O consentimento informado na investigação em psicologia da saúde é necessário?

O objectivo do presente texto é apresentar a história do consentimento informado, discutir a sua utilidade, e distinguir o que é direito de todos os cidadãos do que é obrigação dos profissionais. Discute-se o significado do consentimento informado em diversos códices (Código de Nuremberg, Declaração da Promoção dos Direitos dos Doentes na Europa, Declaração de Helsínquia, Código de Ética da Associação Americana de Psicologia e da Associação Britânica de Psicologia, e na Lei Portuguesa). Defende-se a importância do respeito por esta figura embora referindo a necessidade de aperfeiçoar a sua aplicação. ------ ABSTRACT ------ The aims of the present study are to describe and to discuss the informed consent in health research in general and, more specifically, in health psychology. We salient a distinction between human rights and ethical obligation, that is present in different codices. We discuss the meaning of informed consent in different codices (Nuremberg Code, Declaration on the Promotion of Patients' Rights in Europe, Declaration of Helsinki, Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association and British Psychological Society, and the Portuguese Law). We defend the importance of the idea of informed consent and the respect for it for the practice of health psychology

Escala de satisfação com o suporte social (ESSS)

O objectivo é construir uma escala de avaliação da satisfação com o suporte social recebido. Assume-se que o suporte social percebido tem um papel importante na saúde e no bem-estar tanto das pessoas sem doença, como nas que estão em recuperação ou vivem com uma doença. Recorreu-se a uma amostra de jovens sem doença, 47% homens. Construiu-se uma escala com 15 itens, com resposta tipo likert, com base na validade de conteúdo de cada item para avaliarem a satisfação com o suporte social proveniente de várias fontes, e com as actividades sociais. A escala inclui quatro sub-escalas com valores de consistência interna variando entre 0,64 e 0,83, com um valor de 0,85 para a escala total. Inspeccionou-se a validade discriminante dos itens e a validade concorrente com medidas associadas à saúde tanto pela positiva como pela negativa, tendo-se encontrado valores que confirmam a validade da escala para avaliar a percepção de suporte social em contextos de saúde.ABSTRACT: The objective is to create a scale to evaluate the satisfaction with the social support received. It is assumed that the social support received plays an important role in health and well being, both in healthy people, those recuperating or those living with a disease. A sample of young healthy people, 47% males, was used. A scale with 15 items was built, with Likert type response, with a basis on content validity of each item, in order to evaluate the level of satisfaction regarding the social support received from different sources, and with social activities. The scale includes four sub-scales with internal consistency values varying between 0,64 and 0,83, with a value of 0,85 for the total scale. The discriminating validity as well as the concurrent validity of the items was analysed with measures related to health, both on the positive as well as the negative side. The values found that confirm the validity of the scale in evaluating perceptions of social support within a health context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Validação transcultural da Escala de Felicidade Subjectiva de Lyubomirsky e Lepper

Felicidade é um construto semelhante ao bem-estar subjectivo e tornou-se uma variável importante para a psicologia: é um construto complementar da saúde mental. Lyubomirsky e Lepper, desenvolveram uma medida de felicidade subjectiva com quatro itens. O objectivo do presente estudo é fazer uma validação transcultural desta medida. Os participantes constituem uma amostra de conveniência de 516 indivíduos, 54,3 % mulheres, idade média de 35,18 anos. O material utilizado são a escala de felicidade subjectiva, e ara a validade concorrente e discriminante, um item para a avaliação da satisfação global com a vida, a escala de bem-estar geral, a escala de bem-estar pessoal, o inventário de saúde mental com cinco itens, mais um item para avaliar a percepção de saúde e outro para a percepção de qualidade de vida. O teste para a hipótese de os quatro itens constituírem um único factor foi realizado através da análise factorial confirmatória, e mostra um bom ajustamento (CFI =0,97 e SRMR=0,03). A consistência interna e a validade convergente e discriminante mostram valores apropriados. A média é semelhante à das diferentes amostras utilizadas no estudo original. Como conclusão podemos afirmar que a versão portuguesa da escala de felicidade subjectiva mostra propriedades psicométricas idênticas às da versão original e que pode ser utilizada para comparação na investigação trans-cultural.Abstract: Happiness is similar to subjective well-being and is becoming an important variable for psychology: it is a complementary construct for mental health. Lyubomirsky and Lepper, developed a measure of subjective happiness with four items. The aims of the present study are to cross-validate this measure. Participants constitute a convenience sample of 516 individuals, 54.3 % women, mean age of 35.18 years. Materials used are the subjective happiness scale, and for concurrent and discriminant validity, one item for the assessment of Life as a whole, the general well-being scale, the personal wellbeing, the Mental Health Inventory with five items, plus one item for health perception and another for quality of life. Testing for one factor hypothesis through confirmatory factor analysis shows a good fit (CFI =0.97 and SRMR=0.03). Internal consistency and convergent discriminant analysis are appropriate. Mean values are similar to the different samples of the original study. As final conclusions we can say that the Portuguese version of the subjective happiness scale has similar properties to the original one and that it can be used for comparisons in cross-cultural research

Correction of artificial jumps in the historical geomagnetic measurements of Coimbra Observatory, Portugal

The Coimbra Magnetic Observatory (International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy code COI) in Portugal has a long history of observation of the geomagnetic field, spanning almost 150 yr since the first geomagnetic measurements in 1866. These long instrumental geomagnetic records provide very important information about variability of geomagnetic elements and indices, their trends and cycles, and can be used to improve our knowledge on the sources that drive variations of the geomagnetic field: liquid core dynamics (internal) and solar forcing (external). <br><br> However, during the long life of the Coimbra Observatory, some inevitable changes in station location, instrument's park and electromagnetic environment have taken place. These changes affected the quality of the data collected at COI causing breaks and jumps in the series of geomagnetic field components and local K index. Clearly, these inhomogeneities, typically shift-like (step-like) or trend-like, have to be corrected or, at least, minimized in order for the data to be used in scientific studies or to be submitted to international databases. <br><br> In this study, the series of local K index and declination of the geomagnetic field are analysed: the former because it allows direct application of standard homogenization methods and the latter because it is the longest continuous series produced at COI. For the homogenization, visual and statistical tests (e.g. standard normal homogeneity test) have been applied directly to the local geomagnetic K index series (from 1951 to 2012). The homogenization of the monthly averages of declination (from 1867 to 2012) has been done using visual analysis and statistical tests applied to the time series of the first differences of declination values, as an approximation to the first time derivative. This allowed not only estimating the level of inhomogeneity of the studied series but also detecting the highly probable homogeneity break points. These points have been cross-checked with the metadata, and the COI series have been compared with reference series from the nearest geomagnetic stations and, in the case of declination series, from the recent geomagnetic field model COV-OBS to set up the required correction factors. As a result, the homogenized series measured in COI are considered to be essentially free of artificial shifts starting from the second half of the 20th century, and ready to be used by the scientific community

The relationship between playing violent electronic games and aggression in adolescents

The concern with the effect of exposure to violent contents on behavior is not recent and has been the subject of intense research. Earlier findings on exposure to violence on television (TV) indicated that: (1) people can learn aggressive behaviors and attitudes1; (2) it may reinforce the behavior of already aggressive people; (3) it may desensitize individuals to violence, turning them indifferent to other people’s suffering2, and to an increasing acceptance of violence in real 1ife3–4; and (4) it can lead to a distorted perception of the world, in which they overestimate their risk of victimisation5. Berkowitz6 mentioned that exposure to violence in the media is most likely to increase the probability of aggressive behavior if the individuals are under the following conditions: (a) the focus of attention is directed to the aggression instead of focusing on other aspects; (b) the observed violence is not punished, nor does it have adverse consequences for the aggressor; (c) the individual identifies himself with aggressive models; and (d) the portrayal of violence is not considered inappropriate or unjustified

Formulation of a carrier system to deliver a CRISPR-Cas-based antiviral

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, 2022, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia.Introdução: Nas últimas décadas temos observado a emergência de pandemias causadas por vírus. A rapidez com que um vírus sofre mutações é um fator importante que contribui para a inativação de antivirais e o desenvolvimento de novos medicamentos é um processo moroso, que atualmente não acompanha a evolução dos vírus. Assim, a terapia génica com sistemas CRISPR-Cas pode ser útil, uma vez que após desenvolvimento da primeira terapêutica, apenas é necessário reformular o sgRNA para tornar uma sequência genética diferente o novo alvo da mesma terapêutica. O objetivo deste estudo foi o desenvolvimento e comparação de três sistemas de transporte que fossem capazes de transportar eficazmente os componentes deste sistema no organismo humano. Métodos: Nanopartículas de albumina sérica bovina (BSA), de uma mistura de polímeros e de um poli(β-amino éster) (PBAE) foram formuladas por nanoprecipitação, e encapsuladas com siRNA ou mRNA. As partículas foram caracterizadas de acordo com o tamanho, índice de polidispersão (PDI), potencial zeta, eficiência de encapsulação e estabilidade em diferentes soluções. Ensaios de citotoxicidade, expressão de eGFP e libertação endossomal foram realizados em células de adenocarcinoma pulmonar (A549). Resultados: Para os três tipos de partículas foi possível obter diâmetros inferiores a 200 nm, sendo as particulas de mRNA geralmente maiores que as de siRNA. O PDI obtido rondou os 0.2, os potenciais zeta foram catiónicos e a encapsulação eficiente (>90%), representando características ótimas para a administração in vivo. As partículas demostraram alguma citotoxicidade e a expressão de eGFP após a transfecção de mRNA foi apenas confirmada para as partículas de PBAE. Apenas uma pequena percentagem destas partículas foram capazes de se libertar dos endossomas. Conclusões: Os três tipos de partículas demonstraram resultados promissores e indicam a possibilidade de, com o desenvolvimento da investigação, poder vir a ser possível aplicar a terapia génica ao tratamento de infeções virais.Introduction: In the last decades, viral infections have led to pandemic situations and the quickness with which a virus mutates is an important factor that contributes to the inactivation of antivirals. The development of new medicines is a lengthy process, which currently cannot accompany the evolution of viruses. Thus, gene therapy with CRISPR-Cas systems might be useful, since once the therapy is developed, there is only the need to reformulate the sgRNA, in order to make another gene sequence the new target of the same therapy. The aim of this study was the development and comparison of three delivery systems, that are able to efficiently transport the system’s components in the human organism. Methods: Bovine serum albumin (BSA), polymer blend and poly(β-amino ester) (PBAE) nanoparticles were formulated through nanoprecipitation and encapsulated with siRNA or mRNA. The particles were characterized according to their size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency and stability in different solutions. Cytotoxicity, eGFP expression and endosomal escape assays were performed on lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549). Results: For the three types of particles, it was possible to obtain diameters below 200 nm, with mRNA-loaded particles frequently larger than siRNA particles. The PDI was around 0.2, the zeta potentials were cationic, and the encapsulation was efficient (>90%), representing optimal characteristics for in vivo administration. The particles induced low levels of cytotoxicity, and eGFP expression after mRNA transfection was only confirmed for PBAE particles. Only a small percentage of these NPs seemed to have escaped the endosomes. Conclusions: The three types of particles show promising results and indicate the possibility that, with the continuing of the investigation, it may become possible to apply gene therapy for the treatment of viral infections.Department of Pharmacy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany