Author: Begoña Pérez Cabezas

Event scheduled for the International One Health Day (November 3) will bring together specialists from the most varied areas to promote the debate on this holistic approach to Health.

On the November 3rd, International One Health Day, the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto will once again bring together specialists from the most varied areas and institutions in the country to promote the debate around a holistic approach to Health.

This year, with a more targeted program for the non-scientific community, the 2nd Porto One Health Day reflects the effort that the institution has been making to promote and disseminate the One Health concept among the scientific, academic and civil society communities.

For Henrique Cyrne Carvalho, director of ICBAS, this is a very important moment of affirmation of the work that ICBAS has been developing: “promoting this approach has been central to our strategy, we have held several meetings with specialists from the most varied areas, with the aim of showing that this is the way to the future and to find solutions together to promote the development and application of solutions with a view to ensuring the well-being of all, the sustainability of the planet and the promotion of public health”.

The session on November 3rd will open with the public presentation of the document 'New steps for ICBAS One Health strategy', a white paper which intends to present specific proposals for the future.

The afternoon will continue with three round tables that “are of total public interest, since they address issues that influence everyone's lives”, reinforces Henrique Cyrne Carvalho.

These topics are extremely current and include nutrition, antimicrobial resistance and health promotion in aging, in sessions that are completely open to the public “which provide an opportunity for anyone to question high-quality specialists on these topics, which we believe is fundamental. Bringing academia closer to civil society is essential to succeed in this proposal”, concludes the ICBAS director.

Starting at 2:00 p.m., in the Salão Nobre of ICBAS/FFUP, the ‘2nd Porto One Health Day’ will culminate with the opening, at 6:45 p.m., of the traveling photography exhibition “Perspective(s) on One Health”, at Aliados Metro station.

According to Cyrne Carvalho, “this is the highlight of this exhibition’s itinerancy [which represents various views on the “One Health” concept], since we can reach thousands of people a day, not only from our city, but also from various parts of the country and the world. The format will be a little different from what it has been so far, and aims to confront people with various day-to-day issues that have everything to do with this approach”.

Source: Notícias UP

Project framed in the "One Health" concept aims to promote the health and well-being of those who attend the complex of the two faculties.

The ICBAS  (ICBAS) and the Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto (FFUP) will develop a pioneering project which, based on biophilic principles and framed in the One Health, aims to promote the health and well-being of the academic community.

This is a project that goes through the incorporation of nature elements and their representations in the ICBAS/FFUP complex (indoor and outdoor spaces), with the aim of systemically influencing the health and well-being of its users.

For the director of ICBAS, Henrique Cyrne Carvalho, this project “is a way of materializing the One Health concept, but also of reinforcing our concern for the well-being of the entire community”.

“It is an ambitious project that, through biophilic design, will bring a new environment and new spaces to the ICBAS/FFUP complex, aiming at a better relationship between the community and our built space”, says Henrique Cyrne Carvalho.

Also Domingos Ferreira, director of FFUP, shares the holistic view of global health, and reinforces “the institutions’ commitment to the well-being of academic communities”. For the director of FFUP, “the project is not only ambitious, but also reinforces the position of the ICBAS/FFUP Complex as an innovative center in the promotion of health, well-being and integration with all areas of life sciences”.

What is Biophilia?

The “Biophilia Theory” argues that human beings are biologically programmed to relate to living systems and that this relationship with nature is instrumental for well-being and physical and mental health.

“With this project, we will assess the potential of biophilic design as an intervention tool in the academic space aimed at promoting health and well-being”, as Karine Silvaexplains, researcher at the Department of Behavioral Sciences at ICBAS and at ISPUP, and mentor of the scientific project.

“Based on the Theory of Biophilia, we will seek to create organic spaces in an arid landscape, which promote relaxation and psychological restoration, as well as stimulate creativity, coexistence and sharing”, he adds.

Using a participatory “photovoice”, the entire ICBAS/FFUP community will be invited to reflect on the concept of Biophilia and to contribute with suggestions for its implementation.

The collected suggestions will be subjected to a specialized and multidisciplinary analysis in the context of “focus groups”, and the resulting intervention will be evaluated regarding its impact in terms of a set of health and well-being parameters.

Karine Silva reinforces the relevance of this approach, in the post-pandemic context: “Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic strongly underlined the need to reconfigure the relationship between people and built spaces, thus reinforcing the potential of biophilic design”.

This activity is developed in partnership with the Student, Employability and Alumni Support Office. According to the coordinator of that office, Isabel Lourinho, the pandemic brought “a worsening of mental health in the university context”, which is why “it is urgent to promote mental health literacy and develop multidisciplinary activities in terms of prevention and promotion of well-being”.

This project, in addition to implementing the One Health concept, elevates the ICBAS/FFUP complex to an ambassador of biophilic design in the Portuguese academic context, promoting its recognition on the international stage as an active agent in the promotion of health and well-being.

Source: Notícias UP

The study, carried out by researchers from CIIMAR and the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto, was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment and identifies “for the first time” the emergence of long-term adverse effects related to the combined consumption of lithium and microplastics.

The researchers analyzed a planktonic crustacean (Daphnia magna), commonly known as the water flea, and concluded that long-term exposure to concentrations of lithium and mixtures of lithium and microplastics decreased its reproduction “up to 93% and 90% less”, respectively.

At the same time, exposure to lithium reduced the growth rate of water flea populations by 67%, and exposure to mixtures of lithium and microplastics by 58%.

The researcher Lúcia Guilhermino adds that the results are “worrying” and that the effects of the reduction in zooplankton can have “very serious consequences for ecosystems”.

“These organisms [zooplankton] represent the base of trophic chains, in addition to being essential for maintaining the quality of the water we all depend on, by filtering it while they feed,” observes the coordinator of the Laboratory of Ecotoxicology and Ecology of ICBAS.

Lúcia Guilhermino also points out that the water flea has a “very developed” nervous system, allowing the results obtained in the study to be “extrapolated” to other animals, including mammals.

The study also serves as an “alert to the effects that may be having on the human population, especially in regions rich in lithium, areas with high population density and heavy use of electronic devices, and industrial areas or areas that receive electronic waste”.

“Despite its natural origin, lithium is a very reactive element from a biological point of view”, stresses Lúcia Guilhermino, noting that this element can cause “toxicity in various systems and organs, such as the nervous system, liver, kidneys and the reproductive system, through mechanisms that are not yet completely described”.

Also regarding microplastics, the researcher points out that these materials can “act like sponges and bind other contaminants, such as lithium, altering their incorporation, accumulation and toxicity”.

“All living organisms are simultaneously exposed to many pollutants throughout their lives, and the interaction between these chemical agents can lead to different toxic effects, altering the previously established safety limits”, adds Lúcia Guilhermino.

At the moment, researchers are developing studies to assess the consequences resulting from global climate change on the long-term effects of lithium, microplastics and their mixtures.

This work, which had the collaboration of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto and CESPU — Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário, was co-funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the Compete 2020 program and the North program 2020.

Source: Sapo Lifestyle

The aim is that owners find “credible, accurate and useful” information. There are also data about dog breeds with a greater predisposition to the development of tumors and ways to detect them early.

Professors and researchers from the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) and the Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP) launched an online platform for the owners of companion animals with cancer, which aims to provide “credible” information and characterize risk factors associated with the development of the disease.

Speaking to Lusa, Kátia Pinello, Professor at ICBAS and researcher at ISPUP, clarified that the website, entitled ‘Pet-OncoNet’, arises from the logic of the ‘One Health’ concept and the need to fill a "knowledge gap in this area”.

“We feel that tutors feel lost when dealing with the diagnosis of cancer in their animal companions”, said the researcher, who is one of the project coordinators. 

Launched to provide "credible, accurate and useful" information about companion animals, the digital platform includes, for example, data on dog breeds with a greater predisposition to the development of tumors, ways to detect cancer early in pets, and also information on ongoing clinical trials and procedures to support the animal during treatment.

“Our goal is to create a community that studies and shares information about veterinary oncology in all aspects", referred.

The website shows that in Portugal, the main tumors in pets are located in the skin, followed by mammary tumors.

In addition to providing information, the platform's objective is also to characterize the risk factors associated with the development of cancer in animals and humans.

"Increasingly, animals are active members of the family. This change in attitude towards animals makes them good research models and considered 'sentinels' for cancer, since they are closer and share the same environment as humans", indicated. 

In order to make it possible to proceed with the characterization of risk factors, the researchers are inviting all tutors and owners of companion animals – cats and dogs – to respond to an epidemiological inquiry, which will be available on the website until the end of October.

The results obtained in the context of the survey will later be published on the initiative's website.

The researchers also want to create a “psychological support group” to help guardians deal with animal grief, an issue that “is not yet very well accepted”. 

“Animal grief has implications for public health”, he noted, adding that “it is important to know how to face animal grief”. 

In order to continue the project, however, the researchers need financial help, which is why it is planned to open a crowdfunding campaign on the Pet-OncoNet website.

The site, developed in partnership with Oncowaf and financed by the Belgian fund for animals with cancer, is one of the interfaces of the network Vet-OncoNet, launched in December 2019, with the aim of gathering information on neoplasms present in companion animals and creating an animal oncological registry at national level.

With the collaboration of veterinarians and diagnostic laboratories that joined the project, researchers have been able to create an animal oncology registry. The objective now is to involve owners in this network, in order to better understand the common risk factors for development of cancer in animals and humans.

Source: CNN Portugal