Repositório Comum
Entradas recentes
Sociodemographic, clinical, and behavioral factors associated with sexual transmitted infection among HIV-1 positive migrants in Portugal : are there differences between sexes?
Publication . Miranda, Mafalda N. S.; Pimentel, Victor; Graça, Jacqueline; Seabra, Sofia G.; Sebastião, Cruz S.; Diniz, António; Faria, Domitília; Teófilo, Eugénio; Roxo, Fausto; Maltez, Fernando; Germano, Isabel; Oliveira, Joaquim; Ferreira, José; Poças, José; Mansinho, Kamal; Mendão, Luís; Gonçalves, Maria João; Mouro, Margarida; Marques, Nuno; Pacheco, Patrícia; Proença, Paula; Tavares, Raquel; Abreu, Ricardo Correia de; Serrão, Rosário; Faria, Telo; BESTHOPE Study Group; Martins, M. Rosário O.; Gomes, Perpétua; Abecasis, Ana B.; Pingarilho, Marta
Introduction: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to occur at high levels. According to the WHO, each year there are an estimated 374 million new infections with syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis. STIs are associated with an increased risk of acquiring HIV infection. Migrants are reportedly highly affected by STIs. Objectives: This study aims to characterize factors associated with STIs in a population of HIV-positive migrants living in Portugal. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional observational study of 265 newly diagnosed HIV-1 positive migrants, who were defined as individuals born outside Portugal. This group of people were part of the BESTHOPE study that was developed in 17 Portuguese hospitals between September 2014 and December 2019, and included information collected through sociodemographic and behavioral questionnaires filled in by the migrant patients, clinical questionnaires filled in by the clinicians and HIV-1 genomic sequences generated through resistance testing (Sanger sequencing). A multivariable statistical analysis was used to analyze the association between sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behaviors, HIV testing and sexual infections. Results: Most HIV-1 positive individuals included in the study were men (66.8%) and aged between 25 and 44 years old (59.9%). Men had a higher proportion of STIs when compared to women (40.4% vs. 14.0%) and the majority of men reported homosexual contacts (52.0%). Most men reported having had two or more occasional sexual partners in the previous year (88.8%) and 50.9% reported always using condoms with occasional partners, while 13.2% never used it. For regular partners, only 29.5% of the women reported using condoms, compared to 47.3% of men. Other risk behaviors for acquiring HIV, such as tattooing and performing invasive medical procedures, were more prevalent in men (38.0% and 46.2%, respectively), when compared to women (30.4% and 45.1% respectively) and 4.7% of men reported having already shared injectable materials, with no data for comparison in the case for women. Additionally, 23.9% of women reported having had a blood transfusion while only 10.3% of men reported having had this medical procedure. Meanwhile, 30.9% of the individuals reported having been diagnosed with some type of STI in the last 12 months. In addition, 43.3% of individuals that answered a question about hepatitis reported to be infected with hepatitis B, while 13.0% reported having hepatitis C infection. According to the multivariable analysis, the only transmission route was significantly associated with reports of previous STI infection: men who have sex with men (MSM) were 70% more likely to have been diagnosed with an STI in the past 12 months compared to the heterosexual route. Conclusion: HIV-1 infected men were more likely to report previous STIs than women. On the other hand, most migrant women had a regular sexual partner and never or only sometimes used condoms. This somewhat discrepant findings suggest that gender inequalities may make women unable to negotiate safe sexual practices, resulting in increased susceptibility to infection. However, since migrant women report less STIs, we cannot exclude that these STIs may remain undiagnosed. The implementation of safer sex awareness campaigns for condom use and screening for STIs in women is crucial. On the other hand, health education campaigns for STI knowledge need to be implemented for both MSM and women and their partners.
Análise na lógica contrafactual do impacto do FEADER nas empresas vitivinícolas
Publication . Henriques, Natália da Graça; Silva, Carlos António Pinheiro Francisco e
Esta tese investiga o impacto do FEADER nas empresas
vitivinícolas do Alentejo e da Península de Setúbal (2007–
2020), analisando como o financiamento público, em
interação com o acesso à informação, influencia a criação
de emprego, a fixação da população e a diversificação da
atividade. Em termos metodológicos, adota uma
abordagem mista: qualitativa (entrevistas e análise
documental) e quantitativa (inquérito por questionário
aplicado à população total de 268 empresas), seguido de
segmentação empírica em três grupos via Two-Step Cluster
(103, 94 e 56 unidades). Os resultados indicam efeitos
positivos do FEADER, embora territorialmente
diferenciados: no Alentejo, observam-se contributos mais
claros para emprego e diversificação, com o enoturismo
como vetor estruturante; na Península de Setúbal, os efeitos
são mais contidos, condicionados por pressões periurbanas
e restrições de elegibilidade. A validação empírica mostra
um desempenho superior nas empresas beneficiárias e
informadas (Clusters 2–3), corroborando o papel moderador
do acesso à informação sobre o financiamento, enquanto
perfis sem apoio/informação não replicam esses ganhos. As
implicações práticas incluem integrar financiamento com
mentoria e assistência técnica, calibrar medidas ao contexto
territorial, priorizar a diversificação (enoturismo, canais
diretos e digitais), simplificar procedimentos e reforçar
instrumentos de cofinanciamento e qualificação. Conclui-se
que políticas sensíveis ao território e à informação
maximizam o impacto dos fundos, recomendando-se
monitorização orientada a resultados para retroalimentar o
desenho das medidas.
Development and validation of a simple and fast method for routine analysis of new synthetic opioids and hallucinogens in whole blood using protein precipitation and UHPLC-MS/MS
Publication . Pereira, Joana R.P.; Antunes, Mónica; Neng, N.R.; Mustra, Carla; Franco, João; Fonseca, Suzana
In forensic toxicology, the rapid and reliable detection of emerging synthetic opioids and hallucinogens is crucial for case investigations and public health monitoring. This work describes the development, optimization and validation of a simple, fast and sensitive methodology for the simultaneous analysis of 6 new synthetic opioids (carfentanil, fentanyl, isotonitazene, metonitazene, norfentanyl, and sufentanil) and 2 hallucinogens (lysergide [LSD] and mescaline), together with the main LSD metabolite 2-oxo-3-hydroxy-lysergide [LSD-OH], in whole blood samples by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Under optimized experimental conditions, linearity was verified between 0.1 and 20 ng/mL for all analytes except mescaline (2.5-500 ng/mL), with r2 > 0.99 for 1/x weighting, and no significant carryover or matrix effects were observed. Good precision (% RSD < 13 %) and trueness (% Bias within ± 20 %) values were achieved. The estimated limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.1 ng/mL for all compounds except mescaline (2.5 ng/mL). Authentic forensic samples were also analyzed, and positive samples for fentanyl, norfentanyl, and sufentanil were identified. The proposed methodology allows the simultaneous analysis of compounds from different families of psychoactive substances, in both postmortem and in vivo samples, using only 50 µL of whole blood. The demonstrated speed, simplicity, and effectiveness make it particularly advantageous for routine implementation in forensic toxicology laboratories.
Sociodemographic profile : a forgotten factor in temporomandibular disorders? A scoping review
Publication . Carapinha, Ivo Henrique Alexandrino; Canales, Giancarlo De la Torre; Poluha, Rodrigo Lorenzi; Câmara-Souza, Mariana Barbosa; Christidis, Nikolaos; Ernberg, Malin; Almeida, André Mariz de; Manso, Ana Cristina Garcia de Matos
The literature on Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) incidence commonly reports sociodemographic factors such as gender and age. However, the role and prevalence of other sociodemographic factors in TMD are not well defined. Therefore, this scoping review aimed to report the prevalence of sociodemographic factors in TMD patients. A systematic search was conducted in the PubMed and Web of Science databases to identify clinical trials in adult populations, using the Research Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (RDC/TMD) or the Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (DC/TMD) and reporting sociodemographic data in TMD patients. Twenty-seven studies meeting the criteria were included in this review. The most commonly reported sociodemographic factors assessed in the included studies were age, race, education, job, income, and marital status. TMD prevalence was observed to be higher among younger and divorced individuals among the included studies. However, conflicting results were found for education level, and employment was not considered a risk factor for TMD. Although this review has methodological limitations, it suggests an association between TMD incidence and certain sociodemographic factors; nevertheless, further studies are needed to establish this relationship more conclusively.
Sleep deprivation increases the regularity of isometric torque fluctuations
Publication . Oliveira, João H.; Santos, Paulo; Pezarat-Correia, Pedro; Vaz, João R.
The regularity of the fluctuations present in torque signals represent the adaptability of the motor control. While previous research showed how it is affected by neuromuscular fatigue and ageing, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. It is currently under debate whether these changes are explained by central or peripheral neuromuscular mechanisms. Here, we experimentally manipulated the sleep of thirteen young adults through a supervised 24 h-sleep deprivation protocol. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sleep deprivation on the regularity of torque fluctuations, and other standard torque-related outcomes (Peak Torque – PT – and Rate of Torque Development – RTD). The participants were asked to perform knee extension maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) and submaximal knee extensions at 40% of MVC for 30 s. PT and RTD were calculated from the MVC and the regularity of the torque fluctuations was determined on the submaximal task through Sample Entropy (SampEn). In addition, rate of perceived effort (RPE) was collected. We found no significant changes in PT and RTD. The regularity of torque fluctuations significantly increased (i.e., a decrease in SampEn) after 24 h-sleep deprivation (PRE = 1.76 ± 0.268, POS24 = 1.71 ± 0.306; p = 0.044). Importantly, we found a negative correlation between RPE and SampEn relative changes after sleep deprivation. This study brings new insights towards the understanding of the underlying mechanisms that explain changes in torque fluctuations, demonstrating that these changes are not limited to neuromuscular processes but are also likely to be affected by other domains, such as psychological profile, which can indirectly affect the neural drive to the muscles.