A cidadania activa, a modernização e a descentralização no Município de Lisboa: o orçamento participativo

A cidadania activa é característica de uma sociedade dinâmica e, neste sentido, os governos devem tomar medidas concretas para facilitar o acesso à informação e à participação, promover a tomada de consciência sobre as questões, reforçar a participação cívica e as capacidades dos cidadãos e apoiar a intervenção das organizações da sociedade civil. Aprofundar a cidadania activa deve ser um dos desafios das sociedades contemporâneas. A modernização da Administração Pública é um instrumento central na resposta a este desafio. A descentralização é um contributo central na modernização da Administração Pública. No contexto do alargamento das competências das autarquias, a descentralização representa uma estratégia de aproximação aos cidadãos, potenciada pelo contacto directo e pela própria proximidade geográfica. O Poder Local é o espaço de acção que mais perto se encontra dos cidadãos, permitindo aos políticos um contacto mais directo e imediato com os problemas da sociedade. Reciprocamente, é também uma esfera privilegiada de poder dos próprios cidadãos, sendo a este nível que a mobilização para a participação e a cidadania activa têm mais potencialidades. O presente trabalho de projecto propõe-se contribuir para reforçar a interacção entre o Poder Local e os cidadãos, no contexto específico da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa. Neste sentido, a análise dos mecanismos de participação dos munícipes constitui a base para a formulação de um conjunto de propostas e recomendações. A análise coloca o foco no Orçamento Participativo, já que este é um instrumento relevante de participação directa dos cidadãos na decisão política, podendo promover uma cidadania activa, com envolvimento dos munícipes no próprio debate político e no diálogo democrático.Active citizenship is a central feature of a dynamic society. Governments must take action to facilitate access to information and provide for full citizen’s engagement, promote public awareness, reinforce citizens’ participation and support the involvement of civil society organizations and institutions. Improving active citizenship is one of the most important challenges in modern societies, and the modernization of Public Administration is part of the answer to this challenge. Decentralization is a main tool in the modernization of Public Administration. As far as the reinforcement of local government is concerned decentralization represents a strategy of proximity to the citizens, which is facilitated by direct personal contact as well as geographical closeness. Local Government is the political domain that is closest to citizens, allowing politicians a direct and immediate contact with community concerns. Likewise, it is also a main field for the exercise of citizens´ power, and that is why Local Government becomes an area of choice for the mobilization of active citizenship. This project aims at contributing to reinforce the interaction between Local Government and citizens in Lisbon, Portugal. Project recommendations are grounded in the analysis of the structures of citizens´ participation. Analysis sets its focus on the Lisbon City Council participative budget, a relevant instrument for direct engagement of citizens in political and economical decision and a main area for citizens´ involvement in political and democratic debate

Transitional Care Management from Emergency Services to Communities: An Action Research Study

In recent years, nurses have developed projects in the area of hospital to community transition. The objective of the present study was to analyze the transitional care offered to elderly people after they used emergency services and were discharged to return to the community. The action research method was chosen. The participants were nurses, elderly people 70 years old or older, and their caregivers. The study was carried out from October 2018 to August 2019. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with the nurses, analysis of medical records, participatory observation, phone calls to the elderly people and caregivers, and team meetings. The qualitative data were submitted to Bardin’s content analysis. Statistical treatment was carried out by applying SPSS version 23.0. The institution’s research ethics committee approved the research. Only 31.4% of the sample experienced care continuity after discharge, and the rate of readmission to emergency services during the first 30 days after discharge was 33.4%. The referral letters lacked data on information provided to patients or caregivers, and nurses mentioned difficulties in communication between care levels, as well as obstacles to teamwork; they also mentioned that the lack of health policies and clinical rules to formalize transitional care between the hospital and the community perpetuated non-coordination of care between the two contexts. The low level of literacy of patients and their relatives are mentioned as a cause for not understanding the information regarding seeking primary health care services and handing the discharge letter. It was concluded that there is an urgent need to mobilize health teams toward action in the patients’ process of returning home, and this factor must be taken into account in care planning.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Neurofibromatoses: part 1 ? diagnosis and differential diagnosis

Neurofibromatoses (NF) are a group of genetic multiple tumor growing predisposition diseases: neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) and schwannomatosis (SCH), which have in common the neural origin of tumors and cutaneous signs. They affect nearly 80 thousand of Brazilians. In recent years, the increased scientific knowledge on NF has allowed better clinical management and reduced complication morbidity, resulting in higher quality of life for NF patients. In most cases, neurology, psychiatry, dermatology, clinical geneticists, oncology and internal medicine specialists are able to make the differential diagnosis between NF and other diseases and to identify major NF complications. Nevertheless, due to its great variability in phenotype expression, progressive course, multiple organs involvement and unpredictable natural evolution, NF often requires the support of neurofibromatoses specialists for proper treatment and genetic counseling. This Part 1 offers step-by-step guidelines for NF differential diagnosis. Part 2 will present the NF clinical management

Development of a Melting-Curve-Based Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay for the Simultaneous Detection of Viruses Causing Respiratory Infection

The prompt and accurate identification of the etiological agents of viral respiratory infections is a critical measure in mitigating outbreaks. In this study, we developed and clinically evaluated a novel melting-curve-based multiplex real-time PCR (M-m-qPCR) assay targeting the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and nucleocapsid phosphoprotein N of SARS-CoV-2, the Matrix protein 2 of the Influenza A virus, the RdRp domain of the L protein from the Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus, and the polyprotein from Rhinovirus B genes. The analytical performance of the M-m-qPCR underwent assessment using in silico analysis and a panel of reference and clinical strains, encompassing viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens, exhibiting 100% specificity. Moreover, the assay showed a detection limit of 10 copies per reaction for all targeted pathogens using the positive controls. To validate its applicability, the assay was further tested in simulated nasal fluid spiked with the viruses mentioned above, followed by validation on nasopharyngeal swabs collected from 811 individuals. Among them, 13.4% (109/811) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and 1.1% (9/811) tested positive for Influenza A. Notably, these results showed 100% concordance with those obtained using a commercial kit. Therefore, the M-m-qPCR exhibits great potential for the routine screening of these respiratory viral pathogens

Neurofibromatosis: part 2 – clinical management

Part 1 of this guideline addressed the differential diagnosis of the neurofibromatoses (NF): neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) and schwannomatosis (SCH). NF shares some features such as the genetic origin of the neural tumors and cutaneous manifestations, and affects nearly 80 thousand Brazilians. Increasing scientific knowledge on NF has allowed better clinical management and reduced rate of complications and morbidity, resulting in higher quality of life for NF patients. Most medical doctors are able to perform NF diagnosis, but the wide range of clinical manifestations and the inability to predict the onset or severity of new features, consequences, or complications make NF management a real clinical challenge, requiring the support of different specialists for proper treatment and genetic counseling, especially in NF2 and SCH. The present text suggests guidelines for the clinical management of NF, with emphasis on NF1

Resumos em andamento - Administração

Resumo em andamento - Administraçã