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Ras proteins play a role in receptor-mediated signaling pathways and are activated after traumatic brain injury. S-trans-trans-farnesylthiosalicylic acid (FTS), a synthetic Ras inhibitor, acts primarily on the active, GTP-bound form of Ras and was shown to improve neurobehavioral outcome after closed head injury (CHI) in mice. To gain a better understanding of the neuroprotective mechanism of FTS, we used diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in a rat model of CHI. Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) and transverse relaxation times (T2) were measured in injured rat brains after treatment with vehicle or FTS (5 mg/kg). Neuroprotection by FTS was also assessed in terms of the neurological severity score. One week after injury, significantly better recovery was observed in the FTS-treated rats than in the controls (p = 0.0191). T2 analysis of the magnetic resonance images revealed no differences between the two groups. In contrast, they differed significantly in ADC, particularly at 24 h post-CHI (p0.05): in the vehicle-treated rats ADC had decreased to approximately 26% below baseline, whereas it had increased to about 10% above baseline in the FTS-treated rats. As the magnitude of ADC reduction is strongly linked to blood perfusion deficit, these results suggest that the neuroprotective mechanism of FTS might be related to an improvement in cerebral perfusion. We propose that FTS, which is currently being tested in humans for anti-cancer indications, should also be considered as a new strategy for the management of head injury.

The paper found that among the patients with choledocholithiasis and malignant neoplasms of biliopancreatoduodenalis area in the development of cholangitis it is observed a significant reduction in the capacity of the antioxidant system at the local level (in bile) by 78.3 and 72.9%, respectively. The paper showed that for the evaluation of the degree of decompensation in antiradical protection in biliary obstruction and inflammatory complications it is necessary to determine as additional indicators in bile the state level of the enzymes in the antioxidant system: the activity of catalase and superoxidedismutase that could improve the diagnosis in these pathological conditions and in addition would allow to appoint timely corrective actions and monitor the effectiveness of the therapy. The study showed that the catalase activity increased in the bile in patients with choledocholithiasis as compared to control values by 1.7 times in the absence of inflammatory complications and by 5.1 times under cholangitis; in patients with malignant neoplasms of biliopancreatoduodenalis area its activity decreased by 49.4% while decreasing the area of maximum chemoluminescence by 42.2% and 72.5% respectively, whereas in the development of cholangitis the catalase activity increased by 4.5 times. In this case the increase in superoxidedismutase activity in all study groups was even more significant, indicating the adaptive changes, as well as the emerging imbalance in the enzymes of the 1st and 2nd line of the antioxidant system (mainly due to dismutase activity), which might be accompanied by a decrease in local nonspecific resistance, especially in inflammatory complications in patients with the studied nosologies.

The field of Operations & Supply Chain Management (O&SCM) deals with large and complex structures. Evidence from practice suggests that management still runs in silos and decisions are often focused on specific functions as the totality of the problem and the impact on the broader organisation is not always understood. To manage such structures, managers have been investing in information technology to improve data availability and quality. Finally, good data is available with potential to enable holistic decision-making (DM). The field of analytics answers the need to transform data into information to support DM processes. Visual analytics rely specifically on visual representations to support DM processes. As visual analytics is still at its infancy, the aim is to identify what types of visual analytics has been used in empirical research, to support what decisions and its impact in O&SCM context. Evidence based literature review, also known as systematic literature review (SLR) method is used to review 41 papers. The most common type of visual analytics identified is modelling, mapping and visual interfaces between data and managers. These most often support Plan and Make type decisions. Vast majority of applications are identified as positive, enabling better understanding of the problem, greater management involvement in the process and better communication. Future research is needed to define the term “visual analytics” as the field is still at its infancy. Development and empirical testing is required of whether the identified visual tools are an enabler for holistic decisions in the O&SCM context.

Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial O tema da definição de estratégia da cadeia de abastecimento está a ganhar importância e não existe uma estratégia ideal. Consequentemente, de forma a ganhar vantagem competitiva sustentável as organizações devem escolher as estratégias de abastecimento mais adequadas tendo em conta as características quer da procura quer dos produtos alinhando a oferta com a procura. Para a definição do foco da tese, é feito um estudo bibliometrico da literatura. De seguida, definiu-se uma sequência de passos para a segmentação da cadeia de abastecimento e sua consequente aplicação num caso de estudo, uma empresa alimentar B2B. O estudo exploratório contribui com uma série de ideias originais: Uma nova variável de classificação é proposta, uma análise de produtos com base nos componentes comuns, e finalmente, uma nova abordagem às compras baseada nas características da procura. Tudo isto permite uma abordagem prática à segmentação ao longo de toda a cadeia de abastecimento. O tema da definição de estratégia da cadeia de abastecimento está a ganhar importância e não existe uma estratégia ideal. Consequentemente, de forma a ganhar vantagem competitiva sustentável as organizações devem escolher as estratégias de abastecimento mais adequadas tendo em conta as características quer da procura quer dos produtos alinhando a oferta com a procura. Para a definição do foco da tese, é feito um estudo bibliometrico da literatura. De seguida, definiu-se uma sequência de passos para a segmentação da cadeia de abastecimento e sua consequente aplicação num caso de estudo, uma empresa alimentar B2B. O estudo exploratório contribui com uma série de ideias originais: Uma nova variável de classificação é proposta, uma análise de produtos com base nos componentes comuns, e finalmente, uma nova abordagem às compras baseada nas características da procura. Tudo isto permite uma abordagem prática à segmentação ao longo de toda a cadeia de abastecimento.