Uncertainty & intolerance of uncertainty : a narrative review concerning the impact on our mental health

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2022A “Intolerance of Uncertainty” (IU) é definida como a “incapacidade predisposta de um indivíduo de suportar a resposta aversiva desencadeada pela perceção de ausência de informação saliente, chave ou suficiente, e sustentada pela perceção associada de incerteza” e tem sido considerada como um fator central para a vivência da doença. A IU tem sido uma das condições associadas a doenças do foro psicopatológico, nomeadamente a Perturbação de Ansiedade Generalizada (PAG), o Síndrome Depressivo (SD) e a Perturbação Obsessivo-Compulsiva (POC). Esta revisão de literatura visa proporcionar uma visão geral da literatura científica relacionada com o tema da IU e das psicopatologias associadas (RQ1), identificar os diferentes tipos de incerteza (RQ2) e explorar como a pandemia poderá ter afetado este fenômeno e a saúde mental da população (RQ3). Inclui estudos pulicados nos últimos onze anos (os estudos foram incluídos para o período de tempo que começa em 1º de janeiro de 2010 e dezembro de 2021) e a extração de dados para a revisão foi realizada usando as bases de dados MEDLINE e PsychNet. Dos 24 estudos finais selecionados (pelo título e resumo), 12 foram considerados importantes para responder à RQ1, nenhum foi importante para responder à RQ2, e 4 foram considerados importantes para ajudar a responder à RQ3. Assim, em toda a literatura verificada e em relação à RQ1, podemos concluir que uma IU elevada pode levar a uma maior prevalência de sintomas de PAG e possivelmente em outras psicopatologias. A discussão está dividida no tipo de intervenção selecionada para avaliar a IU como fator de risco, dividindo os estudos em dois tipos (aqueles que realizam intervenções psicoterapêuticas e aqueles com intervenções de informação em saúde). A RQ2 não foi respondida devido à falta de descrição quanto aos tipos de incerteza e ao responder à RQ3, foi apresentado que a pandemia, como potencial fator stressante, pode influenciar a saúde psicológica da população.Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is defined as the “individual's dispositional incapacity to endure the aversive response triggered by the perceived absence of salient, key, or sufficient information, and sustained by the associated perception of uncertainty” and has been regarded as a central part of the experience of illness. IU has been one of the factors commonly associated with mental illnesses such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This literature review aims to provide an overview of the related scientific literature published on the topic of IU and psychopathologies (RQ1), identify the different types of uncertainty (RQ2), and explore how the pandemic has affected this phenomenon and the mental health of the population (RQ3). It is focused on the past eleven years (studies were included for the timeframe starting on the 1st of January 2010 and December 2021) and the data extraction for the review was carried out using the MEDLINE and PsychNet databases. Out of the 24 final studies selected (from the title and abstract), 12 were considered important to answer RQ1, none were important to answer RQ2, and 4 were considered important to help answer RQ3. Summarily, across the literature that was revised and with respect to RQ1, we can conclude that a high IU might lead to a higher prevalence of symptoms of GAD and possible other psychopathologies. The discussion focuses on the type of intervention selected to measure IU as a factor, dividing studies into two types (those that carry out psychotherapeutic interventions and those with health-information interventions). RQ2 could not be answered due to the lack of description regarding types of uncertainty and in answering RQ3, it was shown that the pandemic, as a potential stressor, can influence the psychological health of the population

Design and power consumption analysis of a NB-IoT End device for monitoring applications

As the number of connected things increases at a very fast pace, the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem expands and nowadays covers a vast number of application domains, providing a large portfolio of solutions that are based on an evolving system, from the physical sensors (end devices) to the Cloud. When designing battery-powered end devices, previous research has identified several challenges such as wireless connectivity, battery lifetime, embedded intelligence, security and privacy concerns, and costs (modem unit, communication link and maintenance, among others). This paper focuses on the design and development of battery-powered IoT devices in which NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is used to provide seamless wireless connection, reduce power consumption, enhance communication coverage and minimize maintenance costs. The paper describes a typical use case where an Arm Cortex -M0+ and its low-power modes are exploited in order to design a low-power end device. Two different approaches, bare-metal and freeRTOS, for implementing the end device firmware are compared. Additionally, performance tests prove that increasing the clock frequency of the processor does not bring any advantage to this kind of applications. ® ®This work has been supported by NORTE-06-3559-FSE 000018, integrated in the invitation NORTE-59-2018-41, aiming the Hiring of Highly Qualified Human Resources, co financed by the Regional Operational Programme of the North 2020, thematic area of Competitiveness and Employment, through the European Social Fund (ESF). This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. The authors would like to thank the support team of NOS Comunicações for providing the NB-IoT connection and server service, and for technical support throughout the installation

Farmacologia: exercícios teórico práticos

Texto didático desenvolvido no âmbito da Licenciatura em Optometria e Ciências da Visã

Positioning Portugal as a wedding destination: targeting the European market

Destination weddings constitute a niche market, which is rapidly growing and significantly impacting destinations all over the world. In order to tackle the lack of research in the Portuguese sector, the present study aims to explore the value of the segment in the country’s tourism industry, as well as provide actionable insights into how to position Portugal as a wedding destination. Hence, insights of main stakeholders were collected and analyzed. Additionally, Europe was identified as a crucial market and thus, further recommendations and positioning strategies were suggested for the continent and its high potential inbound countries

Models to support eucalyptus plantations management under a changing environment

Doutoramento em Engenharia Florestal e dos Recursos Naturais - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaThe objective of this work was the development of a tool to support eucalyptus stands management with the capacity of predicting forest development under different management options, thus providing forest managers with useful information in the form of variable outputs with interest for forest management. The tool uses the 3-PG model as the basis for growth predictions so that it can be used under a changing climate. The first thing to be done was the improvement of the crown ratio equation, taking advantage of the great amount of available data. With more precise equations, new values of biomass where estimated and a new set of aboveground biomass equations was developed. Biomass values are not only an important model output, but also a vital piece in the hybridization of the GLOBULUS growth and yield model and the 3-PG whole stand process based model. The linkage of the models resulted in a hybrid model with more detailed outputs that were further complemented with a diameter distribution model. The 3-PG fertility ratio is an important parameter of the model, but is estimated in a subjective way. The improvement with an equation that predicts it from soil characteristics is important not also because it is a flaw that is recurrently appointed to the model, but also because it will allow it to be sensible to fertilizationsFC

a systematic review by characteristics of Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture dimensions

Purpose: To learn the weaknesses and strengths of safety culture as expressed by the dimensions measured by the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) at hospitals in the various cultural contexts. The aim of this study was to identify studies that have used the HSOPSC to collect data on safety culture at hospitals; to survey their findings in the safety culture dimensions and possible contributions to improving the quality and safety of hospital care. Data sources: Medline (via PubMed), Web of Science and Scopus were searched from 2005 to July 2016 in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Study selection: Studies were identified using specific search terms and inclusion criteria. A total of 33 articles, reporting on 21 countries, was included. Data extraction: Scores were extracted by patient safety culture dimensions assessed by the HSOPSC. The quality of the studies was evaluated by the STROBE Statement. Results: The dimensions that proved strongest were 'Teamwork within units' and 'Organisational learning-continuous improvement'. Particularly weak dimensions were 'Non-punitive response to error', 'Staffing', 'Handoffs and transitions' and 'Teamwork across units'. Conclusion: The studies revealed a predominance of hospital organisational cultures that were underdeveloped or weak as regards patient safety. For them to be effective, safety culture evaluation should be tied to strategies designed to develop safety culture hospital-wide.publishersversionpublishe