Accumulation and elimination dynamics of the hydroxybenzoate saxitoxin analogues in mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis exposed to the toxic marine Dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is a severe food-borne illness, caused by the ingestion of seafood containing paralytic shellfish toxins (PST), which are naturally produced by marine dinoflagellates and accumulate in shellfish during algae blooms. Novel PST, designated as hydroxybenzoate analogues (also known as GC toxins), was relatively recently discovered in Gymnodinium catenatum strains worldwide. However, to date, there have been no studies examining their accumulation in shellfish. In this study, mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were exposed to G. catenatum for five days and then exposed to a non-toxic diet for 24 h, to investigate the toxin's accumulation/elimination dynamics. As determined by UHPLC-HILIC-MS/MS, the hydroxybenzoate analogues, GC1 to GC6, comprised 41% of the algae toxin profile and only 9% in mussels. Elimination of GC toxins after 24 h was not evident. This study highlights that a relevant fraction of PST in mussels are not routinely analysed in monitoring programs and that there is a need to better understand the toxicological potential of the hydroxybenzoate analogues, in order to properly address the risk of G. catenatum blooms.Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science - contract code DP402; Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia - PD/BD/113484/2015; FCT Investigator; Mar2020 - SNMB-INOV: Innovation for a more competitive shellfish sector, co-financed by the Operational Program Mar 2020, Portugal 2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Avaliação de parâmetros reprodutivos e mitocondriais em homens do norte de Portugal

Infertility is a condition estimated to exist in 15% of the human population worldwide, that is, 186 million individuals live with infertility. Among these, cases of male factor infertility comprise about half of the cases and is the sole cause in a third of these cases. Male infertility may be caused by physiological, physical, genetic, or unknown origin. The first line of investigation of male reproductive problems is through the analysis of sperm parameters, namely the concentration of spermatozoa in the seminal fluid, their motility, and morphology. One of the ways to circumvent fertility or subfertility problems is through the assisted reproduction technology (ART) resource, in which the analysis of sperm parameters may be decisive in choosing the best technique. Thus, this project aimed to evaluate sperm parameters and mitochondrial viability as a function of age and body mass index (BMI) of men seeking fertility treatments in northern Portugal. For this we collected some patient data (age, weight and height), performed the analysis of sperm parameters to all samples and evaluated the Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (MMP) of sperm by the JC-1 assay. According to the samples collected for this work, we saw that most men seeking fertility treatments in the north of Portugal are overweight, which may have implications for the fertility rate. We also observed a negative correlation between the percentage of progressive sperm motility and increasing age in men over 35 years of age. However, in this same age group we observed a positive correlation between sperm concentration and age, with no correlations with the total number of spermatozoa in the samples. In the age group up to 35 years, we observed negative correlations between seminal volume and pH with the BMI of men. In the age group up to 35 years, we observed negative correlations between seminal volume and pH with the BMI of men. We also detected a positive correlation between men's age and sperm MMP, which may indicate that younger men's mitochondria may be more damaged than older men, which could be explained by some current lifestyle factors. In conclusion, advance age and overweight in men can be considered important factors in the degradation of seminal parameters with possible severe consequences to male fertility.A infertilidade é uma condição estimada existir em 15% da população humana mundial, ou seja, 186 milhões de indivíduos convivem com a infertilidade. Entre estes, os casos de infertilidade por fator masculino compreendem cerca de metade dos casos e é a única causa em um terço desses casos. A infertilidade masculina pode ser causada por origem fisiológica, física, genética ou desconhecida. A primeira linha de investigação dos problemas reprodutivos masculinos é através da análise de parâmetros espermáticos, nomeadamente a concentração de espermatozoides no fluido seminal, a sua motilidade e morfologia. Uma das formas de contornar problemas de fertilidade ou subfertilidade é por recurso à tecnologia de reprodução assistida (ART), em que a análise dos parâmetros espermáticos pode ser decisiva na escolha da melhor técnica. Assim, este projeto teve como objetivo avaliar os parâmetros espermáticos e a viabilidade mitocondrial em função da idade e do índice de massa corporal (IMC) de homens que procuram tratamentos de fertilidade no norte de Portugal. Para isso recolhemos alguns dados dos pacientes (idade, peso e altura), realizamos a análise dos parâmetros espermáticos para todas as amostras e avaliamos o Potencial da Membrana Mitocondrial (MMP) dos espermatozoides pelo ensaio com a sonda JC-1. De acordo com as amostras recolhidas para este trabalho, vimos que a maioria dos homens que procuram tratamentos de fertilidade no norte de Portugal têm excesso de peso, o que pode ter implicações na taxa de fertilidade. Também observamos uma correlação negativa entre a percentagem de motilidade espermática progressiva e o aumento da idade em homens acima dos 35 anos. No entanto, nesta mesma faixa etária observamos uma correlação positiva entre a concentração espermática e idade, não havendo correlações com o número total de espermatozoides nas amostras. Na faixa etária até aos 35 anos, observamos correlações negativas entre volume seminal e pH com o IMC dos homens. Na faixa etária até aos 35 anos, observamos correlações negativas entre volume seminal e pH com o IMC dos homens. Também detetamos uma correlação positiva entre a idade dos homens e a MMP do esperma, o que pode indicar que as mitocôndrias dos homens mais jovens podem ser mais danificadas do que os homens mais velhos, o que pode ser explicado por alguns fatores do estilo de vida moderna. Em conclusão, a idade avançada e o excesso de peso nos homens podem ser considerados fatores importantes na degradação dos parâmetros seminais com possíveis consequências graves para a fertilidade masculina.Mestrado em Biologia Molecular e Celula

Corporate real estate strategies - a multinational approach

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsCRE strategies have proved to contribute to the creation of competitive advantages by integrating corporate value and the organizational culture across multi-locations. CRE strategies also facilitate attracting and retaining best talent. Through a qualitative research method of case study, this paper examines the impact of changes in the CRE strategies of McDonald’s and Hewlett Packard, both companies being multinational firms that represent the two main segments of CRE: retail and offices. Findings indicate that the changed strategies have provided for increased revenue and higher shareholder value in the case of McDonald’s and enhanced space utilization, comfortable working environment and a global design standard for all offices and workstations of HP. The study also analyzes the option of selling and leasing back CRE assets against owning them

Exploring the potential of using Marine-Derived Ingredients: From the extraction to Cutting-Edge Cosmetics

The growing understanding and knowledge of the potential of marine species, as well as the application of “blue biotechnology” have been motivating new innovative solutions in cosmetics. It is widely noted that that marine species are important sources of compounds with several biological activities that are yet to be discovered. This review explores various biological properties of marine-derived molecules and briefly outlines the main extraction methods. Alongside these, it is well known the legislative and normative framework of cosmetics is increasingly being developed. In this research segment, there is a growing concern with sustainability. In this sense, “blue biotechnology”, together with the use of invasive species or marine waste products to obtain new active ingredients, haven been emerging as innovative and sustainable solutions for the future’s cosmetics industry. This review also examines the regulatory framework and focus on the recent advancements in “blue biotechnology” and its relevance to the sustainable development of innovative cosmetics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MODELAÇÃO GEOLÓGICA E DE TEORES DO DEPÓSITO MINERAL DE FEITAIS, MINA DE ALJUSTREL

O jazigo mineral de Feitais é um enorme depósito vulcano-sedimentar, rico em sulfuretos metálicos de cobre e zinco, onde as unidades sedimentares se sobrepõem aos sulfuretos maciços que estão em contacto com zonas de fissural / stockwork. Localiza-se na Faixa Piritosa Ibérica, sob a vila de Aljustrel. É explorado atualmente nas Minas de Aljustrel pela empresa ALMINA que disponibilizou para este estudo dados de sondagens, amostras de mão, e diversa bibliografia. Este trabalho tem como objetivo a proposta e experimentação de uma metodologia destinada à construção de um modelo geológico 3D de uma parte do depósito de Feitais. A distribuição espacial dos teores mostra zonalidade, nomeadamente, entre as mineralizações do tipo maciço e fissural, de forma que o modelo de teores deve ser condicional ao modelo morfológico dos tipos de minério. A metodologia engloba três etapas principais. Na primeira etapa procede-se à construção de um modelo geométrico 3D da envolvente do depósito, por desenho geológico e interpolação 3D de superfícies. Na segunda etapa procede-se à construção do modelo morfológico dos tipos de minério (maciço, fissural e outros) na malha tridimensional de blocos, por métodos geoestatísticos de estimação e simulação da indicatriz. Finalmente, na terceira etapa procede-se à modelação dos teores em cobre, zinco e penalizantes arsénio e mercúrio, onde são utilizados os métodos geoestatísticos de estimação por krigagem e Simulação Sequencial Direta (SSD) condicionada por histogramas locais. Os resultados do modelo permitem estimar quantitativos totais em minério e metais cobre e zinco da região estudada, e também quantitativos desagregados de acordo com o grau de incerteza e a ocorrência de teores mais elevados dos elementos penalizantes

Impacto dos resultados desportivos nas rendibilidades das acções dos clubes portugueses de futebol cotados em bolsa

Mestrado em FinançasOs clubes de futebol em Portugal precisam de novos mecanismos de financiamento e, neste contexto, os mercados de capitais surgem como alternativa ao crédito bancário de difícil acesso devido à crise financeira internacional. No entanto, para os detentores de capital investirem o seu dinheiro nas acções dos clubes torna-se importante saber como se comportam as acções dos mesmos face aos resultados desportivos. Por outras palavras, importa saber se os jogos têm ou não impacto na rendibilidade das acções. Foi esta questão que motivou esta dissertação e que vai ser respondida na mesma. Para estudarmos a questão de fundo, utilizámos as acções dos três clubes portugueses cotados na NYSE Euronext Lisboa, no período compreendido entre 2007 a 2011 (o equivalente a 4 épocas desportivas) e utilizámos a metodologia de estudo de eventos (event studies). Posteriormente foi testada a hipótese do impacto que as vitórias, derrotas e empates têm nas cotações. A metodologia de estudo de eventos utiliza retornos anormais (AR) que são obtidos pela diferença entre os retornos efectivos e os retornos esperados. Os parâmetros do último foram estimados com base no método dos mínimos quadrados (OLS). Por fim calcularam-se os retornos anormais médios (AAR), sobre os quais foram efectuados Testes Paramétricos (Teste T) e Não Paramétricos (Teste de Sinal e Wilcoxon) a fim de se concluir se existe evidência de que os resultados desportivos levam a retornos anormais. As conclusões apontam para que existam retornos anormais como consequência dos resultados desportivos. As acções dos clubes têm retornos anormais positivos no dia seguinte a uma vitória de cerca de 0,14%. No entanto as acções são castigadas pelos investidores no dia seguinte a derrotas ou empates, descendo 0,61% e 0,56% respectivamente.The Portuguese football clubs need new mechanisms of financing and in this context equity markets arise as an alternative to the difficult access bank credit. On the mean while for capital owners invest their money into football club's shares seems important to understand how those shares behave to sporting performance. In other words matter to know whether games have or not impact on equity returns. It was this question that motivated this dissertation and will be answered in it. To study the fundamental question, we used the stocks of the three Portuguese clubs listed on the NYSE Euronext Lisbon between 2007 and 2011 (the equivalent of 4 sporting seasons) and we used the event study methodology. Subsequently was tested the hypothesis of the impact of victories, draws and losses over shares. The event study's methodology uses the abnormal returns (AR) that are obtained by the difference between the actual return and the expected return. The parameters of the last were estimated based on the method of least square (OLS). Finally we calculated the average abnormal returns (AAR) on which were performed Parametric tests (T Test) and Non-parametric Tests (Wilcoxon and Sign Test) in order to conclude if there is evidence that sports results lead to abnormal returns. Findings indicate that there are abnormal returns as a result of sporting results. The shares of the clubs have positive abnormal returns on the day after a victory of about 0,14%. However shares are punished by investors on the day after a defeat or draw going down 0,61% and 0,56% respectively

Hadoop MapReduce tolerante a faltas bizantinas

Tese de mestrado em Informática, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2011O MapReduce é frequentemente usado para executar tarefas críticas, tais como análise de dados científicos. No entanto, evidências na literatura mostram que as faltas ocorrem de forma arbitrária e podem corromper os dados. O Hadoop MapReduce está preparado para tolerar faltas acidentais, mas não tolera faltas arbitrárias ou Bizantinas. Neste trabalho apresenta-se um protótipo do Hadoop MapReduce Tolerante a Faltas Bizantinas(BFT). Uma avaliaçãao experimental mostra que a execução de um trabalho com o algoritmo implementado usa o dobro dos recursos do Hadoop original, em vez de mais 3 ou 4 vezes, como seria alcançado com uma aplicação directa dos paradigmas comuns a tolerância a faltas Bizantinas. Acredita-se que este custo seja aceitável para aplicações críticas que requerem este nível de tolerância a faltas.MapReduce is often used to run critical jobs such as scientific data analysis. However, evidence in the literature shows that arbitrary faults do occur and can probably corrupt the results of MapReduce jobs. MapReduce runtimes like Hadoop tolerate crash faults, but not arbitrary or Byzantine faults. In this work, it is presented a MapReduce algorithm and prototype that tolerate these faults. An experimental evaluation shows that the execution of a job with the implemented algorithm uses twice the resources of the original Hadoop, instead of the 3 or 4 times more that would be achieved with the direct application of common Byzantine fault-tolerance paradigms. It is believed that this cost is acceptable .for critical applications that require that level of fault tolerance

Does Ocean Sunfish Mola spp. (Tetraodontiformes: Molidae) represent a risk for Tetrodotoxin Poisoning in the Portuguese Coast?

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin naturally occurring in terrestrial and marine organisms such as pufferfish. Due to the risk of TTX poisoning, fish of Tetraodontidae family and other puffer-related species must not be placed in the EU markets. This restriction applies to fish of the family Molidae even though no data on toxins’ occurrence is available. In this study, the presence of TTX and its analogues was investigated in the main edible tissue (the white muscle) and the main xenobiotics storage organ (the liver) of ocean sunfish Mola spp. (n = 13) from the South Portuguese coast. HILIC-MS/MS analyses did not reveal TTX in the analyzed samples, suggesting an inexistent or very limited risk of TTX poisoninginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mineralogical and petrographic characterization of Preguiça and Vila Ruiva mines

This study was performed on the Preguiça and Vila Ruiva mines and aimed at petrographic and mineralogical characterization of various geological media. The Preguiça and Vila Ruiva mines are two examples of the different types of Zn-Pb(-Ag-Sb-Au) deposits that occur in the Ossa Morena Zone, more specifically in the Moura-Ficalho region. Both deposits are in Serra da Preguiça, Beja district, and were explored for Fe-Zn-Pb in the early 20th century and between 1960 and 1966. In Preguiça and Vila Ruiva mines, the old exploration mainly targeted supergene enrichment areas, and information available on the primary mineralisation is scarce. The geology of the Preguiça-Vila Ruiva mining area consists of carbonate rocks that are affected by significant hydrothermal alteration (dolomitization and chertification), essentially composed of dolomite, calcite, and minor ankerite. Recent studies suggest that the Preguiça and Vila Ruiva deposits correspond to very rich secondary Zn-ores located in metadolostones of Lower Cambrian age due to strong in situ oxidation and supergene enrichment processes on previous sulphide mineralisation. Rock samples were collected from the gossans and the host rocks in the spring of 2022. In addition, local soil was sampled from the first 15cm of the soil profile. All rock and soil samples collected from Preguiça and Vila Ruiva were analysed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and the host rock specimens were further studied using a petrographic microscope. The study of the Preguiça and Vila Ruiva thin sections suggests that the host rocks correspond to dolomitic meta-limestones manly with granoblastic texture, composed of dolomite, calcite, quartz, and opaque minerals. For the Preguiça mine, XRD shows that the dolomitic metalimestone has average dolomite contents of ~30%, while Vila Ruiva shows significantly higher contents (~80%) of this mineral. The Preguiça gossan is characterized by significant amounts of willemite (~52%), quartz (~40%), and iron oxides (goethite, hematite, and minor magnetite). Accessory minerals include chalcophanite and anglesite. At Vila Ruiva, the gossan is dominated by iron oxides, manly magnetite (~33%) and minor hematite (~17%) and goethite (~12%). In this mine, mineral phases such as willemite, chalcophanite and anglesite were not identified. The soils of Vila Ruiva present slightly higher amounts of quartz and lower contents of carbonate minerals than Preguiça soils. However, smithsonite (~12%) was only identified for Vila Ruiva, while cerussite (~3%) was identified only for Preguiça. Hematite is the most abundant iron oxide in the soils of both mines. Although the results suggest some differences in the gossans mineralogy of both mines, the small number of samples analysed largely justify further investigation

LC-HRMS profiling of paralytic shellfish toxins in Mytilus galloprovincialis after a Gymnodinium catenatum bloom

Saxitoxin and its more than 50 analogues are a group of naturally occurring neurotoxins collectively designated as paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs). PSTs are toxic to humans and maximum legal limits in seafood have been implemented by regulatory authorities worldwide. In the European Union, monitoring of PSTs is performed using the AOAC Official Method 2005.06, based on liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection (LC- FLD). However, this method has been suggested to not effectively detect the emerging C-11 hydroxyl (M-toxins) and benzoate (GC-toxins) analogues, with these analogues currently not being surveyed in monitoring programs. In this study, a liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) method was used to search for these emerging PSTs in mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, contaminated following an intense Gymnodinium catenatum bloom in the Tagus estuary (Lisbon, Portugal). Five M-toxins (M1, M2, M6, dcM6, and dcM10), but no GC-toxins, were detected in the mussels’ whole-soft body tissue. Moreover, the classical PSTs (C1 to C4, GTX 4 to GTX6, dcGTX1 to dcGTX4, dcSTX, dcNEO, and STX) were also found and comprised the largest fraction of the PSTs’ profile. The presence of unregulated PSTs in edible mussel samples suggests potential seafood safety risks and urges further research to determine the frequency of these analogues in seafood and their contribution to toxicityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio