Perceção da Dor Crónica e Estratégias Adaptativas em Famílias de Doentes Oncológicos

Objetivos: A presente investigação tem como principais objetivos a avaliação da perceção da dor crónica oncológica por parte de doentes e seus familiares, bem como a análise da relação entre a dor crónica percebida e as estratégias de adaptação que as famílias usam para responder à situação de doença e à dor. Metodologia: Este é um estudo descritivo e correlacional, de análise univariada. Na recolha dos dados, utilizámos o Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluyation Scales (FCOPES) para verificar a resposta familiar a momentos de crise, o Social Support Questionnaire - Short Form (SSQ6) para avaliar o suporte social percebido e, por fim, a Escala Visual Analógica (Eva) para determinar a dor percebida pelo doente e pela família. Participantes: A amostra é constituída por 32 familiares de doentes com diagnóstico de cancro acompanhados na Consulta da Dor do IPOCFG, EPE. Os familiares da nossa amostra têm em média de 57 anos de idade, 53,1% são do sexo feminino e é composta por 65,6% de cônjuges. Desta amostra, 28 (87,5%) dos familiares assumem o papel de cuidadores principais e 21 (65,6%) habitam o mesmo lar. Resultados: Verificou-se que as famílias possuem uma resposta familiar a momentos de crise na família e um alto nível de perceção das estratégias de coping. Concluiu-se, ainda, que os familiares estão satisfeitos com o suporte social (M=30,84) que lhes é proporcionado. Relativamente à perceção de dor, os resultados sugerem que os familiares cuidadores pontuam valores mais elevados. Conclusões: A investigação revela que os familiares usam estratégias de coping, não sendo estas influenciadas pelo sexo, idade, cuidador, agregado familiar e classificação de dor. Quanto à perceção da dor fica claro que os familiares compreendem e vivenciam a experiência da dor de uma forma muito semelhante à do próprio doente, registando os homens níveis mais elevados de dor percebida quando comparados com os familiares do género feminino. No entanto, foi possível perceber que o acompanhamento psicológico deveria ser um aditivo importante e parte integrante do tratamento, visto que pode proporcionar ao doente uma melhor qualidade de vida e aos seus familiares

Stereoselective three-step one-pot cascade combining Amino- and Biocatalysis to access Chiral y-Nitro Alcohols

he combination of small-molecule catalysis and enzyme catalysis represents an underexploited area of research with huge potential in asymmetric synthetic chemistry due to both compatibility of reaction conditions and complementary reactivity. Herein, we describe the telescopic synthesis of chiral nitro alcohols starting from commercially available benzaldehyde derivatives through the one-pot three-step chemoenzymatic cascade combination of a Wittig reaction, chiral-thiourea-catalysed asymmetric conjugate addition, and ketoreductase-mediated reduction to access the corresponding target compounds in moderate to excellent overall isolated yields (36–80 %) and high diastereomeric and enantiomeric ratios (up to >97 : 3). This represents the first example of the combination of an organocatalysed asymmetric conjugate addition via iminium ion activation and a bioreduction step catalysed by ketoreductases

Capillary electrophoresis determination of non-protein amino acids as quality markers in foods

Non-protein amino acids mainly exist in food as products formed during food processing, as metabolic intermediates or as additives to increase nutritional and functional properties of food. This fact makes their analysis and determination an attractive field in food science since they can give interesting information on the quality and safety of foods. This article presents a comprehensive review devoted to describe the latest advances in the development of (achiral and chiral) analytical methodologies by capillary electrophoresis and microchip capillary electrophoresis for the analysis of non-protein amino acids in a variety of food samples. Most relevant information related to sample treatment, experimental separation and detection conditions, preconcentration strategies and limits of detection will be provided.Universidad de Alcal

High resolution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for the separation and identification of peptides in coffee silverskin protein hydrolysates

An analytical methodology was developed for the first time in this work to investigate the peptide composition of coffee silverskin protein hydrolysates. Coffee silverskin is the only by-product produced in the coffee roasting process and it contains a relatively high amount of proteins (16.2-19.0%). Different extraction procedures were tested to obtain protein extracts from coffee silverskin samples which were subsequently submitted to enzymatic digestion using different enzymes. Protein hydrolysates from Arabica coffee silverskin obtained using three roasting degrees (light, medium and dark) were considered in order to evaluate the influence of this process on peptide composition. Antioxidant and hypocholesterolemic activities were investigated for these hydrolysates. A method based on the use of liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometer was developed enabling the separation and identification of different short chain peptides in the coffee silverskin hydrolysates using de novo sequencing tool. Different peptides, with a number of amino acids ranging from 4 to 12, were identified in the coffee silverskin analyzed. Peptides obtained were different depending on the enzymatic hydrolysis employed. As general trend, the results obtained showed that peptide composition in coffee silverskin protein hydrolysates was not significantly affected by the coffee roasting process

Enantiomeric separation of non-protein amino acids by Electrokinetic Chromatography

New analytical methodologies enabling the enantiomeric separation of a group of non-protein amino acids of interest in the pharmaceutical and food analysis fields were developed in this work using Electrokinetic Chromatography. The use of FMOC as derivatization reagent and the subsequent separation using acidic conditions (formate buffer at pH 2.0) and anionic cyclodextrins as chiral selectors allowed the chiral separation of eight from the ten non-protein amino acids studied. Pyroglutamic acid, norvaline, norleucine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenilalanine, 2-aminoadipic acid, and selenomethionine were enantiomericaly separated using sulfated-alpha-CD while sulfated-gamma-CD enabled the enantiomeric separation of norvaline, 3,4-dihydroxyphenilalanine, 2-aminoadipic acid, selenomethionie, citrulline, and pipecolic acid. Moreover, the potential of the developed methodologies was demonstrated in the analysis of citrulline and its enantiomeric impurity in food supplements. For that purpose, experimental and instrumental variables were optimized and the analytical characteristics of the proposed method were evaluated. LODs of 2.1 x 10(-7) and 1.8 x 10(-7) M for D-and L-citrulline, respectively, were obtained. D-Cit was not detectable in any of the six food supplement samples analyzed showing that the effect of storage time on the racemization of citrulline was negligible. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Synthesis of squaramides and their application in organocatalysis: computational and experimental studies

Las escuaramidas han resultado ser compuestos de marcado interés en distintas ramas de la química. El uso de las escuaramidas quirales como organocatalizadores es interesante ya que, usando la escuaramida adecuada, se crean entornos quirales ideales para la obtención de productos enriquecidos enantioméricamente mediante la formación de enlaces de hidrógeno con los sustratos. Una de las líneas principales de investigación de nuestro grupo es la síntesis y la aplicación organocatalítica de este tipo de compuestos, lo que nos ha llevado a desarrollar durante esta tesis doctoral reacciones quirales poco exploradas anteriormente en esta área.En primer lugar, es muy importante disponer de un método eficaz de síntesis de escuaramidas, motivos estructurales centro de investigaciones posteriores. La síntesis tradicional de escuaramidas consta de dos reacciones independientes de adición de aminas. Sin embargo, a través del diseño de un método de síntesis one-pot, conseguimos sintetizar las escuaramidas empleando un único reactor, con las ventajas asociadas de ahorro de tiempo, energía, dinero, menor generación de residuos, etc.Una de nuestras mayores prioridades dentro de esta tesis ha sido el desarrollo de reacciones organocatalíticas usando escuaramidas que dan lugar a productos enantioméricamente enriquecidos con potencial actividad biológica. A lo largo de esta tesis doctoral, desarrollamos la reacción de Henry catalizada por escuaramidas, obteniéndose los correspondientes β-nitroalcoholes con muy buenos rendimientos y enantioselectividades. Además, en algunos casos la carga catalítica requerida fue de tan sólo 0.25 mol%, siendo la más baja conocida para esta reacción en el campo de la organocatálisis.Asimismo, también estudiamos el mecanismo de la reacción de Henry catalizada por una escuaramida que contiene un grupo NOBIN. Para ello, realizamos distintos estudios computacionales en combinación con los propios datos experimentales. Además, exploramos distintas combinaciones de métodos y conjuntos de funciones de base para averiguar cuál de ellas llevaba a los mejores resultados. En este trabajo, la combinación más precisa fue la formada por el funcional ωB97X-D y el conjunto de funciones 6-311G(d). Este análisis representa el primer ejemplo en el cual se compara la eficiencia de distintas aproximaciones computacionales en la catálisis con escuaramidas.Además, se observó que en esta reacción existe un modo de interacción peculiar que nunca antes se había visto en catálisis, llamado “push-pull π+/π-”. Este modo consiste en dos interacciones π creadas por los anillos aromáticos de un grupo naftilo del catalizador con dos átomos del grupo aldehído, uno δ+ (su átomo de hidrógeno) y el otro δ- (su átomo de oxígeno).<br /

Optimizing Accuracy and Computational Cost in Theoretical Squaramide Catalysis: the Henry Reaction

This study represents the first example where the accuracy of different combinations of density functional theory (DFT) methods and basis sets has been compared in squaramide catalysis. After an optimization process of the precision obtained and the computational time required in the computational calculations, highly precise results were achieved compared to the experimental outcomes while using the least amount of time as possible. Here, we have explored computationally and experimentally the mechanism of squaramide-catalyzed Henry reaction. This is a complex reaction of about 100 atoms and a great number of diverse non-covalent interactions. Moreover, this research is one of the scarce examples where the organocatalyst acts in a trifunctional manner and is the first investigation in which a trifunctional squaramide catalyst has been employed. Functional ¿B97X-D showed the best results when used with different versions of the 6-311 basis sets, leading to highly accurate calculations of the outcomes of the Henry reaction using nine aldehydes with different structural characteristics. Furthermore, in these relatively large systems, the use of a split-valence triple-zeta basis set saves a large amount of time compared to using larger basis sets that are sometimes employed in organocatalytic studies, such as the TZV and Def2TZV basis set families

Envelhecimento nas organizações: impacto das políticas e práticas de GRH

Num futuro não muito distante, o envelhecimento demográfico terá consequências impactantes na sociedade e nas organizações, expondo vulnerabilidades de escassez de mão de obra. O objetivo geral desta investigação é o de perceber se existem políticas e práticas de GRH, na empresa SETH, que antecipem situações relacionadas com o avanço natural da idade dos trabalhadores e, consequentemente, com a retenção dos mesmos. Assim, realizámos um Estudo de Caso com o objetivo de 1) identificar e analisar as políticas e práticas existentes à luz da literatura; 2) compreender se estas estão adequadas às necessidades dos trabalhadores mais velhos levando à sua retenção; 3) entender o que deu origem ao desenvolvimento destas políticas e aplicação das referidas práticas. Neste sentido, procedemos à análise documental de informação relevante e disponível na empresa, e entrevistámos 3 elementos de diferentes níveis da estrutura organizacional, através de entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Os resultados apontam para um alinhamento entre as práticas revistas em literatura que, na sua aplicação, são desejáveis e contribuem para a felicidade, motivação e retenção dos trabalhadores mais velhos. Entendemos que este estudo traz a confirmação da eficácia da implementação destas práticas, mas que deixa portas abertas para melhorias em investigações futuras.In a not too distant future, demographic aging will have impacting consequences on society and organizations, exposing labor shortage vulnerabilities. The overall objective of this research is to understand if there are HRM policies and practices, in SETH company, that can anticipate situations related to the natural aging advance of workers and, moreover, with the retention of these. Therefore, we carried out a Case Study with the objective of 1) identifying and analyzing existing policies and practices in the light of the literature; 2) understand if these are adequate to the needs of older workers leading to their retention; 3) understand what gave rise to the development of these policies and application of these practices. In this sense, we carried out documentation analysis of relevant information available in the company, and we have interviewed 3 elements from different levels of the organizational structure, through semi-structured interviews. The results point to an alignment between the practices reviewed in the literature that, when applied, are desirable and contribute to the happiness, motivation and retention of older workers. We understand that this study confirms the effectiveness of the implementation of these practices, but that it leaves open doors for improvements in future investigations

Annotating climate data with commentary: the CHARMe project

The CHARMe project enables the annotation of climate data with key pieces of supporting information that we term “commentary”. Commentary reflects the experience that has built up in the user community, and can help new or less-expert users (such as consultants, SMEs, experts in other fields) to understand and interpret complex data. In the context of global climate services, the CHARMe system will record, retain and disseminate this commentary on climate datasets, and provide a means for feeding back this experience to the data providers. Based on novel linked data techniques and standards, the project has developed a core system, data model and suite of open-source tools to enable this information to be shared, discovered and exploited by the community

“Somos uno”. La educación como motor de cambio social

La experiencia muestra como objetivo principal concienciar a los alumnos de la importancia de la educación como motor del cambio social, especialmente, en países subdesarrollados. Para ello, se realizarán diferentes actividades a nivel de aula así como de centro y comunidad educativa que fomenten un aprendizaje significativo. Se establecerán relaciones internacionales con colegios de otros países para obtener, a través de la comunicación directa, información de primera mano que acerque la realidad a nuestros alumnado.  Se pretende con ello hacer los aprendizajes transferibles al resto de situaciones con las que se encuentre el alumnado trabajando los contenidos que se imparten a lo largo del año en las diferente áreas de una manera directa, activa y participativa; generando una repercusión a nivel afectivo y actitudinal que propicie un desarrollo integral del alumnado