Exploring new treatment strategies for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm infections based on plant essential oils

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important cause of nosocomial and biofilm-associated infections which is often difficult to eradicate, due to its intrinsic resistance and capacity to undergo mutations and adaptations. This study aimed to assess the anti-biofilm activity of three essential oils (EOs) (Cinammon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), Tea tree (TTO) (Melaleuca alternifolia) and Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martini), and the existence of synergistic effects of TTO and its major component (Terpinen-4-ol (T4ol)) combined with Ciprofloxacin (CIP), against 24-hour-old P. aeruginosa biofilms. Results showed that the treatment of pre-established P. aeruginosa biofilms with the three plant EOs, T4ol and CIP, individually, promoted a significant decrease of biofilm biomass and the number of biofilm entrapped cells, mainly for higher concentrations. Nevertheless, the antimicrobial synergisms combining TTO or T4ol with CIP revealed to be more successful, since significant disturbance of biofilms occurs for lower concentrations of the products. T4ol associated with CIP was the combination that revealed the most promising synergistic effects. Therefore, T4ol-CIP association may be a useful therapeutic option to treat P. aeruginosa biofilm infections

Data quality in biofilm high-throughput routine analysis: intralaboratory protocol adaptation and experiment reproducibility

Biofilm research is growing more diverse and dependent on high-throughput technologies and the large-scale production of results aggravates data substantiation. In particular, it is often the case that experimental protocols are adapted to meet the needs of a particular laboratory and no statistical validation of the modified method is provided. This paper discusses the impact of intra-laboratory adaptation and non-rigorous documentation of experimental protocols on biofilm data interchange and validation. The case study is a non-standard, but widely used, workflow for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development, considering three analysis assays: the crystal violet (CV) assay for biomass quantification, the XTT assay for respiratory activity assessment, and the colony forming units (CFU) assay for determination of cell viability. The ruggedness of the protocol was assessed by introducing small changes in the biofilm growth conditions, which simulate minor protocol adaptations and non-rigorous protocol documentation. Results show that even minor variations in the biofilm growth conditions may affect the results considerably, and that the biofilm analysis assays lack repeatability. Intra-laboratory validation of non-standard protocols is found critical to ensure data quality and enable the comparison of results within and among laboratories.We thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit. The authors also acknowledge the support by FCT and the European Community fund FEDER, through Program COMPETE, under the scope of the Projects AntiPep PTDC/SAU-SAP/113196/2009 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-016012), RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), the Projects "BioHealth-Biotechnology and Bioengineering approaches to improve health quality," NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000027, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2-O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER, and the Agrupamento INBIOMED from DXPCTSUG-FEDER unha maneira de facer Europa (2012/273). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/REGPOT-2012-2013.1 under grant agreement No. 316265, BIOCAPS. This document reflects only the author's views, and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein. The authors also acknowledge the Ph.D. Grant of Paula Jorge, Ref. SFRH/BD/88192/2012

Assessment revisited: a review of research in Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education

A review of articles published in Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education journal, over the last 8 years, (2006-2013) on assessment in Higher Education, since the introduction of the Bologna Process, is the subject of the paper. The first part discusses the key issue of assessment in higher education and the method used for selecting articles. The second part presents results according to the main emerging themes arising from data analysis: assessment methods; modes of assessment; and assessment related to a given teaching and learning method. The paper concludes that the foci of the studies are aligned with assessment practices other than the written test, in accordance with a learner-oriented perspective. Although the implementation of the Bologna Process has had different kinds of impact in different European countries, the review has shown that the use and effects of a diversity of assessment methods in Higher Education have been investigated, particularly those pointing to the so-called alternative methods. Implications of the findings are discussed.National Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) through CIEC (Research Centre on Child Studies, of the University of Minho) with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), PortugalStrategic Project UID/CED/00317/2013info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antimicrobial combination therapies : a network perspective

The growing number of resistant strains and biofilm-related infections emerging in healthcare settings and in the general community is a major biomedical concern. Currently, antimicrobial studies are revisiting the potential of old products and looking for new products with alternative modes of action. Most notably, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are receiving a lot of attention because of the widespread availability, multiple mechanisms of action, non-specific molecular targets, and anti-biofilm capabilities. Considering that most of the results obtained in these studies lay in scientific literature, and manual curation is time and resource consuming, the development of bioinformatics approaches for the systematic screening of the literature is of obvious interest. In particular, the reconstruction of drug interaction networks reflecting in vitro and in vivo results is considered useful to identify the most promising candidates for the development of alternative antimicrobial therapies, such as antimicrobial combinations. Such networks can aid in profiling and interpreting the activity of AMPs and the added value of antimicrobial combinations, and thus, help exploit their potential. As a first contribution to this line of analysis, this work presents a novel network reconstruction for results obtained by AMP-drug combinations in fighting Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. This network contains information about strains, combination methodologies, mode of growth, compound description (with drug and AMP database cross-linking) and quantification values (MICs, FICs, log reduction, etc.). So far, the network comprises 239 combinations, such that 83 % of the interactions pair an AMP with a non-AMP compound (antibiotics, enzymes, etc.), mainly traditional antibiotics. The majority (82 %) of the studies focused on the use of combinations on planktonic cells, and surprisingly enough, only 3 % of the studies tested the combination in biofilms. Furthermore, the network is dominated by a small number of highly connected nodes, namely the peptides colistin and polimyxin B. These are the products that are more often tested in antimicrobial combinations. The network is publicly available, and may be further explore using graph-based analysis tools. Hopefully, this will be a valuable resource to the design of new experiments, unveiling different mechanisms of action and helping in the prediction of new combinations

Promoção da saúde alimentar no enfrentamento à desnutrição infantil no município de Curralinhos, Piauí

TCC(especialização) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Ciências da Saúde. Programa de Pós-graduação em Enfermagem. Linhas de Cuidado em Saúde Materna, Neonatal e do LactanteEste estudo trata - se de um plano de ação que tem como objetivo geral reduzir a desnutrição infantil na faixa etária de 0 a 5 ano s, no município de Curralinhos, Pia u í . As metas a serem alcan ç adas após a implementação do plano de intervenção proposto s ã o : contribuir para o combate à desnutrição infantil no município de Curralinhos , alcançar 100 ,0 % da participação das mães e/ou cuidadores dessas crianças e agentes comunit á rios de sa ú de no treinamento , despertar a sensibilidade para a desnutrição infantil e para a necessidade da soma de esforços no sentido de buscar soluções

Gente de lugar nenhum – reflexão sobre a animação sociocultural em contexto institucional para terceira idade

Social responses to the elderly, including nursing homes, have been primarily oriented to geriatric care to residents, sometimes overshadowing other needs and interests of a complete emotional and spiritual existence. How should Socialcultural intervention be positioned either in the institutional context by giving immediate response to residents, either (re)creating elderly homes as pedagogic institutions in the sociogeographic context? To think about aging is not only for experts or for those who are closer to being old – far from it, should be increasingly a matter of everyday life, discussed in schools, in public transports, at lunch hour with one’s children... As aging is what happens to us every day and being old is as natural as being young or adult, the concerns should not be greater than the joys, and learning with the elderly in our lives should give us as many surprises as the children in our lives reserve us.As respostas sociais para terceira idade, nomeadamente os Lares, têm sido orientadas sobretudo para o cuidado geriátrico aos seus residentes, por vezes relegando para segundo plano outras necessidades e interesses que completam a existência afetiva e espiritual dessas pessoas. Como se pode posicionar a Animação Sociocultural quer no contexto interno de Lar, na resposta imediata aos residentes, quer (re)criando o Lar como instituição socioeducativa no contexto sociogeográfico? Pensar o envelhecimento não é tarefa apenas para os especialistas ou para os que estão mais perto de serem velhos; bem longe disso, deve ser cada vez mais um assunto do dia-a-dia, debatido nas escolas, no metro, à mesa das refeições com as crianças… Uma vez que envelhecer é o que nos acontece todos os dias e ser idoso é tão natural como ser jovem ou adulto, as inquietações não devem ser maiores do que as alegrias e as aprendizagens com os idosos das nossas vidas devem ser equivalentes às surpresas que as crianças das nossas vidas nos reservam

O processo de internacionalização das empresas portuguesas: o caso de Timor-Leste

Este Relatório propõe identificar oportunidades, motivações e obstáculos que as empresas portuguesas enfrentam nas relações comerciais no mercado timorense e, inclusive, fora das fronteiras do país, em particular com os vizinhos asiáticos. O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi conhecer como as empresas portuguesas abordam o mercado timorense e em que medida utilizam o país como plataforma de acesso ao mercado dos membros da Associação das Nações do Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN). Com o pilar do enquadramento teórico sobre o processo de internacionalização, foram analisados relatórios e documentação oficial, proveniente de entidades e organizações timorenses, portuguesas e internacionais. Foram realizadas entrevistas a pontos focais da esfera económica entre Timor-Leste e Portugal. Foram ainda auscultadas empresas presentes, exportadoras e interessadas no mercado de Timor-Leste, através de questionários online. Os resultados permitem conhecer as características dos mercados de Timor-Leste e da ASEAN, bem como das empresas portuguesas que contactam com o mercado timorense, como estas operam em Timor-Leste e como se expandem ou pretendem expandir-se para outros mercados de países vizinhos do Sudeste Asiático. As conclusões apuradas mostram que Timor-Leste atua como base de acesso facilitado ao mercado vizinho da ASEAN e levam, ainda, à apresentação das possíveis estratégias a adotar e dos obstáculos que existem, para o desenvolvimento de negócios na região

Recifes artificiais

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente (ramo de Tratamento de Águas e Águas Residuais), na Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, sob a orientação dos Prof. Doutores Fernando Veloso Gomes e Michael Webe