Preliminary assays towards melanoma cells using phototherapy with gold-based nanomaterials

UIDB/00645/2020 UID/DTP/04138/2019 PTDC/MED-QUI/31721/2017 SFRH/BD/148044/2019Cancer like melanoma is a complex disease, for which standard therapies have significant adverse side effects that in most cases are ineffective and highly unspecific. Thus, a new paradigm has come with the need of achieving alternative (less invasive) and effective therapies. In this work, biocompatible gold nanoparticles (GNPs) coated with hyaluronic acid and oleic acid were prepared and characterized in terms of size, morphology and cytotoxicity in the presence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and two cell lines, the keratinocytes (healthy skin cells, HaCat) and the melanoma cells (B16F10). Results showed that these GNPs absorb within the near-infrared region (750–1400 nm), in the optical therapeutic window (from 650 to 1300 nm), in contrast to other commercial gold nanoparticles, which enables light to penetrate into deep skin layers. A laser emitting in this region was applied and its effect also analyzed. The coated GNPs showed a spherical morphology with a mean size of 297 nm without cytotoxic effects towards yeast and tested cell lines. Nevertheless, after laser irradiation, a reduction of 20% in B16F10 cell line viability was observed. In summary, this work appears to be a promising strategy for the treatment of non-metastatic melanoma or other superficial tumors.publishersversionpublishe

Preliminary Assays towards Melanoma Cells Using Phototherapy with Gold-Based Nanomaterials

Supplementary Materials - The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/10/8/1536/s1, Video S1: Thermal activation of HAOA-coated GNPs.Cancer like melanoma is a complex disease, for which standard therapies have significant adverse side effects that in most cases are ineffective and highly unspecific. Thus, a new paradigm has come with the need of achieving alternative (less invasive) and effective therapies. In this work, biocompatible gold nanoparticles (GNPs) coated with hyaluronic acid and oleic acid were prepared and characterized in terms of size, morphology and cytotoxicity in the presence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and two cell lines, the keratinocytes (healthy skin cells, HaCat) and the melanoma cells (B16F10). Results showed that these GNPs absorb within the near-infrared region (750–1400 nm), in the optical therapeutic window (from 650 to 1300 nm), in contrast to other commercial gold nanoparticles, which enables light to penetrate into deep skin layers. A laser emitting in this region was applied and its effect also analyzed. The coated GNPs showed a spherical morphology with a mean size of 297 nm without cytotoxic effects towards yeast and tested cell lines. Nevertheless, after laser irradiation, a reduction of 20% in B16F10 cell line viability was observed. In summary, this work appears to be a promising strategy for the treatment of non-metastatic melanoma or other superficial tumors.This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the projects: UIDB/00645/2020, UID/DTP/04138/2019, PTDC/MED-QUI/31721/2017 as well as by the PhD fellowship SFRH/BD/148044/2019 (J.L.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Customizable FPGA-based hardware accelerator for standard convolution processes empowered with quantization applied to LiDAR data

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of research and developments in deep learning solutions for object detection applied to driverless vehicles. This application benefited from the growing trend felt in innovative perception solutions, such as LiDAR sensors. Currently, this is the preferred device to accomplish those tasks in autonomous vehicles. There is a broad variety of research works on models based on point clouds, standing out for being efficient and robust in their intended tasks, but they are also characterized by requiring point cloud processing times greater than the minimum required, given the risky nature of the application. This research work aims to provide a design and implementation of a hardware IP optimized for computing convolutions, rectified linear unit (ReLU), padding, and max pooling. This engine was designed to enable the configuration of features such as varying the size of the feature map, filter size, stride, number of inputs, number of filters, and the number of hardware resources required for a specific convolution. Performance results show that by resorting to parallelism and quantization approach, the proposed solution could reduce the amount of logical FPGA resources by 40 to 50%, enhancing the processing time by 50% while maintaining the deep learning operation accuracy.European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (COMPETE 2020) (Project no. 037902; Funding Reference: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-037902

Towards a sustainable management model of the “Festa dos Tabuleiros”

The key goal of this conceptual paper is the creation of a sustainable management model of the Festa dos Tabuleiros (FT) event that provides a quality experience to the visitors without threatening the social, cultural and environmental integrity of the territory. Action research methodology has been used to improve the way the Tomar municipality organises and promotes the FT. In order to establish this model, it is necessary to determine the agents and relationships that underlie the production system of this event, aiming to improve the quality of its offer and the experience it provides to visitors as well as the sustainability of its production and consumption processes. In this sense, the development of the model will be based on four tasks: (1) stock-taking, interpreting and exhibiting cultural resources; (2) identifying, involving, analysing and educating stakeholders; (3) benchmarking of good practices in event sustainability; and (4) managing and monitoring the model. Hence, this paper aims to contribute to the safeguarding of the FT and to the sustainable development of the municipality and the region. This intent is achieved through the creation of a sustainable tourist-cultural management model that promotes the study, protection, enhancement, and dissemination of this event, as well as the creation of efficient and innovative solutions in an integrated way

Arquitectura de Suporte à Geração de Cenas Animadas com Agentes Inteligente

Este relatório apresenta uma proposta de arquitectura que permite a criação de ambientes virtuais onde se movimentam agentes inteligentes. Esta arquitectura faz a articulação de várias aplicações software de modelação tridimensional, motor gráfico e motor físico e a sua definição é uma importante etapa no progresso da tarefa 7 do projecto MAGO 2 , Modelação de Agentes em Organizações, que tem vindo a ser concretizada desde Fevereiro de 2004 por uma equipa de trabalho do LabMA

Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in Diabetic Foot Infections: Experience from a Portuguese Tertiary Centre

In recent years, the emergence of antibiotic resistant pathogens made increasingly difficult to establish appropriate empiric antimicrobial therapy protocols for acute diabetic foot infection (DFI) treatment. Early recognition of the population at-risk for multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infection is of paramount importance in order to decrease large-spectrum antibiotic overuse. This study used retrospective cohort study in a multidisciplinary tertiary diabetic foot unit. Patients with severe DFI were included and divided according to their infection resistance profile (susceptible vs MDR bacteria). Data regarding their comorbidities and length of hospital stay were collected. The primary endpoint was to determine the risk factors for MDR infections and to evaluate if these were associated with an increased length of stay (LOS). A total of 112 microbial isolates were included. Predominance of Gram-positive bacteria was observed and 22.3% of isolated bacteria were MDR. Previous hospitalisation was associated with a higher likelihood of MDR infection. MDR bacterial infection was also associated with an increased LOS (P = .0296). Our study showed a high incidence of MDR bacteria in patients with a DFI, especially in those who had a recent hospitalisation. MDR infections were associated with a prolonged LOS and represent a global public health issue for which emergent measures are needed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Step Forward in Breast Cancer Research: From a Natural-Like Experimental Model to a Preliminary Photothermal Approach

Supplementary Materials - The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/24/9681/s1, Figure S1: GNPs’ size distribution by intensity (%) obtained by DLS.Breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies and common causes of cancer death in women. Recent studies suggest that environmental exposures to certain chemicals, such as 7,12-Dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA), a chemical present in tobacco, may increase the risk of developing breast cancer later in life. The first-line treatments for breast cancer (surgery, chemotherapy or a combination of both) are generally invasive and frequently associated with severe side effects and high comorbidity. Consequently, novel approaches are strongly required to find more natural-like experimental models that better reflect the tumors’ etiology, physiopathology and response to treatments, as well as to find more targeted, efficient and minimally invasive treatments. This study proposes the development and an in deep biological characterization of an experimental model using DMBA-tumor-induction in Sprague-Dawley female rats. Moreover, a photothermal therapy approach using a near-infrared laser coupled with gold nanoparticles was preliminarily assessed. The gold nanoparticles were functionalized with Epidermal Growth Factor, and their physicochemical properties and in vitro effects were characterized. DMBA proved to be a very good and selective inductor of breast cancer, with 100% incidence and inducing an average of 4.7 tumors per animal. Epigenetic analysis showed that tumors classified with worst prognosis were hypomethylated. The tumor-induced rats were then subjected to a preliminary treatment using functionalized gold nanoparticles and its activation by laser (650–900 nm). The treatment outcomes presented very promising alterations in terms of tumor histology, confirming the presence of necrosis in most of the cases. Although this study revealed encouraging results as a breast cancer therapy, it is important to define tumor eligibility and specific efficiency criteria to further assess its application in breast cancer treatment on other species.The APC was funded by Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra and Coimbra Chemistry Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra. This work was also supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal under the project’s references UIDB/00645/2020 and UID/DTP/04138/2019. TFG was supported by FCT, Portugal under the reference SFRH/BD/147306/2019. Thanks to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020), through national funds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Algorithms for automated diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases based on ECG data: A comprehensive systematic review

The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases is increasing around the world. However, the technology is evolving and can be monitored with low-cost sensors anywhere at any time. This subject is being researched, and different methods can automatically identify these diseases, helping patients and healthcare professionals with the treatments. This paper presents a systematic review of disease identification, classification, and recognition with ECG sensors. The review was focused on studies published between 2017 and 2022 in different scientific databases, including PubMed Central, Springer, Elsevier, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), IEEE Xplore, and Frontiers. It results in the quantitative and qualitative analysis of 103 scientific papers. The study demonstrated that different datasets are available online with data related to various diseases. Several ML/DP-based models were identified in the research, where Convolutional Neural Network and Support Vector Machine were the most applied algorithms. This review can allow us to identify the techniques that can be used in a system that promotes the patient’s autonomy.N/

Viral genetic clustering and transmission dynamics of the 2022 mpox outbreak in Portugal

Pathogen genome sequencing during epidemics enhances our ability to identify and understand suspected clusters and investigate their relationships. Here, we combine genomic and epidemiological data of the 2022 mpox outbreak to better understand early viral spread, diversification and transmission dynamics. By sequencing 52% of the confirmed cases in Portugal, we identified the mpox virus sublineages with the highest impact on case numbers and fitted them into a global context, finding evidence that several international sublineages probably emerged or spread early in Portugal. We estimated a 62% infection reporting rate and that 1.3% of the population of men who have sex with men in Portugal were infected. We infer the critical role played by sexual networks and superspreader gatherings, such as sauna attendance, in the dissemination of mpox virus. Overall, our findings highlight genomic epidemiology as a tool for the real-time monitoring and control of mpox epidemics, and can guide future vaccine policy in a highly susceptible population.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparative Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines in Preventing Infections and Disease Progression from SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5 and BA.2, Portugal

We estimated comparative primary and booster vaccine effectiveness (VE) of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5 and BA.2 lineages against infection and disease progression. During April-June 2022, we implemented a case-case and cohort study and classified lineages using whole-genome sequencing or spike gene target failure. For the case-case study, we estimated the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of vaccination using a logistic regression. For the cohort study, we estimated VE against disease progression using a penalized logistic regression. We observed no reduced VE for primary (aOR 1.07 [95% CI 0.93-1.23]) or booster (aOR 0.96 [95% CI 0.84-1.09]) vaccination against BA.5 infection. Among BA.5 case-patients, booster VE against progression to hospitalization was lower than that among BA.2 case-patients (VE 77% [95% CI 49%-90%] vs. VE 93% [95% CI 86%-97%]). Although booster vaccination is less effective against BA.5 than against BA.2, it offers substantial protection against progression from BA.5 infection to severe disease.The acquisition of sequencing equipment and reagents used in this study by the Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge was partially funded by the HERA project (grant no. 2021/PHF/23776) supported by the European Commission through the European Centre for Disease Control, and also partially funded by the GenomePT project (grant no. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020–Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation, Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme, Algarve Portugal Regional Operational, under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund, and by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation. Algarve Biomedical Center Laboratory received public funding through the Project ALG-D2-2021-06 Variants Screen in Southern Portugal– Monitoring Variants of Concern in Southern Portugal and the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation national support through the Comprehensive Health Research Center (grant no. UIDP/04923/2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio