Trends in physiotherapy education: retrospective analysis of ECPE congress abstracts

Relevance: The last decade both physiotherapy and education faced many demands. Educators are challenged to show evidence and report their best practices. An overview of what has been the focus in the European Congress of Physiotherapy Education (ECPE) and the main areas of interest and developments in the European Higher Education area could provide the opportunity to benchmark towards the policy statement of education of the World Confederation of Physical Therapy (WCPT), facilitating consistency and perhaps assisting in formulating a relevant research agenda for the future. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give an overview of the trends in physiotherapy education of the last decennium as it is presented at the conferences of the European Region of the World Confederation of Physical Therapy (ER-WCPT). Methods/analysis: A descriptive and retrospective study was carried out and qualitative and quantitative analysis was made on the basis of content and study design/methodology, by three independent reviewers of all abstracts presented at each of the three previous ECPE conferences of 2004 (Estoril – Portugal), 2008 (Stockholm – Sweden), 2012 (Vienna – Austria). Categories for content analyses were developed based on the distribution and main themes used in the conference. Results: A total of n = 350 abstracts were classified. The main topics were divided between ICT – Information Communication Technology, Education and Employment, Continuous Professional Development, Teaching and Learning, Clinical Education, Evidence Based Practice: Teaching and Learning, Clinical Reasoning, Innovation and Curriculum Development, Teaching in Specific Areas, Interdisciplinary. And considering different methodological approaches: Descriptive Studies; Analytical Observational and Experimental Studies; Reviews and Mixed Methods. Discussion and conclusions: This analysis was constrained by lack of transparency on the description of methodologies in the abstracts and also by the different organization of the abstract books. We needed to create a category “Information available doesn’t allow a classification” and make our decisions based on the rather classic distinction of qualitative and quantitative study types and methodology. From the results we can find an increase of total presentations from the first to the last conference. In all conference there is a clear preference for poster presentations and the qualitative studies are more favored. There is an overall increase in research and implementation research from the first conference to the last. Impact and implications: The next step could be a comparison with WCPT congress education related abstracts and the proceedings of educational networks like COHEHRE and ENPHE. This kind of reflection could help researchers and educators create a research agenda and build upon earlier work. It gives an incentive to the development of high quality methodologies. An overview of reports gives the opportunity to compare with published results and could challenge publishing criteria.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Valorization of chestnut shells for hydrogen production by Clostridium butyricum fermentation

Chestnut shell s (CS) is an agronomic waste generated from the peeling process of the chestnut fruit. It is well-known that the extract of CS contains high amounts of tannins, which are polyphenolic antioxidants1, but this agronomic residue also contains about 36% sugars in form of polysaccharides, and no utilization of chestnut shells as potential source of fermentable sugars has been considered so far. As consequence, this waste represents an interesting exploitable source for monosaccharides production, and in this study we evaluated the potential of biohydrogen production from CS hydrolyzate

Energetic and environmental evaluation of microalgae biomass fermentation for biohydrogen production

This paper presents an energetic and environmental evaluation of the fermentative hydrogen production from the sugars of Scenedesmus obliquus biomass hydrolysate by Clostridium butyricum. The main purpose of this work was to evaluate the potential of H2 production and respective energy consumptions and CO2 emissions in the global fermentation process: hydrolysis of S. obliquus biomass, preparation of the fermentation medium, degasification and incubation. The scale-up to industrial production was not envisaged. Energy consumption and CO2 emissions estimations were based on SimaPro 7.1 software for the preparation of the fermentation medium and the use of degasification gas, nitrogen. The functional unit of energy consumption and CO2 emissions was defined as MJ and grams per 1 MJ of H2 produced, respectively. The electricity consumed in all hydrogen processes was assumed to be generated from the Portuguese electricity production mix. The hydrogen yield obtained in this work was 2.9 ± 0.3 mol H2/mol sugars in S. obliquus hydrolysate. Results show that this process of biological production of hydrogen consumed 281-405 MJ/MJH2 of energy and emitted 24-29 kgCO2/ MJH2. The fermentation stages with the highest values of energy consumption and CO2 emissions were identified for future energetic and environmental process optimisation

Magnetic carbon composites as recycling electron shuttles on anaerobic biotransformations

Book of Abstracts of CEB Annual Meeting 2017[Excerpt] The unique properties of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP), such as high surface area, magnetic, sorption and catalytic characteristics, make them very versatile for many applications in different areas including environmental remediation, as catalysts, adsorbents, immobilising agents for microorganisms and enzymes, and as supports for biofilm growth and water disinfectants. In order to improve their stability and to introduce additional surface properties and functionalities, MNP can be coated with carbon materials (CM) due to their chemical stability, biocompatibility and possibility of tailoring their textural and surface chemical properties for specific applications [1]. We have previously proved that various CM, including activated carbon, carbon xerogels and carbon nanotubes (CNT), can be used as redox mediators (RM) in anaerobic biotransformation, accelerating the electron transfer and, consequently, the reduction rates of organic compounds [1,2]. The combination of CM with MNP offers the possibility of creating magnetic carbon composites with synergistic properties: the adsorptive and catalytic properties of both and the magnetic character of MNP, improving the material performance and rendering it easier to be retained and recovered, by applying a magnetic field. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

iPSC-derived neurospheroids recapitulate development and pathological signatures of human brain microenvironment

Brain microenvironment plays an important role in neurodevelopment and pathology, where extracellular matrix (ECM) and soluble factors modulate multiple cellular processes. Neural cell culture typically relies on the use of heterologous matrices that poorly resemble the brain ECM or reflect its pathological features. We have previously demonstrated that perfusion stirred-tank bioreactor-based 3D differentiation of human neural stem cells (NSC) - pSTR-neurospheroids, sustains the concomitant differentiation of the three neural cell lineages (neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes) and the establishment of physiologically relevant cell-cell interactions. Here, we hypothesized that if the pSTR-neurospheroid strategy would also allow the deposition of native neural ECM components and diffusion of secreted factors, it would be possible to: (i) mimic the cellular and microenvironment remodeling occurring during neural differentiation without the confounding effects of exogenous matrices; (ii) recapitulate the pathological phenotypes of diseases in which alteration of homotypic and heterotypic cell-cell interactions and ECM components are relevant. To demonstrate the first point, we analyzed pSTR-neurospheroid differentiation by quantitative transcriptome (NGS) and proteome (SWATH-MS). Data showed that neurogenic developmental pathways were recapitulated, with significant changes at cell membrane and ECM composition, diverging from the 2D differentiation profile. A significant enrichment in structural proteoglycans typical of brain ECM, along with downregulation of basement membrane constituents was observed. Moreover, higher expression of synaptic and ion transport machinery in pSTR-neurospheroids suggest higher neuronal maturation than in 2D. Having shown recapitulation of neural microenvironmental dynamics in pSTR-neurospheroids, we used Mucopolysaccharidosis VII (MPSVII) as a disease case study. MPS VII is a lysosomal storage disease caused by deficient β-glucuronidase (β-gluc) activity, which leads to accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in many tissues, including the brain. In pSTR-neurospheroids generated from hiPSC of a MPS VII patient, the main molecular disease hallmarks were recapitulated, namely accumulation of GAGs. Notably, MPS VII neurospheroids showed reduced neuronal activity and a disturbance in network functionality, with alterations both in connectivity and synchronization, not observed in 2D cultures. These data provide insight into the interplay between reduced β-gluc activity, GAG accumulation, alterations in the neural network, and its impact on MPS VII-associated cognitive defects. Overall we demonstrate that neural cellular and extracellular developmental and pathological features are recapitulated in healthy and diseased pSTR-neurospheroids, respectively. These can be valuable in vitro models to address molecular defects associated with neurological disorders that affect neural microenvironment homeostasis. Moreover, the 3D neuronal connectivity assay developed is a new tool with potential to assess other lysosomal storage diseases and neurodegenerative diseases that have variable phenotypes. Acknowledgements: SFRH/BD/78308/2011, SFRH/BD/52202/2013 and SFRH/BD/52473/2014 PhD fellowships from FCT, Portugal and iNOVA4Health-UID/Multi/04462/2013, supported by FCT/ MEC, through national funds and co-funded by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement

Factores de risco psicossociais e lombalgia em empregados de escritório: estudo epidemiológico e exploratório na região da Grande Lisboa

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Mineralization of Sialoliths Investigated by Ex Vivo and In Vivo X-ray Computed Tomography

The fraction of organic matter present affects the fragmentation behavior of sialoliths; thus, pretherapeutic information on the degree of mineralization is relevant for a correct selection of lithotripsy procedures. This work proposes a methodology for in vivo characterization of salivary calculi in the pretherapeutic context. Sialoliths were characterized in detail by X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) in combination with atomic emission spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Correlative analysis of the same specimens was performed by in vivo and ex vivo helical computed tomography (HCT) and ex vivo μCT. The mineral matter in the sialoliths consisted essentially of apatite (89 vol%) and whitlockite (11 vol%) with average density of 1.8 g/cm3. In hydrated conditions, the mineral mass prevailed with 53 ± 13 wt%, whereas the organic matter, with a density of 1.2 g/cm3, occupied 65 ± 10% of the sialoliths' volume. A quantitative relation between sialoliths mineral density and X-ray attenuation is proposed for both HCT and μCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploring Scenedesmus obliquus and nannochloropsis sp. potential as a sustianable raw material for biofuels amd high added value compounds

In this work, the authors propose a microalga-based integrated system, where optimization of several energy vectors (biodiesel, bioethanol and bioH2) is highlighted under the concept of biorefinery (Project PTDC/AAC-AMB/100354/2008). This involves the integration of different processes such as oil and sugar extraction from microalgae for biodiesel and bioethanol production respectively, and bioH2 production from the whole and/or biomass leftovers. The extraction of high value added compounds, such as carotenoids, contributes to the economic viability of the overall process

Epidemiology and Clinical Forms of Primary Hyperparathyroidism: A Review

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a disease caused by overactive parathyroid glands with consequent hypercalcemia. However, its presentation is variable, with patients demonstrating a range from normocalcemia to severe hypercalcemic PHPT. The present study aims to perform a literature review on the epidemiology and the clinical forms of PHPT using information published in the PubMed and Cochrane databases. It describes data about prevalence, etiology, diagnosis, classic and non-classic manifestations, providing updated information on classical hypercalcemic hyperthyroidism, in addition to its normocalcemic variant