Perturbação de hiperactividade e défice de atenção: terapia psicomotora vs terapia farmacológica

O objectivo central deste trabalho é abordar sucintamente duas formas de intervenção na hiperactividade, a farmacológica e a terapia psicomotora, recorrendo-se para tal a uma revisão bibliográfica acerca do tema. O transtorno de déficit de atenção/hiperactividade (TDAH) é uma desordem muito comum nos dias de hoje e caracteriza-se por sintomas clinicamente significativos de desatenção, hiperactividade e impulsividade. São descritos três subtipos: predominantemente desatento, predominantemente hiperactivo e combinado. A prática psicomotora no seio de um grupo de crianças hiperactivas tem como objectivos fundamentais aumentar progressivamente o tempo de concentração e de atenção na tarefa, desenvolver as capacidades de autocontrolo de modo a diminuir a impulsividade, reduzir a hiperactividade atenuando os comportamentos incompatíveis, melhorar as habilidades sociais e promover a compreensão e a expressão da comunicação não-verbal. No que diz respeito ao tratamento farmacológico, o grupo de fármacos mais usado e estudado até ao momento são os estimulantes do sistema nervoso central como o metilfenidato, que actua por inibição da recaptação de dopamina e noradrenalina e a dextroanfetamina. Um fármaco mais recentemente descoberto, a atomoxetina, inibidor da recaptação da noradrenalina, tem também apontado efeitos positivos no controlo deste distúrbio. Outros fármacos não estimulantes como antidepressivos inibidores da recaptação da serotonina, a bupropiona e o modafinil parecem ter interesse em alguns tipos de hiperactividade. Conclui-se que as duas formas de intervenção poderão, em conjunto, trazer benefícios para estes indivíduos no que respeita ao controlo dos sintomas e consequente melhoria na sua qualidade de vida

Adrienne Rich (estruturação de uma voz)

Este trabalho irá incidir sobre determinadas características da escrita de Adrienne Rich, assim como na análise do poema “The Burning of paper instead of children”. Pretende-se realçar a faceta humanista da escritora, as suas preocupações e vontades. Rich pugnou por uma nova linguagem que fosse capaz de dar ênfase a uma mudança no mundo, nomeadamente, à condição da escrita feminina. Essa nova voz será alicerçada por uma semântica igualitária, nascida da justiça. This work will talk about some characteristics of Adrienne Rich’s writings, and it will analyse the poem “The Burning of paper instead of children”. The aim is to highlight her humanist side, her worries and her wills. Rich fought for a new language that was able to give emphasis to a change in the world, and namely, to the condition of the feminine writing. This new voice will be based by an egalitarian semantics, raised from justice

Fabrication of 3D electrodes for biosensor applications

Alzheimer’s Disease is one of the most common forms of dementia, affecting millions of people worldwide. Although incurable, an easy and effective form of diagnosis is still missing. Thus, this work aims to develop an electrochemical biosensor for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease, by recognizing the peptide Aβ-42, a biomarker associated with visible differences in the brain tissue and responsible for the formation of senile plaques. The intended sensing devices use a bottom-up designing approach, having paper as substrate. Paper is one of the most promising materials in the current flexible electronics industry, for being eco-friendly, cheap, abundant and offering biocompatible, easy and fast construction procedures. The biosensors produced herein use pencil and printed carbon electrodes, allied with laser writing techniques. The electrical circuits are designed either on a conductive carbon ink or a 9B pencil tracks, printed or draw directly on the substrate. The recognition is done by a molecularly imprinted polymer, created on the electrode’s surface by electropolymerizing a mixture of the analyte (Aβ-42) and a monomer (O-Phenylenediamine). This pro-cess forms a conductive polymer with recognition sites displaying affinity for the selected biomarker. The parameters involved in the electropolymerization were optimized, by imprinting the peptide on the sensing layer, growing the polymer around the Aβ-42 peptide and removing it later by incubating in suitable enzyme and acid solutions. The performance of the biosensor was evaluated by electroanalytical techniques. The analytical features of the biosensor were further evaluated by electroanalytical techniques. For this purpose, the analytical response was tested with standard solutions ranging from 0.1 ng/mL to 1μg/mL of Aβ-42 in PBS buffer and Cormay Serum. The response was found of analytical interest, considering that healthy individuals show normal values of ~23.3 pg/mL. Overall, the developed biosensor offered numerous benefits, such as being a low cost, having reusa-bility features, with a reproducible and fast response, which may have a strong impact in the early de-tection of Alzheimer disease

Quality of life in women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy and the moderating role of cortisol

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is severely affected by breast cancer (BC) and its treatment, particularly chemotherapy treatment. Psychological morbidity, illness perceptions, and self-efficacy for coping are important variables that impact QoL during the treatment of BC. The impact of cortisol on QoL has been poorly studied. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the contributing variables to QoL in women with BC receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, as well as the moderating role of cortisol in the relationship between treatment adverse effects and QoL. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 112 women with BC undergoing chemotherapy who answered the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire, the Supplementary Questionnaire Breast Cancer Module, the Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Cancer Behavior Inventory—Brief Version, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. In addition, salivary cortisol concentrations were also assessed. Results: The strongest contributor to lower QoL was treatment adverse effects. The illness perception and the cancer stage also contributed to a lower QoL. Nadir cortisol moderated the relationship between adverse effects and QoL. Conclusion: Breast cancer chemotherapy and illness perceptions, even at the beginning of treatment, showed a great impact on QoL. Implications for Practice: It is important during chemotherapy to assess women’s illness perceptions, as well as their stress levels to help women cope with the stress associated with treatment adverse effects. Monitoring cortisol is important as cortisol moderated the relationship between adverse effects and QoL. For those women struggling with stress, a reference to a mental health provider is warranted

Assessment methods and therapy adherence scales in hypertensive patients: a literature review

Background: Arterial Hypertension is a chronic disease whose control is directly related to the patient antihypertensive therapy adherence. It is therefore important to know and understand the methods and scales of evaluation of adherence. Thus, the aim of this review is to identify assessment methods and therapy adherence scales in hypertensive patients. Methods and Findings: This study is a literature review of published studies from 1986 to 2015, held in electronic databases Web of Science and PubMed. For this research were selected 22 studies were identi ed that corresponded to inclusion criteria. This review was conducted from February to May 2015. To measure and assess the patient adherence to prescribed treatment, different methods were found, such as direct: biological analysis and adding a marker to ingested medication; and indirect methods: patient diary, questionnaires or structured interviews, drug exemption of registration pharmacy, electronic monitoring and pill counts. Conclusion: The different methods currently available for assessing therapy adherence only provide an estimate of the existing behavior of patient compliance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The influence of WebQuest learning in teaching of sexually transmitted diseases in adult education and training

The present study describes an experience that involved the development of a long lasting WebQuest in an adult education and training course, from the secondary education level, on the theme “Sexually Transmitted Diseases”. A case study was developed with the purpose of verifying if the WebQuest foments the trainees’ motivation and commitment towards learning and if it facilitates the research and interpretation of the information available online, in the production of the end result; to listen to the trainees’ opinions on the fulfilment of the WebQuest, the written assignment and the informational bulletin; to increase the trainees’ informatics skills and contribute to prepare 21st century citizens. The results of the study sustain that the WebQuest improved the constructive role of the trainees in the comprehension of the “Sexually Transmitted Diseases” theme, stimulated the acquisition of competences at the informatics level and contributed to make them become citizens that are more active and critically prepared for decision-making in the global information and knowledge society of the 21st century.CIED - Universidade do Minh

In-Vehicle information systems-related multiple task performance and driver

Doutoramento em Motricidade Humana, Especialidade em ErgonomiaThe presence of new technologies inside vehicles is becoming more common. Due to this fact, the potential changes produced on the driving task and also on the road safety must be examined. With the intention of contributing to amplify this knowledge, the present research aimed to study the impact of multiple visual and auditory inputs from in-vehicle information systems on the driver behaviour. It was investigated the interaction with more than one invehicle system (a guidance system and a mobile phone device) and verified its consequences on the drivers’ activity. To accomplish this goal two experimental moments were planned: one conducted in a real context and another in a simulated environment. Results revealed that the interaction with two in-vehicle systems produced considerable changes on drivers’behaviour once subjects assumed more frequently unsafe actions like: inadequate indication of their actions; abrupt and unexpected adoption of determined behaviours; and also negligence of some road information from the environment. It was also verified that this situation produced more severe consequences to the driving task performance of elderly drivers. The management of all sources of information induced them to compromise their safety and be more frequently involved in dangerous situations.O surgimento das novas tecnologias embarcadas e a sua contínua evolução têm alterado o contexto rodoviário. Como consequência, a cada vez maior aceitação e utilização deste tipo de equipamentos tem sido motivo de estudo, uma vez que é essencial conhecer as potenciais alterações produzidas na tarefa de condução e na segurança rodoviária. Com o intuito de contribuir para ampliar o conhecimento relativo a este tema, a presente investigação pretendeu estudar o impacto que múltiplas mensagens visuais e auditivas provenientes de sistemas embarcados possam ter no comportamento do condutor. Foi investigada a interacção com mais que um sistema embarcado (sistema de navegação e telemóvel) e verificadas as consequências na actividade dos condutores. Para cumprir este objectivo, dois momentos experimentais foram desenvolvidos: um em ambiente real e outro em envolvimento simulado. Os resultados revelaram que a interacção com os dois sistemas embarcados produziram alterações consideráveis no comportamento dos condutores uma vez que estes adoptaram mais frequentemente actos inseguros como: indicação inadequada das suas acções; comportamentos bruscos e inesperados; bem como negligência de determinada informação proveniente do envolvimento rodoviário. Foi igualmente verificado que esta situação produziu consequências mais gravosas no desempenho dos condutores idosos. A gestão de todas as fontes de informação impeliu este grupo de condutores a comprometer a sua segurança e a estar mais frequentemente envolvidos em situações perigosas