Associate Laboratory of Energy, Transports and Aeronautics

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Publications

Executive functions and insight in OCD : a comparative study

Publication . Manarte, Lucas; Andrade, António R.; Rosário, Linete do; Sampaio, Daniel; Figueira, Maria Luísa; Morgado, Pedro; Sahakian, Barbara J.

Background: Around 25 to 30% of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not respond to treatment. These patients have the longest duration of disease and the worst prognosis. Following years of research on this topic, insight has emerged as a potential explanation for this therapeutic resistance. Therefore, it has become important to characterize OCD patients with poor insight. Few studies have focused on the neuropsychological and cognitive characteristics of these patients. Methods: To help fill this gap, we divided 57 patients into two groups, one with good insight and the other with poor insight, assessed their neuropsychological functions-through a Rey's figure test, a California verbal learning test, a Toulouse-Piéron test and a Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)-and compared the results with those of a paired control group. Results: The statistical analysis, with a significance level of 95%, revealed differences in the executive function tests, and particularly in the WCST (p ≤ 0.001) and trail-making-test (TMT A/B) (p = 0.002). Conclusions: These differences suggest that the neuropsychological profile of poor-insight patients is different from their good-insight counterparts, emphasize the role played by the executive functions in insight and highlights the need for more accurate neurocognitive research and treatment.

2021Journal article

Open access

Comparison of 3 supraspinatus tendon repair techniques : a 3D computational finite element analysis

Publication . Quental, C.; Reis, J.; Folgado, J.; Monteiro, J.; Sarmento, M.

Considering that optimal contact area and pressure at the tendon-bone interface are associated with better footprint repair and outcomes, the aim of this study was to compare the performance of standard double-row, transosseous equivalent (TOE), and partial articular supraspinatus tendon avulsion (PASTA) techniques for the treatment of full-thickness tears of the supraspinatus tendon using 3D finite element models. Loading consisted, alternately, in a preloading of 10 N and 20 N of the sutures. The footprint coverage of the standard double-row, TOE, and PASTA techniques was estimated to represent 19%, 30%, and 35%, respectively, of the repair area. The average contact pressures followed an opposite trend, i.e., the largest was estimated for the standard double-row technique, whereas the lowest was estimated for the PASTA technique. Despite the present study advancing the computational modelling of rotator cuff repair, and the results being consistent with the literature, its findings must be evaluated cautiously, bearing in mind its limitations.

2020Journal article

Restricted access

IPOscore: an interactive web-based platform for postoperative surgical complications analysis and prediction in the oncology domain

Publication . Mochão, Hugo; Gonçalves, Daniel; Alexandre, Leonardo; Castro, Carolina; Valério, Duarte; Barahona, Pedro; Moreira-Gonçalves, Daniel; Costa, Paulo M.; Henriques, Rui; Santos, Lúcio L.; Costa, Rafael S.

Background: The performance of traditional risk score systems to predict (post)-operative outcomes is limited. This weakness reduces confidence in its use to support clinical risk mitigation decisions. However, the rapid growth of health data in the last years offers principles to deal with some of these limitations. In this regard, the data allows the extraction of relevant information for both patients stratification and the rigorous identification of associated risk factors. The patients can then be targeted to specific preoperative optimization programs, thus contributing to the reduction of associated morbidity and mortality. Objectives: The main goal of this work is, therefore, to provide a clinical decision support system (CDSS) based on data-driven modeling methods for surgical risk prediction specific for cancer patients in Portugal. Results: The result is IPOscore, a single web-based platform aimed at being an innovative approach to assist clinical decision-making in the surgical oncology domain. This system includes a database to store/manage the clinical data collected in a structured format, data visualization and analysis tools, and predictive machine learning models to predict postoperative outcomes in cancer patients. IPOscore also includes a pattern mining module based on biclustering to assess the discriminative power of a pattern towards postsurgical outcomes. Additionally, a mobile application is provided to this end. Conclusions: The IPOscore platform is a valuable tool for surgical oncologists not only for clinical data management but also as a preventative and predictive healthcare system. Currently, this clinical support tool is being tested at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO-Porto), and can be accessed online at https://iposcore.org.

2022Journal article

Restricted access

GIS-Based Assessment of the Chestnut Expansion Potential: A Case-Study on the Marvão Productive Area, Portugal

Publication . Rodrigues, Abel; Gonçalves, Alexandre B.; Costa, Rita Lourenço; Gomes, Alberto Azevedo

Sweet chestnut is a relevant species in Europe for the production of timber and fruit, alongside environmental effects such as biodiversity of protection against soil erosion. In Portugal, chestnut is cultivated mainly for fruit production, in two areas, in the North and the South of the country, with moderate water deficit and low slope and at altitudes higher than 500 m. The current area (845 ha) of the southern so-called Marvão Protected Designation of Origin, of a fortyfold lower order of magnitude by comparison with the Northern productive area, has a significant expansion potential, given its similarity with contiguous areas in the same region. In this context, the main objective of the present work was the evaluation through geographic information analysis of that expansive potential, by comparison of physiographic profiling of the current production area with contiguous areas. A GIS-based characterization of current and potential chestnut areas in Marvão is presented. The methodology involved (i) digital profiling of the main classes/values of the geographical spatial ecological fingerprint considering topography, soil and microclimate variables in the areas currently occupied with sweet chestnut stands and (ii) the evaluation of the distribution of that environmental fingerprint in the whole Marvão productive area, for extending the cultivation to contiguous areas with a similar ecological fingerprint. An enlarged 9889 ha chestnut area was proposed, allocated for high forest stands aiming at agroforestry fruit production and coppiced stands for timber production and environmental protection, corresponding to 4590 ha and 5299 ha, respectively. Fruit production was proposed to field slopes of 0–4% and 4–8%, and altitudes between 400 m and 500 m. Presumable high-quality sites allocated to temporary dry/irrigated cultivations were also proposed for fruit production, in the same slope classes and altitudes higher than 500 m. Timber production and environmental protection were proposed for slopes within 8􀀀12% and >12% ranges. This selection took into account the logistical feasibility facilitated in lower slopes for intensive mechanized management operations. This methodology permits a future field evaluation of site indexes, productivity, and correlations between environmental variables and stand biometry

2021Journal article

Open access

3D-printed platform multi-loaded with bioactive, magnetic nanoparticles and an antibiotic for re-growing bone tissue

Publication . Saraiva, Ana S.; Ribeiro, Isabel A. C.; Fernandes, Maria H.; Cerdeira, Ana Cláudia; Vieira, Bruno J.C.; Waerenborgh, João Carlos; Pereira, Laura C.J.; Cláudio, Ricardo; Carmezim, Maria João; Gomes, Pedro; Gonçalves, Lídia; Santos, Catarina F.; Bettencourt, Ana

Polymeric platforms obtained by three-dimensional (3D) printing are becoming increasingly important as multifunctional therapeutic systems for bone treatment applications. In particularly, researchers aim to control bacterial biofilm on these 3D-platforms and enhance re-growing bone tissue, at the same time. This study aimed to fabricate a 3D-printed polylactic acid platform loaded with hydroxyapatite (HA), iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and an antibiotic (minocycline) with tuneable properties and multistimuli response. IONPs were produced by a facile chemical co-precipitation method showing an average diameter between 11 and 15 nm and a superparamagnetic behaviour which was preserved when loaded into the 3D-platforms. The presence of two types of nanoparticles (IONPs and HA) modify the nanomorphological/nanotopographical feature of the 3D-platforms justifying their adequate bioactivity profile and in vitro cellular effects on immortalized and primary osteoblasts, including cytocompatibility and increased osteogenesis-related gene expression (RUNX2, BGLAP and SPP1). Disk diffusion assays and SEM analysis confirmed the effect of the 3D-platforms loaded with minocycline against Staphylococcus aureus. Altogether results showed that fabricated 3D-platforms combined the exact therapeutic antibiofilm dose of the antibiotic against S. aureus, with the enhanced osteogenic stimulation of the HA and IONPs nanoparticles which is a disruptive approach for bone targeting applications.

2021-01Journal article

Open access