Deciphering the interplay of molecular alterations underpinning renal cell carcinoma by label-free mass spectrometry and clinical proteomics: A systems medicine approach for precision diagnosis

Renal neoplasia is the 14th most common tumor type diagnosed worldwide. With a vast heterogeneity, renal neoplasia encompasses different subtypes. 90% of the neoplasms arise from the epithelial layer of the nephron and vary from benign renal masses (renal oncocytoma, RO) to more indolent or aggressive cancers (renal cell carcinomas, RCC). As RCC subtypes, clear cell (ccRCC) subtype is the most predominant subtype, followed by papillary (pRCC) and chromophobe (chRCC). Despite the different outcomes, some overlapped histological and morphological features difficult their differentiation and diagnosis. Therefore, new approaches for a clear and accurate diagnosis are still needed. To achieve this goal, renal tissue biopsies diagnosed with ccRCC (n = 7), pRCC (n = 5), chRCC (n = 5), RO (n = 5) and normal adjacent tissue (NAT, n= 5) were enrolled in this study. As a very resourceful tool for proteome analysis and biomarker discovery, mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods were used to interrogate the proteome of each tumor in order to undisclosed differences trough which to develop faster and accurate diagnostics. The results achieved with this doctoral thesis include i) the accomplishment of an effective ultrasonic workflow to recover the proteome of optimal cutting temperature (OCT)-embedded tissues, ii) a novel analytical approach based on MALDI-MS profiling to distinguish chRCC from RO, iii) a 109-protein panel to discriminate between chRCC and RO and NAT, iv) a top 24-protein panel to diagnose ccRCC, pRCC, chRCC and RO based on absolute concentration values, v) the translation and validation of three promising biomarkers by immunohistochemical analysis, and vi) an approach for phosphopeptide enrichment. This work brings new insights into the different mechanisms underlying formation of these tumors as well as it provides valuable information to improve clinical diagnosis by opening new avenues for immunohistochemistry and mass spectrometry-based approaches

Contabilidade Ambiental: divulgação de Informação

O presente artigo procura apresentar uma revisão da literatura sobre a temática da Contabilidade Ambiental na perspectiva da Divulgação. Efectua-se o enquadramento teórico do tema como suporte para a problemática da motivação da Gestão para o relato ambiental e caracteriza-se o state of the art da divulgação ambiental no relatório anual a nível internacional com particular ênfase para os países onde este assunto tem merecido mais atenção. Depois de apresentado o ponto da situação sobre a realidade portuguesa, antes e após a publicação da Directriz Contabilística nº29 – Matérias Ambientais, é efectuada uma abordagem sobre o papel que cabe aos auditores no processo de reporte de informação no domínio ambiental em face do impacte que estas matérias têm nas demonstrações financeiras

Fully Automatic Method for the Visual Acuity Estimation Using OCT Angiographies

[Abstract] In this work we propose the automatic estimation of the visual acuity of patients with retinal vein occlusion using Optical Coherence Tomography by Angiography (OCTA) images. To do this, we first extract the most relevant biomarkers in this imaging modality—area of the foveal avascular zone and vascular densities in different regions of the OCTA image. Then, we use a support vector machine to estimate the visual acuity. We obtained a mean absolute error of 0.1713 between the manual visual acuity measurement and the estimated, being considered satisfactory results.Centro de Investigación de Galicia; ED431G 2019/01Xunta de Galicia; DTS18/00136Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; RTI2018-095894-B-I0

Clinical and Theoretical Considerations of Psychoanalysts and Cognitive Behavioral Therapists Regarding Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Argentina. A Qualitative Study of the Research-Practice Gap

This paper presents two qualitative studies exploring the gap between research and practice, as related to Generalized Anxiety Disorder, by comparing the differing theoretical and clinical considerations of psychoanalysts and cognitive behavioral therapists from Buenos Aires. METHODS: In the first study, a group of ten expert Psychoanalysts and five expert Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists were asked to explicitly present their theoretical conceptualization of this disorder, based on the diagnostic criteria of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the second study, twenty psychotherapists (ten from each theoretical orientation) were asked to listen to an audio recording of a fictional patient meeting GAD's diagnostic criteria, and to present their clinical impression about the case. Through qualitative analysis, categories were created and rated upon their frequency for both studies. RESULTS/DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Results showed similarities and differences in participants' theoretical and clinical conceptualizations and suggested that therapist orientations may pose differing implications and obstacles to breach the psychotherapy research-practice gap.Este artigo apresenta dois estudos qualitativos que exploram a lacuna entre investigaçao e prática, como se relaciona com ao Transtorno de Ansiedade Generalizada, comparando as diferentes consideraçoes teóricas e clínicas da psicanalistas e terapeutas cognitiva-comportamentais de Buenos Aires. MÉTODOS: No primeiro estudo, foram convidados um grupo de dez psicanalistas especializados e cinco terapeutas cognitivacomportamentais especializados para apresentar explicitamente a sua conceituaçao teórica desta desordem, com base nos critérios de diagnóstico da quinta ediçao do Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais. No segundo estudo, vinte psicoterapeutas (dez de cada orientaçao teórica) foram convidados a ouvir uma gravaçao de áudio de um paciente fictício preenche os critérios diagnósticos de TAG e para apresentar sua impressao clínica sobre o caso. Através da análise qualitativa, as categorias foram criadas e avaliado após a sua frequência para ambos os estudos. RESULTADOS/DISCUSSAO/CONCLUSOES: Os resultados mostraram semelhanças e diferenças em conceituaçoes teóricas e clínicas dos participantes e sugerem que as orientaçoes do terapeuta podem representar diferentes implicaçoes e obstáculos para superar a lacuna entre pesquisa e prática da psicoterapia.Fil: Etchebarne, Ignacio. Universidad de Belgrano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Juan, Santiago. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gómez Penedo, Juan Martín. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Universidad de Belgrano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Roussos, Andres Jorge. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Belgrano; Argentin

Automatic Detection of Freshwater Phytoplankton Specimens in Conventional Microscopy Images

[Abstract] Water safety and quality can be compromised by the proliferation of toxin-producing phytoplankton species, requiring continuous monitoring of water sources. This analysis involves the identification and counting of these species which requires broad experience and knowledge. The automatization of these tasks is highly desirable as it would release the experts from tedious work, eliminate subjective factors, and improve repeatability. Thus, in this preliminary work, we propose to advance towards an automatic methodology for phytoplankton analysis in digital images of water samples acquired using regular microscopes. In particular, we propose a novel and fully automatic method to detect and segment the existent phytoplankton specimens in these images using classical computer vision algorithms. The proposed method is able to correctly detect sparse colonies as single phytoplankton candidates, thanks to a novel fusion algorithm, and is able to differentiate phytoplankton specimens from other image objects in the microscope samples (like minerals, bubbles or detritus) using a machine learning based approach that exploits texture and colour features. Our preliminary experiments demonstrate that the proposed method provides satisfactory and accurate results.This work is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union and Xunta de Galicia through Centro de Investigación del Sistema Universitario de Galicia, ref. ED431G 2019/01Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/0

Automatic Pipeline for Detection and Classification of Phytoplankton Specimens in Digital Microscopy Images of Freshwater Samples

Presented at the 4th XoveTIC Conference, A Coruña, Spain, 7–8 October 2021.[Abstract] Phytoplankton blooming can compromise the quality of the water and its safety due to the negative effects of the toxins that some species produce. Therefore, the continuous monitoring of water sources is typically required. This task is commonly and routinely performed by specialists manually, which represents a major limitation in the quality and quantity of these studies. We present an accurate methodology to automate this task using multi-specimen images of phytoplankton which are acquired by regular microscopes. The presented fully automatic pipeline is capable of detecting and segmenting individual specimens using classic computer vision algorithms. Furthermore, the method can fuse sparse specimens and colonies when needed. Moreover, the system can differentiate genuine phytoplankton from other similar non-phytoplanktonic objects like zooplankton and detritus. These genuine phytoplankton specimens can also be classified in a target set of species, with special focus on the toxin-producing ones. The experiments demonstrate satisfactory and accurate results in each one of the different steps that compose this pipeline. Thus, this fully automatic system can aid the specialists in the routine analysis of water sources.This research was funded by Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Universidade, Xunta de Galicia through the predoctoral grant contract ref. ED481A 2021/147 and Grupos de Referencia Competitiva, grant ref. ED431C 2020/24; CITIC, Centro de Investigación de Galicia ref. ED431G 2019/01, receives financial support from Consellería de Educación, Universidade e Formación Profesional, Xunta de Galicia, through the ERDF (80%) and Secretaría Xeral de Universidades (20%).Xunta de Galicia; ED481A 2021/147Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2020/24Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/0