A new approach to the humandevelopment index

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and ManagementMuch critique has been made towards the Human Development Index (HDI) in the current development debate. The composite Index is widely used as the standard measure to evaluate human development and progress across countries by comprising income, health, and education measures. However, it has been proved that other welfare measures, such as governance, personal safety and environment and its sustainability, are of importance to human well-being and, therefore, should be included. This study seeks to contribute to the debate on how the human development of a country should be measured by proposing a composite Index that builds on new aggregation formulas and incorporates several essential aspects of life. Specifically, the indicator widens the scope of the HDI and attempts to find which is the most developed country in the world based on the analysed measures. In this research, three alternative aggregation methods are performed on seven aspects of human well-being, an addition of security, lifestyle, governance, and environmental sustainability dimensions, which translates into three distinctive Indices. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is performed on one of the Indices. The second and third Indices are computed by weighting and aggregating the data, where equal weights are assigned to all variables and dimensions, respectively. The resulting values of these Indices and country rankings are analysed and compared against the HDI. These results suggest that the worldview may be seriously distorted as problems of governance and sustainability are not considered when accessing human well-being

Validade da obtenção da água corporal total por impedância bioelétrica multiespectral face à diluição de deutério sob influência da ingestão de cafeína

Background: The objective is to analyze the validity of bioelectrical impedance multispectral (BIS) in ACT against the reference method (deuterium dilution) in a crossover design with administration of 5mg/kg caffeine or 5mg/kg placebo. Methods: It includes 30 participants, without smoking habits, low caffeine consumption (<100 mg·day−1) and aged between 20 and 39 years (BMI = 23.19 ± 2.54 kg/m2). A cross-over randomized trial with 2 conditions (5 mg·kg−1·day−1) of caffeine and placebo (maltodextrin) of 4 days each, with a washout period of 3 days was performed. ACT was evaluated by dilution of deuterium oxide from mass spectrometry and using BIS. Results: For both conditions, a strong correlation was found between the reference method and BIS (placebo: R2 = 0,931, p<0,01, caffeine: R2 = 0,905, p<0,01). Mean differences between methods were -0.014 for placebo and 0,064 for caffeine. The 95% limits of agreement ranged from -2.708 to 2.681kg for placebo and from -2.630 to 3.527kg for caffeine, with a CCC of 0.962 and 0.945, respectively. No significant correlations were found between the mean and the difference of the methods for any condition (placebo: R = 0,268, p = 0,153, caffeine: R= 0,350, p = 0,058). Conclusion: Regardless of caffeine or placebo intake, TBW obtained by BIS was valid at the group level with acceptable individual accuracy, compared to deuterium dilution.Introdução: O objetivo consiste em analisar a validade da ACT por impedância bioelétrica multiespectral (BIS) face ao método de referência (diluição de deutério) num desenho experimental cruzado com administração de 5mg/kg de cafeína ou 5mg/kg de placebo. Métodos: Inclui 30 participantes, sem hábitos tabágicos, baixos consumos de cafeína (<100 mg·dia−1) e idade entre 20 e 39 anos (IMC = 23,19 ± 2,54 kg/m2). Com 2 condições com distribuição aleatória (5 mg·kg−1·dia−1) de cafeína e placebo (maltodextrina) de 4 dias cada, com um período de washout de 3 dias. A ACT foi avaliada por diluição de óxido de deutério por espectrometria de massas e com recurso à BIS. Resultados: Para ambas as condições, foi encontrada uma forte correlação entre o método de referência e o BIS (placebo: R2 = 0,931, p<0,01, cafeína: R2 = 0,905, p<0,01). As diferenças médias entre os métodos foram -0,014 para placebo e 0,064 para cafeína. Os limites de concordância de 95% variaram de -2,708 a 2,681kg para placebo e de -2,630 a 3,527kg para cafeína, com CCC de 0,962 e 0,945, respectivamente. Não foram encontradas correlações significativas entre a média e a diferença dos métodos para nenhuma condição (placebo: R = 0,268, p = 0,153, cafeína: R = 0,350, p = 0,058). Conclusão: Independentemente da ingestão de cafeína ou placebo, observou-se uma elevada validade da ACT obtida por BIS ao nível do grupo e aceitável ao nível individual comparativamente com a diluição de deutério

Nutritional guide for a modern woman: a strategy for health education

"In the present article, we introduce a Health Education instrument that stems from a refection on the lay knowledge, salutogenic habits and daily nutritional practices of modern women in our current society. We developed a guide aimed at modern women, where the different food groups and food hygiene and safety measures are addressed. The guide includes eleven original pictograms that help the reader to locate and look up specific issues. The guide employs the label reading and interpretation principles, following the nutrition traffic-light internationally instituted, for it renders scientific information on nutrition clear and accessible to the general population. We believe that using this guide as a central strategy in health promotion will lead its users to adopt essential changes in their eating patterns and, in so doing, contribute to prevent diseases associated to bad eating habits. We also emphasize the role of mass media in spreading the conveyed information.

Challenging metastatic breast cancer with the natural defensin PvD1

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2017Metastatic breast cancer is a very serious life threatening condition that poses many challenges for the pharmaceutical development of effective chemotherapeutics. As the therapeutics targeted to the localized masses in breast improve, metastatic lesions in the brain slowly increase in their incidence compromising successful treatment outcomes overall. The blood-brain-barrier (BBB) is one important obstacle for the management of breast cancer brain metastases. New therapeutic approaches are in demand for overcoming the BBB's breaching by breast tumor cells. In this work we demonstrate the potential dual role of a natural antimicrobial plant defensin, PvD1: it interferes with the formation of solid tumors in the breast and concomitantly controls adhesion of breast cancer cells to human brain endothelial cells. We have used a combination of techniques that probe PvD1's effect at the single cell level and reveal that this peptide can effectively damage breast tumor cells, leaving healthy breast and brain cells unaffected. Results suggest that PvD1 quickly internalizes in cancer cells but remains located in the membrane of normal cells with no significant damage to its structure and biomechanical properties. These interactions in turn modulate cell adhesiveness between tumor and BBB cells. PvD1 is a potential template for the design of innovative pharmacological approaches for metastatic breast cancer treatment: the manipulation of the biomechanical properties of tumor cells that ultimately prevent their attachment to the BBB.This work was supported by a grant from Laço (Portugal). The authors thank Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT I.P., Portugal) for funding—PTDC/BBB-BQB/1693/2014 and LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007391, project co-financed by FEDER through POR Lisboa 2020 - Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa, Portugal 2020, and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, and also acknowledge financial support from the Brazilian agencies CNPq, CAPES, and FAPERJ (E-26/203.090/2016; E-26/202.132/2015). Tiago N. Figueira, Filipa D. Oliveira and Diana Gaspar acknowledge FCT I.P. for fellowships SFRH/ BD/5283/2013, PD/BD/135046/2017 and SFRH/BPD/109010/2015. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) is also acknowledged for funding: call H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, Grant agreement 644167, 2015–2019. Prof. Teresa R. Pacheco (FMUL) and Prof. Alexandra Brito (FFUL) are acknowledged for providing the human breast cell lines and HBMEC primary culture, respectively.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Customized tracheal design using 3D printing of a polymer hydrogel: influence of UV laser cross-linking on mechanical properties

H2020-ICT-2014-1,TransFlexTeg645241 ERC-CoG-2014, CapTherPV, 647596 Pest-UID/FIS/00068/2013The use of 3D printing of hydrogels as a cell support in bio-printing of cartilage, organs and tissue has attracted much research interest. For cartilage applications, hydrogels as soft materials must show some degree of rigidity, which can be achieved by photo- or chemical polymerization. In this work, we combined chemical and UV laser polymeric cross-linkage to control the mechanical properties of 3D printed hydrogel blends. Since there are few studies on UV laser cross-linking combined with 3D printing of hydrogels, the work here reported offered many challenges.publishe

Mycobiota and Aflatoxin B1 in Feed for Farmed Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

Thesafety characteristics of feed used in fish and crustacean aquaculture systems are an essential tool to assure the productivity of those animal exploitations. Safety of feed may be affected by different hazards, including biological and chemical groups. The aim of this preliminary study was to evaluate fungi contamination and the presence of aflatoxins in 87 samples of feed for sea bass, collected in Portugal. Molds were found in 35 samples (40.2%) in levels ranging from 1 to 3.3 log10 CFU∙g−1. Six genera of molds were found. Aspergillus flavus was the most frequent, found in all positive samples, with a range from 2 to 3.2 log10 CFU∙g−1. Aspergillus niger was found in 34 samples (39.1%), ranging from 1 to 2.7 log10 CFU∙g−1. Aspergillus glaucus was found in 26 samples (29.9%) with levels between 1 and 2.4 log10 CFU∙g−1. Penicillium spp. and Cladosporium spp. were both found in 25 samples (28.7%). Fusarium spp. was found in 22 samples (25.3%), ranging from 1 to 2.3 log10 CFU∙g−1. All feed samples were screened for aflatoxins using a HPLC technique, with a detection limit of 1.0 μg∙kg−1. All samples were aflatoxin negative

New insights on the critically endangered population of bottlenose dolphins from Sado estuary (Portugal)

34th European Cetacean Society Conference, O Grove, 16-20 April 2023Identifying threatened populations and quantifying their vulnerability is crucial for establishing priorities for conservation and providing robust information for decision-making. Small population size is a fundamental factor increasing the risk of extinction, owing to demographic and genetic stochasticity. When populations become too small, additional threats to stability and persistence arise, which can exacerbate the difficulty of stopping or reversing the decline. The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population inhabiting the Sado estuary region (Portugal) is one of the smallest resident populations of this species in Europe. Dedicated research over the last four decades has revealed year-round long-term site fidelity to the estuary, very low levels of immigration, high calf/juvenile mortality, and an ageing, declining population. In this collaborative study, we update previous information on population dynamics and add important information about the genetic diversity (microsatellites, mtDNA, SNPs markers), inbreeding levels, population structure, and persistent organic pollutants (PCBs, DDTs, PBDEs, and HBCDs) loads. Presently, the Sado population has 25 individuals (10M; 8F; 7 Unknown sex), of which six individuals are more than 40 years old. We found lower genetic diversity, presence of unique maternal lineages, and high levels of relatedness (r˃0.412). These animals are genetically differentiated from the other bottlenose dolphins sampled in the area (Iberian Peninsula, Azores and Madeira) suggesting an isolated population. For PCBs, five (62%) animals had concentrations higher than the highest threshold for PCB toxicology (˃41mg/kg lipid weight, can cause immunosuppression and/or reproductive impairment) including one calf less than 6 months old. This, together with the fact that this population inhabits one of the most polluted estuaries in Portugal, characterized by multiple sources of contamination and increasing anthropogenic pressures (e.g. dredging, boat traffic, and dolphin-watching activities) highlights the critical situation of this resident bottlenose dolphin population and the urgency to implement stringent and effective conservation measuresN

Identification of clusters of asthma control: A preliminary analysis of the inspirers studies

This work was funded by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operations: POCI- -01-0145-FEDER-029130 (“mINSPIRERS—mHealth to measure and improve adherence to medication in chronic obstructive respiratory diseases - generalisation and evaluation of gamification, peer support and advanced image processing technologies”) co-funded by the COMPETE2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).© 2020, Sociedade Portuguesa de Alergologia e Imunologia Clinica. All rights reserved. Aims: To identify distinct asthma control clusters based on Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT) and to compare patients’ characteristics among these clusters. Methods: Adults and adolescents (≥13 years) with persistent asthma were recruited at 29 Portuguese hospital outpatient clinics, in the context of two observational studies of the INSPIRERS project. Demographic and clinical characteristics, adherence to inhaled medication, beliefs about inhaled medication, anxiety and depression, quality of life, and asthma control (CARAT, >24 good control) were collected. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using CARAT total score (CARAT-T). Results: 410 patients (68% adults), with a median (percentile 25–percentile 75) age of 28 (16-46) years, were analysed. Three clusters were identified [mean CARAT-T (min-max)]: cluster 1 [27(24-30)], cluster 2 [19(14-23)] and cluster 3 [10(2-13)]. Patients in cluster 1 (34%) were characterised by better asthma control, better quality of life, higher inhaler adherence and use of a single inhaler. Patients in clusters 2 (50%) and 3 (16%) had uncontrolled asthma, lower inhaler adherence, more symptoms of anxiety and depression and more than half had at least one exacerbation in the previous year. Further-more, patients in cluster 3 were predominantly female, had more unscheduled medical visits and more anxiety symp-toms, perceived a higher necessity of their prescribed inhalers but also higher levels of concern about taking these inhalers. There were no differences in age, body mass index, lung function, smoking status, hospital admissions or specialist physician follow-up time among the three clusters. Conclusion: An unsupervised method based on CARAT--T, identified 3 clusters of patients with distinct, clinically meaningful characteristics. The cluster with better asthma control had a cut-off similar to the established in the validation study of CARAT and an additional cut-off seems to distinguish more severe disease. Further research is necessary to validate the asthma control clusters identified.publishersversionpublishe

BacHBerry: BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits

BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits (BacHBerry) was a 3-year project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union that ran between November 2013 and October 2016. The overall aim of the project was to establish a sustainable and economically-feasible strategy for the production of novel high-value phenolic compounds isolated from berry fruits using bacterial platforms. The project aimed at covering all stages of the discovery and pre-commercialization process, including berry collection, screening and characterization of their bioactive components, identification and functional characterization of the corresponding biosynthetic pathways, and construction of Gram-positive bacterial cell factories producing phenolic compounds. Further activities included optimization of polyphenol extraction methods from bacterial cultures, scale-up of production by fermentation up to pilot scale, as well as societal and economic analyses of the processes. This review article summarizes some of the key findings obtained throughout the duration of the project

Planeamento fiscal por via de estabelecimento estável : BEPS Ação 7

Com a constante evolução dos modelos de negócio internacionais, tornou-se necessário delinear um conjunto de medidas e alterações que pudessem prever e acompanhar o ritmo e o modo de desenvolvimento das empresas, que cada vez mais operam virtualmente e transformam a sua cadeia de valor mundialmente. As novas práticas empresariais desenvolvidas à escala global, para além dos benefícios, trazem novos desafios e a necessidade de uma maior intervenção das entidades reguladoras, supervisoras e das autoridades tributárias dos Estados, principalmente quando estejam em causa determinados modelos de crescimento potenciadores da elisão fiscal. Acresce ainda que, as novas formas de negócio, ao guiarem-se de modo diferente das tradicionais, tentam esquivar-se da tributação devida, justificando-se pela não presença física no Estado, situação que não apresenta qualquer argumento válido. Por outro lado, também o agravamento da crise económica e financeira potenciou este tipo de comportamento empresarial, com uma forte aposta no planeamento fiscal agressivo. Neste sentido, o plano BEPS – Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, promovido pelo G20 e desenvolvido pela OCDE, foi projetado para combater a erosão da base fiscal e da transferência dos lucros das empresas entre Estados, e constitui um avanço significativo no combate ao planeamento fiscal abusivo. A implementação deste plano deverá sempre ter diversos aspetos em conta, sejam eles indicadores do nível de desenvolvimento dos Estados, do rácio importação/exportação do país destino, entre outros, e inequivocamente, a conjuntura económica deste. Na sua ação 7, o plano proposto pretende, assim, prevenir o abuso das regras fiscais para evitar a constituição de estabelecimento estável (EE) nos Estados em que as estruturas empresariais operam, beneficiando deste modo de um alívio na carga fiscal, ou no limite, da sua eliminação. É o próprio Estabelecimento estável o elemento central na determinação da legitimidade para tributar nas CDT, e é o instrumento que permite apurar se existe presença suficiente de uma empresa num país, para justificar a sua tributação naquele Estado. A presente dissertação incidirá sobre o Estabelecimento Estável, quais as principais modificações ao seu conceito na MCOCDE de 2014 e na versão atualizada de 2017, e a respetiva aplicação prática face às alterações introduzidas pela ação 7 do plano BEPS, aludindo aos diferentes testes que permitem estabelecer o critério de conexão, com referência ao caso dos contratos de comissão e contratos similares.With the constant evolution of international business models, it became necessary to outline a set of measures and changes that could predict and keep up with the pace and development of companies that are increasingly operating on a virtual field and transform their value chain worldwide . New business practices developing on a global scale, aside from the benefits, bring new challenges and the need for a greater intervention of the regulatory, supervisory and tax authorities of the States, especially when some of the growth models promote tax avoidance are at stake. In addition, new forms of business, by being guided in a different way from the traditional ones, try to avoid the due taxation, claiming that the lack of physical presence at the State is responsible for it, which isn’t a proper justification at all. On the other hand, the EU economic and financial crisis led to the implementation of this type of business behavior, with a leading bet on aggressive tax planning. On that note, the G20 and OECD promoted BEPS - Erosion and Profit Shifting plan, which was designed to fight the erosion of the tax base and the transfer of corporate profits between states, and stands for a significant step forward in fighting aggressive tax planning. In action 7, the plan seeks to prevent the abuse of tax rules to prevent the artificial avoidance of a permanent establishment (PE) in the States where the business operates, thus benefiting from a relief in the tax burden. The Permanent Establishment is the key element to ascertain the CDT, and also to determine if that PE is enough to justify the income tax in that State. This dissertation will focus on the PE and what are the main changes to its concept in the MCODCE of 2014 along the most recent version of 2017, and its practical application set by the changes made by BEPS action 7 plan, making reference to the different tests that can establish the connection between States, mentioning the case of the commissionnaire arrangements and similar strategies