Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2014-01"
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- Uma morte adiada: contributos científicos e literários do latimPublication . Mariano, Alexandra de BritoA história cultural e científica da Europa e não apenas do mundo ocidental está estreitamente ligada ao latim. Mesmo após o advento e predominância das línguas vernaculares, a língua latina vai persistir facilitando as trocas intelectuais. Em algumas áreas da ciência, como é o caso da Botânica, a utilização do latim botânico foi uma realidade quase até aos nossos dias. Pretendemos fazer uma avaliação do latim, traçando brevemente a evolução da sua acepção enquanto língua morta ao longo dos séculos e revisitar algumas contribuições de autores que redigiram as suas obras em latim.
- High-content screening of natural products reveals novel nuclear export inhibitorsPublication . Cautain, Bastien; de Pedro, Nuria; Garzon, Virginia Murillo; de Escalona, Maria Munoz; Menendez, Victor Gonzalez; Tormo, Jose R.; Martin, Jesus; El Aouad, Noureddine; Reyes, Fernando; Asensio, Francisco; Genilloud, Olga; Vicente, Francisca; Link, WolfgangNatural products are considered an extremely valuable source for the discovery of new drugs against diverse pathologies. As yet, we have only explored a fraction of the diversity of bioactive compounds, and opportunities for discovering new natural products leading to new drugs are huge. In the present study, U2nesRELOC, a previously established cell-based imaging assay, was employed to screen a collection of extracts of microbial origin for nuclear export inhibition activity. The fluorescent signal of untreated U2nesRELOC cells localizes predominantly to the cytoplasm. Upon treatment with the nuclear export inhibitor leptomycin B, the fluorescent-tagged reporter proteins appear as speckles in the nucleus. A proprietary collection of extracts from fungi, actinomycetes, and unicellular bacteria that covers an uncommonly broad chemical space was used to interrogate this nuclear export assay system. A two-step image-based analysis allowed us to identify 12 extracts with biological activities that are not associated with previously known active metabolites. The fractionation and structural elucidation of active compounds revealed several chemical structures with nuclear export inhibition activity. Here we show that substrates of the nuclear export receptor CRM1, such as Rev, FOXO3a and NF-B, accumulate in the nucleus in the presence of the fungal metabolite MDN-0105 with an IC50 value of 3.4 mu M. Many important processes in tumor formation and progression, as well as in many viral infections, critically depend on the nucleocytoplasmic trafficking of proteins and RNA molecules. Therefore, the disruption of nuclear export is emerging as a novel therapeutic approach with enormous clinical potential. Our work highlights the potential of applying high-throughput phenotypic imaging on natural product extracts to identify novel nuclear export inhibitors.
- UniHI 7: an enhanced database for retrieval and interactive analysis of human molecular interaction networksPublication . Kalathur, Ravi Kiran Reddy; Pinto, Jose Pedro; Hernandez-Prieto, Miguel A.; Machado, Rui; Almeida, Dulce; Chaurasia, Gautam; Futschik, Matthias E.Unified Human Interactome (UniHI) (http://www.unihi.org) is a database for retrieval, analysis and visualization of human molecular interaction networks. Its primary aim is to provide a comprehensive and easy-to-use platform for network-based investigations to a wide community of researchers in biology and medicine. Here, we describe a major update (version 7) of the database previously featured in NAR Database Issue. UniHI 7 currently includes almost 350 000 molecular interactions between genes, proteins and drugs, as well as numerous other types of data such as gene expression and functional annotation. Multiple options for interactive filtering and highlighting of proteins can be employed to obtain more reliable and specific network structures. Expression and other genomic data can be uploaded by the user to examine local network structures. Additional built-in tools enable ready identification of known drug targets, as well as of biological processes, phenotypes and pathways enriched with network proteins. A distinctive feature of UniHI 7 is its user-friendly interface designed to be utilized in an intuitive manner, enabling researchers less acquainted with network analysis to perform state-of-the-art network-based investigations.
- Influence of environmental variables and fishing pressure on bivalve fisheries in an inshore lagoon and adjacent nearshore coastal areaPublication . Vânia, Baptista; Ullah, Hadayet; Teixeira, Célia M.; Range, Pedro; Erzini, Karim; Leitão, FranciscoClimate changes affect marine ecosystems and the survival, growth, reproduction and distribution of species, including those targeted by commercial fisheries. The impact of climate change has been reported for many fish species, but studies focusing on the effects of climate on bivalve resources are lacking. In Portugal, the harvesting of bivalves is an old and artisanal activity, of special importance along the Algarve coast (South of Portugal). This study aims to evaluate the influence of climatic, environmental and fisheries factors on the landings of intertidal coastal lagoon and coastal bivalve species (subtidal nearshore species). The environmental and fisheries parameters considered to affect the landings of bivalves in the eastern Algarve were: fishing effort (number of fishing events), sea surface temperature, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, upwelling index, wind magnitude and direction and river discharges. Analysis of time series data using min/max autocorrelation factor analysis and dynamic factor analysis showed that, for most species, fishing effort was positively related with landings per unit effort trends in the following year. Lagoon bivalve species (Cerastoderma edule and Ruditapes decussatus) responded to different environmental variables than the coastal bivalve species (Chamelea gallina, Pharus legumen, Donax spp. and Spisula solida). Upwelling index had a significant effect on the lagoon bivalves while the NAO index, wind magnitude and direction, and river discharges only affected the coastal species. This study highlighted the need to adapt fishing effort regimes, while considering the background effects of environmental variability, in order to improve fisheries management.
- Targeting nucleocytoplasmic transport in cancer therapyPublication . Hill, Richard; Cautain, Bastien; de Pedro, Nuria; Link, WolfgangThe intracellular location and regulation of proteins within each cell is critically important and is typically deregulated in disease especially cancer. The clinical hypothesis for inhibiting the nucleo-cytoplasmic transport is based on the dependence of certain key proteins within malignant cells. This includes a host of well-characterized tumor suppressor and oncoproteins that require specific localization for their function. This aberrant localization of tumour suppressors and oncoproteins results in their their respective inactivation or over-activation. This incorrect localization occurs actively via the nuclear pore complex that spans the nuclear envelope and is mediated by transport receptors. Accordingly, given the significant need for novel, specific disease treatments, the nuclear envelope and the nuclear transport machinery have emerged as a rational therapeutic target in oncology to restore physiological nucleus/cytoplasmic homeostasis. Recent evidence suggests that this approach might be of substantial therapeutic use. This review summarizes the mechanisms of nucleocytoplasmic transport, its role in cancer biology and the therapeutic potential of targeting this critical cellular process
- Modelling innovation support systems for regional development - analysis of cluster structures in innovation in PortugalPublication . Vaz, Eric; de Noronha Vaz, Teresa; Vicente Galindo, Purificación; Nijkamp, PeterThe present article offers a concise theoretical conceptualization and operational analysis of the contribution of innovation to regional development. The latter concepts are closely related to geographical proximity, knowledge diffusion and filters and clustering. Institutional innovation profiles and regional patterns of innovation are two mutually linked, novel conceptual elements in this article. Next to a theoretical framing, the article employs the regional innovation systems concept as a vehicle to analyse institutional innovation profiles. Our case study addresses three Portuguese regions and their institutions, included in a web-based inventory of innovation agencies which offered the foundation for an extensive database. This data-set was analysed by means of a recently developed principal coordinates analysis followed by a Logistic Biplot approach (leading to a Voronoi mapping) to design a systemic typology of innovation structures where each institution is individually represented. There appears to be a significant difference in the regional innovation patterns resulting from the diverse institutional innovation profiles concerned. These profiles appear to be region specific. Our conclusion highlights the main advantages in the use of the method used for policy-makers and business companies.
- Abrindo caminhos para uma educação transformadora - Ensaios em educação socialPublication . Barros, Rosanna; Choti, DeiseDescobrir um espaço nos processos educacionais do ensinar e aprender, aprender e ensinar que valorize a importância do vinculo com o (a) aluno (a) e consequentemente, do aspecto afetivo, faz do(a) educador(a) um ser transformador na sua essência e no seu vivenciar da prática. Este(a) educador(a), enquanto profissional atento(a) ao seu contexto é ainda, um(a) construtor (a) da história que, com seus(suas) alunos (as), fio a fio vão tecendo uma ampla rede de informações, partilhas que irão gerar o conhecimento de todos estes atores; sendo assim, a ação deste(a) professor(a), não poderá em um momento algum ser entendido e praticada como um "fazer neutro", uma vez que vista à construção complexa de conhecimentos que possibilitará o processo ensino/aprendizagem em que educador(a) e educando(a) tornam-se aprendizes e ensinantes garantindo, desta forma, um diferencial de crescimento mútuo e desejado durante todo o processo pedagógico.
- A comparative analysis of tourism destination demand in PortugalPublication . Serra, Jaime; Correia, Antónia; Rodrigues, Paulo M. M.Tourism has experienced different levels of development in the different regions of Portugal. To frame this development, in this paper dynamic panel data models were estimated with the objective of explaining the evolution of international overnight stays in each region. Secondary data from 2000 to 2011 was used. The analysis includes the main tourism source markets for Portugal, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, France and Spain. The tourism literature suggests that, among others, the main determinants of tourism demand are income (GDP), household consumption, unemployment rate and the harmonised consumer price index. Per capita income, unemployment rate and final household consumption were identified as the most shared explanatory variables in each tourism region. However, in some regions, the high elasticity with respect to per capita income was confirmed, suggesting that tourism is a luxury good. It is observed that, although significant, the explanatory power of these variables varies according to the origin and the destination region considered. Findings suggest heterogeneous behaviour of the main international tourism demand by region. Furthermore, results also suggest some implications for public and private tourism authorities. Stakeholders can update the analysis, trends and forecasts of international tourism demand, put forward in the National Strategic Plan for Tourism for the period from 2013 to 2015, by taking into account the different macroeconomic variables that help explain international overnight stays in each region of Portugal. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Effects of ultraviolet radiation and CO2 increase on winter phytoplankton assemblages in a temperate coastal lagoonPublication . Domingues, Rita B.; Guerra, Cátia C.; Barbosa, Ana B.; Brotas, V.; Galvão, Helena M.Increases in ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and CO2 affect phytoplankton growth and mortality in a variety of different ways. However, in situ responses of natural phytoplankton communities to climate change, as well as its effects on phytoplankton annual cycles, are still largely unknown. Although temperature and UVR have been increasing in temperate latitudes during winter, this season is still particularly neglected in climate change studies, being considered a non-active season regarding phytoplankton growth and production. Additionally, coastal lagoons are highly productive ecosystems and very vulnerable to climate change. This study aims, therefore, to evaluate the short-term effects of increased UVR and CO2 on the composition and growth of winter phytoplankton assemblages in a temperate coastal lagoon. During winter 2012, microcosm experiments were used to evaluate the isolated and combined effects of UVR and CO2, under ambient and high CO2 treatments, exposed to ambient UV levels and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), or to PAR only. Phytoplankton composition, abundance, biomass and photosynthetic parameters were evaluated during the experiments. Significant changes were observed in the growth of specific phytoplankton groups, leading to changes in community composition. The cyanobacterium Synechococcus was dominant at the beginning of the experiment, but it was negatively affected by UVR and CO2. Diatoms clearly benefited from high CO2 and UVR, particularly Thalassiosira. Despite the changes observed in specific phytoplankton groups, growth and production of the whole phytoplankton community did not show significant responses to UVR and/or CO2.
- O Diário Oculto de Nora Rute, de Mário ZambujalPublication . Nogueira, AdrianaÉ sempre um prazer e um desafio ler os livros de Mário Zambujal. Desde o marco que foi o sucesso do seu primeiro romance, Crónica dos bons malandros, que o deslocou da referência como jornalista (que nunca deixou de ser) e o colocou no rol dos nossos autores de literatura, a sua produção tem continuado a dar-nos bons momentos.