A participação cidadã no processo de planeamento municipal em Portugal

Quando analisamos a participação dos cidadãos desenvolvida no âmbito dos processos de planeamento do território, em Portugal, verificamos inúmeros fracassos, seja porque a participação se limita aos momentos previstos na legislação portuguesa, claramente insuficientes (o período de audiência prévia aquando da decisão de elaboração do plano e um período de discussão pública quando o plano está já completamente elaborado), ou porque a população é sobrecarregada com inúmeros processos participativos que se sobrepõem, na maioria das vezes sem produzir resultados visíveis, provocando o descrédito dos cidadãos face a este tipo de processos. Não obstante, apesar das experiencias negativas, verificam-se também boas práticas no campo do desenvolvimento de verdadeiros processos de participação cidadã que acompanham os projectos urbanísticos. A maioria destes casos trata-se de intervenções urbanas (de pequena escala territorial) que foram reclamadas pela população, dando origem a projectos que são desenvolvidos em conjunto com os cidadãos. Os processos de planeamento e projectos urbanísticos, acompanhados de fortes estratégias de participação cidadã, apresentam francas vantagens face aos demais, uma vez que fomentam o “empowerment” da população, promovendo um maior envolvimento por parte dos cidadãos nos processos de transformação urbana e, consequentemente, um maior grau de aceitação e satisfação face às intervenções urbanas levadas a cabo. Por outro lado, o envolvimento da população permite também um maior e melhor entendimento das características do local de intervenção, possibilitando uma melhor adaptação dos projectos/planos às características físicas e socio-económicas da realidade que pretendem servir. Face às notórias vantagens em desenvolver processos de participação cidadã capazes de acompanhar as intervenções urbanísticas, parece ser evidente a necessidade de construir verdadeiros processos de participação cidadã, que vão para além dos momentos previstos na legislação, isto é, que acompanhem o desenvolvimento de um plano ou projecto urbanístico-18 ISSN 1139-7365, desde a decisão da sua elaboração até à sua formalização e posterior implementação. Assim, no presente trabalho reflecte-se sobre os desafios que se colocam actualmente face aos processos de participação cidadã, no âmbitos das intervenções urbanísticas, em Portugal, procurando definir orientações para a formulação de um processo de participação cidadã que seja capaz de acompanhar o desenvolvimento de intervenções urbanísticas de diferentes âmbitos e escalas territoriais.Analysing the citizen participation developed within the territorial planning processes, in Portugal, we found numerous failures, mainly because participation is limited to the periods established by the Portuguese law, which are clearly insufficient (in the decision of beginning the plan and a period of public discussion when the plan is already fully developed), or because the population is burdened with numerous participatory processes that overlap, most often without producing visible results, leading to the discrediting of citizens from this type of processes. Nevertheless, despite the negative experiences, there are also good practices in the development of citizen participation processes that truly follow up all the urban projects development stages. Most of these cases are small-scale urban interventions, claimed by the population, giving rise to projects that are developed together with the citizens. The urban planning projects including strong citizen participation strategies show great advantages over the others, once they fosters the population “empowerment”, promoting greater involvement by citizens in the processes of urban transformation and hence a greater level of acceptance and satisfaction with the urban interventions undertaken. On the other hand, the involvement of the population also allows a greater and better understanding of the intervention area characteristics, allowing a better adaptation of projects / plans to the physical and socio-economic reality that they intend to serve. Given the remarkable advantages in developing processes of citizen participation able to monitor the urban interventions, it seems evident the need to build real processes of citizen participation, which go beyond the periods provided by law. Instead, the citizen participation processes should go together with the development of a plan or urban design (since the decision of making the plan / project to its formalization and subsequent implementation), and be adapted to the specificities of each case and reality. Therefore, in this work we analyse the challenges currently faced by the implementation of citizen participation processes in the development of urban interventions, in Portugal. Through this analysis we try to establish guidelines to build citizen participation processes able to improve the development of urban interventions in different territorial scales.Cuando analizamos la participación ciudadana en los procesos de planificación urbana, en Portugal, encontramos numerosos fracasos, sea porque la participación se limita a los plazos establecidos en la legislación portuguesa, claramente insuficientes (en el inicio del proceso, cuando se decide desarrollar el plan y un período de debate público cuando el plan ya está completamente desarrollado), o porque los ciudadanos son sujetos a una serie de procesos participativos que se superponen y que, a menudo, no producen resultados visibles, lo que lleva al descrédito de los ciudadanos de este tipo de procesos. Sin embargo, además de las experiencias negativas, se verifican buenas prácticas en el desarrollo de verdaderos procesos de participación ciudadana capases de acompañar todas las etapas del desarrollo de los proyectos urbanísticos. En su mayoría estos casos son intervenciones urbanas (de pequeña escala territorial), que fueron reivindicados por la población, dando lugar a proyectos desarrollados en conjunto con los ciudadanos. Los procesos de planificación y desarrollo urbano, acompañados de fuertes estrategias de participación ciudadana, presentan fuertes ventajas sobre los demás, ya que promueven el “empoderamiento” de la población, promoviendo una mayor participación de los ciudadanos en los procesos de transformación urbana y por lo tanto, un mayor grado de aceptación y satisfacción con las intervenciones urbanas realizadas. Por otro lado, la participación de los ciudadanos también posibilita una mayor y mejor comprensión de las características del local de intervención, permitiendo una mejor adaptación de los proyectos / planes de la realidad física y socio-económica que pretenden servir. Dadas las notables ventajas en el desarrollo de procesos de participación ciudadana capases de monitorear las intervenciones urbanas, parece ser evidente la necesidad de construir verdaderos procesos de participación ciudadana, que van más allá de los plazos previstos por la ley, es decir, acompañando todas las etapas del desarrollo de un plan o de un proyecto urbano, desde la decisión de su elaboración hasta su formalización y posterior ejecución. Por lo tanto, en este trabajo se analizan los retos que actualmente se ponen a la implementación de procesos de participación ciudadana en el desarrollo de las intervenciones urbanas, en Portugal. A través de este análisis se intenta establecer directrices para la formulación de procesos de participación ciudadana capases de mejorar el desarrollo de intervenciones urbanas en diferentes escalas territoriales

Cerebrospinal fluid chitinases as biomarkers for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative neuromuscular disease that affects motor neurons controlling voluntary muscles. Survival is usually 2-5 years after onset, and death occurs due to respiratory failure. The identification of biomarkers would be very useful to help in disease diagnosis and for patient stratification based on, e.g., progression rate, with implications in therapeutic trials. Neurofilaments constitute already-promising markers for ALS and, recently, chitinases have emerged as novel marker targets for the disease. Here, we investigated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) chitinases as potential markers for ALS. Chitotriosidase (CHIT1), chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1), chitinase-3-like protein 2 (CHI3L2) and the benchmark marker phosphoneurofilament heavy chain (pNFH) were quantified by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from the CSF of 34 ALS patients and 24 control patients with other neurological diseases. CSF was also analyzed by UHPLC-mass spectrometry. All three chitinases, as well as pNFH, were found to correlate with disease progression rate. Furthermore, CHIT1 was elevated in ALS patients with high diagnostic performance, as was pNFH. On the other hand, CHIT1 correlated with forced vital capacity (FVC). The three chitinases correlated with pNFH, indicating a relation between degeneration and neuroinflammation. In conclusion, our results supported the value of CHIT1 as a diagnostic and progression rate biomarker, and its potential as respiratory function marker. The results opened novel perspectives to explore chitinases as biomarkers and their functional relevance in ALS.We acknowledge iNOVA4Health – UIDB/04462/2020 and UIDP/04462/2020, a program financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, through national funds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Morfologia e morfometria do forame magno em cães das raças Poodle Toy e Yorkshire terrier

The occipital dysplasia has been characterized by a dorsal enlargement of the foramen magnum which can vary in size and shape. Clinical signs may be present or not in animals with occipital dysplasia. The purpose of this study was to radiographically analyze the morphology and morphometry of the foramen magnum of thirty healthy dogs. This study chose to use fifteen Yorkshire terrier dogs and fifteen Toy Poodle dogs in order to characterize the radiographic aspects of the foramen magnum and contribute to the diagnosis and critical analysis of the occipital dysplasia importance. According to the foramen magnum morphology and tracings, it was possible to classify the radiographic aspects into different shapes varing from oval and quadrangular. Out of 26 (86.7%) animals had a dorsal enlargement and 4 (13.3%) showed normal foramen magnum. Animals without any clinical signs that are radiographically classified as dysplastic dogs may simply represent an anatomic variation of the foramen magnum.A displasia do occipital é o alargamento dorsal do forame magno, o qual pode variar a sua forma e tamanho e os animais com esta alteração morfológica podem ou não apresentar manifestações clínicas. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar radiograficamente a morfologia e a morfometria do forame magno de 30 cães assintomáticos das raças Poodle toy e Yorkshire terrier, sendo 15 de cada, a fim de se caracterizar os aspectos radiográficos do forame magno e contribuir para o diagnóstico e análise crítica da relevância da displasia do occipital. O forame magno apresentou aspectos que variaram de oval a quadrangular. A presença do alargamento dorsal ocorreu em 26 (86,7%) animais e a ausência em apenas quatro (13,3%). Animais sem manifestações clínicas, que apresentam graus variados de alargamento dorsal e são classificados radiograficamente como displásicos, podem apenas representar variações anatômicas do forame magno

INTERDISCIPLINA: LA ENSEÑANZA / APRENDIZAJE EN PROYECTOS DE DISEÑO URBANO

En l'àmbit de la planeación i disseny de ciutats, el concepte de interdisciplina es torna cada vegada més important, no només per la necessitat de donar solucions transversals a qüestions específiques en els projectes urbans, sinó també perquè s'ha entès que el fer ciutat no és terrè d'una sola disciplina. La interdisciplina és intrínseca als estudis urbans. No obstant això, l'experiència ens indica que aquest tipus d'interacció entre disciplines, en els processos de formació i ensenyament entorn del projecte de disseny urbà, encara no es produeix de manera generalitzada, encara que cada vegada és més notable que professionals i acadèmics s'involucrin, no només en processos interdisciplinaris de planeación i disseny de la ciutat, sinó també en processos d'ensenyament/aprenentatge interdisciplinaris. En aquest article abordem els processos d'ensenyament i aprenentatge en l'àmbit del projecte urbà, assumint aquests com a punt de partida en la formació de professionals que es plantegen intervenir a la ciutat. Tot des d'una lexis conceptual pròpia del projecte de disseny, que es tradueix en la praxi mateixa del projecte de disseny urbà. Partim de la revisió i sistematització dels resultats de la recerca “Interdisciplina-ACÇÃO” (Remesar & Brandão, 2009), a la qual vam sumar una nova recopilació de dades, obtinguda d'entrevistes realitzades a un nou grup professionals en formació en l'àmbit del disseny urbà, on es pretén d'una banda, generar conclusions sobre el llenguatge argumental utilitzat en l'elaboració del projecte urbà com a exercici interdisciplinari, i per l'altre, ampliar la discussió sobre els processos d'ensenyament/aprenentatge del projecte de disseny urbà amb orientació interdisciplinària.In the field of planning and design of cities, the concept of interdisciplinarity becomes increasingly important, not only by the need to provide transversal solutions to specific questions within the urban project, but also because it is understood that the “city making” is not the ground of a single discipline. Interdisciplinarity is intrinsic to urban studies. However, experience shows that this type of interaction between disciplines, specifically in the context of teaching and learning the urban design project, is not widespread yet. Slowly professionals and academics involved in city design and intervention are emphasizing on the need of interdisciplinary processes for those projects. In this paper we address the teaching and learning processes in the field of urban projects, assuming these as a starting point in the training of professionals involved in the city design problems. This work is based in the systematization and review of the results obtained in the research “Interdisciplina-ACÇÃO” (Remesar & Brandão, 2009), where we add new data collection obtained from interviews made to a new professional group in training, in the field of urban design, with the objective of generate conclusions about the argumentative language used in the urban design project development, as an interdisciplinary exercise, and also looking for a further discussion about the teaching/learning process of the urban design project with an interdisciplinary orientation.En el ámbito de la planeación y diseño de ciudades, el concepto de interdisciplina se torna cada vez más importante, no sólo por la necesidad de dar soluciones transversales a cuestiones específicas en los proyectos urbanos, sino también porque se ha entendido que el hacer ciudad no es terreno de una sola disciplina. La interdisciplina es intrínseca a los estudios urbanos. No obstante, la experiencia nos indica que este tipo de interacción entre disciplinas, en los procesos de formación y enseñanza en torno al proyecto de diseño urbano, aún no se produce de manera generalizada, aunque cada vez es más notable que profesionales y académicos se involucren, no sólo en procesos interdisciplinares de planeación y diseño de la ciudad, sino también en procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje interdisciplinares. En este artículo abordamos los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje en el ámbito del proyecto urbano, asumiendo éstos como punto de partida en la formación de profesionales que se plantean intervenir en la ciudad. Todo desde una lexis conceptual propia del proyecto de diseño, que se traduce en la praxis misma del proyecto de diseño urbano. Partimos de la revisión y sistematización de los resultados de la investigación “Interdisciplina-ACÇÃO” (Remesar & Brandão, 2009), a la que sumamos una nueva recopilación de datos, obtenida de entrevistas realizadas a un nuevo grupo profesionales en formación en el ámbito del diseño urbano, donde se pretende por un lado, generar conclusiones acerca del lenguaje argumental utilizado en la elaboración del proyecto urbano como ejercicio interdisciplinar, y por el otro, ampliar la discusión sobre los procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje del proyecto de diseño urbano con orientación interdisciplinar

Genotypic identification of Cryptosporidium spp. isolated from hiv-infected patients and immunocompetent children of São Paulo, Brazil

Cryptosporidium isolates identified in fourteen stool samples, collected from five HIV-infected patients and nine immunocompetent children, living in the Sate of São Paulo, Brazil, were submitted to a molecular analysis using a nested PCR followed of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), for genetic characterization. The analysis was based on digestion with RsaI restriction enzyme of a DNA fragment amplified from the Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein (COWP) gene. Based on this analysis, four samples were identified as Cryptosporidium parvum, eight as Cryptosporidium hominis and two presented a profile that correspondedto Cryptosporidium meleagridis when compared to the standards used in the analysis. The use of molecular methods can be helpful to identify source of infections and risk factors related to Cryptosporidium infection in our communities.Isolados de Cryptosporidium identificados em quatorze amostras de fezes, coletadas de cinco pacientes com infecção por HIV e de nove crianças imunocompetentes, residentes no estado de São Paulo, Brasil, foram submetidos a análise molecular por Nested-PCR, seguido da caracterização genética por polimorfismo do tamanho do fragmento de restrição (RFLP). A análise foi baseada na digestão, com a enzima de restrição RsaI, de um fragmento de DNA amplificado do gene que codifica a proteína de parede do oocisto de Cryptosporidium (COWP). Baseado nesta análise, quando comparadas aos padrões utilizados, quatro amostras foram identificadas como Cryptosporidium parvum, oito como Cryptosporidium hominis e duas apresentaram um perfil correspondente ao de Cryptosporidium meleagridis. O uso de métodos moleculares pode ser útil para identificar a fonte das infecções e os fatores de risco relacionados à infecção por Cryptosporidium em nossas comunidades

Herpetic Meningoencephalitis by Vertical Transmission: A Case Report and Systematic Review

Objective: To report a case of vertical herpetic meningoencephalitis. Results: The involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) in infection by HSV (herpes simplex virus), HSV-1 or HSV-2, causes an acute inflammatory process in the brain parenchyma, leading to herpetic encephalitis. It is a feared form of the disease due to its severity and its high rate of morbidity and mortality. Its rapid fatal progression can be prevented from early suspicion and treatment, which is essential when taking into account their neurological sequelae since survivors have motor sequelae, behavioral disorders, or epilepsy. The present work reports the case of a newborn male with spontaneous vaginal delivery who, at 19 days of age, started to experience fever, irritability, difficulty in eating, spasms, tremors of the upper limbs, deviation of the eyes, and seizures of difficult to control, together with CFE and serological changes, in addition to imaging tests compatible with herpetic meningoencephalitis, progressing with a very serious evolution despite the institution of specific treatment for CNS herpetic infection, evolving with important neurological sequelae. Conclusion: The sequels resulting from herpetic encephalitis not properly diagnosed, or even late, leads from severe neurological damage to death. Therefore, it is extremely important to start empirical treatment with antiviral drugs to reduce the sequelae mentioned above

Suicidal behaviour and cognition: A systematic review with special focus on prefrontal deficits

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a major health concern worldwide, thus, identifying risk factors would enable a more comprehensive understanding and prevention of this behaviour. Neuropsychological alterations could lead to difficulties in interpreting and managing life events resulting in a higher risk of suicide. METHOD: A systematic literature search from 2000 to 2020 was performed in Medline (Pubmed), Web of Science, SciELO Citation Index, PsycInfo, PsycArticles and Cochrane Library databases regarding studies comparing cognition of attempters versus non-attempters that share same psychiatric diagnosis. RESULTS: 1.885 patients diagnosed with an Affective Disorder (n=1512) and Schizophrenia/ Schizoaffective Disorder (n=373) were included. In general comparison, attention was found to be clearly dysfunctional. Regarding diagnosis, patients with Schizophrenia and previous history of suicidal behaviour showed a poorer performance in executive function. Patients with current symptoms of an Affective Disorder and a previous history of suicidal attempt had poorer performance in attention and executive function. Similarly, euthymic affective patients with history of suicidal behaviour had worse decision-making, attention and executive function performance compared to euthymic non-attempters. LIMITATIONS: The number of papers included in this review is limited to the few studies using non-attempter clinically-matched control group and therefore results regarding diagnosis, symptomatology and time of the attempt are modest and contradictory. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who have attempted suicide have a poorer neuropsychological functioning than non-attempters with a similar psychiatric disorder in attention and executive function. These alterations increase vulnerability for suicide.This work was supported by Carlos III Health Research Institute[grant numbers PI14/02029, PI15/00793, PI15/00789, PI16/01164,PI17/01433 and PI18/01055 (co-financed by the European RegionalDevelopment Fund(FEDER/ERDF)/European Social Fund‘Investing inyour future’ and the Government of the Principality of Asturias PCTI-2018–2022 IDI/2018/235)], Foundation for Health Innovation andResearch (BIOEF); Bioaraba Research Institute; Networking Center forBiomedical Research in Mental Health (CIBERSAM), the BasqueGovernment [grant numbers 2015111024, 2017111104] and theUniversity of the Basque Country [grant number 321212ELBY]. Thepsychiatric research department in Araba University Hospital is sup-portedbytheStanleyResearchFoundation[grantnumber03-RC-003

Multilingualism and third language acquisition: Learning and teaching trends

The purpose of this book is to present recent studies in the field of multilingualism and L3, bringing together contributions from an international group of specialists from Austria, Canada, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and United States. The main focuses of the articles are three: language acquisition, language learning and teaching. A collection of theoretical and empirical articles from scholars of multilingualism and language acquisition makes the book a significant resource as the papers present a wide perspective from main theories to current issues, reflecting new trends in the field. The authors focus on the heterogeneity and complexity that characterize third language acquisition, multilingual learning and teaching. As the issues addressed in this book intersect, it represents an asset and therefore the texts will be of great relevance for the scientific community. Part I presents different topics of L3 acquisition, such as syntax, phonology, working memory and selective attention, and lexicon. Part II comprises texts that show how the research on language acquisition informs pedagogical issues. For instance, the role of the knowledge of previous languages in the teaching of L3, the attitudes of multilingual teachers to plurilingual approaches, and the benefits of crosslinguistic pedagogy versus classroom monolingual bias. In sequence, Part III consists of texts on individual learning strategies, such as motivation and attitudes, crosslinguistic awareness, and students’ perceptions about teachers’ “plurilingual nonnativism”. All these chapters include several different languages in contact in an acquisition/learning context: Basque, English, French, German, Italian, Ladin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish

Multilingualism and third language acquisition: Learning and teaching trends

The purpose of this book is to present recent studies in the field of multilingualism and L3, bringing together contributions from an international group of specialists from Austria, Canada, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and United States. The main focuses of the articles are three: language acquisition, language learning and teaching. A collection of theoretical and empirical articles from scholars of multilingualism and language acquisition makes the book a significant resource as the papers present a wide perspective from main theories to current issues, reflecting new trends in the field. The authors focus on the heterogeneity and complexity that characterize third language acquisition, multilingual learning and teaching. As the issues addressed in this book intersect, it represents an asset and therefore the texts will be of great relevance for the scientific community. Part I presents different topics of L3 acquisition, such as syntax, phonology, working memory and selective attention, and lexicon. Part II comprises texts that show how the research on language acquisition informs pedagogical issues. For instance, the role of the knowledge of previous languages in the teaching of L3, the attitudes of multilingual teachers to plurilingual approaches, and the benefits of crosslinguistic pedagogy versus classroom monolingual bias. In sequence, Part III consists of texts on individual learning strategies, such as motivation and attitudes, crosslinguistic awareness, and students’ perceptions about teachers’ “plurilingual nonnativism”. All these chapters include several different languages in contact in an acquisition/learning context: Basque, English, French, German, Italian, Ladin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish