 9. Tuty Kadir, Ahmad Mannan, Andrzej Kierzek, Johnjoe McFadden, and Kazuyuki Shimizu. Modeling and simulation of the main metabolism in Escherichia coli and its several singlegene knockout mutants with experimental verification. Microbial Cell Factories, 9(1): 88, 2010. 10. Kirill Peskov, Ekaterina Mogilevskaya, and Oleg Demin. Kinetic modelling of central carbon metabolism in Escherichia coli. FEBS Journal, 279(18): 33743385, 2012. 11. Ali Khodayari, Ali Zomorrodi, James Liao, and Costas Maranas. A kinetic model of Escherichia coli core metabolism satisfying multiple sets of mutant flux data. Metabolic Engineering, 25: 5062, 2014Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/ 04469 / 2019 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE - 01 - 0145 - FEDER - 000004 ) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte 2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norteinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Recent progress on gellan gum hydrogels provided by functionalization strategies

Gellan gum, a microbial exopolysaccharide fermentation product of Pseudomonas elodea, is a natural biomaterial that has shown promise for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Although this exopolysaccharide possesses many advantages, such interesting physicochemical properties and non-cytotoxicity, the mechanical properties and processability of gellan gum are not totally satisfactory in different tissue engineering contexts, i.e. gellan gum hydrogels are mechanically weak and the high gelling temperature is also unfavourable. An additional critical limitation is the lack of specific attachment sites for anchorage-dependent cells. However, the multiple hydroxyl groups and the free carboxyl per repeating unit of gellan gum can be used for chemical modification and functionalization in order to optimize its physicochemical and biological properties. A number of physical modification approaches have also been employed. This review outlines the recent progresses for gellan gum hydrogels and derivatives, and identifies the new challenges in tissue engineering, provided by blending and/or chemical modifications.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the project EPIDisc (UTAP-EXPL/BBBECT/0050/2014), funded in the Framework of the ‘‘International Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies, CoLab’’, UT Austin Portugal Program.FCT for the fellowship grant SFRH/BPD/100590/2014FCT program (IF/00423/2012

Enzymatic crosslinked hydrogels

Crosslinking is a fundamental aspect of hydrogel formation and plays an essential role in the subsequent hydrogel properties in terms of mechanical and chemical stability. Enzyme-catalysed crosslinking has been developed rather recently compared to the physical and chemical methodologies. This technique allows for easy and efficient in situ forming of covalently bonded bioactive hydrogels under mild conditions. Enzymes can be used during the primary hydrogel formation, or during secondary processing to enhance the crosslinking rate of a hydrogel. Enzymes can be used by their own or coupled with other crosslinking chemistries for improved performance. This chapter reviews the fundamental aspects of synthesising and processing enzymatically crosslinked hydrogels for applications in catalysis, tissue engineering, microfluidics, artificial extracellular matrices, and drugs & cells delivery.The authors would like to thank the financial support provided through the project “Biofabricação de estruturas 3D funcionalizadas para regeneração meniscal personalizada,” referenced PTDC/BBB-ECT/ 2690/2014, financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and COMPETE 2020. This work has been cofunded through the project 0624_2IQBIONEURO_6, Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through the Program Interreg V-A España-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014 2020. The FCT distinction attributed to J. Silva-Correia Oliveira (IF/00115/2015) under the Investigator FCT program is also greatly acknowledged

Methacrylated gellan gum hydrogels for application in nucleus pulposus regeneration: in vitro and in vivo studies

Natural-based hydrogels have been attracting great deal of attention for tissue engineering of nucleus pulposus (NP). Gellan gum is an extracellular microbial polysaccharide from Sphingomonas elodea that forms a firm and transparent gel with interesting features for use as an in vitro 3D cell support, or as an in vivo injectable system. Recently, gellan gum-based hydrogels (ionic- and photocrosslinked methacrylated gellan gum) have been proposed as potential candidates for NP regeneration1. An important feature of these hydrogels will be their capacity to control blood vessel growth, since the NP is naturally avascular. Our aim was to investigate the biological performance of the developed hydrogels, in vitro. The angiogenic/anti-angiogenic potential of the GG-based hydrogels was also carried out in vivo, using an optimized adaptation of the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay.(undefined