How does sustainability affect consumer choices in the fashion industry?

The fashion industry being one of the most polluting industries in the world, only means that it is an industry with an immense potential for change. Consumers are central and are closely intertwined with how companies act. This research reflects consumer perspectives and practices towards the topic of sustainability implemented in the fashion industry. The relevance of sustainability in the fashion industry and the key role of consumers in its implementation is undeniable and confirmed by consumers in a representation of general awareness and concern, despite not always being translated into actual practices. The qualitative research methodology followed by a set of interviews conducted to consumers, revealed that the great majority is implementing a variety of practices when making their buying choices towards fashion items. Barriers such as lack of education, information, knowledge and transparency were identified, and this aspect where shared by consumers as a lacking motivation for them to adopt more conscious decisions. Companies should educate consumers in a general perspective and focus on the group of consumers that are not implementing sustainability in the fashion industry in their buying choices, as they represent the potential for the future.A indústria da moda é uma das mais poluentes do mundo, o que significa que é uma indústria com um imenso potencial de mudança. O consumidor é o motor que motiva as empresas a agir de determinada forma. Esta investigação reflete as perspetivas e práticas dos consumidores em relação ao tema de sustentabilidade implementada na indústria da moda. A relevância da sustentabilidade na indústria da moda e o papel fundamental dos consumidores na sua implementação é inegável e confirmada pelos consumidores numa representação de consciência e preocupação geral, contudo nem sempre efetivamente traduzido em práticas. As entrevistas realizadas com consumidores revelaram que a grande maioria está a implementar uma variedade de práticas ao fazer as suas escolhas de compra em artigos de moda. Falta de educação sobre o tema, falta de informação, conhecimento e transparência, foram identificadas como barreiras e dificuldades para aqueles que querem implementar sustentabilidade nos seus hábitos de consumo. Estes aspetos foram também identificados como fatores que influenciam a falta de motivação para que decisões mais conscientes nesta matéria sejam tomadas. Numa perspetiva geral, as empresas devem educar os consumidores e devem ter em especial atenção os consumidores que ainda não estão a implementar sustentabilidade nas suas escolhas pois estes representam um grande potencial para evoluções futuras

"Amor, dinheiro e cuidado, não estão dissociados" : relação entre pressão económica, estilos parentais e (des)ajustamento psicológico dos filhos

Tese de mestrado, Psicologia (Secção de Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde, Núcleo de Psicologia Clínica Sistémica), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2018As consequências das dificuldades económicas nas famílias estão bem delineadas na literatura. Sendo a família um contexto primordial no desenvolvimento de crianças e adolescentes (Alarcão, 2000), é necessário compreender as repercussões das dificuldades económicas na parentalidade e na saúde mental infantil. O presente estudo pretende analisar a relação entre pressão económica, estilos parentais autoritativo e autoritário e desajustamento psicológico dos filhos, através da comparação entre mães com vulnerabilidade económica e social (CVES) e mães sem vulnerabilidade económica e social (SVES), com base no Modelo de Stress Familiar (Conger, Conger, Elder, Lorenz, Simons, & Whitbeck, 1992), em contexto português. O principal objetivo do presente estudo é analisar o papel mediador dos estilos parentais na relação entre a pressão económica e o desajustamento psicológico dos filhos. A amostra incluiu 214 mães, 123 mães CVES e 91 mães SVES, com filhos com idades compreendidas entre os 5 e os 12 anos. Foi aplicado um questionário sociodemográfico, que incluía indicadores para avaliar a pressão económica, o Questionário de Dimensões e Estilos Parentais (QDEP; Pedro, Carapito, & Ribeiro, 2007), o Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Fleitlich, Loureiro, Fonseca, & Gaspar, 2004). Os resultados mostraram efeitos diretos entre a pressão económica e o desajustamento psicológico dos filhos e diferenças significativas entre as amostras na variável do desajustamento psicológico dos filhos. Foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre mães CVES e mães SVES ao nível das práticas punitivas. Os estilos parentais não mediaram a relação entre a pressão económica e o desajustamento psicológico dos filhos.The consequences of the economic difficulties in the families are well delineated in the literature. Since the family is a primordial context in the development of children and adolescents (Alarcão, 2000), it is necessary to understand the repercussions of economic difficulties in parenting and child mental health. The present study intends to analyze the relationship between economic pressure, authoritative and authoritarian parental styles, and psychological maladjustment of the children, by comparing mothers with economic and social vulnerability (CVES) and mothers without economic and social vulnerability (SVES), based on the Model of Family Stress (Conger, Conger, Elder, Lorenz, Simons, & Whitbeck, 1992), in a portuguese context. The main objective of the present study is to analyze the mediating role of parental styles in the relationship between economic pressure and the psychological maladjustment of the children. The sample included 214 mothers, 123 CVES mothers and 91 SVES mothers, with children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. A sociodemographic questionnaire was used, which included indicators to assess economic pressure, the Dimensional and Parenting Styles Questionnaire (QDEP; Pedro, Carapito, & Ribeiro, 2007), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Fleitlich, Loureiro, Fonseca, Gaspar, 2004). The results showed direct effects between the economic pressure and the psychological maladjustment of the children and significant differences between the samples in the variable of the children's psychological maladjustment. Significant differences were found between CVES mothers and SVES mothers at the level of punitive practices. Parental styles did not mediate the relationship between economic pressure and children's psychological maladjustment

The importance of sex education in schools

Em Portugal existe legislação referente à educação sexual em meio escolar desde 1984. A mais recente é de agosto de 2009. Este estudo pretende perceber se esta lei está a ser cumprida num Agrupamento de Escolas do norte do país e quais as principais dúvidas, relacionadas com a sexualidade, que os adolescentes apresentam. Para isso foi aplicado um questionário a 274 alunos (46.4% de rapazes e 53.6% de raparigas), entre os 10 e os 20 anos de idade (média = 13.7%). O estudo permitiu concluir que a maioria (75.4%) concorda com aulas de educação sexual nas escolas, no entanto, do total da amostra, 59.0% nunca tiveram aulas de educação sexual. Também se percebeu que grande parte não fala nunca destes assuntos com os pais (34.1%). As dúvidas relacionadas com a temática são variadas (desde as mudanças na adolescência, às doenças sexualmente transmissíveis ou aos métodos contracetivos, passando pela relação que estes jovens estabelecem com os pais e amigos), pelo que se torna necessária e urgente a aplicação da atual legislação sobre a educação sexual nas escolas do nosso país.In Portugal there is legislation regarding sex education in schools since 1984. The latest is from August 2009. This study aims to understand whether this law is being accomplished in a Group of Schools from the north of the country and what are the main questions that adolescents have as far as sexuality is concerned. For this purpose a questionnaire was given to 274 students (46.4% were boys and 53.6% were girls) between the ages of 10 and 20 (average = 13.7%). The study concluded that the majority (75.4%) agrees with sex education in schools, however, from the total sample 59.0% have never had sex education classes. It was also noticed that most never speak about these matters with their parents (34.1%). Doubts related to the topic are varied; it is therefore necessary and urgent the implementation of current legislation on sex education in the schools of our country

Improving processes in a postgraduate office of a university through lean office tools

This paper reports the administrative processes improvement based on Lean Office tools in an office environment of a University department. Lean tools such as electronic standardization were applied on the six educational projects of the department. Also, some were used to organize the computer desktop and network drives to improve the supporting educational projects information. Additionally, due to the absence of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), some here defined and implemented on the department. The main results were the electronic standardization successful implementation, reorganization of the drives and the desktop. The impacts were a reduction of 84% on the files search time, improvements on the development of forms for student I registration and projects managing, a 69% reduction of time searching for student information or data, a reduction of the input times and information handling in an estimated total of 12 hours/year, identification of KPI and development of a dashboard for visual analysis and monitoring of these.The authors want to acknowledge the LeanOffice@DPS team to support this work and the Department of Production and System-University of Minho where it was developed. The authors also would like to express their acknowledgments to national funds by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundação para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013

Bacteriophages and their derivatives for the treatment and control of food-producing animal infections

Nowadays, the world is facing an increasing emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Simultaneously, the banning of some existing antibiotics and the lack of development of new antimicrobials have created an urgent need to find new alternatives against animal infections. Bacteriophages (phages) are naturally occurring predators of bacteria, ubiquitous in the environment, with high host specificity and harmless to animals. For these reasons, phages and their derivatives are being considered valuable antimicrobial alternatives and an opportunity to reduce the current use of antibiotics in agrifood production, increasing animal productivity and providing environmental protection. Furthermore, the possibility of combining phage genetic material with foreign genes encoding peptides of interest has enabled their use as vaccine delivery tools. In this case, besides bacterial infections, they might be used to prevent viral infections. This review explores current data regarding advances on the use of phages and phage-encoded pro- teins, such as endolysins, exolysins and depolymerases, either for therapeutic or prophylactic applications, in animal husbandry. The use of recombinant phage-derived particles or genetically modified phages, including phage vaccines, will also be reviewed.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01–0145-FEDER-006684), and the Project RECI/ BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01–0124-FEDER-027462 and PTDC/CVT-EPI/4008/2014). The authors were supported by the FCT grants: SFRH/BPD/69356/2010, SFRH/BPD/79365/2011 and SFRH/BPD/94648/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Toxicity of the 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and its enantiomers to Daphnia magna after isolation by semipreparative chromatography

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a chiral psychoactive recreational drug sold in illicit markets as racemate. Studies on the impact of MDMA on aquatic organisms are scarce. While enantioselectivity in toxicity in animals and humans has been reported, none is reported on aquatic organisms. This study aimed to investigate the ecotoxicological effects of MDMA and its enantiomers in Daphnia magna. For that, enantiomers (enantiomeric purity > 97%) were separated by liquid chromatography using a homemade semipreparative chiral column. Daphnids were exposed to three concentrations of (R,S)-MDMA (0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 µg L−1) and two concentrations of (R)- and (S)-enantiomers (0.1 and 1.0 µg L−1) over the course of 8 days. Morphophysiological responses were dependent on the substance form and daphnia development stage, and they were overall not affected by the (R)-enantiomer. Changes in swimming behaviour were observed for both the racemate and its enantiomers, but enantioselective effects were not observed. Reproductive or biochemical changes were not observed for enantiomers whereas a significant decrease in acetylcholinesterase and catalase activity was noted at the highest concentration of (R,S)-MDMA (10 µg L−1). Overall, this study showed that sub-chronic exposure to MDMA racemate and its enantiomers can interfere with morphophysiological and swimming behaviour of D. magna. In general, the (R)-enantiomer demonstrated less toxicity than the (S)-enantiomer.This work was financially supported by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), under the project PTDC/CTA-AMB/6686/2020, and partially supported through the projects UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020 (Group of Natural Products and Medicinal ChemistryCIIMAR)

Severe hyponatremia in older patients at admission in an internal medicine department

Hyponatremia is common in older people, most often of multifactorial origin, and can be associated with poor clinical outcomes. The aim was to analyze the frequency of severe hyponatremia (sodium concentration below 125 mmol/L), risk factors and mortality association in hospitalized older patients. A retrospective study was performed in older patients (over 65 years) with hyponatremia, diagnosed at admission in an Internal Medicine Department during one year. A control group of 127 older patients without hyponatremia was considered. Statistical analysis of the data gathered was made with SPSS Statistics 20. The main results were: a group of 1060 patients with age superior to 65 years was identified (representing 72.26% of total admissions); incidence of hyponatremia in those patients was 27.55% and severe hyponatremia was 5.94%; diagnosis of hyponatremia was mentioned in the discharge note in 66.67% of cases; mortality was 27.0%, against 16.0% in the control group (p = 0.057, Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.940); drugs were a significant risk factor (p < 0.001), specially thiazide diuretics (p = 0.029, OR = 2.774), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) (p = 0.001, OR = 4.097), proton-pump inhibitors (PPI) (p = 0.007, OR = 2.561) and spironolactone (p = 0.011, OR = 4.473); other relevant risk factors were: increased water intake (p = 0.004), tube feeding (p < 0.001), vomiting (p = 0.032, OR = 2.492), cirrhosis (p = 0.008, OR = 10.862) and hyperhidrosis (p = 0.017, OR = 2.542). We conclude that, although this group of patients had a high mortality, hyponatremia is often not investigated and not always mentioned as a diagnosis. Clinicians should have a clear appreciation of the roles that iatrogenic interventions and lapses in nutrition frequently play in upsetting the homeostatic balance in older patients

Successful management of bilateral orbital metastases from invasive lobular breast cancer with abemaciclib and letrozole: a case report and literature review

Breast cancer is a significant global health concern, contributing to substantial morbidity and mortality among women. Hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/HER2-negative (HER2-) breast cancer constitutes a considerable proportion of cases, and significant advancements have been made in its management. CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6is) are a new targeted therapy that has demonstrated efficacy in adjuvant, advanced and metastatic settings. The propensity of lobular breast carcinomas for estrogen-rich sites, such as periocular tissues and orbital fat, may explain their tendency for orbital metastases. Current treatment strategies for these cases are predominantly palliative, and the prognosis remains poor. This article presents a unique case of a 51-year-old female with progressive right periorbital edema, pain, and limited ocular motility. An imaging work-up showed bilateral intra and extraconal orbital infiltration, which was biopsied. The histopathologic analysis disclosed mild chronic inflammatory infiltrate with thickened fibrous tissue and moderately differentiated lobular carcinoma cells, positive for GATA3 and CK7 markers, with 100% of tumor nuclei expressing estrogen receptors (ER+). A systemic evaluation showed a multicentric nodular formation in both breasts. Further diagnostic assessments unveiled an HR+/HER2- bilateral lobular breast carcinoma with synchronous bilateral orbital metastases. Systemic treatment was initiated with abemaciclib 150mg twice daily and letrozole 2.5mg once a day. However, this regimen was interrupted due to toxicity. After two weeks, treatment was resumed with a reduced abemaciclib dose (100mg twice daily) alongside letrozole, with a reasonable tolerance. Nearly two years after the initial diagnosis of inoperable metastatic cancer, the patient remains on the same systemic treatment regimen with no signs of invasive disease. This case report is the first of a patient presenting with bilateral orbital metastases from bilateral lobular breast cancer, showing an impressive and sustained response to a first-line treatment regimen combining abemaciclib and letrozole. A literature review on bilateral orbital metastases from breast cancer is also presented

Preliminary findings on the gastrointestinal parasites of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the Cantabrian mountains, Spain

Research Areas: Parasitology ; Veterinary SciencesABSTRACT - No study is currently available on the parasitofauna of the population of brown bears (Ursus arctos) inhabiting the Cantabrian Mountains in Spain. The aim of the present study was to obtain novel information on diversity and prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in these individuals. During August 2016 and from May to July 2017, 14 fecal samples were collected from the western Cantabrian bear subpopulation, in the Somiedo Natural Park, in the Spanish province of Asturias. The prevalence of parasites detected was 71% and two genera were identified: Dicrocoelium sp. and Trichuris sp. Since the impact that pathogens such as endoparasites can have on the health of bears, together with other stressors, is still poorly understood, research efforts that include disease surveillance are critical to the successful protection of this emblematic species. Our preliminary findings require further investigations, with a wider sampling effort, and bring awareness for the need of carrying further studies on this area as a part of a proactive species management plan.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio