Tosse convulsa em Portugal: análise retrospetiva de casos clínicos suspeitos de infeção por Bordetella pertussis no período 2010-2014

Objetivo: Analisar retrospetivamente os resultados laboratoriais dos casos clínicos suspeitos de tosse convulsa enviados ao Laboratório Nacional de Referência de Bordetella pertussis do INSA no Porto para confirmação laboratorial no período 2010-2014, tendo como finalidade alertar não só para a necessidade de conhecer-se melhor a real incidência da tosse convulsa nos grupos etários com idade superior a 13 anos, bem como de caracterizar geneticamente as estirpes circulantes em Portugal

CELEBRITIES’ BODIES IN ACHIEVEMENT CULTURE: A STUDY OF JOURNALISTIC APPROACHES TO AMY WINEHOUSE

Amy Winehouse (1983-2011) was an artist whose musical talent led her to the spotlight at an early age. Nevertheless, an elevated amount of media scrutiny focused on her body, physical appearance and personal life helped define the way in which the public viewed her. In this paper, I engage in an analysis of headlines and articles published about the singer in British broadsheets, tabloids and magazines to discuss how the press acted in the sense of turning Winehouse into a valuable, easily sellable commodity. As I analyse a selection of media pieces that focus on the artist’s physical appearance (as opposed to her musical career), I also seek to establish the point that the discourse pervasive to those pieces is heavily gendered, with Winehouse often being criticised for deviating from acceptable patterns of femininity. The discussion I propose here is supported by studies developed by researchers of Fame Studies such as Mike Featherstone (2010) and by Guy Debord’s seminal book Society of the Spectacle (1962). Under this light, Winehouse stands as an example how the press and social media deal with and approach celebrities in the age of what Byung-Chul Han has called the achievement society [Leistungsgesellschaft]. To the Korean philosopher, we have collectively moved past Foucault’s disciplinary world towards a model where the pressure to achieve is what moves and defines us. Considering that many celebrities are perceived as overachievers, this paper discusses the toll such pressure takes on a person when undertaken publicly, with society assessing their body and behaviour to the minutest detail, fundamentally establishing patterns of scrutiny that were not possible before the digital age

Compliance study of hazard analysis and critical control point system

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is based on a preventive methodology to avoid potential hazards that can cause harm and to ensure that unsafe food is not made available to consumers. This system is recognized by the Economic and Food Safety Authority, a criminal police responsible for food safety and economic inspection in Portugal. Every day, Economic and Food Safety Authority generates a large and complex volume of data from inspections and complaints, also in its classification, registration and in monitoring until the end of the process analysis. This study focuses on the reported entities that are related to non-compliance with HACCP, and tries to understand the most common infractions. Results show values between 30% and 37% related to non-compliance to HACCP. As main conclusions, from 2014 to 2018, the number of these infractions maintained the same level and it will be important to understand if the relationship between these problems are related to legislation understanding or application.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quantitative assessment of specific defects in roasted ground coffee via infrared-photoacoustic spectroscopy

Chemical analyses and sensory evaluation are the most applied methods for quality control of roasted and ground coffee (RG). However, faster alternatives would be highly valuable. Here, we applied infrared-photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR-PAS) on RG powder. Mixtures of specific defective beans were blended with healthy (defect-free) Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora bases in specific ratios, forming different classes of blends. Principal Component Analysis allowed predicting the amount/fraction and nature of the defects in blends while partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis revealed similarities between blends (=samples). A successful predictive model was obtained using six classes of blends. The model could classify 100% of the samples into four classes. The specificities were higher than 0.9. Application of FTIR-PAS on RG coffee to characterize and classify blends has shown to be an accurate, easy, quick and "green" alternative to current methods

In silico analysis of cytochrome p450 genes involved in the metabolism of diterpenes in Coffea.

Brazil is the largest world producer and exporter of coffee, being also the second largest consumer market. Among the main goals of coffee breeders, studies aiming the improvement of cup quality and plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses have extreme importance. Beverage nutraceutical properties and plant defense mechanisms are directly linked to diterpenes present in the lipid fraction of coffee beans, such as cafestol (Caf ) and caveol (Cav). Many members of P 450 gene family are involved in plant secondary metabolism, including diterpenes synthesis. In order to depict biochemical and genetic aspects of diterpenes byosinthesis, we did an in silico characterization of p450 gene family in Coffea spp., and we also quantified Caf and Cav in coffee fruit tissues for further gene expression studies involving diterpens metabolism. Using keyword and Blast search, 1396 ESTs related to Cyt p450 were selected from the Brazilian Coffee Genome Project (http://www.lge.ibi. unicamp.br/cafe). After assembling, we observed 157 putative unigenes, distributed in 92 contigs and 65 singlets. The contigs were analyzed using BLAST X versus public sequences databases (GenBank and Harvest Coffea), confirming their identity to 91 Cyt P450 genes. Expression profiles were inferred by electronic Northern blot of all contigs, allowing the selection of 7 candidate genes for transcriptional analysis based in fruit cDNA library expression. Caf and Cav were measured using HPLC in two different fruit developmental stages: 90 DAF (Days After Flowering) vs 120 DAF and in fruits (120 DAF) treated with 2?M methyl Jasmonate (MJ). Fruits at 120 DAF had an increase of 42% in Cav and 19% in Caf levels in relation to 90DAF fruits. MJ treatment resulted in samples with an average increase of 18% of Cav and 35% of Caf. RNAs were extracted from these samples for future transcriptional analyses. This study establish a platform for expression analysis of cyt P450 candidate genes in RNA samples from tissues with contrasting accumulation of Cav and Caf. (Texte intégral