Introduction: Plants are widely used to treat various diseases and have been widely recognized as a rich source of phytochemicals with antimicrobial potential. In fact, plants have received considerable attention by researchers being their biological properties widely explored. Hypothesis and aims: Medicinal and aromatic plants are known to have a wide range of uses and health benefits, and should be exploited ...
Portuguese museums and private collectors gather a variety of Italian glazed terracotta sculptures attributed to the della Robbia workshop, particularly active between the 15th and 16th centuries. Compositional studies of the paste using INAA, PGAA and XRD and enamel using PIXE, and luminescence protocols, were used as a tool to ascertain the attribution of the sculptures to della Robbia workshop. Geochemical a...
Canine adipose-derived stem cells (cASCs) have great interest for cell-based therapies in Veterinary Medicine. As the behaviour of these cells in non-autologous recipients is not deeply characterized, it is mandatory to study them in new animal models previously to canine specie. In this work, cASCs were injected subcutaneously in mice and these cells were detected by immunohistochemistry using vimentin, CD44 a...
The archaeological investigation of the area today integrated in the Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros (NARC, CNS 1950) allowed the collection of a considerable number of Lusitanian amphorae. The archaeometric study of some of these amphorae, through chemical analysis of ceramic body by neutron activation, and comparison with similar existing compositional studies for three production centers of the Tag...
One of the major challenges in the conservation of cultural heritage is the prevention and control of contamination caused by microorganisms. The goals of the present study were the evaluation of methodologies for the characterization and quantification of the bioburden present in ancient ceramic tiles, and the estimation of the minimum dose of gamma radiation (Cobalt-60) necessary to inactivate the bioburden o...
Neutron tomography (NT) setup installed at the Portuguese Nuclear Research Reactor (Sacavém, Portugal) has been applied to visualize the inner structure of ancient Portuguese glazed tiles undergoing conservation treatments. Neutrons have the advantage of interacting strongly with hydrogen, so NT is able to map hydrogenous compounds with high sensitivity. NT showed that brushing technique appears to be more effi...