Mitochondrial DNA studies of Lisbon immigrants from Portuguese speaking African countries

Since the end of the 1970s, Portugal has had an important role in migratory movements, becoming a destination for immigrants of a wide range of nationalities, mainly from African countries. According to PORDATA, until the end of 2014 there were 40,000 immigrants from Cape Verde, 20,000 from Angola, 18,000 from Guinea-Bissau, and 3,000 from Mozambique living in Portugal, and of those, >80 per cent live in the Lisbon region. This may be one of the main contributors to genetic variation of Lisbon residents in the present and the future. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has features that make it desirable for forensics, namely, high copy number, lack of recombination, and matrilineal inheritance. These features are also important in evolutionary and population studies. We aim to characterize mtDNA diversity in immigrants from Portuguese Speaking African Countries (PALOP) living in Lisbon and their potential contribution to genetic variation of Lisbon population. Blood samples were collected from 439 PALOP immigrants living in Lisbon, of which 173 immigrants from Angola, 103 immigrants from Cape Verde, eighty-three immigrants from Mozambique and eighty immigrants from Guinea-Bissau, from January 2000 to December 2016. The control region of the mtDNA was amplified using two pairs of primers—L15971/H016 and L16555/H639, and sequenced by BigDye Terminator v.3.1 Cycle Sequence (AB). Sequenced products were detected in a sequencer Genetic Analyzer 3130 (AB). Finally the results were analysed by Sequencing Analysis v.5.2 software and also compared with Revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS) using SeqScape v.3 (AB) software. The haplogroups were determined based on Phylotree, build 17. Genetic distances and other genetic parameters were calculated with Arlequin software ver.3.5 and analysed and represented with PhyML 3.0. For each sample, the complete sequence of the control region was obtained. The comparison of the sequences obtained with the rCRS, among the 439 analysed individuals, allowed the identification of 319 different haplotypes, corresponding to 164 different haplogroups distributed by ten macrohaplogroups. Macrohaplogroup L was the most common with 386 haplotypes followed by U with fifteen haplotypes, H with twelve haplotypes, M and T with six haplotypes, K with five, R with four, X and J with two and HV with one. PALOP’s immigrants presented a high number of unique haplotypes, most of them belonging to macrohaplogroup L, originating from sub-Saharan regions of Africa.This macrohaplogroup is uncommon in European and Portuguese populations. Consistent with this, phylogenetic analysis showed the establishment of two distinct groups, one composed of the Portuguese population and another of the African populations. In comparing the different immigrant populations living in Lisbon, the genetically closest community to the Portuguese population is Mozambique and the furthest is Cape Verde, followed by Guinea-Bissau and Angola. Our results show that the PALOP immigrants living in Lisbon are genetically heterogeneous. The increase in genetic diversity in Lisbon due to immigrants from PALOP countries may have a major impact on haplotypic and allelic frequencies, on which all forensic and medico-legal investigations are based

Tendência genética de características de desempenho produtivo em bovinos da Raça Senepol.

Objetivou-se com esse trabalho estimar as tendências genéticas das características de locus quantitativo como peso ao nascer (PN), à fase materna (P120), à desmama (PD) e ao sobreano (PS), perímetro escrotal ao sobreano (PES) e para as características de avaliação subjetiva: escore de conformação frigorífica ao sobreano (CFS), em bovinos da raça Senepol. Foram feitas 37.498 observações, entre o período de 2001 a 2014. Para a análise crítica dos dados utilizou-se o programa estatístico SAS (2002 - 2010), foi utilizada a Metodologia de Modelos Mistos Henderson (1953) para a análise genética, sendo adotado o Modelo Animal, considerando as características múltiplas. As médias anuais das tendências genéticas encontradas para PN, P120, PD, PS, PES e CFS foram de 0,03 kg, 0,361 kg, 0,434 kg, 0,984 kg, 0,003 (1 - 6) e 0,002 cm respectivamente. As análises de tendência genética obtidas mostraram-se positiva para todas as características observadas indicando haver progresso genético dentro da raça analisada.Título em inglês: Genetic trend of performance traits in bovines of Senepol Breed

Career self: a longitudinal study with college students

O self de carreira constituí um subconjunto organizado do universo cognitivo de uma pessoa, responsável pelo carácter subjetivo que a mesma confere à carreira. Este estudo pretende avaliar mudanças no conteúdo do self de carreira de estudantes universitários, do início para o final do último ano de graduação. Para tal, recorreu-se a medidas repetidas dos índices da Grelha de Repertório da Carreira (Silva & Taveira, 2005; Silva, 2008). Na investigação, participaram 80 estudantes, dos quais 49 são mulheres (61,25%) e 31 são homens (38,75%), com idades entre os 21 e os 45 anos (M= 23,9, DP= 4,31). Os resultados indicam que, no final da licenciatura, os estudantes diminuem a distância como se constrõem em relação aos outros e mantêm uma construção positiva do self de carreira.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Tuberculosis across the seas: CPLP-TB - a joint effort in cataloguing mycobacterium tuberculosis genetic diversity in the lusophone space

The Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP) comprises nine countries across four continents, accounting for 7.2% of the world’s land area, and where tuberculosis (TB) is still a cause of public health concern. A marked variation in TB incidence (23 to 551 cases per 100 000 habitants) can be observed across the different member-states and, despite of this, a considerable gap in the knowledge on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis population structure and country-level geospatial distribution still exists. To address this we have gathered a comprehensive set of molecular and phenotypic drug susceptibility data on approximately 1150 different clinical isolates, from different partners, across 5 distinct portuguesespeaking countries. This initial dataset comprises molecular genotypic data obtained by either 12, 15 or 24-loci Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit – Variable Number of Tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) and/or Spoligotyping. The complete dataset therefore includes M. tuberculosis clinical isolates from Portugal (n≈370), Angola (n≈80), Guinea-Bissau (n≈13), Mozambique (n≈14) and Brazil (n≈680). To make this data available to the scientific community and public health authorities we have developed CPLP-TB, an online database coupled with webbased tools that enable exploratory data analysis. This new tool specifically directed at CPLP countries include advanced data analysis capability together with graphical visualization tools (e.g. dendrogram and choropleth mapping). As a public health tool, it is expected to contribute for a deeper knowledge on the combined population structure and strain circulation between countries, thus enabling the assessment of strain specific trends in a broader macroepidemiological context. Furthermore, this new tool provides a new framework for interlaboratory cooperation on TB molecular epidemiology.N/

Experiências de Estágio: Contribuições para a Transição Universidade-Trabalho

As experiências de formação no ensino superior são fundamentais para o desenvolvimento profissional. Este estudo teve por objetivo compreender de que forma as experiências de estágio contribuem para o desenvolvimento da adaptabilidade de carreira e para a transição entre os papéis de estudante a profissional em formandos universitários. Participaram seis formandos de um curso de Engenharia Civil, com idades entre 22 e 29 anos. Foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas individuais, posteriormente analisadas quanto ao conteúdo. Os resultados revelaram que as experiências de estágio influenciam o desenvolvimento da adaptabilidade de carreira, especialmente nas dimensões de curiosidade e confiança. Além disso, várias características dos estágios mencionadas pelos entrevistados mostraram-se relacionadas ao desenvolvimento de carreira, revelando sua importância para o processo de transição do papel de estudante para o de profissional. O artigo conclui com implicações para a prática e a pesquisa

Determinants of the use of health and fitness mobile apps by patients with asthma: secondary analysis of observational studies

Background: Health and fitness apps have potential benefits to improve self-management and disease control among patients with asthma. However, inconsistent use rates have been reported across studies, regions, and health systems. A better understanding of the characteristics of users and nonusers is critical to design solutions that are effectively integrated in patients’ daily lives, and to ensure that these equitably reach out to different groups of patients, thus improving rather than entrenching health inequities. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the use of general health and fitness apps by patients with asthma and to identify determinants of usage. Methods: A secondary analysis of the INSPIRERS observational studies was conducted using data from face-to-face visits. Patients with a diagnosis of asthma were included between November 2017 and August 2020. Individual-level data were collected, including age, gender, marital status, educational level, health status, presence of anxiety and depression, postcode, socioeconomic level, digital literacy, use of health services, and use of health and fitness apps. Multivariate logistic regression was used to model the probability of being a health and fitness app user. Statistical analysis was performed in R. Results: A total of 526 patients attended a face-to-face visit in the 49 recruiting centers and 514 had complete data. Most participants were ≤40 years old (66.4%), had at least 10 years of education (57.4%), and were in the 3 higher quintiles of the socioeconomic deprivation index (70.1%). The majority reported an overall good health status (visual analogue scale [VAS] score>70 in 93.1%) and the prevalence of anxiety and depression was 34.3% and 11.9%, respectively. The proportion of participants who reported using health and fitness mobile apps was 41.1% (n=211). Multivariate models revealed that single individuals and those with more than 10 years of education are more likely to use health and fitness mobile apps (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.22, 95%CI 1.05-4.75 and aOR 1.95, 95%CI 1.12-3.45, respectively). Higher digital literacy scores were also associated with higher odds of being a user of health and fitness apps, with participants in the second, third, and fourth quartiles reporting aORs of 6.74 (95%CI 2.90-17.40), 10.30 (95%CI 4.28-27.56), and 11.52 (95%CI 4.78-30.87), respectively. Participants with depression symptoms had lower odds of using health and fitness apps (aOR 0.32, 95%CI 0.12-0.83). Conclusions: A better understanding of the barriers and enhancers of app use among patients with lower education, lower digital literacy, or depressive symptoms is key to design tailored interventions to ensure a sustained and equitable use of these technologies. Future studies should also assess users’ general health-seeking behavior and their interest and concerns specifically about digital tools. These factors may impact both initial engagement and sustained use