Antibiotic consumption in Portugal: 2010 and 2011

The use of antibiotics has contributed to a marked decrease in morbidity caused by communicable and infec- tious diseases over the past few years. The aim of our study is to evaluate the use of antibiotics in clinic in 2010 and 2011, considering two different methodologies: the defined daily dose per 1000 inhabitants per day (DHD) and the number of packages per 1000 inhabitants per day (PHD)

Registration of Untracked 2D Laparoscopic Ultrasound Liver Images to CT Using Content-Based Retrieval and Kinematic Priors

Laparoscopic Ultrasound (LUS) can enhance the safety of laparoscopic liver resection by providing information on the location of major blood vessels and tumours. Since many tumours are not visible in ultrasound, registration to a pre-operative CT has been proposed as a guidance method. In addition to being multi-modal, this registration problem is greatly affected by the differences in field of view between CT and LUS, and thus requires an accurate initialisation. We propose a novel method of registering smaller field of view slices to a larger volume globally using a Content-based retrieval framework. This problem is under-constrained for a single slice registration, resulting in non-unique solutions. Therefore, we introduce kinematic priors in a Bayesian framework in order to jointly register groups of ultrasound images. Our method then produces an estimate of the most likely sequence of CT images to represent the ultrasound acquisition and does not require tracking information nor an accurate initialisation. We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in multiple LUS acquisitions taken from three sets of clinical data

Generic Pareto local search metaheuristic for optimization of targeted offers in a bi-objective direct marketing campaign

Cross-selling campaigns seek to offer the right products to the set of customers with the goal of maximizing expected profit, while, at the same time, respecting the purchasing constraints set by investors. In this context, a bi-objective version of this NP-Hard problem is approached in this paper, aiming at maximizing both the promotion campaign total profit and the risk-adjusted return, which is estimated with the reward-to-variability ratio known as Sharpe ratio. Given the combinatorial nature of the problem and the large volume of data, heuristic methods are the most common used techniques. A Greedy Randomized Neighborhood Structure is also designed, including the characteristics of a neighborhood exploration strategy together with a Greedy Randomized Constructive technique, which is embedded in a multi-objective local search metaheuristic. The latter combines the power of neighborhood exploration by using a Pareto Local Search with Variable Neighborhood Search. Sets of non-dominated solutions obtained by the proposed method are described and analyzed for a number of problem instances

Urinary tract infections: outpatient antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance in the Algarve region

Background and objective: Microbial resistance to antibiotics continues to emerge as a significant global health concern. The misuse of antibiotics is an important factor contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria. Urinary tract infection is among the most common bacterial infections, being Escherichia coli the main etiological agent

Evidence for a differentiated chromosomal race north of classical south European refuge areas in the garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus

The dormouse Eliomys quercinus is a forest rodent undergoing long periods of winter hibernation. The species presents a surprisingly large diversity of chromosomal races, which geographic distribution was shown recently to predate the Pleistocene glaciations. Previously reported data on the karyotypes of the garden dormouse in France come from the northeast of the country, where the 2N050 race occurs. New data are presented from specimens trapped near the Atlantic coast (departments of Vendée and Charente-Maritime), in the Pyrenees, the Alps and in the Massif Central. The French Alpine chain, close to the Italian border, is inhabited by the 2N054 race. A karyotype with 2N048 chromosomes, of Iberian type, is found north of the Pyrenees, near the central Atlantic coast and also in the south of the Massif Central, whereas the 2N050 race occurs in the north of the massif. A hybrid between these two races (2N049) was found in Vendée. These facts reveal that neither the Pyrenees nor the Alps constitute a biogeographic barrier to the dormouse and strongly suggest that the present population of northern France derives from a postglacial recolonisation movement initiated in the southernmost regions of France or in the Rhône valley.project no. POCTI/BSE/36626/9

First epidemiological data on pathogenic leptospires isolated on the Azorean islands

Insectivores (Erinaceus europaeus) and rodents (Rattus rattus, R. norvegicus and Mus musculus) from different islands of the Azores archipelago were found to carry three distinct Leptospira interrogans s.l. serovars (copenhageni, icterohaemorrhagiae and ballum) which have never been previously investigated there. The house mouse and the black rat were the major Leptospira reservoir showing isolation rates ranging from 0% for both species (in Graciosa) to 88 % and 33 %, respectively (in São Miguel). This study also showed that the majority of the animals with positive kidney cultures exhibited specific agglutinins agaibst the isolated strains of Leptospira. The observed isalation rates in the different islands, with a very interesting island variation in prevalence, suggest that small mammals, serving as sylvatic reservoirs of pathogenic leptospires, may represent an important risk to the health of humans and the livestock, particularly in the islands of Terceira and São Miguel

Non-adherence to antibiotic therapy in patients visiting community pharmacies

Devido a uma gralha da responsabilidade da publicação IJCP, o nome do último autor encontra-se incompleto, faltando o apelido "Nicola". Aguarda-se errata vinda da editora.Link para a versão integral / Link to full online version: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11096-013-9850-4© Koninklijke Nederlandse Maatschappij ter bevordering der Pharmacie 2013Background Patient non-adherence to antibiotic therapy may lead to therapeutic failure, re-infection, and bacterial resistance. Assessing the factors associated with this problem is important for promoting rational use of antibiotics. Objective This study aimed to measure prevalence and reasons for non-adherence to antibiotic treatment and to identify associated factors. Method Patients were recruited for the study in community pharmacies in Lisbon, Portugal, from February to April, 2009. Data from prescriptions for oral antibiotics were collected for adult subjects. Adherence to treatment was assessed with a modified Portuguese version of the Morisky scale. Factors associated with non-adherence were identified through bivariate analysis and logistic regression models. Results A total of 243 patients were included in the study. They had a mean age 46.5 ± 16.6 years and 74.5 % of the sample was female. The prevalence of non-adherence was 57.7 % and was related to delays and failures in taking the prescribed medicine. Increasing age (OR 0.97), difficulty in buying the antibiotic (OR 2.34), duration of treatment (OR 1.28), difficulty with ingestion (OR 3.08), and satisfaction with the information given by physician (OR 0.33) were identified as independent factors associated with non-adherence. Conclusion Non-adherence to antibiotics is common in the community setting. Factors related to the antibiotic, the patient, and the patient-physician relationship should be addressed to promote adherence. Pharmacists should provide information to patients about correct use of antibiotics and address barriers to adherence.The study received a grant from the Merck, Sharp & Dohme Foundation (Portugal), with no influence on study design or data analysis