Browsing by Author "Cordeiro, Clara"
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- Antibody selection strategies and their impact in predicting clinical malaria based on multi-sera dataPublication . Fonseca, André; Spytek, Mikolaj; Biecek, Przemysław; Cordeiro, Clara; Sepúlveda, NunoNowadays, the chance of discovering the best antibody candidates for predicting clinical malaria has notably increased due to the availability of multi-sera data. The analysis of these data is typically divided into a feature selection phase followed by a predictive one where several models are constructed for predicting the outcome of interest. A key question in the analysis is to determine which antibodies should be included in the predictive stage and whether they should be included in the original or a transformed scale (i.e. binary/dichotomized).
- Avaliação geriátrica global da população do AlgarvePublication . Braz, Nídia; Pais, Sandra; Cordeiro, Clara; Conde, Monserrat; Oliveira, GiovannaThe ageing of population challenges communities to adapt and evolve to accommodate the needs of people that live longer (mostly out of work, either healthy, fragile or with chronic disease). Population ageing in the Algarve is higher than in overall Portugal. Studies on health conditions, frailty risk factors and elderly specific needs are undeveloped in Portugal and unknown in the Algarve. Objective To prepare a tool for Global Geriatric Evaluation, to be used in the “Survey of Health and Ageing in the Region of Algarve - SHARA”, a commitment to “European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing”. Methods A preliminary version of the screening tool, which includes well-known instruments to measure health condition (EASY-care), risk of fall (Tinetty), physical activity (Baecke’s modified questionnaire), nutritional condition (MNA), cognitive and depressive status (MMSE, Yesavage geriatric depression scale), together with socio-demographic characteristics, was applied to an independent sample of subjects from an elderly community centre - ARPI (“Associação de Reformados, Pensionistas e Idosos do Concelho de Faro”), with ages between 55 and 89. Results ARPI is mostly frequented by women, who either have risk of malnutrition or malnutrition incidence, a relevant risk of fall or are physically active. Those who live alone, show a higher risk of fall. Conclusions ARPI members are active, but with risk of malnutrition and fall, suggesting the relevance and importance of future interventions in these areas. The proposed screening tool showed to be adequate for the SHARA study, suitable to provide wider information on frailty.
- O conceito de cientista em diferentes níveis de ensinoPublication . Lima, Ana M. S.; Neves, Margarida R.; Cordeiro, Clara; Aureliano, M.O ensino das ciências experimentais envolve um grande empenho, além de um consumo de tempo elevado, da parte dos professores para promover e induzir uma aprendizagem dinâmica de diversos conceitos científicos. Neste trabalho, é analisado o conceito de cientista no ensino básico e universitário. O presente estudo, relativo ao ano lectivo 2004 / 05, envolveu cerca de 600 alunos do ensino básico, desde o 5.º ao 9.º ano, com idades compreendidas entre os 10 e os 15 anos, das Escolas E.B. 2,3 D. Afonso III, Faro; E.B. 2,3 António Contreiras, Armação de Pêra e E.B. 2,3 Sto. António (n.º 4), Faro. Foram ainda abrangidos neste estudo cerca de 100 alunos do 1.º e 2.º anos das licenciaturas em Bioquímica, Engenharia do Ambiente e Oceanografia da Universidade do Algarve. Aos alunos foram colocadas duas questões, tendo sido definido um tempo máximo de 25 minutos para a primeira e de 15 minutos para a segunda: 1) Faça um desenho de um cientista; e, 2) O que é para ti um cientista?
- Forecasting: theory and practicePublication . Petropoulos, Fotios; Apiletti, Daniele; Assimakopoulos, Vassilios; Zied Babai, Mohamed; K. Barrow, Devon; Ben Taieb, Souhaib; Bergmeir, Christoph; J. Bessa, Ricardo; Bijak, Jakub; Boylan, John E.; Browell, Jethro; Carnevale, Claudio; Castle, Jennifer L.; Cirillo, Pasquale; Clements, Michael P.; Cordeiro, Clara; Oliveira, Fernando Luiz; Shari De Baets, Cyrino; Dokumentov, Alexander; Ellison, Joanne; Fiszeder, Piotr; Franses, Philip Hans; Frazier, David T.; Gilliland, Michael; Gönül, M. Sinan; Goodwin, Paul; Grossi, Luigi; Grushka-Cockayne, Yael; Guidolin, Mariangela; Guidolin, Massimo; Gunter, Ulrich; Guo, Xiaojia; Guseo, Renato; Harvey, Nigel; Hendry, David F.; Hollyman, Ross; Januschowski, Tim; eon, Jooyoung J; Richmond R. Jose, Victor; Kang, Yanfei; Koehler, Anne B.; Kolassa, Stephan; Kourentzes, Nikolaos; Leva, Sonia; Li, Feng; Litsiou, Konstantia; Makridakis, Spyros; M. Martin, Gael; Martinez, Andrew B.; Meeran, Sheik; Modis, Theodore; Nikolopoulos, Konstantinos; Önkal, Dilek; Paccagnini, Alessia; Panagiotelis, Anastasios; Panapakidis, Ioannis; Pavía, Jose M.; Pedio, Manuela; Pedregal, Diego J.; Pinson, Pierre; Ramos, Patrícia; Rapach, David E.; Reade, J. James; Rostami-Tabar, Bahman; Rubaszek, Michał; Sermpinis, Georgios; Shang, Han Lin; Spiliotis, Evangelos; Syntetos, Aris A.; Talagala, Priyanga Dilini; Talagala, Thiyanga S.; Tashman, Len; Thomakos, Dimitrios; Thorarinsdottir, Thordis; Todini, Ezio; Trapero Arenas, Juan Ramón; Wang, Xiaoqian; Winkler, Robert L.; Yusupova, Alisa; Ziel, FlorianForecasting has always been at the forefront of decision making and planning. The uncertainty that surrounds the future is both exciting and challenging, with individuals and organisations seeking to minimise risks and maximise utilities. The large number of forecasting applications calls for a diverse set of forecasting methods to tackle real-life challenges. This article provides a non-systematic review of the theory and the practice of forecasting. We provide an overview of a wide range of theoretical, state-of-the-art models, methods, principles, and approaches to prepare, produce, organise, and evaluate forecasts. We then demonstrate how such theoretical concepts are applied in a variety of real-life contexts. We do not claim that this review is an exhaustive list of methods and applications. However, we wish that our encyclopedic presentation will offer a point of reference for the rich work that has been undertaken over the last decades, with some key insights for the future of forecasting theory and practice. Given its encyclopedic nature, the intended mode of reading is non-linear. We offer cross-references to allow the readers to navigate through the various topics. We complement the theoretical concepts and applications covered by large lists of free or open-source software implementations and publicly-available databases.
- Global geriatric evaluation of the Algarve populationPublication . Braz, Nídia; Pais, Sandra; Cordeiro, Clara; Oliveira, Giovanna; Conde, MonserratThe ageing of population challenges communities to adapt and evolve to accommodate the needs of people that live longer (mostly out of work, either healthy, fragile or with chronic disease). Population ageing in the Algarve is higher than in overall Portugal. Studies on health conditions, frailty risk factors and elderly specific needs are undeveloped in Portugal and unknown in the Algarve. Objective To prepare a tool for Global Geriatric Evaluation, to be used in the “Survey of Health and Ageing in the Region of Algarve - SHARA”, a commitment to “European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing”. Methods A preliminary version of the screening tool, which includes well-known instruments to measure health condition (EASY-care), risk of fall (Tinetty), physical activity (Baecke’s modified questionnaire), nutritional condition (MNA), cognitive and depressive status (MMSE, Yesavage geriatric depression scale), together with socio-demographic characteristics, was applied to an independent sample of subjects from an elderly community centre - ARPI (“Associação de Reformados, Pensionistas e Idosos do Concelho de Faro”), with ages between 55 and 89. Results ARPI is mostly frequented by women, who either have risk of malnutrition or malnutrition incidence, a relevant risk of fall or are physically active. Those who live alone, show a higher risk of fall. Conclusions ARPI members are active, but with risk of malnutrition and fall, suggesting the relevance and importance of future interventions in these areas. The proposed screening tool showed to be adequate for the SHARA study, suitable to provide wider information on frailty.
- Hybrid nanosystems based on natural polymers as protein carriers for respiratory delivery: stability and toxicological evaluationPublication . Rodrigues, Susana; Cordeiro, Clara; Seijo, Begona; Remunan-Lopez, Carmen; Grenha, AnaChitosan/carrageenan/tripolyphosphate nanoparticles were previously presented as holding potential for an application in transmucosal delivery of macromolecules, with tripolyphosphate demonstrating to contribute for both size reduction and stabilisation of the nanoparticles. This work was aimed at evaluating the capacity of the nanoparticles as protein carriers for pulmonary and nasal transmucosal delivery, further assessing their biocompatibility pattern regarding that application. Nanoparticles demonstrated stability in presence of lysozyme, while freeze-drying was shown to preserve their characteristics when glucose or sucrose were used as cryoprotectants. Bovine serum albumin was associated to the nanoparticles, which were successfully microencapsulated by spray-drying to meet the aerodynamic requirements inherent to pulmonary delivery. Finally, a satisfactory biocompatibility profile was demonstrated upon exposure of two respiratory cell lines (Calu-3 and A549 cells) to the carriers. A negligible effect on cell viability along with no alterations on transepithelial electrical resistance and no induction of inflammatory response were observed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- IgG Antibody responses to Epstein-Barr Virus in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Their effective potential for disease diagnosis and pathological antigenic mimicryPublication . Fonseca, André; Szysz, Mateusz; Ly, Hoang Thien; Cordeiro, Clara; Sepúlveda, NunoThe diagnosis and pathology of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) remain under debate. However, there is a growing body of evidence for an autoimmune component in ME/CFS caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and other viral infections. Materials and Methods: In this work, we analyzed a large public dataset on the IgG antibodies to 3054 EBV peptides to understand whether these immune responses could help diagnose patients and trigger pathological autoimmunity; we used healthy controls (HCs) as a comparator cohort. Subsequently, we aimed at predicting the disease status of the study participants using a super learner algorithm targeting an accuracy of 85% when splitting data into train and test datasets. Results: When we compared the data of all ME/CFS patients or the data of a subgroup of those patients with non-infectious or unknown disease triggers to the data of the HC, we could not find an antibody-based classifier that would meet the desired accuracy in the test dataset. However, we could identify a 26-antibody classifier that could distinguish ME/CFS patients with an infectious disease trigger from the HCs with 100% and 90% accuracies in the train and test sets, respectively. We finally performed a bioinformatic analysis of the EBV peptides associated with these 26 antibodies. We found no correlation between the importance metric of the selected antibodies in the classifier and the maximal sequence homology between human proteins and each EBV peptide recognized by these antibodies. Conclusions: In conclusion, these 26 antibodies against EBV have an effective potential for disease diagnosis in a subset of patients. However, the peptides associated with these antibodies are less likely to induce autoimmune B-cell responses that could explain the pathogenesis of ME/CFS.
- MERIS phytoplankton time series products from the SW Iberian Peninsula (Sagres) using seasonal-trend decomposition based on loessPublication . Cristina, Sónia; Cordeiro, Clara; Lavender, Samantha; Goela, Priscila; Icely, John; Newton, AliceThe European Space Agency has acquired 10 years of data on the temporal and spatial distribution of phytoplankton biomass from the MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) sensor for ocean color. The phytoplankton biomass was estimated with the MERIS product Algal Pigment Index 1 (API 1). Seasonal-Trend decomposition of time series based on Loess (STL) identified the temporal variability of the dynamical features in the MERIS products for water leaving reflectance ((w)()) and API 1. The advantages of STL is that it can identify seasonal components changing over time, it is responsive to nonlinear trends, and it is robust in the presence of outliers. One of the novelties in this study is the development and the implementation of an automatic procedure, stl.fit(), that searches the best data modeling by varying the values of the smoothing parameters, and by selecting the model with the lowest error measure. This procedure was applied to 10 years of monthly time series from Sagres in the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula at three Stations, 2, 10 and 18 km from the shore. Decomposing the MERIS products into seasonal, trend and irregular components with stl.fit(), the (w)() indicated dominance of the seasonal and irregular components while API 1 was mainly dominated by the seasonal component, with an increasing effect from inshore to offshore. A comparison of the seasonal components between the (w)() and the API 1 product, showed that the variations decrease along this time period due to the changes in phytoplankton functional types. Furthermore, inter-annual seasonal variation for API 1 showed the influence of upwelling events and in which month of the year these occur at each of the three Sagres stations. The stl.fit() is a good tool for any remote sensing study of time series, particularly those addressing inter-annual variations. This procedure will be made available in R software.
- Nutritional condition of the Algarve population - a preliminary visionPublication . Braz, Nídia; Mateus, Maria Palma; Guerreiro, Carla; Cordeiro, Clara; Pais, SandraSurvey in Health and Ageing in the Region of Algarve (SHARA) is a Global Geriatric Evaluation, in course in the Algarve since 2013.
- Pullulan-based nanoparticles as carriers for transmucosal protein deliveryPublication . Dionísio, Marita; Cordeiro, Clara; Remuñán-López, Carmen; Seijo, Begoña; Costa, Ana M. Rosa da; Grenha, AnaPolymeric nanoparticles have revealed very effective in transmucosal delivery of proteins. Polysaccharides are among the most used materials for the production of these carriers, owing to their structural flexibility and propensity to evidence biocompatibility and biodegradability. In parallel, there is a preference for the use of mild methods for their production, in order to prevent protein degradation, ensure lower costs and easier procedures that enable scaling up. In this work we propose the production of pullulan-based nanoparticles by a mild method of polyelectrolyte complexation. As pullulan is a neutral polysaccharide, sulfated and aminated derivatives of the polymer were synthesized to provide pullulan with a charge. These derivatives were then complexed with chitosan and carrageenan, respectively, to produce the nanocarriers. Positively charged nanoparticles of 180-270 nm were obtained, evidencing ability to associate bovine serum albumin, which was selected as model protein. In PBS pH 7.4, pullulan-based nanoparticles were found to have a burst release of 30% of the protein, which maintained up to 24h. Nanoparticle size and zeta potential were preserved upon freeze-drying in the presence of appropriate cryoprotectants. A factorial design was approached to assess the cytotoxicity of raw materials and nanoparticles by the metabolic test MTT. Nanoparticles demonstrated to not cause overt toxicity in a respiratory cell model (Calu-3). Pullulan has, thus, demonstrated to hold potential for the production of nanoparticles with an application in protein delivery.