Intruder Alarm Systems - The Road Ahead

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Permeability evaluation of gemcitabine-CPP6 conjugates in Caco-2 cells

Cancer is one of the most alarming diseases due to its high mortality and still increasing incidence rate. Currently available treatments for this condition present several shortcomings and new options are continuously being developed and evaluated, aiming at increasing the overall treatment efficiency and reducing associated adverse side effects. Gemcitabine has proven activity and is used in chemotherapy. However, its therapeutic efficiency is limited by its low bioavailability as a result of rapid enzymatic inactivation. Additionally, tumor cells often develop drug resistance after initial tumor regression related to transporter deficiency. We have previously developed three gemcitabine conjugates with cell-penetrating hexapeptides (CPP6) to facilitate intracellular delivery of this drug while also preventing enzymatic deamination. The bioactivity of these new prodrugs was evaluated in different cell lines and showed promising results. Here, we assessed the absorption and permeability across Caco-2 monolayers of these conjugates in comparison with gemcitabine and the respective isolated cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). CPP6-2 (KLPVMW) and respective Gem-CPP6-2 conjugate showed the highest permeability in Caco-2 cells

Instrumentação e detectores para potenciometria : Desenvolvimento e aplicação

Dissertação de Doutoramento em Farmácia, área de especialização em Química Farmacêutica, apresentada à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Port

Perceção empresarial sobre a empregabilidade do ensino profissional no concelho de Valongo

Num mundo cada vez mais competitivo, as empresas procuram profissionais não apenas bem formados, mas sobretudo com conhecimentos práticos e técnicos. Nesse sentido, são já cada vez mais as empresas que optam por contratar profissionais com uma especialização mais prática, direcionada e técnica para os mais diversos cargos. Por isso mesmo, o Ensino Profissional (EP) pode ser uma excelente opção para as empresas assim como para aqueles alunos que desde cedo sabem o que querem para o seu futuro. O EP constitui, conforme o Decreto-lei 4/98, de 8 de janeiro, um subsistema de ensino de nível secundário que oferece formação geral, sociocultural, científica e formação tecnológica profissional, garantindo desta forma, àqueles que o concluem, um diploma do ensino secundário e qualificação profissional de nível IV. O EP dá a possibilidade aos alunos de prosseguirem os estudos ou de entrarem diretamente no mercado de trabalho como técnicos intermédios para os vários setores económicos e sociais. Posto isto, o presente estudo visa perceber e analisar a perceção das empresas do concelho de Valongo sobre a empregabilidade dos alunos do EP. Para realizar este estudo, será adotado uma metodologia mista com recolha de dados primários, através de questionário junto das empresas, e de dados secundários através de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. Com a conclusão desta dissertação, verifica-se que a maioria dos empregadores locais tendem a valorizar o EP, e acham que este favorece a empregabilidade dos jovens diplomados. Muitas das empresas do concelho têm ou tiveram colaboradores do EP e acolheram estagiários do EP. No entanto, observa-se que existe ainda algumas limitações no que diz respeito, quer na adequação dos cursos ao mercado de trabalho local, quer ao nível da relação entre escolas promotoras do EP e o tecido empresarial local. Nesse sentido, o EP deve estar mais atento às necessidades de formação local, para melhorar o desenvolvimento das competências fundamentais para a empregabilidade aplicáveis à generalidade das empresas. Ou seja, é fundamental fortalecer a ligação entre escola e o mercado laboral, identificando competências e áreas onde faltam profissionais, e trazendo a realidade empresarial para o mundo do ensino; Business perception on the employability of vocational education in the municipality of Valongo - Abstract: In an increasingly competitive world, companies are looking for professionals who are not only well-trained, but above all with practical and technical knowledge. In this sense, more and more companies are choosing to hire professionals with a more practical, targeted and technical specialization for the most diverse positions. For this reason, professional education can be an excellent option for companies as well as for those students who know from an early age what they want for their future. Vocational education constitutes, according to Decree-Law 4/98, of January 8, a secondary level education subsystem that offers general, sociocultural, scientific and professional technological training, thus guaranteeing, to those who complete it, a diploma secondary education and level IV professional qualification. Vocational education gives students the possibility to continue their studies or directly enter the labor market as intermediate technicians for the various economic and social sectors. That said, this study aims to understand and analyze the perception of companies in the municipality of Valongo on the employability of students in vocational education. To carry out this study, a mixed methodology will be adopted with primary data collection, through a questionnaire to companies, and secondary data through bibliographical and documentary research. With the conclusion of this dissertation, it is expected to identify the motivations and expectations that companies in the municipality of Valongo have when welcoming students from professional education. With the conclusion of this dissertation, it can be seen that most local employers tend to value professional education. and feel that it favours the employability of young graduates. Many companies in the municipality have or have had employees and have hosted trainees from professional education. However, it can be observed that there are still some limitations regarding both the adequacy of the courses to the local labour market and the relationship between schools and the local business environment. In this sense, the professional education should be more attentive to the local training needs, in order to improve the development of the fundamental skills for employability applicable to the generality of the companies. In other words, it is fundamental to strengthen the link between school and labour market, identifying skills and areas where there is a lack of professionals, and bringing the business reality into the world of education

Computer-controlled ion-selective electrode switch

The construction of a microcomputer-controlled electrode switch for use in potentiometric determinations is described. This can be coupled to most of the analytical equipment usually found in laboratories, to enable a setting up of automatic systems capable of performing sequential determinations with several ion-selective electrodes. The assessment of its analytical usage and behaviour are discussed

Toxicity of Ashes Produced During the Combustion and Co-combustion of Coal and Meat and Bone Meal in a Fluidized- Bed Reactor

The replacement of fossil fuels by renewable fuels can contribute to improve the environmental performance of the power production and to move forward in the sustainability way. The experience has shown that the availability of alternative fuels can be an obstacle for its extensive use for energy production, since biomass is not always available. The use of non-hazardous wastes may be a good alternative to biomass, mainly if they are economically unattractive for recycling or if they present a high cost for land-filling. The co-firing of non-hazardous wastes with coal is, therefore, a subject of great interest for the sustainability of energy production and the reduction of the emissions of fossil greenhouse gases. The use of these wastes for energy is promising if they combine well with other fuels during the conversion process for energy production and have no negative effect on the combustion system, on the ash quality and on the gaseous emissions

Biomass fly ashes as low-cost chemical agents for Pb removal from synthetic and industrial wastewaters

The main aim of this work was to study the removal efficiency of Pb from synthetic and industrial wastewaters by using biomass fly ashes. The biomass fly ashes were produced in a biomass boiler of a pulp and paper industry. Three concentrations of Pb2+ were tested in the synthetic wastewater (1, 10 and 1000 mg Pb/L). Moreover, two different wastewaters were collected in an industrial wastewater treatment plant (IWWTP) of an industry of lead-acid batteries: (i) wastewater of the equalization tank, and (ii) IWWTP effluent. All the wastewaters were submitted to coagulation–flocculation tests with a wide range of biomass fly ashes dosage (expressed as Solid/Liquid – S/L – ratios). All supernatants were characterized for chemical and ecotoxicological parameters. The use of biomass fly ashes has reduced significantly the Pb concentration in the synthetic wastewater and in the wastewaters collected in the IWWTP. For example, the definitive coagulation–flocculation assays performed over the IWWTP effluent presented a very low concentration of Pb (0.35 mg/L) for the S/L ratio of 1.23 g/L. Globally, the ecotoxicological characterization of the supernatants resulting from the coagulation–flocculation assays of all wastewaters has indicated an overall reduction on the ecotoxicity of the crude wastewaters, due to the removal of Pb

New In Vitro-In Silico Approach for the Prediction of In Vivo Performance of Drug Combinations

Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies improve the design of dosing regimens in preclinical and clinical settings. In complex diseases like cancer, single-agent approaches are often insufficient for an effective treatment, and drug combination therapies can be implemented. In this work, in silico PK models were developed based on in vitro assays results, with the goal of predicting the in vivo performance of drug combinations in the context of cancer therapy. Combinations of reference drugs for cancer treatment, gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and repurposed drugs itraconazole, verapamil or tacrine, were evaluated in vitro. Then, two-compartment PK models were developed based on the previous in vitro studies and on the PK profile reported in the literature for human patients. Considering the quantification parameter area under the dose-response-time curve (AUCeffect) for the combinations effect, itraconazole was the most effective in combination with either reference anticancer drugs. In addition, cell growth inhibition was itraconazole-dose dependent and an increase in effect was predicted if itraconazole administration was continued (24-h dosing interval). This work demonstrates that in silico methods and AUCeffect are powerful tools to study relationships between tissue drug concentration and the percentage of cell growth inhibition over time

Biorefinery to produce activated carbon from biomass - an approach for a biogas refining process

Waste management has become a critical issue in terms of global warming and contamination of natural resources. Specifically, the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Wastes (OFMSW) is produced worldwide in high amounts, while maize, the most produced cereal in the world, generates wastes that often exceed the organic-C needed for soil fertility. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) offers the opportunity to generate biogas from those feedstoks, which is a renewable energy source suitable (i) for electricity and heat production, (ii) grid injection, or (iii) to be used as a fuel in transportation sector. The last two options are possible after biogas conditioning and upgrading to biomethane (CH4 \u3e 97% v/v). This work applies a biorefinery concept (Figure 1) to valorize the mentioned wastes by submitting them to a co-AD, producing activated carbon (from the solid fraction of the digestate) capable of being used to develop a refining process to upgrade biogas (AD gas fraction) to biomethane. Firstly, the co-AD efficiency (after proper optimization of the process conditions) is assessed by the (i) efficiency of the pre-treatment the maize cob waste (co-substrate); (ii) efficiency of the conversion of the organic substrate fed to the anaerobic digester (hydrolysed OFMSW from a Portuguese company of waste treatment and valorization, plus maize cob from Coruche Portuguese county) into biogas; (iii) biogas volume produced; and (iv) biogas quality. A bench-scale anaerobic digester with a biogas storage system is used for this purpose. H2S mitigation in the biogas produced is studied by using a pre-conditioning guard bed placed before the biogas upgrading process. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Positron Emission Tomography in the diagnosis of an unknown primary tumour

Em Medicina Interna, somos muitas vezes confrontados com o diagnóstico de doença maligna avançada, em doentes que desconheciam sofrer de patologia tumoral. A localização do tumor primitivo é fundamental, pois dela depende o correcto tratamento do doente. Alguns casos, e apesar de uma investigação exaustiva, permanecem sem diagnóstico, mesmo quando já ocorreu metastização. A Tomografia de Emissão de Positrões (PET) utilizando 18Fluoro-D-Glicose (18FDG) é um exame não invasivo, de corpo inteiro e multi-órgão, utilizado com bons resultados para diagnóstico e estadiamento de inúmeros tumores e, também, do tumor oculto. Apresentam-se dois casos clínicos de doentes do sexo feminino com diagnóstico de neoplasia maligna avançada, em que a 18FDG-PET foi fundamental para o diagnóstico.In Internal Medicine we are frequently confronted with the diagnosis of advanced malignant disease, in patients without previous tumour diagnosis. The localization of the primary tumour is fundamental for the patient treatment. In some cases, although exhaustive investigation is carried out, the primary site remains obscure, even in the presence of metastasis. The Positron Emission Tomography (PET), using 18Fluoro-D-Glucose (18FDG) is a whole body, multi-organ, non invasive exam, used to diagnose and stage a large number of malignancies, including the occult tumour. We present two female patients with advanced malignant disease, in whom the 18FDG-PET was essential for the diagnosis