Consumo de tabaco : para controlar o tabagismo ativo e passivo é necessário fazer mais

© 2020 Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).There was a time when tobacco was thought to have medicinal qualities and another time when tobacco consumption was common, fashionable, and ubiquitous, and considered socially acceptable. However, statistical evidence suggesting a relationship between smoking and lung cancer began to emerge in the late 1920s, although scientific evidence of a causal relationship was not available until the mid-twentieth century. Since then, epidemiologists have collected evidence in large prospective and case-control studies to support a causal relationship between smoking and various diseases, chiefly cancer and cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases. As evidence on the negative effects of tobacco use accumulated, numerous organizations produced technical reports with programs and strategies for tobacco control that changed the course of public health. However, despite some success in implementing evidence-based policies and programs that have decreased smoking rates in recent decades, more effective strategies are needed to end the tobacco epidemic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evolutionary computation for predicting optimal reaction knockouts and enzyme modulation strategies

One of the main purposes of Metabolic Engineering is the quantitative prediction of cell behaviour under selected genetic modifications. These methods can then be used to support adequate strain optimization algorithms in a outer layer. The purpose of the present study is to explore methods in which dynamical models provide for phenotype simulation methods, that will be used as a basis for strain optimization algorithms to indicate enzyme under/over expression or deletion of a few reactions as to maximize the production of compounds with industrial interest. This work details the developed optimization algorithms, based on Evolutionary Computation approaches, to enhance the production of a target metabolite by finding an adequate set of reaction deletions or by changing the levels of expression of a set of enzymes. To properly evaluate the strains, the ratio of the flux value associated with the target metabolite divided by the wild-type counterpart was employed as a fitness function. The devised algorithms were applied to the maximization of Serine production by Escherichia coli, using a dynamic kinetic model of the central carbon metabolism. In this case study, the proposed algorithms reached a set of solutions with higher quality, as compared to the ones described in the literature using distinct optimization techniques.This work is funded by National Funds through the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2011. The work is also partially funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT within project ref. COMPETE FCOMP-01-0124- FEDER-015079. PEs work is supported by a PhD grant FCT SFRH/BD/51016/2010 from the Portuguese FCT

Cessação de hábitos tabágicos em doentes coronários

Objective: Assess the impact of coronary events in smoking cessation habits, and study the association between smoking habits and coronary artery disease. Methods: With a clinical structured interview, three groups were selected (n=68), from the patients of the Cardiology Service of Hospital Militar Principal. Sample 1 was composed by patients with stable, and unstable angina (n= 18), sample 2 by patients with myocardial infarction (n=26), and sample 3 by individuals with other cardiac disease (arterial hypertension, or valve disease) (n=24). The individuals were aged between 48 and 75. The following statistical procedures were used: correspondence analysis, chi-square test (x2 ~ and Fisher exact test. Results: The association between smoking habits(non smoker, former smoker, and current smoker),and type of disease (angina, myocardial infarction, and arterial hypertension), was statistically significant [X2(68)=l4,5; p=O,OO6], and there was also a significant association between smoking habits and coronary artery disease [~2(68)=4,O;p=O,O45]. The category of ex-smokers and myocardial patients also showed significant association (Fisher exact test=O,036). Conclusions: Previous myocardial infarction events constitute an experience of severe suffering and crisis, in which the patient accepts to stop smoking. We also confirm that smoking is a risk factor for myocardial infarction. Thus the objective of clinic objectivo de promover e reforçar a intenção de abandonar o consumo de tabaco revela-se de extrema importância e utilidade nesta tomada de decisão

A software tool for the simulation and optimization of dynamic metabolic models

In Systems Biology, there is a growing need for simulation and optimization tools for the prediction of the phenotypical behavior of microorganisms. In this paper, an open-source software platform is proposed to provide support for research in Metabolic Engineering, by implementing tools that enable the simulation and optimization of dynamic metabolic models using ordinary differential equations. Its main functionalities are related with (i) phenotype simulation of both wild type and mutant strains under given environmental conditions and (ii) strain optimization tackling tasks such as gene knockout selection or the definition of the optimal level of enzyme expression, given appropriate objective functions. The central carbon metabolism of E. coli was used as a case study, to illustrate the main features of the software

Evolutionary approaches for strain optimization using dynamic models under a metabolic engineering perspective

One of the purposes of Systems Biology is the quantitative modeling of biochemical networks. In this effort, the use of dynamical mathematical models provides for powerful tools in the prediction of the phenotypical behavior of microorganisms under distinct environmental conditions or subject to genetic modifications. The purpose of the present study is to explore a computational environment where dynamical models are used to support simulation and optimization tasks. These will be used to study the effects of two distinct types of modifications over metabolic models: deleting a few reactions (knockouts) and changing the values of reaction kinetic parameters. In the former case, we aim to reach an optimal knockout set, under a defined objective function. In the latter, the same objective function is used, but the aim is to optimize the values of certain enzymatic kinetic coefficients. In both cases, we seek for the best model modifications that might lead to a desired impact on the concentration of chemical species in a metabolic pathway. This concept was tested by trying to maximize the production of dihydroxyacetone phosphate, using Evolutionary Computation approaches. As a case study, the central carbon metabolism of Escherichia coli is considered. A dynamical model based on ordinary differential equations is used to perform the simulations. The results validate the main features of the approach

Implementing metaheuristic optimization algorithms with JECoLi

This work proposes JECoLi - a novel Java-based library for the implementation of metaheuristic optimization algorithms with a focus on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation based methods. The library was developed based on the principles of flexibility, usability, adaptability, modularity, extensibility, transparency, scalability, robustness and computational efficiency. The project is opensource, so JECoLi is made available under the GPL license, together with extensive documentation and examples, all included in a community Wiki-based web site (http://darwin.di.uminho.pt/jecoli). JECoLi has been/is being used in several research projects that helped to shape its evolution, ranging application fields from Bioinformatics, to Data Mining and Computer Network optimization

Saúde e objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável

A saúde é um valor intemporal. A boa saúde é uma precondição para o trabalho e uma medida do desenvolvimento sustentável. Abordam-se os diversos determinantes da saúde, com alguma ênfase nos sociais, na perspetiva de definir ações eficazes para melhorar a saúde das populações. Desde 2000, a ONU, em Resoluções, e a OMS, em programas de apoio, têm definido objetivos programáticos e intervenções globais para um mundo melhor para todos. Sumariamente, apresentam-se os objetivos destas importantes iniciativas, com alguns pontos de vista de autores. A evolução, por parcerias e esforços internacionais, tem sido positiva e de convergência em Saúde Global mas para ser grande não dispensa a abordagem das doenças não-transmissíveis, principalmente das doenças cardiovasculares, do cancro, da diabetes e das doenças respiratórias crónicas. No entanto, as desigualdades em saúde colocam diversos e enormes desafios que implicam o envolvimento de muitos atores, quer do setor da saúde, quer de outros setores, numa visão da saúde global e para maximizar o progresso.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Segurança e tolerabilidade dos fármacos antihipertensivos

A escolha de fármacos antihipertensivos baseia-se sobretudo na sua eficácia, segurança (perfil de reações adversas e interacções medicamentosas) e protecção do doente hipertenso(perfil de risco global) embora factores sócio-económicos também devam ser considerados. Nas últimas seis décadas muitos agentes antihipertensivos foram utilizados na prática clínica mas o «núcleo» do tratamento anti-hipertensivo, isto é, os fármacos mais importantes e mais utilizados são os diuréticos, bloqueadores β, antagonistas do cálcio, inibidores da enzima de conversão da angiotensina e os antagonistas dos receptores da angiotensina II. No entanto, outras classes de antihipertensivos também são prescritas embora com menos frequência, os bloqueadores a, vasodilatadores, agonistas alfa-2 centrais e os inibidores da renina

Síndrome metabólica e risco cardiovascular

© 2019 Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).The effects of isolated and associated cardiovascular risk factors have been investigated since the mid-twentieth century, but the relationship between the elements of what is now termed the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular risk was paid little attention until 1988, when Reaven described the role of insulin resistance in human disease, which he called syndrome X.1 This did not include obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, which came to be considered an important component of insulin resistance syndrome, now known as MetS, the designation preferred by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio