An inspection on the Borel masses relation used in QCD sum rules

In this work, we studied the Borel masses relation used in QCDSR calculations. These masses are the parameters of the Borel transform used when the three point function is calculated. We analised an usual and a more general linear relations. We concluded that a general linear relation between these masses provides the best results regarding the standard deviation.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Prepared for 11th Hadron Physic

A QCD sum rules calculation of the J/ψDs∗DsJ/\psi D_s^* D_s strong coupling constant

In this work, we calculate the form factors and the coupling constant of the strange-charmed vertex $J/\psi D_s^* D_s$ in the framework of the QCD sum rules by studying their three-point correlation functions. All the possible off-shell cases are considered, $D_s$, $D_s^*$ and $J/\psi$, resulting in three different form factors. These form factors are extrapolated to the pole of their respective off-shell mesons, giving the same coupling constant for the process. Our final result for the $J/\psi D_s^* D_s$ coupling constant is $g_{J/\psi D^*_s D_s} = 4.30^{+0.42}_{-0.37}\text{GeV}^{-1}$.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Tetracycline effects on diabetic bone regeneration

Tese de mestrado. Mestrado em Engenharia Biomédica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

Systematic Review of Pharmacoeconomic Studies on Immuno-Oncology: Assessment of the cost-effectiveness of Immuno-oncology medicines used in the treatment of Advanced Melanoma

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2019A imunoterapia para o cancro mudou o paradigma de tratamento para todas as pessoas diagnosticadas com Melanoma Metastático. Estas imunoterapias quando comparadas com a quimioterapia, proporcionam aos doentes não só um aumento na sua esperança de vida mas também uma melhoria muito significativa na sua qualidade de vida. No entanto, esta nova abordagem acarreta um aumento nos custos relacionados com o tratamento e tem particularidades no que concerne à avaliação da sua eficácia clínica. Num ambiente definido pela escassez de recursos é crucial definir quais as formas mais eficazes de tratar as doenças. Por essa razão, os decisores devem suportar as suas decisões nos estudos económicos, porque ao considerarem todo o impacto económico causado por novos tratamentos podem assegurar a sustentabilidade dos sistemas de saúde. O objetivo deste estudo é rever, sistematizar e avaliar os estudos de custo-efetividade relevantes relacionados com o uso de imunoterapia para o tratamento do Melanoma Metastático produzidos desde 2013. Foi realizada um revisão sistemática da literatura para estudos de custo-efetividade e custo-utilidade de imunoterapias para o cancro. No total 480 estudos foram triados, desses estudos, 9 reuniam todos os critérios de inclusão. A avaliação da qualidade dos estudos incluídos foi realizada com recurso a uma ferramenta validada, “Quality of Health Economic Studies” ou QHES. Dois dos estudos incluídos avaliaram a relação de custo-efetividade do Pembrolizumab comparada com o Ipilimumab. Outros dois estudos avaliaram a relação de custo-efetividade do Nivolumab comparada com a do Ipilimumab. Dois estudos avaliaram a relação de custoefetividade de diferentes abordagem sequenciais no tratamento de doentes sem mutações BRAF. Dois estudos estudaram a relção de custo-efetividade de diferentes combinações terapêuticas. Um desses estudos avaliou a relação de custo-efetividade da combinação de Talimogene Laherparepvec com Ipilimumab em comparação com Ipilimumab em monoterapia. Outro estudo avaliou a relação de custo-efetividade da combinação de Nivolumab com Ipilimumab em comparação com Ipilimumab em monoterapia. Por fim, um estudo avaliou a relação de custo-efetividade de Vemurafenib seguido de Ipilimumab como segunda linha de tratamento em comparação com Vemurafenib em monoterapia. O questionário QHES revelou que seis dos noves estudos incluídos eram de alta qualidade e que os restantes três, apesar de terem uma qualidade aceitável, ficaram perto do limiar de alta qualidade.Cancer immunotherapies have given new hopes to patients with Metastatic Melanoma by improving the overall survival and the quality of life of the patients when compared with conventional chemotherapy. However, these new therapies increase the costs of treatment and present new challenges regarding their clinical efficacy assessment. In an environment defined by the scarcity of resources, it is crucial to define the most effective ways of managing diseases. Therefore, decision-makers must support their decisions on economic analysis in order to consider the economic impact of new treatments and in this way, ensure the sustainability of health care systems. The purpose of this study is to review, systematize and assess the relevant costeffectiveness studies produced since 2013 regarding cancer immunotherapies for Metastatic Melanoma. A systematic literature review was conducted for cost-effectiveness and cost-utility, analysis of cancer immunotherapy drugs. A total of 480 studies were screened and, of those, nine studies met all the inclusion criteria. The quality of the included studies was evaluated with the Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) assessment tool. Two studies assessed the cost-effectiveness (CE) of Pembrolizumab against Ipilimumab. Another two studies analysed the CE of Nivolumab against Ipilimumab. Two studies assessed the cost-effectiveness of different sequential approaches for the treatment of BRAF wild-type patients. Two studies measured the CE of different combination strategies. One study compared the CE of the combination of Talimogene Laherparepvec and Ipilimumab against Ipilimumab monotherapy. Another one, analysed the cost-effectiveness of Nivolumab combined with Ipilimumab against Ipilimumab or Nivolumab monotherapy. Lastly, one study assessed the cost-effectiveness of Ipilimumab in the second-line of treatment following Vemurafenib against Vemurafenib alone. The QHES assessment tool revealed that the quality of six out of the nine studies included was high, and the other three despite being fair in quality, had their scores near the high-quality threshold.Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Ljubljan

Os impactos dos transbordamentos das políticas adotadas pelo FED na economia brasileira durante a crise de 2008 e a pandemia COVID-19

Tendo em vista que os transbordamentos da política monetária do Federal Reserve System impactam economias ao redor do mundo, o objetivo deste trabalho consiste em apresentar e comparar os impactos observados no Brasil durante a crise de 2008 e a Pandemia COVID-19. A fim de compreender de que forma estes choques afetam, sobretudo, nações emergentes, o presente estudo aborda a temática de ciclos, moedas internacionais e o papel da integração financeira e comercial entre os países. Na análise de tais repercussões, considerou-se todo o período correspondente a Grande Crise Financeira, os dois primeiros anos da Pandemia e o contexto no qual estão inseridas. Os dados coletados apontaram a existência de transbordamentos na economia brasileira em ambos os períodos, devido a adoção de políticas não convencionais pelo Federal Reserve System ao longo das recessões. Conclui-se que os impactos são explicados somente em parte pelos transbordamentos, de modo que o contexto econômico de cada período influenciou de forma significativa a performance da economia brasileira.Given that the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policy spillovers impact economies around the world, the objective of this study is to present and compare the impacts observed in Brazil during the 2008 crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to understand how these shocks, affect, above all, emerging nations, this study addresses the theme of cycles, international currencies, and the role of financial and trade integration between countries. In the analysis of these repercussions, the entire period corresponding to the Great Financial Crisis, the first two years of the Pandemic, and the context in which they are inserted was considered. The data collected indicated the existence of spillovers in the Brazilian economy in both periods, due to the adoption of unconventional policies by the Federal Reserve System throughout the recessions. It is concluded that the impacts are only partly explained by the spillovers so the economic context of each period significantly influenced the performance of the Brazilian economy

Introductory programming in higher education: A systematic literature review

A systematic literature review was performed on 33 papers obtained from the ACM, IEEE and Sciencedirect databases, in order to understand in depth, the introductory programming discipline (CS1) in higher education. Recently published works have been covered, providing an overview of the teaching-learning process of introductory programming and enabling to find out whether the research developed by universities worldwide is in line with the proposals made by ACM/IEEE-CS group for computer courses, regarding the transition to the competency-based model. The results show that the new techniques/technologies currently used in software development, as an example of agile methodology, has influenced the teaching-learning process of CS1 together with methods such as visual programming and e-learning. The analyzed papers discuss the importance of developing not only technical, but also social skills, corroborating that methodologies used in introductory programming courses need to focus on preparing students for an increasingly competitive market, associating new skills with technical aspects.This work is supported by CIEd – Research Centre on Education, Institute of Education, University of Minh