Repositório RCAAP

A pesquisa de informação é muitas vezes não linear e iterativa, exigindo a avaliação de uma variedade de fontes de informação e a flexibilidade mental para a procura de caminhos alternativos à medida que uma nova compreensão se desenvolve.

A comunidade académica, de investigadores e de outros profissionais, envolve-se num diálogo sustentado com novos insights e descobertas que ocorrem ao longo do tempo, em resultado de diferentes perspetivas e interpretações.

O nosso projeto baseia-se na análise dos registos de casos e mortes por COVID-19 em utentes ocorridos em ERPI entre 15 de abril e 27 de dezembro de 2020. Com base nestes dados, determinou-se Risco Relativo (RR) de infeção e de morte dos utentes em ERPIs relativamente à população idosa em geral para as cinco regiões de saúde (com a exceção da região Alentejo devido a problemas de qualidade nos seus registos de casos e óbitos), e para os dois períodos de 2020 que correspondem à primeira e à segunda vaga daquele ano. Verificámos que em todas as regiões o RR de infeção foi reduzido na segunda vaga, o que demonstra a capacidade de adaptação das ERPIs em geral no sentido de melhorar a proteção dos utentes. Esta análise mostra também que em Lisboa e Vale do Tejo (LVT) surge como um outlier de excesso de RR e de menor redução de RR na segunda vaga. Isto motivou um estudo mais detalhado em que LVT foi comparada com o conjunto das outras regiões (OUTRAS). Fizemos então uma análise por tamanho das ERPIs, depois de verificar que a distribuição das ERPIs por tamanhos é aproximadamente a mesma em LVT e em OUTRAS. Os indicadores analisados em função do tamanho foram o odds ratio (OR) de um lar registar um ou mais casos entre os seus utentes e o tamanho de cada surto registado (TS) medido como a percentagem dos utentes infetados. A métrica TS comporta-se em todas as regiões de acordo com o esperado e o reportado na literatura, diminuindo com o tamanho da ERPI. Quanto ao OR, em OUTRAS ele comporta-se como esperado, aumentando significativamente com o tamanho da ERPI, mas em LVT o OR mínimo ocorre nas ERPIs médias, e as ERPIs pequenas surgem com um nível de risco muito elevado. Assim, o comportamento de outlier de LVT resulta em parte de um excesso de risco de infeção nas ERPIs pequenas. A análise do ratio funcionário utente mostra também que as ERPIs pequenas de LVT são outliers com valores muito pequenos desse ratio, relativamente às outras classes de ERPIs.

O presente artigo procura dar conta de uma experiência contínua do seu autor desenhando, em esboço rápido (sketching), o quotidiano e o enquadramento paisagístico das férias de verão familiares numa limitada região de praias, no sul de Portugal (Algarve). Cruzam-se desenhos coloridos, realizados in situ, com algumas reflexões marginais com o que se conhece de algumas figuras-referência das artes visuais.

The discussions of urban commons involve us in breaking up the totalizing notion of those dominated by power as passive consumers and reconsidering how urban life is made as creative production, constantly appropriating and reappropriating the products, messages, and spaces for expression. The common acts of engagement and reorganization are based on re-appropriations and redeployments of the dominant image economy and hierarchical distribution of space experienced in the city. Hence, they are also a part of the struggle for the reclamation of public space wherein wrongly privatized space is returned to its rightful owners. The special issue “Art, Urban Commons and Social Change” discusses how art in the urban space creates unmediated spaces and instances of emancipated subjects. The authors analyze various forms of art within economic, cultural, and social urban contexts to shed light on the complexity of modern urban life and struggles for urban commons. They delve into the issue of urban commons and social change both in the role of urban social struggles and creating urban communities. Some questions that the contributors seek answers are: Under what conditions could art become effective in reclaiming democratic citizenship? What kind of public should artistic creativity in the urban space try to constitute and what kind of public spaces are needed to that effect? What can we learn from urban art about visual resistance in the interplay with political power structures?

From medieval city views to contemporary urban imaginaries, imagination has always played a major role for outlining human understandings of urban life. Just recently, urban studies, urban planning, and artistic research have re-discovered imaginary approaches to urban lifeworlds as viable stimuli for urban transformation and social critique. In order to find pathways for sustainable development, creative strategies and imaginations of collective utopia have become a vital source of inspiration for urban planning and architecture. Interdisciplinary, inclusive approaches to create urban utopia have become central to thinking and writing about the urban as a shared imaginary matrix for collective sensemaking. This article provides a selective overview of the role of urban imaginaries from the Middle Ages, to the 20th century, and on to contemporary perspectives on urban spaces. In this brief tour d’horizon the potentials of images, imaginations, and utopian perspectives on urban life are sketched out for exploring and ultimately designing places of urban cohabitation. As an introduction to this journal issue on the role of urban imaginaries for creating liminal spaces for social change and critique, this article also aims to describe the use of creative strategies and urban imaginaries for urban studies, urban transformation projects, and artistic interventions in urban spaces. The articles in this issue demonstrate the multifaceted nature of urban imaginaries in contexts as diverse as exhibition design, visual anthropology, urban studies, and virtual/augmented reality. Adopting different imaginary perspectives ultimately paves the way for understanding urbanization as a utopian project, a collective struggle, and a manifestation of collective will, which continuously produces tangible and intangible outcomes. Processes of planetary urbanization, therefore, also inspire us to reflect on social, economic, and cultural co-evolution and participation on a global scale. This way, urban imaginaries become blueprints for social change, critique, and societal innovation.

Face ao desafio da transição energética, a energia solar fotovoltaica apresenta-se cada vez mais como uma solução de geração de energia limpa para o fornecimento de eletricidade tanto a habitações como empresas. Para que tal seja possível, é necessário tornar esta tecnologia o mais desenvolvida possível e reduzir os seus custos para que se torne cada vez mais rentável. De modo a responder a este desafio, foi criada a digital twin, uma ferramenta que permite modular a produção de um sistema fotovoltaico e comparar a sua simulação com as medições reais. Deste modo a digital twin permite antecipar problemas e reduzir os custos de manutenção dado que apenas é necessário realizar manutenção quando a ferramenta se depara com uma discrepância entre a simulação da produção fotovoltaica e as medições reais. Esta dissertação descreve o funcionamento da versão original da digital twin, desenvolvida pela EDP comercial, a análise da média dos erros aleatório (nRMSE) e sistemático (nMBE) da simulação da produção de 20 instalações fotovoltaicas e as áreas do programa que necessitam de ser melhoradas. Posteriormente são testados novos modelos de temperatura, de radiação difusa e de perdas estáticas através da análise dos erros aleatório e sistemático, dando origem à digital twin 2.0, otimizada para o valor médio dos erros das 20 instalações, inferior ao observado na versão original. A aplicação de um modelo de cálculo da temperatura do módulo fotovoltaico revelou-se determinante para a redução do erro aleatório médio enquanto que para o modelo de radiação difusa anisotrópico não se observou um efeito relevante. A versão original da digital twin apresenta um nRMSE médio de 5.2% e um nMBE médio de 4% para as 20 instalações estudadas, sendo que a implementação da versão 2.0 resultou na redução dos valores médios de nRMSE e nMBE para 4.9% e 0.03% respetivamente.

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rapidly increasing and it is one of the significant twenty-first century’s healthcare challenges. Unfortunately, the development of effective antimicrobial agents is a much slower and complex process compared to the spread of AMR. Consequently, the current options in the treatment of AMR are limited. One of the main alternatives to conventional antibiotics is the use of antibodyantibiotic conjugates (AACs). These innovative bioengineered agents take advantage of the selectivity, favorable pharmacokinetic (PK), and safety of antibodies, allowing the administration of more potent antibiotics with less off-target effects. Although AACs’ development is challenging due to the complexity of the three components, namely, the antibody, the antibiotic, and the linker, some successful examples are currently under clinical studies.

For landslide susceptibility assessment, lithology information is often extrapolated from official geological maps, which do not allow a direct spatial transformation into a detailed lithological map. To overcome this limitation, a study was made for the Grande da Pipa River basin, Portugal, to detail the existing geological maps, keeping the units’ age sequence but separating the main lithological types. In addition, it explored supplementary cartographic information (e.g., slope angle) to infer the boundaries of lithological units using differential erosion and associated morphological interpretation criteria. Finally, the lithological map produced was compared with the official geological map using sensitive analysis and different partitions of a historical landslide inventory. The results consistently record improved predictive capacity for landslide susceptibility if more detailed lithological maps are used instead of the commonly available geological maps.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) remains an important neurological manifestation in HIV-1-infected (HIV) patients. Furthermore, detection of the HIV-1 matrix protein p17 (p17) in the central nervous system (CNS) and its ability to form toxic assemblies in the brain have been recently confirmed. Here, we show for the first time, using both an in vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) model and in vivo biodistribution studies in healthy mice, that p17 can cross the BBB. There is rapid brain uptake with 0.35%  0.19% of injected activity per gram of tissue (IA/g) 2 min after administration, followed by brain accumulation with 0.28%  0.09% IA/g after 1 h. The interaction of p17 with chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2) at the surface of brain endothelial cells triggers transcytosis. The present study supports the hypothesis of a direct role of free p17 in neuronal dysfunction in HAND by demonstrating its intrinsic ability to reach the CNS.

O presente projecto foi desenvolvido no âmbito do Mestrado em Ciências da Educação, especialização em Formação de Adultos, com o objectivo de compreender de que forma os Centros Novas Oportunidades podem dar resposta aos adultos que não demonstram as competências básicas, de escrita, leitura e cálculo. O tema deste trabalho prende-se com o facto de o meu percurso profissional estar associado à Educação e Formação de Adultos, como professora de Ciências do Ambiente – Nível Básico e Ciências Naturais – Nível Secundário, como Coordenadora do Ensino Recorrente, e mais recentemente Coordenadora Pedagógica de um Centro Novas Oportunidades (CNO). Desta forma, a realização do Mestrado foi uma aposta na minha formação, aprofundando os meus conhecimentos na área da Educação e Formação de adultos. Pretende-se que a presente investigação contribua para compreender quais as respostas que os CNO podem oferecer aos adultos pouco escolarizados, que não demonstram as competências básicas de leitura, escrita e cálculo. Enquanto interveniente no processo de Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências (RVCC), no papel de Coordenadora Pedagógica de um CNO, considerei oportuno colocar o problema que se apresenta, na medida em que o Coordenador de um CNO reúne as funções sistémicas de articulação dos princípios e metodologias orientadoras do processo RVCC, mediando as práticas e as directrizes entre a equipa técnico-pedagógica e a Agência Nacional para a Qualificação (ANQ). Este trabalho é composto por três partes: um primeiro capítulo é uma narrativa autobiográfica sobre o meu percurso profissional; um segundo capítulo teórico, com o intuito de apresentar a súmula referente ao contexto teórico da problemática; e o terceiro capítulo composto pelo trabalho empírico. Esta experiência permitiu-me reflectir sobre a minha própria actividade profissional, fazendo um balanço e percebendo melhor as opções feitas ao longo do meu percurso.

Landslides are well-known for their destructive capacity; however, risk only exists if an interaction with people, activities, structures and infrastructures occurs. When landslides affect roads and potential human losses, both road damage and road disruption can cause significant economic losses. Therefore, in the framework of spatial planning, civil protection, emergency and risk management and the evaluation of road network landslide exposure is necessary. The primary goal of this work is to assess the present road network exposure to deep-seated and shallow slides at the Grande da Pipa River basin (North of Lisbon region, Portugal), an area naturally prone to geomorphological hazards. Our approach to assessing road network exposure is sustained by two different dataset inputs: (i) three landslide susceptibility maps and (ii) one road network map. The susceptibility to landslides, computed with the Information Value method and validated with success and prediction rate curves, as well as with the estimation of the area under the curves, was individually assessed for deep-seated rotational, shallow rotational and shallow translational slides. The road network exposure to each landslide type resulted from the intersection between the two top landslide susceptibility classes and the classified road network according to its rank, allowing the critical road sections to be identified. The road network is mainly exposed to deep-seated rotational slides. However, the other landslide types can also disrupt the road functionality and affect residents and economic activities.

The following report presents findings from a scoping review of the literature and a series of expert interviews carried out between April and December 2021. The purpose of both the scoping review and the interviews was to gain an overview of recent practice in participatory governance, looking at initiatives across Europe over the past decade. By participatory governance, we refer to participatory forms of political decision-making used to improve the quality of democracy (Geißel 2009, cited in Heinelt 2019). More specifically, we were interested in understanding whether and how efforts at institutionalisation and rapid digitalisation are facilitating deeper embedding of participatory governance within politics and policymaking, by identifying and analysing innovations, new insights, and persistent barriers. Furthermore, we examined what efforts are being made to include disempowered people within analogue and digital spaces, how certain groups continue to be excluded, and which strategies are being adopted to deepen inclusion.

The incidence of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is increasing and the therapeutic arsenal available to fight it is insufficient. Brain metastases, in particular, represent a major challenge for chemotherapy as the impermeable nature of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) prevents most drugs from targeting cells in the brain. For their ability to transpose biological membranes and transport a broad spectrum of bioactive cargoes, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been hailed as ideal candidates to deliver drugs across biological barriers. A more ambitious approach is to have the CPP as a drug itself, capable of both killing cancer cells and interacting with the blood/brain interface, therefore blocking the onset of brain metastases. vCPP2319, a viral protein-derived CPP, has both properties as it: (a) is selective toward human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) and increases cell stiffness compared to breast epithelial cells (MCF 10A) hindering the progression of metastases; and (b) adsorbs at the surface of human brain endothelial cells potentially counteracting metastatic cells from reaching the brain. Overall, the results reveal the selective anticancer activity of the peptide vCPP2319, which is also able to reside at the blood–brain interface, therefore counteracting brain penetration by metastatic cancer cells.

Background: Engaging in physical activity increases energy expenditure, reducing total body fat. Time spent in sedentary behaviours is associated with overweight and obesity, and adequate sleep duration is associated with improved body composition. This systematic review aimed to analyse the relationship between compliance with the 24-h movement guidelines and obesity indicators in toddlers, children and adolescents. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus were searched from inception to December 2021. Cross-sectional and prospective studies that analysed the relationship between 24-h movement guidelines and overweight and obesity written in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish were included. PROSPERO registration number is CRD42022298316. Results: The associations between meeting the 24-h movement guidelines and standardised body mass index were null in the two studies for toddlers. Seven studies analysed the relationship between compliance with the 24-h movement guidelines and overweight and obesity among preschool children. Of these seven studies, six found no association between compliance with 24-h movement guidelines and body composition. Among children and adolescents, 15 articles were analysed. Of these 15 studies, in seven, it was found that children and adolescents who meet the 24-h movement guidelines were more likely to have lower risks of overweight and obesity. The meta-analysis yielded a pooled OR = 0.80 (95% CI = 0.68 to 0.95, p = 0.012, I2 = 70.5%) in favour of compliant participants. Regarding participants' age groups, compliance with 24-h movement guidelines seems to exert greater benefits on overweight and obesity indicators among children-adolescents (OR = 0.62, p = 0.008) compared to participants at preschool (OR = 1.00, p = 0.931) and toddlers (OR = 0.91, p = 0.853). Conclusion: Most included studies have not observed a significant relationship between compliance with the 24-h movement guidelines and overweight and obesity in toddlers, children and adolescents.

Background: Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is the second most common cause of cognitive impairment worldwide and includes a spectrum from vascular cognitive impairment no dementia (VCIND) to vascular dementia (VaD). There is no specific pharmacological treatment approved for VCI. Physical activity has been indicated to be a promising preventive measure for cognition, with direct as indirectly benefits, while improving several modifiable vascular risk factors, so potentially effective when considering VCI. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review with a meta-analysis approaching the potential preventive role of physical activity on VCI. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in 7 databases. A total of 6786 studies were screened and assessed for eligibility, culminating in the inclusion of 9 observational prospective studies assessing physical activity impact irrespectively the type for quality assessment and qualitative and quantitative synthesis. Quantitative synthesis was performed using the reported adjusted HRs. Physical activity was handled as a dichotomous variable, with two groups created (high versus low physical activity). Subgroup analyses were done for risk of bias, VaD and length of follow-up. Results: There was considerable methodological heterogeneity across studies. Only three studies reported significant associations. The overall effect was statistically significant (HR 0.68, 95%CI 0.54-0.86, I2 6.8%), with higher levels of physical activity associated with a smaller risk of VCI overtime, particularly VaD. Conclusions: These findings suggest that physical activity is a potential preventive factor for vascular dementia. Insufficient data is available on VCIND. Randomized studies are desired to confirm these results.

Portugal tem um problema crónico de subfinanciamento da investigação científica. Apesar do investimento nacional ter vindo a aumentar nos últimos anos, este ainda é manifestamente insuficiente. A Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) financia anualmente projetos de investigação em todas as áreas científicas, limitando o valor máximo a €250 000 por projeto. Todavia, a área científica na qual a investigação clínica está incluída – “Clinical Medicine, Immunology and Infection” – financia maioritariamente projetos de matriz translacional e não tem por norma apoiar ensaios clínicos (EC) ou estudos multicêntricos epidemiológicos e de coorte da iniciativa do investigador, área onde o financiamento é hoje em dia praticamente inexistente, mesmo para estudos clínicos exploratórios e proof-of-concept. É importante salientar que o potencial de retorno do investimento em ensaios clínicos é enorme. Em Portugal, por cada €1 investido em ensaios clínicos obtém-se em média um retorno de €1,99, isto é, um retorno de praticamente 200%.

Background: Renal denervation (RDN) has emerged in recent years as a possible treatment for hypertension. The first sham-controlled trial showed a small magnitude and non-significant in the blood pressure (BP) lowering effect, also due to a substantial decrease of BP in sham arm. Considering this, we aimed to quantify the magnitude of BP decrease within the sham arm of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) with RDN in patients with hypertension. Methods: Electronic databases were searched since inception until January 2022 for randomized sham-controlled trials which assessed the efficacy in lowering BP of the sham intervention for catheter-based RDN in adult patients with hypertension. The outcomes were change in ambulatory/office systolic and diastolic BP. Results: A total of 9 RCT were included in the analysis enrolling a total of 674 patients. Sham intervention showed a decrease in all evaluated outcomes. Office systolic BP had a reduction of -5.52 mmHg [95%CI -7.91, -3.13] and office diastolic BP of -2.13 mmHg [95%CI -3.08, -1.17]. Sham procedure for RDN also showed a reduction of -3.41 mmHg [95%CI -5.08, -1.75] in ambulatory systolic BP and - 2.44 mmHg [95%CI -3.31, -1.57] in ambulatory diastolic BP. Conclusion: Despite recent data indicating that RDN might be an effective treatment for patients with resistant hypertension when compared to a sham intervention, our results indicate that the sham intervention for RDN also has a significant effect on lowering Office and Ambulatory (24-h) Blood Pressure in adult patients with hypertension. This highlights that BP itself might be sensitive to placebo-like effect and also brings further difficulties in establishing the BP lowering efficacy of invasive interventions due to the magnitude of the sham effect.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is an acute clinical manifestation ischaemic heart disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide. Infections also have an important burden worldwide, with lower respiratory infections being the worldwide leading cause of death due to communicable diseases. The relationship of MI with viral respiratory infections (including influenza and SARS-CoV-2) as a trigger has been well documented with significant associations. These infections can lead to Type 1 MI, where inflammation and vascular dysfunction, as well as the increased prothrombotic environment lead to atherothrombosis. Type 2 MI may also occur due to an imbalance of oxygen/blood supply and myocardial demand (hypoxaemia, fever, and tachycardia). The data from randomized controlled trials showing a potential benefit of influenza vaccination in coronary artery disease patients should not be ignored. This can be considered a further argument for the association of viral infections (influenza in particular) and MI.

The quality of online survey data is sometimes seen as inferior compared to probabilistic face-to-face surveys. Extending existing research beyond the commonly studied cases, we analyse six European countries, comparing data from a representative online survey fielded for the 2019 EP elections to the European Social Survey 9 and EB 91.5. We assess the effects of survey mode in terms of representativeness compared to validated benchmarks, as well as with inferences about party identification and vote choice. While we do find some differences in the marginal distributions compared to sociodemographic and electoral benchmarks, the inferential models when using online survey data as compared to face-to-face surveys are not substantially different.