1,320 research outputs found

    Pleuroamniotic shunting--case report

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    Fetal hydrothorax refers to a collection of fluid within the fetal thorax that may be the result of chylous leak from the thoracic duct (primary hydrothorax) or generalized fluid retention associated with immune or no immune fetal hydrops (secondary hydrothorax). The authors' presents a case report occurred in 2002, of a pregnant woman that at 25 weeks' gestation that was referred to Maternidade Bissaya-Barreto-Coimbra because of a fetal hydrothorax at left, under tension and with cardiac decompensation signs. A fetal thoracocentesis was performed and the diagnosis was chylothorax. Because of a rapid reaccumulation of fluid a pleuroamniotic shunt was placed. The effusion and the cardiac decompensation signs regressed. The delivery was at 38 weeks' gestation. The newborn had been stable. Actually he has 10 months, is healthy and has a normal grow and development

    The use of a geographic information system to increase outdoor tourism

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    Purpose: Outdoor tourism is a growing segment that still requires data for planning and management. Aimed to present the potential of the Geographic Information System (GIS) to improve outdoor tourism in the North of Portugal. To achieve this purpose, a case study was conducted on developing a Web-GIS in Northern Portugal. Methodology: Four steps were followed to develop the GIS tool with information about outdoor tourism in the North of Portugal. In the first step, municipalities in the North of Portugal sent information about outdoor activities. In the second step, the data were georeferenced and associated. In the last step, a Web-GIS was developed. Findings: The development of tools is an important source of support for tourism. This study identified that a tool such as the GIS could support a destination's decision-making and promotional processes, besides providing detailed information to the tourist and facilitating travel planning. Practical implications: GIS provides effective planning of outdoor tourism, once this tool allows an effective search of the tourist offer and, from the tourist's perspective, relevant suggestions of visits according to their location are presented, facilitating their experience in the region. Originality: Several studies relate to GIS and tourism, but there is still a gap in specific studies on outdoor activities. So, this study presents the importance of GIS to improve outdoor tourism in the North region of Portugal. Understanding this importance is essential in planning and managing tourism, helping further policymaking and marketing strategies.B913-0565-0908 | Elvira VieiraN/

    Productivity measurement: the case of nature tourism firms in Portugal

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    Productivity measurement in the tourism sector has been raising increasing interest among researchers and is recognised as an important indicator for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the sector and for enhancing its spillover effects on the economy. However, studies for Portugal and the particular activities included in the set of nature tourism activities are scarce. To overcome this research gap, this paper calculates the labour productivity and total factor productivity (TFP) measures of nature tourism firms to compare firms? productivity performance across NUTS II regions in mainland Portugal during 2014?2017. Using data from SABI, Quadros do Pessoal, INE and the National Tourism Registry, the sample consists of 369 firms, representing 55% of firms operating in nature tourism in the mainland. Results show that the levels of TFP, unlike to labour productivity, are uneven over time and space. In 2015, a year of change in the business cycle, all regions experienced a negative increase in TFP except the Metropolitan Region of Lisbon, which seems to indicate that nature tourism in most of the country is less resilient to external economic shocks, performing better in periods of prosperity. Labour productivity growth does not present, in general, consistently positive results.B913-0565-0908 | Elvira Vieirainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    The modified patient enablement instrument: a Portuguese cross-cultural adaptation, validity and reliability study

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    "Article number: 16087"Enabling patients with asthma to obtain the knowledge, confidence and skills they need in order to assume a major role in the management of their disease is cost effective. It should be an integral part of any plan for long-term control of asthma. The modified Patient Enablement Instrument (mPEI) is an easily administered questionnaire that was adapted in the United Kingdom to measure patient enablement in asthma, but its applicability in Portugal is not known. Validity and reliability of questionnaires should be tested before use in settings different from those of the original version. The purpose of this study was to test the applicability of the mPEI to Portuguese asthma patients after translation and cross-cultural adaptation, and to verify the structural validity, internal consistency and reproducibility of the instrument. The mPEI was translated to Portuguese and back translated to English. Its content validity was assessed by a debriefing interview with 10 asthma patients. The translated instrument was then administered to a random sample of 142 patients with persistent asthma. Structural validity and internal consistency were assessed. For reproducibility analysis, 86 patients completed the instrument again 7 days later. Item-scale correlations and exploratory factor analysis were used to assess structural validity. Cronbach's alpha was used to test internal consistency, and the intra-class correlation coefficient was used for the analysis of reproducibility. All items of the Portuguese version of the mPEI were found to be equivalent to the original English version. There were strong item-scale correlations that confirmed construct validity, with a one component structure and good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.8) as well as high test-retest reliability (ICC=0.85). The mPEI showed sound psychometric properties for the evaluation of enablement in patients with asthma making it a reliable instrument for use in research and clinical practice in Portugal. Further studies are needed to confirm its responsiveness.Financial support for this work was provided by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and National Funds through FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology under the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038, and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Getting “Just Deserts” or Seeing the “Silver Lining”: The Relation between Judgments of Immanent and Ultimate Justice

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    People can perceive misfortunes as caused by previous bad deeds (immanent justice reasoning) or resulting in ultimate compensation (ultimate justice reasoning). Across two studies, we investigated the relation between these types of justice reasoning and identified the processes (perceptions of deservingness) that underlie them for both others (Study 1) and the self (Study 2). Study 1 demonstrated that observers engaged in more ultimate (vs. immanent) justice reasoning for a "good" victim and greater immanent (vs. ultimate) justice reasoning for a "bad" victim. In Study 2, participants' construals of their bad breaks varied as a function of their self-worth, with greater ultimate (immanent) justice reasoning for participants with higher (lower) self-esteem. Across both studies, perceived deservingness of bad breaks or perceived deservingness of ultimate compensation mediated immanent and ultimate justice reasoning respectively. © 2014 Harvey and Callan

    The N-terminal half of the peroxisomal cycling receptor Pex5p is a natively unfolded domain

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    Targeting of most newly synthesised peroxisomal matrix proteins to the organelle requires Pex5p, the so-called PTS1 receptor. According to current models of peroxisomal biogenesis, Pex5p interacts with these proteins in the cytosol, transports them to the peroxisomal membrane and catalyses their translocation across the membrane. Presently, our knowledge on the structural details behind the interaction of Pex5p with the cargo proteins is reasonably complete. In contrast, information regarding the structure of the Pex5p N-terminal half (a region containing its peroxisomal targeting domain) is still limited. We have recently observed that the Stokes radius of this Pex5p domain is anomalously large, suggesting that this portion of the protein is either a structured elongated domain or that it adopts a low compactness conformation. Here, we address this issue using a combination of biophysical and biochemical approaches. Our results indicate that the N-terminal half of Pex5p is best described as a natively unfolded premolten globule-like domain. The implications of these findings on the mechanism of protein import into the peroxisome are discussed

    Effect of early vasopressin vs norepinephrine on kidney failure in patients with septic shock. The VANISH Randomized Clinical Trial

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    IMPORTANCE: Norepinephrine is currently recommended as the first-line vasopressor in septic shock; however, early vasopressin use has been proposed as an alternative. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of early vasopressin vs norepinephrine on kidney failure in patients with septic shock. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A factorial (2×2), double-blind, randomized clinical trial conducted in 18 general adult intensive care units in the United Kingdom between February 2013 and May 2015, enrolling adult patients who had septic shock requiring vasopressors despite fluid resuscitation within a maximum of 6 hours after the onset of shock. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomly allocated to vasopressin (titrated up to 0.06 U/min) and hydrocortisone (n = 101), vasopressin and placebo (n = 104), norepinephrine and hydrocortisone (n = 101), or norepinephrine and placebo (n = 103). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was kidney failure-free days during the 28-day period after randomization, measured as (1) the proportion of patients who never developed kidney failure and (2) median number of days alive and free of kidney failure for patients who did not survive, who experienced kidney failure, or both. Rates of renal replacement therapy, mortality, and serious adverse events were secondary outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 409 patients (median age, 66 years; men, 58.2%) were included in the study, with a median time to study drug administration of 3.5 hours after diagnosis of shock. The number of survivors who never developed kidney failure was 94 of 165 patients (57.0%) in the vasopressin group and 93 of 157 patients (59.2%) in the norepinephrine group (difference, -2.3% [95% CI, -13.0% to 8.5%]). The median number of kidney failure-free days for patients who did not survive, who experienced kidney failure, or both was 9 days (interquartile range [IQR], 1 to -24) in the vasopressin group and 13 days (IQR, 1 to -25) in the norepinephrine group (difference, -4 days [95% CI, -11 to 5]). There was less use of renal replacement therapy in the vasopressin group than in the norepinephrine group (25.4% for vasopressin vs 35.3% for norepinephrine; difference, -9.9% [95% CI, -19.3% to -0.6%]). There was no significant difference in mortality rates between groups. In total, 22 of 205 patients (10.7%) had a serious adverse event in the vasopressin group vs 17 of 204 patients (8.3%) in the norepinephrine group (difference, 2.5% [95% CI, -3.3% to 8.2%]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among adults with septic shock, the early use of vasopressin compared with norepinephrine did not improve the number of kidney failure-free days. Although these findings do not support the use of vasopressin to replace norepinephrine as initial treatment in this situation, the confidence interval included a potential clinically important benefit for vasopressin, and larger trials may be warranted to assess this further. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: ISRCTN 20769191

    How Much Does Effortful Thinking Underlie Observers’ Reactions to Victimization?

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    From blaming to helping innocent victims, just-world research has revealed that observers react to victimization in a variety of ways. Recent research suggests that such responses to victimization require effortful thought, whereas other research has shown that people can react to these situations intuitively. Along with manipulating just-world threat, across seven experiments, we manipulated or measured participants’ level of mental processing before assessing judgments of victim derogation, blame, willingness to help, and ultimate justice reasoning. The effect of just-world threat on these responses held constant over a range of manipulations/measures, suggesting that the processes involved in maintaining a belief in a just world are not restricted to the rational, deliberative level of mental processing but also occur intuitively
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