On the Acheulean origin of mind and language

Finally, we would like to restate that this paper is an exercise in thinking about what archaeological data mean in terms of cognition. As we said at the beginning, a more complex integration between theory of cognition and archaeological data is needed. This paper is a tentative step in that direction. As new data will be published, it may be that many of the archaeological features we attribute to the Late Acheulean are found to be more ancient. That would mean that the timetable we are proposing would have to be changed, and probably that the conclusions about the kind of language present would have to be modified. But, we hope, it would not harm the links between broad psychological concepts and patterns of archaeological data that we are proposing

The internship program in a cognitive-behavioural therapy service at the university setting

This presentation describes the internship program for psychology students at the Psychotherapy Service housed at the Cognitive-Behavioural Department of the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon. This Psychotherapy Service has two main goals: 1-Provide psychological help for children, adolescents and adults with common mental health issues, enabling access to affordable services to community. 2-Provide training in cognitive-behavioural therapy for clinical psychology master students, conducting clinical sessions during their full-time, one year internship training.It is used a group format supervision by seniors teachers, scheduled on a weekly basis. It is discussed the account of the internship clinical activities for the essential skills acquisition in therapeutic relationship, assessment procedures, conceptualization and implementation of key interventions. It seems also important to discuss how the training goals at this academic environment can prepapre students to function as professional clinical psychologists.Centro de Investigação em Psicologi

Tracking pollutants in a municipal sewage network impairing the operation of a wastewater treatment plant

This work provides a screening of organic contaminants and characterization of the dissolved organic matter in the sewer network until the municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), identifying the network areas with a higher degree of contamination and their impact on the WWTP performance, particularly in the activated sludge reactor. Three monitoring campaigns were carried out at six selected locations of the sewage system (PVZ-1, PVZ-2, PS-F, PS-VC, CP-VC, and PS-T), influent (WWTPINF) and effluent (WWTPEFF) of the WWTP. Advanced analytical techniques were employed, namely excitation/emission matrix fluorescence-parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC), size exclusion chromatography with organic carbon detector (SEC-OCD), and liquid chromatography with high-resolution-mass spectrometric detection (LC-HRMS). EEM-PARAFAC showed higher fluorescence intensity for the protein-like component (C2), particularly at CP-VC (near seafood industries) associated with the presence of surfactants (~50 mg/L). SEC-OCD highlighted the WWTP efficiency in removing low molecular weight acids and neutrals. LC-HRMS tentatively identified 108 compounds of emerging concern (CEC) and similar detection patterns were obtained for all wastewater samples, except for PVZ-2 (lower detection), many of which occurred in the effluent. Eight CECs included on relevant Watch-Lists were detected in all WWTPEFF samples. Furthermore, 111 surfactants were detected, the classes more frequently found being alcohol ethoxylates (AEOs), nonylphenol polyethoxylates (NPEOs) and linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS). The continuous presence of LAS and NPEOs allied to surfactants concentrations in the WWTPINF of 15–20 mg/L, with CP-VC location (linked with food industries) as an important contributor, explain the morphological changes in the activated sludge and high LAS content in the dewatered sludge, which may have impacted WWTP performance.i) Base-UIDB/50020/2020 and Programmatic-UIDP/50020/2020 Funding of LSRE-LCM, funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); ii) European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal Programme (POCTEP) 2014–2020 (ref. 0725_NOR_WATER_1_P); iii) Xunta de Galicia (Verónica Castro predoctoral contract: ED481A-2017/156, and ED431C2017/36), the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación – MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 (ref. PID2020-117686RB-C32); iv) NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000069 (Healthy Waters) co-funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement. The authors also acknowledge Águas do Norte, S.A. for supporting the development of this work. Daniela F.S. Morais acknowledges her Ph.D. scholarship supported by FCT (SFRH/BD/146476/2019). Bianca M. Souza Chaves gratefully acknowledges her postdoctoral scholarship supported by CNPq through the Science Without Borders Program (Process No. 201989/2014-0). Vítor J.P. Vilar acknowledges the FCT Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus 2017 (CEECIND/01317/2017)S

CYP21A2 gene mutations, its nature and frequency in a paediatric Portuguese cohort with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Introduction: The most common cause of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD) caused by alterations in CYP21A2 gene. The clinical phenotypes of this autosomal recessive disease are classified as classic (saltwasting and simple virilizing) and non-classic forms of CAH. The severity of the disease is directly related with the impairment of the 21-OH enzymatic activity. Genetic testing can confirm the disease and is crucial for familial studies and genetic counseling. Aim: The aim of this work was to perform the clinical and molecular characterization of the patients observed at the Hospital Pediátrico de Coimbra (Portugal) with the clinical suspecion of CAH. Methods: Retrospective analysis of patient medical records of all cases observed in our hospital with suspicion of CAH and detailed literature comparison. CYP21A2 molecular analysis had been performed in 81 unrelated Portuguese patients (51 female, 30 males) with clinical and endocrine laboratorial findings suggestive of CAH, using mini-sequencing, restriction enzyme digestion, Sanger sequencing or/and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). Results: CYP21A2 variants were identified in 74/81 (91%) of the patients. Homozygosity for CYP21A2 was found in 39.2% (29/74) of the patients while 55.4% (41/74) were compound heterozygous and, in 5.4% of the cases (4/74), only one pathogenic variant was identified. The most frequent alterations were p.Val281Leu, g.655A/C>G (splicing variant) and p.Ile172Asn, that account for more than 50% of the alleles of this patient’s cohort. All variants were already described except a novel missense variant identified in a salt-wasting patient, g.1173T>C(p.Trp201Arg). The rare variant p.Gly424Ser which was detected in one patient had been previously associated with a possible founder effect in Brazil and the splicing variant g.391G>A, only described in the Portuguese population. Conclusion: Our study provides a detailed clinical and molecular characterization of a large cohort of CAH Portuguese patients. The overall concordance between the clinical phenotype and the inferred phenotype (based on genotype) was 90%.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Narrative Review of Motor Competence in Children and Adolescents: What We Know and What We Need to Find Out

Lack of physical activity is a global public health problem causing not only morbidity and premature mortality, but it is also a major economic burden worldwide. One of the cornerstones of a physically active lifestyle is Motor Competence (MC). MC is a complex biocultural attribute and therefore, its study requires a multi-sectoral, multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approach. MC is a growing area of research, especially in children and adolescents due to its positive association with a plethora of health and developmental outcomes. Many questions, however, remain to be answered in this field of research, with regard to: (i) Health and Developmental-related Associations of MC; (ii) Assessment of MC; (iii) Prevalence and Trends of MC; (iv) Correlates and Determinants of MC; (v) MC Interventions, and (vi) Translating MC Research into Practice and Policy. This paper presents a narrative review of the literature, summarizing current knowledge, identifying key research gaps and presenting questions for future investigation on MC in children and adolescents. This is a collaborative effort from the International Motor Competence Network (IMCNetwork) a network of academics and researchers aiming to promote international collaborative research and knowledge translation in the expansive field of MC. The knowledge and deliverables generated by addressing and answering the aforementioned research questions on MC presented in this review have the potential to shape the ways in which researchers and practitioners promote MC and physical activity in children and adolescents across the worl

Da Grécia a Cronenberg ou por que existem as mulheres

Propomos uma leitura do filme de D. Cronenberg Irmãos Inseparáveis (Dead Ringers), à luz de um referencial proveniente do universo simbólico da Grécia Antiga. Embora o filme trate temáticas emblemáticas da tardo-modernidade - identidades estilhaçadas, relações problemáticas do eu com o corpo ou as representações dos géneros cada vez mais marcadas pela ambivalência e conflito - é possível encontrar na produção mítico-poética e na ciência gregas áreas de significado que replicam as mesmas inquietações exploradas no filme. Adicionam-se, ainda, alguns exemplos provenientes das sociedades ágrafas que sublinham o alcance universal dos conteúdos explorados no filme

Brucella vertebral osteomyelitis misidentified as an Ochrobactrum anthropi infection

Ochrobactrum anthropi is a Gram-negative bacillus widely distributed in nature. It is a low virulence and low pathogenic microorganism and human infection by this agent is considered rare. This microorganism can cause bacteremia and in some cases can lead to osteomyelitis and endocarditis. Included in Brucellaceae family, this bacterium is phenotypically and genetically closely related to the Brucella genus and may be misidentified by rapid identification systems. The authors describe a patient admitted to the Infectious Diseases Department with vertebral osteomyelitis initially identified as Ochrobactrum anthropi. Despite appropriate antimicrobial therapy, the blood cultures remained positive and there were no signs of clinical improvement. This raised suspicion of a possible misidentification. It was decided to initiate antimicrobial therapy to include the Brucella genus, with slow but progressive clinical improvement. Samples were sent to Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA) for genotyping, confirming the initial suspicion of misidentification and identifying Brucella melitensis as the causal agent. Timely diagnosis of brucellosis is essential for the correct management and prevention of its consequences for the patient and for safe handling of the laboratory samples, preventing laboratory-acquired infectio

Copy number variants prioritization after array-CGH analysis - a cohort of 1000 patients

Background: Array-based comparative genomic hybridization has been assumed to be the first genetic test offered to detect genomic imbalances in patients with unexplained intellectual disability with or without dysmorphisms, multiple congenital anomalies, learning difficulties and autism spectrum disorders. Our study contributes to the genotype/phenotype correlation with the delineation of laboratory criteria which help to classify the different copy number variants (CNVs) detected. We clustered our findings into five classes ranging from an imbalance detected in a microdeletion/duplication syndrome region (class I) to imbalances that had previously been reported in normal subjects in the Database of Genomic Variants (DGV) and thus considered common variants (class IV). Results: All the analyzed 1000 patients had at least one CNV independently of its clinical significance. Most of them, as expected, were alterations already reported in the DGV for normal individuals (class IV) or without known coding genes (class III-B). In approximately 14 % of the patients an imbalance involving known coding genes, but with partially overlapping or low frequency of CNVs described in the DGV was identified (class IIIA). In 10.4 % of the patients a pathogenic CNV that explained the phenotype was identified consisting of: 40 class I imbalances, 44 class II de novo imbalances and 21 class II X-chromosome imbalances in male patients. In 20 % of the patients a familial pathogenic or potentially pathogenic CNV, consisting of inherited class II imbalances, was identified that implied a family evaluation by the clinical geneticists. Conclusions: As this interpretation can be sometimes difficult, particularly if it is not possible to study the parents, using the proposed classification we were able to prioritize the multiple imbalances that are identified in each patient without immediately having to classify them as pathogenic or benign