Good appearance and shape descriptors for object category recognition

In the problem of object category recognition, we have studied different families of descriptors exploiting RGB and 3D information. Furthermore, we have proven practically that 3D shape-based descriptors are more suitable for this type of recognition due to low shape intra-class variance, as opposed to image texture-based. In addition, we have also shown how an efficient Naive Bayes Nearest Neighbor (NBNN) classifier can scale to a large hierarchical RGB-D Object Dataset [2] and achieve, with a single descriptor type, an accuracy close to state-of-art learning based approaches using combined descriptors

Human case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Portugal, summer 2015

A case of West Nile virus (WNV) infection was reported in the Algarve region, Portugal, in the first week of September 2015. WNV is known to circulate in Portugal, with occasional reports in horses and birds (2004 to 2011) and very sporadically human cases (in 2004 and in 2010). Here we present the clinical and laboratory aspects related to the first human case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease reported in Portugal

Caso Raro de Quisto do Colédoco Todani Tipo III

rare biliary tree disorders, which are divided in several subtypes according to Todani classification. Type III choledochal cyst is one of the rarest subtype. Symptoms are almost always associated with complications such as cholangitis or pancreatitis, usually due to biliary stasis, choledocholithiasis, recurrent infection or inflammatory events. This article describes a case of a patient who presented to the emergency department due to fever and abdominal pain, owing to Todani type III cystic obstruction with representative findings in the computed tomography study and endoscopic confirmation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Protective role of new nitrogen compounds on ROS/RNS-mediated damage to PC12 cells

Reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) species are known to be involved in many degenerative diseases. This study reports four new nitrogen compounds from organic synthesis, identified as FMA4, FMA7, FMA762 and FMA796, which differ mainly by the number of hydroxyl groups within their phenolic unit. Their potential role as antioxidants was evaluated in PC12 cells by assessing their protection against oxidative and nitrosative insults. The four compounds, and particularly FMA762 and FMA796, were able to protect cells against lipid peroxidation and intracellular ROS/RNS formation to a great extent. Their protective effects were likely mediated by their free radicals scavenging ability, as they appeared to be involved neither in the induction of natural antioxidant enzymes like GSH-PX and SOD, nor in the inhibition of NOS. Nevertheless, these results suggest a promising potential for these compounds as ROS/RNS scavengers in pathologies where oxidative/ nitrosative stress are involved.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Artroplastia total da anca: Colocação da haste femoral com manutenção dos parafusos de uma osteossíntese antiga

Apresenta-se o caso de um doente que foi submetido, em 1958, a uma osteotomia de valgização para o tratamento de uma fractura traumática do colo do fémur, tendo sido utilizado um cravo-placa de Mac Laughlin para a osteossíntese da osteotomia. Em Janeiro do ano 2000, procedeu-se à implantação de uma prótese total da anca porque o doente apresentava uma coxartrose do grau IV. Durante o acto operatório confirmou-se que a placa e os quatro parafusos se encontravam revestidos por tecido ósseo, o qual foi removido. As cabeças dos parafusos, com ranhuras de tipo Parker, foram fragilizadas, fracturadas e excisadas com osteótomos. A extracção do cravo não apresentou dificuldades. Removeu-se a placa e não se procedeu à excisão da parte roscada dos parafusos. Implantou-se uma prótese total cimentada autobloqueante, uma vez que a parte roscada dos parafusos não constituía um obstáculo à implantação de uma haste femoral cimentada de diâmetro 15. Reforçou-se o leito cortical fragilizado pela extracção da placa com enxerto esponjoso autógeno da cabeça femoral excisada. A avaliação clínica e radiológica da artroplastia mostrou um resultado muito satisfatório, aos 5 anos de evolução pós-operatóri

Evolutionary dynamics of autosomal-heterosomal rearrangements in a multiple-X chromosome system of tiger beetles (Cicindelidae)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic systems involving multiple X chromosomes have arisen repeatedly in sexually reproducing animals. Tiger beetles (Cicindelidae) exhibit a phylogenetically ancient multiple-X system typically consisting of 2–4 X chromosomes and a single Y. Because recombination rates are suppressed in sex chromosomes, changes in their numbers and movement of genes between sex chromosomes and autosomes, could have important consequences for gene evolution and rates of speciation induced by these rearrangements. However, it remains unclear how frequent these rearrangements are and which genes are affected.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Karyotype analyses were performed for a total of 26 North American species in the highly diverse genus <it>Cicindela</it>, tallying the number of X chromosomes and autosomes during mitosis and meiosis. The chromosomal location of the ribosomal rRNA gene cluster (rDNA) was used as an easily scored marker for genic turnover between sex chromosomes or autosomes. The findings were assessed in the light of a recent phylogenetic analysis of the group. While autosome numbers remained constant throughout the lineage, sex chromosome numbers varied. The predominant karyotype was n = 9+X₁X₂X₃Y which was also inferred to be the ancestral state, with several changes to X₁X₂Y and X₁X₂X₃X₄Y confined to phylogenetically isolated species. The total (haploid) numbers of rDNA clusters varied between two, three, and six (in one exceptional case), and clusters were localized either on the autosomes, the sex chromosomes, or both. Transitions in rDNA localization and in numbers of rDNA clusters varied independently of each other, and also independently of changes in sex chromosome numbers.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Changes of X chromosome numbers and transposition of the rDNA locus (and presumably other genes) between autosomes and sex chromosomes in <it>Cicindela </it>occur frequently, and are likely to be the result of fusions or fissions between X chromosomes, rather than between sex chromosomes and autosomes. Yet, translocations between sex chromosomes and autosomes appear to be common, as indicated by the patterns of rDNA localization. Rearranged karyotypes involving multiple sex chromosomes would reduce recombination, and hybrid dysgenesis selects against polymorphic populations. Hence, the high frequency of these rearrangements could be a cause of the great species diversity in <it>Cicindela</it>.</p

Oxidative stress protection by newly synthesized nitrogen compounds with pharmacological potential

In this study we used new nitrogen compounds obtained by organic synthesis whose structure predicted an antioxidant potential and then an eventual development as molecules of pharmacological interest in diseases involving oxidative stress. The compounds, identified as FMA4, FMA5, FMA7 and FMA8 differ in the presence of hydroxyl groups located in the C-3 and/or C-4 position of a phenolic unit, which is possibly responsible for their free radicals buffering capacity. Data from the DPPH discoloration method confirm the high antiradical efficiency of the compounds. The results obtained with cellular models (L929 and PC12) show that they are not toxic and really protect from membrane lipid peroxidation induced by the ascorbate-iron oxidant pair. The level of protection correlates with the drugs lipophilic profile and is sometimes superior to trolox and equivalent to that observed for a-tocopherol. The compounds FMA4 and FMA7 presented also a high protection from cell death evaluated in the presence of a staurosporine apoptotic stimulus. That protection results in a significant reduction of caspase-3 activity induced by staurosporine which by its turn seems to result from a protection observed in the membrane receptor pathway (caspase-8) together with a protection observed in the mitochondrial pathway (caspase-9). Taken together the results obtained with the new compounds, with linear chains, open up perspectives for their use as therapeutical agents, namely as antioxidants and protectors of apoptotic pathways. On the other hand the slight pro-oxidant profile obtained with the cyclic structures suggests a different therapeutic potential that is under current investigation.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - POCTI and/or FEDER programmes, SFRH/BD/17174/2004, SFRH/BD/3185/2000

NMR Characterization of new 2,6- and 6,8-diaminopurines

Fundação para aCiência e Tecnologia [PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2013 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037302)], PTNMR and a PhD grant awarded to Nádia Senhorães (SFRH/BD/73721/2010).Universidade do Minho

Reactivity of 6-imidatopurines with benzylhydrazine

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a bacterium responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide [1]. Its acquired resistance referred to multi-drug resistance (MDR) is due to the restrictive choice of antibiotics, the prolonged course of therapy, globalization and continuous patient noncompliance [2]. Hence, MDR tuberculosis has led researchers worldwide in the quest to find novel drugs to combat these threatening new strains. In our research group, 6-imidatopurines of general structure 1 (Figure 1) were identified as precursors to generate 6-amidinopurines of general structure 2 (Scheme 1) [3,4]. When reacting compounds of structure 1 with a selected hydrazide a (Scheme 1) in the experimental conditions established by our research group, compounds with structure 2 are promptly obtained. When the same reaction conditions were used with benzylhydrazine to obtain products 2 (Scheme 1) an unexpected new derivative was isolated. The proton NMR spectrum of the new derivative showed the absence of the alkyl moiety. Furthermore, the data was not compatible with the purine nucleus. The HMBC and HMQC data showed that the new compound contained the pyrimidopyrimidine core. All the results will be shown and a possible mechanistic approach will be presented and discussed in order to understand the formation of the new derivative.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

High fidelity walkthroughs in archaeology sites

Comunicação apresentada no 6th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (VAST 2005), Pisa, Italy, 8-11 Novembro 2005.Fast and affordable computing systems currently support walkthroughs into virtual reconstructed sites, with fast frame rate generation of synthetic images. However, archaeologists still complain about the lack of realism in these interactive tours, mainly due to the false ambient illumination. Accurate visualizations require physically based global illumination models to render the scenes, which are computationally too demanding. Faster systems and novel rendering techniques are required: current clusters provide a feasible and affordable path towards these goals, and we developed a framework to support smooth virtual walkthroughs, using progressive rendering to converge to high fidelity images whenever computing power surplus is available. This framework exploits spatial and temporal coherence among successive frames, serving multiple clients that share and interact with the same virtual model, while maintaining each its own view of the model. It is based on a three-tier architecture: the outer layer embodies light-weight visualization clients, which perform all the user interactions and display the final images using the available graphics hardware; the inner layer is a parallel version of a physically based ray tracer running on a cluster of off-the-shelf PCs; in the middle layer lies the shading management agent (SMA), which monitors the clients' states, supplies each with properly shaded 3D points, maintains a cache of previously rendered geometry and requests relevant shading samples to the parallel renderer, whenever required. A prototype of a high fidelity walkthrough in the archaeologic virtual model of the roman town of Bracara Augusta was developed, and the current evaluation tests aimed to measure the performance improvements due to the use of SMA caches and associated parallel rendering capabilities. Preliminary results show that interactive frame rates are sustainable and the system is highly responsive.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) - POSI/CHS/42041/2001