Matrix Acidizing Core Flooding Apparatus: Equipment and Procedure Description

Core flooding is a commonly used experimental procedure in the petroleum industry. It involves pressurizing a reservoir rock and flowing fluid through it in the laboratory. The cylindrical rock, called a core, can be cut from the reservoir during a separate core drilling operation or a formation outcrop. A core flooding apparatus suitable for matrix acidizing was designed and assembled. Matrix acidizing is a stimulation technique in which hydrochloric acid (HCl) is injected down the wellbore below formation fracture pressure to dissolve carbonate (CaCO3) rock creating high permeability streaks called wormholes. The main components of the apparatus include a continuous flow syringe pump, three core holders, a hydraulic hand pump, two accumulators, a back pressure regulator, and two pressure transducers connected through a series of tubing and valves. Due to the corrosive nature of the acid, the apparatus features Hastelloy which is a corrosion resistant metal alloy. Another substantial feature of the apparatus is the ability to apply 3000psi back pressure. This is the pressure necessary to keep CO2, a product of the CaCO3 and HCl reaction, in solution at elevated temperatures. To perform experiments at temperature, the core holder is wrapped with heating tape and surrounded by insulation. Tubing is wrapped around a heating band with insulation to heat the fluid before it enters the core. A LabVIEW graphical programming code was written to control heaters as well as record temperature and pressure drop across the core. Other considerations for the design include minimizing footprint, operational ease by the user, vertical placement of the accumulators and core holders to minimize gravity effects, and air release valves. Core floods can be performed at varying injection rates, temperatures and pressures up to 5000psi and 250 degF. The apparatus can handle small core plugs, 1’’ diameter X 1’’ length, up to 4’’ X 20’’ cores. The equipment description includes the purpose, relevant features, and connections to the system for each component. Finally documented is the procedure to run a core flooding test to determine permeability and inject acid complete with an analysis of pressure response data

Kyotorphin derived peptides in the relationship between analgesia and alzheimer’s disease

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Biomédicas (Bioquímica Médica), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2014The increased lifespan has brought about an increase in the incidence of diseases related to the aging process. Among these, there are the neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other entities associated with the phenomena of chronic pain. The possible correlation between two entities - pain and Alzheimer's disease - with such a large epidemiological burden is of enormous importance. Nowadays pain is considered the fifth vital sign and is highly prevalent, still largely under-treated. New drugs acting on different targets with a smaller range of adverse effects are needed. Moreover, Alzheimer's disease is widely spread in our population, primarily affecting the elderly but also a younger population. The ignorance of the complexity of the biochemical and physiological processes involved and progressive cognitive impairment of patients still result in ineffective treatment. The increase in scientific knowledge about the disease at various levels is mandatory in order to ensure an improvement in the provision of appropriate health care and the chance of intervening in the early stages of the disease, including at the level of prevention and diagnosis. The consequences of diagnosis and evolution of this pathology are well known: change in family / emotional environment of the patient and burden on caregivers. Therefore, a strategy for the correlation between these two entities and possible common therapeutic targets involving a single pharmacological agent is promising. As already mentioned, this project focuses on two issues of utmost clinical importance and strong social impact: Pain and Alzheimer's disease. The most innovative aspect relates to the hypothesis that both problems can be related and may, therefore, be addressed in a single therapeutic approach. This hypothesis is supported by previous experimental work in vitro, evolving now to another phase, with animal experimentation in disease models and clinical research. This thesis intended to evaluate a molecule, kyotorphin, as a molecular link in the mechanisms involved in both cases. Kyotorphin (KTP), discovered in 1979, was described as an endogenous analgesic dipeptide actuating in the brain. With na analgesic activity about 4 times higher than other endogenous peptides such as met-enkephalin, this dipeptide has very interesting features and is thought to act via opioid mechanisms. Analgesic derived molecules of kyotorphin had previously been tested for their analgesic effect in vivo in animal models and for in vitro neuroprotective effects after peripheral administration. This project brings these results to clinical research and its main objectives were: 1) to understand if there is a correlation between Alzheimer's disease and pain, 2) if analgesic peptides derived from kyotorphin are capable of neuromodulation and 3) evaluate kyotorphin as a potential molecular marker in Alzheimer's disease. To achieve these objectives, clinical and basic research were combined using diverse techniques such as questionnaires and pain scales, sophisticated analytical techniques of mass spectrometry and animal experimentation. In a first stage we assessed pain perception in Alzheimer patients and their caregivers, using validated pain scales. This study concluded that, in line with the findings in the literature, pain in Alzheimer patients is often under-evaluated and therefore undertreated. This phenomenon probably occurs because these patients are unable to value and/or express their suffering, even in moderate stages of the disease. Clinical research involved another component: the collection of cerebrospinal fluid samples of patients with AD for determination of Kyotorphin levels and its comparison with individuals without known neurodegenerative diseases; it was found that the levels of kyotorphin , a neuropeptide endogenous per se, decreases with the progression of Alzheimer's disease. This finding opens new possibilities, including the use of kyotorphin as a possible marker of neurodegenerescence and that this neuropeptide has neuromodulatory actions. Subsequently, we studied the effect of neuropeptide kyotorphin derivatives capable of crossing the blood brain barrier - IbKTP-NH2 e KTP-NH2 – in animal models with two objectives: realize if these drugs showed significant side effects compared to reference opioids used in clinical practice, and what were their effects in an animal model of neurodegenerescence. These amidated derivatives IbKTP-NH2 e KTP-NH2, unlike morphine and tramadol (two largely used drugs in clinical practice), caused no major side effects associated with opioids, which is a further indication that the mechanism of action of these peptides and opioids not fully coincide. On the other hand, the neurodegeneration animal model to which these compounds were chronically administered revealed an improvement in the behavioral pattern in comparison with animals with neurological lesions to which none of the compounds had been administered. Overall, our results indicate kyotorphin as a possible biomarker for Alzheimer's disease, and its derivatives IbKTP-NH2 and KTP-NH2 capable of neuromodulation/neuroprotection, in addition to effective analgesic molecules with reduced side effects.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

A indisciplina no 1.º ciclo: conceções e práticas dos professores

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e 2.º ciclos do Ensino BásicoA unidade curricular de Prática de Ensino Supervisionada II, do Mestrado em Ensino no 1.º e no 2.º Ciclos do Ensino Básico, assumiu-se como um tempo de prática pedagógica crucial para o meu futuro como professora e fez-me refletir acerca dos desafios que a prática docente acarreta e que influencia a excelência do ensino. O presente relatório final integra uma análise reflexiva do período de intervenção como professora estagiária na prática pedagógica desenvolvida numa turma de 1.º ano do 1.º Ciclo do ensino básico, bem como uma investigação sobre a problemática da indisciplina. Esta análise reflexiva foi realizada através de uma abordagem qualitativa, na qual foi utilizada a técnica de recolha de dados baseada na análise documental, observações naturalistas aos alunos e dinâmicas de turma e uma entrevista semiestruturada à docente cooperante. Ao longo do meu percurso curricular como professora estagiária, apercebi-me que a indisciplina tem um grande impacto no desenvolvimento educacional dos alunos, constituindo-se cada vez mais uma problemática relevante e preocupante para os professores de 1.º ciclo do ensino básico. Para este estudo considerou-se como objetivos fulcrais: investigar as conceções e práticas docentes face à indisciplina, identificar os tipos de comportamentos indisciplinados que são considerados mais graves na perspetiva dos docentes, que fatores estão subjacentes à manifestação dos mesmos, a frequência e eficácia de estratégias de prevenção, bem como a frequência e eficácia de estratégias de resposta. A metodologia de investigação seguida baseou-se numa abordagem quantitativa realizada através de um inquérito por questionário a oitenta professores do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico de vários agrupamentos de escolas do país, utilizando o tratamento estatístico dos mesmos. O resultado estatístico obtido com diferenças mais significativas neste estudo recaiu no facto dos professores que têm turmas disciplinadas considerarem como estratégia mais eficaz o diálogo com os alunos envolvidos, enquanto que os docentes que têm turmas indisciplinadas consideraram como estratégia mais eficaz a expulsão dos alunos da sala de aula.ABSTRACT In the curricular unit Prática de Ensino Supervisionada II, of the masters course on teaching the 1st and 2nd basic education cycles, Mestrado em Ensino no 1.º e no 2.º ciclos do Ensino Básico, was an essential learning experience for my future as a teacher and provided a reflection about the challenges of teacher’s practices and the quality of educational services. This final report includes a critical analysis about the educational practice developed in a class attending the first year in the first cycle of basic education and an investigation about indiscipline. The critical analysis was based in a qualitative research where it was used a data collection technique on documental analysis, direct observations and in a semi-structured interview to the mentor teacher of my practice. During my curricular journey as a teacher, I understood the problem of indiscipline had a big impact in the education development of the students, being a relevant and a worrying challenge for teachers in the first cycle of basic education. The main goals were to understand the teacher’s concepts about indiscipline behaviours, to identify what kind of undisciplined behaviours, are understood as more serious, what factors contribute to the occurrence of such behaviours in the classroom, the frequency and efficiency of preventive strategies as well as, frequency and efficiency of response strategies used in the classroom. The quantitative approach refers to the use of questionnaire asked to eighty teachers of the first cycle of basic education from different schools around the country, using statistical treatment. In this study, the statistic result obtained with more significant differences was the fact that teachers with disciplined classrooms used the dialogue with students as the most effective strategy, in the other hand teachers with an undisciplined classrooms used the student’s expulsion of the classroom as the most effective strategy

Neuropeptide kyotorphin (tyrosyl-arginine) has decreased levels in the cerebro-spinal fluid of Alzheimer’s disease patients: potential diagnostic and pharmacological implications

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), besides the characteristic deterioration of memory, studies also point to a higher pain tolerance in spite of sensibility preservation. A change in the normal tau protein phosphorylation is also characteristic of AD, which contributes to the pathogenesis of the disease and is useful in early diagnosis. Kyotorphin (KTP) is an endoge-nous analgesic dipeptide (Tyr-Arg) for which there is evidence of eventual neuroprotective and neuromodulatory properties. The objective of this work was to study the possible cor-relation between KTP and phosphorylated tau protein (p-tau) levels in cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) samples of AD patients. CSF samples were collected from 25 AD patients and 13 age-matched controls (N), where p-tau and KTP levels were measured.We found a statis-tically significant difference between p-tau/KTP values in AD and N groups with an inverse correlation between p-tau and KTP values in AD samples. These results suggest that in the future KTP may be a candidate biomarker for neurodegeneration and may be a lead compound to be used pharmacologically for neuroprotection.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) is acknowledged for fellowship SFRH/BPD/79542/2011 to Sónia Sá Santos and Grant PTDC/QUI-BIQ/112929/2009. MarieCurie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) is also acknowledged forfunding (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES, project MEMPEPACROSS)

Insertion/Delection Polymorphism and forensic aplications: A preliminary study

Poster apresentado na reunião científica "DNA in Forensics" em Innsbruck, Austria (2012)The human genetic identification is usually based on the study of STR markers, robust and reliable for samples containing relatively small quantities of DNA. Recent advances in forensic genetics have focused on the development of genotyping assays using shorter amplicons, in order to improve the successful amplification of degraded samples. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) and Insertion/Deletion polymorphisms (INDEL), length polymorphisms created by insertions or deletions of one or more nucleotides in the genome, have considerable potential in this kind of forensic samples, usually present in identification casework, since they can combine desirable characteristics of both, STR and SNP. In this study, a set of 30 biallelic Deletion/Insertion polymorphisms (DIP or INDEL) distributed over 19 autosomes plus Amelogenin in a single multiplex PCR reaction was applied to 100 healthy and unrelated caucasian individuals. Statistical analysis revealed that the 30 biallelic markers can provide satisfactory levels of informativeness for forensic demands.N/

A caminho da fase preparatória da criação de um Core Set para a obesidade infantojuvenil: revisão sistemática da literatura

O trabalho apresentado prende-se na necessidade de criação de Core Sets específicos para Crianças e Jovens, sendo que o objetivo deste representa a proposta de criação do mesmo, direcionado para a população infantojuvenil com Obesidade. Deste modo, desenvolveu-se uma Revisão Sistemática, parte integrante da 1ª fase da criação de um Core Set (CS). Para este efeito, foram recolhidos 570 artigos das bases de dadosMEDLINE/PubMed, ScienceDirect, b-on, PEDro, PROSPERO, dos quais 187 representam a amostra final de estudos incluídos, na qual a faixa etária da população está compreendida entre os 2 e os 19 anos, com Índice de Massa Corporal (IMC)≥ao percentil de 95 para a idade e género, publicados em Inglês no máximo há 10 anos. Dos 187 artigos, foram levantadas 1856 necessidades, das quais se ligaram 963 conceitos àClassificação Internacional da Funcionalidade e Incapacidade de Crianças e Jovens (CIF-CJ), identificando-se desta forma 109 categorias. Destas obteve-se 11,92% de categorias com saturação no domínio das Funções e Estruturas; 6,42% nas Atividades e Participação e 8,26% nos Fatores Contextuais, o que se traduz no total de 29 categorias possíveis de integração num futuroCS

Advances in extraction methods to recover added-value compounds from seaweeds: sustainability and functionality

Seaweeds are a renewable natural source of valuable macro and micronutrients that have attracted the attention of the scientists in the last years. Their medicinal properties were already recognized in the ancient traditional Chinese medicine, but only recently there has been a considerable increase in the study of these organisms in attempts to demonstrate their health benefits. The extraction process and conditions to be used for the obtention of value-added compounds from seaweeds depends mainly on the desired final product. Thermochemical conversion of seaweeds, using high temperatures and solvents (including water), to obtain high-value products with more potential applications continues to be an industrial practice, frequently with adverse impact on the environment and productsâ functionality. However more recently, alternative methods and approaches have been suggested, searching not only to improve the process performance, but also to be less harmful for the environment. A biorefinery approach display a valuable idea of solving economic and environmental drawbacks, enabling less residues production close to the much recommended zero waste system. The aim of this work is to report about the new developed methods of seaweeds extractions and the potential application of the components extracted.This work was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) un der the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The work was also supported by the Euro pean Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant (MSCA-RISE; FODIAC; 778388). Gabriela Matos is recipient of a PhD fellowship supported by a doctoral advanced training (call NORTE-69-2015-15), funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000036). Sara Pereira and Zlatina Genisheva are supported by the project OH2O (POCI-01-0145-FEDER 029145) funded by FCT and Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) under the scope of Programa Operacional de Competividade e Internacionalização (POCI)-COMPETE 2020 and Portugal 2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contribution of hospital effluents to the load of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters: Identification of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals

The impact of effluent wastewaters from four different hospitals: a university (1456 beds), a general (350 beds), a pediatric (110 beds) and a maternity hospital (96 beds), which are conveyed to the same wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), was evaluated in the receiving urban wastewaters. The occurrence of 78 pharmaceuticals belonging to several therapeutic classes was assessed in hospital effluents and WWTP wastewaters (influent and effluent) as well as the contribution of each hospital in WWTP influent in terms of pharmaceutical load. Results indicate that pharmaceuticals are widespread pollutants in both hospital and urban wastewaters. The contribution of hospitals to the input of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters widely varies, according to their dimension. The estimated total mass loadings were 306 g d− 1 for the university hospital, 155 g d− 1 for the general one, 14 g d− 1 for the pediatric hospital and 1.5 g d− 1 for the maternity hospital, showing that the biggest hospitals have a greater contribution to the total mass load of pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, analysis of individual contributions of each therapeutic group showed that NSAIDs, analgesics and antibiotics are among the groups with the highest inputs. Removal efficiency can go from over 90% for pharmaceuticals like acetaminophen and ibuprofen to not removal for β-blockers and salbutamol. Total mass load of pharmaceuticals into receiving surface waters was estimated between 5 and 14 g/d/1000 inhabitants. Finally, the environmental risk posed by pharmaceuticals detected in hospital and WWTP effluents was assessed by means of hazard quotients toward different trophic levels (algae, daphnids and fish). Several pharmaceuticals present in the different matrices were identified as potentially hazardous to aquatic organisms, showing that especial attention should be paid to antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, azithromycin and clarithromycin, since their hazard quotients in WWTP effluent revealed that they could pose an ecotoxicological risk to algae

Analysis of the Use of Photovoltaic Solar Energy as a Source of Alternative Energy in Manaus City

The need for other sources of renewable energy is present, due to sustainable growth and aiming at the dull use of fossil fuels, which is a non-renewable energy responsible for the greenhouse effect and, in its end, can generate conflicts between countries, due to its dependence. . Brazil has an advantage, in front of other countries that already use this energy source frequently, because it is the country with the highest rate of solar radiation, is not enjoyed in abundance, because it is not so accessible due to poor incentives and lack of technology knowledge. As a clean and sustainable alternative photovoltaic solar energy becomes attractive. Based on these data, this work conducts an analysis of the photovoltaic solar grid system on grid (grid) system, to take as an alternative energy