Browsing by Author "Soares, Raquel"
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- In Situ Forming Silk Sericin-Based Hydrogel: A Novel Wound Healing BiomaterialPublication . Baptista-Silva, Sara; Borges, Sandra; Costa-Pinto, Ana Rita; Costa, Raquel; Amorim, Manuela; Dias, Juliana R.; Ramos, Óscar; Alves, Paulo; Granja, Pedro Lopes; Soares, Raquel; Pintado, Manuela; Oliveira, Ana LeiteIn situ cross-linked hydrogels have the advantage of effectively fulfilling the wound in its shape and depth. Amongst the new generation of natural-based biopolymers being proposed for wound care and skin regeneration, silk sericin is particularly interesting due to its exceptional properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and antioxidant behavior, among others. In this study, a new enzyme-mediated cross-linked hydrogel composed of silk sericin is proposed for the first time. The developed hydrogel crosslinking strategy was performed via horseradish peroxidase, under physiological conditions, and presented gelling kinetics under 3 min, as demonstrated by its rheological behavior. The hydrogels presented a high degree of transparency, mainly due to their amorphous conformation. Degradation studies revealed that the hydrogels were stable in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) (pH 7.4) for 17 days, while in the presence of protease XIV (3.5 U/ mg) and under acute and chronic physiological pH values, the stability decreased to 7 and 4 days, respectively. During protease degradation, the present sericin hydrogels demonstrated antioxidant activity. In vitro studies using an L929 fibroblast cell line demonstrated that these hydrogels were noncytotoxic, promoting cell adhesion and massive cell colonization after 7 days of culture, demonstrating that cells maintained their viability and proliferation. In addition, the application of sericin-based hydrogel in an in vivo diabetic wound model validated the feasibility of the in situ methodology and demonstrated a local anti-inflammatory effect, promoting the healing process. This study presents a simple, fast, and practical in situ approach to produce a sericin-based hydrogel able to be applied in low exudative chronic wounds. Moreover, the study herein reported fosters the valorization of a textile industrial by-product by its integration in the biomedical field.
- Sentido de vida dos estudantes do primeiro ano do Instituto Politécnico de LeiriaPublication . Silva, David; Seiça, Luís; Soares, Raquel; Mourão, RicardoA transição do ensino secundário para o ensino superior tem-se demonstrado uma fase complexa na vida dos estudantes, devido maioritariamente a fatores externos, tais como a mudança de casa, aumento do grau de dificuldade do ensino e mudança de estilos de vida, que podem muitas das vezes levar a desequilíbrios da saúde mental como problemas emocionais, depressão e distress, entre outros. Pretende-se então com este estudo analisar o sentido de vida destes estudantes nesta nova fase, repleta de mudanças e alterações, utilizando para tal uma análise quantitativa correlacional. Os dados analisados serão obtidos anonimamente através de um questionário, salvaguardando a privacidade dos envolvidos no estudo. Entre os instrumentos de recolha de dados, figura um questionário sociodemográfico, a escala de sentido de vida, a escala de qualidade de vida SF-12, a escala de vivências académicas e a escala de ansiedade e depressão. A nível de implicações na prática, pretende-se identificar quais são os principais problemas dos estudantes nesta transição, detetando-os o mais precocemente possível, com o objetivo de os auxiliar a ultrapassar esta fase, justificando assim a presença do enfermeiro no gabinete de apoio ao estudante.