Systematic review: Is there a connection between the fetal growth restriction due to placental insufficiency and hypospadias in single pregnancies?

Introdução: A etiologia de hipospadia é incerta e acredita-se que envolva fatores genéticos e ambientais. O nosso objetivo é compreender a correlação entre restrição de crescimento fetal por insuficiência placentária e o surgimento de hipospadia em gestações únicas. Materiais e Métodos: Foi realizada uma revisão sistemática com base na pesquisa nas bases de dados PubMed, Web of Science e Scopus. Foram incluídos artigos que avaliam a associação entre restrição de crescimento fetal devido à insuficiência placentária e hipospadia em gestações únicas. No total 12 estudos foram incluídos, sendo que os seus dados relevantes foram extraídos e analisados qualitativamente. O risco de viés foi avaliado usando a NIH Study Quality Assessment Tool. Resultados: Sete artigos concluíram que a restrição de crescimento fetal e o facto de ser pequeno para a idade gestacional são importantes fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento de hipospadia. Quatro estudos concluíram que o baixo peso ao nascimento está associado à maior prevalência de hipospadia. Apenas um estudo não encontrou diferenças significativas entre o peso ao nascimento de recém-nascidos com e sem hipospadia. Em quatro estudos foi realizada uma avaliação anatomopatológica da placenta, e todos mostraram que sinais de disfunção placentária surgem mais frequentemente em recém-nascidos com hipospadia. Cinco estudos avaliaram o peso da placenta e concluíram que o peso da placenta de recém-nascidos com hipospadia era menor do que o peso da placenta de recém-nascidos saudáveis. Dois estudos indicaram pré-eclâmpsia como fator de risco para hipospadia. Discussão: Os resultados apresentados destacam a restrição do crescimento fetal como uma potencial causa do aumento da prevalência de hipospadia. A disfunção placentária parece ser o mecanismo subjacente, visto que crianças com hipospadia, além de terem menor peso ao nascimento, também apresentavam placenta com menor peso e mais anomalias. As principais limitações da nossa revisão são as diferenças na metodologia dos estudos incluídos, e o facto da grande maioria ter sido realizado já há vários anos. Conclusão: Esta revisão sistemática confirma a associação entre restrição do crescimento fetal e hipospadia.Introduction: The origin of hypospadias is uncertain and thought to involve genetic and environmental factors. Our aim is to comprehend the correlation between fetal growth restriction (FGR) due to placental insufficiency and hypospadias in single pregnancies. Material and Methods: We performed a systematic review searching on PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases. Articles evaluating the association between fetal growth restriction due to placental insufficiency and hypospadias in single pregnancies are included. A total of 12 studies were included, and their relevant data were extracted and qualitatively analyzed. The risk of bias was measured using the NIH Study Quality Assessment Tool. Results: Seven articles reported that fetal growth restriction and small for gestational age are important risk factors for the development of hypospadias. Four studies concluded that low birthweight is associated with the higher prevalence of hypospadias. Only one study found no significant differences between the birthweight of boys with and without hypospadias. In four studies anatomopathological evaluations of the placenta was performed, and in all signs of placenta dysfunction was more frequent in infants with hypospadias. Five studies evaluated the weight of placenta, and concluded that weight of placenta of boys with hypospadias was lower than weight of placenta of healthy boys. Two studies found preeclampsia as a risk factor for hypospadias. Discussion: Our results highlight fetal growth restriction as a potential cause of increased prevalence of hypospadias. Placental dysfunction may be the underlying mechanism, considering that children with hypospadias, in addition to having lower birthweight, also had placenta with lower weight and more anomalies. The major limitations of our review are the differences in methodology of the studies included, most of them conducted several years ago. Conclusion: Our systematic review confirms an association between fetal growth restriction and hypospadias

Biological, social, and healthcare factors associated with death due to influenza A(H1N1) during the 2009 epidemic in Brazil

Background: In June 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the global alert level for the A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza pandemic and at that time sustained transmission in Brazil was established. It was urgent to carry out studies that evaluated possible risk factors for death from Influenza A(H1N1) to improve case management strategies to reduce the lethality of the disease. This study aimed to identify risk factors for death from Influenza A(H1N1), including the effectiveness of the vaccine against influenza A(H1N1) concerning mortality. Methods: A case-control of incident cases of influenza A(H1N1) reported in the Epidemiological Information Systems of the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Pará, Amazonas, and Rio Grande do Sul was conducted. Results: 305 participants were included, 70 of them cases and 235 controls, distributed as follows: Amazonas – 9 cases/10 controls, Pará – 22 cases/77 controls, São Paulo – 19 cases/49 controls, Paraná – 10 cases/54 controls, Rio Grande do Sul – 10 cases/45 controls. These participants had a mean age of 30 years, with 33 years among cases and 25 years among controls. There was a predominance of females both among cases and controls. Biological (age), pre-existing diseases (congestive heart failure, respiratory disease, and diabetes mellitus), and care factors (ICU admission) associated with death from Influenza A(H1N1) were identified. Conclusion: The risk factors identified in this investigation allowed subsidizing the elaboration of clinical conducts, but also indicate important aspects for facing “new” influenza epidemics that are likely to occur in our country

Concordance of Mortality data for Compulsory Notification Diseases in the Mortality Information System - yes and Notification Aggregation Information System-SINAN, Brazil 2007 to 2015.

A avaliação das condições de saúde de uma população a partir dos sistemas de informação é uma importante ferramenta para apoiar os gestores na tomada de decisão. O Ministério da Saúde do Brasil conta com sistemas de informação universais com acesso aberto disponível no site do Departamento de Informática do SUS-DATASUS. Estudo descritivo foi realizado para analisar a concordância de óbitos do SIM e SINAN de 2007 a 2015, utilizando os dados disponíveis no DATASUS. Os resultados mostraram para dengue e doença meningocócica, baixa captação pelo SIM, quando comparado ao SINAN. Leptospirose apresentou número semelhante de óbitos nos dois sistemas, tétano e leishmaniose visceral, para alguns anos o SIM apresentou maior captação do que o SINAN. O estudo mostra a necessidade de fortalecer e melhorar a qualidade das informações disponíveis nos sistemas de informação em saúde, ferramenta importante para a gestão dos sistemas de saúde.The evaluation of the health conditions of a population from the information systems is an important tool for supporting the managers taking of decision. The Ministry of Health of Brazil has universal information systems with open access on the website of the Department of Informatics of SUS-DATASUS. The results showed for dengue and meningococcal disease, low uptake in the SIM, when compared to SINAN. Leptospirosis presented a similar number of deaths in both systems, tetanus and visceral leishmaniasis, for some years, by SIM presented higher uptake than SINAN. The study shows the need to strengthen and improve the quality of information available in health information systems, an important tool for health systems management

Anchoring to the Euro (and grouped together)? The case of African countries

The currencies of sixteen African countries, namely those belonging to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), to the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CAEMC), Comoros and Cape Verde, have been pegged to the euro since the inception of the new European currency in 1999. This paper assesses whether the euro is an adequate anchor for those countries. The evaluation is based onthree key criteria borrowed from the optimal currency area (OCA) theory and the conclusion is that the euro is an appropriate currency for anchoring only in the case of Cape Verde. Since the members of WAEMU and of CAEMC are jointly pegged to the euro, the paper further assesses whether the grouping of countries in these two CFA monetary unions receives economic support. Based on the OCA criteria used to investigate the first issue, the conclusion is that the composition of CAEMC does notconform to basic requirements. In contrast, for a wide group of WAEMU countries there is room for sharing a common monetary policy

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons May Contibute for Prostate Cancer Progression

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer affecting men in the Western world. Risk factors include ageing, genetics, recurrent inflammation, lifestyle and diet intake, related to an increase of oxidative stress. Prostate cancer risk is also associated with exposure to carcinogen such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), originated from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels like tobacco, wood, diesel, or charbroiled meat. Although numerous studies have associated the effect of PAHs to tumour development, few investigations have associated its effects to cancer progression. Considering that prostate cancer patients don’t die from localized prostate cancer but from advanced disease, we are interested in investigating whether PAHs may potentially influence prostate cancer progression and how this could be related to an increase in oxidative stress. Likewise we evaluated the effect of PAHs (pyrene, benzo(a) pyrene, chrysene and benzo(k)fluoranthene) on cell growth and in the expression of molecules involved in cancer me- tastization such as the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) using prostate- derived cell lines from localized adenocarcinoma (HPV10), bone metastasis (PC3) and in non-neoplastic prostate epi- thelium cells. Moreover, we evaluated oxidative stress parameters, assessing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and reduced glutathione content. Our data clearly demonstrates that PAHs can stimulate cell growth, particularly in lo- calized cancer cells and induce an increase of VEGF and HIF expression. These results are concomitant with an increase of ROS production, suggesting that PAHs exposure may participate in prostate cancer progression, in part, due to an increase of ROS. Therefore this study suggests that PAHs exposure should be avoided to prevent prostate cancer progression

Prevalência de sintomatologia músculo-esquelética e de lesões desportivas no golfe

Projeto de Graduação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciada em FisioterapiaObjetivo: Avaliar a prevalência de sintomatologia músculo-esquelética e de lesões desportivas no golfe e associá-las a outras variáveis tais como: as características individuais, características da atividade e ainda com as características da lesão. Metodologia: Estudo observacional descritivo. Amostra constituída por 132 jogadores de golfe, de ambos os sexos, com idades compreendidas entre 14 anos e 81 anos, tendo sido recolhida informação sobre a prevalência de sintomatologia e de lesões músculo-esqueléticas, assim como de outras variáveis que poderão estar relacionadas com os sintomas e com as lesões. Resultados: Os jogadores de golfe apresentam maiores queixas de dor/desconforto na região do cotovelo, seguido do ráquis. Em relação à prevalência de lesões, foram reportadas 81 lesões: a área mais afetada foi o membro superior e a estrutura mais lesada foi o músculo/tendão. A maioria dos golfistas que sofreram uma lesão recorreu a um profissional de saúde. Conclusão: Há associação entre o jogador fazer aquecimento e a diminuição da probabilidade de lesão lombar. Existe também associação entre as variáveis índice de massa corporal (IMC) alto e idade avançada com referência de dor nos joelhos nos últimos 12 meses. Existe, também, uma relação entre a situação da lesão e o tempo de tratamento desta.Objective: Analyze the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptomatology and sports injuries in golf and associate it with other variables such as: individual characteristics, activity characteristics and injury characteristics. Methodology: descriptive observational study. Sample with 132 golf players from both genders with ages between 14 and 81 years old, having been collected information about the prevalence and musculoskeletal injuries, such as other variables that could be related with the symptoms and injuries. Results: The golf players present more complains of pain/discomfort in the elbow region, followed by the spine. Regarding the prevalence of the injuries, were reported 81 injuries: the most affected area is the upper limb, and the most injured structure was the muscle/tendon. Most of the golfers that suffered injury resort to a health professional. Conclusion: There is a relation between warm-up and a lower probability of low back pain. There is also a relationship between higher BMI and age and knee pain in the last 12 mounths. It was also observed a relation between the situation in which the injury occurred and the recovery time.N/

Como utilizar de modo intencional processos de coesão textual com base em atividades relacionadas com o domínio da oralidade?

Entendemos que para o desenvolvimento de competências comunicativas é necessário que os indivíduos aprofundem as suas aptidões ao nível gramatical e oral. Neste sentido, o presente trabalho constitui-se como um estudo realizado em duas turmas do 6.º ano de escolaridade do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. A abordagem metodológica utilizada foi a investigação-ação, uma vez que ocupamos o papel de investigadoras. Os dados desta investigação foram recolhidos através de um questionário, da observação, do debate e do vídeo. O estudo apresentado centra-se, então, na abordagem da Gramática, a partir do Laboratório Gramatical em articulação com a Oralidade. Deste modo, este projeto teve como finalidade a perceção de conhecimentos gramaticais e a avaliação dos efeitos desta intervenção nas aprendizagens dos alunos, suportados pela comparação entre a pré e a pós-intervenção. O enquadramento teórico que sustenta este trabalho recai sobre a importância de ambos os Domínios. Os resultados demonstram um efeito positivo após a intervenção, uma vez que foi possível verificarmos, a partir do produto final, o vídeo, que os alunos conseguiram utilizar, corretamente, os mecanismos da flexão em número e género e da flexão verbal.We understand that for the better development of communication competencies it’s necessary that the individuals further develop their oral and grammatical skills. With that purpose, the following paper refers to a case study implemented on two classes of the 6th grade of the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education. The methodological approach used was investigation – action since we had the part of being the investigators. This research’s data were collected using a questionnaire, observation, the debate, and the promotional video. The paper presented focus on the approach of Grammar, using the Grammatical Laboratory in articulation with the Orality Domain. With this in mind, this project’s goal is the perception of grammatical knowledge and the evaluation of the effectiveness of these instruments in students learning, based on the comparison of before, and after our intervention. The theoretical framework that supports this work refers to the importance of both Spheres Domains. The results show a positive effect of our intervention because it’s possible to verify, based on the final product, that the students were able to utilize an apply, correctly, the rules of the morphologic and verbal.Mestrado em Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e de Português e História e Geografia de Portugal no 2º Ciclo do Ensino Básic

Machine learning algorithms and techniques for sentiment analysis in scientific paper reviews: a systematic literature review

Sentiment analysis also referred to as opinion mining, is an automated process for identifying and classifying subjective information such as sentiments from a piece of text usually comments and reviews. Supported by machine learning algorithms, it is possible to identify positive, neutral or negative opinions, being possible to rank or classify them in order to reach some kind of conclusion or obtain any type of information. Thus, this paper aims to perform a systematic literature review in order to report the state-of-the-art of machine learning techniques for sentiment analysis applied to texts of reviews, comments and evaluations of scientific papers.This work has been supported by IViSSEM: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-28284, COMPETE: POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013