Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2023-02"
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- A ideia de equilíbrio contratualPublication . Duarte, Rui Pinto
- Securing wider EU commitment to the elimination of hepatitis C virusPublication . Wedemeyer, Heiner; Tergast, Tammo L.; Lazarus, Jeffrey V.; Razavi, Homie; Bakoyannis, Kostas; Baptista-Leite, Ricardo; Bartoli, Marco; Bruggmann, Philip; Buşoi, Cristian Silviu; Buti, Maria; Carballo, Manuel; Castera, Laurent; Colombo, Massimo; Coutinho, Rodrigo Sousa; Dadon, Yuval; Esmat, Gamal; Esteban, Rafael; Farran, Joan Colom; Gillyon-Powell, Mark; Goldberg, David; Hutchinson, Sharon; Janssen, Harry L.A.; Kalamitsis, George; Kondili, Loreta A.; Lambert, John S.; Marinho, Rui Tato; Maticic, Mojca; Patricello, Aldo; Peck-Radosavljevic, Markus; Pol, Stanislas; Poljak, Mario; Pop, Cora; Sokol, Tomislov; Sypsa, Vana; Tözün, Nurdan; Younossi, Zobair; Aghemo, Alessio; Papatheodoridis, George V.; Hatzakis, AngelosIn 2016, the Hepatitis B and C Public Policy Association (HepBCPPA), gathered all the main stakeholders in the field of hepatitis C virus (HCV) to launch the now landmark HCV Elimination Manifesto, calling for the elimination of HCV in the EU by 2030. Since then, many European countries have made progress towards HCV elimination. Multiple programmes—from the municipality level to the EU level—were launched, resulting in an overall decrease in viremic HCV infections and liver-related mortality. However, as of 2021, most countries are not on track to reach the 2030 HCV elimination targets set by the WHO. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a decrease in HCV diagnoses and fewer direct-acting antiviral treatment initiations in 2020. Diagnostic and therapeutic tools to easily diagnose and treat chronic HCV infection are now well established. Treating all patients with chronic HCV infection is more cost-saving than treating and caring for patients with liver-related complications, decompensated cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. It is more important than ever to reinforce and scale-up action towards HCV elimination. Yet, efforts urgently need the dedicated commitment of policymakers at all governmental and policy levels. Therefore, the third EU Policy Summit, held in March 2021, featured EU parliamentarians and other key decision makers to promote dialogue and take strides towards securing wider EU commitment to advance and achieve HCV elimination by 2030. We have summarized the key action points and reported the ‘Call-to-Action’ statement supported by all the major relevant European associations in the field.
- Quatro ilusões e um ano de guerraPublication . Dias, Mónica
- Multiple casual sex scripts: shared beliefs about behavior among Portuguese emerging adultsPublication . Luz, Rita; Pegado, Ana; Godinho, Cristina; Pereira, Cícero; Alvarez, Maria JoãoObjective: Empirical research to differentiate casual sex scripts is still limited. We aimed to ascertain the sexual scripts for three main types of casual sexual relationships: hookup, friends with benefits and one-night stands. Methods: Through a mixed-method approach, we performed a study consisting in two sequential tasks to (1) complete three lists of script actions, and (2) identify the most agreed-upon actions for each casual sexual relationship. Results: An important number of actions and events were identified for the three casual sexual scripts, reflecting a high level of elaboration and structure. Following a cognitive-script methodology, the actions retained for the content of the script for each casual sexual relationship were those obtaining at least 60% in respect to the mean of their centrality to the encounter. Only 16.5% of actions were shared among the three scripts, demonstrating their distinctiveness. Conclusion: Knowledge about the different casual sex scripts can be used to develop relational and personal skills within CSRs and decrease unwanted experiences such as condomless sex.
- Type 2 Diabetes mellitus alters the cargo of (poly)phenol metabolome and the oxidative status in circulating lipoproteinsPublication . Reis, Ana; Rocha, Sara; Dias, Irundika HK.; Costa, Raquel; Soares, Raquel; Sánchez-Quesada, José Luis; Perez, Antonio; Freitas, Victor deThe incidence of diabetes on the worldwide population has tripled in the past 5 decades. While drug-based therapies are valuable strategies to treat and ease the socio-economic burden of diabetes, nutritional strategies offer valuable alternatives to prevent and manage diabetes onset and contribute to the sustainability of health budgets. Whilst, intervention studies have shown that (poly)phenol-rich diets improve fasting glucose levels and other blood parameters, very little is known about the distribution of ingested polyphenols in circulation and the impact of diabetes on its cargo. In this study we investigate the impact of type 2 diabetes on the cargo of plasma (poly)phenols. Our results show that phenolic compounds are heterogeneously distributed in circulation though mainly transported by lipoprotein populations. We also found that diabetes has a marked effect on the phenolic content transported by VLDL resulting in the decrease in the content of flavonoids and consequently a decrease in the antioxidant capacity. In addition to the reduced bioavailability of (poly)phenol metabolites and increase of oxidative status in LDL and HDL populations in diabetes, cell-based assays show that sub-micromolar amounts of microbial (poly)phenol metabolites are able to counteract the pro-inflammatory status in glucose-challenged endothelial cells. Our findings highlight the relevance of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins in the transport and delivery of bioactive plant-based compounds to the endothelium in T2DM supporting the adoption of nutritional guidelines as an alternative strategy to drug-based therapeutic approaches.
- From “leadership” to “leading”: power relations, polyarchy and projectsPublication . Clegg, S.; Simpson, A. V.; Cunha, M. P.; Rego, A.In this chapter, we discuss the coevolution of leadership and power, pivoting to a consideration of leading in a digitally enabled organizational democracy. We start by providing sense-making of past theorising, discussing the rational mode of organizing (the default mode of organizing in bureaucracies), which as first suggested by Weber, represents a mode of “power over”. Next, we discuss this and other varieties of power, including “power to” and “power with”. Power to is manifest in notions of empowerment, where a leader invests followers some elements of decisional power, authority and accountability, which can be even more motivating and efficient than imposed power over. We further consider servant leadership as a way of leading through exercising power to. Power “with” is at the core of understanding leadership as a process co-created by both leaders and followers (Uhl-Bien et al., 2014), first conceived in the circular theory of power suggested a century ago by Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933). Subsequently, in our final section, we offer sense-breaking by looking to an emerging future that is seeing growing reliance on distributed leading, mostly focused on project work aided by digital technologies, reliant on power within a networked system of social relations. Overall, we argue that power and leadership, leading and organizing, are intertwined – or, better, modes of organizing represent different frameworks of power in action (Clegg, 1989; Cunha et al., 2021), where power, leadership and design are related and coevolve in new organizational forms (see Table 1). Of course, the different types are not mutually exclusive, in fact they may well coexist, but different designs give more prominence to some expression of power than to others.
- Next Generation EU and the balancing of economic union through horizontalisationPublication . Matos, Nuno AlbuquerqueThe EU has developed a vertical relation with its Member States on economic and monetary policies as well as national parliaments. Next Generation EU arguably breaks with this verticalisation, by shifting the focus of the political process from Member State-coordination to EU-led fiscal funding. Facing complex events, such as the covid-19 pandemic and the current security and energy crises, the limits of inter-State coordination became clear. However, NGEU also represents continuity, as verticalisation endures, therefore blurring the transnational nature of the programme. In addition, NGEU pales in comparison with the US response to the pandemic. EU citizens increasingly demand Union-wide policies. However, Member States are not capable of delivering in the European Council, given that Heads of State or Government’s democratic mandate favour the adoption of policies with an eminent national nature. Hence, this participation mismatch needs to be addressed in order to better reflect majoritarian preferences over minoritarian bias as shown in the EU budgetary sagas on juste retour. Therefore, this paper argues that direct taxation of EU citizens is the least imperfect way to achieve it.
- Tomato processing by-products valorisation through ohmic heating approachPublication . Coelho, Marta C.; Ghalamara, Soudabeh; Campos, Débora; Ribeiro, Tânia Bragança; Pereira, Ricardo; Rodrigues, António S.; Teixeira, José A.; Pintado, ManuelaTomato by-products from processing industries have a higher potential to be reused as a source of bioactive compounds. Reliable national data on tomato by-products and physicochemical characterisation that will inform and find effective planning on tomato waste management in Portugal is absent. To help obtain this knowledge, selected Portugal companies were recruited to obtain representative samples of by-products generation, and physicochemical composition was evaluated. Furthermore, an environmental-friendly method (the ohmic heating (OH) method, which allows the recovery of bioactive compounds in absence of hazardous reagents) was also used and compared with conventional methods to explore new safe value-added ingredients. Total antioxidant capacity and total and individual phenolic compounds were also evaluated by spectrophotometric and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), respectively. Tomato processing by-products have revealed a higher potential since both collected samples from companies were rich in protein (between 16.3 to 19.4 g/100 g DW, with fibre content ranging from 57.8 to 59.0 g/100 g DW). In addition, these samples contain 17.0 g/100 g of fatty acids (mainly polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated, such as linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acid, respectively). Also, they present mainly chlorogenic acid and rutin as phenolic compounds. After understanding its composition, the OH was applied to determine added-value solutions to tomato by-products. With extractions, two types of fractions were obtained, namely liquid fraction rich in phenols, free sugars, and carotenoids and a solid fraction rich in fibre bound to phenols and carotenoids. This treatment has been shown to have the ability to preserve carotenoids, such as lycopene relative to conventional methods. Nevertheless, new molecules were identified by LC-ESI-UHR-OqTOF-MS analysis, such as phene-di-hexane and N-acethyl-D-tryptophan. According to the results, the OH boosts the potential of tomato by-products and can be directly introduced into the process, contributing to the circular economy and zero by-products.
- Performance of polycarbonate, cellulose nitrate and polyethersulfone filtering membranes for culture-independent microbiota analysis of clean watersPublication . Abreu-Silva, Joana; Ribeirinho-Soares, Sara; Oliveira-Inocêncio, Inês; Pedrosa, Marta; Silva, Adrián M. T.; Nunes, Olga C.; Manaia, Célia M.Demineralized and disinfected waters may have very low microbial loads, requiring that large volumes of water are filtered to recover enough biomass for further analysis. Extended filtration periods, often interrupted by clogging, are a major limiting factor to concentrate samples' microbiota for further examination, besides hindering the work pace. In this study, we investigated the performance of three types of filtering membranes - polycarbonate (PC), cellulose nitrate (CN), and polyethersulfone (PES) with 0.22 μm pore size for culture-independent microbiological analysis (quantitative PCR of seven housekeeping and integrase genes) of tap water, recirculating tap water in a bottle washing loop, and of demineralized water. Compared to PC membranes, CN or PES required lower filtration periods, although had slightly lower DNA extraction yields. However, genes abundance per volume of water was, in general, not significantly different. The exception was observed for bottle washing water in which PC membranes supported significantly higher quantification values than PES membranes. These differences were lower than ∼0.5 log-units and did not hamper the distinction of the types of water based on genes profile. Also, the type of membrane did not significantly affect the profile of the bacterial community determined for tap and demineralized water. A major conclusion is that CN membranes, cheaper, allowing shorter filtration periods, and producing results that are not significantly different from those obtained with PC or PES, can be a good alternative to analyze waters with low biomass loads.
- Places of sanctuary in the artistic work of Liz Johnson ArturPublication . Peters, DzifaThis essay deals with the concept of sanctuary in relation to Afrodiasporic and postmigrant formations of identity. It discusses coexisting and alternating cultural identities through the work of Russian-Ghanaian artist and photographer Liz Johnson Artur, who has been accumulating her Black Balloon Archive of Black culture and diasporic identities for the past 30 years, travelling through different countries, lifestyles, and classes. The idea of the sanctuary as a place of refuge, safety, and hospitality has informed the discourse around diasporic migration in a postcolonial world for many decades. Comparatively analyzing the politics of representation and discourses on agency through Johnson Artur’s cross-cultural and intimate photographic practice, this essay explores her articulation of conditional shelters, demarcations of diasporic identities, and ultimately the archive itself as a place of sanctuary.