Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2019-11-28"
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- Qualitative approach for assessing runoff temporal dependence through geometrical symmetryPublication . Zazo, Santiago; Macian-Sorribes, Hector; Fael, Cristina Maria Sena; Martín, Ana María; Molina, Jose-Luis; Pulido-Velazquez, ManuelCurrently, noticeable changes in traditional hydrological patterns are being observed on the short and medium-term. These modifications are adding a growing variability on water resources behaviour, especially evident in its availability. Consequently, for a better understanding/knowledge of temporal alterations, it is crucial to develop new analytical strategies which are capable of capturing these modifications on its temporal behaviour. This challenge is here addressed via a purely stochastic methodology on annual runoff time series. This is performed through the propagation of temporal dependence strength over the time, by means of Causality, supported by Causal Reasoning (Bayes’ theorem), via the relative percentage of runoff change that a time-step produces on the following ones. The result is a dependence mitigation graph, whose analysis of its symmetry provides an innovative qualitative approach to assess time-dependency from a dynamic and continuous perspective against the classical, static and punctual result that a correlogram offers. This was evaluated/applied to four Spanish unregulated river sub-basins; firstly on two Douro/Duero River Basin exemplary case studies (the largest river basin at Iberian Peninsula) with a clearly opposite temporal behaviour, and subsequently applied to two watersheds belonging to Jucar River Basin (Iberian Peninsula Mediterranean side), characterised by suffering regular drought conditions.
- Influence of bioactive compounds present in white tea in Sertoli Cells oxidative and metabolic profilesPublication . Veiga, Anette Sousa da; Silva, Branca Maria Cardoso Monteiro da; Alves, Marco Aurélio GouveiaThe tea is the second most popular drink in the world and is prepared by infusing of the leaves and/or the buds of the specie Camellia sinensis (L.). Tea is divided in four types: green, black, oolong and white. From those, the white tea (WTEA) remains as the less studied though previous reports from our team showed that it may have more biological activity when compared to the popular green tea. Based on the processing, WTEA can be classified as: Bai Hao Yin Zhen (BHYZ), Bai Mu Dan (BMD), Gong Mei (GM) and Shou Mei (SM). These WTEA differ in quality, flavor and performance being that BMD and BHYZ are the most consumed types grades on the Asian continent. Energy metabolism is a key for spermatogenesis, the process of spermatozoa production. Anaerobic glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, which takes place in the mitochondria, are the main metabolic pathways involved in ATP production. However, during those processes, several cellular sources produce significant amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS overproduction results in oxidative stress (OS), which is related with several problems that may end up in male subfertility or infertility. Herein we proposed to study how WTEA aqueous extracts of subtypes BMD and BHYZ may influence the nutritional support of spermatogenesis. Firstly, we exposed the cells responsible for that function, human Sertoli cells (hSC), to increasing concentrations of WTEA extracts subtypes BMD and BHYZ (in mg/mL: 0.05; 0.5 and 5) to evaluate cytotoxicity by measuring metabolic activity (MTT assay) and growth (SRB assay). Only the exposure to 5 mg/mL of WTEA extract subtype BMD induced cytotoxicity to hSC. Therefore, we selected to expose hSC to 0.5 mg/mL of WTEA extracts subtypes BMD and BHYZ during 24h. Media and cells were collected for metabolism study using 1H-NMR, complemented with LDH activity and mRNA and protein quantification of metabolism-related enzymes and transporters. We also determined protein carbonylation and DNA mitochondrial copy number in hSC. Our data shows that both WTEA extract subtypes BMD and BHYZ increase glycolysis-related membrane transporters in hSC, while also decreasing LDH activity and mitochondrial complex V expression, which further indicates an adaptative mechanism. Protein carbonylation was also decreased after exposure to WTEA extract of both subtypes. Overall, these results illustrate that WTEA extract modulates metabolic and oxidative profile of hSC, which appears to have a positive effect to the nutritional support of spermatogenesis. In addition, WTEA extract subtype BMD decreased oxidative stress which was followed by decreased mitochondrial DNA copy number and increased mitochondrial complex II activity. Overall, our data suggests that WTEA BMD may be more effective to counteract deleterious effects induced by metabolic diseases that alter the nutritional support of spermatogenesis. Nevertheless, more studies will be needed to support this hypothesis.
- Comparação das Classificações FitEscola entre Alunos Praticantes e Não Praticantes de Desporto EscolarPublication . Nascimento, Tiago Filipe Costa; Vicente, António Manuel NevesO Estágio Pedagógico tem como objetivo fomentar a nossa aprendizagem num todo, com o intuito de aplicar os conhecimentos obtidos ao longo do Mestrado em Ensino de Educação Física nos Ensinos Básico e Secundário. No presente Relatório serão apresentadas e analisadas as atividades em que participámos ao longo do Estágio no ano letivo 2018/2019 realizado na Escola Secundária Campos Melo na Covilhã. O primeiro capítulo mostra toda a experiência que tivémos na realização do Estágio Pedagógico, bem como lecionação/observação das aulas no 2º e 3º Ciclos no Ensino Básio e Secundário. Mostra-nos também as extensões de conteúdos de cada modalidade, e quais as estratégias utilizadas para a sua lecionação. No decorrer do mesmo são ainda referidas as dificuldades sentidas e as evoluções que fomos tendo ao longo do Estágio. No segundo capítulo é apresentado um trabalho de investigação que teve como objetivo comparar os resultados dos testes FitEscola entre alunos que realizaram desporto escolar e alunos que não realizavam qualquer tipo de atividade física, procurando compreender se a prática extracurricular poderá ter influência nos resultados desses testes e nas classificações dos alunos. Foram utilizadas as classificações do 1º e 3º Períodos dos alunos mais assíduos ao Desporto Escolar, e escolhidos ao acaso alunos que não realizavam qualquer prática extracurricular para além da Educação Física. Os resultados do estudo permitem-nos referir que o género feminino apresentou valores superiores ao masculino nos testes de abdominais, flexões e salto horizontal, enquanto que os rapazes apresentaram somente valores superiores no teste do senta e alcança. Os dados recolhidos sugerem assim que a prática do Desporto Escolar pode ser um fator de melhoria dos valores nos testes do FitEscola.