Monitoring weight and physical activity using an amI setting

We have an increasingly sedentary population without the care to make a healthy diet. Therefore, it becomes necessary to give the population the opportunity, despite living a very busy and tiring life, to have control over important aspects to their health. This work aims to present a model of an ambient intelligence system for monitoring the weight and physical activity in active individuals. To accomplish this objective we have developed a mobile application that allows users to monitor their weight over a period of time, identify the amount of food they consume and the amount of exercise they practice. This mobile application will give information to users about dietary and physical activity guidelines in order to improve their lifestyles. It is expected that students improve their lifestyles.(undefined

Boron nutrition affects membrane leakage and the chemical composition of leaves and fruits of Olea europaea

Boron (B) is an essential microelement for plants, being its deficiency the most frequent micronutrient disorder in olive tree. The main functions of boron are related to cell wall strength and development, membrane function, cell division, fruit and seed development, water relations, sugar transport and hormone development. The study conducted in Bragança (Northeast Portugal), under rainfed conditions, shows that application of Bfertilizer decreased the symptoms of oxidative stress on leaves, both in summer and, with higher extent, in winter. In fact, B-treated trees presented lower electrolyte leakage, in a closely association with higher concentration of total thiols. Moreover, boron increased the concentration of soluble sugars, while decreased the accumulation of starch in both seasons. Meanwhile, total soluble proteins and total phenols levels were higher in Bfertilized plants during the summer period, whereas in winter, after frost events, the concentration of phenols was higher in B-starved trees. The chemical composition of fruits at final harvest revealed that B-supply increases the soluble sugars and the pulp ash content, decreases organic matter and dietary fiber, whilst the crude protein concentration was similar between treatments. Thus, the present study showed that addition of Bfertilizer affects the metabolism of olive tree and give new insights about the effect of boron on plant physiology and biochemistry that will help to refine the improvement in Bfertilizer recommendations for olive growing areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The perception of the retirement transitions on the Reativa participants perspective

A aposentadoria constitui um a transição do ciclo de vida que expõe os seus protagonistas a estados de diferente vulnerabilidade biológica, psicológica, social e ecológica. O projeto REATIVA visa a promover um envelhecimento ativo e, numa primeira fase do seu desenvolvimento que teve por objetivo geral conhecer as perceções que os indivíduos apresentam relativamente à aposentadoria, descobriu que estes a percecionam como uma continuidade, readaptação, ganho, perda ou ambivalência.Retirement is a life cycle transition that exposes its protagonists to different states of biological, psychological, social and ecological vulnerability. The project REATIV aims to promote an active ageing and in a first phase of its development had as the overall objective to know the perceptions that individuals have regarding retirement, and found that they perceive it as a continuum, readaptation, gain, loss or ambivalence.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Correlation between fear of falling, eye-segmental coordination and dynamic balance in the elderly

Falls are well documented as being a major cause of accidental injury and deaths worldwide, especially among the elderly, with a higher probability of occurrence in the population over 60 years of age (WHO, 2021). Falls are preventable, but the consequences of falls can lead to injuries and may result in loss of independence. Decreased overall motor skills of the elderly, such as muscle strength, power, flexibility, agility, and endurance, cause walking difficulty (Spirduzo et al., 2005; Jeon M-Y, Choe M, 2002; Salzman, 2010), nevertheless, physical activity and exercise can contribute to maintaining the quality of life, health, physical function and reducing falls among older people (Gillespie et al., 2012; Tricco et al., 2017). Thus, the present study aims to analyse the association between fear of falling, eye-segmental coordination and dynamic balance in participants in a physical exercise program for the elderly. The sample consisted of 103 individuals (22 men and 81 women) with a mean age of 71.3 (±5.9) years, participants of a gerontomotricity municipal program from 5 different locations in the central region of Portugal. Wall Drop Punt Kick and Catch test was used to assess eye-segmental coordination, the Foot Up and Go test was used to assess dynamic balance, and the Falls Efficacy Scale International questionnaire was used to assess the fear of falling. Results confirm that higher levels of eye-segmental coordination are correlated both with dynamic balance and the fear of falling (r = - 0.39, p 0.05). With this study, it could be confirmed that higher levels of fear of falling in the older population are related to lower levels of eye-segmental coordination and lower levels of dynamic balance, emphasising the need to maintain or adopt active lifestyles that promote the development or at least, avoid the decrease of human motor skills performance

Construção de um programa promotor do envelhecimento ativo: o protótipo do programa REATIVA

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Promoter methylation and large intragenic rearrangements of DPYD are not implicated in severe toxicity to 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy in gastrointestinal cancer patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Severe toxicity to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) based chemotherapy in gastrointestinal cancer has been associated with constitutional genetic alterations of the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase gene (<it>DPYD</it>).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, we evaluated <it>DPYD </it>promoter methylation through quantitative methylation-specific PCR and screened <it>DPYD </it>for large intragenic rearrangements in peripheral blood from 45 patients with gastrointestinal cancers who developed severe 5-FU toxicity. <it>DPYD </it>promoter methylation was also assessed in tumor tissue from 29 patients</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two cases with the IVS14+1G > A exon 14 skipping mutation (c.1905+1G > A), and one case carrying the 1845 G > T missense mutation (c.1845G > T) in the DPYD gene were identified. However, <it>DPYD </it>promoter methylation and large <it>DPYD </it>intragenic rearrangements were absent in all cases analyzed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that <it>DPYD </it>promoter methylation and large intragenic rearrangements do not contribute significantly to the development of 5-FU severe toxicity in gastrointestinal cancer patients, supporting the need for additional studies on the mechanisms underlying genetic susceptibility to severe 5-FU toxicity.</p

Arabidopsis thaliana SPF1 and SPF2 are nuclear-located ULP2-like SUMO proteases that act downstream of SIZ1 in plant development

Post-translational modifiers such as the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) peptide act as fast and reversible protein regulators. Functional characterization of the sumoylation machinery has determined the key regulatory role that SUMO plays in plant development. Unlike components of the SUMO conjugation pathway, SUMO proteases (ULPs) are encoded by a relatively large gene family and are potential sources of specificity within the pathway. This study reports a thorough comparative genomics and phylogenetic characterization of plant ULPs, revealing the presence of one ULP1-like and three ULP2-like SUMO protease subgroups within plant genomes. As representatives of an under-studied subgroup, Arabidopsis SPF1 and SPF2 were subjected to functional characterization. Loss-of-function mutants implicated both proteins with vegetative growth, flowering time, and seed size and yield. Mutants constitutively accumulated SUMO conjugates, and yeast complementation assays associated these proteins with the function of ScUlp2 but not ScUlp1. Fluorescence imaging placed both proteins in the plant cell nucleoplasm. Transcriptomics analysis indicated strong regulatory involvement in secondary metabolism, cell wall remodelling, and nitrate assimilation. Furthermore, developmental defects of the spf1-1 spf2-2 (spf1/2) double-mutant opposed those of the major E3 ligase siz1 mutant and, most significantly, developmental and transcriptomic characterization of the siz1 spf1/2 triple-mutant placed SIZ1 as epistatic to SPF1 and SPF2.We thank Mark Hochstrasser (Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA) for kindly providing the ulp1-ts yeast mutant strain. This research was funded by FEDER (through COMPETE), and by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), within the scope of project SUMOdulator (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028459 and PTDC/BIA-PLA/3850/2012). PHC was supported by FCT (SFRH/BD/44484/2008). HA and FF were supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000007 and Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000008, respectively). The work was supported by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020-Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT, within the framework of projects 'Rede de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva' (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821) and 'Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences' (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274). This research was also supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia (AGL2016-75819-C2-1-R) and FEDER (PCQ, AGC, ERB)

Nationwide access to endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke in portugal

Publisher Copyright: Copyright Ordem dos M dicos 2021.Introduction: Since the publication of endovascular treatment trials and European Stroke Guidelines, Portugal has re-organized stroke healthcare. The nine centers performing endovascular treatment are not equally distributed within the country, which may lead to differential access to endovascular treatment. Our main aim was to perform a descriptive analysis of the main treatment metrics regarding endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal and its administrative districts. Material and Methods: A retrospective national multicentric cohort study was conducted, including all ischemic stroke patients treated with endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal over two years (July 2015 to June 2017). All endovascular treatment centers contributed to an anonymized database. Demographic, stroke-related and procedure-related variables were collected. Crude endovascular treatment rates were calculated per 100 000 inhabitants for mainland Portugal, and each district and endovascular treatment standardized ratios (indirect age-sex standardization) were also calculated. Patient time metrics were computed as the median time between stroke onset, first-door, and puncture. Results: A total of 1625 endovascular treatment procedures were registered. The endovascular treatment rate was 8.27/100 000 inhabitants/year. We found regional heterogeneity in endovascular treatment rates (1.58 to 16.53/100 000/year), with higher rates in districts closer to endovascular treatment centers. When analyzed by district, the median time from stroke onset to puncture ranged from 212 to 432 minutes, reflecting regional heterogeneity. Discussion: Overall endovascular treatment rates and procedural times in Portugal are comparable to other international registries. We found geographic heterogeneity, with lower endovascular treatment rates and longer onset-to-puncture time in southern and inner regions. Conclusion: The overall national rate of EVT in the first two years after the organization of EVT-capable centers is one of the highest among European countries, however, significant regional disparities were documented. Moreover, stroke-onset-to-first-door times and in-hospital procedural times in the EVT centers were comparable to those reported in the randomized controlled trials performed in high-volume tertiary hospitalspublishersversionpublishe