Synthesis of Dehydrodipeptide and N-ethyl-dehydrodipeptide Derivatives with an α-Aminoisobutyric Acid Residue

Several dipeptides with an N-benzyloxycarbonyl or an N-(tert-butyloxycarbonyl) α-aminoisobutyric acid residue and a β-hydroxyamino acid methyl ester were subjected to dehydration to form dehydrodipeptide derivatives. N-Ethylation of these dipeptides using triethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate with potassium tert-butoxide as auxiliary base led to complex mixtures that failed to render pure products. However, when the 4-nitrophenylsulfonyl protecting group was substituted for the benzyloxycarbonyl or tert-butyloxycarbonyl groups and N,N-diisopropylethylamine was substituted for potassium tert-butoxide, the dehydrodipeptide derivatives were selectively N-alkylated at the amino terminal nitrogen in fair to high yields. Alternatively, N-ethylation can be carried out prior to dehydration. Thus, through a combination of dehydration and N-ethylation procedures, it was possible to obtain dipeptides with α-aminoisobutyric acid and dehydroamino acid residues, which are N-alkylated at the amino terminal nitrogen.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) – Portugal and Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) for financial support to Chemistry Centre of University of Minho. The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance II+ 400 is part of the National NMR Network and was purchased in the framework of the National Program for Scientific Re-equipment; contract REDE/1517/RMN/2005, with funds from POCI 2010, FEDER and FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Resilience of green roofs to climate change

The successful management of cities growth rely in part on the maximization of the benefits delivered by the built environment while minimizing the environmental degradation. Circular and resourceful cites are the mainstream for climate change resilience. Green roofs, as a nature-based solution, contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation through the provision of several ecosystem services. Value of green roofs can be achieved at the level of environmental (e.g., air quality enhancement, carbon sequestration, biodiversity promotion stormwater management, acoustic insulation, and noise reduction), social (e.g., esthetic integration, well-being and life quality, rooftop gardens), and economic (e.g., life span extension, energetic efficiency, energy production, real-state valorization, business development) spheres. Buildup green roof resilience maybe underpinned by the selection of efficient and sustainable components for its installation. This chapter aims at giving an overview on the role of green roofs resilience to climate change, highlighting the provision of services and the mitigation and adaption capacity.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Insights into nanomedicine for head and neck cancer diagnosis and treatment

Head and neck cancers rank sixth among the most common cancers today, and the survival rate has remained virtually unchanged over the past 25 years, due to late diagnosis and ineffective treatments. They have two main risk factors, tobacco and alcohol, and human papillomavirus infection is a secondary risk factor. These cancers affect areas of the body that are fundamental for the five senses. Therefore, it is necessary to treat them effectively and non-invasively as early as possible, in order to do not compromise vital functions, which is not always possible with conventional treatments (chemotherapy or radiotherapy). In this sense, nanomedicine plays a key role in the treatment and diagnosis of head and neck cancers. Nanomedicine involves using nanocarriers to deliver drugs to sites of action and reducing the necessary doses and possible side effects. The main purpose of this review is to give an overview of the applications of nanocarrier systems to the diagnosis and treatment of head and neck cancer. Herein, several types of delivery strategies, radiation enhancement, inside-out hyperthermia, and theragnostic approaches are addressed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Synthesis of N-alkyl-C α, α-dimethylglycine derivatives

The application of trialkyloxonium tetrafluoroborates for N-alkylation of the nonnatural amino acid Cα, α-dimethylglycine is described. Several methyl esters of dimethylglycine protected with different amine protecting groups were subject to N-ethylation or N-methylation with triethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate or trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate, respectively. The corresponding N-akyl-Cα, α-dimethylglycine derivatives were obtained in good to high yields. Removal of the methyl ester rendered amino acid derivatives ready for application in peptide synthesis.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) – Portugal and Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) for financial support to Chemistry Centre of University of Minho. The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance II+ 400 is part of the National NMR Network and was purchased in the framework of the National Program for Scientific Re-equipment; contract REDE/1517/RMN/2005, with funds from POCI 2010, FEDER and FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Escala de Competências de Estudo (ECE-SUP): fundamentos e construção

Num projecto de investigação entre a Universidade do Minho (Portugal), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Espanha), Universidade Pedagógica (Moçambique) e a Universidade São Francisco (Brasil), procedeu-se à construção de uma “Escala de Competências de Estudo” (ECE-Sup), para alunos do Ensino Superior. O ponto de partida foi a leitura da investigação na área e a consulta de outras escalas disponíveis, definindo-se que a ECE-sup (designação ainda provisória) avaliaria quatro grandes áreas ou dimensões em termos do comportamento auto-regulado dos estudantes na sua aprendizagem: (i) as atitudes e os comportamentos em relação ao estudo e à sua organização pelos alunos, (ii) os aspectos motivacionais do estudo, (iii) as competências cognitivas envolvidas na aquisição de conhecimento, e (iv) a realização nas situações de avaliação. Estas quatro áreas foram representadas através de itens retirados do quotidiano dos alunos, privilegiando-se um enfoque autoregulatório na aprendizagem. Professores e alunos foram chamados a analisar os itens na sua relevância e compreensão, havendo a preocupação de buscar uma formulação dos itens comum aos quatro países (apenas diferença na componente ortográfica nas palavras usadas). Uma análise qualitativa dos itens através do método da “reflexão falada” foi conduzida junto de alguns alunos das Universidades envolvidas, eliminando-se ambiguidades e reformulando-se vários itens na base das sugestões dos próprios alunos. A versão experimental composta por 55 itens foi então aplicada a uma amostra de alunos de três das quatro Universidades, considerando estudantes de ciências/tecnologias e de humanidades, repartidos pelo 1º e 3º anos da graduação, para efeitos da apreciação dos itens através de métodos quantitativos.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Optimized planning of different crops in a field using optimal control in Portugal

Climate change is a proven fact. In the report of 2007 from IPCC, one can read that global warming is an issue to be dealt with urgently. In many parts of the world, the estimated rise of temperature (in a very near future) is significant. One of the most affected regions is the Iberian Peninsula, where the increasing need for water will very soon be a problem. Therefore, it is necessary that decision makers are able to decide on all issues related to water management. In this paper, we show a couple of mathematical models that can aid the decision making in the management of an agricultural field at a given location. Having a field, in which different crops can be produced, the solution of the first model indicates the area that should be used for each crop so that the profit is as large as possible, while the water spent is the smallest possible guaranteeing the water requirements of each crop. Using known data for these crops in Portugal, including costs of labour, machines, energy and water, as well as the estimated value of the products obtained, the first mathematical model developed, via optimal control theory, obtains the best management solution. It allows creating different scenarios, thus it can be a valuable tool to help the farmer/decision maker decide the crop and its area to be cultivated. A second mathematical model was developed. It improves the first one, in the sense that it allows considering that water from the rainfall can be collected in a reservoir with a given capacity. The contribution of the collected water from the rainfall in the profit obtained for some different scenarios is also shown.The authors were supported by POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006933-SYSTEC, PTDC/EEI-AUT/2933/2014, POCI-01-0145–FEDER-016858 TOCCATTA and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028247 To Chair–funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020—Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizaça˜ o (POCI) and by national funds (PIDDAC) through FCT/MCTES, which is gratefully acknowledged. Financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Financing UID/FIS/04650/2013 is also acknowledged. The authors also thank SMARTEGOV Project (P2020 NORTE-45-2015-23) Harnessing EGOV for smart governance. Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the Department of Mathematics, the Centre of Physics, INESC TEC, from the University of Minho, Systec—Research Center for Systems and Technologies, from the University of Porto, UNU-EGOV Portugal and LEMA-ISEP, Instituto Politécnico do Porto.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of metabolic syndrome and individual components on colon cancer characteristics and prognosis

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is recognized as a risk factor for colon cancer (CC). However, whether the cluster of metabolic changes that define MS also influence CC prognosis remains unclear. Thus, our aim was to investigate whether the presence of MS or any of the MS individual components could provide prognostic information on tumor phenotype and survival outcomes. Clinical and pathological data from patients with CC (n = 300) who underwent surgical resection at a single tertiary hospital were retrospectively collected to evaluate presence of MS components and diagnostic criteria, CC phenotype and disease outcomes. Patients were allocated into two groups according to the presence or absence of MS (n = 85 MS vs n = 83 non-MS). The overall prevalence of MS individual components was 82.7% for increased waist-circumference (WC), 61.3% for high blood pressure (BP), 48.8% for low HDL-cholesterol, 39.9% for high fasting glucose, and 33.9% for hypertriglyceridemia. Patients in the MS group presented smaller tumors (p = 0.006) with lower T-stage (p = 0.002). High BP (p = 0.029) and hypertriglyceridemia (p = 0.044) were associated with a smaller tumor size, while low-HDL (p = 0.008) was associated with lower T-stage. After propensity score matching using age, tumor size and staging as covariates high-BP (p = 0.020) and WC (p = 0.003) were found to influence disease-free survival, but not overall survival. In conclusion, despite MS being an established risk factor for CC, our data does not support the hypothesis that MS components have a negative impact on disease extension or prognosis. Nevertheless, a protective role of BP and lipid lowering drugs cannot be excluded.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Soleus and Brachioradialis Muscles Modulationin APAs Recruitment Prior to Stand to Sit and Gait – A Pilot Study in Post Stroke Subjects

Neural coupling, frequently impaired in post-stroke subjects, can be assessed through upper limb flexor components against gravitiy like the brachioradialis muscles activity. Based on the known infkuence of the lower limb activity in the upper limb motor behavior it can be raised the question on whether the dysfunctional modulation of the extensors also happens in the brachioradialis muscle.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modulation of Autophagy in Adrenal Tumors

Adrenal masses are one of the most common tumors in humans. The majority are benign and non-functioning and therefore do not require immediate treatment. In contrast, the rare adrenal malignant tumors are often highly aggressive and with poor prognosis. Besides usually being detected in advanced stages, often already with metastases, one of the reasons of the unfavorable outcome of the patients with adrenal cancer is the absence of effective treatments. Autophagy is one of the intracellular pathways targeted by several classes of chemotherapeutics. Mitotane, the most commonly used drug for the treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma, was recently shown to also modulate autophagy. Autophagy is a continuous programmed cellular process which culminates with the degradation of cellular organelles and proteins. However, being a dynamic mechanism, understanding the autophagic flux can be highly complex. The role of autophagy in cancer has been described paradoxically: initially described as a tumor pro-survival mechanism, different studies have been showing that it may result in other outcomes, namely in tumor cell death. In adrenal tumors, this dual role of autophagy has also been addressed in recent years. Studies reported both induction and inhibition of autophagy as a treatment strategy of adrenal malignancies. Importantly, most of these studies were performed using cell lines. Consequently clinical studies are still required. In this review, we describe what is known about the role of autophagy modulation in treatment of adrenal tumors. We will also highlight the aspects that need further evaluation to understand the paradoxical role of autophagy in adrenal tumors

Diverse Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) communities colonize plants inhabiting a constructed wetland for wastewater treatment

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are biological wastewater treatment systems that comprise several components where plants and associated organisms play an important role in water depuration. Microbial studies emphasize bacterial dynamics, whereas studies of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are scarce and the functional role of AMF in aquatic and wetland plants is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to analyze the AMF communities colonizing the roots of Canna indica, Canna flaccida, and Watsonia borbonica inhabiting a CW treating wastewater of a tourism unit. The dynamics of the AMF communities were evaluated by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) of 18S rRNA gene amplification products along cold (C) and hot (H) seasons for three consecutive years. DGGE profiles allowed the estimation of AMF species richness (S), and Shannon-Wienner (H) and Pielou (J) indexes, for the different plant species, showing differences between species and along the years. Excised bands from DGGE were analyzed and identified through sequencing for arbuscular mycorrhiza, revealing the presence of AMF strains closely related to Glomus sp., Rhizophagus sp. and Acaulospora sp. genera. Concomitant water quality analyses showed that the system was effective in organic and nutrient removal during the sampling period. Findings from this study suggest that AMF diversity found in the CW is influenced by the water constituents, season, and plant species.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio