Estudo do hábito para a reabilitação cognitiva suportado em jogos sérios

Dissertação de mestradoA inovação da tecnologia contribui para uma abordagem personalizada e integrada na área da educação, jornalismo, comunicação institucional e empresarial, línguas, gestão, ‘marketing’, e sobretudo, na saúde. Face ao número crescente de novos pacientes e à falta de especialistas (como se verifica com a atual pandemia), a emergência de tecnologias inovadoras aproxima as áreas da saúde e das tecnologias. Neste projeto pretendeu-se adotar essa temática, utilizando ambientes digitais no contexto da RC, para o tratamento de indivíduos da terceira idade com défice nas funções cognitivas. Nomeadamente, por Jogos Sérios (JS), explorando o hábito como método de estimulação mediante ações e estímulos tecnológicos. Tipicamente, o paciente de doenças neurológicas sofre de Deficits Cognitivos (DC), ao nível das funções executivas, viso-espaciais, da atenção e/ou da memória. A inserção do paciente num ambiente que promove e simula a estimulação cognitiva autónoma e auxiliada, visa a reduzir custos e proporcionar um ambiente personalizado para o treino de atividades de reabilitação que normalmente exigiria a presença de um terapeuta ou o recurso limitado de exercícios disponibilizados. Neste contexto pretendeu-se explorar diversas vertentes para o sucesso do tema/área de exploração, adotando uma interação controlada por hábitos atómicos, que não só limitam o tempo de jogo, como motivam e capacitam os utilizadores (pacientes) a realizar tarefas no seu quotidiano. Em considerações gerais, este projeto cumpriu todos os objetivos propostos. Terminando-o, com um enquadramento do impacto e acompanhamento do avanço tecnológico na área da saúde, no âmbito da RC, tal como a definição das potencialidades e limitações dos JS ao nível da funcionalidade e usabilidade na população em foco. Aludindo à comparação do impacto e envolvimento no processo de reabilitação recorrendo a JS, comparativamente com as abordagens tradicionais, resultante da recolha e análise da revisão da bibliografia, que originou num artigo validado cientificamente pela HCist - International Conference on Health and Social Care Information Systems and Technologies. Como resultados, este projeto contribuiu com resultados quantitativos e qualitativos capazes de aferir a veracidade e eficácia do desenvolvimento de hábitos e competências cognitivas através do uso dos JS desenvolvidos e selecionados em consideração e avaliação personalizada de cada paciente. Retornando através da aplicação dos testes capacitivos, que os hábitos podem ser transpostos em contextos do quotidiano, através da prática do toque, da cognição e exploração do equipamento.Innovative technology contributes to a personalised and integrated approach in education, journalism, corporate and business communication, languages, management, marketing and above all, health. Given the increasing number of new patients and the lack of specialists (as seen with the current pandemic), the emergence of innovative technologies brings together the areas of health and technology. In this project, we intended to adopt this theme, using digital environments in the context of CR to treat elderly individuals with deficits in cognitive functions. Namely, by Serious Games (JS), exploring the habit as a method of stimulation through actions and technological stimuli. Typically, patients with neurological diseases suffer from Cognitive Deficits (CD) at the level of executive functions, visuospatial, attention and memory. The insertion of the patient in an environment that promotes and simulates autonomous and aided stimulation aims to reduce costs and provide a personalised environment for the training of rehabilitation activities that require the presence of a therapist or the limited use of exercises provided. In this context, were intended to explore several aspects for the success of the theme/area of exploration, adopting an interaction controlled by atomic habits, which not only limit the game time but also motivate and empower users (patients) to perform tasks in their daily lives.In general considerations, this project fulfilled all the proposed objectives. Finishing it framing, the impact and monitoring of technological advancement in health in the context of CR, such as the potential and limitations of SG at the level of functionality and usability in the population in focus. Alluding to the comparison of the impact and involvement in the rehabilitation process, using JS, compared to traditional approaches resulting from the collection and analysis of the literature review, which originated in an article scientifically validated by HCist - International Conference on Health and Social Care Information Systems and Technologies. As a result, this project contributed quantitative and qualitative results capable of assessing the veracity and effectiveness of the development of habits and cognitive skills throughout the use of the JS developed and selected in consideration and personalised evaluation of each patient. Returning, through the application of capacitive tests habits, could be transposed into everyday contexts through the practice of touch, cognition and exploration of the equipment

Effect of biological and physical pre-treatments of Ulva rigida in the quality of on-growing European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax

[Excerpt] Content A growth trial with European seabass was performed to assess the effect of the dietary inclusion of Ulva rigida as is or with technological pre-treatment with ultrasounds (US) or solid-state fermentation (SSF) with Aspergillus ibericus. Promising results of the pre-treatment of U. rigida prior to dietary inclusion on growth performance and feed utilization efficiency of seabass were obtained, however, the effect of these treatments on fillet nutritional and sensory quality was not yet evaluated.[...]Supported by PhD grant by FCT ref.SFRH/BD/131219/2017, IJFCT-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030377 and MAR-02.01.01-FEAMP-0111info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impacte das dotações de enfermagem na qualidade dos cuidados de saúde e na qualidade de vida

Os resultados desta investigação podem ter um efetivo contributo na tomada de decisão, seja política ou ao nível das organizações de saúde, seja no planeamento estratégico, tático ou operacional, direcionando o modo como os cuidados de enfermagem podem ser uma importante valia para os resultados em saúde. A literatura demonstra que as organizações de saúde que investem em adequadas dotações de enfermagem, também investem numa efetiva gestão da qualidade, apresentando melhores resul- tados no que se refere a indicadores sensíveis aos cuidados de enferma- gem. A responsabilização é outro fator importante: saber que algo deve ser feito não quer dizer que o seja. É importante atender aos indicadores sensíveis aos cuidados de enfermagem e acompanhar a sua evolução, de modo a intervir atempadamente e com adequabilidade. De salientar que a responsabilização deve ser aplicada quer ao nível organizacional e do serviço, quer individualmente a cada profissional

Streptococcus pyogenes Causing Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Are Enriched in the Recently Emerged emm89 Clade 3 and Are Not Associated With Abrogation of CovRS

Although skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are the most common focal infections associated with invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pyogenes (Lancefield Group A streptococci - GAS), there is scarce information on the characteristics of isolates recovered from SSTI in temperate-climate regions. In this study, 320 GAS isolated from SSTI in Portugal were characterized by multiple typing methods and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and SpeB activity. The covRS and ropB genes of isolates with no detectable SpeB activity were sequenced. The antimicrobial susceptibility profile was similar to that of previously characterized isolates from invasive infections (iGAS), presenting a decreasing trend in macrolide resistance. However, the clonal composition of SSTI between 2005 and 2009 was significantly different from that of contemporary iGAS. Overall, iGAS were associated with emm1 and emm3, while SSTI were associated with emm89, the dominant emm type among SSTI (19%). Within emm89, SSTI were only significantly associated with isolates lacking the hasABC locus, suggesting that the recently emerged emm89 clade 3 may have an increased potential to cause SSTI. Reflecting these associations between emm type and disease presentation, there were also differences in the distribution of emm clusters, sequence types, and superantigen gene profiles between SSTI and iGAS. According to the predicted ability of each emm cluster to interact with host proteins, iGAS were associated with the ability to bind fibrinogen and albumin, whereas SSTI isolates were associated with the ability to bind C4BP, IgA, and IgG. SpeB activity was absent in 79 isolates (25%), in line with the proportion previously observed among iGAS. Null covS and ropB alleles (predicted to eliminate protein function) were detected in 10 (3%) and 12 (4%) isolates, corresponding to an underrepresentation of mutations impairing CovRS function in SSTI relative to iGAS. Overall, these results indicate that the isolates responsible for SSTI are genetically distinct from those recovered from normally sterile sites, supporting a role for mutations impairing CovRS activity specifically in invasive infection and suggesting that this role relies on a differential regulation of other virulence factors besides SpeB

Streptococcus canis Are a Single Population Infecting Multiple Animal Hosts Despite the Diversity of the Universally Present M-Like Protein SCM

Streptococcus canis is an animal pathogen which occasionally causes infections in humans. The S. canis M-like protein (SCM) encoded by the scm gene, is its best characterized virulence factor but previous studies suggested it could be absent in a substantial fraction of isolates. We studied the distribution and variability of the scm gene in 188 S. canis isolates recovered from companion animals (n = 152), wild animal species (n = 20), and humans (n = 14). Multilocus sequence typing, including the first characterization of wildlife isolates, showed that the same lineages are present in all animal hosts, raising the possibility of extensive circulation between species. Whole-genome analysis revealed that emm-like genes found previously in S. canis correspond to divergent scm genes, indicating that what was previously believed to correspond to two genes is in fact the same scm locus. We designed primers allowing for the first time the successful amplification of the scm gene in all isolates. Analysis of the scm sequences identified 12 distinct types, which could be divided into two clusters: group I (76%, n = 142) and group II (24%, n = 46) sharing little sequence similarity. The predicted group I SCM showed extensive similarity with each other outside of the N-terminal hypervariable region and a conserved IgG binding domain. This domain was absent from group II SCM variants found in isolates previously thought to lack the scm gene, which also showed greater amino acid variability. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the possible host interacting partners of the group II SCM variants and their role in virulence

Innovation of Textiles through Natural By-Products and Wastes

Nowadays, the competitiveness of the textile industry and the consumers’ interest have been increasing the demand for innovative and functional textiles. Allied to this, sustainable developments are playing an increasingly important role in the textile industry. Such concerns led to a new development strategy based on the valorization of bio-based wastes and by-products of different industries, inserting this in the circular economy paradigm. These bio-based wastes and by-products come from several industries, as the agri-food industry. These resources present an enormous potential for valorization in the textile finish due to their intrinsic properties (antimicrobial, prebiotic, antioxidant activity, among others). This chapter will review the latest innovation and textile product development through different by-products and wastes, their main properties and characteristics and the advantages that they offer to the textile industry

estudos artísticos

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

estudos artísticos

Crescer na intervenção e na comunicação é um dos objetivos da Revista Gama, estudos artísticos. Promove-se a comunicação, formal, dentro das regras da comunicação académica, através de textos cuja característica comum é serem escritos por artistas, sobre a obra de outros artistas. Este foi o critério base que inspirou o projeto das iniciativas associadas ao Congresso CSO (criadores sobre outras obras), que já completou seis anos de disseminação. A Revista Gama singularizou-se por convocar artistas e obras que de algum modo estariam esquecidos, desconhecidos, ou ainda pouco divulgados. Obras cuja execução tem raízes em passados mais ou menos recentes, mas que pelo excesso de discursos na contemporaneidade, não obtiveram a divulgação desejada. Este é um propósito de intervenção no conhecimento patrimonial: as obras existem, foram executadas, enriquecem o nosso património, mas há que as fazer funcionar, dar a conhecer, aos outros artistas, aos especialistas, ao grande público. Assim se reuniram neste número 6 da Revista Gama vinte e quatro artigos originais, procurando-se, na sua sequência e articulação, algumas relações de pertinência e afinidade. Olhares sobre arquivos, sobre acervos, sobre coleções, conjuntos muitas vezes fechados e em perigo de esquecimento, ou de incompreensão: uma entrada discreta que se abre para o interior de uma câmara escura, que é um espaço cheio de imagens por revelar.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of the effects of sex hormone background on the rat choroid plexus transcriptome by cDNA microarrays

The choroid plexus (CP) are highly vascularized branched structures that protrude into the ventricles of the brain, and form a unique interface between the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the blood-CSF barrier, that are the main site of production and secretion of CSF. Sex hormones are widely recognized as neuroprotective agents against several neurodegenerative diseases, and the presence of sex hormones cognate receptors suggest that it may be a target for these hormones. In an effort to provide further insight into the neuroprotective mechanisms triggered by sex hormones we analyzed gene expression differences in the CP of female and male rats subjected to gonadectomy, using microarray technology. In gonadectomized female and male animals, 3045 genes were differentially expressed by 1.5-fold change, compared to sham controls. Analysis of the CP transcriptome showed that the top-five pathways significantly regulated by the sex hormone background are olfactory transduction, taste transduction, metabolism, steroid hormone biosynthesis and circadian rhythm pathways. These results represent the first overview of global expression changes in CP of female and male rats induced by gonadectomy and suggest that sex hormones are implicated in pathways with central roles in CP functions and CSF homeostasis