The rapid evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT) has supported many changes in many areas over the last decade. One of the most successful ICT technologies to emerge was geographic information systems (GIS). These systems allow people to see the world differently, mapping the position and quantity of things, mapping the density of people and objects, and mapping any changes that occur. GIS also allows us to find out what is happening within a specific area or nearby. They can be used in various ways and across diverse areas thus becoming an important area of research. Regarding this chapter, the advantages and disadvantages involved in the use of GIS, especially WebGis or geoportals, were explored and presented, as well as a detailed comparative study in what concers to the main WebGis software solutions in terms of characteristics and functionalities. The main goal of the chapter was to provide users with a list of important recommendations that could help them in the process of choosing a WebGIS software, both in terms of free and proprietary solutions.

A funcionalização dos materiais têxteis pretende melhorar as propriedades existentes e criar novas potencialidades para novos campos de aplicação dos produtos. Uma nova classe de acabamentos funcionais duráveis pode ser obtida tendo como base os nanocompósitos poliméricos. Podem obter-se e maximizar-se funcionalidades como fácil limpeza, protecção UV, antibacteriana, resistência à chama, condução eléctrica, etc. Os nanocompósitos poliméricos mais usados em materiais têxteis devem o seu comportamento à junção de uma matriz polimérica orgânica com nanopartículas inorgânicas, o que vai permitir, em muitos casos, a obtenção de mais do que uma funcionalidade. Conseguem-se performances muito interessantes, como é comprovado pela aplicação de diferentes nanopartículas (TiO2, SiO2, ZnO e Al2O3) como bloqueadores UV em matriz de polimetilmetacrilato (PMMA). Resultados revelaram que a amostra com nanocompósito TiO2-PMMA aplicado sobre poliamida revela uma mais eficiente protecção aos raios UV, sendo a eficiência mais alta para concentrações mais altas de nanopartíiculas de ZnO em PMMA quando o material é pré-tratado com uma descarga plasmática de dupla barreira. Foi possível também constatar que o pré-tratamento com plasma evita agregação das nanopartículas na matriz para concentrações mais altas de nanopartículas no nanocompósito. A resistência dos acabamentos à lavagem pode ainda ser melhorada com a formação de ligações covalentes entre os nanocompósitos e os substratos têxteis através da matriz polimérica, Esta consegue estabilizar as nanopartículas, impedindo a sua agregação e servindo como um escudo de protecção para a sua libertação para o meio ambiente.

Paullinia cupana-containing preparations are being consumed worldwide for weight reduction. As obesity and epilepsy are common comorbidities and lamotrigine (LTG) is a broad-spectrum antiepileptic drug, it is likely to find epilepsy patients taking P. cupana and LTG simultaneously. Thus, this work aimed to investigate the potential interaction between P. cupana extract and LTG in rats. In a study, rats were orally co-administered with a single-dose of P. cupana extract (821 mg/kg) and LTG (10 mg/kg). In another study, rats were orally pre-treated for 14 days with P. cupana extract (821 mg/kg/day) receiving LTG (10 mg/kg, p.o.) on the 15th day. Rats of the respective control groups received the corresponding volume of the extract vehicle. LTG concentrations were determined at several post-dose time-points and submitted to a non-compartmental pharmacokinetic analysis. The co-administration of P. cupana and LTG induced a significant reduction of LTG Cmax and AUC0-24 and prolonged the mean residence time. However, no significant effects were observed on LTG pharmacokinetics following a 14-day pre-treatment period with the extract. In this study changes in the body weight of rats and in some biochemical parameters were also evaluated. Overall, the results revealed a pharmacokinetic-based herb-drug interaction between P. cupana extract and LTG, mainly after their co-administration.

A simple and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography method with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) using microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) during the sample preparation step was developed and validated to quantify lamotrigine (LTG) in rat plasma and brain samples. MEPS variables such as pH, number of draw-eject cycles, and washing and desorption conditions were optimized. The chromatographic resolution of LTG and chloramphenicol, used as internal standard (IS), was accomplished in less than 5min on a C18 column, at 35°C, using an isocratic elution with acetonitrile (13%), methanol (13%) and water-triethylamine (99.7:0.3, v/v; pH 6.0) pumped at a flow rate of 1mL/min. Detection was performed at 215nm. Calibration curves were linear over the range of 0.1-20μg/mL (r2≥0.9947) for LTG in both rat plasma and brain homogenate samples. The intra and interday imprecision did not exceed 8.6% and the intra and interday inaccuracy ranged from -8.1 to 13.5%. LTG was extracted from rat plasma and brain homogenate samples with an average absolute recovery ranging from 68.0 to 86.7%, and its stability was demonstrated in the assayed conditions. No interferences were observed at the retention times of the analyte (LTG) and IS. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first bioanalytical assay that uses MEPS procedure for the determination of LTG not only in rat plasma but also in tissue (brain) samples. This novel method was successfully applied to a preliminary pharmacokinetic study in rats and it seems to be a cost-effective tool to support non-clinical pharmacokinetic-based studies involving LTG treatment.

A ground-breaking high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection method based on microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) as sample preparation approach is described herein for determination of lamotrigine (LTG), a narrow therapeutic index drug, in human plasma and saliva. MEPS variables and chromatographic conditions were optimized to achieve appropriate selectivity and sensitivity using small sample volumes (100 μL). The chromatographic separation of LTG and chloramphenicol [internal standard (IS)] was accomplished in < 5 min on a C18-column, at 35 °C, using a mobile phase composed by acetonitrile/methanol/water-triethylamine 0.3% at pH 6.0 (13:13:74, v/v/v) pumped isocratically at 1 mL/min. LTG and IS were detected at 215 nm. A good linearity was obtained for LTG (r² ≥ 0.9936) in the range of 0.1–20 μg/mL in plasma and saliva, with the limit of quantification of 0.1 μg/mL. The method was shown to be precise (RSD ≤ 14.5%) and accurate (bias ± 13.4%), and the absolute recovery ranged from 64.9% to 73.6%. The stability of LTG was demonstrated in plasma and saliva samples in all studied conditions. The proposed assay was applied to the analysis of real human plasma and saliva samples from epilepsy patients under LTG therapy and the results support its usefulness for therapeutic drug monitoring.

Speech production is an important human function involving a set of organs with specific morphological and dynamic aspects. The inter-speaker variability, the coarticulation or the nasality are some interesting aspects to improve a realistic 3D modeling of the vocal tract. For this, the understanding of the mechanism of speech production is crucial, as the current image data is not sufficient to reproduce truthfully the speakers anatomy and articulation. Hence, the goal of 3D modeling is to generate the complete geometrical and dynamical information concerning the vocal tract from medical images, such as from magnetic reso-nance imaging (MRI). This work aims to describe and compare two different segmentation techniques to at-tain the 3D shape of the vocal tract during speech production from MR images: the former based on manual tracing of the vocal tract contours and the latter based on image thresholding. Thus, the segmented cross-sectional areas were measured, and 3D models were built from the sagittal data by blending the contours ob-tained from the two segmentation techniques. The mean error of the measures computed were low for both segmentation techniques, which let us conclude that the techniques are useful to evaluate the vocal tract ge-ometry accurately. Additionally, the 3D models built using both segmentation techniques were also very similar and truthful. However, when the coronal data was used, various difficulties occurred.

A sacroeleíte é a doença inflamatória mais frequente da articulação sacroilíaca, originando dor lombar ou lombociatalgia, apesar de muitas vezes a sintomatologia ser muito vaga. Apesar da superioridade da TC e da RM na avaliação das articulações sacroilíacas relativamente à radiologia convencional, esta continua a ser usada quer na prática clínica quer para fins de investigação.

A produção da fala tem suscitado interesse crescente da comunidade científica e, em particular, da Engenharia, pela necessidade de obter modelos do tracto vocal para a concepção de sistemas de síntese, reconhecimento e codificação da fala. A obtenção de imagens seccionais da anatomia do tracto vocal é um recurso essencial para a obtenção de modelos físicos morfológico-dinâmicos. O desenvolvimento da imagem por ressonância magnética (IRM) veio abrir novos horizontes, pelas enormes potencialidades que apresenta comparativamente a outras técnicas de imagem. O principal objectivo deste trabalho é demonstrar quais os requisitos e condicionantes da IRM para o estudo da fala humana. Embora estas condicionantes não possam ser totalmente ultrapassadas com sucesso, algumas podem ser minimizadas, exigindo para isso, para além dos procedimentos necessários, esforços de equipas multidisciplinares. Adicionalmente, a análise e processamento das imagens por ressonância magnética carecem de ainda de soluções computacionais que permitam responder às necessidades específicas dos estudos da fala.

A diversidade de técnicas e procedimentos em radiologia convencional aliada às diferentes condições patológicas do foro osteoarticular que podem ser avaliadas motivam a descrição, por um lado, de um método de leitura das imagens radiográficas e, por outro lado, das implicações associadas aos procedimentos técnicos aquando da produção destas imagens.

A 8 de novembro de 1895, o físico alemão Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen revolucionou a história da Medicina e do mundo, aquando da descoberta acidental da radiação X no seu laboratório, na Universidade de Wurzburg, Alemanha.