Open access journals: transparent science or shady business?

OA journals consequences for Science/ The scientific community; OA journals advantages/disadvantages for the publisher/reader/author; What can be done?N/

Mouse model of Schistosomiasis: infection with Schistosoma mansoni in CD-1 mice

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that affects almost 240 million worldwide. CD1 mice were infected with cercariae of S. mansoni, after which infection developed for 8 weeks. Tissues were processed to immuno-histological techniques. It was performed H&E staining for overall analyses, Sirius Red for fibrosis and immunohistochemistry for inflammation biomarkers. The most infected organ was the liver, fibrosis decreased with egg development and Galectin-3 (Gal3) and Interleukin 6 (IL-6) were expressed inside granulomasThis work was also supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (REF UID/BIM/04293/2013) and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000012 and by a scholarship to Carla Luís with the reference SAICT2016/FEDER/BIO4DIA/BTI under the supervision of Dr. Rúben Fernandes.N/

Who and how should participate in health care priority setting? Evidence from a Portuguese survey

This article provides highlights of the evolution of the health care rationing debate towards a more transparent and open approach involving public participation. Discretionary models that have dominated health sector decision-making are being questioned by different sectors of society. Using data from 442 college students, we explore public’s views on its involvement in health care rationing decisions. Findings suggest that although citizens wish to be consulted, they believe doctors should play the most important role on the rationing decisions. Nonetheless, the confidence in doctors is not independent of the criteria used to support their decisions.Priorities setting, Public involvement; Explicit rationing; Health-care.

Rumor, gender, and authority in English Renaissance drama

The dramatic works of Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson register a certain type of male character who is capable of discerning listening, an action that becomes an agent of specific masculine authority and identity. However, rumor\u27s inherent ambiguity and indeterminacy poses the greatest threat to discerning listening. The paradox that emerges is that while the drama posits men as superior authors of information, it is men---and not women---who are responsible for the circulation of unauthorized information and rumor on the stage. Early modern literary and cultural discourses repeatedly pointed to the dangers of loose tongues and transgressive speech, and such idle chatter was consistently gendered female. Male characters continually attempt to disown their own loose speech by placing women and their gossip as the true threat to informational authority. As early modern drama exposes transgressive male talk and a male anxiety of informational access, men must seek to maintain their informational authority from male unauthorized speech. This dissertation traces a shift in concerns about the female tongue to the male tongue and how discerning listening became a necessary component in the establishment and maintenance of authorial identity on the early modern stage. I claim that rumor is an omnipresent and diffuse cultural, social, political, and theatrical issue with extreme consequences for male sovereignty. As certainty and truth break down through the workings of rumor, so too do the received notions of masculine identity. Furthermore, female characters with their authorizing ears are often seen exercising agency on the early modern stage in what I call female aural environments, where careful listening, rather than excessive speech and gossip, becomes a vehicle for uncovering truth. I contend that the early modern theater is a theater of rumor and early modern drama exposes the cultural reality of male speech gone astray, making the case for the necessity of becoming a discerning earwitness amid the buzz of the realm

Metal ions and protein folding: conformational and functional interplay

Dissertation presented to obtain a PhD degree in Biochemistry at Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de LisboaMetal ions are cofactors in about 30% of all proteins, where they fulfill catalytical and structural roles. Due to their unique chemistry and coordination properties they effectively expand the intrinsic polypeptide properties (by participating in catalysis or electron transfer reactions), stabilize protein conformations (like in zinc fingers) and mediate signal transduction (by promoting functionally relevant protein conformational changes). However, metal ions can also exert have deleterious effects in living systems by incorporating in non-native binding sites, promoting aberrant protein aggregation or mediating redox cycling with generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. For this reason, the characterization of the roles of metal ions as modulators of protein conformation and stability provides fundamental knowledge on protein folding properties and is instrumental in establishing the molecular basis of disease. In this thesis we have analyzed protein folding processes using model protein systems incorporating covalently bound metal cofactors – iron-sulfur (FeS) proteins – or where metal ion binding is reversible and associated conformational readjustments – the S100 proteins.(...

Manly Mechanicals on the Early Modern English Stage

A review of the book Manly Mechanicals on the Early Modern English Stage, by Ronda Arab is presented

Environmental tobacco smoke risk perception and smoking behavior in Portugal

This study analyzes public attitudes towards environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) risks. ETS legislation and smoking behaviors using recent data from Special Eurobarometer 272 that is a unique database on public perception of ETS. Some major conclusions are drawn: (1) both smokers and non-smokers are aware of health consequences from ETS, (2) moderate and heavy smokers tend to be less concerned with seriousness of the health consequences, (3) that the belief that ETS increases the risk of a serious disease decreases the probability of being smoker, (4)ETS beliefs do not affect the quitting decision, (5) those who smoke at home appear to be aware of health consequences of ETS, (6) ETS health risk beliefs is negatively associated with the number of cigarette consumed.