The impact of na intervention program on abusive intimate behaviors, self‑esteem, and self‑concept of male perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Objectives This study examines the effectiveness of a multimodal perpetrator intervention program (PIP) on intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators’ self-reported abusive behaviors, self-esteem, and self-concept. Methods A sample of 53 male IPV perpetrators, both court- and self-referred to a community-based PIP, were assigned to one of two conditions: intervention condition (IC; n = 38) and waiting list control condition (WLCC; n = 15). Data on self-reported intimate violence, self-esteem, and self-concept were collected at baseline, post-test, and 6-month follow-up. The Reliable Change Index (RCI) was also computed. Results A considerable percentage of IC participants end or substantially reduce their abusive behavior (reoffending self-reported rates were 10.7% at post-treatment and 12.5% at follow-up). IC participants increase self-esteem and self-concept. Changes were maintained at follow-up. Significant differences were found between the groups, with IC participants reporting reductions in abusive behaviors, scoring higher on selfesteem and self-concept, and revealing greater clinical changes than WLCC participants. Conclusions These findings suggest that multimodal interventions improve self-esteem and self-concept and reduce IPV perpetration.FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(SFRH/BD/66110/2009

Investigating the photophysical properties and biological efficacy of BODIPY derivatives as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy

The selectivity of photosensitizers for light activation is a key advantage in photodynamic therapy (PDT), allowing for precise targeting while sparing healthy cells. BODIPY derivatives have emerged as promising PDT candidates due to their tunable photophysical properties and versatile synthesis. Herein, we explore the photophysical characterization and the in vitro photodynamic activity of BODIPY analogues meso-substituted with an anthracene moiety and functionalized with iodine atoms or formyl group at 2,6-position. The formylated anthracene-BODIPY derivative exhibited the highest tumor suppression under irradiation, making it a potential candidate as PDT photosensitizer

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on a cohort of eating disorders patients

BackgroundLockdown implemented to prevent the COVID-19 spread resulted in marked changes in the lifestyle. The objective of the current study was to assess the impact of lockdown measures on a cohort of eating disorder (ED) patients being followed as part of an ongoing naturalistic treatment study.MethodsNinety-nine patients aged 18 or older, currently or previously, in treatment at a Portuguese specialized hospital unit were contacted by phone and invited to participate in the current survey. Fifty-nine agreed to be interviewed by phone, and 43 agreed to respond to a set of self-report measures of ED symptoms, emotion regulation difficulties, clinical impairment, negative urgency, and COVID-19 impact, during the week after the end of the lockdown period.ResultsData showed that of the 26 patients currently in treatment: 8 remained unchanged (31%), 7 deteriorated (27%), and 11 reliably improved (42%). Of the 17 participants not currently in treatment: 3 deteriorated (18%), 9 remained unchanged (53%), and 5 (29%) improved after the lockdown period. The Coronavirus Impact Scale showed that most patients considered their routines moderately or extremely impacted, experienced stress related to coronavirus, and showed difficulty in maintaining physical exercise and feeding routines. Results suggest that higher impact of COVID-19 lockdown was significantly correlated with eating disorder symptoms and associated psychopathology, impulsivity, difficulties in emotion regulation and clinical impairment measured at post-lockdown. In addition, the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown measures on clinical impairment was mediated by difficulties in emotion regulation.ConclusionsFindings suggest that some ED patients may experience worsening of their condition, especially if associated with difficulties in emotion regulation, and these difficulties might be exacerbated in the context of a stressful crisis and lockdown measures, highlighting the need for intervention strategies to mitigate its negative impact.This work was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC); and a grant by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028145) to P. Machado PI)

The InBIO barcoding initiative database: DNA barcodes of Iberian Trichoptera, documenting biodiversity for freshwater biomonitoring in a Mediterranean hotspot

The Trichoptera are an important component of freshwater ecosystems. In the Iberian Peninsula, 380 taxa of caddisflies are known, with nearly 1/3 of the total species being endemic in the region. A reference collection of morphologically identified Trichoptera specimens, representing 142 Iberian taxa, was constructed. The InBIO Barcoding Initiative (IBI) Trichoptera 01 dataset contains records of 438 sequenced specimens. The species of this dataset correspond to about 37% of Iberian Trichoptera species diversity. Specimens were collected between 1975 and 2018 and are deposited in the IBI collection at the CIBIO (Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Portugal) or in the collection Marcos A. González at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).Twenty-nine species, from nine different families, were new additions to the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). A success identification rate of over 80% was achieved when comparing morphological identifications and DNA barcodes for the species analysed. This encouraging step advances incorporation of informed Environmental DNA tools in biomonitoring schemes, given the shortcomings of morphological identifications of larvae and adult Caddisflies in such studies. DNA barcoding was not successful in identifying species in six Trichoptera genera: Hydropsyche (Hydropsychidae), Athripsodes (Leptoceridae), Wormaldia (Philopotamidae), Polycentropus (Polycentropodidae) Rhyacophila (Rhyacophilidae) and Sericostoma (Sericostomatidae). The high levels of intraspecific genetic variability found, combined with a lack of a barcode gap and a challenging morphological identification, rendered these species as needing additional studies to resolve their taxonomy

Streptococcus pyogenes Causing Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Are Enriched in the Recently Emerged emm89 Clade 3 and Are Not Associated With Abrogation of CovRS

Although skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are the most common focal infections associated with invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pyogenes (Lancefield Group A streptococci - GAS), there is scarce information on the characteristics of isolates recovered from SSTI in temperate-climate regions. In this study, 320 GAS isolated from SSTI in Portugal were characterized by multiple typing methods and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and SpeB activity. The covRS and ropB genes of isolates with no detectable SpeB activity were sequenced. The antimicrobial susceptibility profile was similar to that of previously characterized isolates from invasive infections (iGAS), presenting a decreasing trend in macrolide resistance. However, the clonal composition of SSTI between 2005 and 2009 was significantly different from that of contemporary iGAS. Overall, iGAS were associated with emm1 and emm3, while SSTI were associated with emm89, the dominant emm type among SSTI (19%). Within emm89, SSTI were only significantly associated with isolates lacking the hasABC locus, suggesting that the recently emerged emm89 clade 3 may have an increased potential to cause SSTI. Reflecting these associations between emm type and disease presentation, there were also differences in the distribution of emm clusters, sequence types, and superantigen gene profiles between SSTI and iGAS. According to the predicted ability of each emm cluster to interact with host proteins, iGAS were associated with the ability to bind fibrinogen and albumin, whereas SSTI isolates were associated with the ability to bind C4BP, IgA, and IgG. SpeB activity was absent in 79 isolates (25%), in line with the proportion previously observed among iGAS. Null covS and ropB alleles (predicted to eliminate protein function) were detected in 10 (3%) and 12 (4%) isolates, corresponding to an underrepresentation of mutations impairing CovRS function in SSTI relative to iGAS. Overall, these results indicate that the isolates responsible for SSTI are genetically distinct from those recovered from normally sterile sites, supporting a role for mutations impairing CovRS activity specifically in invasive infection and suggesting that this role relies on a differential regulation of other virulence factors besides SpeB

Streptococcus canis Are a Single Population Infecting Multiple Animal Hosts Despite the Diversity of the Universally Present M-Like Protein SCM

Streptococcus canis is an animal pathogen which occasionally causes infections in humans. The S. canis M-like protein (SCM) encoded by the scm gene, is its best characterized virulence factor but previous studies suggested it could be absent in a substantial fraction of isolates. We studied the distribution and variability of the scm gene in 188 S. canis isolates recovered from companion animals (n = 152), wild animal species (n = 20), and humans (n = 14). Multilocus sequence typing, including the first characterization of wildlife isolates, showed that the same lineages are present in all animal hosts, raising the possibility of extensive circulation between species. Whole-genome analysis revealed that emm-like genes found previously in S. canis correspond to divergent scm genes, indicating that what was previously believed to correspond to two genes is in fact the same scm locus. We designed primers allowing for the first time the successful amplification of the scm gene in all isolates. Analysis of the scm sequences identified 12 distinct types, which could be divided into two clusters: group I (76%, n = 142) and group II (24%, n = 46) sharing little sequence similarity. The predicted group I SCM showed extensive similarity with each other outside of the N-terminal hypervariable region and a conserved IgG binding domain. This domain was absent from group II SCM variants found in isolates previously thought to lack the scm gene, which also showed greater amino acid variability. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the possible host interacting partners of the group II SCM variants and their role in virulence

Derivados de BODIPY: design, síntese e avaliação como sensores químicos, sondas para bioimagem e fotossensibilizadores para PDT

Dissertação de mestrado em Técnicas de Caracterização e Análise Química4,4-Difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene derivatives, commonly referred as BODIPYs, constitute a class of fluorophores that has been arousing great curiosity in the scientific community. The excellent photophysical properties, the accessible synthesis, and the chemical versatility of BODIPY derivatives explain the growing interest in this class of compounds in recent years, as well as its demand for application in the most diverse areas of research. Thus, this dissertation was based on several objectives: the design, synthesis, and photophysical characterization of BODIPY derivatives functionalized with distinct groups at the meso position of the BODIPY core and the evaluation of the capacity of these compounds for different applications, namely, as optical chemosensors, fluorescent probes for bioimaging, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorophores and photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. In order to evaluate the application of these derivatives as optical chemosensors, spectrofluorimetric titrations were carried out in the presence of Pd2+, Hg2+, Fe3+, and Al3+, since the preliminary study of sensing capacity revealed a selectivity for these cations. On the other hand, the potential application as a fluorescent probe in bioimaging was evaluated in HeLa cancer cells using fluorescence techniques and confocal microscopy, with promising results. In the evaluation as a AIE fluorophore, the influence of solvent polarity on the spectroscopic and photophysical properties of one of the BODIPY derivatives under study and its emissive behavior in the aggregation state in an aqueous medium was also studied. Finally, for potential application as a photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy, the sensitization of singlet oxygen in solution was evaluated by spectroscopy, and the internalization and cytotoxicity performance of one BODIPY derivative was studied in 4T1 cancer cells using fluorescence techniques and flow cytometry, giving promising results.Os derivados de 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indaceno, designados usualmente como BODIPYs, constituem uma classe de fluoróforos que tem vindo a despertar grande curiosidade na comunidade científica. As ótimas propriedades fotofísicas, a síntese acessível e a versatilidade química dos derivados de BODIPY explicam o crescente interesse por esta classe de compostos nos últimos anos bem como a sua procura para aplicação nas mais diversas áreas de investigação. Assim, esta dissertação baseou-se em vários objetivos: o design, síntese e caraterização fotofisica de novos derivados de BODIPY e a avaliação da capacidade destes compostos para diversas aplicações, nomeadamente, como sensores químicos óticos de iões, sondas fluorescentes para bioimagem, fluoróforos com emissão induzida por agregação (AIE) e fotossensibilizadores para terapia fotodinâmica. Com o objetivo de avaliar a aplicação destes derivados como sensores químicos óticos, efetuaram-se titulações espetrofluorimétricas na presença de Pd2+, Hg2+, Fe3+ e Al3+, uma vez que o estudo preliminar de capacidade sensora revelou seletividade para estes catiões. A potencial aplicação como sonda fluorescente em bioimagem foi avaliada em células cancerígenas HeLa recorrendo a técnicas de fluorescência e microscopia confocal, tendo-se obtido resultados promissores. Na avaliação como fluoróforos AIE, estudou-se a influência da polaridade do solvente nas propriedades espectroscópicas e fotofísicas de um dos derivados em estudo bem como o seu comportamento emissivo no estado de agregação em meio aquoso. Por fim, tendo como objetivo a aplicação como fotosensibilizador para terapia fotodinâmica avaliou-se a sensibilização de oxigénio singleto em solução por espetroscopia e a capacidade de internalização e a citotoxicidade de um derivado de BODIPY num estudo com células cancerígenas 4T1 recorrendo a técnicas de fluorescência e citometria de fluxo, tendo-se obtido resultados promissores.I would like to thank the Department of Chemistry / Chemistry Center at the University of Minho, for allowing this project to be carried out in their laboratories, and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for funding the project where this work was inserted, project PTDC/QUI-COL/28052/2017

Systematic review of meta-analysis on the effectiveness of intervention with intimate partner violence perpetrators

Although research in the field of IPV perpetrators has advanced considerably in recent decades, significant challenges persist regarding the effectiveness of BIPs, as various meta-analyses show inconsistent findings. Regarding these inconsistencies, continuous investigation on this subject is fundamental. Thus, the present study aims to analyze: i) the internal and inter-meta-analysis inconsistency in results; ii) the expansion from measuring only physical violence to encompassing psychological violence; iii) to elucidate the inconsistencies both within and between analyses; and iv) to establish the current state-of-the-art of BIPs to facilitate the development of new batterer intervention programs

The InBIO barcoding initiative database: DNA barcodes of Iberian Trichoptera, documenting biodiversity for freshwater biomonitoring in a Mediterranean hotspot

The Trichoptera are an important component of freshwater ecosystems. In the Iberian Peninsula, 380 taxa of caddisflies are known, with nearly 1/3 of the total species being endemic in the region. A reference collection of morphologically identified Trichoptera specimens, representing 142 Iberian taxa, was constructed. The InBIO Barcoding Initiative (IBI) Trichoptera 01 dataset contains records of 438 sequenced specimens. The species of this dataset correspond to about 37% of Iberian Trichoptera species diversity. Specimens were collected between 1975 and 2018 and are deposited in the IBI collection at the CIBIO (Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Portugal) or in the collection Marcos A. González at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain).Twenty-nine species, from nine different families, were new additions to the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). A success identification rate of over 80% was achieved when comparing morphological identifications and DNA barcodes for the species analysed. This encouraging step advances incorporation of informed Environmental DNA tools in biomonitoring schemes, given the shortcomings of morphological identifications of larvae and adult Caddisflies in such studies. DNA barcoding was not successful in identifying species in six Trichoptera genera: Hydropsyche (Hydropsychidae), Athripsodes (Leptoceridae), Wormaldia (Philopotamidae), Polycentropus (Polycentropodidae) Rhyacophila (Rhyacophilidae) and Sericostoma (Sericostomatidae). The high levels of intraspecific genetic variability found, combined with a lack of a barcode gap and a challenging morphological identification, rendered these species as needing additional studies to resolve their taxonomy

The National Student Survey: validation in Portuguese medical students

The UK National Student Survey (NSS) is a sound and widely used instrument for assessing students’ academic experiences. We aimed to translate the NSS for Portuguese students and to validate the instrument in a sample of medical undergraduates. The research team translated and adapted the NSS for Portuguese students (NSS-P). The survey was administered on an online platform to 1,256 final-year students at eight Portuguese medical schools. A total of 329 medical students (69.9% female) replied to the NSS-P, a response rate of 26.2%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the original six-factor structure had an adequate fit to the data. Adequate internal consistency was observed for all the subscales. Medium to large correlations were found among all the subscale scores and between the subscale scores and the students’ overall satisfaction. Multiple regression showed that the scores on the Teaching, Organization and Management and Personal Development subscales significantly predicted the students’ overall satisfaction. Approximately 64% of the students reported being satisfied with the quality of their courses. Significant differences among the medical schools in their NSS-P scores were found. The NSS-P is a valid and reliable measure for assessing medical students’ perceptions of academic quality