“Not storing the samples it’s certainly not a good service for patients”: Constructing the Biobank as a health place

Biobanks have been established from the beginning of the millennium as relevant infrastructures to support biomedical research. These repositories have also transformed the paradigm of collecting and storing samples and associated clinical data, moving these practices from the healthcare services and research laboratories to dedicated services. In Portugal, the establishment of biobanks is happening in the absence of a specific legal framework, turning it difficult to fully understand the scope of their action. This ethnographic research explored how establishing a biobank challenges the dynamics between healthcare and biomedical research. The ethnography intended to follow the path of biological samples from the hospital, where they were collected, to the biobank in a research institute, where they were stored. Findings suggest that although the nature of the biobank’s technical work seemed to inscribe it as a research-oriented setting, the biobank’s daily work was performed through symbolic action in the logic of care. Biobank staff constantly recalled the human nature of the samples, and they built complex illness narratives of each sample, promoting a connection with the absent donor. These practices were crucial to constructing the biobank as a health place, one that was designed to be life-saving in the near future.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digital informed consent: Possibilities and challenges in biobanks for health research

Biobanks are key infrastructures in biomedical research, storing and providing biological samples, personal and clinical data. Informed con- sent is a central piece of the process, as a means to respect each parti- cipants’ dignity, integrity and to acknowledge their capacity to express autonomous decisions. Providing adequate information, while ensuring the voluntariness of their decision are essential to an effective consent. Requesting informed consent usually takes place in the context of heal- thcare, where paper forms are still widely preferred, when not manda- tory and when person to person relationships are crucial. As biobanks are moving fast to implement automated protocols from biological samples processing to data collection, it is relevant to discuss the challenges posed by the digitalization of informed consent. To this end, such transition will be critically discussed using dynamic consent as a starting point to highlight the opportunities of digital tools, but also the relevance of healthcare context.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Modelling of an R-290/POE ISO 22 Variable Speed Air Conditioner System under SEER Conditions

Air-conditioning applications using propane (R-290) have several environmental and thermodynamic advantages over more commonly used refrigerants, such as R-410A and R-22. This paper presents the development of a mathematical model for variable capacity air conditioning systems that use R-290/POE ISO 22 as refrigerant/lubricant. The thermodynamic performance of the refrigeration system is evaluated in terms of the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio). The thermodynamic properties of the refrigerant/lubricant mixture were obtained from a departure-function approach using the Peng-Robinson equation of state. The effect of the oil on the condenser and evaporator heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops was also taken into account. Sub-models were developed for each component of the air conditioning system, including the connecting lines and the scroll compressor.

Os portugueses e os biobancos: um primeiro mapeamento de uma realidade emergente

Nesta intervenção, venho apresentar alguns aspetos sobre a realidade portuguesa dos biobancos, tanto do ponto de vista do público e da sociedade civil, como dos biobancos que existem em Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Leprosy and rheumatoid arthritis: consequence or association?

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic granulomatous infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae with a high prevalence in some developing countries however, it is rarely seen in non-endemic regions. Arthritis has been described in all types of Hansen's disease. Chronic arthritis is known to exist even in paucibacillary forms, resolved or treated disease and in patients without reaction, suggesting a perpetuated inflammatory process. In these cases leprosy can mimic some autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. When a patient with a history of leprosy presents with a symmetric, distal, polyarthritis the diagnosis may not be linear. Possibly it is a rheumatoid-like leprous arthritis with M leprae acting as the trigger element for the chronic process or it is an overlap condition, with a concomitant rheumatoid arthritis? A case report of a patient with a chronic inflammatory arthritis with 10 years of evolution is presented. The differential diagnosis between leprous and rheumatoid arthritis is discussed

Nucleotide distance influences co-methylation between nearby CpG sites.

The tendency of individual CpG sites to be methylated is distinctive, non-random and well-regulated throughout the genome. We investigated the structural and spatial factors influencing CpGs methylation by performing an ultra-deep targeted methylation analysis on human, mouse and zebrafish genes. We found that methylation is not a random process and that closer neighboring CpG sites are more likely to share the same methylation status. Moreover, if the distance between CpGs increases, the degree of co-methylation decreases. We set up a simulation model to analyze the contribution of both the intrinsic susceptibility and the distance effect on the probability of a CpG to be methylated. Our finding suggests that the establishment of a specific methylation pattern follows a universal rule that must take into account of the synergistic and dynamic interplay of these two main factors: the intrinsic methylation susceptibility of specific CpG and the nucleotide distance between two CpG sites. © 2019 Elsevier Inc

Modulation of fecal clostridiales bacteria and butyrate by probiotic intervention with Lactobacillus paracasei DG varies among healthy adults

Background: The modulation of gut microbiota is considered to be the first target to establish probiotic efficacy in a healthy population. Objective: This study was conducted to determine the impact of a probiotic on the intestinal microbial ecology of healthy volunteers. Methods: High-throughput 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing was used to characterize the fecal microbiota in healthy adults (23-55 y old) of both sexes, before and after 4 wk of daily consumption of a capsule containing at least 24 billion viable Lactobacillus paracasei DG cells, according to a randomized, double-blind, crossover placebo-controlled design. Results: Probiotic intake induced an increase in Proteobacteria (P = 0.006) and in the Clostridiales genus Coprococcus (P = 0.009), whereas the Clostridiales genus Blautia (P = 0.036) was decreased; a trend of reduction was also observed for Anaerostipes (P = 0.05) and Clostridium (P = 0.06). We also found that the probiotic effect depended on the initial butyrate concentration. In fact, participants with butyrate >100 mmol/kg of wet feces had a mean butyrate reduction of 49 ± 21% and a concomitant decrease in the sum of 6 Clostridiales genera, namely Faecalibacterium, Blautia, Anaerostipes, Pseudobutyrivibrio, Clostridium, and Butyrivibrio (P = 0.021), after the probiotic intervention. In contrast, in participants with initial butyrate concentrations <25 mmol/kg of wet feces, the probiotic contributed to a 329 ± 255% (mean ± SD) increment in butyrate concomitantly with an ~55% decrease in Ruminococcus (P = 0.016) and a 150% increase in an abundantly represented unclassified Bacteroidales genus (P = 0.05). Conclusions: The intake of L. paracasei DG increased the Blautia:Coprococcus ratio, which, according to the literature, can potentially confer a health benefit on the host. The probiotic impact on themicrobiota and on short-chain fatty acids, however, seems to strictly depend on the initial characteristics of the intestinal microbial ecosystem. In particular, fecal butyrate concentrations could represent an important biomarker for identifying subjects who may benefit from probiotic treatment

Multiple Arthritis: Three in One

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Horse meat consumption affects iron status, lipid profile and fatty acid composition of red blood cells in healthy volunteers

This study investigated the effect of moderate consumption of horse meat on iron status, lipid profile and fatty acid composition of red blood cells in healthy male volunteers. Fifty-two subjects were randomly assigned to two groups of 26 subjects each: a test group consuming two portions of 175 g/week of horse meat, and a control group that abstained from eating horse meat during the 90 days trial. Before and after 90 days, blood samples were collected for analysis. Horse meat consumption significantly (p<0.05) reduced serum levels of total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (26.2% and 29.1%, respectively) and transferrin (24.6%). Total n-3, long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3 and docosahexeanoic acid content in erythrocytes increased (p<0.05) by about 7.8%, 8% and 11%, respectively. In conclusion, the regular consumption of horse meat may contribute to the dietary intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and may improve lipid profile and iron status in healthy subjects