SKYWAY '09: Awareness of the Sky/ The Sky as Awareness - International Light Festival, Impressions and Reflections on the Proceedings

Two artists, two astrophysicists, a historian of science, a musician, the Skyway Festival director and the Toruń 2016 director met over two days on the 15th and 16th of August in this beautiful gothic city to discuss the relationship between art and astrophysics. The aim of the sessions was to foster interdisciplinary understanding and achieve a consensus on methods and approaches for future collaborative work and cross-disciplinary production of art, writing and dissemination.Peer reviewe

Alternativas na Colocação de Cateteres em Hemodiálise

Background: Although vascular access is essential for adequate haemodialysis delivery, the systematic use of a patient's venous patrimony may eventually lead to exhaustion of suitable sites for placement of a new vascular access. Case Report: We present two cases of such patients. In the first one we inserted a 55cm catheter through the left external iliac vein, and a 40cm translumbar catheter was placed in the second one. Both interventions were performed percutaneously under radiological guidance. Both patients were anticoagulated after the procedure. Conclusion: Unusual sites for haemodialysis catheter placement may be life saving in selected situations and offer safe and viable alternatives for adequate haemodialysis delivery

Validation of Blood Gas Analysis in Arteriovenous Fistula for Hemodialysis

Introduction: Arterial blood gas analysis is a minimally invasive technique used in our daily practice but is not a complication free technique. The aim of this study was to validate results from blood gas analysis obtained from the arteriovenous fistula (AVF)/graft as a surrogate marker of the arterial blood gas analysis. Methods: A prospective observational study was made in 45 patients. We performed arterial and AVF/graft blood gas analysis and results were compared by a paired sample t Student test. Results: Most of our subjects was male (68.9%) and the mean age was 67 years (±14). Hemodialysis vintage was 63 months (±66), and vascular access age was 62 months (±56). The more prevalent vascular access was left radiocephalic AVF (n = 16; 35.6%) and the main puncture artery was right radial artery (n = 27; 60.0%). There were no statistically significant differences between the samples collected. Conclusions: Our results suggest a possible alternative of arterial blood gas analysis in AVF/graft for hemodialysis patients. This could result in making an uncomfortable procedure almost painless and reducing complications. Future research should take place to include anatomical characteristics of the AVF or the circulation of recirculation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Perception of dynamic facial expressions of emotion between dogs and humans

Facial expressions are a core component of the emotional response of social mammals. In contrast to Darwin’s original proposition, expressive facial cues of emotion appear to have evolved to be species-specific. Faces trigger an automatic perceptual process, and so, inter-specific emotion perception is potentially a challenge; since observers should not try to “read” heterospecific facial expressions in the same way that they do conspecific ones. Using dynamic spontaneous facial expression stimuli, we report the first inter-species eye-tracking study on fully unrestrained participants and without pre-experiment training to maintain attention to stimuli, to compare how two different species living in the same ecological niche, humans and dogs, perceive each other’s facial expressions of emotion. Humans and dogs showed different gaze distributions when viewing the same facial expressions of either humans or dogs. Humans modulated their gaze depending on the area of interest (AOI) being examined, emotion, and species observed, but dogs modulated their gaze depending on AOI only. We also analysed if the gaze distribution was random across AOIs in both species: in humans, eye movements were not correlated with the diagnostic facial movements occurring in the emotional expression, and in dogs, there was only a partial relationship. This suggests that the scanning of facial expressions is a relatively automatic process. Thus, to read other species’ facial emotions successfully, individuals must overcome these automatic perceptual processes and employ learning strategies to appreciate the inter-species emotional repertoire

TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF POACEAE POLLEN IN AREAS OF SOUTHERN UNITED KINGDOM, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

Overall, longer Poaceae pollen seasons coincided with earlier pollen season start dates. Winter rainfall noticeably affects the intensity of Poaceae pollen seasons in Mediterranean areas, but this was not as important in Worcester. Weekly data from Worcester followed a similar pattern to that of Badajoz and Évora but at a distance of more than 1500 km and 4-5 weeks later

Four-dimensional homogeneous critical metrics for quadratic curvature functionals

We determine all homogeneous metrics which are critical for some quadratic curvature functional in dimension four

Toxicity ranking of estuarine sediments on the basis of Sparus aurata biomarkers

Sparus aurata biomarkers were used to rank sediments from the Sado River estuary (Portugal) according to their toxicity. Initially, the activities of liver ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase, liver and gill glutathione S-transferases, muscle lactate dehydrogenase, and brain acetylcholinesterase were tested in a laboratory bioassay with the reference compound benzo[a]pyrene. Enzymatic activities were determined in different tissues of fish exposed for 48, 96, or 240 h to three concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene (25, 50, and 100 g/L). Induction of liver ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase was observed at all the exposure periods and concentrations, suggesting a continuous response of this system to toxicant exposure. Induction of liver glutathione S-transferases activity was only observed after 240 h of exposure, whereas gill glutathione S-transferases activity was significantly inhibited at all the exposure periods, suggesting a direct or indirect effect of the toxicant on these enzymes. Inhibition of lactate dehydrogenases activity was only observed after 96 h of exposure to 25 g/L of benzo[a]pyrene. No significant effects were observed on acetylcholinesterase activity, suggesting that cholinergic function of S. aurata is not affected by benzo[a]pyrene. In a second phase, fish were exposed for 240 h to sediments collected at five sites of the Sado River estuary, and the same biomarkers were analyzed. For all the enzymes assayed, significant differences among sites were found. In this study, the battery of biomarkers used allowed to discrimination among sites with different types of contamination, levels of contamination, or both, after multivariate data analysis. Discrimination of sites was similar to the ranking provided by a more complex and parallel study (including chemical analysis of sediments, macrobenthic community analysis, amphipod mortality toxicity tests, and sea urchin abnormality embryo assays), suggesting its suitability to evaluate the toxicity of estuarine sediments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Metodologia de gestão dinâmica do estuário do Sado

O estuário do Sado é um sistema litoral onde existem conflitos de gestão ambiental, uma vez que por um lado, localiza-se junto da zona industrial da Península de Setúbal e por outro lado, uma grande parte da sua área está classificada como Reserva Natural. Sendo uma área de especial sensibilidade, torna-se necessário implementar modelos de gestão, que passam pela elaboração de metodologias que avaliem o estado de qualidade da zona costeira. O objectivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma metodologia conceptual de gestão do estuário do Sado, ligado a um modelo dinâmico e ecológico suportado por uma infraestrutura de informação do tipo DPSIR e com base num sistema SIG (Sistema de Informação Geográfica). Desta forma pretende-se integrar a avaliação da qualidade do ecossistema, com base em indicadores da qualidade ambiental previamente seleccionados, com informação socio-económica. Nesta metodologia as propostas de intervenção e a avaliação do seu impacte no estuário são baseadas nos dados ambientais recolhidos e nas previsões dos efeitos dessas acções. Pretende-se que a modelação dinâmica e ecológica do sistema desempenhe um papel fundamental tanto na caracterização do estuário como nas propostas de intervenção. A simulação permite a caracterização do sistema, a comparação de cenários alternativos e a quantificação do impacte de acções de intervenção. Os dados de campo e os resultados da modelação são integrados numa plataforma comum que facilite o relacionamento e o cruzamento de toda a informação. Esta metodologia permitirá assim a elaboração de uma interface de suporte à gestão/decisão do Estuário do Sado para entidades com poder de decisão sobre este ecossistema

Assessment of sediment contamination in an impacted estuary: differential effects and adaptations of sentinel organisms and implications for biomonitoring

Conferência realizada em Lisboa, de 6-9 November de 2013Estuarine pollution is reflected in the concentration of toxicants in sediments, depending on their geochemical properties, since sediments trap substances from the water column, either dissolved or bound to suspended matter. However, determining risk of sediment contaminants to biota has many constraints. For such reason, integrative approaches are keystone. Taking the Sado estuary (SW Portugal) as a case study, contrasted to a reference estuary (the Mira) within the same geographical location, the present study aimed at integrating sediment contamination with the effects and responses to pollutants in distinct benthic organisms with commercial and ecological value

A rede dos centros locais de aprendizagem da Universidade Aberta ao serviço de desenvolvimento social e territorial em Portugal

Os Centros Locais de Aprendizagem (CLA) da Universidade Aberta (UAb) são núcleos que, a par das Delegações, integram os serviços desconcentrados desta Universidade. Fazem parte da sua estrutura orgânica e têm estado em funcionamento progressivamente desde setembro de 2008. Neste texto apresentamos os atuais eixos que sustentam o seu programa de trabalho e as principais linhas estratégicas de ação desta rede no futuro no ano em que comemora dez anos de existência.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio