Monkeypox mysteries of the new outbreak in non-endemic areas

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Monkeypox virus (MPXV) was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in mid-2022 to be a public health emergency of international concern, following its spread around the world after circulating in Western and Central Africa. This new outbreak is concentrated in men who have sex with men (MSM). Moreover, beyond the epidemiological change, compared with endemic countries, differences in clinical features and many other aspects have also been detected. These and other characteristics are unusual and still unclear. Based on the available data, the authors try to help to clarify some of the current major gaps in monkeypox knowledge to strengthen the outbreak response.The writing of this manuscript received the support of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant number UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Impact of Perceived Organizational Justice, Psychological Contract, and the Burnout on Employee Performance: The Moderating Role of Organizational Support, in the Portuguese Context

Purpose: To identify the impact of perceived organizational justice (POJ), the psychological contract (PC), and burnout (BUR) on the employee’s individual performance (IP). The moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) is analysed. Methodology: The study uses a structured questionnaire to gather data from a cross–sectional sample of 407 employees. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is used to test the proposed hypotheses, and a multi-group analysis is conducted to find how the perception of the PCV can impact on the suggested relationships. Findings: POJ has a positive impact on the PC and on IP. However, the impact of the PC and the first two dimensions of BUR on IP are not significant. POS moderates some of the suggested relationships. Implications: contributes to the knowledge about the combined impact of POJ, the PC and BUR, introducing the role of POS as a moderating variable in the relationships between organizations and employees. The global results may inform strategies to secure positive human resource management (HRM) outcomes. Originality: This research is original in order these concepts and relationships of mediation and moderation are presented in a single study providing a model that depicts a chain of important effects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monkeypox: from a neglected tropical disease to a public health threat

Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Since the first case of human monkeypox was diagnosed in 1970, the disease remained endemic in several countries in West and Central Africa. In 1996, there was a sudden increase in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and since 2017 an ongoing outbreak in Nigeria took place, probably related to the population growth, human invasion of MPXV animal habitat reservoirs, and the waning of the cross-protection offered from smallpox immunization, later ending in 1980. Since May 2022, an unprecedented outbreak of human monkeypox has rapidly spread around the world, outside endemic regions of Africa, through new modes of transmission, showing differences in clinical features compared with previous reports. The 2022 MPXV strain belongs to the clade of West Africa but diverges from the original strain, making the virus more transmissible. The authors review the main milestones in more than 50 years of history of human monkeypox, from a rare viral zoonotic infection to a public health emergency.The writing of this manuscript received the support of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant numbers UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monkeypox: From A Neglected Tropical Disease to a Public Health Threat

Since the first case of human monkeypox was diagnosed in 1970, the disease remained endemic in several countries in West and Central Africa. In 1996, there was a sudden increase in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and since 2017 an ongoing outbreak in Nigeria took place, probably related to the population growth, human invasion of MPXV animal habitat reservoirs, and the waning of the cross-protection offered from smallpox immunization, later ending in 1980. Since May 2022, an unprecedented outbreak of human monkeypox has rapidly spread around the world, outside endemic regions of Africa, through new modes of transmission, showing differences in clinical features compared with previous reports. The 2022 MPXV strain belongs to the clade of West Africa but diverges from the original strain, making the virus more transmissible. The authors review the main milestones in more than 50 years of history of human monkeypox, from a rare viral zoonotic infection to a public health emergency.The writing of this manuscript received the support of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant numbers UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Co-construindo problemas e soluções num passo de mágica? : o processo de mudança em sessões únicas de terapia

Tese de Mestrado Integrado em Psicologia (Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde/Núcleo de Psicologia Clínica Sistémica), apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa através da Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, 2008Este estudo é uma exploração qualitativa do processo de mudança em sessões únicas de terapia situações de terminação do tratamento que ocorrem quando, face aos resultados satisfatórios alcançados, cliente e terapeuta acordam sobre a suficiência do encontro único , particularmente no equacionar da interacção, mediatizada pela comunicação, que se estabelece entre os participantes no decorrer da sessão e das acções comunicativas do terapeuta. Foram analisados os padrões de comunicação de dois casos típicos de sessões únicas, ilustrativos da utilização de duas abordagens de intervenção sistémica, a terapia breve orientada para as soluções e a abordagem da escola de Milão, com recurso a duas ferramentas de análise, o Modelo Comunicacional da Gestão Coordenada de Significações (CMM; Pearce Associates, 1999) e a microanálise da comunicação (Tomori & Bavelas, 2007). Os resultados mostram que o processo terapêutico nas sessões únicas envolve um diálogo colaborativo, permanentemente recursivo e co-construtivo, que se entretece na interacção singular entre terapeuta e cliente/ família. A intervenção das terapeutas durante a sessão foi pautada pela utilização predominante de perguntas, face a um menor número de formulações, uma tendência que se inverteu na conclusão, caracterizada pelo uso apenas de formulações. As questões colocadas foram, em grande parte, orientadoras, embora se denote o recurso a questões reflexivas, sugerindo que as terapeutas não pretenderam somente obter informação sobre a situação dos clientes, mas procuraram, pontualmente, fomentar uma mudança terapêutica. As questões e formulações das terapeutas focadas na solução centraram-se em aspectos positivos, recursos e soluções da cliente, enquanto as da terapeuta sistémica da escola de Milão abordaram sobretudo problemas. As formulações que caracterizaram o final da sessão em ambos os casos focaram as potencialidades dos clientes. Foi realizado um importante trabalho terapêutico com os clientes nos dois casos durante a sessão, que se repercutiu no seu comportamento depois da finalização do encontro único. São discutidas implicações destes resultados para a intervenção terapêutica e limitações do estudo.This study is a qualitative exploration concerning the changing process in single therapysessions situations relating to the end of treatment that occur when client and therapist agreeabout the need of a single encounter, due to the satisfactory results' achieved mainly inrelationship to the interaction established among participants, based on communicative activities,which takes place during the session, and the therapist communicative actions. Communicationpatterns of two typical cases of single sessions were studied, representative of the use of twosystemic intervention approaches, namely the Solution-Focused Therapy and the Milan Approach, using two analytic tools, The Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM; Pearce Associates,1999) and Microanalysis of Communication (Tomori & Bavelas, 2007). The results reveal that thetherapeutic process in single sessions implies a collaborative dialogue, constantly recursive andco-constructive, that it is thereby established due to the singular interaction between therapist andclient/ family. Therapists' intervention during the session was ruled by the use of a series ofquestions, and a minor number of formulations, a tendency that was reversed at the end of thesession, characterized by the single use of formulations. The questions asked were mainlyorienting questions, although it is denoted the use of reflexive questions, suggesting that therapistsdo not only intend to search for information about clients' situation but also seek to implement atherapeutic change. The solution focused therapists' questions and formulations center on positiveactions and clients' resources and solutions, while the systemic therapist of Milan Approachfocuses mainly on problems. In both cases, the formulations that took place at the end of thesession focused clients' potential. Thus, it was done an important therapeutic work with bothclients, during the session, which influenced their behavior, after the ending of the singleencounter. Implications of these results for therapeutic intervention and study limitations are muchdiscussed

Exploring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being of migrant populations in europe: an equity-focused scoping review

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The pandemic is aggravating health inequalities, particularly mental health inequalities, while revealing the social determinants of these inequalities, including migration as a social determinant that mediates the interaction of social, economic, cultural, institutional, and structural factors with health indicators. Therefore, it is of most relevance to identify the multiple interconnected factors that influence the mental health and well-being of migrant populations. A scoping review was developed to map the research performed in this area and to identify any gaps in knowledge, following the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. MEDLINE, Scopus, and WHO Global Health research databases on COVID-19 were searched from January 2020 to October 2021. The review followed the inclusion criteria Population/Concept/Context (PCC): Population-Adult International migrants (including refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants); Concept-determinants of (and factors influencing) mental health and well-being; Context-COVID-19 anywhere in the world. Of the sixty-five selected studies, eleven were from European countries and were the focus of this review with special attention to health inequalities experienced by migrants in Europe. The results cover a diversity of themes related to the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of migrants (country-level environmental factors, social determinants of mental health, mental health indicators and outcomes), responses (such as solidarity and resilience), populations, and study methods. The evidence found can inform recommendations and interventions focused on health promotion and mitigation of the inequalities accentuated by the pandemic.The study “Equity in health in times of pandemic: assessment of the impact on mental health and well-being of the Brazilian and Cape Verdean population in Portugal (EQUALS4COVID19)”, is supported by a grant by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (PT/2021/FAMI/697).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Predictors of physical distance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: fact-sheets collection from the portuguese COVID-19 pandemic task force on behavioral sciences

© Ordem dos Psicólogos PortuguesesThe promotion of physical distancing is a highly effective way of preventing the interpersonal transmission of pathogenic agents, including SARS-CoV-2. However, the protection of physical health through physical distance should not promote social distancing, which is a relevant disrupter of human subjective and psychological well-being. Interpersonal bonds are essential for the promotion and protection of mental health and quality of life. It is, therefore, necessary to identify adequate criteria for the establishment and promotion of adequate, protective, and health-promoting physical distancing.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Report on ongoing activities and existing data and data gaps for the 1st prioritised substances including a list of metadata that can be uploaded in IPCheM

Human biomonitoring is a well-established field of research with high rate of scientific production. Still, there is a lack of integrated information required for the production of adequate knowledge in this area. In this context, the development of suitable methods for systematic mapping of available evidence and identification of research gaps is needed. The main aim of Task 7.1 was to identify existing data and data gaps on the area of human biomonitoring (HBM), including biobank samples. To answer to this aim, a triangulation of methods was used, including an online questionnaire and literature reviews covering available published scientific papers (traditional academic research) and books of proceedings of HBM-related conferences containing published and non-published data. For the questionnaire data, descriptive analyses and stratification by European-defined region, target population and groups of substances were performed. For the literature reviews, a systematisation of the search, review and interpretation process of the data was recorded, with the data from each selected paper being extracted into a synoptic table. The use of three different approaches provided comprehensive though complementary information on the existing HBM surveys: Considering the data obtained from the questionnaire, an asymmetry was found in terms of countries/regions where the identified studies on HBM have been developed, with Belgium, Italy and Spain being the countries where the data collection occurred more frequently. This might reflect an under-representation in the studies carried by specific countries, a trend that was verified throughout the three approaches used. Although maintaining the abovementioned asymmetry, the results change when considering the studies identified using the other two approaches: for the studies from the literature review, data was mainly collected in Denmark and Norway, while for the review of the books of proceedings data was predominantly collected in Germany, France and United Kingdom. Most of the reported studies identified with the questionnaire and the review of the books of proceedings had a regional or national scope while studies from the literature review had mainly a regional implementation level. Although the majority of the studies identified with the three approaches were already concluded or initiated/ongoing, it was possible to map projects in their planning stage (which was also verified in the stratified analysis by European-defined region). The majority of the work that has been developed in the HBM area relates to cross-sectional and longitudinal studies as seen in the results from the questionnaire. The other two approaches also pointed into the direction of the majority of studies being concluded. Children and adults are the main target population of the studies/projects/activities identified with the questionnaire. The analyses of the nine groups of substances under study revealed differences in terms of the number of projects dedicated to each substance, being most marked the absence of studies focused on the anilin family reported through the questionnaire as well as very few studies on Cr VI and emerging chemicals. The undertaken literature reviews did not provide an additional understanding of this difference. An analysis of data collected with the questionnaire by European-defined region reveals that in the North and East, the most studied substances were phthalates/DINCH, whereas in the West and South was cadmium. Considering the groups of substances distributed by European-defined region, age groups and status of the studies/projects/activities undertaken in the community (general population), the following was found: the reported studies were mostly concluded, the majority of them had adults and children as target population, cadmium as the main substance under study, and they were mostly conducted in Southern and Western regions of Europe. For the studies/projects/activities reported as having a national representativeness level, the majority involved children and newborns. In studies with children, the most analysed substances were cadmium, flame retardants, bisphenols and phthalates. For those studies with newborns, the main substances under study were flame retardants. In both cases, these studies were mostly conducted in Western Europe. Considering the results of the survey, it was possible to verify that there is a variety of biological samples collected, with many projects having several of those samples stored and some of them available for access and/or use by other researchers/organisations. Analyses of the studies/projects/activities (general population) with urine samples and blood by group of substances and regions and age groups, the largest number of studies report to data collected from Western and Northern regions. Concerning the target population and substances under study, the focus is put on children and phthalates, respectively. Information about several biomarkers, HBM samples and clinical parameters, anthropometric data, physiological indicators, outdoor pollution and occupational exposure has been collected with the questionnaire. As for biobanked samples, the majority of the projects allow (partial) access to the database of non-biological data and have available for theHBM4EU partners the questionnaire used for data collection. The concept of “quality criteria” to classify the studies/projects/activities identified with the questionnaire was altered to “criteria that index a level of evidence” given the fact that there is a pre-assumption that all projects have internal validity and, therefore, quality. For building up overall pictures about collected data and information it is more important to know how potentially strong is the collected (or to be collected) evidence. An overarching appreciation of the potentially produced (or to be produced) evidence by each study/project/activity found through the survey revealed that almost half of them have characteristics that can be of high or very high level. A list of metadata available to be uploaded into IPCheM is suggested, being nearly 20% of the data accessible for use. For European representative studies, a deeper data analysis of the data gaps will be done by VITO in WP 10 and Task 7.2. The categorisation of the single compounds into the categories A-C is not addressed in this report and will be done by the CGLs under task 4.4 scoping documents. In conclusion, with the developed work for this task an important basis to inform further research needs in this realm and to contribute to more targeted policy measures was laid, thus contributing to the overarching HBM4EU goal of generating knowledge to inform the safe management of chemicals and so protect human health.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 733032.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Intersections of immigration and sexual and reproductive health : an umbrella literature review with a focus on health equity

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Identifying the opportunities and barriers of promoting and fulfilling the sexual health rights of migrants remains a challenge that requires systematic assessment. Such an assessment would include estimating the influence of acculturation processes on sexual and reproductive health, and mapping intersectional inequities that influence migrants’ sexual and reproductive health in comparison with the native population. The aim of this research was to locate, select, and critically assess/summarize scientific evidence regarding the social, cultural, and structural factors influencing migrants’ sexual and reproductive health outcomes in comparison with native population. An umbrella review of systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses, following preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) standards was undertaken. Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched from their start date until June 2019. The quality of the included articles was determined using the assessment of multiple systematic reviews tool (AMSTAR 2). From the 36 selected studies, only 12 compared migrant with native populations. Overall, the findings indicated that migrants tend to underuse maternal health services and have an increased risk of poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes. Specific intersectional inequities were identified and discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio