Violência nas relações de intimidade: refletir a problemática com adolescentes

Segundo a literatura de referência, a violência no namoro entre os adolescentes é um grave problema na sociedade e um forte preditor de violência doméstica nas relações futuras, pelo que é decisivo atuar preventivamente junto dos jovens de ensino básico, uma vez que é nesta faixa etária que se desenvolvem as primeiras relações amorosas e jogam crenças e atitudes que podem conduzir à exteriorização do comportamento violento. Assim, importa conhecer as dinâmicas do fenómeno para conceber e implementar programas de prevenção eficazes e adequados ao público-alvo em função das suas perceções e discursos, motivo pelo qual se desenhou o presente estudo empírico, de natureza qualitativa, usando como técnica de recolha de dados a entrevista semiestruturada aplicada a 40 adolescentes de uma escola básica do Distrito de Bragança, através do focus group, com o intuito de responder a quatro objetivos: (1) identificar as perceções que os adolescentes têm sobre a prevalência da violência nas relações de intimidade; (2) explorar as crenças que os adolescentes possuem acerca da perpetuação da violência; (3) analisar os discursos dos adolescentes sobre as causas da violência nas relações de intimidade; (4) sistematizar as perceções dos adolescentes sobre as consequências decorrentes da experiência de vitimação. Através dos resultados obtidos, constatamos que a violência está presente nas relações de namoro dos adolescentes sob variadas tipologias e é legitimada através de várias crenças que a normalizam e toleram com base na conceptualização de alguns fatores desencadeadores. Concluiu-se assim que as crenças são sustentadoras de violência nas relações e servem para os adolescentes justificarem a sua perpetuação. Por outro lado, a violência no namoro enquanto comportamento assente em crenças e atitudes é influenciado pelo meio e ambiente, nomeadamente os pares, a família e as normas sociais. Desta forma, esta investigação permitiu-nos alcançar resultados relevantes para uma melhor compreensão da violência no namoro nesta faixa etária e sobretudo, percebermos as perceções e compreendemos o que leva os adolescentes a adotarem comportamentos agressivos nas suas relações de namorado.According to the reference literature, violence among teenage dating is a serious problem in our society, which predicts a strong domestic violence in future relationships, therefore, it is crucial to act preventively with young people in elementary school, because it is in this age group that the first love relationships, beliefs and attitudes are developed, and this can lead to a violent behavior. So, the dynamics of the phenomenon should be known to design and implement an effective and adequate prevention program for the target public, according to their perceptions and discourses. This is the reason why this empirical, qualitative study was designed using as data collection technique, the semi-structured interview applied to 40 teenagers from a basic school in the District of Bragança, through the focus group, to get answers to four objectives: (1) identify the perceptions that teenagers have about the prevalence of violence in intimate relationships; (2) explore the beliefs that teenagers have about the perpetuation of violence; (3) analyze the discourses of adolescents on the causes of violence in intimate relationships; (4) systematize the adolescents’ perceptions about the consequences resulting from the victimization experience. Through the obtained results, we found that violence is present in the adolescents' dating relationships under several typologies and is legitimized by several beliefs that normalize and tolerate it through the conceptualization of some triggering factors. It was concluded that beliefs are supporters of violence in relationships and that they are used by adolescents to justify its perpetuation. On the other hand, dating violence as a behavior based on beliefs and attitudes is influenced by the environment where one lives and the surrounding environment, namely peers, family, and social rules. This research allowed us to achivie relevant results for a better understanding of dating violence in this age group and, above all, to understand what leads adolescents to adopt aggressive behaviors in their dating relationships

Acogimiento familiar: caracterización de un programa

Este artigo objetiva caracterizar os principais atores envolvidos em um programa de Acolhimento Familiar e os acolhimentos realizados. Esse programa efetuou 314 acolhimentos entre 1998 e 2007. Neste período, a maioria dos acolhidos eram meninos (51,7%), afrodescendentes (55,3%), de até seis anos (58,7%). As famílias acolhedoras eram constituídas por casais (70,4%), com filhos (84,1%); faixa etária entre 30 e 49 anos; bom nível de escolarização; profissões autônomas; rendas diversificadas e motivações solidárias para acolher. Com relação às famílias de origem não foram encontradas informações. Como principal causa dos acolhimentos foi citada a negligência (33,7%). Sua duração foi de um a seis meses em 46,65% dos casos. Quanto aos encaminhamentos pós-acolhimento, 34,2% das crianças foram adotadas e 33,8%, reintegradas às suas famílias. Caracterizar um programa oferece subsídios para a redefinição de práticas e auxilia na formulação de ações de intervenção em situações complexas como o acolhimento familiar.This paper aims to describe the main actors involved in a Foster Care program and its processes. The program had done 314 fosterings from 1998 to 2007. During this period, most foster children were boys (51,7%), afrodescendants (55,3%), aged up to 6 years old (58,7%). Foster families were formed by couples (70, 4%), with other children (84,1%); aged from 30 to 49 years old; good education level; autonomous professions; diversified incomes and solidarity motivation to foster. No registered information about the biological families was found. The principal reason referred to for fostering was negligence (33,7%). The child remained in foster care from 1 to 6 months in 46,65% cases. Regarding the outcome of the fostering process, 34,2% children were adopted and 33,8% were reintegrated into their families. Describing a program helps to redefine practices and to discuss measures of intervention for the area.El artículo objetiva conocer los principales envueltos en un programa de Acogimiento Familiar y los acogimientos realizados. Ese programa efectuó 314 acogimientos entre 1998 y 2007. En ese período, la mayoría de los acogidos eran niños (51,7%), afrodescendientes (55,3%), hasta 6 anõs (58,7%). Las familias acogedoras eran constituidas por parejas (70,4%), con hijos (84,1%); edad entre 30 y 49 años; buen nivel de escolaridad; profesiones autónomas; ingresos diversificados y motivaciones solidarias para acoger. Sobre las familias de origen no fueron encontradas informaciones. La principal causa de los acogimientos fue la negligencia (33,7%), y su duración de 1 a 6 meses in 46,65% de los casos. Sobre las derivaciones de los acogimientos, 34,2% de los niños fueran adoptados y 33,8%, regresaron a sus familias. Describir un programa ofrece subsidios para la redefinición de prácticas y puede auxiliar a repensar acciones de intervención en el área

Synthesis and expression of CDw75 antigen in human colorectal cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increased ST6Gal I activity has been associated with the α(2,6)sialylation enhancement of membrane glycoconjugates observed in metastatic colorectal carcinomas (CRC). Siaα(2,6)Galβ(1,4)GlcNAc sequence, known as CDw75, is a sialylated carbohydrate determinant generated by the ST6Gal I. This epitope has been reported to be associated with the progression of gastric and colorectal tumours, hence there are only a few conclusive studies to date.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>By radioisotopic techniques we evaluated the ST6Gal I activity in healthy, transitional and tumour tissues from 43 patients with CRC. By immunohistochemistry we assessed the CDw75 expression in 25 colorectal adenomas, 43 tumours, 13 transitional and 28 healthy tissues of CRC patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ST6Gal I activity was likewise found to be statistically higher in tumour tissue respect to healthy tissue from CRC patients. CDw75 expression was positive in 20% of colorectal adenomas. Furthermore, 70% of tumour specimens and 8.3% of transitional specimens were positive for CDw75 expression, whereas none of the healthy ones showed the presence of the epitope.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The major contribution of this study is the inclusion of data from transitional tissue and the analysis of CDw75 antigen expression in CRC and in colorectal adenomas, little known so far. ST6Gal I activity and CDw75 antigen expression were increased in CRC. Although their comparison did not reach the statistical significance, a great extent of patients showed both, an enhanced tumour ST6Gal I activity and an increased CDw75 expression in the tumour tissue. So, these two variables may play a role in malignant transformation. The expression of CDw75 in colorectal adenomas suggests that this antigen may be a tumour marker in CRC.</p

As doenças tropicais negligenciadas e a Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Mestrado em Administração e Gestão PúblicaAo longo do tempo, a questão da saúde tem ganho importância nos compromissos assumidos internacionalmente bem como nas estratégias de desenvolvimento dos países recebedores e das estratégias de cooperação dos países doadores. A relação entre saúde/redução da pobreza e saúde/desenvolvimento tem-se revelado cada vez mais forte e a exigência para o aumento da cooperação no domínio da saúde, como forma de se alcançar a redução da pobreza através dos Objectivos de Desenvolvimento do Milénio – com a meta temporal traçada para 2015 –, é prova disso. Com o relatório aqui apresentado pretende-se demonstrar que a Investigação & Desenvolvimento na área da saúde, especialmente no domínio das Doenças Tropicais Negligenciadas, é essencial para se alcançar a redução da pobreza e o desenvolvimento. Para além disto, deseja-se mostrar como a intervenção de novos actores na Cooperação Internacional para o Desenvolvimento, neste caso a Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, é fundamental para o alcance destes objectivos.Through times, health has became increasingly important on the international commitments, not only on the development strategies of the recipients countries but also on the cooperation strategies of the donor countries. The relation between health/poverty reduction and health/development has demonstrated to be very strong and the requirement to increase cooperation in health, as a mean to reduce the poverty through the Millennium Development Goals – until 2015 -, is an evidence of these relations. This study aims to demonstrate that Research & Development in health, particularly on Neglected Tropical Diseases, is essential to achieve poverty reduction and development. Beyond this, it aims to show that the action and intervention of new actors on the International Cooperation Development, like Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, is central to achieve these objectives

EGFR-Based Immunoisolation as a Recovery Target for Low-EpCAM CTC Subpopulation

Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) play a key role in the metastasis process, as they are responsible for micrometastasis and are a valuable tool for monitoring patients in real-time. Moreover, efforts to develop new strategies for CTCs isolation and characterisation, and the translation of CTCs into clinical practice needs to overcome the limitation associated with the sole use of Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM) expression to purify this tumour cell subpopulation. CTCs are rare events in the blood of patients and are believed to represent the epithelial population from a primary tumour of epithelial origin, thus EpCAM immunoisolation is considered an appropriate strategy. The controversy stems from the impact that the more aggressive mesenchymal tumour phenotypes might have on the whole CTC population. In this work, we first characterised a panel of cell lines representative of tumour heterogeneity, confirming the existence of tumour cell subpopulations with restricted epithelial features and supporting the limitations of EpCAM-based technologies. We next developed customised polystyrene magnetic beads coated with antibodies to efficiently isolate the phenotypically different subpopulations of CTCs from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with metastatic cancer. Besides EpCAM, we propose Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) as an additional isolation marker for efficient CTCs detection.This work was supported by Axencia Galega de Innovación (Xunta de Galicia) and InveNNta (Innovation in Nanomedicine), cofinanced by the European Union (EU) through the Operational Programme for Cross-border Cooperation: Spain-Portugal (POCTEP 2007-2013), and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)S

Significações de paternidade adotiva: um estudo de caso

Late twentieth century social movements questioned the distribution of roles in the family, and favored a wider father participation in child care. To adopt is a possibility of becoming a father. This study aimed to investigate the meanings about fatherhood which emerge in the process of adopting a baby. The network of meanings theoretical-methodological perspective was used, together with studies on adoption, gender and family. Six interviews made with two married men who adopted babies were thoroughly read to establish some relevant meanings which emerged from the corpus. The analysis showed that those fathers meant the child as a "continuity" of themselves and as a "natural" consequence of marriage. Both emphasized their function as resources providers and positioned themselves as mother's "helpers" in the care for their child. The adoption appears as a solution for infertility. Revelation is considered necessary, but difficult. Those fathers are happy with their role.Movimentos sociais do final do século XX questionaram a distribuição de papéis nos múltiplos arranjos familiares e favoreceram maior participação paterna nos cuidados infantis. Adotar é uma possibilidade de tornar-se pai. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi investigar significações de paternidade no processo de adoção de um bebê. Usou-se a perspectiva da Rede de Significações em interlocução com estudos sobre adoção, gênero e família. Seis entrevistas realizadas com dois homens casados adotantes de bebês foram lidas exaustivamente, sendo estabelecidos eixos de significação organizadores do corpus. A análise mostra que esses pais significam o filho como sua "continuidade" no mundo e decorrência "natural" do casamento. Ambos supervalorizam sua função de provedor e se posicionam como "ajudantes" da mãe nos cuidados infantis. A adoção aparece como solução à infertilidade. A revelação é tida como necessária, porém difícil. Esses pais se dizem satisfeitos com o papel parental, mostrando paternidades multifacetadas e constantemente negociadas

Celebrities, brands and consumption: What attributes of celebrities strengthen a product in the Market?

En un país carente de estudios y pesquisas sobre el efecto de las celebridades en el consumo, el presente artículo revela los principales hallazgos de una profunda investigación sobre celebridades en Brasil, hecha por Ipsos Media CT, encomendada por el núcleo de celebridades de la Revista Contigo! de la Editora Abril. El estudio fue desarrollado para revelar un panorama real del escenario en el cual las celebridades circulan influenciando el consumo, la publicidad, la economía y los comportamientos brasileños.Em um país carente de estudos e pesquisas sobre o efeito das celebridades no consumo, o presente artigo revela as principais descobertas de uma aprofundada pesquisa sobre celebridades no Brasil, feita pela Ipsos Media CT, encomendada pelo núcleo de celebridades da Revista Contigo! da Editora Abril. O estudo foi desenvolvido para revelar um panorama real do cenário no qual as celebridades circulam influenciando o consumo, a publicidade, a economia e os comportamentos brasileiros.In a country that lacks studies and surveys about the effect of celebrities on consumption, this article presents the main findings from an in-depth study on celebrities in Brazil, carried out by Ipsos Media CT for the Contigo! Magazine nucleus of celebrities at Abril Publisher. The study was designed to understand the setting in which celebrities circulate, influencing consumption, advertising, the economy and behavior in Brazil

Gene expression profiling of mouse p53-deficient epidermal carcinoma defines molecular determinants of human cancer malignancy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The epidermal specific ablation of <it>Trp53 </it>gene leads to the spontaneous development of aggressive tumors in mice through a process that is accelerated by the simultaneous ablation of <it>Rb </it>gene. Since alterations of p53-dependent pathway are common hallmarks of aggressive, poor prognostic human cancers, these mouse models can recapitulate the molecular features of some of these human malignancies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To evaluate this possibility, gene expression microarray analysis was performed in mouse samples. The mouse tumors display increased expression of cell cycle and chromosomal instability associated genes. Remarkably, they are also enriched in human embryonic stem cell gene signatures, a characteristic feature of human aggressive tumors. Using cross-species comparison and meta-analytical approaches, we also observed that spontaneous mouse tumors display robust similarities with gene expression profiles of human tumors bearing mutated TP53, or displaying poor prognostic outcome, from multiple body tissues. We have obtained a 20-gene signature whose genes are overexpressed in mouse tumors and can identify human tumors with poor outcome from breast cancer, astrocytoma and multiple myeloma. This signature was consistently overexpressed in additional mouse tumors using microarray analysis. Two of the genes of this signature, AURKA and UBE2C, were validated in human breast and cervical cancer as potential biomarkers of malignancy.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our analyses demonstrate that these mouse models are promising preclinical tools aimed to search for malignancy biomarkers and to test targeted therapies of prospective use in human aggressive tumors and/or with p53 mutation or inactivation.</p

Fast and efficient microfluidic cell filter for isolation of circulating tumor cells from unprocessed whole blood of colorectal cancer patients

Liquid biopsy offers unique opportunities for low invasive diagnosis, real-time patient monitoring and treatment selection. The phenotypic and molecular profile of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can provide key information about the biology of tumor cells, contributing to personalized therapy. CTC isolation is still challenging, mainly due to their heterogeneity and rarity. To overcome this limitation, a microfluidic chip for label-free isolation of CTCs from peripheral blood was developed. This device, the CROSS chip, captures CTCs based on their size and deformability with an efficiency of 70%. Using 2 chips, 7.5 ml of whole blood are processed in 47 minutes with high purity, as compared to similar technologies and assessed by in situ immunofluorescence. The CROSS chip performance was compared to the CellSearch system in a set of metastatic colorectal cancer patients, resulting in higher capture of DAPI+/CK+/CD45- CTCs in all individuals tested. Importantly, CTC enumeration by CROSS chip enabled stratification of patients with different prognosis. Lastly, cells isolated in the CROSS chip were lysed and further subjected to molecular characterization by droplet digital PCR, which revealed a mutation in the APC gene for most patient samples analyzed, confirming their colorectal origin and the versatility of the technology for downstream applications

Analysis of a Real-World Cohort of Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients Shows Circulating Tumor Cell Clusters (CTC-clusters) as Predictors of Patient Outcomes

Circulating tumor cell (CTC) enumeration has emerged as a powerful biomarker for the assessment of prognosis and the response to treatment in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Moreover, clinical evidences show that CTC-cluster counts add prognostic information to CTC enumeration, however, their significance is not well understood, and more clinical evidences are needed. We aim to evaluate the prognostic value of longitudinally collected single CTCs and CTC-clusters in a heterogeneous real-world cohort of 54 MBC patients. Blood samples were longitudinally collected at baseline and follow up. CTC and CTC-cluster enumeration was performed using the CellSearch® system. Associations with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards modelling. Elevated CTC counts and CTC-clusters at baseline were significantly associated with a shorter survival time. In joint analysis, patients with high CTC counts and CTC-cluster at baseline were at a higher risk of progression and death, and longitudinal analysis showed that patients with CTC-clusters had significantly shorter survival compared to patients without clusters. Moreover, patients with CTC-cluster of a larger size were at a higher risk of death. A longitudinal analysis of a real-world cohort of MBC patients indicates that CTC-clusters analysis provides additional prognostic value to single CTC enumeration, and that CTC-cluster size correlates with patient outcomeThis research was supported by Roche-Chus Joint Unit (IN853B 2018/03), funded by Axencia Galega de Innovación (GAIN), Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria and by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and FEDER (PI13/01388). L.M.-R. is supported by Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC). I.M.-P. is funded by the Training Program for Academic Staff fellowship (FPU16/01018), from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Spanish GovernmentS