Intrapatient variability of the pupillary pain index to remifentanil

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Remifentanil analgesic interpatient variability assessed through pupillary reflex dilation

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Hybrid metabolic flux analysis: combining stoichiometric and statistical constraints to model the formation of complex recombinant products

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stoichiometric models constitute the basic framework for fluxome quantification in the realm of metabolic engineering. A recurrent bottleneck, however, is the establishment of consistent stoichiometric models for the synthesis of recombinant proteins or viruses. Although optimization algorithms for <it>in silico </it>metabolic redesign have been developed in the context of genome-scale stoichiometric models for small molecule production, still rudimentary knowledge of how different cellular levels are regulated and phenotypically expressed prevents their full applicability for complex product optimization.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A hybrid framework is presented combining classical metabolic flux analysis with projection to latent structures to further link estimated metabolic fluxes with measured productivities. We first explore the functional metabolic decomposition of a baculovirus-producing insect cell line from experimental data, highlighting the TCA cycle and mitochondrial respiration as pathways strongly associated with viral replication. To reduce uncertainty in metabolic target identification, a Monte Carlo sampling method was used to select meaningful associations with the target, from which 66% of the estimated fluxome had to be screened out due to weak correlations and/or high estimation errors. The proposed hybrid model was then validated using a subset of preliminary experiments to pinpoint the same determinant pathways, while predicting the productivity of independent cultures.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, the results indicate our hybrid metabolic flux analysis framework is an advantageous tool for metabolic identification and quantification in incomplete or ill-defined metabolic networks. As experimental and computational solutions for constructing comprehensive global cellular models are in development, the contribution of hybrid metabolic flux analysis should constitute a valuable complement to current computational platforms in bridging the metabolic state with improved cell culture performance.</p

Sexo e Media: ofertas sexuais na imprensa diária

O estudo que se apresenta, desenvolvido no Centro de Investigação Didática e Tecnologia na Formação de Formadores da Universidade de Aveiro, insere-se no projeto Sexualidade e género no discurso dos media. Tem por principal objetivo analisar as ofertas sexuais na imprensa diária, equacionando o seu impacto em práticas socioeducacionais. O corpus de análise foi constituído por um total de 1079 anúncios de sexo, publicados em setembro de 2011, no jornal Público e no jornal Diário As Beiras, dois jornais diários, um de âmbito nacional e outro de âmbito local e regional. Recorreu-se à análise de conteúdo, tendo-se utilizado o software de análise de dados qualitativos - WebQDA. Os resultados evidenciam um número considerável de ofertas de serviços sexuais explícitos, a maioria dos quais anunciados por mulheres e dirigidos sobretudo a um público consumidor masculino. A linguagem usada nos anúncios raramente apela ao sexo seguro, associa-se à pornografia e assenta em imaginários sexuais masculinos, com recurso a estereótipos que reforçam desigualdades de género.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Epitope-imprinted polymers: design principles of synthetic binding partners for natural biomacromolecules

Molecular imprinting (MI) has been explored as an increasingly viable tool for molecular recognition in various fields. However, imprinting of biologically relevant molecules like proteins is severely hampered by several problems. Inspired by natural antibodies, the use of epitopes as imprinting templates has been explored to circumvent those limitations, offering lower costs and greater versatility. Here, we review the latest innovations in this technology, as well as different applications where MI polymers (MIPs) have been used to target biomolecules of interest. We discuss the several steps in MI, from the choice of epitope and functional monomers to the different production methods and possible applications. We also critically explore how MIP performance can be assessed by various parameters. Last, we present perspectives on future breakthroughs and advances, offering insights into how MI techniques can be expanded to new fields such as tissue engineering.This work was supported by Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000021 supported by the Norte Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); by the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020, under the Twinning grant agreement no. 810850–Achilles, European Research Council grant agreement no. 772817; and by FCT/MCTES (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e Ensino Superior) through PhD grant PD/BD/143039/2018 for S.P.B.T., financed through the Doctoral Program in Advanced Therapies for Health (PATH) (FSE/POCH/ PD/169/2013), project PTDC/NAN-MAT/30595/2017, and individual contract 2020.03410. CEECIND for R.M.A.D. N.A.P. acknowledges support from the Cockrell Family Chair Foundation; the Institute for Biomaterials, Drug Delivery, and Regenerative Medicine; and the UT-Portugal Collaborative Research Program

Optimization and characterization of biosurfactant production by Bacillus subtilis isolates towards Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery applications

Biosurfactant production by three Bacillus subtilis strains (#309, #311 and #573) isolated from Brazilian crude oils was optimized based on different carbon and nitrogen sources. The lowest surface tension values were obtained using sucrose containing media for the three isolates. Biosurfactants produced by each strain were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR), and Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionizationtime of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). The chemical characterization showed that the three isolates produced very similar mixtures, containing C13-, C14- and C15-surfactin, although in different proportions. The structure of surfactins produced by the three strains was shown to be in good agreement with their surface-activities. The interfacial-activities of the biosurfactants were characterized and compared with chemical surfactants. Furthermore, the application of biosurfactants and chemical surfactants in oil recovery was evaluated. The results obtained showed that biosurfactants have better interfacial-activity and oil recovery efficiency than common chemical surfactants, thus being more attractive to be applied in Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery.This work was supported by PARTEX OIL AND GAS. Jorge F.B. Pereira acknowledges the financial support from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia through doctoral research grant SFRH/BD/60228/2009. Rui Vitorino acknowledges the financial support from QOPNA and RNEM by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia

Electric field-based technologies for valorization of bioresources

This review provides an overview of recent research on electrotechnologies applied to the valorization of bioresources. Following a comprehensive summary of the current status of the application of well-known electric-based processing technologies, such as pulsed electric fields (PEF) and high voltage electrical discharges (HVED), the application of moderate electric fields (MEF) as an extraction or valorization technology will be considered in detail. MEF, known by its improved energy efficiency and claimed electroporation effects (allowing enhanced extraction yields), may also originate high heating rates ohmic heating (OH) effect allowing thermal stabilization of waste stream for other added-value applications. MEF is a simple technology that mostly makes use of green solvents (mainly water) and that can be used on functionalization of compounds of biological origin broadening their application range. The substantial increase of MEF-based plants installed in industries worldwide suggests its straightforward application for waste recovery.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/ BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER006684) and by BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Pedro Santos is recipient of a fellowship supported by a doctoral advanced training (call NORTE-69-2015-15), funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Zlatina Genisheva, Rui Rodrigues and Ricardo Pereira are recipient of a fellowship supported by FCT (SFRH/BPD/ 108868/2015, SFRH/BD/110723/2015 and SFRH/BPD/81887/2011, respectively).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Designing whey protein-based architectures under application of moderate electric fields

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