Managing migrations in Europe’s Southern borders. The cases of Spain, Italy and Portugal

No atual sistema internacional, as migrações internacionais têm que ser reguladas e geridas pelos Estados, de modo a garantir o impacto positivo destes nos países de acolhimento e a sua integração, bem como assegurar que os migrantes que entram sejam tratados com dignidade e vejam reconhecidos os seus direitos. No entanto, a experiência indica que este ideal nem sempre se produz e os Estados podem ver os fluxos migratórios, principalmente os irregulares, como uma ameaça. É neste sentido que focamos o nosso estudo na gestão dos fluxos migratórios no Mediterrâneo, na perspetiva da segurança internacional. A gestão das migrações no Mediterrâneo é um dos principais desafios que a União Europeia (UE) enfrenta na atualidade. Os intensos fluxos migratórios que se registaram durante o ano de 2015 e as tragédias no mar Mediterrâneo puseram à prova os mecanismos das políticas de imigração e asilo da União e a sua capacidade de responder a crises humanitárias. Para além disso, estes fluxos de intensidades e geografias variadas representam uma ameaça para a segurança interna da União Europeia e dos seus Estados Membros. Ora, com o objetivo de garantir a segurança das suas fronteiras externas, a abordagem da UE centra-se na dimensão da segurança na definição de estratégias de gestão das migrações irregulares. Assim, no âmbito da gestão das migrações no Mediterrâneo tomamos como estudo de caso três países: Espanha, Itália e Portugal, que nos oferecem um estudo comparativo entre a gestão das rotas da África ocidental e do Mediterrâneo ocidental e central. O caso português, de modo particular, permite a análise de uma realidade distinta no âmbito europeu, bem como a realização de um trabalho sobre a gestão de fronteiras em Portugal, tema muito pouco trabalhado a nível académico. Constatamos que o sucesso do modelo de governança das migrações no Mediterrâneo resulta da interdependência entre diferentes níveis de ação (bilateral, multilateral e regional) e atores e que, na atualidade, prevalece a dimensão de deterrence (dissuasão), através da gestão das fronteiras externas e cooperação com países terceiros, incluindo a externalização da fronteira. Assim, partimos da hipótese de que a UE, dada a sua incapacidade para adotar e implementar uma política comum capaz de gerir com eficácia os fluxos migratórios na sua fronteira sul recorre a uma estratégia dissuasória, baseada em denominadores mínimos comuns.In today’s international system, international migrations should be regulated and managed by States, in order to ensure their positive impact in host countries and migrants’ integration. Furthermore, they should also guarantee a fair treatment of migrants and the recognition of their rights. However, experience has showed that this ideal does not always become a reality and States may conceive migratory flows, particularly irregular ones, as a threat. With this in mind, we have focused our study in the management of migratory flows in the Mediterranean, within an international security perspective. The management of migrations in the Mediterranean is one of the greatest challenges that the EU (European Union) currently faces. The intense migratory flows registered during the year 2015 and the tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea have tested the mechanisms of the Union’s immigration and asylum policies and its ability to respond to humanitarian crises. Moreover, these flows of varying intensities and geographies represent a threat to the internal security of the EU and its Member States. Therefore, in order to guarantee the safety of the external borders, the EU’s approach focuses on the security dimension in the definition of strategies to manage irregular migrations. In the context of the management of migrations in the Mediterranean we have taken the study of three Southern European countries: Spain, Italy and Portugal, given that those countries offer us a comparative study of the management of the Western Africa and Western and Central Mediterranean routes. Furthermore, the Portuguese case allows for the analysis of a different reality at the European level, as well as a thorough research on border management in Portugal, an understudied topic within the academia. We found that the success of a model of migrations’ governance of in the Mediterranean results from the interdependency of different levels of action (bilateral, multilateral and regional) and actors; and presently the dimension of deterrence through the management of the external borders and cooperation with third countries, including the externalisation of the border, prevails. Therefore, we assume that the EU, given its inability to adopt and implement a common policy to effectively manage migratory flows on its Southern border uses a deterrence strategy based on minimum common denominators.En el sistema internacional, las migraciones internacionales tienen que ser reguladas y gestionadas por los Estados, con el fin de garantizar el impacto positivo de los migrantes en los países de acogida y su integración, así como asegurar que los migrantes que entran sean tratados con dignidad y vean reconocidos sus derechos. Sin embargo, la experiencia indica que este ideal no siempre se produce y los Estados pueden ver como una amenaza los flujos migratorios, en particular los irregulares. Es en este sentido en el que enfocamos nuestro estudio sobre la gestión de los flujos migratorios en el Mediterráneo, desde la perspectiva de la seguridad internacional. La gestión de las migraciones en el Mediterráneo es uno de los principales retos que la Unión Europea (UE) enfrenta en la actualidad. Los intensos flujos migratorios que se han registrado durante el año 2015 y las tragedias en el mar Mediterráneo han puesto a prueba los mecanismos de las políticas de inmigración y asilo de la Unión y su capacidad de responder a las crisis humanitarias. Además, estos flujos de intensidades y geografías variadas pueden representar una amenaza para la seguridad interna de la Unión Europea y de sus Estados miembros. Asimismo, con el objetivo de garantizar la seguridad de sus fronteras externas, el enfoque de la UE se ha centrado en la dimensión de la seguridad con un énfasis en la definición de estrategias de gestión de las migraciones irregulares. En el contexto de la gestión de las migraciones en el Mediterráneo hemos elegido como estudio de caso tres países: España, Italia y Portugal, que nos permiten realizar un análisis comparativo entre la gestión de las rutas del África occidental y del Mediterráneo occidental y central. En particular, el caso portugués permite la observación de una realidad distinta en el ámbito europeo, por lo que resulta muy pertinente la realización de un trabajo sobre la gestión de fronteras en Portugal, tema muy poco trabajado a nivel académico. Constatamos que el éxito del modelo de gobernanza de las migraciones en el Mediterráneo resulta de la interdependencia entre los diferentes niveles de acción (bilateral, multilateral y regional) y los distintos actores y que, en la actualidad, prevalece la dimensión de deterrence (disuasión), a través de la gestión de las fronteras externas y la cooperación con países terceros, incluyendo la externalización de la frontera. Asimismo, partimos de la hipótesis de que la UE, por su incapacidad para adoptar e implementar una política común capaz de gestionar con eficacia los flujos migratorios en su frontera sur utiliza una estrategia disuasoria, basada en mínimos comunes denominadores

Composição Corporal e Expansão Torácica em Indivíduos que Vivem e Convivem com Atrofia Muscular Espinhal Tipo II e III

AbstractIntroduction: spinal muscular atrophy patients present muscle weakness, orthopedic problems, nutritional complications and respiratory impairment. Lean mass and fat mass modifications are also expected in this population. Objective: to verify the body composition and chest expansion of type II and III spinal muscular atrophy patients. Methods: fourteen individuals were evaluated: seven patients in Group I of 9 (7-12) years of age, weighing 29.7 (23.5-60.0) kg; and seven children without the disease in Group II of 9 (9-12) years, weighing 31.0 (27.8-54.1) kg. Patients monofrequency bioelectrical impedance was used for analyze body composition. Chest, hip and abdominal girths were measured by a flexible steel tape. The SPSS program was used to statistical analysis (p< 0.05). Results: patients presented higher impedance: 1416.9 (850.5-1559.1) vs 788.0 (683.6-853.8), P < 0.05; and fat percentage: 31.2 (23.9-46.6) vs 19.1(14.9-27.0)%, P < 0.05. The difference between forced inspiration and forced expiration thorax girth was smaller for patients when comparing to Group II: 3.0 (0.8-4.4) vs. 5.0 (3.9-6.5) cm, P<0.05. Conclusions: patients with spinal muscular atrophy presented higher adiposity and lower chest expansion.ResumoIntrodução: pacientes com atrofia muscular espinhal apresentam fraqueza muscular, problemas ortopédicos, complicações alimentares e declínio da função respiratória. Alterações na massa magra e na massa gorda também são esperadas. Objetivo: verificar a composição corporal e a expansão torácica de pacientes com atrofia muscular espinhal tipo II e III. Método: foram avaliados 14 indivíduos, sete no Grupo I (pacientes) com 9 (7 - 12) anos, 29,7 (23,5 - 60,0) kg; e sete no Grupo II (sem a doença) com 9 (9-12) anos, 31,0 (27,8 - 54,1) kg. A análise da composição corporal foiobtida pela bioimpedância elétrica monofrequencial. Os perímetros de tórax, quadril e abdômen foram medidos com uma fita métrica. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas no programa SPSS (p < 0,05). Resultados: os pacientes apresentaram maior impedância: 1416,9 (850,5 - 1559,1) vs788,0 (68 3, 6 - 853,8), P < 0,05; e percentual de gordura: 31,2 (23,9 - 46,6) vs 19,1 (14,9 - 27,0)%, P<0,05. A diferença entre a perimetria de tórax em inspiração forçada e em expiração forçada foi menor para os pacientes em comparação com o Grupo II: 3,0 (0,8 - 4,4) vs. 5,0 (3,9 - 6,5) cm, P < 0,05. Conclusão: pacientes com amiotrofia muscular espinhal apresentaram maior adiposidade e menor expansão torácica

Detection of anti-infliximab antibodies is impacted by antibody titer, infliximab level and IgG4 antibodies: a systematic comparison of three different assays

Background: There is scant information on the accuracy of different assays used to measure anti-infliximab antibodies (ADAs), especially in the presence of detectable infliximab (IFX). We thus aimed to evaluate and compare three different assays for the detection of IFX and ADAs and to clarify the impact of the presence of circulating IFX on the accuracy of the ADA assays.Methods: Blood samples from 79 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients treated with infliximab were assessed for IFX levels and ADAs using three different assays: an in-house assay and two commercial kits, Immundiagnostik and Theradiag. Sera samples with ADAs and undetectable levels of IFX were spiked with exogenous IFX and analyzed for ADAs.Results: The three assays showed 81-96% agreement for the measured IFX level. However, the in-house assay and Immundiagnostik assays detected ADAs in 34 out of 79 samples, whereas Theradiag only detected ADAs in 24 samples. Samples negative for ADAs with Theradiag, but ADA-positive in both the in-house and Immundiagnostik assays, were positive for IFX or IgG4 ADAs. In spiking experiments, a low concentration of exogenous IFX (5 mu g/ml) hampered ADA detection with Theradiag in sera samples with ADA levels of between 3 and 10 mu g/ml. In the Immundiagnostik assay detection interference was only observed at concentrations of exogenous IFX higher than 30 mu g/ml. However, in samples with high levels of ADAs (> 25 mu g/ml) interference was only observed at IFX concentrations higher than 100 mu g/ml in all three assays. Binary (IFX/ADA) stratification of the results showed that IFX+/ADA and IFX-/ADAs + were less influenced by the assay results than the double-positive (IFX+/ADAs+) and double-negative (IFX-/ADAs-) combination.Conclusions: All three methodologies are equally suitable for measuring IFX levels. However, erroneous therapeutic decisions may occur when patients show double-negative (IFX-/ADAs) or double-positive (IFX+/ADAs+) status, since agreement between assays is significantly lower in these circumstances

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The psychological science accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

The Psychological Science Accelerator’s COVID-19 rapid-response dataset

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world