Corporate blended learning in Portugal: current status and future directions

The aim of this study is to characterize the current status of blended learning in Portugal, given that b-learning has grown exponentially in the Portuguese market over recent years. 38 organizations (representing 68% of all institutions certified to provide distance training by the Government Labour Office – DGERT -) participated in this study. The results revealed that in 2007, although the predominant instructional format in Portugal was still face-to-face training (65%), e-learning at 15% came in behind b-learning with 20%. Data also revealed that 50% of distance training department coordinators believe that b-learning produces better training outcomes than face-to-face training alone, when considering the same content and learning objectives. Furthermore, when comparing b-learning and e-learning outcomes with similar content and learning objectives, 78.1% of these coordinators declared that b-learning produces better outcomes than e-learning alone. Hence, the content analysis indicated positive perceptions with regard to the future direction of b-learning, leading to the conclusion that in the long-term, corporate b-learning training will develop considerably in this country

Repercussão das Colheitas de Sangue sobre os Valores de Hemoglobina em Recém-Nascidos de Muito Baixo Peso (RNMBP) Submetidos a Terapia Intensiva

A perda iatrogénica de sangue constitui um problema comum nas unidades de cuidados intensivos neonatais. O objectivo deste trabalho foi quantificaras espoliações de sangue para estudos analíticos em 22 RNMBP durante as primeiras três semanas de hospitalização. O número médio de colheitas por criança e por dia foi IA e o número médio de colheitas por criança no período estudado foi 29.7. O valor cumulativo médio de sangue espoliado pelo 21." dia foi 18,7 ml/kg. Os valores médios de hemoglobina nas primeiras 12 horas de tida e no 21." dia foram respectivamente 16.4 e 12.9 gr/d1. Verificou-se uma relação estreita entre o volume de sangue extraído e o volume de sangue transfundido. sugerindo este facto que. em geral. as transfusões são efectuadas por necessidade de compensar as perdas sanguíneas relacionadas com as colheitas de sangue. Conclui-se que as espoliações repetidas de sangue para análises laboratoriais se repercutem significativamente nos valores de hemoglobina dos recém-nascidos pretermo e de MBP sendo portanto desejável que tais espoliações sejam rigorosamente quantificadas e reduzidas ao mínimo tendo em conta os riscos das transfusões de sangue

COPD : a stepwise or a hit hard approach?

Open Access funded by Sociedade Portuguesa de Pneumologia Under a Creative Commons license. © 2016 Sociedade Portuguesa de Pneumologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Current guidelines differ slightly on the recommendations for treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients, and although there are some undisputed recommendations, there is still debate regarding the management of COPD. One of the hindrances to deciding which therapeutic approach to choose is late diagnosis or misdiagnosis of COPD. After a proper diagnosis is achieved and severity assessed, the choice between a stepwise or "hit hard" approach has to be made. For GOLD A patients the stepwise approach is recommended, whilst for B, C and D patients this remains debatable. Moreover, in patients for whom inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are recommended, a step-up or "hit hard" approach with triple therapy will depend on the patient's characteristics and, for patients who are being over-treated with ICS, ICS withdrawal should be performed, in order to optimize therapy and reduce excessive medications. This paper discusses and proposes stepwise, "hit hard", step-up and ICS withdrawal therapeutic approaches for COPD patients based on their GOLD group. We conclude that all approaches have benefits, and only a careful patient selection will determine which approach is better, and which patients will benefit the most from each approach.Funding for this paper was provided by Novartis Portugal. Funding was used to access all necessary scientific bibliography and cover meeting expenses. Novartis Portugal had no role in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the paper and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Superoxide Release And Cellular Gluthatione Peroxidase Activity In Leukocytes From Children With Persistent Asthma.

Asthma is an inflammatory condition characterized by the involvement of several mediators, including reactive oxygen species. The aim of the present study was to investigate the superoxide release and cellular glutathione peroxidase (cGPx) activity in peripheral blood granulocytes and monocytes from children and adolescents with atopic asthma. Forty-four patients were selected and classified as having intermittent or persistent asthma (mild, moderate or severe). The spontaneous or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA, 30 nM)-induced superoxide release by granulocytes and monocytes was determined at 0, 5, 15, and 25 min. cGPx activity was assayed spectrophotometrically. The spontaneous superoxide release by granulocytes from patients with mild (N = 15), moderate (N = 12) or severe (N = 6) asthma was higher at 25 min compared to healthy individuals (N = 28, P 0.05 in all times of incubation, Duncan test). cGPx activity of granulocytes and monocytes from patients with persistent asthma (N = 20) was also similar to healthy individuals (N = 10, P > 0.05, Kruskal-Wallis test). We conclude that, under specific circumstances, granulocytes from children with persistent asthma present a higher respiratory burst activity compared to healthy individuals. These findings indicate a risk of oxidative stress, phagocyte auto-oxidation, and the subsequent release of intracellular toxic oxidants and enzymes, leading to additional inflammation and lung damage in asthmatic children.371607-1

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray characterization of 1,3-propanediol dehydrogenase from the human pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae

1,3-Propanediol dehydrogenase from K. pneumoniae has been overexpressed in E. coli, purified and crystallized. Diffraction data have been collected to 2.7 Å resolution

Antibacterial and antioxidant potential of aqueous extracts of bio-residues from agrocybe cylindracea and pleurotus ostreatus mycelium

The production of fresh mushrooms results in a large quantity of bio-residues, which may account for more than 20% of a crop volume and contributes to production costs and environmental impact, if not used. These products consist mainly of stalks, mushrooms of irregular dimensions and shape and basal material. Thus, the main objective of MicoBioExtract project is the valorisation of these bio-residues and the development of add-value by-products with bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides and phenolic compounds produced by mushrooms. In the present work, the aqueous extracts from Agrocybe cylindracea byproducts (ACB) and Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium (POM) were evaluated for potential antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Water soluble substances were extracted from mushrooms according to two different methods. In method 1 it was performed a hot extraction (extract 1A; 90 °C; 1 h; 500 rpms). In method 2, the biomass was submitted to an extraction at room temperature (extract 2B) and the resulting residue was extracted with hot water (extract 2C; 90 °C; 1 h; 500 rpms). The aqueous extracts from POM were obtained only by method 1. Extracts were lyophilized and their bioactivity evaluated measuring the antioxidant (ABTS, DPPH and ORAC) and antimicrobial (determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration – MIC) activities. The mutagenicity was also tested (Ames assay with and without S9). Moreover, it was determined the total phenolics content of the extracts and α and β – glucans (Folin Ciocalteu and Beta-Glucan Assay methods, respectively). The results obtained from antioxidant methods showed that all extracts from both mushrooms are a potential source of natural antioxidant and phenolic compounds. According to ABTS, extract 2B from ACB showed the best value with 8.48±0.33 mg ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/g dry extract and 4.14±0.52 mg AAE/g dry extract for POM. Regarding the antimicrobial activity, MIC results showed that ACB and POM extracts inhibited the growth of Gram- (Salmonella enteritidis) and Gram+ (Bacillus cereus and Listeria monocytogenes). Concerning the mutagenicity, the results showed no toxic effect except for extract 1A from ACB. Regarding the β-glucan content, the extracts from ACB presented higher content of β-glucan than the C extracts from POM. Thus, aqueous extracts from mushroom bio-residues showed potential antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and to develop a circular bioeconomy approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Disfonia como sintoma de apresentação de cancro cérvico-torácico

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comportamento agronômico de clones de café arábica produzidos por embriogêneses somática.

O desenvolvimento de cultivares de Coffea arabica L. é um processo bastante longo, normalmente demandando cerca de 30 anos de trabalho para a liberação comercial de uma nova cultivar. Uma forma de reduzir consideravelmente esse tempo é o desenvolvimento de cultivares clonais, cuja multiplicação é feita por propagação vegetativa via embriogênese somática. Essa técnica permite a utilização comercial de plantas que ainda não possuem todas as características de interesse fixadas, tais como híbridos. Com o objetivo de desenvolver cultivares clonais a Fundação Procafé selecionou plantas matrizes com resistência ao bicho-mineiro e à ferrugem, boa qualidade de bebida e alta produtividade, visando reduzir a utilização de agrotóxicos e o custo da produção de café. Este trabalho relata o comportamento agronômico de clones com resistência ao bicho-mineiro e à ferrugem avaliados em Varginha e Boa Esperança, MG. Os resultados evidenciram que é possível obter produtividades superiores à de cultivares comerciais propagadas por sementes mediante a utilização de clones propagados por embriogênese somática. A qualidade da bebida dos clones 3, 5, 12, 13, 14 e 18 foi considerada muito boa, com valores acima de 80 pontos na escala da BSCA. Todos os clones apresentaram alta resistência ao bicho-mineiro e à ferrugem. Não foram observadas plantas com variações somaclonais que afetassem significativamente a produtividade das plantas propagadas por embriogênese somática, evidenciando que é possível a utilização comercial de plantas propagadas por esta técnica