European Health System Typologies: Last 30 Years Under Review

The quest of the researcher to classify national health systems into homogeneous groups has a long history. In this paper, the last 30 years are divided in two periods (1985–2000 and 2000–2015) in order to present and briefly describe the most influential national health system typologies

Perturbações audiovestibulares nos traumatismos da cabeça e do pescoço

O Traumatismo Cranioencefálico constitui a principal causa de morte e sequelas em pacientes politraumatizados, convertendo se, nos últimos anos, num importante problema de saúde pública. Smeltzer e Bare (2006), conceituam Traumatismo Craniano/Traumatismo Cranioencefálico (TCE) como uma lesão do crânio ou do cérebro que é suficientemente grave para interferir no seu funcionamento normal. Cerca de 4 a 30% dos ferimentos na cabeça envolvem a base do crânio sendo que há atingimento do osso temporal em 18 a 40%. Dependendo do tipo e da gravidade do traumatismo, podem ocorrer alterações estruturais e funcionais no sistema audiovestibular

Identifying new regulators of the actin cytoskeleton in endothelial tip cells

Blood vessels form extensive vascular networks allowing an efficient transport of gases, fluids and nutrients for all tissues. Sprouting angiogenesis generates new blood vessels during embryonic development and adult. Dysfunctional, either excessive or insufficient, angiogenesis is a cause of several vascular diseases, such as ischemia, arteriovenous malformations, tumor angiogenesis, and diabetic retinopathy. During sprouting angiogenesis, endothelial tip cells are highly migratory and guide the trailing endothelial stalk cells in the nascent sprout towards the source of pro-angiogenic factors. However, the mechanisms regulating the actin cytoskeleton contributing to the motility and invasive proprieties of endothelial tip cells are poorly understood. Serum response factor (SRF) is a transcription factor that regulates expression of genes encoding cytoskeletal proteins. SRF, together with its cofactors [myocardin related transcription factors (MRTFs)], is essential for tip cell migration and invasion during sprouting angiogenesis. But which genes downstream of SRF/MRTF signaling are central in this process are completely not characterized. Based on a microarray approach, we defined the MRTF/SRF-dependent transcriptome of endothelial cells. Using a combination of multiple in silico and in vitro approaches, we identified the relevant genes downstream of SRF signaling, and we characterize their function in cell migration and cytoarchitecture of endothelial cells. From our analysis, inhibition of MYH9, the gene coding for myosin IIA heavy chain (NMII-A), reproduced alone the full spectrum of phenotypes presented in MRTF/SRF-deficient endothelium, and regulates tip cell motility and invasion. Interestingly, we found a specialized localization of MYH9 in endothelial tip cells, pointing towards an important and novel role in filopodia formation and/or stability. Our research provides new insights on the biology of endothelial tip cells, which can be a first step towards new therapeutic approaches targeting pathological vascularization

Scalable and efficient data processing in networked control systems

Network control systems (NCSs) are spatially distributed systems in which the communication between sensors, actuators and controllers occurs through a shared band-limited digital communication network. However, the use of a shared communication network, in contrast to using several dedicated independent connections, introduces new challenges which are even more acute in large scale and dense networked control systems. In this paper we investigate a recently introduced technique of gathering information from a dense sensor network to be used in networked control applications. Obtaining efficiently an approximate interpolation of the sensed data is exploited as offering a good tradeoff between accuracy in the measurement of the input signals and the delay to the actuation. These are important aspects to take into account for the quality of control. We introduce a variation to the state-of-the-art algorithms which we prove to perform relatively better because it takes into account the changes over time of the input signal within the process of obtaining an approximate interpolation

Learn to communicate through the touch: experiences of nursing students in clinical practice

Resumo da comunicação apresentada no 1º Congresso Internacional do CiiEM “From Basic Sciences to Clinical Research”. Egas Moniz, Caparica, Portugal, 27-28 Novembro 201

The evolution of motor creativity during primary education

A number of researchers have verified the possibility of enhancing motor creativity through specific physical education programmes. Nevertheless, little is known about the developmental pattern or the most critical stages in the acquisition of motor creativity. The broad objective of this study was to determine whether significant changes in motor creativity occur during primary education, and if so, when. A total of 84 Spanish girls and boys were evaluated using tests taken or adapted from the Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement tasks and Bertsch' Tests of Motor Creativity. In general, the results show that motor creativity – especially fluency and flexibility - increase with progression through school, though different aspects of creativity show different trends. In particular, motor fluency increased especially rapidly between ages 6 and 9 years, and the symbolic transformation of objects and movements between ages 8 and 11 years

A Classic Neurocysticercosis Case with an Unusual Complication

Cysticercosis is triggered by infection with the larval form of the tapeworm Taenia solium. The usual sites for the development of cyscticerci are the central nervous system (neurocysticercosis – NCC), subcutaneous tissue, skeletal muscle, heart muscle, and the eye. Ocular cysticercosis is caused by the growth of the larvae within ocular tissues. The extraocular muscles form is the most common type of orbital cysticercosis. We report a case of a patient admitted with seizures secondary to NCC, who developed ocular symptoms after starting combined treatment with albendazole, praziquantel and dexamethasone. The investigation revealed a cystic lesion in the lateral rectus muscle

A Classic Neurocysticercosis Case with an Unusual Complication

Cysticercosis is triggered by infection with the larval form of the tapeworm Taenia solium. The usual sites for the development of cyscticerci are the central nervous system (neurocysticercosis – NCC), subcutaneous tissue, skeletal muscle, heart muscle, and the eye. Ocular cysticercosis is caused by the growth of the larvae within ocular tissues. The extraocular muscles form is the most common type of orbital cysticercosis. We report a case of a patient admitted with seizures secondary to NCC, who developed ocular symptoms after starting combined treatment with albendazole, praziquantel and dexamethasone. The investigation revealed a cystic lesion in the lateral rectus muscle