Study of the electromyographic signal dynamic behavior in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor neurons degeneration, which reduces muscular force, being very difficult to diagnose. Mathematical methods are used in order to analyze the surface electromiographic signal’s dynamic behavior (Fractal Dimension (FD) and Multiscale Entropy (MSE)), evaluate different muscle group’s synchronization (Coherence and Phase Locking Factor (PLF)) and to evaluate the signal’s complexity (Lempel-Ziv (LZ) techniques and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA)). Surface electromiographic signal acquisitions were performed in upper limb muscles, being the analysis executed for instants of contraction for ipsilateral acquisitions for patients and control groups. Results from LZ, DFA and MSE analysis present capability to distinguish between the patient group and the control group, whereas coherence, PLF and FD algorithms present results very similar for both groups. LZ, DFA and MSE algorithms appear then to be a good measure of corticospinal pathways integrity. A classification algorithm was applied to the results in combination with extracted features from the surface electromiographic signal, with an accuracy percentage higher than 70% for 118 combinations for at least one classifier. The classification results demonstrate capability to distinguish members between patients and control groups. These results can demonstrate a major importance in the disease diagnose, once surface electromyography (sEMG) may be used as an auxiliary diagnose method

Carbon molecular sieve membranes for gas separation : study, preparation and characterization

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Química e Biológica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Does 6-minutes walk test predict functional capacity in elderly people?

Portugal has an accentuated aging tendency, presenting an elderly population (individuals with more than 65 years old) of 19.2%. The average life expectancy is 79.2 years. Thus, it’s important to maintain autonomy and independency as long as possible. Functional ability concept rises from the need to evaluate the capacity to conduct daily activities in an independent way. It can be estimated with the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and other validated test. This test is simple, reliable, valid and consists in a daily activity (walk). The goals of this study was to verify associations between functional capacity measured with two different instruments (6MWT and Composite Physical Function (CPF) scale) and between those results and characterization variables

Intervenção psicomotora na Associação Qe - uma Nova Linguagem para a Incapacidade

Mestrado em Reabilitação PsicomotoraDurante o estágio na Associação Qe, o qual decorreu entre outubro de 2012 e junho de 2013, foram aprofundadas competências profissionais na intervenção com a população adulta com Dificuldade Intelectual e Desenvolvimental (DID), com e sem traços psicopatológicos. A Associação Qe tem como filosofia o Modelo Gentle Teaching, uma pedagogia de interdependência. A intervenção, de natureza psicomotora, vocacionou-se para as questões do envelhecimento na DID, bem como para a Perturbação do Espetro do Autismo (PEA). Este documento contém um estudo de grupo e um estudo de caso, verificando-se melhorias nos domínios avaliados no grupo de intervenção

Relación entre satisfacción por compasión, burnout y estrés traumático con la seguridad del paciente

Objective: to analyze the relationship among compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress with the patient safety culture. Method: cross-sectional study with nurses (n = 201) from hospitals in Portugal. The Professional quality scale and the three sections of Hospital survey on patient safety culture were used to data collection. Correlation and regressions tests were implemented. Results: compassion satisfaction was positively related to four of the five patient safety culture dimensions and with the patient safety grade, while burnout had a negative relationship with all the dimensions and with the patient safety grade and secondary traumatic stress had a negative relationship with three patient safety culture dimensions. Conclusions: measures aimed at increasing compassion satisfaction and decreasing burnout and secondary traumatic stress should be implemented to improve the quality of professional life and patient safety.Objetivo: analisar a relação entre satisfação por compaixão, burnout e estresse traumático secundário com a cultura de segurança do paciente. Método: estudo transversal com enfermeiros (n = 201) de hospitais de Portugal. Para a coleta de dados, utilizou-se a Professional quality scale e três seções do Hospital survey on patient safety culture. Testes de correlação e de regressão foram implementados. Resultados: a satisfação por compaixão foi positivamente relacionada com quatro das cinco dimensões da cultura de segurança do paciente e com o grau de segurança do paciente, enquanto o burnout teve relação negativa com todas as dimensões e com o grau de segurança do paciente e o estresse traumático secundário teve relação negativa com três dimensões. Conclusões: medidas que visem aumentar a satisfação por compaixão e diminuir o burnout e o estresse traumático secundário devem ser implementadas visando melhorar a qualidade de vida profissional e a segurança do paciente.Objetivo: analizar la relación entre satisfacción por compasión, burnout y estrés traumático secundario con la cultura de seguridad del paciente. Método: estudio transversal con enfermeras (n = 201) de hospitales de Portugal. Para la recopilación de datos se utilizaron la Professional quality scale y tres secciones de la Hospital survey on patient safety culture. Se implementaron pruebas de correlación y regresión. Resultados: la satisfacción por compasión se relacionó positivamente con cuatro de las cinco dimensiones de cultura de seguridad del paciente y con el grado de seguridad, mientras que burnout tuvo una relación negativa con todas las dimensiones y con el grado de seguridad y estrés traumático secundario tuvo una relación negativa con tres dimensiones. Conclusiones: se deben implementar medidas destinadas a aumentar la satisfacción por compasión y disminuir el burnout y el estrés traumático secundario para mejorar la calidad de vida profesional y la seguridad del paciente.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inclusion of students with special educational needs (sen) in secondary education: the attitudes of parents of students without SEN and with SEN

Foi aplicado um questionário a 30 EE de uma Escola Secundária do distrito de Leiria, constituído por 4 blocos temáticos: caracterização pessoal; inclusão de alunos NEE em turmas do ensino secundário; inclusão e aprendizagem conteudinal e inclusão e aceitação social. Destes 30 participantes 10 EE de alunos sem NEE, cujos educandos tinham contacto com a inclusão; 10 EE de alunos sem NEE, cujos educandos não tinham contacto com a inclusão; 10 EE de alunos NEE. Os dados obtidos pela análise estatística SPSS (versão 22.0), permitiram observar que os EE demonstraram atitudes favoráveis perante a inclusão, considerando mais vantagens que prejuízos para os alunos NEE, como para os alunos sem NEE, principalmente ao nível da aceitação social. Contudo, os EE de alunos sem NEE, cujos educandos têm contacto com a inclusão nas suas turmas, e no que diz respeito à aprendizagem conteudinal e aceitação social, evidenciaram atitudes menos favoráveis face à inclusão.A questionnaire was applied to 30 parents of a Secondary School of the district of Leiria, constituted by 4 thematic blocks: personal characterization; Inclusion of SEN students in secondary school classes; Inclusion and conteudinal learning and inclusion and social acceptance. Of these 30 participants 10 parents of students without SEN, whose students had contact with the inclusion; 10 parents of students without SEN, whose students had no contact with inclusion; 10 parents from SEN students. The data obtained by the SPSS statistical analysis (version 22.0) allowed us to observe that the parents demonstrated favorable attitudes towards the inclusion of students with SEN, considering more advantages than losses for both the SEN students and the non-SEN students, especially at the level of Social acceptance. However, parents of students without SEN, whose students have contact with inclusion in their classes, and with regard to conteudinal learning and social acceptance, have shown less favorable attitudes towards inclusion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio