2020
Autores
Almeida, AR; Bessa Goncalves, M; Vasconcelos, DM; Barbosa, MA; Santos, SG;
Publicação
JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS RESEARCH PART A
Abstract
Fibrinogen (Fg) is a pro-inflammatory protein with pro-healing properties. Previous work showed that fibrinogen 3D scaffolds (Fg-3D) promote bone regeneration, but the cellular players were not identified. Osteoclasts are bone resorbing cells that promote bone remodeling in close crosstalk with osteoblasts. Herein, the capacity of osteoclasts differentiated on Fg-3D to degrade the scaffolds and promote osteoblast differentiation was evaluated in vitro. Fg-3D scaffolds were prepared by freeze-drying and osteoclasts were differentiated from primary human peripheral blood monocytes. Results obtained showed osteoclasts expressing the enzymes cathepsin K and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase colonizing Fg-3D scaffolds. Osteoclasts were able to significantly degrade Fg-3D, reducing the scaffold's area, and increasing D-dimer concentration, a Fg degradation product, in their culture media. Osteoclast conditioned media from the first week of differentiation promoted significantly stronger human primary mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC) osteogenic differentiation, evaluated by alkaline phosphatase activity. Moreover, week 1 osteoclast conditioned media promoted earlier MSC osteogenic differentiation, than chemical osteogenesis inductors. TGF-beta 1 was found increased in osteoclast conditioned media from week 1, when compared to week 3 of differentiation. Taken together, our results suggest that osteoclasts are able to differentiate and degrade Fg-3D, producing factors like TGF-beta 1 that promote MSC osteogenic differentiation.
2020
Autores
Mendonça J.M.; Cruz N.; Vasconcelos D.; Sá-Couto C.; Moreira A.P.; Costa P.; Mendonça H.; Pereira A.; Naimi Z.; Miranda V.;
Publicação
Journal of Innovation Management
Abstract
When the COVID-19 pandemic hits Portugal in early March 2020, medical doctors, engineers and researchers, with the encouragement of the Northern Region Health Administration, teamed up to develop and build, locally and in a short time, a ventilator that might eventually be used in extreme emergency situations in the hospitals of northern Portugal. This letter tells you the story of Pneuma, a low-cost emergency ventilator designed and built under harsh isolation constraints, that gave birth to derivative designs in Brazil and Morocco, has been industrialized with 200 units being produced, and is now looking forward to the certification as a medical device that will possibly support a go-tomarket launch. Open intellectual property (IP), multi disciplinarity teamwork, fast prototyping and product engineering have shortened to a few months an otherwise quite longer idea-to-product route, clearly demonstrating that when scientific and engineering knowledge hold hands great challenges can be successfully faced.
2020
Autores
Oliveira, ME;
Publicação
Ensaios e práticas em museologia 09
Abstract
2020
Autores
Laussel, D; Resende, J;
Publicação
ECONOMIC THEORY
Abstract
We investigate how asymmetric information on final demand affects strategic interaction between a downstream monopolist and a set of upstream monopolists, who independently produce complementary inputs. We study an intrinsic private common agency game in which each supplieriindependently proposes a pricing schedule contract to the assembler, specifying the supplier's payment as a function of the assembler's purchase of inputi. We provide a necessary and sufficient equilibrium condition. A lot of equilibria satisfy this condition but there is a unique Pareto-undominated Nash equilibrium from the suppliers' point of view. In this equilibrium, there are unavoidable efficiency losses due to excessively low sales of the good. However, suppliers may be able to limit these distortions by implicitly coordinating on an equilibrium with a rigid (positive) output in bad demand circumstances.
2020
Autores
Laussel, D; Van Long, N; Resende, J;
Publicação
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC DYNAMICS & CONTROL
Abstract
We present a model of market hyper-segmentation, where a monopolist acquires within a short time all information about the preferences of consumers who purchase its vertically differentiated products. The firm offers a new price/quality schedule after each commitment period. Lower consumer types may have an incentive to delay their purchases until next period to obtain a better introductory offer. The monopolist counters this incentive by offering higher informational rents. Considering the dynamic game played by the monopolist and its customers, we find that there is always a Markov perfect equilibrium (MPE) in which the firm immediately sells the good to all customers, offering the Mussa-Rosen static equilibrium schedule to first time customers (and getting full commitment profits). However, if the commitment period between two offers is long enough, there is another MPE with gradual market expansion. Contrary to the Coasian result for a durable-good monopoly, we find that in both equilibria the profit of the monopolist increases (and the aggregate consumers surplus decreases) as the interval of commitment shrinks. The model yields policy implications for regulations on collection and storage of customers information.
2020
Autores
Laussel, D; Long, NV; Resende, J;
Publicação
RAND JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
Abstract
We show that a monopolist's profit is higher if he refrains from collecting coarse information on his customers, sticking to constant uniform pricing rather than recognizing customers' segments through their purchase history. In the Markov perfect equilibrium with coarse information collection, after each commitment period, a new introductory price is offered to attract new customers, creating a new market segment for price discrimination. Eventually, the whole market is covered. Shortening the commitment period results in lower profits. These results sharply differ from the ones obtained when the firm can uncover the exact willingness-to-pay of each previous customer.
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