Ramiro Pastorinho

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Verified

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• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Universidade de Évora

Objectives: Within the framework of the burden of disease (BoD) approach, disease and injury burden estimates attributable to risk factors are a useful guide for policy formulation and priority setting in disease prevention. Considering the important differences in methods, and their impact on burden estimates, we conducted a scoping literature re...

Objective: To quantify the impact of different air pollutants on respiratory health based on robust estimates based on international data and to summarise the evidence of associations between indoor exposure to those pollutants and respiratory morbidity in the Portuguese population. Results: Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses (MA) at t...

Currently, people spend most of their time inside their homes. However, poor conditions in terms of comfort and quality of the indoor environment can pose high risks to the inhabitants’ health. Therefore, a good quality environment is essential, since, in addition to the hazards present in indoor air (e.g., particles, (S)VOCs, CO, radon and tobacco...

Objective To analyse the GARD perspective on the health effects of outdoor air pollution, and to synthesise the Portuguese epidemiological contribution to knowledge on its respiratory impact. Results Ambient air pollution has deleterious respiratory effects which are more apparent in larger, densely populated and industrialised countries, such as...

The demand for natural-based products for industrial applications is increasing sharply and therefore the search for new alternatives to the plants traditionally used is growing. These alternative plants can be an important source of bioactive compounds under a circular economy approach. Considering the potential future use of new plant products by...

Cytostatic drugs are one of the most used therapeutic agents to treat cancer. However, their high toxicity turns their handling and disposal into a matter of great concern. Upon administration, cytostatics are mainly excreted through urine either as conjugated or unconjugated forms. The oncology patient’s urine enters sewage system, reaching wastew...

Ethnopharmacological relevance Thymus × citriodorus (Pers.) Schreb. is an interspecific hybrid between Thymus pulegioides and Thymus vulgaris, known for its pharmacological activities as diaphoretic, deodorant, antiseptic and disinfectant, the last mostly related with its antimicrobial activity. The folk use of other extracts, as hydrolates, have a...

Plant-based products such as essential oils and other extracts have been used for centuries due to their beneficial properties. Currently, their use is widely disseminated through a variety of industries and new applications are continuously emerging. For these reasons, they are produced industrially in large quantities and consequently they have t...

The ecotoxicity of methiocarb aqueous solutions treated by electrochemical oxidation was evaluated utilizing the model organism Daphnia magna. The electrodegradation experiments were performed using a boron-doped diamond anode and the influence of the applied current density and the supporting electrolyte (NaCl or Na2SO4) on methiocarb degradation...

Frailty is an age-related syndrome expected to increase over the next decades. This syndrome has been identified to be the most common condition leading to disability, institutionalisation and death in the elderly. The aim of this pilot study is to investigate a possible link between frailty status, biomarkers and environmental exposures. A group o...

The idea that animals may be used as sentinels of environmental hazards pending over humans and the associated public health implications is not a new one. Nowadays pets are being used as bioindicators for the effects of environmental contaminants in human populations. This is of paramount importance due to the large increase in the worldwide distr...

This book provides an up-to-date overview of the current knowledge and research concerning domestic pets as sentinels, forecasters and promoters of human health. Written by leading specialists in the fields of medicine, veterinary, environment, analytical chemistry, sociology and behavioral science, this volume provides a comprehensive understandin...

Today’s modern society produces a large amount of wastewaters rich in toxic compounds that, if not properly treated, will have deleterious environmental impact. Considering that conventional treatment methods have limitations in the complete removal of some of the most recalcitrant compounds, the need for more efficient treatments becomes imperativ...

Introduction: The Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is characterized by a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and it has two important forms: Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Although the pathophysiology of the disease is mostly unknown, an interaction between the immune system, genetics, microbiome and environmental factors se...

In this study, the efficiency of electrochemical oxidation to treat a sanitary landfill leachate was evaluated by the reduction in physico-chemical parameters and in ecotoxicity. The acute toxicity of the sanitary landfill leachates, before and after treatment, was assessed with the model organism Daphnia magna. Electrochemical oxidation treatment...

Isoprostanes (IsoPs) are a class of oxidation products naturally formed in vivo that are indicative of endogenous oxidative stress. In individuals with chronic and oxidative stress related diseases, IsoPs are increased to pathological levels. Since they are excreted through urine into sewage systems, IsoPs can be detected in wastewater treatment pl...

Organotin compounds are used as biocides, plastic stabilizers, and catalysts for the production of polyurethanes and silicones. Their notoriety is due to tributyltin (TBT), a potent biocide extensively used in antifouling paints until the beginning of the 21st century. As a consequence of its widespread use, TBT was responsible for the contaminatio...

The use of tributyltin (TBT) and, to a lesser extent, triphenyltin (TPT) as biocides in antifouling paint formulations during the last decades of the twentieth century was responsible for the global contamination of the coastal and offshore areas of the European aquatic environment. This widespread contamination was responsible for extensive delete...

Information about the acute phase proteins (APP) response in cats naturally infected with hemoplasmas and in cats co-infected with different species of hemoplasmas is lacking. This study evaluated serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp) and albumin in 48 cats naturally infected with hemoplasmas, including 25 with Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum...

The dissolution of CO2 into seawater is increasing surface ocean acidity, a process known as ocean acidification. This fact has been secondary to the widely debated emission levels to the atmosphere (in the context of the global warming and climate change phenomena), which led to it being mentioned as "the other" CO2 problem. Simultaneously, change...

Atualmente as pessoas passam grande parte do seu tempo no interior das habitações e uma boa qualidade do ambiente interior é fundamental, dado que as condições de conforto e ambiente interior de espaços habitacionais podem provocar efeitos adversos na saúde dos ocupantes. Para além dos parâmetros de risco presentes no ar interior, a humidade relati...

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential metal widespread in the environment, to which humans are exposed through different routes, being food consumption the most important one. It is considered an endocrine disruptor that is associated with estrogen-dependent diseases with women being particularly susceptible. In order to assess the exposure to this metal...

Lead is a naturally occurring element that with the advent of the industrial era became a serious environmental and public health issue. Leaded gasoline, lead based paints, use of lead in plumbing and water pipes, ceramics with lead-containing glazes and tobacco smoke are potential sources of lead exposure for humans. Despite these multiple sources...

Fungi are a group of microbes that are found with particular incidence in the indoor environment. Their direct toxicity or capability of generating toxic compounds has been associated with a large number of adverse health effects, such as infectious diseases and allergies. Given that in modern society people spend a large part of their time indoors...

Objective —To compare urine protein-to-creatinine concentration (UPC) ratios in samples collected by means of cystocentesis versus manual compression in cats. Design —Evaluation study. Animals —43 client-owned cats requiring urinalysis. Procedures —In all cats, 5 mL of urine from the midstream phase of micturition was collected by means of manual c...

House dust is a repository and concentrator of many chemical and biological agents including fungi. Considering that dust acts as a long-term reservoir of airborne fungi and that cumulative exposure is more relevant to potential health problems than single-day or short-term exposure, characterization of fungal communities in dust samples is of para...

Human activities are producing and transforming more than 140,000 chemical compounds according to the European Union Regulation REACH (registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals). Humans and wildlife can be exposed to chemicals at all stages of the chemical life cycle: raw material extraction, manufacturing and processing,...

In the Panasqueira mine area of central Portugal, some environmental media show higher metal(loid) concentrations when compared with the local geochemical background and the values proposed in the literature for these environmental media. In order to evaluate the effect of the external contamination on selected indexes of internal dose, As, Cd, Cu,...

Biosensors are analytical devices or setups incorporating a biologi-cal sensing element associated with a physicochemical transducer, aiming to produce digital electronic signals proportional to an ana-lyte. In this work we propose a biosensor that provides a straight forward diagnosis of aquatic toxicity. Using the green alga Chlorella vulgaris an...

he indoor environment is an important source of contaminants not only for humans but also for their pets. Animals and humans respond similarly to toxic agents. However, animals, due to their shorter lifespan, develop more rapidly, pathological conditions caused by environmental stressors. Consequently, household cats and dogs are good sentinels to...

Presenting author: Sónia Coelho

Presentation as part of a Science Communication Program in Ciência Viva in Portuguese

This paper describes a sediment survey undertaken to unravel patterns of distribution and dispersion of trace metals in an Iberian Peninsula northwestern coastal lagoon (Ria de Aveiro). Cadmium, lead, chromium, copper and zinc were analyzed in bottom sediments. Geochemical normalization is performed and two different regression models for each meta...

Laranjo Bay (Ria de Aveiro Coastal Lagoon, Portugal) is a location with historical sediment contamination. For more than three decades was the recipient of metal discharges with particular incidence in mercury. These elements were sequestered in the sediments in high concentration. The release of sequestered metals into the aquatic medium was repor...

Bisphenol A is a human endocrine disruptor. Its normally low levels in biological fluids make it difficult to detect via conventional techniques. This work demonstrates the complete extraction of bisphenol A, and its possible concentration up to 100-fold in a single-step procedure, using ionic-liquid-based aqueous biphasic systems. Bisphenol A (BPA...

Mining activities cause several health impacts in miners and communities living near the mine site that may persist even when the mine is abandoned. During mining processes several toxic wastes are produced and released into the surrounding environment causing pollution of air, drinking water, rivers and soils. Existing studies point to several adv...

Mining activities may affect the health of miners and communities living near mining sites, and these health effects may persist even when the mine is abandoned. During mining processes various toxic wastes are produced and released into the surrounding environment, resulting in contamination of air, drinking water, rivers, plants, and soils. In a...

Risk assessment of metals in the environment is performed mainly with toxicity evaluations on single metals, which is largely inadequate since these substances occur in mixtures. The development of models predicting combined toxic effects on the basis of the concentration-response relationships of individual compounds has emerged as an answer. In t...

Intersexuality has been widely reported in crustaceans with several mechanisms being directly or indirectly held responsible for its occurrence, amongst which pollution. No mechanistic relationship between metals and intersex has ever been established. Also the incidence of intersex in populations of the same invertebrate species in a latitudinal g...

Heavy metals accumulated by aquatic crustaceans in environmental studies are normally investigated using the whole body burden, with little regard paid to uptake in different tissues, to potential gender of life stage differences, or to the influence of nutrition on the test organism. This is likely to give erroneous conclusions for a dose-response...

Mercury has been considered as one of the most important pollutants in coastal and estuarine areas. Efforts have been made to detect, as early as possible, the effects of this and other metals in several species. Macroalgae, particularly Fucus spp., have been widely used as biomonitors of metal pollution. In this study, three Fucus species (F. spir...

locations of the salinity and eutrophication gradients in the south arm. The 2 sampling stations displayed signif- icantly different patterns of temporal variations in environmental variables. The total zooplankton density at each station showed significant spatial and temporal variabilities. However, the number of taxa did not show significant dif...

The degradation of estuaries is a result of human activities which overloads the environment with substances of both industrial and/or natural origins. Bioindicators have been consistently used to interpret effects of contaminants in the environment. In this study, the use of biomarkers (particular measurable characteristics of a bioindicator organ...

The zooplankton of the lower part of Canal de Mira (Ria de Aveiro) was sampled during one lunar month. The sampling programme consisted of nine 25 hour fixed-cycles, separated weekly. In each cycle, samples were collected every two hours at three depths (surface, mid-water and above the bottom) with a 500 μm mesh net. The overall effect of the tida...

The zooplankton of the lower part of Canal de Mira (Ria de Aveiro) was sampled during one lunar month. The sampling programme consisted of nine 25 hour fixed-cycles, separated weekly. In each cycle, samples were collected every two hours at three depths (surface, mid-water and above the bottom) with a 500 µm mesh net. The overall effect of the tida...

The aromatic amine 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) is a model environmental contaminant, precursor for synthesis and degradation product of several herbicides, which is commonly found in European estuarine ecosystems. In this work, the possibility of using biochemical and histological markers to assess sub-lethal effects of DCA in natural populations of...

Acartia tonsa was used as model to establish an index for oocyte maturity determination in zooplankters based in citometry and histochemical evaluation of gonadic masses. Biometry was performed using an ocular micrometer and nucleus/cytoplasm ratios were obtained characterizing each of the three identified stages: Immature, Vitellogenic and Mature....

The purpose of this work was to review the dynamics of the Acartia species in the Mondego estuary (a temperate North-Atlantic shallow estuary in Western Portugal) in a genus integrated perspective. The Acartia genus is represented in the system by the species Acartia clausi and Acartia tonsa; the samples were taken between July 1999 and June 2000,...

The main purpose of this study was to estimate the distribution, production and production/biomass ratio values of Acartia clausi, one of the most representative taxa of the Copepoda community in the Mondego estuary. The following biomass/length relationship was estimated for specimens of Acartia clausi: AFDW = 2.27 BL . Length-weight relationships...

Ecology and dynamics of the zooplankton in the Ria de Aveiro, Portugal, were researched to understand the correlation between the patterns of abundance of suprabenthic and zooplanktonic crustaceans and its tidal, day/night and lunar cycles. This study involved the collection of a series of samples during nine 25 h sampling cycles, separated weekly,...

In this work, the density of bacterioplankton and environmental parameters were monitored over a 11 month period (July 1999-June 2000), and also during one tidal cycle (15 June 2000), at two sampling stations, in the estuary of River Mondego. These data were treated by multivariate analyses methods in order to identify the key factors that control...

The composition and spatio-temporal distribution of zooplankton abundance and diversity were studied monthly from July 1999 to June 2000 in the southern arm of the Mondego estuarine system (Western Portugal). Two sampling stations with different salinity conditions were selected. Zooplankton samples were obtained using 63 and 125 μm mesh nets. In b...

Acartia tonsa is a key species in the Mondego estuary and a widespread species in all temperate estuarine zooplankton communities; a fact that bestows high relevance upon the outcome of this study. One of the purposes of this study was to estimate the distribution, production and production/biomass ratio values of A. tonsa. Biomass/length relations...

Zooplankton communities in temperate climates exhibit well documented seasonal variability. The reasons proposed to explain this kind of behaviour range from the effect of physical-chemical conditions (salinity, nutrients, temperature) growth rates, mortality, migration rates, food availability and predation. It is noticeable that the majority of t...

Para evaluar los modelos de variación de la composición bioquímica de Mesopodopsis slabberi (Van Beneden, 1861) en un estuario templado, determinamos los contenidos en proteínas, hidratos de carbono, quitina y lípidos de individuos inmaduros (juveniles) recién cogidos, y de machos y hembras adultos, durante dos ciclos anuales. Los análisis estadíst...

The quantification of six metals: aluminum (Al), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn), alongside with determination of organic carbon (OC) and calculations of C:N ratios was performed from surface sediments collected in urban channels of Aveiro City. The city is located along the shores of the Ria de Aveiro, a coastal l...

The purpose of this work was to review the dynamics of the Acartia species in the Mondego estuary (a temperate North-Atlantic shallow estuary in Western Portugal) in a genus integrated perspective. The Acartia genus is represented in the system by the species Acartia clausi and Acartia tonsa; the samples were taken between July 1999 and June 2000,...