O papel da personalidade no comportamento agressivo : da teoria à avaliação

Tese de mestrado, Psicologia (Secção de Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde - Núcleo de Psicoterapia Cognitiva-Comportamental e Integrativa), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2011Tendo como ponto de partida uma revisão de literatura sobre os conceitos de ira, hostilidade e agressão, foram analisados diferentes modelos explicativos do comportamento agressivo onde estes conceitos surgem parcial ou totalmente reflectidos. Tais modelos dão conta de uma teia complexa de interacções de factores ambientais e pessoais, entre os quais a personalidade, como potencialmente responsável pela ocorrência de comportamentos agressivos. O presente estudo foi delineado no sentido de identificar dimensões da personalidade que podem estar na origem da predisposição para actuar agressivamente, numa amostra de agentes das forças policiais, através do MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2). Este instrumento disponibiliza diversos indicadores associados ao comportamento agressivo e tem sido frequentemente utilizado na avaliação psicológica de agentes das forças policiais. A partir dos resultados observados foi possível utilizar o Índice de Bom Polícia/Mau Polícia (Blau, Super & Brady, 1993), na análise exploratória de um conjunto de nove casos seleccionados a partir de uma base de dados de avaliação psicológica de polícias. A análise estrutural dos perfis do MMPI-2 permitiu a identificação de tipos diferenciados de perfis, com diferentes probabilidades de incorrerem em manifestações de comportamento agressivo.Having its starting point on a review of literature regarding the concepts of anger, hostility and aggression, distinct explicative models of aggressive behavior, in which the above concepts are partially or fully reflected, have been analyzed. These models reveal a plethora of complex interactions between environmental and personal factors, among which personality appears as potentially responsible for the occurrence of aggressive behavior. The present study was designed in a way to identify dimensions of personality, which lie beneath a predisposition to behave aggressively, in a sample of police officers, by using MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2). This instrument delivers several indicators associated with aggressiveness and has been recurrently used in the psychological assessment of police officers. Based on the observed results an index of Good Cop/Bad Cop (Blau, Super & Brady, 1993) was used, in an exploratory analysis of nine cases selected from a dataset of psychological assessment of police officers. The structural analysis of the MMPI-2 profiles allowed us to identify differentiated scale configurations, with different probabilities of engaging in manifestations of aggressive behavior

Antibacterial hydrogel dressings and their applications in wound treatment

Antimicrobial hydrogels, both in semi-stiff sheets and amorphous form, have been extensively studied for wound management mainly owing to their high-water content, lower wound adherence, promoted autolysis debridement, epithelial migration, and granulation growth. Benefiting from the recent advances in materials science, biotechnology, and a growing understanding of wound microbiology, an extensive variety of antimicrobial hydrogels have been developed. These novel antimicrobial hydrogels can prevent and control microbial infection. In addition, they possess wound healing functions for improved wound management. This chapter will provide a comprehensive summary of the current studied antimicrobial hydrogels in literature and available hydrogel dressings in the market, including their design, fabrication method, and wound management efficacy in vitro or in vivo. The detailed and critical discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of hydrogel dressing will provide insights into the future design of antimicrobial hydrogels for better management of wounds in clinical application

A pediatric case of tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis syndrome

Tubulointerstitial Nephritis and Uveitis Syndrome (TINU Syndrome) is a rare entity of unknown origin. Most cases described affect adolescents and women. It often implies a renal biopsy and is established upon the presence of uveitis and tubulointerstitial nephritis in the same patient, after all possible causes are excluded. The authors report the case of a 12-year-old teenage boy with nausea, vomiting, and weight loss lasting two weeks, taken to his local hospital with acute kidney injury, oliguria, and high blood pressure. After transfer to a specialized centre and exclusion of infectious, toxic, and autoimmune causes, intravenous and oral corticosteroid therapy was started. Renal biopsy confirmed interstitial nephritis of undetermined aetiology and the patient was discharged after favourable restauration of renal function, with a course of 4 weeks of steroids and progressive decrements over 10 weeks. Four months after the onset of the condition, the teenager was taken to the hospital with eye redness and tenderness. Bilateral anterior uveitis was described, which established the diagnosis of TINU Syndrome. After two years of joint follow-up by Paediatric Nephrology and Ophthalmology, the patient remains stable, without relapses, or ocular or renal sequelae

Effect of PEDOT:PSS with secondary dopants and DBD plasma treatment on the conductive properties of polyester fabrics

[Excerpt] Introduction Smart textiles have the capability to interact with the surrounding environment and react in different ways, namely in electrical conduction. The conductive properties of these materials are useful in medical, healthcare, and protective clothing.This research was funded by FEDER funds through the Operational Competitiveness Program– COMPETE, under the projects POCI-01-0247-FEDER-068924, and by National Funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), under the project UID/CTM/00264/2020. Ana Isabel Ribeiro and Cátia Alves acknowledge FCT, MCTES, FSE, and UE PhD grant SFRH/BD/145269/2019 and 2022.10454.BD

Viral genetic clustering and transmission dynamics of the 2022 mpox outbreak in Portugal

Pathogen genome sequencing during epidemics enhances our ability to identify and understand suspected clusters and investigate their relationships. Here, we combine genomic and epidemiological data of the 2022 mpox outbreak to better understand early viral spread, diversification and transmission dynamics. By sequencing 52% of the confirmed cases in Portugal, we identified the mpox virus sublineages with the highest impact on case numbers and fitted them into a global context, finding evidence that several international sublineages probably emerged or spread early in Portugal. We estimated a 62% infection reporting rate and that 1.3% of the population of men who have sex with men in Portugal were infected. We infer the critical role played by sexual networks and superspreader gatherings, such as sauna attendance, in the dissemination of mpox virus. Overall, our findings highlight genomic epidemiology as a tool for the real-time monitoring and control of mpox epidemics, and can guide future vaccine policy in a highly susceptible population.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A search for ultra-high-energy photons at the Pierre Auger Observatory exploiting air-shower universality

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the most sensitive detector to primary photons with energies above ∼0.2 EeV. It measures extensive air showers using a hybrid technique that combines a fluorescence detector (FD) with a ground array of particle detectors (SD). The signatures of a photon-induced air shower are a larger atmospheric depth at the shower maximum (X$_{max}$) and a steeper lateral distribution function, along with a lower number of muons with respect to the bulk of hadron-induced background. Using observables measured by the FD and SD, three photon searches in different energy bands are performed. In particular, between threshold energies of 1-10 EeV, a new analysis technique has been developed by combining the FD-based measurement of X$_{max}$ with the SD signal through a parameter related to its muon content, derived from the universality of the air showers. This technique has led to a better photon/hadron separation and, consequently, to a higher search sensitivity, resulting in a tighter upper limit than before. The outcome of this new analysis is presented here, along with previous results in the energy ranges below 1 EeV and above 10 EeV. From the data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory in about 15 years of operation, the most stringent constraints on the fraction of photons in the cosmic flux are set over almost three decades in energy

Study on multi-ELVES in the Pierre Auger Observatory

Since 2013, the four sites of the Fluorescence Detector (FD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory record ELVES with a dedicated trigger. These UV light emissions are correlated to distant lightning strikes. The length of recorded traces has been increased from 100 μs (2013), to 300 μs (2014-16), to 900 μs (2017-present), to progressively extend the observation of the light emission towards the vertical of the causative lightning and beyond. A large fraction of the observed events shows double ELVES within the time window, and, in some cases, even more complex structures are observed. The nature of the multi-ELVES is not completely understood but may be related to the different types of lightning in which they are originated. For example, it is known that Narrow Bipolar Events can produce double ELVES, and Energetic In-cloud Pulses, occurring between the main negative and upper positive charge layer of clouds, can induce double and even quadruple ELVES in the ionosphere. This report shows the seasonal and daily dependence of the time gap, amplitude ratio, and correlation between the pulse widths of the peaks in a sample of 1000+ multi-ELVES events recorded during the period 2014-20. The events have been compared with data from other satellite and ground-based sensing devices to study the correlation of their properties with lightning observables such as altitude and polarity