Mental health and sexual stigma on LGB senior: A systematic scoping review

Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTN/

Reliability and Validity of 39-Item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire and Parkinson’s Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease has a significant impact in quality of life, which can be assessed with 39-item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire and Parkinson’s Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of these scales in Portuguese patients. Material and Methods: Reliability was assessed through internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient). Regarding construct validity, we performed one-way analysis of variance across different groups according to modified Hoehn and Yahr scale. For criterion validity, we compared both scales with each other and with the Short Form 36-item Health Survey. Results: In a total of 100 patients with Parkinson’s disease, Cronbach’s alpha ranged for 39-item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire between 0.66 - 0.98, and for Parkinson’s Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire, between 0.78 - 0.98. Intraclass correlation coefficient for 39-item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire ranged between 0.49 - 0.96, and for Parkinson’s Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire, ranged between 0.65 - 0.96. Both scales showed, in general, capacity to discriminate differences among patients in the different stages of disease. The scales presented moderate to strong magnitude correlations with some Short Form 36-item Health Survey domains. Discussion: Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for most domains were satisfactory. Overall, it has been demonstrated good reproducibility, as well as construct and criterion validity. Conclusion: The Portuguese versions of both scales showed to be valid and reliable

Saúde Mental e Justiça: questões éticas referentes ao incesto e à pedofilia

Sexual abuse is a problem that must be addressed by both the health and justice systems. A recent situation involving a ten-year-old child who was raped by her uncle and wished to terminate the pregnancy sparked off intense debate. The procedure was widely covered by the media and exposed on social networks, and while attention was turned to moral and ethical issues, the child and her family’s suffering was neglected, leading to more abuse beyond the sexual violence. Using this case as an example, this work aims to discuss the differences between incest and pedophilia and the possibilities of addressing and treating them. The Sexual Abuse Study and Treatment Center (CEARAS) of the University of São Paulo Medical School has been studying the subject and assisting families with reported cases of intrafamilial sexual abuse since 1993. This experience has shown specific characteristics of incest that characterize it as a dysfunctional family dynamics, whereas pedophilia is an individual disorder. Distinguishing pedophilia and incest is fundamental, since in the latter the whole family must adhere to the treatment to interrupt the cycle of violence. An ethical approach to child sexual abuse requires suspending moral judgements so that all the human relationships involved may be understood. The coordinated action of mental health services and the justice system when dealing with incest and pedophilia tends to be more effective. Treating the whole family in cases of incest and the individual in cases of pedophilic disorder contributes to the prevention of sexual abuse.O abuso sexual é um problema que precisa ser tratado nos âmbitos da Saúde Mental e da Justiça. Atualmente, um caso apresentado pela mídia, que envolvia o desejo de interromper a gestação de uma criança de 10 anos, grávida em consequência do estupro do tio, mobilizou uma grande discussão ética. A realização do procedimento foi cercada de conflitos éticos e morais e o caso foi exposto pela mídia e nas redes sociais. O sofrimento gerado pelo abuso sexual incestuoso na criança e em sua família foi relegado frente a estas questões e somaram-se vários outros abusos à violência sexual. O objetivo deste artigo é, utilizando o caso como exemplo, fazer uma reflexão sobre as diferenças entre incesto e pedofilia e suas possibilidades de abordagem e tratamento. O Centro de Estudos e Atendimento Relativos ao Abuso Sexual da Faculdade de Medicina da USP – CEARAS – estuda o tema do incesto e atende, desde 1993, famílias que tenham uma denúncia de abuso sexual entre seus membros. Esta experiência tem demonstrado características específicas do incesto que o configura como uma dinâmica familiar disfuncional, sendo diferente da pedofilia, caracterizada por um transtorno individual. A possibilidade de diferenciar a pedofilia do incesto é fundamental, pois neste último, é necessário o tratamento para toda a família para que seja interrompido o ciclo da violência. Uma abordagem ética do abuso sexual infantil só pode ser constituída a partir da supressão dos julgamentos morais em benefício da apreensão de todas as relações humanas envolvidas. Em ambos os casos, a abordagem da Saúde Mental aliada à da Justiça tende a ser mais efetiva, pois tratar a família em casos de incesto e o indivíduo com o transtorno pedofílico contribui para a prevenção de futuras situações de abuso sexual

O processo de ensino e aprendizagem na educação infantil em tempos de pandemia / The teaching and learning process in early childhood education in times of pandemic

No âmbito da educação, muitas das medidas que os países adotaram em resposta à crise causada pela pandemia estão relacionadas com a suspensão das aulas presenciais em todos os níveis, o que deu origem a três eixos principais de ação: a implantação de modalidades de ensino a distância por meio de diversos formatos e plataformas, o apoio e mobilização do pessoal da educação e das comunidades e a preocupação com a saúde e bem-estar geral dos alunos e dos educadores. O objetivo deste estudo é analisar o processo de ensino e aprendizagem na educação infantil em tempos de pandemia. Sob essa abordagem, o valor deve ser atribuído à competências entre os professores para a educação infantil em tempos de pandemia que incluem um conjunto reduzido de objetivos fundamentais de aprendizagem em diferentes disciplinas, priorização do currículo para o currículo atual, adotando uma abordagem modular do conteúdo por nível, mudança da educação básica para novas aprendizagens associadas a objetivos integrados ou significativos que pode criar ligações entre assuntos. A adaptação, flexibilidade e contextualização curricular devem abordar elementos como a priorização de objetivos de aprendizagem remota que permitem uma melhor compreensão e resposta a crise, incorporando aspectos relacionados ao cuidado, pensamento crítico e reflexivo e um equilíbrio que deve ser buscada entre a identificação de competências essenciais, que serão necessárias para continuar a aprendizagem, e aprofundando o caráter integral e humanístico da educação, sem ceder à pressão para fortalecer apenas a aprendizagem instrumental. A metodologia do estudo foi a bibliográfica descritiva por meio da coleta de informações em artigos relacionados ao tema proposto neste estudo

Livro Vermelho dos Peixes Dulciaquícolas e Diádromos de Portugal Continental

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

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

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries(1,2). However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world(3) and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health(4,5). However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol-which is a marker of cardiovascular riskchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million-4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.Peer reviewe

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks