Redes de Petri e VHDL na prototipagem rápida de sistemas digitais

O objectivo principal deste artigo é exemplificar a utilização de uma metodologia de especificação de sistemas digitais, baseada em Redes de Petri orientadas por objectos, para obter de uma forma rápida e simplificada um protótipo em VHDL do sistema pretendido. É considerado para exemplificação um sistema digital, para o qual se efectua a especificação no modelo RdP-shobi e a geração automática de código VHDL. Este exemplo permite concluir acerca da utilidade desta metodologia no projecto de sistemas digitais, suportado por princípios de orientação por objectos e por uma ferramenta de EDA desenvolvida propositadamente para o efeito

Thrombophilia screening: An artificial neural network approach

Thrombotic disorders have severe consequences for the patients and for the society in general, being one of the main causes of death. These facts reveal that it is extremely important to be preventive; being aware of how probable is to have that kind of syndrome. Indeed, this work will focus on the development of a decision support system that will cater for an individual risk evaluation with respect to the surge of thrombotic complaints. The Knowledge Representation and Reasoning procedures used will be based on an extension to the Logic Programming language, allowing the handling of incomplete and/or default data. The computational framework in place will be centered on Artificial Neural Networks.This work is funded by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within projects PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2014 and PEst-OE/QUI/UI0619/2012

Electrons in Dry DNA from Density Functional Calculations

The electronic structure of an infinite poly-guanine - poly-cytosine DNA molecule in its dry A-helix structure is studied by means of density-functional calculations. An extensive study of 30 nucleic base pairs is performed to validate the method. The electronic energy bands of DNA close to the Fermi level are then analyzed in order to clarify the electron transport properties in this particularly simple DNA realization, probably the best suited candidate for conduction. The energy scale found for the relevant band widths, as compared with the energy fluctuations of vibrational or genetic-sequence origin, makes highly implausible the coherent transport of electrons in this system. The possibility of diffusive transport with sub-nanometer mean free paths is, however, still open. Information for model Hamiltonians for conduction is provided.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Construction and bioproduction of a "green" synthetic protein-based polymer exhibiting a smart behaviour

Natural occurring elastomeric proteins occur in a wide range of biological systems, fulfilling precise functional roles [Tatham and Shewry, 2000]. Their properties are due to the presence of short repeating oligopeptide sequences contained in fibrous proteins, such as silk fibroin (GAGAGS) and mammalian elastin (VPGVG). Elastin is widely distributed in vertebrate tissues, acting statically in dermis to resist long-term forces and dynamically in arteries to store and release energy rapidly. Natural silk from Bombyx mori (silkworm) has been used for centuries either in textile industry or as biomedical suture material, exhibiting impressive mechanical properties as well as high biocompatibility [Kim et al, 2004]. With the development of protein engineering and nano(bio)technologies in general, it is now possible to use amino acids to design and produce genetically engineered Protein-Based Polymers (PBPs) fully biodegradable that simulate the properties of natural occurring proteins . With the advance in recombinant DNA technology it is possible to precisely control the composition, sequence and length of large molecular weight PBPs [Haider et al, 2000]. Recombinant Elastin-Like Polymers (ELPs) are biopolymers based on the aminoacid sequence VPGXG (V-valine, P-proline, G-glycine), where X, termed the guest residue, is any naturally occurring aminoacid except proline. The most striking feature of the ELPs is their Inverse Temperature Transition (ITT) behaviour. Below a specific critical temperature (Tt) and in the presence of water they are soluble, with the polymer chains relatively extended in a disordered state and fully hydrated mainly by hydrophobic hydration. Above the Tt, the polymer chains hydrophobically fold and adopt a dynamic structure, called β-spiral, stabilized by hydrophobic contacts . The ability of ELPs to self-assemble into nanostructures in response to environmental changes allows their utilization in many devices such as microparticles for controlled drug delivery systems or nanosensors. The polymer poly(VPAVG), a ELP where the central glycine (G) is substituted by a L-alanine (A), was chemically synthesized by Rodríguez-Cabello and co-workers and described by Urry as having thermoplastic properties. These groups reported its characterization, demonstrating its extreme biocompatibility both in vitro and in vivo, as well as the ability to self-assemble, forming microparticles that can entrap active substances during the self-assembling process [Herrero-Vanrell et al, 2005; Rincón et al, 2006]. In the present work a new thermal responsive, biologically synthesized ELP based on the (VPAVG)220 sequence was produced, by recurring to standard molecular genetic tools and, as expected, the polymer displayed an inverse temperature transition (Tt) which could be explored as a purification step. Additionally, the purified polymer (VPAVG)220 showed the ability to self-associate at physiological temperature forming aggregates. The culture media and fermentation conditions were optimized using a Central Composite Design (CCD) approach while exploring the use of low cost carbon sources like lactose and glycerol. Sequence and purity of (VPAVG)220 was confirmed by MALDI TOF analysis and purified polymer was subjected to thermal and physical characterization. Due to its self-assembling behaviour near 34 ºC stable spherical microparticles of a ~1μm diameter were obtained, ready solubilized when a strong undercooling was achieved. Moreover, we have constructed and produced a new set of copolymers (Silk-ElastinLike Polymers – SELPs) consisting of flexible ELP and crystalline silk-like blocks (GAGAGS) at different proportions. By this strategy it was possible to produce a variety of biomaterials with diverse physical properties, such as viscosity and gelation time depending on the number of elastin-blocks and silk-like blocks, respectively [Megeed et al, 2000]. The stability of these SELPs in combination with their biocompatibility and unique mechanical properties, provide the basis of their exploitation for biomedical applications

Educational needs in people with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To assess the educational needs of people with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA), test differences across patient subgroups and identify factors independently associated with their educational needs.Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytic study. Patients with AS and PsA completed the Portuguese version of the Educational Needs Assessment Tool (PortENAT). Data were Rasch-transformed before descriptive and inferential analyses were undertaken. Univariable and multivariable analyses were used to determine differences between patient subgroups and factors independently associated with their educational needs.Results: The study included 121 patients with AS and 132 with PsA. The level of educational needs varied by diagnostic group, but higher needs for both subgroups were reported regarding the “Disease process”, “Feelings” and “Managing pain” domains. Overall, patients with AS had a higher level of educational needs than those with PsA. In both disease groups, female gender was independently associated with higher educational needs. In the PsA group, a shorter disease duration was independently associated with higher educational needs in the following domains: “Managing pain”, “Movement” and “Feelings”.Conclusion: Educational needs vary by diagnostic group, gender and disease duration. These differences merit consideration in the design of patient education interventions

The bigger the better? Evaluation of the value of large multi-gene panels in Portuguese cardiomyopathy genetic testing

Introduction: Genetic testing of cardiomyopathies went through major changes in the last few years, from sequential Sanger sequencing of the most likely gene candidates, to multigene panels by NGS, with an ever increasing number of genes analyzed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Weakly supervised Video Anomaly Detection based on 3D Convolution and LSTM

Weakly supervised video anomaly detection is a recent focus of computer vision research thanks to the availability of large-scale weakly supervised video datasets. However, most existing research works are limited to the frame-level classification with emphasis on finding the presence of specific objects or activities. In this article, a new neural network architecture is proposed to efficiently extract the prominent features for detecting whether a video contains anomalies. A video is treated as an integral input and the detection follows the procedure of video-label assignment. The extraction of spatial and temporal features is carried out by three-dimensional convolutions, and then their relationship is further modeled using an LSTM network. The concise structure of the proposed method enables high computational efficiency, and extensive experiments demonstrate its effectiveness. (c) 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Exploiting the sequence of naturally occurring elastin : construction, production and characterization of a recombinant thermoplastic protein-based polymer

Genetic engineering was used to produce an elastin-like polymer (ELP) with precise amino acid composition, sequence and length, resulting in the absolute control of MW and stereochemistry. A synthetic monomer DNA sequence encoding for (VPAVG)20, was used to build a library of concatemer genes with precise control on sequence and size. The higher molecular weight polymer with 220 repeats of VPAVG was biologically produced in Escherichia coli and purified by hot and cold centrifugation cycles, based on the reversible inverse temperature transition property of ELPs. The use of low cost carbon sources like lactose and glycerol for bacteria cells culture media was explored using Central Composite Design approach allowing optimization of fermentation conditions. Due to its self-assembling behaviour near 33 oC stable spherical microparticles with a size ~ 1μm were obtained, redissolving when a strong undercooling is achieved. The polymer produced showed hysteresis behaviour with thermal absorbing/releasing components depending on the salt concentration of the polymer solution.Ministry of Education and Science (MEC) - MAT2007-66275-C02-01 and NAN2004-08538Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) e Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) - POCI/CTM/57177/2004Marie Curie Research Training Networks (RTN) Biopolysurf - MRTN-CN-2004-005516Junta de Castilla y Leon - VA087A06, VA016B08 and VA030A08Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/36754/200

The impact of patient global assessment in the definition of remission as a predictor of long-term radiographic damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: protocol for an individual patient data meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Remission is the target for management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and intensification of immunosuppressive therapy is recommended for those that do not achieve this status. Patient global assessment (PGA) is the single patient reported outcome considered in the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism remission criteria, but its use as target has been questioned. The primary aim of this study is to assess whether excluding PGA from the definition of disease remission changes the association of disease remission with long-term radiographic damage and physical function in patients with RA. METHODS: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis using data from randomized controlled trials of biological and targeted synthetic agents, identified through ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed. Different remission states will be defined: (i) 4v-remission [tender (TJC28) and swollen 28-joint counts (SJC28) both≤1, C-reactive protein (CRP)≤1 (mg/dl), and PGA≤1 (0-10 scale)], (ii) 4v-near-remission (TJC28≤1, SJC28≤1, CRP≤1, and PGA>1), (iii) non-remission (TJC28>1 or SJC28>1 or CRP>1), all mutually exclusive, and (iv) 3v-remission (TJC28≤1, SJC28≤1, CRP≤1). Likelihood ratios will be used to descriptively compare whether meeting the 3v and 4v-remission criteria in a single visit (at 6 or 12 months) predicts good outcome in the second year (1-2y). Differences in the predictive value of PGA in the definition of remission will be assessed by comparing the three mutually exclusive disease states using logistic regression analysis. Good outcome is defined primarily by radiographic damage (no deterioration in radiographic scores, whatever the instrument used in each trial), and secondarily by functional disability (Health Assessment Questionnaire consistently ≤0.5 and no deterioration), and their combination ("overall good outcome"). Additional analyses will consider longer periods over which to (concurrently) define remission status and outcome (between 1-5y and 1-10y), different cut-offs to define good radiographic outcome (change ≤0.5, ≤3 and ≤5 in radiographic score), sustained remission and the influence of treatment and other clinical factors. DISCUSSION: If 4v-remission and 4v-near-remission are associated with a similar probability of good outcomes, particularly regarding structural damage, the 3v-remission (excluding PGA) could be adopted as the target for immunosuppressive therapy. Patients' perspectives would remain essential, but assessed separately from disease activity, using instruments adequate to guide adjunctive therapies. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO, CRD42017057099