Associação entre a Doença do Refluxo Gastroesofágico e o Bruxismo do Sono

Introdução - A DRGE consiste numa disfunção digestiva onde o conteúdo gástrico ascende para o esófago. As lesões dentárias não cariosas caracterizam-se pela perda irreversível e gradual de tecido mineralizado, sem qualquer envolvimento bacteriano, apresentando uma etiologia multifatorial. Pode haver uma associação entre o BS e a DRGE porque os episódios de AMMR durante o sono ocorrem quando o pH esofágico é reduzido. Objetivos - Determinar se existe uma relação entre a DRGE e o BS. Materiais e Métodos - Pesquisa realizada na base de dados PubMed, nos anos 2011-2022, com as palavras-chave “bruxism”, “gastroesophageal reflux disease” e “dental wear”. Resultados - Os pacientes com DRGE apresentam maior prevalência de erosão dentária e a perda de estrutura dentária pode ser ampliada pela atrição proveniente do Bruxismo. Nos estudos avaliados a prevalência de DE em pacientes com DGRE foi variada, os valores obtidos vão desde 24,3% até 78,6%. Discussão - A acidificação esofágica aumenta os episódios de BS, juntamente com a deglutição e despertares durante o sono, e o BS pode aumentar a depuração do ácido esofágico através da estimulação da secreção salivar. Conclusões - Acidificação esofágica aumenta os episódios de BS, que por sua vez promove o desgaste dentário. A qualidade do sono, ansiedade e depressão foram considerados mediadores que correlacionam a DRGE e o BS, indicando uma forte associação entre o trato gastrointestinal e o cérebro.Introduction - GERD consists of a digestive dysfunction where gastric contents ascend to the esophagus. Non-carious dental lesions are characterized by irreversible and gradual loss of mineralized tissue, without any bacterial involvement, presenting a multifactorial etiology. There may be an association between BS and GERD because episodes of AMMR during sleep occur when esophageal pH is reduced. Objectives - To determine if there is a relationship between GERD and SB. Materials and Methods - Research carried out in the PubMed database, in the years 2011-2022, with the keywords “bruxism”, “gastroesophageal reflux disease” and “dental wear”. Results - Patients with GERD have a higher prevalence of dental erosion and the loss of tooth structure can be magnified by attrition resulting from bruxism. In the studies evaluated, the prevalence of ED in patients with DGRE was varied, the values obtained ranged from 24.3% to 78.6%. Discussion - Esophageal acidification increases SB episodes, along with swallowing and awakenings during sleep, and SB may increase esophageal acid clearance through stimulation of salivary secretion. Conclusions - Esophageal acidification increases episodes of SB, which in turn promotes tooth wear. Sleep quality, anxiety and depression were considered mediators that correlate GERD and SB, indicating a strong association between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain

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

Antecedentes e consequentes do consumer engagement com páginas de marcas na rede social Instagram

Mestrado em MarketingUma das questões fundamentais dos profissionais de marketing na atualidade prende-se com o aumento exponencial da utilização de redes sociais no quotidiano dos consumidores. Assim, faz sentido tentar perceber como é que as marcas podem criar engagement com os seus consumidores através das suas páginas nas redes sociais e, consequentemente melhorar o relacionamento que os mesmos têm com as marcas. Este estudo examina a relação entre as gratificações, o envolvimento e a auto-congruência no consumer engagement com as páginas das marcas no Instagram. Para além disso, investiga a relação entre o consumer engagement com as páginas das marcas no Instagram e a lealdade à marca, o brand love e word-of-mouth positivo eletrónico. Foi realizado um inquérito por questionário distribuído online, tendo sido recolhidos dados de 216 seguidores de páginas de marcas no Instagram. Para responder às questões de investigação recorreu-se à análise de regressões lineares. Os resultados evidenciaram que os valores hedónico e social, o envolvimento e a auto-congruência são antecedentes do consumer engagement com a página da marca no Instagram. Para além disso, o consumer engagement com a página da marca influencia positivamente a lealdade à marca, o brand love e o eWord-of-mouth positivo. Ao contrário do que era esperado, os resultados não evidenciaram uma relação estatisticamente significativa entre a gratificação funcional e da co-criação e o consumer engagement com a página.One of the main questions of marketers today is the exponential increase in the use of social networks in the everyday lives of consumers. Thus, it makes sense to try to understand how brands can create engagement with their consumers through their pages in social networks and, consequently, improves their relationship with brands. This study examines the relationship between gratification, involvement, and self-congruence in consumer engagement with brand pages on Instagram. In addition, it investigates the relationship between consumer engagement with brand pages on Instagram and brand loyalty, brand love and positive electronic word-of-mouth. A questionnaire survey was conducted online, with data collected from 216 followers of trademark pages on Instagram. To answer the research questions we used linear regression analysis. The results showed that hedonic and social values, involvement and self-congruence are antecedents of consumer engagement with brand pages on Instagram. In addition, consumer engagement with brand pages positively influences brand loyalty, brand love and positive eWord-of-mouth. Contrary to expectations, the results did not show a statistically significant relationship between functional gratification and co-creation and consumer engagement with the page.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

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

Prediction of COVID-19 diagnosis based on openEHR artefacts

Nowadays, we are facing the worldwide pandemic caused by COVID-19. The complexity and momentum of monitoring patients infected with this virus calls for the usage of agile and scalable data structure methodologies. OpenEHR is a healthcare standard that is attracting a lot of attention in recent years due to its comprehensive and robust architecture. The importance of an open, standardized and adaptable approach to clinical data lies in extracting value to generate useful knowledge that really can help healthcare professionals make an assertive decision. This importance is even more accentuated when facing a pandemic context. Thus, in this study, a system for tracking symptoms and health conditions of suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 patients from a Portuguese hospital was developed using openEHR. All data on the evolutionary status of patients in home care as well as the results of their COVID-19 test were used to train different ML algorithms, with the aim of developing a predictive model capable of identifying COVID-19 infections according to the severity of symptoms identified by patients. The CRISP-DM methodology was used to conduct this research. The results obtained were promising, with the best model achieving an accuracy of 96.25%, a precision of 99.91%, a sensitivity of 92.58%, a specificity of 99.92%, and an AUC of 0.963, using the Decision Tree algorithm and the Split Validation method. Hence, in the future, after further testing, the predictive model could be implemented in clinical decision support systems.This work is funded by "FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia" within the R &D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. D.F. thanks the FundacAo para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal for the Grant 2021.06308.BD

Modification of nanocellulose

Nanocellulose (NC) represents a pivotal material for the sustainable strategies of the future. NC comprises cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), each exhibiting unique and exceptional physicochemical properties. These properties encompass high specific surface area, high tensile strength, lightweight, biodegradability, good barrier properties, and high processing versatility. However, the range of properties and applications can be significantly expanded through the modification of NC, involving both chemical and physical methodologies, which introduce a plethora of functional groups to the densely populated hydroxyl groups present in pristine NC. The modification processes discussed in this chapter encompass chemical and physical modifications that were reported mostly within the last 5 years. The described methodologies emphasize the potential of NC as a substrate for advanced functional and sustainable material

The effects of COVID-19 lockdown on the perception of physical activity and on the perception of musculoskeletal symptoms in computer workers: comparative longitudinal study design

Lockdown resulting from the pandemic led to a change in the health habits of the computer workers community. Sedentary work, together with less active lifestyles, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic leads to impacts on physical activity (PA) and can contribute to the development of musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS). Understand the effects of lockdown on the perception of physical activity levels and on the perception of frequency of musculoskeletal symptoms, over periods of 12 months and 7 days, in computer workers. Longitudinal comparative study between 2019 (M1) and 2021 (M2), over 18 months, in 40 volunteer participants. The inclusion criteria were full-time workers aged between 18 and 65 and the exclusion criteria included diagnosis of non-work-related medical conditions. In addition to a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ) was used to evaluate the MSS and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), was used to analyse the perception of the level of PA. These questionnaires were used in two assessment stages (M1 and M2). McNemar test and Wilcoxon paired test were used to evaluate the effect of lockdown on the perception of PA, and on the perception of frequency of musculoskeletal symptoms. The MSS prevalence in the previous 12 months increased significantly in the neck (M1: 45.0%, M2: 62.5%, p = 0.046), in the shoulders (M1: 37.5%, M2: 55.0%, p = 0.033), and in the hands/wrists (M1: 25.0%, M2: 45.0%, p = 0.019). The mean pain score increased in the shoulders (1.43 ± 2.24, 2.35 ± 2.55, p = 0.003) and in the elbows (0.18 ± 0.59, 0.60 ± 1.34, p = 0.015). No differences were found in the PA between M1 and M2, but the weekly mean sitting time increased from 4.75 ± 2.26 to 6.26 ± 2.65 (p < 0.001). After 18 months it became clear that MSS perception increased mainly in the neck, shoulders and hands/wrists with a significant increase in pain intensity in the shoulder and elbow regions. The weekly sitting time increased significantly. Further studies are needed in order to determine the impact of teleworking in a pandemic context. But multifactor behind these results should be taken into account by health institutions and those responsible for the Prevention of Occupational Risks in Computer Workers in order to adopt educational strategies for the promotion of Physical activity (PA), in these workers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Chapter 34 - Biocompatibility of nanocellulose: Emerging biomedical applications

Nanocellulose already proved to be a highly relevant material for biomedical applications, ensued by its outstanding mechanical properties and, more importantly, its biocompatibility. Nevertheless, despite their previous intensive research, a notable number of emerging applications are still being developed. Interestingly, this drive is not solely based on the nanocellulose features, but also heavily dependent on sustainability. The three core nanocelluloses encompass cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC). All these different types of nanocellulose display highly interesting biomedical properties per se, after modification and when used in composite formulations. Novel applications that use nanocellulose includewell-known areas, namely, wound dressings, implants, indwelling medical devices, scaffolds, and novel printed scaffolds. Their cytotoxicity and biocompatibility using recent methodologies are thoroughly analyzed to reinforce their near future applicability. By analyzing the pristine core nanocellulose, none display cytotoxicity. However, CNF has the highest potential to fail long-term biocompatibility since it tends to trigger inflammation. On the other hand, neverdried BNC displays a remarkable biocompatibility. Despite this, all nanocelluloses clearly represent a flag bearer of future superior biomaterials, being elite materials in the urgent replacement of our petrochemical dependence

Production and optimization of 316L stainless steel dimples by laser surface texturing using Nd: YAG laser

Surface patterning is of increasing interest in modern manufacturing processes to achieve better results in terms of wear resistance and friction of mechanical parts and tools and, consequently, to improve their lifetime in service conditions [1]. Several approaches have been used to modify the surface properties of steel components, namely deposition of coatings, sandblasting, and texturing by electron beam, electric arc, or laser ablation [1,2]. In this work, laser technology was explored to produce dimples on the surface of 316L stainless steel samples. The production of textures can have several purposes, namely in tribological applications where they can reduce wear by acting as a reservoir for the lubricant or be reinforced with other materials (e.g. ceramics or intermetallic compounds), capable of improving the surface properties [1–3]. This work presents a detailed study on the texturing of a 316L stainless steel (dimples - circle design) by an Nd: YAG laser and its surface characterization by Scanning Electron Microscopy and analysis software (Image J) for obtaining their width (diameter) and depth. The texturing parameters are discussed herein. Results show that the width of the dimples is little influenced by the scan speed and wobble, but strongly affected by the combination of laser power and number of passes. On the other hand, wobble strongly influenced the depth of the dimples.This work was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) national funds, under the national support to R&D units grant, through the grant SFRH/BD/147460/2019, the project UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/2020 and, also by project UIDB/00285/2020