Explore the vast range of titles available.

Fábrica de Loiça de Sacavém (ca. 1858–1994) was among the first to produce white earthenware in Portugal, becoming one of the country’s leading ceramic manufacturers during the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Research on white earthenware has accompanied the growing interest in post-industrial archaeology but is still poorly explored compared to more ancient ceramic productions. This study focused on the ceramic body, glazes, and colourants of tableware produced by Fábrica de Loiça de Sacavém during the first 50 years of its activity (1859–1910). A multi-analytical approach was selected to investigate the chemical and mineralogical composition of the ceramic body, glaze, and pigments using optical microscopy, variable-pressure scanning electron microscope energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (VP-SEM-EDS), μ-Raman spectroscopy, μ-X-ray Diffraction (μ-XRD), and reflectance spectroscopy (hyperspectral image analysis). The studied tableware was produced with a Ca-poor siliceous–aluminous white earthenware ceramic body covered with transparent alkali lead or lead borosilicate glaze, and most colourants were complex Cr-based pigments. These results are in agreement with the little documental evidence from this period found in the manufacturer’s archives.

Long-term cognitive dysfunction, or “chemobrain”, has been observed in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. Mitoxantrone (MTX) is a topoisomerase II inhibitor that binds and intercalates with DNA, being used in the treatment of several cancers and multiple sclerosis. Although MTX can induce chemobrain, its neurotoxic mechanisms are poorly studied. This work aimed to identify the adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) activated in the brain upon the use of a clinically relevant cumulative dose of MTX. Three-month-old male CD-1 mice were given a biweekly intraperitoneal administration of MTX over the course of three weeks until reaching a total cumulative dose of 6 mg/kg. Controls were given sterile saline in the same schedule. Two weeks after the last administration, the mice were euthanized and their brains removed. The left brain hemisphere was used for targeted profiling of the metabolism of glutathione and the right hemisphere for an untargeted metabolomics approach. The obtained results revealed that MTX treatment reduced the availability of cysteine (Cys), cysteinylglycine (CysGly), and reduced glutathione (GSH) suggesting that MTX disrupts glutathione metabolism. The untargeted approach revealed metabolic circuits of phosphatidylethanolamine, catecholamines, unsaturated fatty acids biosynthesis, and glycerolipids as relevant players in AOPs of MTX in our in vivo model. As far as we know, our study was the first to perform such a broad profiling study on pathways that could put patients given MTX at risk of cognitive deficits.

Antibodies and their derivatives constitute a crucial class of molecules in modern biotechnology and therapeutic development. Consequently, identifying chemically robust affinity ligands capable of specifically recognizing antibodies remains an important challenge. In this study, an in-house phage display library based on the WW domain scaffold (WWp5_4) was utilized to identify binders against polyclonal human IgG. A lead ligand from clone E6 was selected. To enhance the developability of WW ligands derived from this library, we rationally minimized structural liabilities within the scaffold framework to improve chemical stability and solubility, generating two mutant variants. Furthermore, a head-to-tail dimeric version of the E6 mutant sequence was designed. The lead ligand E6 exhibited a dissociation constant of 133 nM. The mutant variants demonstrated a fivefold increase in expression yield compared to the native sequence. Additionally, the dimeric construct showed improved solubility and an estimated dissociation constant of 62 nM toward human IgG. This study underscores the potential of small folded protein domains, such as WW domains, as versatile affinity ligands for antibodies and other molecular targets, thereby broadening their applicability in biotechnology and bioengineering.

Objetivo: identificar osteoporose e fatores de risco associados à dor em pessoas com DCNT na atenção primária. Metodologia: estudo transversal realizado em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde do Distrito Federal, com 339 participantes. Coletaram-se dados sociodemográficos e clínicos, Densidade Mineral Óssea (DMO) e avaliação da dor pela Escala Numérica Visual e diagrama corporal. Resultados: a prevalência de alteração da DMO foi 44,2% (19,5% osteoporose; 31,3% osteopenia). Sexo, estado civil, diabetes mellitus e polifarmácia associaram-se às alterações ósseas.  Indivíduos com osteoporose eram mais idosos, enquanto os com osteopenia apresentaram maior percentual de gordura, pressão arterial. A glicemia elevada foi frequente nos grupos sem alteração óssea (71,3%) e com osteopenia (66,0%). A prevalência e a intensidade da dor mostraram associação com a DMO. Conclusão: enfermeiros devem identificar fatores de risco, reconhecer sintomas, prevenir complicações e manejar adequadamente a dor em pessoas com DCNT e risco de osteoporose.

Life expectancy has increased immensely over the past decades, bringing new challenges to the health systems as advanced age increases the predisposition for many diseases. One of those is the burden of neurologic disorders. While many hypotheses have been placed to explain aging mechanisms, it has been widely accepted that the increasing pro-inflammatory status with advanced age or “inflammaging” is a main determinant of biological aging. Furthermore, inflammaging is at the cornerstone of many age-related diseases and its involvement in neurologic disorders is an exciting hypothesis. Indeed, aging and neurologic disorders development in the elderly seem to share some basic pathways that fundamentally converge on inflammation. Peripheral inflammation significantly influences brain function and contributes to the development of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. Understanding the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of progressive neurological diseases is of crucial importance for developing effective treatments and interventions that can slow down or prevent disease progression, therefore, decreasing its social and economic burden.

Cognitive dysfunction has been one of the most reported and studied adverse effects of cancer treatment, but, for many years, it was overlooked by the medical community. Nevertheless, the medical and scientific communities have now recognized that the cognitive deficits caused by chemotherapy have a strong impact on the morbidity of cancer treated patients. In fact, chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction or ‘chemobrain’  (also named also chemofog) is at present a well-recognized effect of chemotherapy that could affect up to 78% of treated patients. Nonetheless, its underlying neurotoxic mechanism is still not fully elucidated. Therefore, this work aimed to provide a comprehensive review using PubMed as a database to assess the studies published on the field and, therefore, highlight the clinical manifestations of chemobrain and the putative neurotoxicity mechanisms. In the last two decades, a great number of papers was published on the topic, mainly with clinical observations. Chemotherapy-treated patients showed that the cognitive domains most often impaired were verbal memory, psychomotor function, visual memory, visuospatial and verbal learning, memory function and attention. Chemotherapy alters the brain’s metabolism, white and grey matter and functional connectivity of brain areas. Several mechanisms have been proposed to cause chemobrain but increase of proinflammatory cytokines with oxidative stress seem more relevant, not excluding the action on neurotransmission and cellular death or impaired hippocampal neurogenesis. The interplay between these mechanisms and susceptible factors makes the clinical management of chemobrain even more difficult. New studies, mainly referring to the underlying mechanisms of chemobrain and protective measures, are important in the future, as it is expected that chemobrain will have more clinical impact in the coming years, since the number of cancer survivors is steadily increasing.

Mitoxantrone (MTX) is a topoisomerase II inhibitor used to treat a wide range of tumors and multiple sclerosis but associated with potential neurotoxic effects mediated by hitherto poorly understood mechanisms. In adult male CD-1 mice, the underlying neurotoxic pathways of a clinically relevant cumulative dose of 6 mg/kg MTX was evaluated after biweekly administration for 3 weeks and sacrifice 1 week after the last administration was undertaken. Oxidative stress, neuronal damage, apoptosis, and autophagy were analyzed in whole brain, while coronal brain sections were used for a closer look in the hippocampal formation (HF) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC), as these areas have been signaled out as the most affected in ‘chemobrain’. In the whole brain, MTX-induced redox imbalance shown as increased endothelial nitric oxide synthase and reduced manganese superoxide dismutase expression, as well as a tendency to a decrease in glutathione levels. MTX also caused diminished ATP synthase β expression, increased autophagic protein LC3 II and tended to decrease p62 expression. Postsynaptic density protein 95 expression decreased in the whole brain, while hyperphosphorylation of Tau was seen in PFC. A reduction in volume was observed in the dentate gyrus (DG) and CA1 region of the HF, while GFAP-ir astrocytes increased in all regions of the HF except in the DG. Apoptotic marker Bax increased in the PFC and in the CA3 region, whereas p53 decreased in all brain areas evaluated. MTX causes damage in the brain of adult CD-1 mice in a clinically relevant cumulative dose in areas involved in memory and cognition.

A dor é inerente à condição humana e desempenha um papel crucial e indispensável na proteção à vida. No entanto, contrariamente à dor aguda, a dor crónica não possui quaisquer benefícios evolutivos e constitui uma doença em si. A elevada prevalência, impacto económico, social e emocional fazem desta doença um dos maiores desafios da medicina na atualidade, uma vez que, apesar dos avanços científicos, o tratamento da dor crónica permanece difícil e muitas vezes frustrante, o que resulta numa grande percentagem de pacientes a relatar dificuldades no seu alívio. Através do estudo dos fatores que influenciam o processo de cronificação da dor, é possível entender que o sucesso terapêutico da dor crónica passa pela adoção de uma abordagem multidisciplinar, multidimensional e centrada na experiência pessoal de dor de cada paciente. Atualmente, a compreensão da conexão mente-corpo na fisiopatologia da dor é cada vez mais robusta e sustentada por evidência científica, e dentro deste campo de pesquisa dá-se o desenvolvimento da Medicina Mente-Corpo. Esta dissertação explora a Medicina Mente-Corpo e de que forma esta pode contribuir para o tratamento e gestão da dor crónica. Assim, foram analisadas intervenções mente-corpo, como a Meditação e Terapias do Movimento (Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong e Dança). Estas terapias demonstraram benefícios na redução da dor, na melhoria da incapacidade funcional e na melhora da resiliência emocional, promovendo um maior bem-estar emocional e aceitação da dor. Esta revisão de literatura sugere que a incorporação de práticas mente-corpo, aliadas ao tratamento convencional da dor, resulta em melhorias na qualidade de vida dos pacientes e na redução do impacto da dor crónica na sociedade. Embora os resultados sejam promissores, há a necessidade de mais estudos longitudinais para validar a eficácia a longo prazo e avaliar a viabilidade económica da implementação destas terapias nos sistemas de saúde.

O crescimento da extensão da rede de infra-estruturas de transporte tem gerado uma enorme pressão sobre o ambiente. Deste modo, a Avaliação de Impacto Ambiental (AIA) assume um papel relevante como instrumento de apoio à decisão, já que tenta avaliar os efeitos físicos, biológicos e socioeconómicos dos diversos projectos, permitindo que as decisões sejam tomadas de forma lógica e racional. A eficácia da utilização deste instrumento depende essencialmente da qualidade do Estudo de Impacto Ambiental (EIA).Assim, efectuou-se uma análise temporal de como o descritor fauna de vertebrados foi tratado em 40 EIA’s de infra-estruturas rodoviárias, tendo-se avaliado diversos parâmetros, de forma a perceber como evoluiu a qualidade do processo de AIA no que refere a este descritor.Deste modo, foram utilizados métodos estatísticos univariados para averiguar a evolução individual de cada um desses parâmetros, complementados com análises multivariadas para estudar a sua evolução conjunta, o que permitiu determinar algumas tendências relevantes. Comprovou-se, assim, uma melhor qualidade dos estudos referentes a auto-estradas, por comparação com aqueles que incidiram sobre itinerários principais e complementares e estradas nacionais, bem como uma melhoria dos EIA’s no período de tempo mais recente (2007-2010), por comparação com os períodos anteriores (1995-1998; 1999-2002; 2003-2006). Para isso, muito terá contribuído a nova legislação de AIA, mais exigente, que entrou em vigor no ano 2000 (DL 69/2000, de 3 de Maio).

Protected areas are sensitive ecosystems that need considerate and sustainable management. Trails are the primary recreational resource facility on which activities are performed in Protected Areas. They create an opportunity for hiking, biking, wildlife observation and protection of natural resources when well-managed. Yet, they can also create negative impacts like degradation of the environment when poorly managed. Visitor trampling associated with recreational activities results in a variety of impacts to vegetation, including a reduction in vegetation cover, height, biomass, changes in species composition, and the introduction and spread of non-native species.This study seeks to assess information and evaluate how a National Park, which is economically moved by big groups of tourists, is being affected on flora distribution and composition, as well as the prevalence of generalist flora species within the defined areas for tourist activities.The case of study was developed in Brijuni National Park, CroatiaA total of five recreational trails, (i) Train Trail, (ii) Path of Good Vibration Trail, (iii) Cycling Trail, (iv) Belvedere Trail, and (v) Zelenikovac Educational Trail were surveyed, along the two main types of habitats, the Holm-Oak Forest, and the Eu-Mediterranean and steno-Mediterranean rocky pastures. For the assessment of information three main methodologies were applied: The Trail Assessment Survey, where trail conditions and observable impacts were assessed; and the spatial quadrat methodology, using Brijuni National Park trails as transects, on both road-verge and far (10 m) from trail. As long as wider evaluation using trails as transects and a 20 m border starting from the road-verge to assess information on distribution of the overpopulation of generalist species Scolymus hispanicus.Data analysis was performed using linear mixed models, and pair-wise dissimilarity matrices, together with indicators of species evaluation.During this study 116 quadrats were evaluated. We identified, a total of 85 plant species, of which 6 were common grasses, 14 trees and shrub species, and the other 65 species were perennial plants and small herbaceous. We found a generally good condition of trails in BNP, associated with a low significance of impact caused by trails in associated flora distribution and composition. Nonetheless, it was observed that more degraded areas seem to be a preferable habitat for generalist species like Scolymus hispanicus.A deeper evaluation of these areas is necessary. Studies that include an evaluation of big game species, their feeding habits, and their palatability is a must since this species can have major roles in structuring vegetation composition. Evaluation of soil properties and conditions may be part of the solution, especially if there is an interest in not only maintaining, as also improving ecological conditions within this protected area. In the meanwhile, it is necessary to ensure and improve the existing means for recreational purpose that are the network of harden roads in the park, since these ones only show to affect the environment when reaching high levels of degradation. The flora distribution and composition in the Park could benefit by the limitation of exiting the roads by motorized vehicles, that could be implemented by applying small wooden columns, as for a deeper knowledge of visitation movements and pressure through the park.