Influence of socio-demographic issues in body mass index (bmi) of drug addicts in methadone maintenance treatment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the infl uence of social factors on the nutritional status of drug addicts. 60 drug addicts in methadone maintenance treatment of Integrated Response Center (CRI)of Bragança were evaluated. Nutritional assessment was performed by measuring the weight and height and then calculated the body mass index. The socio-demographic data were collected through a questionnaire constructed for this purpose. PASW 19.0 for Windows. The average body mass index (BMI) was 22.46 ± 3.36 kg/m2 and based on this parameter 13.3% were underweight, 65% normal weight, 20.0% overweight and 1.7% obesity grade I. BMI was signifi cantly higher in addicts who live with a spouse in relation to other housing contexts (p< 0.005). In terms of marital status, unmarried addicts had a significantly lower BMI compared to other situations. Individuals have an average of 4.10 ± 4.47 years of treatment and 78.3% performed less than 3 meals/day. The socio-demographic conditions must be taken into consideration in the process of intervention with this population. More studies must be performed in other to clarify other food behaviour variables in drug users populations

O comportamento de consumo dos Millennials nas plataformas de video streaming e a prática do binge watching

O avanço digital levou à proliferação de novas formas de acesso aos conteúdos audiovisuais. Hoje em dia, a televisão já não é o único dispositivo em que o utilizador pode assistir a séries, filmes, vídeos ou documentários. Através da Internet começaram a surgir as designadas plataformas de video streaming que têm despertado no consumidor Millennial e no consumidor em geral novos hábitos e práticas associadas à utilização destas novas plataformas. O presente estudo visa conhecer os hábitos, comportamentos e práticas dos Millennials associadas à utilização de plataformas de video streaming, através das plataformas/sites que mais utilizam, os dispositivos em que vêm e compreender de que forma a realidade do binge watching é uma prática presente na forma como se consome o conteúdo audiovisual, especificamente séries. Procurou-se conhecer estes comportamentos através da elaboração de um questionário e, posteriormente, procedeu-se na análise empírica à análise descritiva das respetivas variáveis e aplicou-se o modelo de regressão logística com o apoio da ferramenta SPSS de modo a conhecer a significância das variávei

Determination of catecholamines and endogenous related compounds in rat brain tissue exploring their native fluorescence and liquid chromatography

The profiling analysis of catecholamines and their metabolites in brain tissue offers a crucial key to understand their functions in the body and the opportunity to follow up neural diseases. A rapid and simple liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (LC-FLD) method was developed and validated for simultaneously measuring several catecholamines and endogenous related compounds in the rat brain tissue samples. The target analytes measured in this bioanalytical assay were levodopa (L-DOPA), dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (E), 3-O-methyldopa (3-O-MD), and homovanillic acid (HVA), being the 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine (DHBA) used as internal standard (IS). The six analytes (L-DOPA, DA, NE, E, 3-O-MD and HVA) can be determined in a single chromatographic run of less than 12min, and all the compounds (analytes and IS) were detected using their native fluorescence and monitored at excitation/emission wavelengths of 279nm/320nm, respectively. The chromatographic and detection conditions were experimentally optimized and then several validation parameters (linearity, limits of quantification and detection, precision and accuracy, recovery, stability and selectivity) were examined. In accordance with the international guidelines of the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency the method described herein exhibited limits of quantification in the range of 2-25ngmL-1, linearity in wide concentration ranges (r2≥0.994), and acceptable precision (coefficient variation ≤8.76%) and accuracy (bias ±14.65%) levels. Since the bioanalytical procedure does not involve pre-purification or derivatization of the sample, the absolute recovery was found to be around 100%. Moreover, the developed LC-FLD method was successfully applied for the determination of the compounds of interest in tissue samples of different rat brain regions (cerebellum, amygdala, cortex, hippocampus, striatum, mesencephalon, medulla oblongata, substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area). Hence, this assay represents a valuable bioanalytical tool to support several pre(non)clinical studies in the broad field of neurosciences, requiring the quantitative analysis of these bioamines and their metabolites

Crvena lisica (Vulpes vulpes) i egipatski mungos (Herpestes ichneumon) kao prijenosnici dermatofita u Portugalu

Dermatophytosis is a common dermatological infection, affecting humans, pets, domestic ruminants and wild animals. It is a cause for concern as it represents a risk to public and animal health. The aim of this study was to describe the occurrence of dermatophyte infection in wild mammals (road-killed and hunted) in Portugal. Fungal isolation was performed on the fur and scales of 101 wild mammals. Based on the observation of microstructures and colony morphology, fungal isolates were identified to the genus level. Dermatophytes were found in two of the 10 studied species: 3/51 (5.9%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.0–12.3%) red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and 5/19 (2.6%; 95% CI: 0.0–9.8%) Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon). These species represent different taxonomic families: Canidae and Viverridae and it is therefore important to infer the role of infection in these animals studied for dermatophytosis.Dermatofitoza je česta dermatološka infekcija koja pogađa ljude, kućne ljubimce, domaće glodavce i divlje životinje. Dermatofiti zadaju brigu i predstavljaju rizik za javno zdravlje i zdravlje životinja. Cilj ove studije bio je opisati pojavnost infekcije dermatofitima u divljih sisavaca u Portugalu, u životinja koje su nastradale u prometu i uhvaćenih divljih sisavaca. Izolacija gljivica obavljena je u krznu i ljuskama 101 divljeg sisavca. Na temelju promatranja mikrostruktura i morfologije kolonije, izolati gljivica su identificirani na razini roda. Dermatofiti su pronađeni u dvije od 10 proučavanih vrsta: 3/51 (5,9 %; 95 % interval pouzdanosti [CI]: 0,0-12,3 %) crvene lisice (Vulpes vulpes) i 5/19 (2,6 %; 95 % CI: 0,0-9,8 %) egipatskih mungosa (Herpestes ichneumon). Ove vrste predstavljaju različite taksonomske obitelji: Canidae i Viverridae i stoga je važno donijeti zaključak o ulozi infekcije u ovih životinja ispitanih na dermatofitozu

Awareness of DLD existence, characteristics and causes; data from a public survey conducted in Portugal.

Trabalho apresentado em 11th European Speech and Language Therapy Congress - 2022 ESLA Congress , 26-28 Maio 2022, Salzburg, Austria.N/

A modular approach for efficient production of multi-HA Influenza VLP-based vaccines

Safer and broadly protective vaccines are needed to cope with the continuous evolution of circulating influenza virus strains. Promising approaches based on the expression of multiple hemagglutinins (HA) (alone or in combination with neuraminidase and matrix M1 proteins), in a single vector or virus-like particle (VLP) have been proposed. However, expression of multiple genes in the same vector can be an issue due to tandem repetition of promoter sequences leading to its instability. By combining stable with transient expression we can rationally distribute the number of genes to be expressed by each system and thus mitigate this risk. Therefore, we developed a modular system using stable and baculovirus-mediated expression of HA in insect High Five cells for production of multi-HA influenza enveloped VLPs. First, a stable pool of High Five cells expressing two HA was established by random integration and intracellular HA expression confirmed by immunofluorescence microscopy. This cell pool was then infected at CCI of 2 or 3×106 cells/mL with M1-encoding baculovirus to evaluate the incorporation of stable expressed HA in the M1 core, thus generating Influenza VLPs. Similar levels of Influenza VLPs could be detected in culture medium by hemagglutination assay regardless of the CCI used. Aiming to increase HA production, infections at a higher CCI were attempted by implementing a feeding strategy designed based on the exhaustion of key nutrients, analyzed by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Noteworthy, the shake flask cultures that were supplemented and infected at a CCI of 4×106 cells/mL showed a 8-fold increase in HA levels when compared to above tested conditions. The robustness of our modular system was then challenged by infecting the stable High Five cell pool with a baculovirus encoding M1 plus three HA proteins. Results obtained at CCI of 4×106 cells/mL with supplementation showed a 4-fold increase in HA levels when compared to standard infection conditions (CCI of 2 and 3×106 cells/mL). Finally, to demonstrate the scalability of the strategy herein designed, cultures in fully controlled 2L stirred tank bioreactors were performed, and a 1.5-fold improvement in HA levels was obtained when compared to shake flask cultures. Overall, this work demonstrates the suitability of combining a stable insect cell line with baculovirus-mediated expression as a faster platform for production of multi-HA Influenza VLPs surpassing standard methods such as coinfections or the use of larger, unstable vectors. Acknowledgements This work was supported by EU-funded project EDUFLUVAC (FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION)

Awareness of DLD in Portugal

Trabalho apresentado em 1st International Developmental LanguageDisorder Research Conference (IDLDRC2021), 20-22 September 2021, onlineN/