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Rafting on the Evidence for Lipid Raft-like Domains as Hubs Triggering Environmental Toxicants’ Cellular Effects
Publication . Marques-da-Silva, Dorinda; Lagoa, Ricardo
The plasma membrane lipid rafts are cholesterol- and sphingolipid-enriched domains that allow regularly distributed, sub-micro-sized structures englobing proteins to compartmentalize cellular processes. These membrane domains can be highly heterogeneous and dynamic, functioning as signal transduction platforms that amplify the local concentrations and signaling of individual components. Moreover, they participate in cell signaling routes that are known to be important targets of environmental toxicants affecting cell redox status and calcium homeostasis, immune regulation, and hormonal functions. In this work, the evidence that plasma membrane raft-like domains operate as hubs for toxicants’ cellular actions is discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided. Several studies address the insertion of pesticides and other organic pollutants into membranes, their accumulation in lipid rafts, or lipid rafts’ disruption by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), and even metals/metalloids. In hepatocytes, macrophages, or neurons, B[a]P, airborne particulate matter, and other toxicants caused rafts’ protein and lipid remodeling, oxidative changes, or amyloidogenesis. Different studies investigated the role of the invaginated lipid rafts present in endothelial cells in mediating the vascular inflammatory effects of PCBs. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo data strongly implicate raft-localized NADPH oxidases, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, caveolin-1, and protein kinases in the toxic mechanisms of occupational and environmental chemicals.
A Community-Based Participatory Framework to Co-Develop Patient Education Materials (PEMs) for Rare Diseases: A Model Transferable across Diseases
Publication . Falcão, Marta; Allocca, Mariateresa; Rodrigues, Ana Sofia; Granjo, Pedro; Francisco, Rita; Pascoal, Carlota; Rossi, Maria Grazia; Marques-da-Silva, Dorinda; Magrinho, Salvador C. M.; Jaeken, Jaak; Castro, Larisa Aragon; Freitas, Cláudia de; Videira, Paula A.; Andrés-Aguayo, Luísa de; Ferreira, Vanessa dos Reis
At least 50% of chronic disease patients don’t follow their care plans, leading to lower health outcomes and higher medical costs. Providing Patient Education Materials (PEMs) to individuals living with a disease can help to overcome these problems. PEMs are especially beneficial for people suffering from multisystemic and underrecognized diseases, such as rare diseases. Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are ultra-rare diseases, where a need was identified for PEMs in plain language that can clearly explain complex information. Community involvement in the design of PEMs is extremely important for diseases whose needs are underserved, such as rare diseases; however, attempts to involve lay and professional stakeholders are lacking. This paper presents a community-based participatory framework to co-create PEMs for CDG, that is transferable to other diseases. A literature review and questionnaire were performed, and only four articles describing the development of PEMS for rare diseases have been found, which demonstrates a lack of standardized approaches. The framework and PEMs were co-developed with CDG families and will be crucial in increasing health literacy and empowering families. We will close a gap in the creation of PEMs for CDG by delivering these resources in lay language in several languages.
Loss and reliability optimization for power distribution system operation
Publication . Vitorino, R.M.; Jorge, H.M.; Neves, L.P.
This study presents an optimization method that combines simultaneously the reliability and the efficiency of radial power distribution systems (RDS), minimizing active energy losses, through a process of network reconfiguration. The study is based on the failure analysis on network branches, with a special concern regarding the protection system response to faults and the service restoration procedures, during the emergency state. A non-sequential Monte Carlo simulation based on the branch reliability was used to evaluate reliability of the network configurations. Due to a large number of possible configurations and the need of an efficient search, the optimization is made through an improved genetic algorithm
(IGA). The method analyses the RDS considering in a first step, the absence of investment, and in a second step, the possibility of placing a limited number of new tie-switches in certain branches, according to the definitions made by a decision maker. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through the analysis of a 69 bus RDS and by comparison against other reported methodologies.
SoResilere—A Social Resilience Index Applied to Portuguese Flood Disaster-Affected Municipalities
Publication . Jacinto, Rita; Sebastião, Fernando; Reis, Eusébio; Ferrão, João
Decades of academic discussion on social resilience have led to the development of indicators, indexes, and different approaches to assessing it at national and local levels. The need to show real-world applications of such assessments is evident since resilience became a political and disaster risk reduction governance component. This article gives a full description of the methodology used to develop SoResilere, a new social resilience index applied to flood disaster-affected Portuguese municipalities. Study cases were selected according to historical databases, academic sources and governmental entities. Statistical methods for data dimension reduction, such as Factor Analysis (through Principal Component Analysis), were applied to the quantitative data and Optimal Scaling to the categorical data. SoResilere results were analyzed. Since SoResilere is a new tool, component weighting was applied to compare results with no weighting, although it did not affect the SoResilere status in 55.5% of the study cases. There is a tendency to look at the improvement of SoResilere results with component weighting due mainly to the quantitative subindex. There is no evidence of the benefits of component weighting, as no logical association or spatial pattern was found to support SoResilere status improvement in 22.22% of the study cases.
Analysis of vehicle exhaust waste heat recovery potential using a Rankine cycle
Publication . Domingues, António; Santos, Helder; Costa, Mário
This study evaluates the vehicle exhaust WHR (waste heat recovery) potential using a RC (Rankine cycle ). To this end, both a RC thermodynamic model and a heat exchanger model have been developed. Both models use as input, experimental data obtained from a vehicle tested on a chassis dynamometer. The thermodynamic analysis was performed for water, R123 and R245fa and revealed the advantage of using water as the working fluid in applications of thermal recovery from exhaust gases of vehicles equipped with a spark-ignition engine. Moreover, the heat exchanger effectiveness for the organic working fluids R123 and R245fa is higher than that for the water and, consequently, they can also be considered appropriate for use in vehicle WHR applications through RCs when the exhaust gas temperatures are relatively low. For an ideal heat exchanger, the simulations revealed increases in the internal combustion engine thermal and vehicle mechanical efficiencies of 1.4%-3.52% and 10.16%-15.95%, respectively, while for a shell and tube heat exchanger, the simulations showed an increase of 0.85%-1.2% in the thermal efficiency and an increase of 2.64%-6.96% in the mechanical efficiency for an evaporating pressure of 2 MPa. The results confirm the advantages of using the thermal energy contained in the vehicle exhaust gases through RCs. Furthermore, the present analysis demonstrates that improved evaporator designs and appropriate expander devices allowing for higher evaporating pressures are required to obtain the maximum WHR potential from vehicle RC systems.