Culture as investment in Europe

The European cultural and creative sector contributes to economic growth, employment, innovation and social cohesion. Only in the European Union is responsible for more than seven million jobs. Thirty million worldwide. The potential of culture in terms of economic growth and job creation is indisputable. This is a perspective on culture that cannot be neglected. But this cannot be the only aspect of culture to be taken into account.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Transgredir para empoderar: o empoderamento das jovens mulheres pela educação

Este trabalho é a base científica, e também podemos dizer, ideológica, de um relatório solicitado pelo Parlamento Europeu à Comissão dos Direitos das Mulheres e da Igualdade dos Géneros que pretende assegurar uma educação democrática e a educação para a igualdade dos géneros. Em Setembro de 2015 este relatório foi aprovado como resolução por uma larga maioria parlamentar, apoiando a ideia da educação e do currículo como instrumentos de poder. Acredito que a educação tem um papel fundamental na mudança e que é responsável pelo desenvolvimento da personalidade e pela criação de ideias que determinam atitudes, acções e perspectivas sobre o mundo, guiando-nos na vida pessoal e influenciando as escolhas profissionais. Este trabalho foi o primeiro momento de reflexão sobre esta questão e mostra o importante papel da investigação em educação e do currículo no âmbito das políticas europeias.This work is the scientific basis, and we can also say, ideological, of a report requested by the European Parliament to the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality aimed at ensuring a democratic and gender equality education. In September 2015 this report was approved as a resolution by a large majority of parliamentarians1, supporting the idea of education and curriculum as power instruments. I believe that education plays a key role in changing and that is responsible for the personality development and the creation of ideas that determine attitudes, actions and perspectives on the world, guiding us in our personal lives and influencing career choices. This work was the first moment of reflection on this issue and shows the important role of research in education and curriculum within the framework of European policies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Accountability towards citizens: stakeholder perception from Portuguese local government

New Public Management reform puts an all-new perspective on public managers and politician’s accountability towards citizens. It tends to shift public administration to an open system making citizens an important stakeholder. Public participation has been reported as frequently used in service delivery and management (mostly budgetary) decisions. Public administration scholars and practitioners analysed, in the last decade, the different ways of citizens participation, their motivation, impact on public management and public officer opinion concerning citizen’s co-management (Yang & Callaham, 2007; Handely, Milam, & Howell-Moroney, 2010; Wang, 2001). This paper proposes to test the relation between the mechanisms to voce citizen, political responsiveness and citizen political culture. Firstly, we argue that citizens participation is greater and meaningful according to the level of ethical responsibility displayed by politicians. The second explanation is based on the degree of citizen political culture and agues that in jurisdiction where citizens are more aware of and more motivated to follow public policies, there will be a higher level of public participation. Finally, we argue that there are contextual factors, that also play and important role in this accountability process. We gathered data for this paper from a survey conducted among local governments in Portugal. Citizen Participation, as a dependent variable, was studied in two alternative dimensions: on the one hand, use of participation mechanism and on the other decision making process. In the survey respondents were asked to rank how often they use participation mechanism and in which specific decision making process. As independent variables, we use political responsiveness and citizen political culture. Responsiveness to participation values was obtained from a ranking based on respondents’ perception on public participation. Citizen political culture was measured using a set of three indicators: concentration of mass media; education level; electoral participation.The authors would like to express their appreciation for the research assistance provided by Catarina Magalhães. We acknowledge the support .The Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation provided financial support for this research. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Portuguese Scienc

A importância do estudo, organização e disponibilização de arquivos de cientistas para a história do ambiente : o Arquivo Rui Serpa Pinto do Museu de História Natural da Universidade do Porto

A construção de uma história ambiental da Europa (ou do mundo) é um objectivo recorrente, por seentender que evolução das relações entre a natureza e os homens ultrapassa as fronteiras nacionalistas.É nossa convicção que a monitorização destas relações, no sentido de avaliar a circulação e transferência de conhecimento, paralelismos e desfasamentos, passa pelo estudo do papel desempenhado por figuras chave do mundo da ciência, reconhecendo o seu percurso, plasmado na informação que produziram ao longo do tempo. Não basta construir biografias avulsas e evocativas dos seus méritos, mas compreender, de forma sistémica, os seus percursos, entre a vida pessoal, académica e a disseminação científica.Esta visão holística só será possível com uma organização integral da informação, do percurso de um cientista, como foi o caso de Rui Serpa Pinto (1907-1933), da Universidade do Porto, organizando, de forma sistémica, o seu legado documental.The construction of an environmental history of Europe (and of the world) is a recurring assignmentto understand the nature of the relationship between nature and men, its evolution, beyond the nationalistboundaries.We believe that monitoring these relationships, in order to assess the movement and transfer of knowledge, parallels and discrepancies, is only possible through the study of the role played by key figures in the world of science, reflected in the information produced by them throughout of time. Not just build spare and evocative biographies but understand, systemically, their paths, between personal, academic and scientific life.This holistic view is only possible with an integral organization of information, a paradigm used in this study case as was the professor Rui Serpa Pinto (1907-1933) of the University of Porto, organizing, systemically, his documental archive

On developing critical thinking: a narrative overview

This study provides an overview on the contextual factors, educational practices and teaching methods that develop critical thinking on students. To provide this overview, we synthesized the meta-analysis and reviews of studies published be tween 1940 and 2017. For outlining the contextual factors, we present the three lev els that promote or inhibit critical thinking: (1) institutional level, (2) teaching level, and (3) course level. We further synthesized the literature on educational practices that develop critical thinking and outline the teaching methods from three catego ries: (1) oral (e.g., debate, dialogues etc.), (2) written (e.g., debate, dialogues etc.), and (3) applied (e.g., experiential learning, problem solving etc.). This literature review study provides theoretical implications for the literature on critical thinking. These implications consist of an overview of the contextual factors, educational practices and teaching methods that develop critical thinking.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of a "green process" for the isolation of natural functional extracts with anti-cancer activity - Application of high-pressure technology

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e BioquímicaThe knowledge of the healing power of some species of plants is ancient. Nowadays, the preference for natural products has increased, and with it, the interest in recover and isolate bioactive phytochemicals with potential health benefits. The main goal of this thesis was to isolate anticancer bioactive compounds, namely terpenes and fatty acids, from Portuguese Lavandula (L. angustifolia and L. stoechas) and Mentha species (M. spicata, M. piperita var. citrata and M. pulegium), using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). All extractions were performed at 50ºC and 250 bar in a two step methodology: a first step with supercritical CO2, during 60 minutes, followed by a second step, with a mixture of CO2 and ethanol (90:10 %v/v), for 180 minutes. Different fractions of the extracts were recovered every 30 minutes, and the resulting samples were characterized in terms of global yield (% g/g), screened for the presence of terpenes, by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS). Furthermore, ORAC, HORAC and HOSC assays were conducted for the determination of antioxidant activity. Cell-based assays in human HT-29 colorectal adenocarcinoma cells were also performed, in order to determine the potential of the extracts as cancer cell-growth inhibitors. The fractions of the extract of M. piperita var. citrata presented the highest antioxidant activity, whereas the fractions of L. angustifolia, L. stoechas and M. spicata extracts revealed to be the most promising colorectal cancer cell-growth inhibitors. The bioactive responses were correlated with the phytochemical composition of the extracts, and the main compounds, such as camphor, fenchone, carvone, linoleic acid, among others, were highlighted. However, it is possible that the bioactivities were due to synergistic effects between several compounds. Results of this thesis demonstrated that SFE is a reliable tool to extract anticancer bioactive components from some Lavandula and Mentha plants

Comprehension view about critical thinking: narrative review

The critical thinking literature emphasizes the continuous need of understanding the meaning of a complex concept as critical thinking. Previous research provides multiple theoretical approaches on critical thinking, including different theoretical and operational definition, methods for developing critical thinking and measurements tools within formal educations. In this study, we focus on reviewing the main insights from previous studies with the specific aim of proposing a structured overview of how critical thinking can be defined, developed and measured according to multiple approaches (i.e., philosophical, psychological, educational). Results of this study showed the development of the critical thinking concept, consisting of a broad perspective of multiple approaches of critical thinking. This further enables an overview of critical thinking particularities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The role of the efflux mechanisms in multidrug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

O aumento da tuberculose multirresistente e extensivamente resistente (TBMR e TBXDR) gerou um agravamento das preocupações por parte das autoridades de Saúde Pública em todo o mundo. A Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS) define TBMR como tuberculose (TB) resistente pelo menos à isoniazida e à rifampicina, os principais fármacos de primeira-linha utilizados no tratamento da TB, enquanto que a TBXDR refere-se a casos de TB resistente não só à isoniazida e à rifampicina, mas também a uma fluoroquinolona e a pelo menos a um dos três fármacos de segunda-linha injectáveis canamicina, amicacina e capreomicina. A resistência em Mycobacterium tuberculosis deve-se principalmente à ocorrência de mutações espontâneas, à qual se segue a selecção de mutantes resistentes durante o tratamento. No entanto, algumas estirpes clínicas de M. tuberculosis resistentes não apresentam mutação em qualquer um dos genes que se sabe estarem associados à aquisição de resistência a um determinado fármaco, o que sugere que outro(s) mecanismo(s) deverão estar envolvidos no desenvolvimento de resistência, nomeadamente a presença de sistemas de bombas de efluxo que efectuam a extrusão do composto para o exterior da célula, evitando que o mesmo atinja o seu alvo. Um aumento da actividade de efluxo pode ocorrer devido a uma exposição prolongada a concentrações subinibitórias dos antibacilares, uma situação que pode resultar de uma terapia inadequada. A inibição da actividade de efluxo com um inibidor que não seja um antibiótico poderá restaurar a actividade de um antibiótico que seja substrato de bombas de efluxo e desta forma consistir uma forma de aumentar a actividade dos actuais fármacos utilizados no tratamento da TB. O trabalho descrito nesta dissertação tem como objectivo o estudo dos mecanismos de efluxo no desenvolvimento de multirresistência em M. tuberculosis e de como a resistência fenotípica mediada por bombas de efluxo se correlaciona com a resistência genética. De forma a alcançar este objectivo, foram desenvolvidos vários protocolos experimentais utilizando modelos biológicos, tais como Escherichia coli, Mycobacterium smegmatis uma micobactéria de crescimento rápido e Mycobacterium avium, antes da sua aplicação ao estudo de M. tuberculosis. Esta abordagem permitiu o estudo dos mecanismos que resultam na adaptação fisiológica de E. coli à tetraciclina por exposição a concentrações subinibitórias deste antibiótico (Capítulo II), o desenvolvimento de um método fluorimétrico que permite a detecção e quantificação da actividade de efluxo (Capítulo III), a caracterização do transporte de brometo de etídeo em M. smegmatis (Capítulo IV) e a contribuição da actividade de efluxo para a resistência aos macrólidos no complexo Mycobacterium avium (Capítulo V). Por fim, os métodos desenvolvidos permitiram o estudo do papel das bombas de efluxo em estirpes de M. tuberculosis induzidas a resistência à isoniazida. Assim, como descrito no Capítulo II, foi possível observar que a adaptação fisiológica de E. coli à presença de tetraciclina resulta de uma interacção entre mecanismos a nível genético e modificações pós-traducionais a nível da conformação de proteínas que diminui a permeabilidade da parede celular e aumenta a actividade das bombas de efluxo. Para além disso, o Capítulo III descreve o desenvolvimento de um método fluorimétrico semi-automático que permitiu correlacionar esta actividade de fluxo com a cinética de transporte do brometo de etídeo (um conhecido substrato de bombas de efluxo) em E. coli e também a identificação de inibidores do efluxo. Relativamente a M. smegmatis, comparou-se a estirpe selvagem M. smegmatismc2155 com mutantes "knockout" para LfrA e MspA, no que respeita à sua capacidade de transportar brometo de etídeo. Os resultados apresentados no Capítulo IV demonstraram que MspA, a principal porina de M. smegmatis, desempenha um papel importante na entrada de brometo de etídeo e antibióticos na célula e que o efluxo através da bomba LfrA está envolvido na resistência de baixo nível a estes compostos em M. smegmatis. O Capítulo V descreve o estudo da contribuição de bombas de efluxo na resistência aos macrólidos em estirpes clínicas do complexo M. avium. Demonstrou-se que a resistência à claritromicina sofreu uma redução significativa na presença dos inibidores de efluxo tioridazina, clorpromazina e verapamil. Estes inibidores também diminuíram o efluxo de brometo de etideo e aumentaram a retenção de eritromicina marcada com 14C nestas estirpes. Por fim, os métodos desenvolvidos com os modelos experimentais referidos acima permitiram o estudo do papel das bombas de efluxo em estirpes de M. tuberculosisinduzidas à resistência à isoniazida. Este trabalho encontra-se descrito no Capítulo VI desta dissertação, onde se demonstra que a indução de resistência à isoniazida não resultou da ocorrência de mutações em qualquer um dos genes associados com a resistência a este fármaco, mas de um sistema de efluxo que é sensível a inibidores do efluxo. Estes inibidores provocaram a diminuição do efluxo de brometo de etídeo e também a redução da concentração mínima inibitória da isoniazida nestas estirpes. Para além disso, a análise de expressão genética demonstrou a sobre-expressão de genes que codificam para bombas de efluxo nas estirpes induzidas comparativamente com as estirpes originais não induzidas. Concluindo, o trabalho descrito nesta dissertação demonstra que as bombas de efluxo desempenham um papel importante no desenvolvimento de resistência, em particular nas micobactérias. Uma estratégia para ultrapassar a resistência mediada por mecanismos de efluxo poderia passar pela utilização de compostos que inibem a actividade de efluxo, restaurando a actividade de antimicrobianos que são substratos de bombas de efluxo, uma abordagem útil particularmente em TB em que os regimes de tratamento mais eficazes se estão a tornar ineficazes face ao aumento da TBMR/TBXR.The emergence of multi and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB and XDRTB) has increased the concern of public health authorities around the world. The World Health Organization has defined MDRTB as tuberculosis (TB) caused by organisms resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the main first-line drugs used in TB therapy, whereas XDRTB refers to TB resistant not only to isoniazid and rifampicin, but also to a fluoroquinolone and to at least one of the three injectable second-line drugs, kanamycin, amikacin and capreomycin. Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is mainly due to the occurrence of spontaneous mutations and followed by selection of mutants by subsequent treatment. However, some resistant clinical isolates do not present mutations in any genes associated with resistance to a given antibiotic, which suggests that other mechanism(s) are involved in the development of drug resistance, namely the presence of efflux pump systems that extrude the drug to the exterior of the cell, preventing access to its target. Increased efflux activity can occur in response to prolonged exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of anti-TB drugs, a situation that may result from inadequate TB therapy. The inhibition of efflux activity with a non-antibiotic inhibitor may restore activity of an antibiotic subject to efflux and thus provide a way to enhance the activity of current anti-TB drugs.The work described in this thesis foccus on the study of efflux mechanisms in the development of multidrug resistance in M. tuberculosis and how phenotypic resistance, mediated by efflux pumps, correlates with genetic resistance. In order to accomplish this goal, several experimental protocols were developed using biological models such as Escherichia coli, the fast growing mycobacteria Mycobacterium smegmatis,and Mycobacterium avium, before their application to M. tuberculosis. This approach allowed the study of the mechanisms that result in the physiological adaptation of E. coli to subinhibitory concentrations of tetracycline (Chapter II), the development of a fluorometric method that allows the detection and quantification of efflux of ethidium The emergence of multi and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB and XDRTB) has increased the concern of public health authorities around the world. The World Health Organization has defined MDRTB as tuberculosis (TB) caused by organisms resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the main first-line drugs used in TB therapy, whereas XDRTB refers to TB resistant not only to isoniazid and rifampicin, but also to a fluoroquinolone and to at least one of the three injectable second-line drugs, kanamycin, amikacin and capreomycin. Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is mainly due to the occurrence of spontaneous mutations and followed by selection of mutants by subsequent treatment. However, some resistant clinical isolates do not present mutations in any genes associated with resistance to a given antibiotic, which suggests that other mechanism(s) are involved in the development of drug resistance, namely the presence of efflux pump systems that extrude the drug to the exterior of the cell, preventing access to its target. Increased efflux activity can occur in response to prolonged exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of anti-TB drugs, a situation that may result from inadequate TB therapy. The inhibition of efflux activity with a non-antibiotic inhibitor may restore activity of an antibiotic subject to efflux and thus provide a way to enhance the activity of current anti-TB drugs.The work described in this thesis foccus on the study of efflux mechanisms in the development of multidrug resistance in M. tuberculosis and how phenotypic resistance, mediated by efflux pumps, correlates with genetic resistance. In order to accomplish this goal, several experimental protocols were developed using biological models such as Escherichia coli, the fast growing mycobacteria Mycobacterium smegmatis,and Mycobacterium avium, before their application to M. tuberculosis. This approach allowed the study of the mechanisms that result in the physiological adaptation of E. coli to subinhibitory concentrations of tetracycline (Chapter II), the development of a fluorometric method that allows the detection and quantification of efflux of ethidium The emergence of multi and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB and XDRTB) has increased the concern of public health authorities around the world. The World Health Organization has defined MDRTB as tuberculosis (TB) caused by organisms resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the main first-line drugs used in TB therapy, whereas XDRTB refers to TB resistant not only to isoniazid and rifampicin, but also to a fluoroquinolone and to at least one of the three injectable second-line drugs, kanamycin, amikacin and capreomycin. Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is mainly due to the occurrence of spontaneous mutations and followed by selection of mutants by subsequent treatment. However, some resistant clinical isolates do not present mutations in any genes associated with resistance to a given antibiotic, which suggests that other mechanism(s) are involved in the development of drug resistance, namely the presence of efflux pump systems that extrude the drug to the exterior of the cell, preventing access to its target. Increased efflux activity can occur in response to prolonged exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of anti-TB drugs, a situation that may result from inadequate TB therapy. The inhibition of efflux activity with a non-antibiotic inhibitor may restore activity of an antibiotic subject to efflux and thus provide a way to enhance the activity of current anti-TB drugs.The work described in this thesis foccus on the study of efflux mechanisms in the development of multidrug resistance in M. tuberculosis and how phenotypic resistance, mediated by efflux pumps, correlates with genetic resistance. In order to accomplish this goal, several experimental protocols were developed using biological models such as Escherichia coli, the fast growing mycobacteria Mycobacterium smegmatis,and Mycobacterium avium, before their application to M. tuberculosis. This approach allowed the study of the mechanisms that result in the physiological adaptation of E. coli to subinhibitory concentrations of tetracycline (Chapter II), the development of a fluorometric method that allows the detection and quantification of efflux of ethidium bromide (Chapter III), the characterization of the ethidium bromide transport in M. smegmatis (Chapter IV) and the contribution of efflux activity to macrolide resistance in Mycobacterium avium complex (Chapter V). Finally, the methods developed allowed the study of the role of efflux pumps in M. tuberculosis strains induced to isoniazid resistance (Chapter VI).By this manner, in Chapter II it was possible to observe that the physiological adaptation of E. coli to tetracycline results from an interplay between events at the genetic level and protein folding that decrease permeability of the cell envelope and increase efflux pump activity. Furthermore, Chapter III describes the development of a semi-automated fluorometric method that allowed the correlation of this efflux activity with the transport kinetics of ethidium bromide (a known efflux pump substrate) in E. coli and the identification of efflux inhibitors. Concerning M. smegmatis, we have compared the wild-type M. smegmatis mc2155 with knockout mutants for LfrA and MspA for their ability to transport ethidium bromide. The results presented in Chapter IV showed that MspA, the major porin in M. smegmatis, plays an important role in the entrance of ethidium bromide and antibiotics into the cell and that efflux via the LfrA pump is involved in low-level resistance to these compounds in M. smegmatis. Chapter V describes the study of the contribution of efflux pumps to macrolide resistance in clinical M. avium complex isolates. It was demonstrated that resistance to clarithromycin was significantly reduced in the presence of efflux inhibitors such as thioridazine, chlorpromazine and verapamil. These same inhibitors decreased efflux of ethidium bromide and increased the retention of [14C]-erythromycin in these isolates. Finaly, the methods developed with the experimental models mentioned above allowed the study of the role of efflux pumps on M. tuberculosis strains induced to isoniazid resistance. This is described in Chapter VI of this Thesis, where it is demonstrated that induced resistance to isoniazid does not involve mutations in any of the genes known to be associated with isoniazid resistance, but an efflux system that is sensitive to efflux inhibitors. These inhibitors decreased the efflux of ethidium bromide and also reduced the minimum inhibitory concentration of isoniazid in these strains. Moreover, expression analysis showed overexpression of genes that codefor efflux pumps in the induced strains relatively to the non-induced parental strains. In conclusion, the work described in this thesis demonstrates that efflux pumps play an important role in the development of drug resistance, namely in mycobacteria. A strategy to overcome efflux-mediated resistance may consist on the use of compounds that inhibit efflux activity, restoring the activity of antimicrobials that are efflux pump substrates, a useful approach particularly in TB where the most effective treatment regimens are becoming uneffective due to the increase of MDRTB/XDRTB

Efeitos no feto da ingestão de álcool durante a gravidez

Projeto de Pós-Graduação/Dissertação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências FarmacêuticasO consumo de álcool durante a gravidez é a principal causa (evitável) de problemas à nascença e no desenvolvimento das crianças, podendo levar ao aparecinento de Desordens do Espectro Alcoólico Fetal. A Síndrome Alcoólica Fetal (SAF) é a mais grave das consequências da exposição fetal ao álcool e resulta em défices no desenvolvimento físico e neurológico do feto que se mantêm ao longo da vida. Nos últimos anos, tem-se verificado um aumento do consumo de álcool entre a população feminina, o que eleva a preocupação da comunidade médica em torno da questão. Com este trabalho pretendeu-se fazer uma revisão bibliográfica sofre os efeitos no feto resultantes da ingestão de álcool durante a gravidez, identificando-se os fatores de risco, as características encontradas nas crianças que sofreram exposição fetal ao álcool e as possíveis consequências. Concluiu-se que atualmente continua a haver dificuldades no diagnóstico, que começam com a omissão por parte da mãe relativamente à ingestão de álcool. Verificou-se também que continua a haver dúvidas relativamente a algumas questões essenciais, como a dose de álcool capaz de causar dano no feto, e que é essencial a adoção de medidas preventivas que promovam a abstinência ao álcool durante o período de gestação. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is the main cause (avoidable) of problems at birth and throughout child development, and can lead to the appearance of Alcoholic Fetal Spectrum Disorders. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is the most severe of the consequences of fetal exposure to alcohol and results in deficits on the physical and neurological development of the fetus which remains throughout life. On the last years, there has been an increase on alcohol consumption among female population, which increases the concern of the medical community in relation to this issue. The aim of this work was to do a literature review concerning fetus effects caused by alcohol ingestion during pregnancy, identifying risk factors, phenotypes observed in children who suffered fetal alcohol exposure and possible consequences. It was possible to conclude that diagnosis is still difficult to perform, starting with mother’s omission concerning alcohol ingestion. It was also found that there are still doubts relatively to some essencial issues, as alcohol dose able to cause fetus damage, and the acknowledgment that is fundamental the adoption of preventive measures to promote alcoholic abstinence throughout pregnancy