A Systematic Review on the Link between Animal Welfare and Antimicrobial Use in Captive Animals

This systematic review aimed to assess the link between animal welfare and antimicrobial use (AMU) in captive species (i.e., farm, zoo, companion, and laboratory animals) and its effect. Studies empirically examining the effect of welfare on AMU or vice versa were included. Studies in wild animals were excluded. A total of 6610 studies were retrieved from PubMed® and Web of Science® in April 2021. Despite finding several papers superficially invoking the link between welfare and AMU, most did not delve into the characteristics of this link, leading to a small number of publications retained (n = 17). The majority (76%) of the publications were published from 2017–2021. Sixteen were on farm animals, and one publication was on laboratory animals. Most of the studies (82%) looked at the effect of animal welfare on AMU. The body of research retained suggests that, in farm animals, better animal welfare often leads to lower AMU, as was hypothesised, and that, generally, poor welfare is associated with higher AMU. Additionally, AMU restrictions in organic systems may prevent animals from receiving treatment when necessary. Limitations of this study include focusing only on empirical research and excluding non-peer reviewed evidence. More research is needed to corroborate these findings, especially on the link between animal welfare and AMU in other captive species

Socialism was not around the corner

A tese encontra-se organizada em dois momentos que analisam criticamente e apresentam alternativas à literatura relativa à evolução da sociedade civil pósrevolucionária portuguesa. Esta literatura é consideravelmente extremada, uma vez que alguns autores desvalorizam fortemente as consequências ativadoras da revolução enquanto outros vêem essas consequências de uma forma bastante positiva. Num primeiro momento geral e contextual, a tese considera a evolução do contexto político e institucional português, em particular no que se refere às associações de moradores e às cooperativas de habitação, para demonstrar que as consequências da revolução na ativação das organizações da sociedade civil apresentam variação de acordo com o tipo de organização constituída, uma vez que alguns tipos organizacionais apresentam mais vitalidade do que outros. Um olhar mais profundo sobre esta variação, apoiado em análise documental e entrevistas em profundidade com atores relevantes, demonstra que a revolução constituiu um incentivo significativo para a constituição das organizações da sociedade civil em geral, mas o regime democrático pósrevolucionário não incentiva igualmente todas as organizações, o que tem um impacto considerável na sua posterior evolução. Num segundo momento exaustivo que constitui o núcleo da tese, é apresentada uma análise histórica comparativa a longo prazo, ao nível micro, dos bairros SAAL que foram construídos na cidade de Lisboa, desde a revolução até o presente, contribuindo assim para a compreensão deste programa para além do contexto imediato de sua implementação. As organizações SAAL que emergiram do movimento de moradores no contexto revolucionário tiveram que lidar com um ambiente político radicalmente distinto, uma democracia liberal fortemente influenciada pela adesão à UE. Durante 40 anos, muito aconteceu nestes bairros, revelando alguns aspectos importantes sobre a evolução dos movimentos de moradores. Num contexto político e institucional semelhante, estas organizações idênticas evoluíram de forma diferente, considerando que algumas entraram em colapso enquanto outras foram notavelmente resilientes. Em alguns casos, foi possível observar uma reativação destas organizações, sob sua forma institucional original ou com uma nova constituição formal. Uma abordagem etnográfica baseada na reconstituição dos caminhos históricos dos bairros através da memória oral dos seus líderes clarifica as múltiplas idiossincrasias da participação de moradores. Alguns fatores explicativos subtis mas significativos que muitas vezes passam despercebidos em estudos comparativos quantitativos são identificados e expostos através de uma abordagem qualitativa raramente utilizada na ciência política, contribuindo assim para ampliar seus horizontes conceptuais e metodológicos.The thesis is organized in two different moments that critically scrutinize and present alternatives to the literature around the evolution of the Portuguese post revolutionary civil society. This literature is considerably extreme, since some authors strongly devaluate the activating consequences of the revolution, while others see these consequences in a rather positive light. In a first general and contextual moment, the thesis considers the evolution of the Portuguese political and institutional context, particularly concerning the associative and cooperative housing sectors, to demonstrate that the consequences of the revolution in the activation of civil society organizations presents variation according with the type of organization constituted, since some organizational types present more vitality than others. A deeper look into this variation, supported in documental analysis and in-depth interviews with relevant actors, demonstrates that the revolution did constitute a significant incentive to the constitution of civil society organizations in general, but the post-revolutionary democratic regime does not encourage all organizations equally, which has a considerable impact in their posterior evolution. In a second exhaustive moment which constitutes the core of the thesis, it presents a long-term micro-level comparative historical analysis of the SAAL neighbourhoods that were built in the city of Lisbon, from the revolution to the present day, to further the understanding on this program beyond the immediate context of its implementation. The SAAL neighbourhood organizations that were drawn from the neighbourhood movement in the revolutionary context had to cope with a radically distinct political environment, a liberal democracy strongly influenced by the adhesion to the EU. During 40 years, a lot has happened in these neighbourhoods, revealing some important aspects concerning the changing role of neighbourhood participation. In a similar political and institutional context, these identical organizations evolved differently, considering some collapsed while others were remarkably resilient. In some cases, it was possible to observe a reactivation of these organizations, under their former institutional form or in a new institutional guise. An ethnographic approach based in the reconstitution of the historical paths of the neighbourhoods through the oral memory of their leaders sheds light into the multiple idiosyncrasies of neighbourhood participation. Some subtle but significant explanatory factors that often go unnoticed in quantitative comparative studies are identified and exposed through a qualitative approach seldom used in political science, thus contributing to widen its conceptual and methodological horizons

Estimating the Portuguese average cost of capital

"In spite of the importance of having a figure for the domestic average cost of capital to bare the estimates of the discount rates used in a number of long-term investments, the fact is that Portugal does not yet know with confidence its own value. Part of the answer might be attached to the number of profound impacts that affected and disturbed its capital markets during the twentieth century, in particular the break introduced by the Carnation Revolution in 1974. This paper translates both a test to the methodology necessary to make such an estimate under the Portuguese constraints, and also a first estimate of such a figure. From the daily data available for the quotations of shares listed in the Lisbon Stock Exchange, a time series of a comprehensive index is constructed covering an a weekly basis (Wednesdays) a time sample of 31.5 years, from January 1978 to June 2009. It also constitutes the first part of a 3- year project intended to study the entire twentieth century and to produce an estimate for the cost of capital comparable to the values included in the 2002 book 'The Triumph of the Optimists' authored by Dimson, March and Staunton. Although the output parallels traditional UK and USA figures, the Portuguese estimate for the equity return premium is around 8%." (author's abstract

Desenvolvimento de índices de qualidade de serviço em sistemas de abastecimento de água

Dissertação mestrado em Engenharia MunicipalOs sistemas de abastecimento de água fornecem um bem público essencial à vida. Esse bem não pode ser comercializado como outro “recurso” qualquer. Nas últimas décadas, as entidades públicas asseguravam este serviço, em regime de monopólio, mas progressivamente houve uma abertura deste sector às empresas privadas, através da exploração ou concessão e de parcerias público-privadas, obrigando à criação, no Mundo, de diversos sistemas regulatórios para a gestão dos sistemas de abastecimento de água. A abertura deste mercado originou diversos problemas relativos à falta de informação entre o fornecedor e o utilizador desses serviços. Essas dificuldades, aliadas ao facto da concorrência ser quase inexistente no sector, por não ser possível optar entre dois operadores, reforçaram a necessidade de uma regulação efectiva deste monopólio natural das entidades gestoras de infra-estruturas de saneamento ambiental (águas e resíduos), surgindo várias propostas de metodologias para avaliar o desempenho dos sistemas de abastecimento de água e permitindo tornar pública a informação interna das respectivas entidades gestoras criando assim um processo de benchmarking. Em Portugal, o Instituto Regulador de Águas e Resíduos (IRAR) é uma entidade independente que tem por função, entre outras, a de avaliar o desempenho das entidades gestoras de sistemas de abastecimento de água, drenagem e tratamento de águas resíduais e recolha, valorização de resíduos sólidos urbanos. Para esse efeito, institui um sistema de indicadores de desempenho a aplicar a cada regulado composto por três grupos de indicadores Este sistema baseado no conjunto dos indicadores da International Water Association (IWA) permite avaliar de forma qualitativa o desempenho das várias entidades gestoras em três categorias: “mediano”, “insatisfatório” ou “bom”. Esta metodologia não permite atribuir um valor quantitativo, o que restringe o estabelecimento de um ranking entre entidades, dificultando um processo efectivo de benchmarking. Face a essa limitação, o presente trabalho pretende contribuir com uma alteração e complemento da métodologia de avaliação do IRAR, através do desenvolvimento duma metodologia, baseada na aplicação de técnicas de análise qualitativas que permitem uma classificação quantitativa traduzida por índices de qualidade de serviço. Os indicadores de desempenho adoptados pelo IRAR representam critérios aos quais se podem aplicar pesos, cuja combinação permite atribuir uma pontuação à entidade em avaliação, tanto a nível global como sectorial. O processo de avaliação multicritério é há muito utilizados no Planeamento Territorial como forma de estabelecimento de regras de decisão através da combinação ponderada de critérios e da sua progressiva agregação. Com esta nova aplicação da análise multicritério no sector do abastecimento de água, pretende-se criar índices de qualidade (global ou secorial) para cada entidade gestora de sistemas de abastecimento de água em alta que, em Portugal, são reguladas pelo IRAR, partindo dos dados publicados por este instituto desde 2004.The water supply systems provide a public need which is essential to life. This need cannot be commercialized like any other natural resource. In the last decade it was only public services that assured this service in a monopoly regime, but progressively there was an opening to private sector, thru exploitation and public/private partnership condescension forcing the creation, in the whole world, of several regulatory systems for management of water supply systems. This market opening brought several problems regarding lack of information between user and supplier. These difficulties and the fact that there is no competition in the water supply industry, (it is not possible to choose between two suppliers), have strengthened the need for a more effective regulation on this natural monopoly from entities that manage the infrastructure of environmental sanitation (water and residue) and have led to various proposals of methodologies to evaluate the performance of water supply systems and therefore bringing to public the internal information of the managing entity this way creating a benchmarking process. In Portugal, the Institute for Water and Residue Regulation (IRAR) which is an independent entity who’s task, among others, is to evaluate the performance of managing water supply, drainage and residue water treatment and collecting, valorization of urban solid residue. For this it imposes a system of performance indicators to be applied to each regulated entity, composed by three indicator groups. This system based on the International Water Association (IWA) indicators allows qualitative performance evaluation of management entities, splitting them in three categories: “medium”, “unsatisfactory” or “good”. This methodology doesn’t assign a quantitative value, which restrains the establishment of ranking between entities which tends to hinder an effective ranking process. Due to this limitation, this work aims to contribute with a complement and alternate to IRAR’s evaluation methodology thru the development of a methodology based on the application of qualitative analysis techniques which allows a qualitative classification translated by service quality indices. The performance indicators adopted by IRAR represent criteria to which weights can be applied, which combination allows assigning a score to the entity in evaluation whether global or sectorial level. The process of multicriteria evaluation, many times used in territorial planning as a way of establishing rules for decision making, thru balanced combination of criteria and their progressive aggregation. With this new application of multicriteria analysis to the water supply sector it is indented to create quality indices (global or sectorial) for each water supply which in Portugal are regulated by IRAR, using data published by this institute since 2004

Síndrome de Down, Impacto, Satisfação e Preocupação Materna (Des) Encanto Materno

Neste trabalho será utilizada a terminologia Síndrome de Down, sendo esta a designação mais usada na literatura, pois é um termo com maior abrangência, sendo que, existem vários tipos de Síndrome de Down e, a Trissomia 21 é apenas um deles. A investigação que se apresenta pretende contribuir, explorar e compreender através das mães, quais as suas maiores preocupações e qual o impacto familiar de um/a filho/a portador/a de Síndrome de Down. Mais especificamente pretende-se analisar as crenças vivenciadas pelas mães, face ao nascimento de uma criança portadora de Síndrome de Down, o processo de adaptação materna e qual a forma de envolvimento no processo interativo na díade mãe-criança. Elaborando-se uma abordagem pelas crenças maternas, uma definição da vinculação à luz das suas teorias e do seu enquadramento teórico e empírico e uma abordagem sobre a Síndrome de Down. A amostra é composta por 58 mulheres com filhos/as portadores/as de Síndrome de Down, de vários concelhos de Portugal Continental. Para a recolha de dados utilizaram-se quatro instrumentos, um Questionário Sociodemográfico, a Escala de Satisfação Parental (Halverson & Duke, 1991: Martins Maroco & Leal, 2007), a Escala de Impacto Familiar de um Filho (Donenberg & Baker, 1993; Martins & Leal, 2007) e a Escala de Preocupações Parentais (Algarvio, Leal & Maroco, 2009) a mães com filhos/as portadores/as de Síndrome de Down. Os resultados revelaram que os valores médios encontrados para as Escalas de Satisfação Parental e Impacto Familiar de um Filho são ligeiramente superiores às encontradas na literatura. Relativamente à Escala de Preocupações Parentais, os valores médios são superiores aos existentes na literatura para outros grupos de mães. Existem relações estatisticamente significativas entre algumas escalas, pelo que se conclui que à medida que aumenta o impacto familiar de um filho aumenta a satisfação parental e diminuem as preocupações parentais. É possível também observar existência de diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre as diferentes escalas e algumas variáveis sóciodemográficas. / In this work it will be utilized the terminology Down Syndrome, due to the designation being the most commonly used in the literature, also it is a term with greater coverage, despite of other various types of Down Syndrome and Trisomy 21existing, this is just one type. The investigation presented here and what is the family impact of a son carrier of Down Syndrome. More specifically we intend to analyze the beliefs experienced by mothers, with the birth of a child with Down syndrome aims to contribute to explore and understand through the mothers, what their biggest concerns are, the process of maternal adaptation and witch form of involvement in the interactive process in the mother-child dyad. Elaborating an approach for maternal beliefs, a definition of linking based on their theories, within theoretical, empirical framework and an approach to Down syndrome. The sample consists of 58 women with children carriers of Down syndrome, done in several municipalities in mainland Portugal Continental. For the collection of data four instruments were used, one Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Parental Satisfaction Scale (Halverson & Duke, 1991: Martins Maroco & Leal, 2007), the Scale for Family Impact of a Son (Donenberg & Baker, 1993; Martins & Leal, 2007) and the Parental Concerns Scale (Algarve, Maroco & Leal, 2009) to mothers with children carriers of Down Syndrome. The results reveled that the average values found for the Scales of Parental Satisfaction and Family Impact of a Son are slightly higher than those found in the literature. Relative to Parental Concerns Scale, the average values are higher than those existing in the literature for other groups of mothers. There is a statistically significant relation between some scales, can be concluded, that there is increases in the family impact of a child, increases parental satisfaction and reduces parental concerns. It is also possible to observe the existence of differences statistically significant between different scales and some variables sociodemographic

A systematic review to assess the effectiveness of pre-harvest meat safety interventions to control foodborne pathogens in beef

Safe beef is a priority for consumers, policy makers, official veterinarians, and producers. This systematic review aims to update the recent knowledge on pre-harvest interventions to control main foodborne pathogens in beef and to assess their effectiveness. Only controlled trials in beef or dairy cattle were included. A total of 1514 studies were retrieved from PubMed® and Web of ScienceTM for 13 selected pathogens in particular Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). After the screening, 28 papers remained for Campylobacter (n = 1), Clostridium botulinum (n = 1), Clostridium perfringens (n = 1), Extended spectrum-lactamase AmpC gene-carrying bacteria (ESBL/AmpC) (n = 1), Salmonella (n = 11), and STEC (n = 13). Results were synthesised narratively using tables as support. Research on pre-harvest interventions to control foodborne zoonoses in bovines was mostly focused on Salmonella spp. and STEC. The studies retained on Salmonella and STEC showed that vaccination, and cleaning, disinfection, management, and biosecurity were the most tested and effective interventions, denoting their potential to control or reduce detection and shedding of these pathogens. The correct implementation of such measures is crucial for their efficacy. While vaccination can be implemented to prevent severe outcomes of disease and reduce shedding; cleaning, disinfection, and biosecurity can prevent the introduction and/or the spread of pathogens to/within farms. The use of feed additives and treatments had mixed results but seemed to be effective for Salmonella. The criteria for paper selection excluded observational studies which document effective practices like depopulation and repopulation with healthy animals. Overall, high herd health status coupled with good management and biosecurity were effective to control or prevent the important foodborne pathogens in cattle at pre-harvest level

Portuguese average cost of capital

The oldest Portuguese share index still being calculated is the BVL/PSI-General, one which started the daily series on 5/Jan/1988 with a base value of 1000 points. Everyday a single value is computed based on the closing prices of all the shares included in the sample. Also, all corporate events affecting the price of any share beyond market sentiment are taken into account through proper adjustments, either in the numerator or the denominator of the formula. However, for dates before January 1988, there is nothing comparable to this index since the two different series known either never disclosed the methodology adopted to calculate the index or followed solutions not compatible with the above index. The present paper explains the solutions adopted to replicate as closely as possible the methodology of the BVL-General index to the main market of the Lisbon Exchange for the period 1978 – 1987. This is the first estimate of the historical Equity Risk Premium in Portugal above short-term risk-free rate from the re-opening of the market following the Carnation Revolution (and the accompanying nationalizations), to the present. In showing a value of the same order of magnitude found in other countries, the paper invites further studies on the effects of political decisions such as privatizations and joining the European Union

Psychometric study of the social support satisfaction scale in people with pulmonary tuberculosis

Objective: to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Social Support Scale in people with pulmonary tuberculosis. Method: methodological study developed in two stages: content validation of the items; and assessment of the psychometric properties of the Scale. Data were collected between October 2020 and January 2021 in a sample of 204 individuals with pulmonary tuberculosis in Pulmonary Diagnostic Centers in Northern Portugal. Results: The validated scale has α-Cronbach’s coefficient of 0.91, keeping the 15 items. There was a different distribution of items within the subscales, designated as: “Satisfaction with family” (α-Cronbach=0.94) now includes seven items; “Satisfaction with friends” α-Cronbach =0.85) includes only four items; “Social activities” (α-Cronbach=0.86) and “Intimacy” (α-Cronbach =0.77) go from three and four items of the original scale to two items each. Conclusion: the version of the Satisfaction with Social Support Scale can be a resource for planning nursing care for people with pulmonary tuberculosis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio