Music Synthesis From Images

UIDB/00693/2020 UIDP/00693/2020MuSyFI is a system that tries to model an inspirationalcomputational creative process. It uses images as sourceof inspiration and begins by implementing a possibletranslation between visual and musical features. Resultsof this mapping are fed to a Genetic Algorithm (GA)to try to better model the creative process and producemore interesting results. Three different musical artifacts are generated: an automatic version, a co-createdversion, and a genetic version. The automatic versionmaps features from the image into musical features nondeterministically; the co-created version adds harmonylines manually composed by us to the automatic version; finally, the genetic version applies a genetic algorithm to a mixed population of automatic and co-createdartifacts.The three versions were evaluated for six differentimages by conducting surveys. They evaluated whetherpeople considered our musical artifacts music, if theythought the artifacts had quality, if they considered theartifacts ’novel’, if they liked the artifacts, and lastly ifthey were able to relate the artifacts with the image inwhich they were inspired. We gathered a total of 300answers and overall people answered positively to allquestions, which confirms our approach was successfuland worth further exploring.publishersversionpublishe

Influence of wearing an unstable shoe on thigh and leg muscle activity and venous response in upright standing

Purpose: To quantify the effect of unstable shoe wearing on muscle activity and haemodynamic response during standing. Methods: Thirty volunteers were divided into 2 groups: the experimental group wore an unstable shoe for 8 weeks, while the control group used a conventional shoe for the same period. Muscle activity of the medial gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior, rectus femoris and biceps femoris and venous circulation were assessed in quiet standing with the unstable shoe and barefoot. Results: In the first measurement there was an increase in medial gastrocnemius activity in all volunteers while wearing the unstable shoe. On the other hand, after wearing the unstable shoe for eight weeks these differences were not verified. Venous return increased in subjects wearing the unstable shoe before and after training. Conclusions: The unstable shoe produced changes in electromyographic characteristics which were advantageous for venous circulation even after training accommodation by the neuromuscular system

Influence of long-term wearing of unstable shoes on compensatory control of posture: An electromyography-based analysis

This study investigated the influence of long-term wearing of unstable shoes (WUS) on compensatory postural adjustments (CPA) to an external perturbation. Participants were divided into two groups: one wore unstable shoes while the other wore conventional shoes for 8 weeks. The ground reaction force signal was used to calculate the anterior– posterior (AP) displacement of the centre of pressure (CoP) and the electromyographic signal of gastrocnemius medialis (GM), tibialis anterior (TA), rectus femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles was used to assess individual muscle activity, antagonist co-activation and reciprocal activation at the joint (TA/GM and RF/(BF + GM) pairs) and muscle group levels (ventral (TA + RF)/dorsal (GM + BF) pair) within time intervals typical for CPA. The electromyographic signal was also used to assess muscle latency. The variables described were evaluated before and after the 8-week period while wearing the unstable shoes and barefoot. Long-term WUS led to: an increase of BF activity in both conditions (barefoot and wearing the unstable shoes); a decrease of GM activity; an increase of antagonist co-activation and a decrease of reciprocal activation level at the TA/GM and ventral/dorsal pairs in the unstable shoe condition. Additionally, WUS led to a decrease in CoP displacement. However, no differences were observed in muscle onset and offset. Results suggest that the prolonged use of unstable shoes leads to increased ankle and muscle groups’ antagonist co-activation levels and higher performance by the postural control system

OpenEHR modeling: improving clinical records during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had put pressure on various national healthcare systems, due to the lack of health professionals and exhaustion of those avaliable, as well as lack of interoperability and inability to restructure their IT systems. Therefore, the restructuring of institutions at all levels is essential, especially at the level of their information systems. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic had arrived in Portugal at March 2020, with a breakout on the northern region. In order to quickly respond to the pandemic, the CHUP healthcare institution, known as a research center, has embraced the challenge of developing and integrating a new approach based on the openEHR standard to interoperate with the institution’s existing information and its systems. An openEHR clinical modelling methodology was outlined and adopted, followed by a survey of daily clinical and technical requirements. With the arrival of the virus in Portugal, the CHUP institution has undergone through constant changes in their working methodologies as well as their openEHR modelling. As a result, an openEHR patient care workflow for COVID-19 was developed.This work has been supported by FCT - Fundacao para a Ciuencia e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

De novo sequencing of proteins by mass spectrometry

Introduction Proteins are crucial for every cellular activity and unraveling their sequence and structure is a crucial step to fully understand their biology. Early methods of protein sequencing were mainly based on the use of enzymatic or chemical degradation of peptide chains. With the completion of the human genome project and with the expansion of the information available for each protein, various databases containing this sequence information were formed. Areas covered De novo protein sequencing, shotgun proteomics and other mass-spectrometric techniques, along with the various software are currently available for proteogenomic analysis. Emphasis is placed on the methods for de novo sequencing, together with potential and shortcomings using databases for interpretation of protein sequence data. Expert opinion As mass-spectrometry sequencing performance is improving with better software and hardware optimizations, combined with user-friendly interfaces, de-novo protein sequencing becomes imperative in shotgun proteomic studies. Issues regarding unknown or mutated peptide sequences, as well as, unexpected post-translational modifications (PTMs) and their identification through false discovery rate searches using the target/decoy strategy need to be addressed. Ideally, it should become integrated in standard proteomic workflows as an add-on to conventional database search engines, which then would be able to provide improved identification.publishe

Dietary natural plant extracts can promote growth and modulate oxidative status of Senegalese Sole Postlarvae under standard/challenge conditions

Plant extracts are known for their high content and diversity of polyphenols, which can improve fish oxidative status. A growth trial with Senegalese sole postlarvae (45 days after hatching) fed with one of four experimental diets—control (CTRL), and supplemented with curcumin (CC), green tea (GT), and grape seed (GS) extracts—was performed to assess if supplementation could improve growth performance and oxidative status. At the end of the growth trial, postlarvae were submitted to a thermal stress to assess their robustness. Sole growth was improved by CC and GS diets when compared to those fed the CTRL. CC and CTRL postlarvae presented the lowest oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation values). Stress-related biomarkers (heat shock protein 70 and glutathione-S-transferase) decreased in CC fish compared to those fed the CTRL diet, which might be due to a direct antioxidant capacity. In contrast, oxidative damage increased in GT and GS sole reared in standard conditions. However, after a thermal stress, GT and GS diets prevented the increase of protein carbonylation content and the decrease of antioxidant glutathione, depending on exposure time. Overall, dietary supplementation with natural extracts modulated oxidative status and stress response after a short/long-term exposure to temperature.UIDB/04326/2020, IF/00482/2014/CP1217/CT0005, CEECIND/00425/2017, RTA2017-00054-C03-01info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The atrial fibrillation burden during the blanking period is predictive of time to recurrence after catheter ablation

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Objective: This study aimed to assess whether atrial fibrillation (AF) occurrence or its corresponding daily mean burden (in minutes/day) during the mid to late blanking period after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), predicts AF recurrence. Methods: Analysis of consecutive first PVI ablation patients undergoing prolonged electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring during the second and third months after PVI. The clinical variables, total AF burden, and their relationship with time to recurrence were studied. Results: 477 patients with a mean age of 56.9 (SD = 12.3) years (63.7 % male; 71.7 % paroxysmal AF), from which 317 (66.5 %) had an external event recorder between 30 and 90 days after ablation. Median follow-up of 16.0 (P 25:12.0: P 75:33.0) months, 177 (37 %) patients had an AF recurrence, with 106 (22.2 %) having the first episode after 12 months of follow-up. In the group of patients with an event recorder, 80 (25.2 %) had AF documented during the blanking period. Multivariable analysis showed that AF during the blanking period was associated with a 4-fold higher risk of recurrence (HR: 3.98; 95 %CI: 2.95-5.37), and, compared to patients in sinus rhythm, those with an AF burden ≥ 23 min/day had an approximately 7-fold higher risk of recurrence (HR estimate: 6.79; 95 %CI: 4.56-10.10). Conclusions: The probability of experiencing AF recurrence can be predicted by atrial tachyarrhythmia episodes during the second and third months after PVI. Atrial arrhythmias burden > 23 min/day has a high predictive ability for recurrence.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Competências profissionais no âmbito da prevenção e do tratamento do tabagismo no final da formação pré-graduada dos profissionais de saúde: Estudo de avaliação com os cursos de formação em ciências farmacêuticas, enfermagem, medicina e medicina dentária – Sumário Executivo.

Este documento é o resultado de um estudo de avaliação das competências profissionais no âmbito da prevenção e do tratamento do tabagismo no final da formação pré-graduada dos cursos de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Enfermagem, Medicina e Medicina Dentária. Principais conclusões? 1 - Elevadas prevalências de tabagismo; 2 - Atitudes positivas relativamente ao controlo do tabaco; 3 - Um nível razoável de conscientização sobre as políticas de não fumador nos espaços das práticas letivas e clínicas; 4 - Um alinhamento com o quadro teórico e concetual sobre as temáticas da prevenção e do tratamento do tabagismo, assim como acerca do papel dos profissionais de saúde neste domínio; 5 - Limitadas competências de intervenção ao nível da prevenção e do tratamento do tabagismo; 6 - Necessária introdução de um conjunto de temas teóricos e práticos na formação académica destes profissionais, percecionados como omissos, que suportem o seu pensamento e as suas decisões na atual no domínio do tabagismo

Movimentos de vertente no norte de Portugal: importância do comportamento hidrológico das formações superficiais

A ocorrência de movimentos de vertente no Norte de Portugal tem motivado o desenvolvimento de vários estudos de caso, ensaiando-se diversas metodologias que visam defi nir e caracterizar os factores condicionantes que maior infl uência exercem sobre os processos de instabilidade. Neste trabalho apresentam-se os resultados obtidos para o fl uxo de detritos de Frades (Arcos de Valdevez), discutindo-se a importância do contexto morfo-estrutural, das formações superfi ciais e do seu comportamento hidrológico, analisados através de ensaios laboratoriais e in situ, designadamente, granulometria, composição mineralógica, condutividade hidráulica, resistência à penetração e refracção sísmica. O estudo desenvolvido, para além de demonstrar a existência de caminhos preferenciais da circulação interna da água, em associação com condicionamentos ligados às características das formações superfi ciais, revela que a rede de drenagem subsuperfi cial tem uma ligação evidente com o escoamento que se processa à superfície, embora possa sofrer alterações motivadas por estruturas subjacentes.The occurrence of landslides in northern Portugal has motivated the development of several case studies, rehearsing different methodologies that seek to defi ne and characterize the conditioning factors with the greatest infl uence over the geomorphologic instability processes. This paper presents the results obtained for Frades (Arcos de Valdevez) debris fl ow, discussing the importance of morphostructural context, surfi cial formations and their hydrological behavior, analyzed by in situ and laboratory tests, namely, grain size, mineralogy, hydraulic conductivity, penetration resistance and seismic refraction. The developed study shows the existence of preferential paths of internal water circulation, in combination with constraints linked to the characteristics of the surfi cial formations, revealing also that the subsurface drainage network has an obvious link with the fl ow that takes place at the surface, although it may present changes motivated by underlying structures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Anatomy Teaching at the School of Health Sciences of University of Minho

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