Women's perinatal depression: Anhedonia-related symptoms have increased in the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The prevalence of perinatal depression increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be due to changes in the profile of specific depressive symptoms.Aims: To analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the (1) prevalence and severity of specific depressive symptoms; and on the (2) prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of depression during pregnancy and postpartum.Methods: Pregnant and postpartum women recruited before (n = 2395) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 1396) completed a sociodemographic and obstetric questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). For each item, scores & GE;1 and & GE; 2 were used to calculate the prevalence and severity of depressive symptoms, respectively.Results: The prevalence and severity of symptoms of depression were significantly higher during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of specific symptoms increased by >30%, namely being able to laugh and see the funny side of things (pregnancy 32.6%, postpartum 40.6%), looking forward with enjoyment to things (pregnancy 37.2%, postpartum 47.2%); and feelings of sadness/miserable or unhappiness leading to crying during postpartum (34.2% and 30.2%, respectively). A substantial increase was observed in the severity of specific symptoms related to feelings that things have been getting on top of me during pregnancy and the postpartum period (19.4% and 31.6%, respectively); feeling sad or miserable during pregnancy (10.8%); and feeling scared/panicky during postpartum (21.4%).Conclusion: Special attention should be paid to anhedonia-related symptoms of perinatal depression to ensure that they are adequately managed in present and future situations of crisis.This study was and supported by the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013) , University of Minho, by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement, under the Grant No. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653. This research was supported by the FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE) and by National Funds through FCT (Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia) under the Grant No. PTDC/SAU/SAP/116738/2010. Fundacao Bial, under the project with the reference 157/12 and by the FCT- Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the projects PTDC/PSI-PCL/119152/2010, HEI-Lab R & amp;D Unit UIDB/05380/2020, UIDB/04750/2020, and LA/P/0064/2020. It was supported by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653) . Raquel Costa was supported by the FSE and FCT under the Post-Doctoral Grant SFRH/BPD/117597/2016 [RC] . Tiago Miguel Pinto [TMP] was supported by the FSE and FCT under the individual grant SFRH/BD/115048/2016. Ana Conde was supported a doctoral grant for Science in Measure IV.3 and co-funded under the 2010 Science and Innovation Operational Program (POCI 2010) from Science and Technology Foundation, Government of the Portuguese Republic (Ref. SFRH/BD/13768/2003) [AC] . The work developed by ProChild CoLAB was supported by: (i) NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000044, integrated in the invitation NORTE-59-2018-41, aiming to hire Highly Qualified Human Resources, co-financed by the Regional Operational Programme of the North 2020, thematic area of Competitiveness and Employment, through the European Social Fund (ESF) and (ii) Mission Interface Program from the Resilience and Recuperation Plan, notice no 01/C05-i02/2022, aiming to guarantee public core funding to strengthen the network of interface institutions, as defined in the legal regime in force, approved by Decree-Law no. 63/2019, of May 16th, as well as in its 1st review on 'Technology and Innovation Centres-CTI' and 'Collaborative Laboratories-CoLABs', approved by Decree-Law no. 126-B/2021, of December 31st. Ana Mesquita is supported from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and from EU through the European Social Fund and from the Human Potential Operational Program-IF/00750/2015. This article is based upon work from COST Action CA18138 Research Innovation and Sustainable Pan-European Network in Peripartum Depression Disorder (Riseup-PPD) , supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology; https:// www.cost.eu/) . The funders had no role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication

Electron cloud buildup and impedance effects on beam dynamics in the future circular e+e− collider and experimental characterization of thin TiZrV vacuum chamber coatings

The Future Circular Collider FCC-ee is a study toward a high luminosity electron-positron collider with a centre-of-mass energy from 91 GeV to 365 GeV. Due to the beam parameters and pipe dimensions, collective effects and electron cloud can be very critical aspects for the machine and can represent the main limitations to its performance. An estimation of the electron cloud build up in the main machine components and an impedance model are required to analyze the induced instabilities and to find solutions for their mitigation. Special attention has been given to the resistive wall impedance associated with a layer of nonevaporable getter (NEG) coating on the vacuum chamber required for electron cloud mitigation. The studies presented in this paper will show that minimizing the thickness of this coating layer is mandatory to increase the single bunch instability thresholds in the proposed lepton collider at 45.6 GeV. For this reason, NEG thin films with thicknesses below 250 nm have been investigated by means of numerical simulations to minimize the resistive wall impedance. In parallel, an extensive measurement campaign was performed at CERN to characterize these thin films, with the purpose of finding the minimum effective thickness satisfying vacuum and electron cloud requirements

Initial experience with targeted axillary dissection after neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer patients

Background: Targeted axillary dissection (TAD) combines sentinel node biopsy (SNB) with the removal of the previously marked metastatic node. TAD is a promising concept for axillary restaging in node-positive breast cancer patients with pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant therapy (NAT). We aimed to evaluate TAD feasibility in this context. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in biopsy-confirmed cN1 patients. The removal of the clipped node (CN) was guided by intraoperative ultrasound. SNB used indocyanine green and patent blue V dye. If the CN or sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) had any metastatic foci, or the TAD procedure was unsuccessful, the patient underwent axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Results: Thirty-seven patients were included. TAD and SNB identification rates were 97.3%. Every retrieved CN was also a SLN. At the individual level, SNB identification rate was 89.2% with indocyanine green and 85.5% with patent blue V dye. The CN identification rate was 81.1%, being higher when the CN was localized on the intraoperative ultrasound (84.4% vs 60.0%). Nodal pCR was achieved by 54.1% of our patients and was more frequent in HER2-positive and triple-negative tumors (p = 0.039). Nineteen patients were spared from ALND. Conclusion: TAD with intraoperative ultrasound-guided excision of the CN and SNB with indocyanine green and patent blue V dye is a feasible concept to identify patients without axillary residual disease after NAT, that can be spared from ALND, although the need for marking the biopsied node should be further investigated. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Japanese Breast Cancer Society

Proposta de metodologia para análise de produtos biológicos à base de Trichoderma.

Diversos produtos à base de Trichoderma são comercializados no Brasil. As empresas produtoras estão legalizando a sua comercialização no MAPA. Com isso, surgiu a necessidade de desenvolver métodos padronizados para avaliar a qualidade destes produtos. Assim, foi criado o Projeto Qualibio, em que um dos objetivos é desenvolver metodologia para avaliação da qualidade de produtos à base de Trichoderma. Para isso, foram desenvolvidas e validadas as metodologias para avaliar o número de conídios, a porcentagem de conídios viáveis e a UFC, determinando-se a qualidade dos produtos nas formulações pó-molhável, pó-de-esporo, grânulos dispersíveis em água e óle

Retinal Neurodegeneration in Diabetic Patients Without Diabetic Retinopathy

PURPOSE: To compare the thickness of all retinal layers between a nondiabetic group and diabetic patients without diabetic retinopathy (DR). METHODS: Cross-sectional study, in which all subjects underwent an ophthalmic examination including optical coherence tomography. After automatic retinal segmentation, each retinal layer thickness (eight separate layers and overall thickness) was calculated in all nine Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) areas. The choroidal thickness (CT) also was measured at five locations. Generalized additive regression models were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A total of 175 patients were recruited, 50 nondiabetic subjects and 125 diabetic patients without DR, stratified into three groups according to diabetes duration: group I (10 years, n = 31). Overall, groups I and III of diabetic patients had a decrease in the photoreceptor layer (PR) thickness, when compared with the nondiabetic subjects in six ETDRS areas (P < 0.0007). Patients with more recent diagnosis (group I) had thinner PR than those with moderate duration (group II). Interestingly, patients with longer known disease (group III) had the thinnest PR values. There were no overall differences in the remaining retinal parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Retinal thickness profile is not linear throughout disease duration. Even in the absence of funduscopic disease, PR layer in diabetic patients seems to differ from nondiabetic subjects, thus suggesting that some form of neurodegeneration may take place before clinical signs of vascular problems arise.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of bio-functional MAO layers on the electrochemical behaviour of highly porous Ti

Ti foams are attractive for orthopaedic applications due to reduced Young's modulus and ability of bone ingrowth. However, poor corrosion behaviour and lack of bioactivity are yet to be overcome. In the present work, highly porous Ti samples were processed by powder metallurgy with space holder technique and bio-functionalized by micro-arc oxidation, resulting in nano/micro structured TiO2 surfaces containing bioactive elements. The electrochemical behaviour of these bio-functionalized highly porous Ti surfaces was evaluated through potentiodynamic polarization and EIS in physiological solution at body temperature. Results showed that bio-functionalization improved the corrosion behaviour of highly porous Ti. However, increased macro-porosity led to an increased corrosion rate.This work is supported by FCT with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2019, M-ERA NET/0001/2015 project, and Programa de Accoes Universitarias Integradas Luso-Francesas' (PAUILF TC-12_14). CQE is financed by FCT under Pluriannual contract 2020-2023. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the "Investissements d'avenir" programs (nos. ANR-11-IDEX-0003-02 and ANR-10-EQPX-37 MATMECA Grant) for financial support on Micro-CT analysis