Hospitalization of Children with Rotavirus Infection

Introdução. A infecção por rotavírus é a principal causa de diarreia aguda em todo o mundo. Nos países desenvolvidos não constitui uma causa importante de morte, mas cursa com uma alta morbilidade. Objectivo. Caracterizar a infecção por rotavírus em crianças hospitalizadas em dois Departamentos de Pediatria de Lisboa. Material e métodos. Revisão casuística dos internamentos com o diagnóstico de infecção por rotavírus, num hospital central especializado e num hospital geral na Zona Metropolitana de Lisboa, entre Janeiro e Dezembro de 2005. O diagnóstico foi efectuado através da identificação de antigénios virais nas fezes por “enzyme immunoassay”. Resultados. Foram analisados 92 casos; 82% ocorreram entre Dezembro e Março e 52,8% em crianças entre os três e os doze meses. Em metade dos casos registou-se bom nível socio-económico. Os factores de risco epidemiológicos encontrados foram: frequência de instituição de ensino ou ama em 21/38 (55%), contacto com pessoas com sintomatologia semelhante em 10/53 (19%) e irmãos com idade inferior a cinco anos em 25/76 (33%) das crianças. As infecções nosocomiais foram responsáveis por 26% dos casos estudados. A clínica cursou com: diarreia aquosa (96%), vómitos (87%) e febre (69%). Ocorreram complicações em 19/92 (21%) crianças e estas foram mais frequentes em lactentes com menos de seis meses de idade (35% vs. 16%, p=0,058). A mediana da duração de internamento foi cinco dias e o custo hospitalar directo variou entre 629,63 e 2342,38 euros. Discussão. O número de internamentos por infecção por rotavírus, especialmente em lactentes, a frequência de infecções nosocomiais por este agente, as complicações inerentes e os elevados custos, reflectem a importância da infecção por este agente em países desenvolvidos como Portugal

Does body mass index influence surgical options and overall survival in breast cancer patients?

Obesity is a relevant risk factor in breast cancer (BC), but little is known about the effects of overweight and obesity in surgical outcomes of BC patients. The aim of this study is to analyse surgical options and associated overall survival (OS) in overweight and obese women with BC. In this study, 2143 women diagnosed between 2012 and 2016 at the Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO-Porto) were included, and the clinicopathological information was retrieved from the institutional database. Patients were stratified by body mass index (BMI). Statistical analysis included Pearson's chi-squared test with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Multinomial, binary logistic regression and cox proportional-hazards model were also performed to calculate odd ratios and hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for adjusted and non-adjusted models. The results revealed no statistical difference in histological type, topographic localization, tumour stage and receptor status and in the number of surgical interventions. Overweight women have increased probability to be subjected to sentinel node biopsy. Obese and overweight women are more likely to be submitted to conservative surgery and contrariwise, less likely to undergo total mastectomy. Patients submitted to conservative surgery and not submitted to total mastectomy had a favourable OS although without statistical significance. No significant differences were observed in OS when stratified by BMI. Our results revealed significant variations regarding the surgical options in overweight and obese patients, but these were not translated in OS difference. More research is recommended to better address treatment options in overweight and obese BC patients.Open access funding provided by FCT vertical bar FCCN (b-on). This research was supported by the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia by a scholarship granted to Carla Luis (SFRH/BD/146489/2019)

A retrospective study in tumour characteristics and clinical outcomes of overweight and obese women with breast cancer

Introduction Obesity and breast cancer are two major pathologies closely associated with increasing incidence and mortality rates, especially amongst women. The association between both diseases have been thoroughly discussed but much is still to uncover. Aim The aim of this study is to analyse tumour characteristics and clinical outcomes of overweight and obese women to disclosure potential associations and better understand the impact of obesity in breast cancer. Materials and methods Clinicopathological information of 2246 women were extracted from the institutional database of comprehensive cancer centre in Portugal diagnosed between 2012 and 2016. Women were stratified according to body mass index as normal, overweight, and obese. Patients’ demographic information and tumour features (age, family history, topographic localization, laterality, histological type, and receptor status) were taken as independent variables and overall survival, tumour stage, differentiation grade and bilaterality were considered clinical outcomes. Results The main results reveal that overweight and obesity are predominantly associated with worse outcomes in breast cancer patients. Obese patients present larger (p-value: 0.002; OR 1.422; 95% CI 1.134–1.783) and more poorly differentiated tumours (p-value: 0.002; OR 1.480; 95% CI 1.154–1.898) and tend to have lower overall survival although without statistical significance (p-value: 0.117; OR 1.309; 95% CI 0.934–1.833). Overweighted women are more likely to have bilateral breast cancer (p-value: 0.017; OR 3.076; 95% CI 1.225–7.722) than obese women. The results also reveal that overweight women present less distant metastasis (p-value: 0.024; OR 0.525; 95%CI 0.299–0.920). Topographic localization and laterality did not achieve statistical significance.Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). Author C.L. has received research support by “FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” (Grant number [SFRH/BD/146489/2019])

Users satisfaction regarding the service provided in community pharmacies

During the last century, the pharmacy professionals have significantly being professionalized, the user is a high priority and not just limited to the sale of pharmaceuticals. As such, it is necessary to know the users, their needs and expectations, their opinions and preferences. This transversal study, observational, correlational, aimed to: determine the degree of satisfaction with the attendance in community pharmacies, if there is a relationship between factors of a personal nature (age and gender) and satisfaction, trying to identify which aspects improve in order to increase satisfaction levels. The sample consisted of 525 respondents. Data collection was conducted in the period from October 2012 to January 2013 in four locations in northern Portugal. It was used a questionnaire consisting of three parts: the first contained items of personal characterization, the second consisted of the scale "Pharmacy Services Questionnaire" (FSQ) validated for the Portuguese language, developed by Larson et al. (2002) and the last had questions about the respondents' opinion. The results showed that the degree of satisfaction with the services of community pharmacies was in majority an average to 39 % and good for 46,1% . Having in mind the factor by gender, females showed a higher degree of satisfaction. Regarding the age group, older users had the highest degree of satisfaction. It was concluded that, generally, community pharmacies bring a higher degree of satisfaction in the older and the female users. "How the pharmacy professionals explain possible side effects" and "how the pharmacy professional answers your questions.", are the two aspects that must be improved to achieve a higher degree of satisfaction. KEYWORDS Satisfaction, Users, Customer Service, Pharmacotherapy Monitoring, Community Pharmacie

Rocker outsole shoes and margin of stability during walking: a preliminary study

Rocker outsole shoes are commonly prescribed to diabetic patients to redistribute peak plantar pressures at high risk areas such as forefoot thereby decreasing risks of plantar ulceration. However, there are evidences of postural destabilizing effect of the rocker outsole shoes. Patients with diabetes, particularly those suffering from neuropathy, are at a higher risk of falling. Then, beside primary role of rocker outsole in offloading, it is essential to explore the effect of the rocker outsole on postural stability of these patients. The smaller base of support (BOS) of the rocker outsoles due to their specific geometry has been previously mentioned as a threat to postural stability. Margin of stability (MOS) appeared to be an appropriate method for measuring postural stability during walking by considering the dynamicity of BOS in its equation. MOS is defined as the distance between the velocity adjusted position of the centre of mass (COM) and the boundaries of the BOS which constantly changes during walking. Then, this study proposes how we can use MOS concept to investigate the impact of the rocker outsoles on dynamic stability. In this study the kinematic data from a single subject with diabetic neuropathy was used to explain the efficiency of the methodology. Conclusive results are expected after carrying out systematic tests using a statistically representative sample size.This project is funded by Iran University of Medical Sciences (IR.IUMS.REC. 1395.9211503202).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing the degradation of ochratoxin a using a bioassay : the case of contaminated winery wastewater

In vineyards the presence of certain fungi may lead to the production of the mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) and subsequent contamination of grapes and wine. Furthermore, winery wastewaters contaminated with OTA may represent an environmental hazard. Therefore it is imperative to assess the fate of this mycotoxin in conventional wastewater treatment systems. The aim of the present work in this context is to assess the biological degradation of OTA. Experimental work was carried out in batch experiments with initial OTA to biomass concentration ratios (S0/X0) of 1.4 μg mg-1, 7.4 μg mg-1 and 11.9 μg mg-1. The assays were inoculated with activated sludge biomass unadapted to the substance under examination. The proposed bioassay demonstrates that OTA concentrations up to 100 μg L-1 can be degraded by microbial activity in activated sludge

Quasi static mechanical study of vacuum bag infused bouligand inspired composites

Three novel Bouligand inspired composites were produced by vacuum bag infusion manufacturing process and their quasi-static mechanical performance were compared to a conventional aircraft laminate. A morphologic/physical study was first conducted for all configurations and their mechanical response under tensile, three-point bending (3-PB) and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) tests were then evaluated and discussed. No significant number of voids were detected into laminates, however, a rough and poor defined interlaminar region was observed in both Bouligand-like configurations. Under quasi-static mechanical solicitations, and when compared to reference layup, bioinspired configurations have shown similar and 18% higher tensile and flexural modulus. However, the progressive and translaminar failure mode, typically observed in these configurations, led to a lower load bearing capability. Despite presented similar interlaminar resistance than reference, finite element models built have revealed a good correlation between cross-section stress field and failure mode observed experimentally.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Projetos UIDB/05256/2020, UIDP/05256/2020 e MITP-TB/PFM/0005/201