When so much is unknown, details matter for the right decision

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How can it be predicted?

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Are We Reaching the End of the Evolutionary Road to Metallic Drug-Eluting Stents? Which 4th Generation Stents Do We Need?

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DFJ Vinhos : wines in China, a promising but difficult market : a case on internationalization process and positioning strategies

The wine consumption in China has grown significantly and the prognosis for the following years seems very promising. In fact, with the increase of the middle class, the consumption habits within this country have started to shift, namely in what regards to the consumption of imported wines, which have achieved a prime position. Hence, China appears to be a market that no wine producer or exporter can afford to ignore. DFJ Vinhos, which has already occasionally exported to China, is a Portuguese wines’ company that aims to reposition itself within the Chinese wine market, turning occasional exportations into an ambitious project. The goal is to place 15% of its capacity in this market within the following two years. The challenge for José Neiva Correia, DFJ Vinhos’ CEO, is to find the correct place for his wines. Bearing this in mind, the cross point is: whether to position itself in a lower end segment, betting on higher turnovers, or risking in a higher end positioning through a well-orchestrated campaign. Furthermore, the company would have to take into consideration the fierce existing competition, the cultural expectations and the lack of visibility of Portugal’s brand image within this demanding market.O consumo de vinho na China tem vindo a crescer de forma muito significativa, sendo a previsão para os próximos anos bastante promissora. Com efeito, com o aumento da classe média, os hábitos de consumo deste país começaram a alterar-se, nomeadamente no que respeita ao consumo de vinhos importados, os quais se encontram numa posição de destaque. Assim, o mercado Chinês aparenta ser um mercado a não ser ignorado por produtores ou exportadores de vinho. A DFJ Vinhos, a qual esporadicamente tem vindo a exportar para a China, é uma empresa de vinhos portuguesa que pretende recolocar-se no mercado de vinhos chinês, tornando exportações esporádicas num projecto ambicioso. O objectivo é vir a colocar 15% da sua capacidade neste mercado dentro dos próximos dois anos. O desafio de José Neiva Correia, CEO da DFJ Vinhos, é o de encontrar o espaço certo para os seus vinhos. Face ao exposto, a questão é: se deverá posicionar-se num segmento de mercado mais baixo, apostando numa maior rotatividade de produto, ou arriscar num posicionamento mais alto através de uma bem orquestrada campanha de comunicação. Além disso, a empresa teria de ter em conta a feroz concorrência existente, as expectativas culturais, e a falta de visibilidade da “marca Portugal” neste exigente mercado

Intervenção da fisioterapia na fasceíte plantar: uma revisão bibliográfica

Projeto de Graduação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciado em FisioterapiaObjetivo: Perceber quais as abordagens terapêuticas onde se verifica maior diminuição de dor e o respetivo aumento da função em pacientes com fasceíte plantar. Metodologia: Pesquisa efetuada nas bases de dados: Pubmed, SPORTDiscus e CINAHL, de modo a identificar os artigos relevantes para o estudo, os que obedecessem aos critérios de inclusão e, por fim, a sua qualidade metodológica avaliada na escala de PEDro. Resultados: Nesta revisão foram incluídos 8 artigos num total de 508, perfazendo um total de 487 indivíduos, sendo que, as abordagens presentes nos estudos são: realização do exercício terapêutico, terapia manual, utilização de palmilhas, aplicação de eletroterapia, assim como, a aplicação de Kinesiotape. Conclusão: Com base na análise dos estudos, a atuação da fisioterapia na fasceíte plantar parece trazer benefícios desempenhando um papel importante na diminuição da dor e aumento da funcionalidade do pé.Objective: To understand which therapeutic approaches have the greatest decrease in pain and the corresponding increase in function in patients with plantar fasciitis. Methodology: Search carried out in the databases: Pubmed, SPORTDiscus and CINAHL, in order to identify the articles relevant to the study, those that met the inclusion criteria and, finally, their methodological quality assessed on the PEDro scale. Results: In this review, 8 articles were included in a total of 508 and, profiling a total of 487 individuals, and the techniques applied in the studies were: therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, use of insoles, application of electrotherapy and finally, the application of Kinesio. Conclusion: Based on the analysis of the studies, the role of physical therapy in plantar fasciitis brings benefits and plays an important role in decreasing pain and increasing foot functionality.N/

Sympathetic renal denervation for resistant hypertension : impact on blood pressure and on surrogate markers of target organ damage

Summary Hypertension is a leading cause of death in developed countries, and although there have been large investments in drugs aiming its control, there is still a staggering contrast between its high prevalence and the low rates of adequate control. A subset of patients with suboptimal blood pressure control have drug-resistant hypertension, in the pathophysiology of which chronic sympathetic hyperactivation is significantly involved. Sympathetic renal denervation has recently emerged as a device-based treatment for resistant hypertension. In this review, the pathophysiological mechanisms linking the sympathetic nervous system and cardiovascular disease are reviewed, focusing on resistant hypertension and the role of sympathetic renal denervation. An update on experimental and clinical results is provided, along with potential future indications for this device-based technique in other cardiovascular diseases

Hormone-Mediated Gene Regulation and Bioinformatics: Learning One from the Other

The ability to manage the constantly growing clinically relevant information in genetics available on the internet is becoming crucial in medical practice. Therefore, training students in teaching environments that develop bioinformatics skills is a particular challenge to medical schools. We present here an instructional approach that potentiates learning of hormone/vitamin mechanisms of action in gene regulation with the acquisition and practice of bioinformatics skills. The activity is integrated within the study of the Endocrine System module. Given a nucleotide sequence of a hormone or vitamin-response element, students use internet databases and tools to find the gene to which it belongs. Subsequently, students search how the corresponding hormone/vitamin influences the expression of that particular gene and how a dysfunctional interaction might cause disease. This activity was presented for four consecutive years to cohorts of 50–60 students/year enrolled in the 2nd year of the medical degree. 90% of the students developed a better understanding of the usefulness of bioinformatics and 98% intend to use web-based resources in the future. Since hormones and vitamins regulate genes of all body organ systems, this activity successfully integrates the whole body physiology of the medical curriculum

Deductive verification of cryptographic software

We apply state-of-the art deductive verification tools to check security-relevant properties of cryptographic software, including safety, absence of error propagation, and correctness with respect to reference implementations. We also develop techniques to help us in our task, focusing on methods oriented towards increased levels of automation, in scenarios where there are clear obvious limits to such automation. These techniques allow us to integrate automatic proof tools with an interactive proof assistant, where the latter is used off-line to prove once-and-for-all fundamental lemmas about properties of programs. The techniques developed have independent interest for practical deductive verification in general.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Formal verification of side channel countermeasures using self-composition

Formal verification of cryptographic software implementations poses significant challenges for off-the-shelf tools. This is due to the domain-specific characteristics of the code, involving aggressive optimisations and non-functional security requirements, namely the critical aspect of countermeasures against side-channel attacks. In this paper we extend previous results supporting the practicality of self-composition proofs of non-interference and generalisations thereof. We tackle the formal verification of high-level security policies adopted in the implementation of the recently proposed NaCl cryptographic library. We formalize these policies and propose a formal verification approach based on self-composition, extending the range of security policies that could previously be handled using this technique. We demonstrate our results by addressing compliance with the NaCl security policies in real-world cryptographic code, highlighting the potential for automation of our techniques.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Verifying cryptographic software correctness with respect to reference implementations

This paper presents techniques developed to check program equivalences in the context of cryptographic software development, where specifications are typically reference implementations. The techniques allow for the integration of interactive proof techniques (required given the difficulty and generality of the results sought) in a verification infrastructure that is capable of discharging many verification conditions automatically. To this end, the difficult results in the verification process (to be proved interactively) are isolated as a set of lemmas. The fundamental notion of natural invariant is used to link the specification level and the interactive proof construction process.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT