New implementation of the Tau method for PDEs

AbstractIn this work we propose an extension of the algebraic formulation for the Tau method for the numerical solution of partial differential problems set on domains in Rn,n>2. This extension is based on an appropriate choice of a basis for the space of polynomials in Rn and on the construction of the algebraic equivalent representation of the problem. Another feature of this implementation is related to the solution procedure for the necessarily large dimensional linear systems involved. We developed for this purpose an adapted LU factorization with a special pivoting strategy to build approximants in the sense of Tau method and to allow the solution of large problems.Numerical results for differential problems in 2D and 2D will be shown

Patterns and predictors of phytoplankton assemblage structure in a Coastal Lagoon: Species-specific analysis needed to disentangle anthropogenic pressures from ocean processes

Phytoplankton are dominant primary producers and key indicators in aquatic ecosystems. Understanding the controlling factors on the structure of phytoplankton assemblages is fundamental, but particularly challenging at the land–ocean interface. To identify the patterns and predictors of phytoplankton assemblage structure in the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon (south Portugal), this study combined phytoplankton abundance along a transect between the discharge point of a wastewater treatment plant and a lagoon inlet, over two years, with physico-chemical, hydrographic, and meteo-oceanographic variables. Our study identified 147 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), and planktonic diatoms (60–74%) and cryptophyceans (17–25%) dominated the phytoplankton in terms of abundance. Despite strong lagoon hydrodynamics, and the lack of spatial differences in the phytoplankton abundance and most diversity metrics, the multivariate analysis revealed differences in the assemblage structure between stations (p < 0.001) and seasons (p < 0.01). Indicator analysis identified cryptophyceans as lagoon generalists, and 11 station-specific specialist OTUs, including Kryptoperidinium foliaceum and Oscillatoriales (innermost stations) and potentially toxigenic species (Pseudo-nitzschia and Dinophysis; outer lagoon station, p < 0.05). Water temperature, pH, and nutrients emerged as the variables that best explained the changes in the phytoplankton assemblage structure (p < 0.001). Our findings provide insight into the relevance of local anthropogenic and natural forcings on the phytoplankton assemblage structure and can be used to support the management of RF and other coastal lagoons.MAR-01.04.02-FEAMP-0003info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dwarf eelgrass (Zostera noltii) leaf fatty acid profile during a natural restoration process: Physiological and ecological implications

Seagrass beds are among the most relevant ecosystem engineers, providing essential ecosystem services for the surrounding coastal communities. Alongside, these ecosystems are among the most threaten in the world, and thus several restoration projects have been developed in the past years. Seagrasses are important sources of essential fatty acids (FA) for animals, which are unable to synthetize them. During the seagrass growth and photochemical maturation, there is a membrane remodelling, where some fatty acids are synthetized. When analysing the FA changes at different development stages, one of the first noticeable changes is the increase in C16:1t (trans-hexadecenoic acid), associated to an increase in the chloroplast membrane fluidity, essential for the efficient energy transduction processes to occur in the thylakoids. Also, interesting to observe are the high levels of omega-3 and -6 (30–43% and 18–31% of total fatty acid content, respectively) present in this seagrass, reinforcing the nutritional value of this species as source of essential fatty acids for the primary consumers. Additionally, it is possible to observe that in the more mature plants there is a high leaf concentration of C18:3. Recent reports suggest that C18:3 can act as a direct scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS), indicating a lower stress level, as suggested by the higher photochemical efficiency previously observed. Moreover, it is also interesting to observe that total long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) content show a significant increase with the biomass development. These LC-PUFAs are not produced by higher plants and their production in animals occurs at low rates, suggesting they may have as origin the microalgae in the grass surface, adding another important ecosystem service to these prairies, as support for microalgae development and carriers of LC-PUFAs into the food web. This membrane remodelling appears to be on the basis of the photochemical maturation of these seagrasses observed in previous studies and can be used as potential and efficient tool to monitor the development stage of the prairies and its physiological status in future restoration processes. Moreover, it becomes evident that highly developed seagrass beds are crucial food source providers in terms of essential fatty acids to the estuarine heterotrophic life

Elastic and ultradeformable liposomes for transdermal delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)

Administration of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) through the skin, by means of topical drug delivery systems, is an advanced therapeutic approach. As the skin is the largest organ of the human body, primarily acting as a natural protective barrier against permeation of xenobiotics, specific strategies to overcome this barrier are needed. Liposomes are nanometric-sized delivery systems composed of phospholipids, which are key components of cell membranes, making liposomes well tolerated and devoid of toxicity. As their lipid compositions are similar to those of the skin, liposomes are used as topical, dermal, and transdermal delivery systems. However, permeation of the first generation of liposomes through the skin posed some limitations; thus, a second generation of liposomes has emerged, overcoming permeability problems. Various mechanisms of permeation/penetration of elastic/ultra-deformable liposomes into the skin have been proposed; however, debate continues on their extent/mechanisms of permeation/penetration. In vivo bioavailability of an API administered in the form of ultra-deformable liposomes is similar to the bioavailability achieved when the same API is administered in the form of a solution by subcutaneous or epi-cutaneous injection, which demonstrates their applicability in transdermal drug delivery.This research was funded by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT/ MCT) and European Funds (PRODER/COMPETE), under the project reference UIDB/04469/2020 (strategic fund), co-financed by FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020. The work is also supported by the National Science Centre within the MINIATURA 4 for a single research activity (grant No: 2020/04/X/ST5/00789) and by the START 2021 Program of the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) granted to Aleksandra Zielinska.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of combined training with different exercise intensities on inflammatory and lipid markers in type 2 diabetes : a secondary analysis from a 1-year randomized controlled trial

© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat ivecommons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creat iveco mmons .org/publi cdoma in/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.Background: Exercise is a well-accepted strategy to improve lipid and infammatory profle in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, the exercise intensity having the most benefts on lipids and infammatory markers in patients with T2DM remains unclear. We aimed to analyse the impact of a 1-year combined high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with resistance training (RT), and a moderate continuous training (MCT) with RT on infammatory and lipid profle in individuals with T2DM. Methods: Individuals with T2DM (n=80, aged 59 years) performed a 1-year randomized controlled trial and were randomized into three groups (control, n=27; HIIT with RT, n=25; MCT with RT, n=28). Exercise sessions were super‑ vised with a frequency of 3 days per week. Infammatory and lipid profles were measured at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Changes in infammatory and lipid markers were assessed using generalized estimating equations. Results: After adjusting for sex, age and baseline moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), we observed a time-by-group interaction for Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in both the MCT with RT (β=−0.70, p=0.034) and HIIT with RT (β=−0.62, p=0.049) groups, whereas, only the HIIT with RT group improved total cholesterol (β=−0.03, p=0.045) and LDL-C (β=−0.03, p=0.034), when compared to control. No efect was observed for C-reactive protein (CRP), cortisol, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), soluble form of the haptoglobin-hemoglobin receptor CD163 (sCD163), triglycerides and HDL-C in both groups (p>0.05). Conclusions: Favorable adaptations on IL-6 were observed in both the HIIT and MCT combined with RT groups fol‑ lowing a long-term 1-year exercise intervention in individuals with T2DM. However, only the HIIT with RT prevented further derangement of total cholesterol and LDL-C, when compared to the control group. Therefore, in order to encourage exercise participation and improve infammatory profle, either exercise protocols may be prescribed, however, HIIT with RT may have further benefts on the lipid profle.This work was supported by fellowships from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (JM grant: SFRH/BD/85742/2012; IRC grant: IRC: SFRH/BD/149394/2019). This work is also fnanced by a national grant through the FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the unit I&D 447 (UIDB/00447/2020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessment of habitat suitability for common cockles in the Ria the Aveiro Lagoon under average and projected environmental conditions

The common cockle Cerastoderma edule is a widespread bivalve species inhabiting estuarine systems across the North East Atlantic, where it provides several ecosystem services, and represents a valuable fishery resource for local economies. However, anthropogenic pressure and more frequent extreme weather events threaten the resilience of the species. Spatially explicit information on species distribution is critical for the implementation of management and conservation practices. This study assessed the potential distribution of C. edule in the Ria de Aveiro by estimating the habitat suitability using an ensemble approach based on ecological niche modeling and recently developed hydrodynamic and water quality models to forecast both average and projected estuarine conditions. The models were developed for the summer of 2013 and spring of 2019 and potential range shifts in the species distribution were forecasted under projected environmental conditions: high and low estimates of freshwater discharge, a 2 °C increase in water temperature, and the combined effect of low freshwater discharge and increased water temperature. The results suggest that salinity, time of submersion, and current velocity play an important role in the distribution of cockles, and large areas were consistently classified with high habitat suitability. Increased freshwater discharge (both seasons) and low discharge coupled to increased temperature (spring) resulted in large decreases in suitable habitat. Conversely, low freshwater discharges and average (unchanged) temperatures increased the suitable habitat in the outermost regions of the Ria. The spatially explicit information provided contributes to a better understanding of the vulnerability of C. edule in the Ria de Aveiro to extreme weather events (e.g., droughts, river floods) and may support adaptive management strategies of the cockle fishery during these conditions. Moreover, this approach can be transferred to other estuarine ecosystems for which data describing the environmental conditions (e.g., derived from numerical models), and information about species presence are available (including data-poor species).publishe

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Funding Information: This work was conducted at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Human Performance (CIPER), unit I&D 447 (UIDB/00447/2020), Faculty of Human Kinetics of the University of Lisbon, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology , the Portuguese Ministry of Science. IRC and GBR are supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology ( IRC: SFRH/BD/149394/2019 ; GBR: 2020.07856.BD ). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The AuthorsObjectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effects of home-based exercise on physical fitness (cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, and body composition) in cancer patients undergoing active treatment. Design: Systematic review with meta-analysis and Grading Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation of the evidence. Methods: A comprehensive search of existing literature was carried out in four electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and PEDro. All databases were searched for randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of home-based exercise on physical fitness outcomes in cancer patients during active treatment. Multicomponent interventions (i.e., exercise plus diet/behavioral therapy) were excluded. The methodological quality of each study was assessed using the Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials. Meta-analytical procedures were performed when appropriate and standardized mean differences (SMD) were calculated. Results: Twenty-eight randomized controlled trials (n = 2424 cancer patients) were included. Most of the interventions were conducted in breast cancer patients (n = 13) during the adjuvant treatment period (n = 17); 18 studies included a walking component in their home-based protocol. Home-based exercise was effective at improving the distance of the 6-minute walk test (k = 6; SMD = 0.321, p = 0.010). However, the results were no longer significant when performing sensitivity analysis based on exclusively walking (k = 1) and non-exclusively walking interventions (k = 5; SMD = 0.258; p = 0.072). No effects were found for muscle strength and body composition outcomes (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Regular home-based exercise programs are an effective strategy to improve 6-minutes walk test in cancer patients undergoing active treatment. Conversely, no alterations were found in muscle strength and body composition.proofepub_ahead_of_prin

Using zeta-potential measurements to quantify peptide partition to lipid membranes

© The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com.Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.Many cellular phenomena occur on the biomembranes. There are plenty of molecules (natural or xenobiotics) that interact directly or partially with the cell membrane. Biomolecules, such as several peptides (e.g., antimicrobial peptides) and proteins, exert their effects at the cell membrane level. This feature makes necessary investigating their interactions with lipids to clarify their mechanisms of action and side effects necessary. The determination of molecular lipid/water partition constants (Kp) is frequently used to quantify the extension of the interaction. The determination of this parameter has been achieved by using different methodologies, such as UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and ζ-potential measurements. In this work, we derived and tested a mathematical model to determine the Kp from ζ-potential data. The values obtained with this method were compared with those obtained by fluorescence spectroscopy, which is a regular technique used to quantify the interaction of intrinsically fluorescent peptides with selected biomembrane model systems. Two antimicrobial peptides (BP100 and pepR) were evaluated by this new method. The results obtained by this new methodology show that ζ-potential is a powerful technique to quantify peptide/lipid interactions of a wide variety of charged molecules, overcoming some of the limitations inherent to other techniques, such as the need for fluorescent labeling.This work was partially supported by project PTDC/QUI/ 69937/2006 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES, Portugal), and by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal). JMF and MMD also thank FCT-MCTES for grants IMM/BT/37-2010 and SFRH/BD/41750/2007, respectively

Magnetic/plasmonic MnFe2O4/Au nanoparticles covered with lipid bilayers for applications in thermotherapy

In this work, three different types of magnetic/plasmonic nanoparticles were prepared: core-shell nanoparticles with a manganese ferrite core and a gold shell; plasmonic gold nanoparticles decorated with magnetic nanoparticles of manganese ferrite; and magnetic nanoparticles of manganese ferrite decorated with plasmonic gold nanoparticles. The structural, spectroscopic and magnetic properties of these nanoparticles were evaluated. In order to further develop applications in cancer therapy, the prepared mixed nanoparticles were covered with a lipid bilayer. The local heating capability of these nanosystems was tested through the quenching of rhodamine fluorescence incorporated in the lipid layer.Financial support by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UID/FIS/04650/2013. A.R.O Rodrigues thanks the FCT for SFRH/BD/90949/2012 PhD grant and funding to MAP-Fis Doctoral Program.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio