Cortisol Response in Breast Cancer: The Role of Physical Activity and Exercise

Chronic stress is a consistent sense of feeling pressured and overwhelmedfor a long period of time and it has been defined as a maladaptive state thatis associated with altered hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Thehyperactivity of the HPA axis is commonly assessed by cortisol levels.Physical activity (PA) and exercise have been demonstrated to regulatecortisol patterns in different healthy study populations, but also in BCpatients and survivors. The PA and exercise are related but have distinctconcepts that are commonly misused. Nowadays, the regular practice of PAand exercise has been widely recognized as one main strategy to managechronic stress and its related markers, like cortisol, remains elusive. In thepresent review, the authors focused on the evidence of the PA and exerciseon cortisol patterns of BC patients and survivors

Parental perception of toddlers body image

Currently, weight disorders, have reached a large part of the world population. Obesity in children, including toddlers, is a serious public health problem. There are many parents who do not recognize their children's overweight/obesity and toddlers parents of are less likely to recognize this problem. It is known that identifying overweight/obesity is critical to implementing prevention strategies and interventions as early as possible. We carried out a descriptive study of quantitative approach. It was applied: “Toddler Silhouette Scale” to parents of toddlers who attend day care centers in located the district of Viseu, Portugal. Data processed using IBM-SPSS24. It was concluded that 83.3% of the parents reported that their child had normal weight, 13.3% underweight and 3.3% overweight. Regarding the silhouette that they consider ideal, the totality of the parents, select silhouettes referring to the normal weight. In the evaluation of the current silhouette of the child, 6.7% opts for the image 1 (low Weight) and 3.3% for the image 6 (overweight), all the others select images of normal weight. According to the weight records of the individual health report, 3.3% of the children were underweight, 10% overweight and 6.7% obese. Our results corroborate those of the author of the scale who concluded that most parents correctly identify the silhouette that matches their child's actual weight. A study carried out in Portugal, revealed an absence of parental perception about the excess weight of the children.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MECANISMOS DE COMBATE À CRIMINALIDADE TRANSNACIONAL: UMA PERCEPÇÃO DE ANOMIA NO ÂMBITO INTERNACIONAL QUANTO AOS CRIMES AMBIENTAIS

A Globalização fez emergir a criminalidade organizada transnacional que se favorece da visão tradicionalista do direito penal, limitada ao princípio da territorialidade e da soberania estatal. A repressão criminal, até então circunscrita aos limites territoriais estatais, não é suficiente para o embate à esse tipo criminalidade o que obrigou os Estados a uniram-se para a aprovação de tratados internacionais para a cooperação jurídica internacional no combate de crimes com tráfico de entorpecentes, armas e pessoas, corrupção e lavagem de dinheiro. Contudo, não há idêntica preocupação nos esforços para a uma colaboração no enfrentamento da criminalidade ambiental transfronteiriça

Educação médica em Portugal

Copyright © Ordem dos Médicos 2016Medical education is an always evolving métier and mission. More than just emphasizing scientific knowledge, it is nowadays expected that it incorporates clinical reasoning, practical skills, and stimulates the development of character, compassion, and integrity. Most medical schools education results chiefly from tradition rather than evidence, and little has changed with regard to delivering top notch professionals in healthcare.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vulnerabilidade ao stress, autoeficácia e motivação para o tratamento em toxicodependentes

A toxicodependência é uma realidade cada vez mais preocupante na atualidade e, deste modo, torna-se fulcral compreender as variáveis que podem estar relacionadas com a motivação para o tratamento assim como para a prevenção da recaída, nomeadamente a vulnerabilidade ao stress e a autoeficácia. Assim, este estudo procura compreender a relação entre a vulnerabilidade ao stress, a autoeficácia e a motivação para o tratamento de toxicodependentes. Para além disso, pretende-se determinar a vulnerabilidade ao stress destes indivíduos, identificar as principais fontes de vulnerabilidade ao stress, compreender quais os níveis de autoeficácia e a motivação para o tratamento. Trata-se de um estudo quantitativo, correlacional, com uma amostra de 47, sendo 27 da comunidade do Projecto Homem e 20 da comunidade de Adaúfe. A avaliação ocorreu apenas num momento, sendo, por isso, um estudo transversal. Os resultados indicam níveis elevados de vulnerabilidade ao stress, níveis médios de autoeficácia, sendo a dimensão mais elevada eficácia social, e de motivação para o tratamento, com a dimensão pré-contemplação mais elevada. Foram encontradas diferenças significativas tendo em conta a escolaridade, sendo que os participantes com menos escolaridade apresentam níveis mais elevados de eficácia permanente à adversidade; tendo em conta a idade de início de consumo, sendo que os que iniciaram os consumos mais tarde apresentam maiores níveis de eficácia permanente à adversidade, eficácia no geral, níveis mais elevados de motivação no estádio de contemplação e ação; e tendo em conta a história familiar de consumos, sendo que os que não têm história familiar de consumo apresentam maiores níveis de motivação nos estádios contemplação, ação e no total da escala de motivação. Por fim, encontramos correlações significativas positivas entre a vulnerabilidade ao stress e a autoeficácia e entre a autoeficácia e a motivação para o tratamento. Concluímos que a autoeficácia e motivação apresentam-se como variáveis preditoras de sucesso terapêutico e que, apesar dos participantes apresentarem níveis elevados de vulnerabilidade ao stress, apresentam também elevada autoeficácia e motivação.Drug addiction is a growing concern reality at present and, therefore it’s crucial to understand the variables that can be related to the motivation for treatment as well as prevention of relapse, in particular vulnerability and stress -efficacy . Thus this study seeks to understand the relationship between vulnerability to stress, self-efficacy and motivation for the treatment of users of of users of drug addicts. In addition we intend to determine vulnerability to stress these individuals, identify the main sources of vulnerability to stress, to understand what levels of self-efficacy and motivation for treatment. This is a quantitative, correlational, with a sample of 47, 27 being of the Human Project Community and the 20 Adaúfe community. The evaluation took place just a moment, and is therefore a cross-sectional study. The results showed vulnerability to elevated levels of stress, medium efficacy levels, with higher efficacy social dimension and motivation for treatment, the size precontemplative higher. Significant differences were found with regard to education, with participants with less education have higher efficiency míveis permanent adversity, taking into account the age of onset of consumption and the consumption that started later have higher levels of ongoing effectiveness of adversity, overall efficacy, higher levels of motivation at the stage of contemplation and action and taking into account the family history of consumption , and those who have no family history of consumption have higher levels of motivation in the contemplation stage, action and the total scale of motivation . Finally, we found significant positive correlations between vulnerability to stress and between self-efficacy and selfefficacy and motivation for treatment. We conclude that self-efficacy and motivation are presented as predictors of therapeutic success and that despite the participants to give high levels of vulnerability to stress, also have high self-efficacy and motivation

um estudo explorat?rio transversal

Disserta??o de mestrado apresentada para obten??o do grau de Mestre em Atividades de Fitness, na Escola Superior de Desporto e Lazer do Instituto Polit?cnico de Viana do Castelo.Objetivos: avaliar a atividade f?sica e os sintomas da depress?o e da ansiedade em mulheres com cancro da mama e analisar potenciais correla??es entre estas vari?veis e a perce??o da qualidade de vida (QdV) e da sa?de. M?todos: mulheres com diagn?stico de cancro da mama (n=33; 54,45?12,11 anos) participaram voluntariamente no presente estudo. Para avaliar a atividade f?sica, aplicamos o Question?rio Internacional de Atividade F?sica (IPAQ). Com base neste question?rio, estimamos os METs-min/sem para classificar as participantes em inativas (?600METs-min/sem) ou fisicamente ativas (FA; >600 METs-min/sem). Para avaliar a preval?ncia de sintomas da depress?o e ansiedade, utilizamos a Escala de Autoavalia??o da Depress?o (EAD) - Zhung e a Escala de Autoavalia??o da Ansiedade (EAA) - Zhung, validadas para a popula??o oncol?gica. A perce??o da QdV e da sa?de foi avaliada atrav?s do Question?rio da Organiza??o Europeia para a Investiga??o e Tratamento do Cancro (EORTC-QLQ C30). O teste n?o-param?trico Mann-Whitney para amostras independentes foi usado para analisar as diferen?as entre os grupos inativo e FA. O tamanho do efeito (TE) foi calculado para determinar a magnitude das diferen?as. A correla??o de Spearman foi realizada para analisar as potenciais correla??es entre as vari?veis estudadas. O valor de ? foi definido a priori em 0,05. Resultados: as participantes obtiveram uma m?dia de 882,73?725,84 METS-min/sem. Do total das participantes, 54,5% (n=18) eram FA. A pontua??o obtida na EAD foi de 37,7?8,92. Cerca de 70% (n=23) das participantes obtiveram uma pontua??o no n?vel normal (<40). Nenhuma participante reportou a toma de antidepressivos. O grupo FA apresentou mais atividade f?sica comparativamente ao grupo inativo (p<0,001; TE=8,07) com um TE muito grande. O grupo FA reportou pontua??o mais alta no item QdV comparativamente ao grupo inativo (p=0,044; TE=0,88) com um TE moderado comparativamente ao grupo inativo. O grupo FA apresentou uma pontua??o mais baixa na EAD (p=0,003; TE= 0,92) comparativamente ao grupo inativo com um TE moderado. Conclus?es: apesar da amostra pequena e de um ?nico momento de avalia??o, os resultados sugerem que as mulheres com cancro da mama FA apresentam n?veis de depress?o normais associado a uma melhor QdV.Objectives: to evaluate physical activity, depression and anxiety symptoms in breast cancer women and to analyse potential correlations between these variables and perceived quality of life (QoL) and health. Methods: women diagnosed with breast cancer (n=33; 54,45?12,11 years) voluntarily participated in the present study. To evaluate the profile of physical activity, was applied the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Based on IPAQ, METS min/week were estimated, in order to categorise into inactive (?600METs min/week) or physically active (PA; >600 METs-min/week) groups. The depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed by using Self-reported Depression and Anxiety Scale-Zhung (SDSZ and SDASZ), both validated for cancer population in Portugal. The perceived QoL and health were evaluated by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC-QLQ C30). The non-parametric test Mann-Whitney for independent samples was applied to analyse the differences between groups. Effect size (ES) was also calculated to determine the magnitude of the difference. Spearman?s correlation was performed to analyse the correlations between studied variables. Significance level was defined as p < 0.05. Results: participants obtained an average of 882,73?725,84 METS-min/sem. From all, 54,5% (n=18) were PA. The SDSZ score was an average of 37,70?8,92. Approximately 70% (n=23) of the participants were at normal level (<40). None reported antidepressants intake. The group PA reported a higher score in QoL compared to inactive group (p<0,001; ES=8,07) with a very large ES. The group PA showed a lower score in SDSZ (p=0,003; TE= 0,92) compared to inactive group with moderate ES. Conclusion: in spite of the small sample and one single assessment in time, data from the present study suggest that PA women showed lower scores in depression, which was associated with a better QoL, in breast cancer patients/survivors

Indicadores de Saúde Oral em Adolescentes

Os indicadores da saúde oral permitem mensurar o estado de saúde e higiene da boca. O presente, estudo de natureza descritiva e cariz transversal, foi realizado numa amostra constituída por 189 adolescentes com idades compreendidas entre os 11 e 17 anos, com uma média de idades de 13 anos (Dp=1.17), do concelho de Sátão, distrito de Viseu. A pesquisa teve como finalidade avaliar o Índice de Dentes Cariados, Perdidos e Obturados (CPOD), o Índice de Placa Bacteriana Simplificado e caracterizar as práticas de higiene oral dos adolescentes. Para o efeito, a avaliação dos indicadores de saúde oral foi efetuada por observação clínica. Em face dos resultados inferiu-se que os adolescentes apresentam saúde oral precária, com 34,9% de dentes cariados, a maioria apresenta placa bacteriana reveladora de deficientes práticas de higiene oral.Os resultados reforçam que o planeamento das intervenções de educação para a saúde em adolescentes devem considerar os valores dos indicadores de saúde oral.The oral health indicators allow measuring health status and oral hygiene. This study is of descriptive and cross-sectional nature. It was conducted on a sample composed of 189 adolescents aged between 11 and 17 years old, with an average age of 13 years old (SD = 1.17), from Sátão, district of Viseu. The research aimed to evaluate the index decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT), the Plaque Index Simplified and characterize Index of plaque and the oral hygiene practices of adolescents. The assessment of oral health indicators was made by clinical observation. From the results it was concluded that adolescents have poor oral health, with 34.9% of decayed teeth and most of the adolescents present plaque, revealing deficient oral hygiene practices. The results emphasize that the planning of the interventions of health education in adolescents should consider the values of the indicators of oral health

Pullulan hydrogels as drug release platforms in biomedicine

It is increasingly urgent to develop new therapeutic systems to combat the spreading and evolution of various pathologies globally. Nonspecific therapies and/or insufficient medication biodistribution might hinder the patient's recovery. In this sense, a targeted and controlled delivery of various biomolecules allows overcoming the limitations of conventional delivery systems, taking the user one step closer to the successful treatment of a disease. Hydrogels have been highlighted for their drug delivery abilities, particularly for their tunable properties, like hydration capacity, biodegradability, release kinetics, etc., that can be adjusted to the desired needs. Additionally, they can be produced from either natural and/or synthetic polymers, with natural-origin sources providing exceptional features like biodegradation and acceptable integration in biological systems. One of those polymers is pullulan, a biodegradable, biocompatible and hemocompatible material, with multiple uses in biomedicine. Investigations into pullulan-based hydrogels have progressively increased over the last few decades. This review addresses the uses of pullulan in biomedical engineering, emphasizing its exceptional properties for drug delivery and its processing into hydrogel systems, either in its original or derivative forms.Authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), FEDER funds by means of Portugal 2020 Competitive Factors Operational Program (POCI) and the Portuguese Government (OE) for funding the project PEPTEX with reference PTDC/CTM-TEX/28074/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028074) and 2C2T Strategic project UIDP/00264/2020. M.O.T. and H.P.F. also acknowledge FCT for funding PhD scholarship with reference 2021.06906.BD and auxiliary researcher contract via 2021.02720. CEEIND, respectively

Influence of mechanical agitation on cutinases and protease activity towards polyamide substrates

Two polyamide 6,6 substrates with different constructions, namely a model substrate and a fabric, were hydrolyzed using native cutinase and L182A cutinase mutant (from Fusarium solani pisi) and a protease (subtilisin from Bacillus sp.). The catalytic efficiency of these enzymes, measured in terms of hydrolysis products release, was measured for both substrates and the protease released five times more amines to the bath treatment. The L182A cutinase mutant showed higher activity when compared with the native enzyme. All enzymes have shown activity additive effects with higher levels of mechanical agitation for polyamide fabrics. The results achieved are of paramount importance on the design of a process of enzymatic functionalization of polyamide.European Community - Biosyntex Project, G5RD-CT-2000-30110Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/22490/200