http://hdl.handle.net/10174/987 2026-04-05T16:42:45Z http://hdl.handle.net/10174/41549 Title: The burden of breast, cervical, and colon and rectum cancer in the Balkan countries, 1990–2019 and forecast to 2030 Authors: Todorovic J, J; Stamenkovic Z, Z; Stevanovic A, A; Terzic N, N; Kissimova-Skarbek K, K; Tozija F, F; Mechili, E A; Devleesschauwer, B; Terzic-Supic, Z; Vasic, M; Bjegovic-Mikanovic, M; Santric-Milicevic, M; Liew, A; Mentis, AF; Mereke, A; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Manda, AL; Gkitakou, A; Adam, B; Oancea, B; Socea, B; Unim, B; Smarandache, CG; Ngwa, CH; Santoso CMA, CMA; Sur, D; Plass, D; Pallari, E; Nena, E; Gazzelloni, F; Fisher, F; Mulita, F; Collatuzzo, G; Lewison, G; Wyper, G; Samouda, H; Negoi, I; Penalvo, JL; Gonzalez, JMG; Haagsma, J; Dokova, K; Lorenzovici, L; Monasta, L; Ortiz, MR; Hostiuc, M; Gissler, M; Speybroeck, N; Varga, O; Gaal, P; Kostoulas, P; O’Caoimh, R; Cuscieri, V; Namorado, S; Mestrovic, s; Gorasso, V; Zadnik, V; Mevsim, V; Kabir, Z Abstract: the second leading cause of mortality, closely following circulatory system diseases. Objective To describe trends in the burden of breast, cervical, and colon and rectum cancer in the Balkan region and per country between 1990 and 2019, including a forecast to 2030. Methods We described the 2019 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimates for breast, cervical, and colon and rectum cancers in eleven Balkan countries over the period 1990–2019, including incidence, years lived with disability (YLD), years of life lost (YLL), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates per 100,000 population and accompanied 95% uncertainty interval. With the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average, we forecasted these rates per country up to 2030. Results In the Balkan region, the highest incidence and DALYs rates in the study period were for colon and rectum, and breast cancers. Over the study period, the DALYs rates for breast cancer per 100,000 population were the highest in Serbia (reaching 670.84 in 2019) but the lowest in Albania (reaching 271.24 in 2019). In 2019, the highest incidence of breast cancer (85 /100,000) and highest YLD rate (64 /100,000) were observed in Greece. Romania had the highest incidence rates, YLD rates, DALY rates, and YLL rates of cervical cancer, with respective 20.59%, 23.39% 4.00%, and 3.47% increases for the 1990/2019 period, and the highest forecasted burden for cervical cancer in 2030. The highest incidence rates, YLD rates and DALY rates of colon and rectum cancers were continuously recorded in Croatia (an increase of 130.75%, 48.23%, and 63.28%, respectively), while the highest YLL rates were in Bulgaria (an increase of 63.85%). The YLL rates due to colon and rectum cancers are forecasted to progress by 2030 in all Balkan countries. Conclusion As most of the DALYs burden for breast, cervical, and colon and rectum cancer is due to premature mortality, the numerous country-specific barriers to cancer early detection and quality and care continuum should be a public priority of multi-stakeholder collaboration in the Balkan region. 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10174/41529 Title: Phenotypical variability affecting the commercial value of the stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes: No evidence for epigenetic variation Authors: Sousa, A.; Morán, P.; Acuna, J.L.; Vázquez, E; Cruz, T.; Macho, G. Abstract: The stalked barnacle Pollicipes pollicipes is an important economic resource in Portugal and Spain. Two extreme phenotypes can be identified, based on their morphology. More elongated barnacles are associated with bad quality and have a lower commercial value. The fishers perception about the existence, definition and causes for this phenotypical/quality variation was evaluated through a survey performed in Portugal and Galicia, Spain. The existence of two extreme commercial qualities was validated. Good quality barnacles were mainly defined as thick and short in both countries. In Spain (Galicia), the definition of bad quality animals corresponded mainly to the terms long and thin, while in Portugal, fishers used a wider variety of terms including watery, thin and soft. The characteristics of the rock and the hydrodynamics were the causes most referred by the fishers for this variation. The morphological variation of P. pollicipes was described by the ratio between maximal rostro-carinal length (RC) and total height (TH): RC/TH values ω 0.4 indicate good quality barnacles; and values ε 0.4 indicate bad quality barnacles. Although morphological variation between the two extreme qualities/phenotypes was found, no genetic (amplified fragment length polymorphism - AFLP) or epigenetic (methylation sensitive amplification poly- morphism - MSAP) differences were detected. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10174/41528 Title: Variability and connectivity in populations of different limpet species across rockpool-generated mosaic landscapes. Authors: Seabra, M. I.; Penteado, N.; Cruz, T.; Hawkins, S.J. Editors: Newman, S.J. Abstract: Limpets are keystone grazers on rocky shores. We studied spatial patterns of four co-occurring patellids (Patella ulyssiponensis, Patella depressa, Patella rustica, Patella vulgata) and one siphonariid (Siphonaria pectinata) across rockpools and their surrounds. Our approach considered each rockpool as a concentric system of three micro-habitats where limpets were censused (species, counts, and size of individuals): inside rockpool, edge zone, and surrounding open-rock. The whole intertidal zone was sampled on six rocky shores with contrasting landscape variability (amount of open-rock and other micro-habitats) in Southwest Portugal. Additionally, open-rock surfaces far away (>25cm) from rockpools were surveyed on the mid-shore. Three groups of predictors (“physical, habitat-composition, and connectivity variables”) were assessed for each rockpool system. Limpets of various sizes of the three most common species—P. ulyssiponensis, P. depressa, and S. pectinata—were found to coexist inside and outside rockpools on all shores, with rockpools extending their vertical distribution upwards. Patella vulgata was rare; P. rustica was absent from rockpools and their edges. Intra-speci c connectivity (correlations in density of the same species between adjacent micro-habitats) showed a decreasing gradient with distance from the pool, being sharper for P. ulyssiponensis (a largely rockpool-resident) than for P. depressa and S. pectinata (suggesting their emergence from rockpools to edges and surrounding open-rock). Abundance and size structure of both P. depressa and S. pectinata were similar on mid-shore open-rock surrounding rockpools and far from rockpools. Landscape variability explained distribution of P. depressa (shores with less open-rock had more and smaller limpets). Habitat-composition (assemblages and substrata) was more important than physical predictors in explaining among-rockpool variability of each limpet species. Densities of P. ulyssiponensis and P. depressa inside rockpools were positively associated with cover of coralline algae and negatively associated with sand cover. Less explanatory power was found in predictive models of S. pectinata, suggesting a more opportunistic nature. There was limited evidence of inter- or intra-speci c competition of the three species in rockpools and open-rock. Competition between P. ulyssiponensis and P. depressa was most likely in rockpool edges. Rockpool-generated mosaic landscapes are linked by intra-speci c connectivity of limpet populations and modulated by interactions among different limpet species. 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10174/41366 Title: Tackling water contamination by oncologic drugs: Supported ionic liquids as sustainable adsorbents for cyclophosphamide removal Authors: Francisco, R; Monteiro, B; Santos, MJ; e Silva, FA; Venâncio, C; Neves, MC; Lopes, I; Sousa, Ana Catarina Abstract: Due to the increasing incidence of cancer, the consumption of highly toxic oncological drugs is continuously growing. Given the current lack of efficient technologies to remove/treat these toxic drugs in wastewater treatment plants, the environmental quality is compromised, and aquatic organisms are at risk. To address this critical environmental burden, a new strategy based on supported ionic liquids (SILs) for the simultaneous removal of oncologic drugs and toxicity reduction of aqueous samples is here proposed. Silica-based SILs functionalized with imidazolium-based and quaternary ammonium-based ILs were designed and kinetics and isotherm adsorption studies performed. Aiming to develop an adsorbent able to reduce the toxicity of aqueous samples contaminated with oncological drugs, the toxicity reduction was appraised using the model organism Danio rerio. The obtained results disclose that among the studied SILs, the [Si][N3888]Cl (silica functionalized with propyltrioctylammonium chloride) is the best adsorption material (maximum adsorption capacity, qmax = 67.64 mg g􀀀 1), with a fast adsorption rate (<20 min). Furthermore, [Si][N3888]Cl was able to remove the toxicity of the treated aqueous samples towards D. rerio embryos, as assessed by lethal and several sublethal endpoints, demonstrating that this material holds remarkable potential for oncological drugs pollution remediation 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z