Design sistémico de luz natural e artificial : iluminação para o idoso institucionalizado.

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Design de Produto, apresentada na Universidade de Lisboa - Faculdade de Arquitetura.O aumento da expectativa de vida e a desintegração das estruturas familiares tradicionais nas sociedades ocidentais tornou a institucionalização inexorável para muitos idosos. O envelhecimento crescente da população tem suscitado a multiplicação de equipamentos destinados a este grupo etário com necessidades muito diversificadas, quer por razões culturais, quer por causa da sua condição de saúde, psíquica e física. Em Portugal, parte significativa das infra-estruturas existentes não foram projectadas de raiz para o propósito social que se propõem cumprir, pelo que não tiram o devido partido da luz natural e sobreutilizam a iluminação artificial de baixo custo. Porém, a luz natural e artificial tem um impacto muito significativo na qualidade de vida e, em particular, dos idosos institucionalizados, ao que a iluminação actual tem efeitos desfavoráveis sobre a saúde e o bem-estar dos residentes e dos seus cuidadores. Esta investigação identifica as necessidades diárias dos utentes destes equipamentos e apresenta um elenco de especificações para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de iluminação que sejam centrados nos utilizadores, sustentáveis e adequados à intervenção luminoterapêutica, nomeadamente à regulação do ritmo circadiano e à manutenção da integridade física e neuropsicológica. A metodologia empregue nesta investigação teórico-prática é mista, de base qualitativa e não-intervencionista. Dada a existência de muita informação dispersa e multidisciplinar, constituiu-se um enquadramento teórico rigoroso e uma pesquisa de benchmarking sobre produtos, materiais e tecnologias com um elevado potencial de inovação para esta área investigativa. Em paralelo à revisão da literatura, estabeleceram-se contactos com várias instituições sociais de acolhimento temporário e permanente de idosos, o que permitiu a observação empírica de um fragmento da realidade nacional e a selecção e análise de três casos de estudo. Realizaram-se, ainda, inquéritos apoiados por questionário a profissionais e cuidadores formais de lares diferentes, assim como uma entrevista exploratória a um especialista, presidente da Associação dos Amigos da Grande Idade – Inovação e Desenvolvimento e coordenador de um lar de idosos.Assim, para além da sistematização e tratamento de informação dispersa, os resultados desta investigação incluem recomendações e especificações técnicas para o desenvolvimento projectual na área do design de iluminação para idosos institucionalizados, contribuindo para a promoção da coesão da família institucional e da humanização da prestação de cuidados, tornando a palavra "lar" não uma designação genérica e esvaziada de significado, mas um substantivo que designa um ambiente protegido e acolhedor.ABSTRACT: Institutionalization has become inevitable for many seniors because of the breakdown of traditional family structures and extended life expectancy in Western societies. Increasing ageing population boosts the multiplication of facilities aimed at this age group, which has very diverse needs, either for cultural reasons or because of their mental and physical health condition. In Portugal, a significant part of the settings was not designed from scratch for its social purpose, and does not take proper advantage of natural light, overusing low-cost artificial lighting instead. However, natural and artificial light has a very significant impact on quality of life and, in particular, of institutionalized elderly, so we can foresee the adverse effects of actual lighting on health and well-being of the residents and their caregivers. This research identifies the users’ needs of facilities for the elderly. It features a cast of specifications for the development of sustainable user-focused lighting systems that are suitable for light therapy intervention, namely the regulation of circadian rhythm and the maintenance of physical and neuropsychological integrity. The methodology employed in this theoretical-practical research has a mixed, qualitative and non-interventionist basis. In order to organize the widely dispersed and multidisciplinary extant information, we established a rigorous theoretical framework and conducted a benchmark study on innovative products, materials and technologies with significant potential for this research area. Apart from literature review, we contacted several social institutions of permanent and short-term care for the elderly, which gave us the opportunity to examine a fragment of Portuguese reality, select and analyze three case studies. We also did questionnaire surveys to professionals and formal caregivers from different nursing homes, and interviewed an expert, coordinator of a nursing home and president of the Associação dos Amigos da Grande Idade – Inovação e Desenvolvimento (Friends of the Grand Age Association – Innovation and Development). Thus, beyond systematizing and processing existing and newly acquired knowledge, research results include recommendations and technical specifications for project development in the area of lighting design for institutionalized elderly. By doing so, we intend to help promoting institutional cohesion and humanized care, bringing a new meaning to generic words such as "home": the promise of a safe and welcoming environment

Biomimetic Groundwork for Thermal Exchange Structures Inspired by Plant Leaf Design

Geometry is a determining factor for thermal performance in both biological and technical systems. While biology has inspired thermal design before, biomimetic translation of leaf morphology into structural aspects of heat exchangers remains largely unaddressed. One determinant of plant thermal endurance against environmental exposure is leaf shape, which modulates the leaf boundary layer, transpiration, evaporative cooling, and convective exchange. Here, we lay the research groundwork for the extraction of design principles from leaf shape relations to heat and mass transfer. Leaf role models were identified from an extensive literature review on environmentally sensitive morphology patterns and shape-dependent exchange. Addressing canopy sun–shade dimorphism, sun leaves collected from multiple oak species exceeded significantly in margin extension and shape dissection. Abstracted geometries (i.e., elongated; with finely toothed edges; with few large-scale teeth) were explored with paper models of the same surface area in a controlled environment of minimal airflow, which is more likely to induce leaf thermal stress. For two model characteristic dimensions, evaporation rates were significantly faster for the dissected geometries. Shape-driven transfer enhancements were higher for the smaller models, and finely toothed edges reached local cooling up to 10 °C below air temperature. This investigation breaks new ground for solution-based biomimetics to inform the design of evaporation-assisted and passively enhanced thermal systems

Analyzing CFT Images to Determine Optimum Time for F- 19 MRI Acquisition in NK-cell immunotherapy of Osteosarcoma

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp21/1176/thumbnail.jp

Development of a high-throughput screen to identify small molecule enhancers of sarcospan for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

BACKGROUND:Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by loss of sarcolemma connection to the extracellular matrix. Transgenic overexpression of the transmembrane protein sarcospan (SSPN) in the DMD mdx mouse model significantly reduces disease pathology by restoring membrane adhesion. Identifying SSPN-based therapies has the potential to benefit patients with DMD and other forms of muscular dystrophies caused by deficits in muscle cell adhesion. METHODS:Standard cloning methods were used to generate C2C12 myoblasts stably transfected with a fluorescence reporter for human SSPN promoter activity. Assay development and screening were performed in a core facility using liquid handlers and imaging systems specialized for use with a 384-well microplate format. Drug-treated cells were analyzed for target gene expression using quantitative PCR and target protein expression using immunoblotting. RESULTS:We investigated the gene expression profiles of SSPN and its associated proteins during myoblast differentiation into myotubes, revealing an increase in expression after 3 days of differentiation. We created C2C12 muscle cells expressing an EGFP reporter for SSPN promoter activity and observed a comparable increase in reporter levels during differentiation. Assay conditions for high-throughput screening were optimized for a 384-well microplate format and a high-content imager for the visualization of reporter levels. We conducted a screen of 3200 compounds and identified seven hits, which include an overrepresentation of L-type calcium channel antagonists, suggesting that SSPN gene activity is sensitive to calcium. Further validation of a select hit revealed that the calcium channel inhibitor felodipine increased SSPN transcript and protein levels in both wild-type and dystrophin-deficient myotubes, without increasing differentiation. CONCLUSIONS:We developed a stable muscle cell line containing the promoter region of the human SSPN protein fused to a fluorescent reporter. Using the reporter cells, we created and validated a scalable, cell-based assay that is able to identify compounds that increase SSPN promoter reporter, transcript, and protein levels in wild-type and dystrophin-deficient muscle cells

E2BMO: Facilitating User Interaction with a BioMimetic Ontology via Semantic Translation and Interface Design

Function is a key central concept to the practice of biomimicry. Many published models of the biomimicry process include steps to identify, understand, and translate function of biological systems. Examples include functional modeling, decomposition, or abstraction with tools specifically designed to facilitate such steps. A functional approach to biomimicry yields a semantic bridge between biology and engineering, enabling practitioners from a variety of backgrounds to more easily communicate and collaborate in a biomimicry design process. Although analysis of function is likely a necessary part of biomimicry design, recent work suggests it is not sufficient without a more systematic understanding of the complex biological context in which a function exists (e.g., scale and trade-offs). Consequently, emerging tools such as ontologies are being developed that attempt to capture the intricacies of biological systems (including functions), such as their complex environmental and behavioral interactions. However, due to the complexity of such tools, they may be under-utilized. Here, we propose a solution through a computer-aided user interface tool which integrates a biomimetic ontology with a thesaurus-based functional approach to biomimicry. Through a proof of concept illustrative case study, we demonstrate how merging existing tools can facilitate the biomimicry process in a systematic and collaborative way, broadening solution discovery. This work offers an approach to making existing tools, specifically the BioMimetic Ontology, more accessible and encompassing of different perspectives via semantic translation and interface design. This provides the user with the opportunity to interface and extract information from both the Engineering-to-Biology Thesaurus and the BioMimetic Ontology in a way that was not possible before. The proposed E2BMO tool not only increases the accessibility of the BioMimetic Ontology, which ultimately aims to streamline engineers’ interaction with the bio-inspired design process, but also provides an option for practitioners to traverse biological knowledge along the way, encouraging greater interdisciplinary collaboration and consideration when conducting biomimicry research

Risk of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccinationResearch in context

Background: While vaccines have established utility against COVID-19, phase 3 efficacy studies have generally not comprehensively evaluated protection provided by previous infection or hybrid immunity (previous infection plus vaccination). Individual patient data from US government-supported harmonized vaccine trials provide an unprecedented sample population to address this issue. We characterized the protective efficacy of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against COVID-19 early in the pandemic over three-to six-month follow-up and compared with vaccine-associated protection. Methods: In this post-hoc cross-protocol analysis of the Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we allocated participants into four groups based on previous-infection status at enrolment and treatment: no previous infection/placebo; previous infection/placebo; no previous infection/vaccine; and previous infection/vaccine. The main outcome was RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 >7–15 days (per original protocols) after final study injection. We calculated crude and adjusted efficacy measures. Findings: Previous infection/placebo participants had a 92% decreased risk of future COVID-19 compared to no previous infection/placebo participants (overall hazard ratio [HR] ratio: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.05–0.13). Among single-dose Janssen participants, hybrid immunity conferred greater protection than vaccine alone (HR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.10). Too few infections were observed to draw statistical inferences comparing hybrid immunity to vaccine alone for other trials. Vaccination, previous infection, and hybrid immunity all provided near-complete protection against severe disease. Interpretation: Previous infection, any hybrid immunity, and two-dose vaccination all provided substantial protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 through the early Delta period. Thus, as a surrogate for natural infection, vaccination remains the safest approach to protection. Funding: National Institutes of Health

Risk of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccinationResearch in context

Summary: Background: While vaccines have established utility against COVID-19, phase 3 efficacy studies have generally not comprehensively evaluated protection provided by previous infection or hybrid immunity (previous infection plus vaccination). Individual patient data from US government-supported harmonized vaccine trials provide an unprecedented sample population to address this issue. We characterized the protective efficacy of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against COVID-19 early in the pandemic over three-to six-month follow-up and compared with vaccine-associated protection. Methods: In this post-hoc cross-protocol analysis of the Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we allocated participants into four groups based on previous-infection status at enrolment and treatment: no previous infection/placebo; previous infection/placebo; no previous infection/vaccine; and previous infection/vaccine. The main outcome was RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 >7–15 days (per original protocols) after final study injection. We calculated crude and adjusted efficacy measures. Findings: Previous infection/placebo participants had a 92% decreased risk of future COVID-19 compared to no previous infection/placebo participants (overall hazard ratio [HR] ratio: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.05–0.13). Among single-dose Janssen participants, hybrid immunity conferred greater protection than vaccine alone (HR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.10). Too few infections were observed to draw statistical inferences comparing hybrid immunity to vaccine alone for other trials. Vaccination, previous infection, and hybrid immunity all provided near-complete protection against severe disease. Interpretation: Previous infection, any hybrid immunity, and two-dose vaccination all provided substantial protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 through the early Delta period. Thus, as a surrogate for natural infection, vaccination remains the safest approach to protection. Funding: National Institutes of Health