129 research outputs found
O dever de colaboração no direito da concorrência : o "Nemo tenetur se ipsum accusare" e as necessidades de uma regulação eficaz
A presente dissertação pretende analisar e responder ao problema colocado pela aparente incompatibilidade entre a existência de um dever de colaboração imposto aos agentes económicos perante a actuação supervisora e sancionatória de autoridades reguladoras, como é, no escopo deste trabalho, a Autoridade da Concorrência, por um lado; e, por outro, a consagração constitucional de garantias fundamentais de defesa, aplicáveis a todo o Direito público sancionatório, como o designado nemo tenetur se ipsum accusare – o privilégio de não auto-incriminação.
O âmbito de análise delimita-se ao Direito sancionatório da concorrência, de uma perspectiva essencialmente processualista. Tendo em conta que os ilícitos concorrenciais se encontram tipificados segundo a forma de contra-ordenações, o trabalho centrar-se-á na constante comunicação – a nível de figuras e conceitos – entre o Direito Processual Penal e o Direito de Mera Ordenação Social, tal como na necessidade de salvaguardar garantias essenciais de defesa e, simultaneamente, proteger o efeito útil da actuação pública em sede de defesa da concorrência entre particulares, sendo este um bem instrumental ao que alguns designam como Democracia Económica.
Começaremos por descrever a estrutura orgânica, finalidades e poderes de Autoridade da Concorrência, confrontando estes elementos com as particulares necessidades de tutela de mercado e protecção da concorrência.
De seguida, avaliaremos os fundamentos jurídicos em que radica o problemático dever de colaboração, e o papel essencial que este dever desempenha na actuação eficaz do Regulador.
Em terceiro lugar, é feita uma análise do princípio nemo tenetur, de modo a delinear o seu âmbito de aplicação face ao dever de colaborar com uma autoridade administrativa, havendo o potencial risco de tal colaboração resultar num contributo activo de carácter auto-inculpador.
Sucede-se uma sucinta descrição e análise da jurisprudência considerada mais relevante: do TEDH e do TJUE, primeiro, e, seguidamente, do TCL e do TC.
Delineado o problema, procedemos a uma análise das posições doutrinárias em confronto, a uma ponderação dos vários argumentos e das soluções apresentadas. Terminamos com conclusões em que expomos a nossa posição.This thesis aims to consider and answer the issues stemming from the simultaneous existence of a fundamental right against self-incrimination, on one hand, and, on the other, the duty of investigated companies to cooperate – with public entities such as the Portuguese Anti-trust Authority – and deliver information that may, later on, be used against them to prove an infringement.
The scope of this analysis will be centered on the procedural aspects of portuguese competition law, along with the compatibility of admitting evidence obtained through coercion with the principles of due process, in a domain of public punitive action that has strayed from the traditional doctrines of criminal law, and the relevance of this issue towards the protection of fair competition.
To begin with, we will describe the Portuguese Anti-trust Authority in regards to its purpose and scope of action and how they relate to the practical needs of its effectiveness.
Furthermore, we will examine the legal grounds upon which the duty to cooperate is based, and how necessary this duty is for the Authority to serve its purpose.
Afterwards, we will consider the many facets of the privilege against self-incrimination and how they weigh on the issue at hand.
Subsequently, we will analyse a few relevant decisions of both european and portuguese courts.
Finally, having described the coordinates of the problem at hand, we will present our conclusions, along with our own position on the matter
Cell secretome: basic insights and therapeutic opportunities for CNS disorders
Transplantation of stem cells, in particular mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), stands as a promising therapy for trauma, stroke or neurodegenerative conditions such as spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries (SCI or TBI), ischemic stroke (IS), or Parkinson’s disease (PD). Over the last few years, cell transplantation-based approaches have started to focus on the use of cell byproducts, with a strong emphasis on cell secretome. Having this in mind, the present review discusses the current state of the art of secretome-based therapy applications in different central nervous system (CNS) pathologies. For this purpose, the following topics are discussed: (1) What are the main cell secretome sources, composition, and associated collection techniques; (2) Possible differences of the therapeutic potential of the protein and vesicular fraction of the secretome; and (3) Impact of the cell secretome on CNS-related problems such as SCI, TBI, IS, and PD. With this, we aim to clarify some of the main questions that currently exist in the field of secretome-based therapies and consequently gain new knowledge that may help in the clinical application of secretome in CNS disorders.This research was funded by Prémios Santa Casa Neurociências—Prize Melo e Castro for Spinal
Cord Injury Research, grant number MC-04/17 and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
(FCT) through the Scientific Employment Stimulus to N. Silva and S. Monteiro (CEECIND/04794/2017 and
CEECIND/01902/2017). This work was also funded by FEDER, through the Competitiveness Internalization Operational Programme (POCI), and by National funds, through the Foundation for Sciences and Technology (FCT), under the scope of the projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038, TUBITAK/0007/2014, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029206, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029751, and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-029968. This work was also developed under the scope of the projects NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013 and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023, supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)
Experimental results of a developed single-phase thyristor switched capacitor
In this paper are presented simulation and
experimental results of a developed single-phase Thyristor
Switched Capacitor (TSC), when it is compensating the power
factor at the fundamental frequency (displacement power factor)
of an electrical system with distorted voltage. The developed
single-phase TSC can produce reactive capacitive power with 3
different values. The Thyristor Switched Capacitor is a type of
equipment capable of compensating inductive reactive power at
the fundamental frequency, without causing voltage and current
transients when it is turned-on. However, it can be observed in
this paper that in situations where the voltage is distorted, the
TSC produces harmonic currents, which is extremely harmful to
the electrical system. The capacitor banks used in industries for
power factor correction presents the same problem when voltages
are distorted.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT
Spinal cord RNA-seq data after a baclofen treatment in mice with a spinal cord injury
Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to severe functional deficits. Currently, there are no available pharmacological treatments to promote neurological recovery in SCI patients. Recent work from our group has shown that a baclofen treatment can promote functional recovery after a compression SCI in mice [1]. Here, we provide transcriptomic (RNA-seq) data from adult mouse spinal cords collected 7 days after a compression SCI and baclofen (vs vehicle) administration. The Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform was used to generate the raw transcriptomic data. In addition, we also present bioinformatic analyses including differential gene expression analysis, enrichment analyses for various functional annotations (gene ontology, KEGG and BioCarta pathways or InterPro domains) and transcription factor targets. The raw RNA-seq data has been uploaded to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database (Bioproject ID PRJNA886048). The data generated from the bioinformatic analyses is contained within the articleThis work was supported by the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation (grant reference WFL-ES-03/19), the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) EXPL/MED-FAR/1529/2021 to N. de Sousa and through the Scientific Employment Stimulus to N. Silva and S. Monteiro (CEECIND/04794/2017 and CEECIND/01902/2017) and Grant PID2020-115121GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 to A. Barreiro-IglesiasS
Gene Classification Based on Amino Acid Motifs and Residues: The DLX (distal-less) Test Case
BACKGROUND:Comparative studies using hundreds of sequences can give a detailed picture of the evolution of a given gene family. Nevertheless, retrieving only the sequences of interest from public databases can be difficult, in particular, when working with highly divergent sequences. The difficulty increases substantially when one wants to include in the study sequences from many (or less well studied) species whose genomes are non-annotated or incompletely annotated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:In this work we evaluate the usefulness of different approaches of gene retrieval and classification, using the distal-less (DLX) gene family as a test case. Furthermore, we evaluate whether the use of a large number of gene sequences from a wide range of animal species, the use of multiple alternative alignments, and the use of amino acids aligned with high confidence only, is enough to recover the accepted DLX evolutionary history. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:The canonical DLX homeobox gene sequence here derived, together with the characteristic amino acid variants here identified in the DLX homeodomain region, can be used to retrieve and classify DLX genes in a simple and efficient way. A program is made available that allows the easy retrieval of synteny information that can be used to classify gene sequences. Maximum likelihood trees using hundreds of sequences can be used for gene identification. Nevertheless, for the DLX case, the proposed DLX evolutionary is not recovered even when multiple alignment algorithms are used
Diversity and patterns of marine non-native species in the archipelagos of Macaronesia
Tiago Marques and Carolina Marques thank partial support by CEAUL (funded by FCT through the project UIDB/00006/2020).Aims The present study is the first attempt to grasp the scale and richness of marine biological invasions in Macaronesia. We pioneered a comprehensive non-native species (NNS), inventory in the region to determine their diversity patterns and native distribution origins. NNS were defined here as the result of both introductions and range expansions. We also used statistical modelling to examine relationships among NNS richness, anthropogenic activities, demographic and geographical variables across Macaronesia. Location Macaronesia. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted for marine NNS records in Macaronesia, registering the first record's location and year from 1884 to 2020. We used univariate and multivariate analyses to evaluate differences and similarities in community composition. By applying a Generalized Linear Model (GLM), we tested hypotheses regarding NNS richness as a function of anthropogenic activities, demographic and geographical variables. Results A total of 144 marine non-native species (NNS) were recorded for the whole of Macaronesia. The highest NNS richness was registered in the Canary Islands (76 NNS), followed by the Azores (66 NNS), Madeira (59 NNS) and finally Cabo Verde (18 NNS). Some differences amongst archipelagos were observed, such as the high number of non-native macroalgae in the Azores, fishes in the Canary Islands and tunicates in Cabo Verde. Overall, macroalgae, tunicates and bryozoans were the predominant taxonomic groups in the Macaronesian archipelagos. Madeira and Canary Islands were the archipelagos with more similarity in marine NNS, and Cabo Verde the most divergent. Finally, GLM suggested that non-native richness patterns across Macaronesia were dependent on the considered archipelago and strongly affected by (1) minimum distance to the mainland, (2) the total number of ports and marinas and (3) total marinas area (km2). Conclusions The model results and NNS listing in the present study will likely raise the awareness and response regarding marine NNS in the whole Macaronesia region, serving as a baseline for future research as well as implementing and enforcing regulations related to the introduction of marine NNS in oceanic islands.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Osteochondral transplantation using autografts from the upper tibio-fibular joint for the treatment of knee cartilage lesions
Purpose Treatment of large cartilage lesions of the knee
in weight-bearing areas is still a controversy and challenging topic. Autologous osteochondral mosaicplasty has
proven to be a valid option for treatment but donor site
morbidity with most frequently used autografts remains a
source of concern. This study aims to assess clinical results
and safety profile of autologous osteochondral graft from
the upper tibio-fibular joint applied to reconstruct symptomatic osteochondral lesions of the knee.
Methods Thirty-one patients (22 men and 9 women) with
grade 4 cartilage lesions in the knee were operated by
mosaicplasty technique using autologous osteochondral
graft from the upper tibio-fibular joint, between 1998 and
2006. Clinical assessment included visual analog scale
(VAS) for pain and Lysholm score. All patients were
evaluated by MRI pre- and post-operatively regarding joint
congruency as good, fair (inferior to 1 mm incongruence),
and poor (incongruence higher than 1 mm registered in any
frame). Donor zone status was evaluated according to
specific protocol considering upper tibio-fibular joint
instability, pain, neurological complications, lateral collateral ligament insufficiency, or ankle complaints.
Results Mean age at surgery was 30.1 years (SD 12.2). In
respect to lesion sites, 22 were located in weight-bearing
area of medial femoral condyle, 7 in lateral femoral condyle, 1 in trochlea, and 1 in patella. Mean follow-up was
110.1 months (SD 23.2). Mean area of lesion was 3.3 cm
2
(SD 1.7), and a variable number of cylinders were used,
mean 2.5 (SD 1.3). Mean VAS score improved from 47.1
(SD 10.1) to 20.0 (SD 11.5); p = 0.00. Similarly, mean
Lysholm score increased from 45.7 (SD 4.5) to 85.3
(SD 7.0); p = 0.00. The level of patient satisfaction was
evaluated, and 28 patients declared to be satisfied/very
satisfied and would do surgery again, while 3 declared as
unsatisfied with the procedure and would not submit to
surgery again. These three patients had lower clinical scores
and kept complaints related to the original problem but
unrelated to donor zone. MRI score significantly improved
at 18–24 months comparing with pre-operative (p = 0.004).
No radiographic or clinical complications related to donor
zone with implication in activity were registered.
Conclusions This work corroborates that mosaicplasty
technique using autologous osteochondral graft from the
upper tibio-fibular joint is effective to treat osteochondral
defects in the knee joint. No relevant complications related
to donor zone were registered
Revisiting the Red Giant Branch Hosts KOI-3886 and ι Draconis.:Detailed Asteroseismic Modeling and Consolidated Stellar Parameters
Asteroseismology is playing an increasingly important role in the characterization of red giant host stars and their planetary systems. Here, we conduct detailed asteroseismic modeling of the evolved red giant branch (RGB) hosts KOI-3886 and ι Draconis, making use of end-of-mission Kepler (KOI-3886) and multisector TESS (ι Draconis) time-series photometry. We also model the benchmark star KIC 8410637, a member of an eclipsing binary, thus providing a direct test to the seismic determination. We test the impact of adopting different sets of observed modes as seismic constraints. Inclusion of .,"= 1 and 2 modes improves the precision of the stellar parameters, albeit marginally, compared to adopting radial modes alone, with 1.9%-3.0% (radius), 5%-9% (mass), and 19%-25% (age) reached when using all p-dominated modes as constraints. Given the very small spacing of adjacent dipole mixed modes in evolved RGB stars, the sparse set of observed g-dominated modes is not able to provide extra constraints, further leading to highly multimodal posteriors. Access to multiyear time-series photometry does not improve matters, with detailed modeling of evolved RGB stars based on (lower-resolution) TESS data sets attaining a precision commensurate with that based on end-of-mission Kepler data. Furthermore, we test the impact of varying the atmospheric boundary condition in our stellar models. We find the mass and radius estimates to be insensitive to the description of the near-surface layers, at the expense of substantially changing both the near-surface structure of the best-fitting models and the values of associated parameters like the initial helium abundance, Y i . Attempts to measure Y i from seismic modeling of red giants may thus be systematically dependent on the choice of atmospheric physics
VEGF Promotes Malaria-Associated Acute Lung Injury in Mice
The spectrum of the clinical presentation and severity of malaria infections is broad, ranging from uncomplicated febrile illness to severe forms of disease such as cerebral malaria (CM), acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) or severe anemia (SA). Rodent models that mimic human CM, PAM and SA syndromes have been established. Here, we show that DBA/2 mice infected with P. berghei ANKA constitute a new model for malaria-associated ALI. Up to 60% of the mice showed dyspnea, airway obstruction and hypoxemia and died between days 7 and 12 post-infection. The most common pathological findings were pleural effusion, pulmonary hemorrhage and edema, consistent with increased lung vessel permeability, while the blood-brain barrier was intact. Malaria-associated ALI correlated with high levels of circulating VEGF, produced de novo in the spleen, and its blockage led to protection of mice from this syndrome. In addition, either splenectomization or administration of the anti-inflammatory molecule carbon monoxide led to a significant reduction in the levels of sera VEGF and to protection from ALI. The similarities between the physiopathological lesions described here and the ones occurring in humans, as well as the demonstration that VEGF is a critical host factor in the onset of malaria-associated ALI in mice, not only offers important mechanistic insights into the processes underlying the pathology related with malaria but may also pave the way for interventional studies
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