Optimisation of Shrinkage and Strength on Thick Plate Part Using Recycled LDPE Materials.

Achieving good quality of products from plastic injection moulding processes is very challenging, since the process comprises many affecting parameters. Common defects such as warpage are hard to avoid, and the defective parts will eventually go to waste, leading to unnecessary costs to the manufacturer. The use of recycled material from postindustrial waste has been studied by a few researchers. However, the application of an optimisation method by which to optimise processing parameters to mould parts using recycled materials remains lacking. In this study, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) methods were conducted on thick plate parts moulded using virgin and recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) materials (100:0, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50; virgin to recycle material ratios) to find the optimal input parameters for each of the material ratios. Shrinkage in the x and y directions increased in correlation with the recycled ratio, compared to virgin material. Meanwhile, the tensile strength of the thick plate part continued to decrease when the recycled ratio increased. R30 (70:30) had the optimum shrinkage in the x direction with respect to R0 (100:0) material where the shrinkage increased by 24.49% (RSM) and 33.20% (PSO). On the other hand, the shrinkage in the y direction for R30 material increased by 4.48% (RSM) and decreased by 2.67% (PSO), while the tensile strength of R30 (70:30) material decreased by 0.51% (RSM) and 2.68% (PSO) as compared to R0 (100:0) material. Validation tests indicated that the optimal setting of processing parameter suggested by PSO and RSM for R0 (100:0), R30 (70:30), R40 (60:40) and R50 (50:50) was less than 10%.

The multifaceted Foxp3fgfp allele enhances spontaneous and therapeutic immune surveillance of cancer in mice.

It is well established that therapeutic impairment of Foxp3+ Treg in mice and humans favors immune rejection of solid tumors. Less explored is the impact Foxp3 allelic variants may have on tumor incidence, progression and therapy. In this work, we tested and demonstrate that the Foxp3fgfp reporter allele, found previously to either enhance or reduce Treg function in specific autoimmunity settings, confers increased anti-tumor immunity. Our conclusions stem out of the analysis of three tumor models of different tissue origin, in two murine genetic backgrounds. When compared to wild type animals, mice carrying the Foxp3fgfp allele spontaneously delay, reduce or prevent primary tumor growth, decrease metastasis growth, and potentiate the response to anti-CTLA4 monotherapy. These findings suggest allelic variances at the Foxp3 locus may serve as predictive indicators for personalized therapy and prognostics, and point at possible new therapeutic targets.

Burnout nos enfermeiros da Unidade de Desabituação de Coimbra / Burnout in nurses of the Coimbra's Burnout Unit

As profissões que implicam a prestação de cuidados a pessoas em situação de fragilidade física e emocional, exigem um investimento emocional elevado por parte dos profissionais. Este fato faz com que o burnout seja alvo de destaque nas profissões que implicam o estabelecimento da Relação de Ajuda, sendo um importante indicador da saúde mental dos profissionais. Na enfermagem o burnout pode surgir como consequência da relação enfermeiro/utente. Neste sentido, foi nosso objetivo avaliar os níveis de burnout dos enfermeiros da Unidade de Desabituação de Coimbra (UDC) do Instituto da Droga e Toxicodependência (IDT), Instituto Público (IP), assim como avaliar a sua relação com as características sociodemográficas, profissionais e individuais. Com este propósito foram aplicados questionários a todos os enfermeiros da UDC do IDT, IP. O instrumento de medida utilizado para avaliar o burnout foi o Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), composto por três subescalas que avaliam o burnout pessoal, o burnout relacionado com o trabalho e o burnout relacionado com o cliente, validado para a população portuguesa por Fonte (2011). A amostra compreende oito enfermeiros com uma média de idade de 33 anos. Os resultados sugerem que os enfermeiros da UDC apresentam níveis elevados de burnout, sendo que é ao nível do burnout relacionado com o cliente que estes valores são mais manifestos. Relativamente à relação do burnout com as variáveis sociodemográficas, profissionais e individuais não se verificou evidência estatisticamente significativa. Estes resultados têm implicações ao nível da compreensão do fenómeno burnout pois sugerem que é ao nível da relação enfermeiro/utente que se verificam níveis mais elevados de burnout. Estes resultados salientam a necessidade de se estabelecer relações de confiança e parceria com os utentes e aumentar o insight sobre os próprios problemas\dificuldades dos enfermeiros, juntamente com a capacidade de encontrar novas vias de resolução de forma a promover a saúde mental destes profissionais.

The professions that involve caring for people suffering from emotional and physical frailty, require a high emotional investment from the care givers. This fact causes the burnout is a prominent target in professions that involve the establishment of the Help Relationship, being an important indicator of mental health. In nursing this syndrome can occur as a result of the relationship nurse/patient. In this sense, our goal was to assess burnout levels of nurses in the withdrawal unit treatment of Coimbra (UDC) of the Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction (IDT), Public Institution (PI), as well as to evaluate the relationship with sociodemographic, professional and individual characteristics. For this purpose questionnaires were administered to all nurses of the UDC of IDT, IP. The measuring instrument used to assess burnout was Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, consisting of three subscales that assess personal burnout, burnout work-related and burnout related to the client, validated for the Portuguese population by Fonte (2011). The sample are eight nurses with an average age of 33 years. The results suggest that the nurses have high levels of burnout, and burnout level related to the cliente. Regarding the relationship of burnout with sociodemographic, professionall and individual variables, no statistically significant evidence was found. These results have implications for understanding the phenomenon of burnout.They suggest that is in the relationship nurse/patient which there are higher levels of burnout. These results highlight the need to establish relationships of trust and partnership with clients and increase insight into their nurse problems\difficulties and the ability to find new ways of resolution in order to promote mental health of these professionals.