A conversão da penhora em hipoteca: tratamento processual, fiscal e registal

A conversão da penhora em hipoteca, na sequência da extinção da ação executiva decorrente da celebração de acordo de pagamento em prestações entre as partes, foi uma novidade introduzida no nosso ordenamento jurídico através da Lei nº 41/2013, de 26 de junho, que aprovou o Novo Código de Processo Civil. Ao consagrar-se o pagamento em prestações como causa extintiva da ação executiva importava garantir a salvaguarda dos direitos do exequente, em particular em caso de incumprimento do acordo por parte do executado, e para tanto atribuiu-se àquele a faculdade de não prescindir da garantia dada pela penhora realizada nos autos, convertendo-se a mesma em hipoteca (no caso de imóveis ou móveis sujeitos a registo) ou em penhor (nos demais casos); aplicando-se a esta/este, desde então, o regime legalmente previsto no nosso ordenamento jurídico para tal garantia real, designadamente no que respeita aos seus efeitos e vicissitudes. Todavia, sem que se retire o mérito a esta inovação, a verdade é que inúmeras questões, eminentemente práticas mas não só, ficaram sem regulamentação/resposta. E aqui residiu o móbil para este trabalho, pretendendo-se estudar esta (nova) solução legal em todas as suas dimensões, ou seja, do ponto de vista do seu tratamento processual, mas também fiscal e registal. Só a abordagem do regime no seu todo permite, por um lado, perceber quais as questões que ficaram sem resposta, e, por outro lado, auxiliar o aplicador/jurista na tomada de decisões. A nosso ver estamos perante uma solução legislativa criada sem a devida maturação, e que, apesar de tudo, se mantém inalterada, volvidos que são cerca de oito anos desde a sua introdução no nosso ordenamento jurídico.The conversion of the pledge into a mortgage, following the extinction of the executive action resulting from the execution of an agreement for payment in installments between the parties, was a novelty introduced in our legal system through Law No. 41/2013, of June 26, which approved the New Code of Civil Procedure. By enshrining the payment in installments as the extinguishing cause of the enforcement action, it was important to guarantee the safeguarding of the creditor's rights, in particular in the event of non-compliance with the agreement by the debtor, and for this reason, the right to waive the guarantee given by the pledge made in the records, converting it into a mortgage (in the case of real estate or furniture subject to registration) or into a pledge (in other cases); applying to this/this, since then, the regime legally provided for in our legal system for such real guarantee, namely with regard to its effects and vicissitudes. However, without denying the merit to this innovation, the truth is that numerous issues, eminently practical but not only, were left without regulation/answer. And here resided the motive for this work, intending to study this (new) legal solution in all its dimensions, that is, from the point of view of its procedural treatment, but also fiscal and registration. Only the approach to the regime as a whole allows, on the one hand, to understand which questions remained unanswered, and, on the other hand, to help the applicator/lawyer in decision-making. In our view, we are faced with a legislative solution created without due maturity, and which, despite everything, remains unchanged, nearly eight years after its introduction into our legal system

S. aureus modulates P. aeruginosa small-colony variants formation

EUROBIOFILMS 2017 - 5th European Congress on Microbial BiofilmsSome studies reported that, in polymicrobial consortia, some P. a eruginosa exoproducts suppresses the growth of S.aureus and provokes the emergence of SCV, associated with antimicrobial resistance, altered metabolism and reduced immunogenicity. However, the role of S.aureus in P.aerugionsa behavior has still not been deciphered. This work aimed to deeply investigate the phenotypic changes undergone by P. aeruginosa and S.aureus in a co-infection scenario. The cells recovered from 24 -h-old single and dual-species biofilms were inspected regarding their colony morphology differentiation, antibiotic susceptibility profiles and expression of virulence factors. The population analysis profiles showed the existence of two P.aeruginosa SCV resulting only from the dual-species biofilms. These SCV exhibited impressive ability to form biofilm, impaired swimming, twitching and swarming abilities, in comparison with the wild -type morphotype. Their morphologies remained unchangeable over 10 passages onto solid media, which may mean these phenotypic alterations were not adaptive. Yet, the two SCV were susceptible to the action of several classes of antibiotics. In conclusion, the presence of S.aureus in biofilms seemed to modulate some phenotypic alterations in P.aeruginosa that may be clinically relevant as two SCV were detected. As t he role of S. aureus over P. aeruginosa stills not full clear, some tests are being run to more comprehensively know how these P. aeruginosa SCV modulate the dual -species community response to in - use antimicrobials.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 and COMPETE 2020 (POCI- 01-0145-FEDER-006684), and FCT and the European Community fund FEDER, through COMPETE and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER -000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020. Grants of SPL (SFRH/BPD/95616/2013) and APM (UMINHO/BD/25/2016)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterization of the virulence and the antibiotic susceptibility profiles in bacteria isolated from wastewater treatment final effluents

The increased prevalence of antibiotic resistance is one of the main problems faced by health professionals nowadays, consequently dealing with the expansion of nosocomial infections in hospitals and other health institutions. Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) aim at the treatment of residual waters ensuring the preservation of the environment and ultimately, human health. Nevertheless, they also receive residual water from health institutions and research centres that can significantly contribute to the presence of pathogenic and resistant microorganisms in the sewage. The aim of this study was the isolation of potential pathogenic bacteria (E.coli, S.aureus, S.enterica, P.aeruginosa and K.pneumoniae) from the final effluent of four WWTP in the north of Portugal to subsequently evaluate some known virulence factors, such as their ability as biofilm formers and their susceptibility to different antibiotics. The amount of E. coli surpassed all the other species and S.aureus was the less frequent, considering all samples. The ability of biofilm formation depended on the species considered, but also on the sampled WWTP. For instance, S.enteritidis and E.coli showed low capacity to form biofilm, but they appeared with high CFU values. S.aureus showed a high capacity of biofilm formation but only a small number of CFU was counted. These data seem to indicate that S.aureus biofilms contain a huge amount of polymeric matrix, which could be an obstacle to antibiotic action. In one of the WWTP, most isolated bacteria revealed the lowest capacity to form biofilms, but they clearly had the highest antibiotic resistance profiles. In one of the WWTP, biofilm formation was greater for all isolates; indeed, it was the only WWTP where all isolated bacteria were capable to produce biofilm which was rated as moderately to strongly adherent, but showed, on the other hand, significant sensitivity to the tested antibiotics. For example, P.aeruginosa isolated in this WWTP revealed a significant ability to develop biofilm but presented the profiles of highest antibiotic susceptibility. Similar tendencies for S. enteritidis and K.pneumoniae in other WWTP were obtained. Interestingly, it can be concluded that some species showed particular responses independently from the sampling plant, but others depended on the WWTP where the sample was collected. The data obtained also highlight that procedures used for waste water treatment are not effective in the removal of pathogenic bacteria, which appear in the final effluents and are subsequently discharged into a natural water body

Escala de Competências de Estudo: resultados de um estudo de validação no Instituto Politécnico de Leiria

Descreve-se um estudo exploratório de construção e validação de uma escala voltada para a avaliação das competências de estudo e abordagens à aprendizagem por parte de alunos do Ensino Superior Politécnico. Uma amostra de 264 alunos foi considerada neste estudo, tendo-se recorrido à Escala de Competências de Estudo (ECE – Almeida & Joly, em preparação). Os resultados, longe de confirmarem as dimensões iniciais propostas pelos autores, parecem identificar duas formas de auto-regulação nos alunos: uma mais centrada nos comportamentos e condutas quotidianas (organização do estudo) e outra mais dirigida por aspectos motivacionais e cognitivos. São apresentados os resultados centrados na delimitação das duas dimensões, assim como a sua associação a níveis de rendimento escolar (disciplinas em atraso e médias obtidas) e diferenciação segundo o género, idade e tipo de curso frequentado pelos alunos. As correlações com o rendimento são mais elevadas tomando a dimensão mais comportamental da autoregulação, sendo que as alunas apresentam médias mais elevadas nas duas dimensões e os alunos mais velhos apresentam níveis mais elevados de auto-regulação em termos motivacionais e cognitivos

Influenza seroprotection correlates with predominant circulating viruses during 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons in Portugal

Rede Portuguesa de Laboratórios para o Diagnóstico da GripeBACKGROUND: Population immune profile for influenza is highly affected by circulating influenza viruses, thus changing the risk of infection for influenza. This study aims to assess influenza immunity in the Portuguese population by age groups, during 2014 and 2015 and establish a relationship between seroprotection and circulating influenza viruses in 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons. METHODS: Two cross-sectional studies were developed based on a convenience serum sample collected in June 2014 (n=626) and July 2015 (n=675) in hospitals from mainland and Azores and Madeira.Serums equally represent all age groups. Antibody titers were evaluated by HI assay for strains recommended for seasonal influenza vaccine northern hemisphere,2014/15 and 2015/2016. Seroprevalences were estimated for each strain by age group and the association with seasonal cumulative influenza-like illness (ILI) rates for influenza virus during both seasons was analised. RESULTS: In June 2014 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza A(H3) (39.0%; 95% CI: 36.2-43.8%) and A(H1)pdm09 (29.7; 95% CI: 26.3-33.4%), with higher levels in children 5-14 years old. In 2014/2015 a dominant circulation of influenza B/Yamagata was observed with high incidence rates in individuals under 65 years old, the ones that had lower seroprotection. Although before the start of the season high protection for A(H3) was observed, the circulation of the new drift A(H3) strains had gained an immunological advantage,in accordance with A(H3) elevated incidence rates observed during 2014/15. In July 2015 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza B/ Yamagata (55.1%; 95% CI: 51.4-58.9%), 2.4 times the estimated 2014.This increase was even more pronounced in younger (≤ 4 years old), 6.3 times increase in 2015.This fact is in agreement with the predominant influenza B virus detected and the high ILI incidence rate observed in children during 2014/2015 epidemic. Seroprotection levels for influenza A in July 2015 were not significantly different from 2014.During 2015/16 season, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was predominant, with high incidence rate in < 65 year old. Influenza B/Victoria lineage,although detected at low levels increased in frequency, in agreement with the lowest level of seroprotection detected in the general population before the start of 2015/2016 season (21.8%; 95% CI: 18.7-24.0%). CONCLUSIONS There was a correlation between virus circulation, incidence rates for each age group and the previous seroprotection for seasonal influenza viruses.Our study highlights the value of measuring the serological profile for influenza to establishe risk groups for infection for which an increase preventive measures, including vaccination, should be fostered.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Complete blood count parameters as biomarkers of retinopathy of prematurity: a Portuguese multicenter study

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Purpose: To evaluate complete blood count (CBC) parameters in the first week of life as predictive biomarkers for the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Methods: Multicenter, prospective, observational study of a cohort of preterm infants born with gestational age (GA) < 32 weeks or birth weight < 1500 g in eight Portuguese neonatal intensive care units. All demographic, clinical, and laboratory data from the first week of life were collected. Univariate logistic regression was used to assess risk factors for ROP and then multivariate regression was performed. Results: A total of 455 infants were included in the study. The median GA was 29.6 weeks, and the median birth weight was 1295 g. One hundred and seventy-two infants (37.8%) developed ROP. Median values of erythrocytes (p < 0.001), hemoglobin (p < 0.001), hematocrit (p < 0.001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (p < 0.001), lymphocytes (p = 0.035), and platelets (p = 0.003) of the group of infants diagnosed with ROP any stage were lower than those without ROP. Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (p = 0.044), red blood cell distribution width (RDW) (p < 0.001), erythroblasts (p < 0.001), neutrophils (p = 0.030), neutrophils-lymphocytes ratio (p = 0.028), and basophils (p = 0.003) were higher in the ROP group. Higher values of MCV, erythroblasts, and basophils remained significantly associated with ROP after multivariate regression. Conclusion: In our cohort, the increase in erythroblasts, MCV, and basophils in the first week of life was significantly and independently associated with the development of ROP. These CBC parameters may be early predictive biomarkers for ROP.Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This work was supported by the Laboratório de Genética and the Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB) of the Faculdade de Medicina of Universidade de Lisboa and the Instituto de Investigação Científica Bento da Rocha Cabral. The writing of the manuscript was also supported by funds from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia to ISAMB (ref. UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020). This work was also part of a doctoral project funding by the company CUF with a PhD grant in Medicine awarded in 2021 and by the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology with a PhD grant awarded in 2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hábitos Alimentares das Pessoas com Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2 em Portugal: Um Estudo Transversal

Introdução: A nutrição é uma área de intervenção na prevenção e gestão da diabetes mellitus; por isso, é fulcral promover a capacitação da população para a adoção de hábitos alimentares saudáveis. Ainda que existam alguns estudos nesta área, não se conhecem os principais erros nos hábitos alimentares das pessoas com diabetes em Portugal. Os objetivos deste estudo foram identificar os principais erros nos hábitos alimentares das pessoas com diabetes mellitus tipo 2 em Portugal e avaliar a sua relação com variáveis sociodemográficas. Métodos: Estudo transversal multicêntrico, em amostra de conveniência de pessoas com diabetes mellitus tipo 2 seguidas em Unidades de Cuidados de Saúde Primários. Aplicação do UK Diabetes and Diet Questionnaire (UKDDQ) – traduzido e adaptado, de julho a outubro de 2022. Análise estatística descritiva e inferencial. Resultados: Amostra de 550 participantes, 52,2% do sexo feminino, 68,3% com 65 anos ou mais, 55,8% com nível de escolaridade igual ou inferior ao 1.º ciclo do ensino básico, 24,7% com insuficiência económica e tempo desde o diagnóstico médio de 10,60 ± 8,13 anos. Apenas 36,2% da amostra obteve um score UKDDQ considerado saudável. Menos de 50% obteve scores saudáveis para os itens “arroz ou massa ricos em fibras”, “pão integral”, “manteiga, margarina e óleos vegetais” e “vegetais e leguminosas”. Somente 8,9% da amostra obteve score saudável para o consumo de fibras. Cerca de 70,4% obteve score saudável para o consumo de açúcares livres e 54,7% para o consumo de ácidos gordos saturados. Verificou-se a existência de uma correlação com significado estatístico positiva fraca entre o score UKDDQ e a idade (ρ = 0,201, p < 0,001), com escolha mais frequente de alimentos saudáveis com o aumentar da idade. As pessoas do sexo feminino reportaram hábitos alimentares mais saudáveis, particularmente no consumo de fibras e ácidos gordos saturados. Conclusão: A maior parte da nossa amostra não usufruiu do potencial efeito positivo de uma alimentação saudável. Individualizam-se grupos de alimentos cujos consumos devem ser enfatizados ou desencorajados, particularmente, a necessidade de incentivar o consumo de alimentos ricos em fibra. Ações educacionais dirigidas devem ter especial foco em pessoas mais jovens e/ou do sexo masculino

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mammals in Portugal: a data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ~26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated with habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira that includes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8), observation in shelters, (9) photo trapping | video, (10) predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, (11) scat | track | ditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n =31,573) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,857), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,496), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 7008). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus [n = 12,159], Monachus monachus [n = 1,512], and Lynx pardinus [n = 197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications