Portuguese 16th to Early 18th Century tin Glazed Ceramics Found at the Tagus Estuary Saltpans

UID/NAN/50024/2019 M-ERA-MNT/0002/2015 UIDB/04209/2020 UIDP/04209/2020Salt was extracted from saltpans, in the South shore of Tagus River by evaporation of the salted sea water which penetrates into the estuary. The walls and the bottom of those saltpans were made of local clays to retain the sea water, and ceramic sherds have been used to endure those walls and also to allow people to walk on the saltpans’ walls. Those sherds constitute an example of the ceramics production in Lisbon workshops, starting in the mid-16th century and reaching high levels of quality in the 17th and 18th century. A detailed archaeometric study of 14 selected sherds dated from the 16th to the early 18th century has been made and the conjugation of the information provided by the micro-Raman, XRD and XRF experiments for those sherds and clays collected locally, allowed us the characterisation of the Lisbon ceramics in that period. Three main groups could be identified in the ceramic bodies; all made with locally collected clays of Miocene origin. In the first group, the potters used raw materials from the clay sources located at Santa Catarina area in Lisbon, most probably mixed with Lapa clays, which were fired at a high temperatures, ranging from 850ºC to 950ºC. Gehlenite and quartz are the dominant minerals of these ceramic bodies. In the second and third groups of Lisbon ceramic bodies, made with Prazeres clays, diopside was also detected but with variable amounts of gehlenite. Clay formations mineralogy mainly include kaolinite, muscovite/illite, quartz, calcite, and feldspars (albite and microcline).publishersversionpublishe

β-ketoenamine covalent organic frameworks—effects of functionalization on pollutant adsorption

Water pollution due to global economic activity is one of the greatest environmental concerns, and many efforts are currently being made toward developing materials capable of selectively and efficiently removing pollutants and contaminants. A series of β-ketoenamine covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been synthesized, by reacting 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (TFP) with different C2-functionalized and nonfunctionalized diamines, in order to evaluate the influence of wall functionalization and pore size on the adsorption capacity toward dye and heavy metal pollutants. The obtained COFs were characterized by different techniques. The adsorption of methylene blue (MB), which was used as a model for the adsorption of pharmaceuticals and dyes, was initially evaluated. Adsorption studies showed that –NO2 and –SO3H functional groups were favorable for MB adsorption, with TpBd(SO3H)2-COF [100%], prepared between TFP and 4,4′-diamine- [1,1′-biphenyl]-2,2′-disulfonic acid, achieving the highest adsorption capacity (166 ± 13 mg g−1). The adsorption of anionic pollutants was less effective and decreased, in general, with the increase in –SO3H and –NO2 group content. The effect of ionic interactions on the COF performance was further assessed by carrying out adsorption experiments involving metal ions. Isotherms showed that nonfunctionalized and functionalized COFs were better described by the Langmuir and Freundlich sorption models, respectively, confirming the influence of functionalization on surface heterogeneity. Sorption kinetics experiments were better adjusted according to a second-order rate equation, confirming the existence of surface chemical interactions in the adsorption process. These results confirm the influence of selective COF functionalization on adsorption processes and the role of functional groups on the adsorption selectivity, thus clearly demonstrating the potential of this new class of materials in the efficient and selective capture and removal of pollutants in aqueous solutions.This work was funded by the Coimbra Chemistry Centre (CQC), which is supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the grants ref. UID/QUI/00313/2020 and ref. UI/BD/150809/2020, co-funded by COMPETE2020-UE

Transferência de Aprendizado para Redes Bayesianas com Aplicação em Predição de Falha de Discos Rígidos

Predizer falhas em Discos Rígidos é muito importante para evitar perda de dados e custos adicionais. Logo, um esforço pode ser observado para encontrar métodos adequados de predição de falhas. Apesar dos resultados encorajantes alcançados por vários métodos, um aspecto notado é a falta de dados disponíveis para construir modelos confiáveis. Transferência de Aprendizado oferece uma alternativa válida, uma vez que pode ser usada para transferir conhecimento de modelos de Disco com muitos dados para Discos com menos dados. Neste trabalho, avaliamos estratégias de Transferência de Aprendizado para esta tarefa. Além disso propomos uma estratégia para construir fontes de informação baseadas no agrupamento de modelos de disco parecidos. Resultados mostraram que todos os cenários testados de transferência melhoram a performance dos métodos de predição, principalmente para Discos com muito poucos dados

Coronary computed tomography angiography-adapted Leaman score as a tool to noninvasively quantify total coronary atherosclerotic burden

To describe a coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA)-adapted Leaman score (CT-LeSc) as a tool to quantify total coronary atherosclerotic burden with information regarding localization, type of plaque and degree of stenosis and to identify clinical predictors of a high coronary atherosclerotic burden as assessed by the CT-LeSc. Single center prospective registry including a total of 772 consecutive patients undergoing CCTA (Dual-source CT) from April 2011 to March 2012. For the purpose of this study, 581 stable patients referred for suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) without previous myocardial infarction or revascularization procedures were included. Pre-test CAD probability was determined using both the Diamond-Forrester extended CAD consortium method (DF-CAD consortium model) and the Morise score. Cardiovascular risk was assessed with the HeartScore. The cut-off for the 3rd tercile (CT-LeSc ≥8.3) was used to define a population with a high coronary atherosclerotic burden. The median CT-LeSc in this population (n = 581, 8,136 coronary segments evaluated; mean age 57.6 ± 11.1; 55.8 % males; 14.6 % with diabetes) was 2.2 (IQR 0-6.8). In patients with CAD (n = 341), the median CT-LeSc was 5.8 (IQR 3.2-9.6). Among patients with nonobstructive CAD, most were classified in the lowest terciles (T1, 43.0 %; T2, 36.1 %), but 20.9 % were in the highest tercile (T3). The majority of the patients with obstructive CAD were classified in T3 (78.2 %), but 21.8 % had a CT-LeSc in lower terciles (T1 or T2). The independent predictors of a high CT-LeSc were: Male sex (OR 1.73; 95 % CI 1.04-2.90) diabetes (OR 2.91; 95 % CI 1.61-5.23), hypertension (OR 2.54; 95 % CI 1.40-4.63), Morise score ≥16 (OR 1.97; 95 % CI 1.06-3.67) and HeartScore ≥5 (OR 2.42; 95 % CI 1.41-4.14). We described a cardiac CT adapted Leaman score as a tool to quantify total (obstructive and nonobstructive) coronary atherosclerotic burden, reflecting the comprehensive information about localization, degree of stenosis and type of plaque provided by CCTA. Male sex, hypertension, diabetes, a HeartScore ≥5 % and a Morise score ≥16 were associated with a high coronary atherosclerotic burden, as assessed by the CT-LeSc. About one fifth of the patients with nonobstructive CAD had a CT-LeSc in the highest tercile, and this could potentially lead to a reclass

Extracellular vesicles from pancreatic cancer stem cells lead an intratumor communication network (EVNet) to fuel tumour progression

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.Objective: Intratumor heterogeneity drives cancer progression and therapy resistance. However, it has yet to be determined whether and how subpopulations of cancer cells interact and how this interaction affects the tumour. Design: We have studied the spontaneous flow of extracellular vesicles (EVs) between subpopulations of cancer cells: cancer stem cells (CSC) and non-stem cancer cells (NSCC). To determine the biological significance of the most frequent communication route, we used pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) orthotopic models, patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) and genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs). Results: We demonstrate that PDAC tumours establish an organised communication network between subpopulations of cancer cells using EVs called the EVNet). The EVNet is plastic and reshapes in response to its environment. Communication within the EVNet occurs preferentially from CSC to NSCC. Inhibition of this communication route by impairing Rab27a function in orthotopic xenographs, GEMMs and PDXs is sufficient to hamper tumour growth and phenocopies the inhibition of communication in the whole tumour. Mechanistically, we provide evidence that CSC EVs use agrin protein to promote Yes1 associated transcriptional regulator (YAP) activation via LDL receptor related protein 4 (LRP-4). Ex vivo treatment of PDXs with antiagrin significantly impairs proliferation and decreases the levels of activated YAP.Patients with high levels of agrin and low inactive YAP show worse disease-free survival. In addition, patients with a higher number of circulating agrin+ EVs show a significant increased risk of disease progression. Conclusion: PDAC tumours establish a cooperation network mediated by EVs that is led by CSC and agrin, which allows tumours to adapt and thrive. Targeting agrin could make targeted therapy possible for patients with PDAC and has a significant impact on CSC that feeds the tumour and is at the centre of therapy resistance.The work was supported by NORTE-01–0145-FEDER-000029, Norte Portugal Regional Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund and national funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology POCI-01–0145-FEDER-32189. Programa Operacional Regional do Norte and co-financed by European Regional Development Fund under the project "The Porto Comprehensive Cancer Center" with the reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-072678 - Consórcio PORTO.CCC – Porto.Comprehensive Cancer Center. CFR is supported by FCT (SFRH/BD/131461/2017), NB by (SFRH/BD/130801/2017), IB by FCT (SFRH/BD/144854/2019), and BA by FCT (PD/BD/135546/2018). DG’s contribution was supported by the NCI (R21 CA179907). We acknowledge the support of the i3S Scientific Platforms: Translational Cytometry, Animal Facility, Bioimaging and Histology and Electron Microscopy are members of the national infrastructure PPBI - Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01–0145-FEDER-022122). Proteomics was performed at the Proteomics Facility of The Spanish National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), ProteoRed, PRB3-ISCIII, supported by grant PT17/0019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Novas aplicações de tecnologia computacional e biomecânica ao desenvolvimento do conhecimento em natação

A Biomecânica constitui um dos domínios das Ciências do Desporto onde o desenvolvimento tecnológico se tem revelado mais exuberante, nomeada e especialmente a par dos desenvolvimentos operados na computação e nas novas tecnologias em geral. A natação, por seu lado, constitui a referência maior de entre as modalidades desportivas praticadas na água e, de entre estas, aquela onde, aparentemente, a investigação científica tem sido mais profusa - entenda-se a natação em sentido estrito (natação pura desportiva – NPD) ou em sentido mais lato, incluindo para além das modalidades desportivas praticadas no contexto da FINA, também a natação desportiva de salvamento aquático e outras actividades aquáticas mais ou menos formalizadas (eg. hidroginástica) praticadas num contexto mais limitado de exercício e saúde. A água, entretanto, constitui um óbice muito sério à obtenção de registos e medições objectivos e relevantes para o estudo do movimento humano, seja em contexto biomecânico ou outro. As dificuldades começam imediatamente na aquisição de sinal eléctrico e na respectiva transmissão num meio com uma capacidade condutiva e com uma impedância tão particulares, para se estender depois à generalidade do espectro dos meios de avaliação biomecânica, culminando com a obtenção de imagens de corpo-todo, comummente designadas por imagens de duplo-meio, atendendo a que o desenvolvimento da actividade acontece maioritariamente na interface entre o ar e a água. É talvez por esta especificidade e dificuldade acrescidas que entendemos ser da maior relevância dar conta dos progressos, e das respectivas dificuldades, associados à aquisição de dados em biomecânica da natação na nossa faculdade, bem assim como perspectivar o recurso a soluções de avaliação simulada, como é o caso do recurso a soluções de CFD – Computational Fluid Dynamics – em que vimos colaborando com a UTAD. Para além de alguns exemplos do recurso a soluções de simulação computacional, como é o caso do recurso ao CFD em hidrodinâmica propulsiva e resistiva (importância relativa da sustentação hidrodinâmica e do arrasto propulsivo na capacidade propulsiva do nadador; drafting e posição de deslize como factores de redução do arrasto), trataremos de explorar aplicações experimentais da dinamometria, da cinemetria e da electromiografia (EMG) ao estudo da natação. Para tal sobrevoaremos os nossos projectos mais recentes, nomeadamente: (i) determinação do arrasto passivo por dinâmica inversa em duas posições de deslize na técnica de bruços; (ii) determinação dinamométrica de parâmetros caracterizadores da onda produzida por nadadores de elite nas quatro técnicas de nado a diferentes velocidades; (iii) caracterização biomecânica de partidas de nado ventral e dorsal em natação; (iv) caracterização biomecânica de diferentes variantes da viragem de estilo livre; (v) fadiga, flutuações intracíclicas da velocidade de nado e custo energético; (vi) avaliação e aconselhamento do treino técnico e prescrição do exercício com base em velocimetria mecânica; (vii) caracterização EMG de duas variantes da recuperação do membro superior na técnica de crol e (viii) caracterização EMG de movimentos elementares de pólo-aquático (retropedalagem, salto e remate). Terminaremos com uma breve referência a uma “nova” antropometria biomecânica recorrendo a algumas revelações de última hora associados ao levantamento tridimensional da forma corporal de nadadores, para melhor entender as reais repercussões do recurso aos fatos de banho de última geração, como é exemplo eloquente e mediático o LZR® da Speedo