68 research outputs found
Evaluation of patients' discomfort regarding regional anesthesia: 8AP6‐7
Background and Goal of Study: Regional anesthesia may cause physical
and psychological discomfort. 50% of patients scheduled for urologic procedures
undergo regional anesthesia, and their comfort represents a concern to
the anesthesiologist. This study aims to:
1. identify factors related to patients’ discomfort regarding regional
anesthesia(position for anesthesia and surgery procedures, puncture site
pain, room temperature, audio-visual perception, sensitive/motor blockade);
2. Evaluate patients’ satisfaction with anesthesia.
Materials and Methods: Af ter approval from the Hospital Ethics Committee
all patients over 18years old, scheduled for urologic surgery, understanding
Portuguese and anesthetized with spinal anesthesia were included. Patients
in day case surgery or with incomplete medical records were excluded. We
performed a questionnaire(with closed ended questions) in the first 24 hours
af ter surgery and consulted anesthesia records. We asked yes or no questions,
used a 1-10 scale to evaluate pain and a 1-4 scale to evaluate satisfaction.
Because there isn’t a valid questionnaire in the literature to evaluate what
we aimed to, we created one based on multiple articles1,2.
Results and Discussion: 50patients were included; mean age 65 years old
(min.32, max.89); 78% males and 70% ASAII. 75%denied discomfort during
positioning for back puncture and 58% referred cold during anesthesia
or surgery. One person was uncomfortable in the surgical position and no
one considered being awake uncomfortable; sensitive/motor blockade was
uncomfortable for 22%. Spinal was more painful than the venous puncture
for32%; for 50%venous puncture was more painful and for 18%pain was similar.
Patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the anesthetic technique and
would choose the same technique in the future in 98% of cases.
Conclusion: Although this questionnaire is not validated, it allowed us to understand
that cold during anesthesia/surgery is a problem for most patients
but this is easily solved. It also showed us that most patients are not uncomfortable
with positioning during procedures, being awake and not feeling the
legs.Interestingly only about one third of the patients thought that the back
puncture was more painful than the venous puncture. In general we consider
spinal anesthesia a good choice for these patients and we are satisfied that
patients don’t find it uncomfortable and are also satisfie
Compliance to radiation therapy of head and neck cancer patients and impact on treatment outcome
The aims of the study were to evaluate head and neck cancer (HNC) patient's compliance to the planned radiation therapy (RT) using the department policy established in 2005 at IPOCFG and to estimate the impact on treatment outcome due to failure in receiving RT as prescribed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Biological dose-escalated definitive radiation therapy in head and neck cancer
To compare treatment outcome of patients
with head and neck (HN) tumours treated with definitive
radiation therapy that, mainly owing to differences in the
fractionation scheme used with simultaneous integrated
boost techniques, resulted in a different biological dose.
Methods: 181 patients with HN cancer, prescribed to
about 70.2Gy in the primary tumour, were included in
this study. Population cohort was divided into Group
,70 and Group 70, LC was
83.2% and 87.5%, LRC was 79.5% and 81.6%, DFS was
56.3% and 66.8% and OS was 63.9% and 71.5% p5ns,
respectively. The incidence of acute dysphagia, odynophagia
and pain, and late mucositis was significantly
higher in Group $70 than in Group ,70. The rate of
xerostomia, dysphonia, radiodermatitis, alopecia, dental
complications, hypoacusia and weight loss was comparable
between the two groups.
Conclusion: The biological dose escalation was safe, but an
increase in the incidence of the acute side effects: dysphagia,
odynophagia and pain and late mucositis, was obtained.
Advances in knowledge: Despite the significant biological
dose escalation, within the range of doses delivered to this
cohort, no clear dose–response effect was observe
Higher pain intensity, depression, and being 75 Years or Older are associated with lower Levels of self-reported physical activity in older adults with pain attending primary care
Objective: This study investigated whether pain characteristics (intensity, frequency, duration and number of pain sites), depression, age, sex and comorbidities are associated with lower levels of selfreported physical activity in older adults with pain at the primary healthcare setting.Methods: A total of 504 participants aged 60 years of age and over were assessed for: socio-demographics, comorbidities, pain, depression, and physical activity. Associations between these variables were investigated using ordinal logistic regression.Results: Reporting severe pain or worst imaginable pain, being older (≥ 75 years), and feeling depressed were significantly associated with lower physical activity in the univariate (OR = 2.33, 2.93, 2.31, and 2.23, respectively) and multivariate models (Adj OR = 2.21, 2.47, 2.49, and 1.97, respectively).Conclusions: Interventions aiming to increase physical activity for older adults in primary care should consider the needs of those reporting higher pain intensity, feeling depressed and who are 75 years or older
The national inventory of geological heritage: methodological approach and results
A existência de um inventário nacional de património geológico é fundamental para se poderem implementar estratégias de geoconservação. Este trabalho apresenta a metodologia usada no desenvolvimento do mais completo inventário de geossítios, realizado até ao momento em Portugal, assim como os principais resultados obtidos. O inventário vai integrar o Sistema de Informação do Património Natural e o Cadastro Nacional dos Valores Naturais Classificados, ambos geridos pelo Instituto de Conservação da Natureza e da Biodiversidade.The existence of a national inventory of the geological heritage is of paramount importance for the implementation of a geoconservation strategy. This paper presents the methodological approach used to produce the most complete geosites inventory in Portugal, so far, and the obtained results. This inventory will be uploaded into the National Database of Natural Heritage managed by the Portuguese authority for nature conservation.Este trabalho é apoiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, através do financiamento plurianual do CGUP e do projecto de investigação “Identificação, caracterização e conservação do património geológico: uma estratégia de geoconservação para Portugal” (PTDC/CTE-GEX/64966/2006).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Sugarcane (Saccharum X officinarum): A Reference Study for the Regulation of Genetically Modified Cultivars in Brazil
Global interest in sugarcane has increased significantly in recent years due to its economic impact on sustainable energy production. Sugarcane breeding and better agronomic practices have contributed to a huge increase in sugarcane yield in the last 30 years. Additional increases in sugarcane yield are expected to result from the use of biotechnology tools in the near future. Genetically modified (GM) sugarcane that incorporates genes to increase resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses could play a major role in achieving this goal. However, to bring GM sugarcane to the market, it is necessary to follow a regulatory process that will evaluate the environmental and health impacts of this crop. The regulatory review process is usually accomplished through a comparison of the biology and composition of the GM cultivar and a non-GM counterpart. This review intends to provide information on non-GM sugarcane biology, genetics, breeding, agronomic management, processing, products and byproducts, as well as the current technologies used to develop GM sugarcane, with the aim of assisting regulators in the decision-making process regarding the commercial release of GM sugarcane cultivars
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
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