Fungal silver nanoparticles

Este resumo faz parte de: Book of abstracts of the Meeting of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2, Braga, Portugal, 2010. A versão completa do livro de atas está disponível em: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/1096

Artistas no pré-escolar

Relatório Final de Prática de Ensino Supervisionada do Mestrado em Educação Pré-escolar apresentado na Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Viana do CasteloEste relatório final da prática de ensino supervisionada II, foi desenvolvido no âmbito do Mestrado de Educação Pré-Escolar. Envolveu 25 crianças com idades compreendidas entre os cinco e seis anos, num jardim-de-infância na freguesia da Areosa, do concelho de Viana do Castelo. O presente estudo de investigação pretendeu estudar a influência da arte nas crianças, contornar a ideia que a área das expressões artísticas funciona só como uma atividade lúdica. O estudo é constituído por três partes. A primeira contempla a apresentação e caraterização do contexto educativo onde se realizou esta prática. A segunda parte apresenta a pertinência do estudo e fundamentação teórica, aqui é feita também uma referência à metodologia adotada no estudo – investigação-ação, assim como a análise e interpretação dos dados obtidos e por fim todas as conclusões que foram retiradas de todo o trabalho desenvolvido. Na fase final do relatório é feita a reflexão final sobre a PES, onde é apresentada a análise de tudo o que foi observado e possível reter com esta experiência que irá mudar o meu futuro. Através da observação efetuada pode-se constatar que a expressão plástica não era das preferidas das crianças, não demonstrando muito agrado cada vez que lhes era proposto atividades dentro deste domínio. Deste modo, providenciou-se diversas atividades com recurso a materiais diversificados com o intuito de mudar as práticas. Denotou-se uma constante evolução e mudança de pensamento das crianças no que diz respeito a atividades deste teor. No final as crianças demonstravam grande prazer e alegria em atividades deste género alcançando-se assim a evolução pretendida nas suas ações, atingindo os objetivos traçados.This paper is the final report of the project developed under the Supervised Teaching Internship II. This was developed under the Master in Preschool Education. The project involved 25 children with ages between five and six in a kindergarten, located in Areosa, Viana do Castelo. The aim of this study was to research the influence the plastic arts has in children, in order to move away from the common idea that artistic expression is only a playful activity. This study consists of three parts. In the first part the characterization and the presentation of the educational context where the internship took place are presented. In the second part it is presented the relevance of the study and the theoretical background in which the study relays on. Here the methodology used in the research is presented - investigation-action, as well as the analysis and interpretation of the data obtained. The conclusions drawn from theresearch are also presented. The third part of the paper consists of the final reflection on the internship, where the final analysis of the whole project is presented and where I reflect on what I have learn and what I will take away from this work. It was observed that artistic expression was not the children’s favorite activity, as they expressed little enthusiasm when artistic activities were suggested. I developed and put in motion several activities in order to change this. The children reacted positively. Slowly and steadily they became more receptive towards activities in the artistic area, and by the end of the project their attitude towards the artistic expression had changed significantly. It can be concluded that the goals of the project were achieved successfully

High Laccase Expression by Trametes versicolor in a Simulated Textile Effluent with Different Carbon Sources and PHs

Textile effluents are highly polluting and have variable and complex compositions. They can be extremely complex, with high salt concentrations and alkaline pHs. A fixed-bed bioreactor was used in the present study to simulate a textile effluent treatment, where the white-rot fungus, Trametes versicolor, efficiently decolourised the azo dye Reactive Black 5 over 28 days. This occurred under high alkaline conditions, which is unusual, but advantageous, for successful decolourisation processes. Active dye decolourisation was maintained by operation in continuous culture. Colour was eliminated during the course of operation and maximum laccase (Lcc) activity (80.2 UL1) was detected after glycerol addition to the bioreactor. Lcc2 gene expression was evaluated with different carbon sources and pH values based on reverse transcriptase-PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Glycerol was shown to promote the highest lcc2 expression at pH 5.5, followed by sucrose and then glucose. The highest levels of expression occurred between three and four days, which corroborate the maximum Lcc activity observed for sucrose and glycerol on the bioreactor. These results give new insights into the use of T. versicolor in textile dye wastewater treatment with high pHs.Cledir R. Santos thanks to the Universidad de La Frontera (Temuco, Chile) for the partial funding from both the Project DIUFRO DI16-0135 and the Doctoral Programme in Science of Natural Resources. This study was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte

Sob a égide da pós-verdade e dos multiletramentos: o discurso do movimento antivacinação infantil

This article aims to analyze the post-truth discourse in anti-vaccination movement movements during the Covid-19 pandemic context. The theoretical-methodological contribution that supports this research is the French Orientation Discourse Analysis, based on the precepts of Foucault (2008, 2014), Paveau (2020) and other studies. In order to establish a dialogue with the, we integrated the kh perspective into basic-discursive teaching, in relation to its discursive genres, in relation to its relationship with the new and multiple studies, proposed by Rojo (2004, 2008, 2012, 2015), Soares (2002), among others. This empirical research has an interpretive nature and takes as its corpus the meme genre, collected on the social network Instagram which, in its enunciative configuration, based on political and religious fundamentalism, chorus with the children's anti-vaccination movement, subverting its medicine. As a result, we verified the growing spread of fake news and its impact on the regularization of post-truth in massive reproductions on the networks, which urges us to problematize it in the classroom and social reflection on the role of multiliteracies on the web.  Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar o discurso da pós-verdade em movimentos antivacinação infantil durante o contexto pandêmico do Covid-19. O aporte teórico-metodológico que embasa este trabalho é a Análise do Discurso de orientação francesa, a partir dos preceitos de Foucault (2008, 2014), Paveau (2020), dentre outros. Para estabelecermos, um diálogo com o ensino, integramos ao devido pressuposto a perspectiva bakhtiniana dos gêneros discursivos, em sua relação com os novos e multiletramentos, propostos por Rojo (2004, 2008, 2012, 2015), Soares (2002) e outros autores. Trata-se de uma pesquisa empírica de cunho interpretativo que toma como corpus memes, coletados na rede social Instagram, que, em sua configuração enunciativa, pautada no fundamentalismo político e religioso, faz coro com o movimento antivacinação infantil, subvertendo sua relevância. Como resultado, verificamos a crescente difusão de fake news e o seu impacto sobre a regularização da pós-verdade em reproduções massivas nas redes sociais, o que nos intima a problematizá-las em sala de aula e a refletir sobre o papel da web em estudos de multiletramento

Anti-inflammatory potential of 2-styrylchromones regarding their interference with arachidonic acid metabolic pathways

Cyclooxygenases (COXs) are the key enzymes in the biosynthesis of prostanoids. COX-1 is a constitutive enzyme while the expression of COX-2 is highly stimulated in the event of inflammatory processes, leading to the production of large amounts of prostaglandins (PGs), in particular PGE2 and PGI2, which are pro-inflammatory mediators. Lipoxygenases (LOXs) are enzymes that produce hydroxy acids and leukotrienes (LTs). 5-LOX metabolizes arachidonic acid to yield, among other products, LTB4, a potent chemoattractantmediator of inflammation. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory potential of 2-styrylchromones (2-SC), a chemical family of oxygen heterocyclic compounds, vinylogues of flavones (2-phenylchromones), by studying their COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitory capacity as well as their effects on the LTB4 production by stimulated human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL). Some of the tested 2-SC were able to inhibit both COX-1 activity and LTB4 production which makes them dual inhibitors of the COX and 5-LOX pathways. The most effective compounds in this study were those having structural moieties with proved antioxidant activity (30,40-catechol and 40-phenol substituted B-rings). This type of compounds may exhibit anti-inflammatory activity with a wider spectrum than that of classical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) by inhibiting 5-LOX product-mediated inflammatory reactions, towards which NSAIDs are ineffective.The authors acknowledge FCT and FEDER financial support for the project POCI/QUI/59284/2004 and the Organic Chemistry Research Unit (no. 62; Univ. Aveiro). Ana Gomes acknowledges FCT and FSE her PhD grant (SFRH/BD/23299/2005)

2-Styrylchromones: novel strong scavengers of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species

http://apps.isiknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=1&SID=S2NjaL1GBbk143plPl1&page=1&doc=1&colname=WOS2-Styrylchromones are a small group of naturally occurring chromones, vinylogues of flavones (2-phenylchromones). Natural and synthetic 2-styrylchromones have been tested in different biological systems, showing activities with potential therapeutic applications. In particular, the potential and hitherto understudied antioxidant behavior of these compounds has been raised as a matter of interest. Thus the present work consisted in the study of the in vitro scavenging activities for reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) of various 2-styrylchromone derivatives and structurally similar flavonoids. Some of the studied 2-styrylchromones proved to be extremely efficient scavengers of the different ROS and RNS, showing, in some cases, IC50s under 1 lM. The hydroxylation pattern of 2-styrylchromones, especially in the B-ring but also in the A ring, modulates the activity of these compounds, the catecholic derivatives being the most effective scavengers. The styryl pattern also contributes to their observed outstanding antioxidant activity. In conclusion, the scavenging activities for ROS/RNS of 2-styrylchromone derivatives, here shown for the first time, provide novel and most promising compounds to be applied as antioxidants

Insights on Ultrafiltration-Based Separation for the Purification and Quantification of Methotrexate in Nanocarriers

The evaluation of encapsulation efficiency is a regulatory requirement for the characterization of drug delivery systems. However, the difficulties in efficiently separating nanomedicines from the free drug may compromise the achievement of accurate determinations. Herein, ultrafiltration was exploited as a separative strategy towards the evaluation of methotrexate (MTX) encapsulation efficiency in nanostructured lipid carriers and polymeric nanoparticles. The effect of experimental conditions such as pH and the amount of surfactant present in the ultrafiltration media was addressed aiming at the selection of suitable conditions for the effective purification of nanocarriers. MTX-loaded nanoparticles were then submitted to ultrafiltration and the portions remaining in the upper compartment of the filtering device and in the ultrafiltrate were collected and analyzed by HPLC-UV using a reversed-phase (C18) monolithic column. A short centrifugation time (5 min) was suitable for establishing the amount of encapsulated MTX in nanostructured lipid carriers, based on the assumption that the free MTX concentration was the same in the upper compartment and in the ultrafiltrate. The defined conditions allowed the efficient separation of nanocarriers from the free drug, with recoveries of >85% even when nanoparticles were present in cell culture media and in pig skin surrogate from permeation assays.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Atmospheric plasma and UV polymerisation for developing sustainable anti-adhesive polyethylene terephthalate (PET) surfaces

Enhancing the hydrophilicity of polymeric materials is an important step for achieving anti-adhesiveness. Thus, in this study, atmospheric plasma as a pre-treatment was combined with a UV grafting process to obtain a durable surface modification on polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The most promising conditions for the atmospheric plasma process were found to be 15 kW power and 4 m/min speed, leading to a contact angle reduction from 70 ± 6° to approximately 30°. However, it was observed that these values increased over time due to the ageing and washing of the PET surface, ultimately causing it to recover its initial contact angle. Therefore, the plasma-pre-treated PET samples were further modified through a UV grafting process using sodium acrylate (NaAc) and 3-sulfopropyl acrylate potassium salts (KAc). The grafted acrylate PET samples exhibited contact angles of 8 ± 3° and 28 ± 13° for NaAc and KAc, respectively, while showing durability in ageing and washing tests. The dry film thicknesses for both samples were found to be 28 ± 2 μm. Finally, the anti-adhesive properties of the NaAc- and KAc-treated surfaces were evaluated using an Escherichia coli expressing YadA, an adhesive protein from Yersinia. The modified PET surfaces were highly effective in reducing bacterial adhesion by more than 90%.This work was supported by the ViBrANT project, which received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Marie Sklowdowska-Curie (grant agreement no. 765042), and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (grant number UIDB/04469/2020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modification of PET surfaces with Gum Arabic towards its bacterial anti-adhesiveness using an experimental factorial design approach

Bacterial adhesion onto hospital material surfaces still represents a big healthcare issue, being preventive measures required to mitigate this problem, such as increasing material surface hydrophilicity. In the present study, gum Arabic, a hydrophilic polysaccharide, was used to modify the surface of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Initial water contact angle (WCA) and WCA after several washing cycles were studied as response variables by a 24 full factorial design. Several reaction parameters, such as contact time between gum Arabic and PET, gum Arabic concentration, curing temperature and curing time for PET modification were investigated. The most significant parameters were found to be the curing temperature and curing time. The optimized parameters led to a WCA reduction from 70° to 27°. The modified PET samples were characterized using several techniques including AFM, colorimetric, ATR-FTIR and contact angle which further confirmed a successful surface modification. Furthermore, bacterial adhesion assays have clearly shown that the treated PET material was highly effective in preventing the bacterial adhesion of Escherichia coli expressing YadA, an adhesive protein from Yersinia so-called Yersinia adhesin. The use of design of experiments techniques allowed for successfully attaining a PET material with a high bacterial anti-adhesiveness, using a simple grafting approach.This work was supported by the ViBrANT project that received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklowdowska-Curie, Grant agreement no 765042 and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio