Julio Santos

• University of Porto

Background: Involving patients and family members in care is a growing area of research and practice as more family members express the desire to participate as constituents of the patient care team. In this study, we aim to understand patients’ perceptions of family participation in asthma self-management, particularly concerning health informatio...

This paper results from on-going reflection within the practitioners group Plataforma de Interface à Ciência (Platform of Professionals at the Interface of Science), an informal nationwide network in Portugal that brings together professionals involved in a large scope of activities related to research management, knowledge transfer and science com...

Neuroenhancement involves the use of neurotechnologies to improve cognitive, affective or behavioural functioning, where these are not judged to be clinically impaired. Questions about enhancement have become one of the key topics of neuroethics over the past decade. The current study draws on in-depth public engagement activities in ten European c...

This paper reports on an online contrastive vignette study investigating the public's views of gene editing for therapy and enhancement in adult and prenatal contexts. The study, comprising quota samples of 1000 respondents per country, involved 10 European countries and the United States. Vignettes featuring gene editing for therapy compared to en...

This paper explores the health information-seeking practices of healthy young adults and how they assess and rank sources of information through a qualitative study. The findings show that participants (a) are strongly committed to searching for information about health and lifestyle, especially via the Internet; (b) healthcare professionals were p...

Objective To explore Hereditary Haemochromatosis (HH) patients’ perspectives on genetic information, namely the types of sources used, preferred or trusted. Methods A survey online was conducted by the European Federation of Associations of Patients with Haemochromatosis (EFAPH) and applied to members of 9 national associations. Results From a to...

Farm animal welfare has increasingly become a concern and a subject of public debate within Europe, with different stakeholders emphasizing different aspects of animal welfare. In Portugal, the discussion of animal welfare issues is relatively recent and the available data about how different stakeholder groups conceptualize animal welfare is very...

The instructional use of animals is a popular strategy to engage students with science, enhance their motivation, and promote values such as respect, tolerance, and empathy for all living beings. Although these beneficial outcomes are widely acknowledged, research has not provided reliable indicators of their efficiency. Therefore, it is essential...

During the in vitro propagation of Narcissus triandrus the culture conditions for the development of flowers with anthers and pollen comparable to those found in vivo were determined. Flowering was achieved, after 12 weeks of culture, from twin-scales of bulbs initially cultured on a modified Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with benzyladeni...

Plants contain multiple forms of catalase (CAT) and their specific functions remain uncertain. We cloned two potato cDNAs corresponding to CAT1 and CAT2 genes, analysed their phylogenetic relationship, and studied their expression and activity in different organs to gain clues to their functions. Phylogenetic trees and the alignment of CAT cDNA seq...

RNA in situ hybridization is a powerful technique but can be time consuming and potentially hazardous. We developed a procedure in which nonisotopic in situ hybridization is performed in Vibratome-sectioned tissues that are not dehydrated or embedded in paraffin or resin, thus avoiding additional pretreatment steps to allow the probes to penetrate...

A procedure for in vitro production of bulbs of Narcissus bulbocodium was developed. For the induction of shoots, twin-scales were used as primary explants and four media were compared. Using the basal MS medium supplemented with BAP (4 mg/l)+NAA (0.12 mg/l) or BAP (2 mg/l)+IBA (1 mg/l) resulted in shoot initiation and leaf development. The first m...