Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2022-11"
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- Perception of mental health in higher education students: changes due to the COVID-19 pandemicPublication . Minghelli, Beatriz; Martins, Beatriz; Pereira, Carlos; Bento, Joana; Nogueira, Leonor; Coelho, Mariana; Pargana, Mariana; Borges, Miriam; Sousa, Rafaela; Calado, TatianaABSTRACT - The actual pandemic context took several changes in the routine of higher education students, including interruptions of face-to-face classes, implementation of education at a distance, interruption or delayed phases, and others, which could compromise mental health. This study aimed to assess the perception of mental health among higher education students in times of the pandemic COVID-19 and associated factors. The sample was constituted of 1,004 higher education students, aged 18 to 51 years (20.33±3.35), 725 (72.2%) female. The instrument includes a questionnaire, elaborated by the researchers, divided into four parts: characterization social-demographic, physical exercise practice, feeding, and mental health. Before the confinement, 99 (9.9%) students classify their mental health as poor and during the confinement 423 (42.2%) said that their mental health was poor (p≤0.001). Women presented 1.91 (CI=1.42-2.56; p≤0.001) more probabilities of having poor mental health and the students that did not practice physical exercise during the confinement had 1.56 (CI=1.22-2.04; p≤0.001) more chances of having poor mental health. Most students classified their mental health as inferior during confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with women and the lack of physical exercise being the factors that were most related to poor mental health.
- microRNA-122 and microRNA-1247 regulate the pathogenic phenotype of effector CD4+ T cell subsets in (auto)immune responses in vivoPublication . Cunha, Carolina; Romero, Paula Vargas; Pelicano, Catarina; Pais, Ana Teresa; Inácio, Daniel; Papotto, Pedro; Sobral, Daniel; Amado, Tiago; Gomes, Anita Q.; Silva-Santos, BrunoAutoimmune diseases are often associated with an imbalance between CD4+ T cell subsets, namely pro-inflammatory effector cells, including T helper 1 (Th)1 and Th17 cells (IFN-γ- and IL-17-producers, respectively), and anti-inflammatory Foxp3+ regulatory cells (Treg). The differentiation of these distinct CD4+ T cell subsets is known to be regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs that fine-tune gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. While various individual miRNAs have been implicated in this process, a holistic approach focused on in vivo immune responses is missing to better understand how miRNA networks shape the CD4+ T cell compartment in pathophysiology. To address this biological question, we established a triple reporter mouse for Ifng, Il17, and Foxp3, and subjected it to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a widely used rodent model of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). We performed miRNA-seq analysis on Th1, Th17, and Treg cells isolated from the spleen and lymph nodes (LNs) at the peak-plateau stage of EAE, and found 110 miRNAs to be differentially expressed between the effector and regulatory subsets. From there, we studied the functional role of 5 candidate miRNAs as they were specifically upregulated in one population versus the others. In vivo miRNA modulation showed that silencing miR-122 (upregulated in Th17 cells) increased the frequency of IL-17A+ cells in the LNs and precipitated the onset of EAE, whereas upregulation of miR-1247 (highly expressed in the Th1 subset) decreased the severity of the disease reducing the number of IFN-γ+ cells in the LNs. We further found that both IL-6 and TGF-β induce miR-122 expression, whereas IL-23 and IL-1β repress its expression. Given that IL-23 and IL-1β are critical to induce Th17-mediated pathogenicity, our data suggests that miR-122 is expressed in a non-pathogenic context. Interestingly, we have observed a pathogenic gene signature in CNS-derived Th17 cells (when compared to peripheral Th17 cells) with concomitantly decreased levels of miR-122, suggesting that miR-122 may regulate Th17 pathogenicity. Similarly, we observed that once Th1 cells infiltrate the CNS, their levels of miR-1247 decrease, and they produce higher levels of IFN-γ. Furthermore, as we found that this miRNA is induced by the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 and TGF-β, we propose that miR-1247 constitutes an auto-regulatory mechanism of Th1 cells in the periphery, which is disrupted upon CNS infiltration. Overall, our results suggest that miR-122 and miR-1247 control the pathogenic phenotype of effector Th17 and Th1 cells, respectively, during CNS autoimmunity. These findings may have important implications for autoimmune diseases, which we are now assessing in samples from MS patients.
- Hybrid wireless network with SDN and legacy devices in ad-hoc environmentsPublication . Sousa, Daniela; Sargento, Susana; Luís, MiguelOn temporary events, like concerts or emergency scenarios, where a communication infrastructure may not be sufficient or even present, networks can be built in a spontaneous way with the available network elements and radio access technologies, to support proper communication and data access. However, these ad-hoc networks, without a centralized view, can be inefficient when compared to a detached centralized control approach like in Software Defined Networks (SDNs). Moreover, SDNs can bring several advantages to these environments, such as adaptability and performance increase, despite not supporting wireless interfaces. However, in these scenarios, not all nodes are able to support SDN. This paper proposes a Spontaneous Heterogeneous Wireless Software Defined Network with a hybrid approach that is able to opportunistically use all available elements that may compose the network, regardless of whether they are legacy or SDN nodes. The proposed approach is tested in several scenarios with a different ratio of legacy to SDN nodes. We conclude that the network is able to work with hybrid nodes, and that when more Hybrid SDN (H-SDN) devices are used to forward packets, the network performance increases or is maintained when compared to a pure ad-hoc solution.
- What happens in performers' minds?: dancers' and musicians' inner conversationsPublication . Pinheiro, Inês; Ásmundsóttir, LiljaABSTRACT - This article aims to describe and understand what performers think about during performances and rehearsals while searching for a common language between music and dance. Departing from our own experiences as performers (a dancer and a musician), we ask the question what do we think about when we are dancing/playing? We assume that this awareness of what we think while performing is not obvious and decided to explore this by interviewing six dancers and six musicians about what we named performers’ ‘inner conversations.’ Within a phenomenological orientation, we developed a descriptive and interpretative study of a phenomenon (inner conversations) which gives itself to conscience, a pre-reflective consciousness. From the performers’ accounts, we extrapolated four trends: 1. Variation in awareness of inner conversations; 2. Altered states of awareness; 3. Parasitic inner conversations; and 4. Overcoming internal difficulties and external constraints through inner conversations. Looking at the dancers’ and musicians’ accounts together raised the question: How is the awareness of ‘inner conversations’ developed during performers’ initial education and training?
- Caraterização e manutenção de equipamentos hospitalares: o Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes como caso de estudoPublication . Serafim, Ana Beatriz Mendes; Domingues, Nuno Alexandre SoaresO presente trabalho tem como objetivo realizar um estudo de caraterização e manutenção de equipamentos em ambiente hospitalar e fazer a sua aplicação no caso de estudo realizado no âmbito de estágio no Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, com a duração de onze meses. Este trabalho contribuiu para a identificação de melhorias a aplicar no Finance and Operations Office, mais especificamente no Departamento Safety and Compliance, na manutenção, calibração e monitorização de Equipamentos Médico-Hospitalares, de forma a melhorar a fiabilidade e eficiência dos mesmos, reduzindo os custos e tempos de paragem, e a probabilidade de ocorrência de riscos para com o paciente, engenheiro, ou utilizador associado aos equipamentos. O acolhimento do Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes permitiu também o acompanhamento às manutenções e calibrações dos diferentes equipamentos por técnicos e engenheiros responsáveis internos e externos. Além disso, sempre que possível, também se procedeu à colaboração e intervenção sob supervisão destas tarefas, especialmente em calibrações. Aliou-se assim a teoria à prática, com experimentação própria, sendo possível levantar todos os procedimentos de manutenção e calibração realizados nos equipamentos e deixar esse contributo na entidade acolhedora: Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes. Procedeu-se à escolha de um Software de manutenção para o Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, de forma a ajudar o Departamento mencionado a possuir de uma forma mais organizada, toda a informação dos equipamentos, as datas de manutenções, calibrações, monitorizações, entre outros. Procedeu-se ainda à monitorização de vários equipamentos, a pedido deste Departamento. Verificou-se que a segurança dos pacientes, engenheiros, ou utilizadores que manuseiam os Equipamentos Médico-Hospitalares, é um fator de extrema importância. Para que este fator não seja prejudicado, são necessárias constantes monitorizações, manutenções e calibrações dos equipamentos, garantindo a segurança do utilizador e o bom funcionamento dos mesmos.
- Anuário científico da Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa - 2020Publication . Biblioteca da ESTeSLA 10.ª edição do Anuário da Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa é uma publicação organizada que tem por objetivo sintetizar toda a produção científica desenvolvida pelos Professores, Investigadores e Pessoal não Docente da ESTeSL. Neste documento encontram-se os vários tipos de publicações desenvolvidos no ano 2020 na ESTeSL, nomeadamente livros, capítulos de livros, artigos publicados em revistas nacionais e internacionais, resumos de comunicações orais e pósteres apresentados em eventos científicos e, ainda, os resultados dos trabalhos de mestrado e de investigação no âmbito da licenciatura, defendidos pelos estudantes da ESTeSL durante o ano em questão. Fazendo uma análise comparativa do anuário do ano 2019 com o de 2020, verificou-se um decréscimo do número de publicações em livros e um aumento substancial do número de capítulos de livro e de artigos em revistas internacionais e nacionais, aumento preponderante do número de artigos indexados na Scopus, Web of Science e MEDLINE/PubMed. Relativamente a publicações pelo sistema de quartis, continua-se a verificar uma tendência para revistas de 1º e 2º quartis. No que diz respeito a papers internacionais e nacionais verifica-se uma certa manutenção do número. Relativamente a comunicações orais quer internacionais quer nacionais, registou-se um decréscimo substancial, o que pode ser explicado pela situação de pandemia. Finalmente, quanto ao número de citações de artigos indexados verificou-se também um aumento, o que de certa forma revela também uma tendência crescente da aceitação da produção científica realizada pela comunidade ESTeSL por parte da comunidade científica nacional e internacional.
- Revistas e editoras predadoras no campo da saúde: problemática e recomendações aos investigadoresPublication . Antunes, Maria Da Luz; Lopes, Carlos; Borges, Maria ManuelRESUMEN - Se analiza la problemática de las revistas y editoriales depredadoras en el campo de la salud, identificando sus características y los conocimientos adquiridos. Se realizó una revisión de la literatura en salud indexada en ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, SciELO y Web of Science a lo largo de 2020 y 2021 en marzo de 2022. Se constató la creciente preocupación por revistas y editoriales depredadoras en los últimos años, especialmente a partir de 2015 y confirmada a partir de 2017. Las cifras de 2021 y primeros meses de 2022 acompañan esta escalada. Web of Science, Scopus y PubMed son las bases de datos que muestran una clara preocupación por las ciencias de la salud. Como conclusión, la presión por publicar y la dificultad para distinguir la revista legítima de la ilegítima propician un ambiente favorable a la proliferación de publicaciones cuestionables. Los investigadores deben tomar una postura exigente e informada en interés de la confiabilidad de la ciencia, desarrollando buenas prácticas de investigación, evitando la inclusión de datos falsos, plagiados o manipulados, que perjudiquen la calidad de los resultados y conclusiones, influyendo negativamente en la evidencia científica, la práctica clínica y, en última instancia, los pacientes.
- Cross-cultural translation and validation to Portuguese of the bariatric quality of life (BQL) IndexPublication . Figueiredo, Inês Rego de; Carvalho, Miguel Vasques; Cunha, Nelson; Martins, Diana; Silva-Nunes, JoséIntroduction: Obesity is a chronic noncommunicable disease, defined by the body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30Kg/m2. Its burden is not restricted to mortality and morbidity from other noncommunicable diseases, but also from a decrease in quality of life (QoL). There are several tools for assessing QoL, from generic health-related tools to obesity-related tools. However, to assess QoL in patients undergoing bariatric surgery there was only BAROS, which has some issues. Therefore, the Bariatric Quality of Life (BQL) index was developed. We aimed to perform a cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the BQL index in the Portuguese language. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed, by presenting two questionnaires to participants: BQL índex and EQ-5D-3L. Translation followed by forward translation, reviewing, back-translation, comparison, and pilot testing was done. A retest was performed 6 months after the baseline. The following psychometric properties were assessed: converging validity by correlation through Spearman coefficient (r>0.3) of BQL and EQ-5D-3L, internal consistency by Cronbach alfa coefficient (≥0.5), and reproducibility between test and retest through Spearman correlation (r>0.3) and intraclass correlation coefficient (≥ 0.60). Results: A total of 260 participants were included, the majority (78%) being females, mean age of 45±10 years old, and a mean BMI of 44±6.5kg/m2. The most common obesity-related conditions were osteoarticular disease (69%), anxiety/depression (60%), and hypertension (54%); the eating patterns were volume-eater (67%) and sweet-eater (62%). QoL scores were 41.3±9.3 for the BQL index, 0.35±0.19 for the EQ-5D-3L index, and 55.7±19.8 for the EQ-5D-3L VAS. The translation yielded good convergent validity (r=0.62), good internal consistency (a=0.94), and good reproducibility (r=0.62 and ICC=0.79). Conclusions: Our translation exhibited good parametric properties, with validity within the original BQL values, higher internal consistency, and suboptimal reproducibility. We can conclude that this version of the BQL index is suitable for Portuguese patients.
- Controlo interno na administração pública, em Portugal: análise evolutiva da última década no setor da saúdePublication . Pedreira, Ângela Maria Bastos Dias; Pires, Ana Isabel MarinhoA dimensão das organizações, o crescimento das economias, dos mercados e a evolução tecnológica são, entre outros, fatores que fazem aumentar a relevância de atividades de gestão e de governação no sucesso das organizações. A prossecução de objetivos de economia, eficácia e eficiência, depende da sua capacidade proativa de desenvolvimento e de adoção de mecanismos que possam obstar ou reduzir o efeito de eventos negativos no alcance dos mesmos, perante novos contextos e atuações dos cidadãos e demais stakeholders. Neste contexto e considerando que o setor da saúde tem uma importância vital na economia nacional, quer pelos avultados recursos envolvidos, que pertencem aos cidadãos, quer pelo dever social que cabe ao Estado garantir, a presente investigação pretende analisar a evolução do sistema de controlo interno (SCI) da Administração Pública, no Setor da Saúde (SS), em Portugal, durante a última década. Para o efeito, foram classificadas e interpretadas, de acordo com a estrutura concetual Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) - 2013 – Internal Control, as sínteses de resultados globais das auditorias realizadas pelos órgãos de controlo estratégico do setor, referentes a dois períodos. A comparação dos resultados obtidos, permitiu analisar e avaliar as alterações ocorridas, quanto à segurança razoável de alcançar três categorias de objetivos, tendo-se concluído, pelo aumento da segurança razoável de alcance de objetivos operacionais e de reporte e pelo aumento do risco de cumprimento de objetivos de conformidade.
- Dissecting the IFN-g versus IL-17-specific mRNAomes of effector gd T lymphocytesPublication . Inácio, Daniel; Pamplona, Ana; Amado, Tiago; Sobral, Daniel; Cunha, Carolina; Gomes, Anita Q.; Silva-Santos, BrunoThe ability of murine γδ T cells to rapidly produce the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-17 (IL-17) or interferon-γ (IFN-γ) underlies their crucial roles in several pathophysiological contexts, from infection to cancer or autoimmunity. This functional capacity stems from a complex process of ‘developmental pre-programming’ in the thymus, after which a significant fraction of γδ T cells migrate to peripheral sites already committed to producing either IL-17 (gd17) or IFN-γ (gdIFN). While several studies have studied these gd T cell subtypes using surface markers that enrich for effector function, we still lack a characterization of the mRNA transcriptomes that specifically associate with IL-17 or IFN-g production by gd T cells. To overcome this limitation, in this study, we established a double reporter IL-17-GFP:IFN-γ-YFP mouse strain, which allowed us to isolate pure IL-17+, IFN-γ+, and the remaining IL-17-IFN-g-(DN) γδ T cell populations from the peripheral lymphoid organs to perform RNA sequencing and identify the subset-specific mRNAomes. Overall, we detected the expression of 12822 genes in gd T cells, with a significant number of genes being enriched in gd17 when compared with gdIFN and gdDN cells. Among these, 936 genes were differentially expressed between the three populations, with gd17 and gdIFN cells displaying the most distinct mRNAomes, which highlights their functional specialization, and gdIFN being more similar to DN than gd17 cells. A more detailed analysis of the top 30 differentially expressed genes among the most expressed genes by gd17 and gdIFN cells revealed that the majority of the signature genes increase their expression levels in the periphery upon their egress from the thymus, suggesting that these effector subsets only terminate their differentiation process at peripheral sites. Notably, gd17-associated signature genes are specifically expressed in this subset, unlike gdIFN signature genes, which are also often expressed by gdDN T cells, thus suggesting a developmental relationship between these two subpopulations. Collectively, our data allowed us to identify distinct mRNA signatures directly associated with cytokine expression in γδ T cells, several of which we are now further studying in disease models to identify potential new roles in pathophysiology.