Publications by authors named "Antonio Amaral"

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, posing a significant challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. Transitional care interventions, which ensure coordination and continuity of care as patients move between different levels of healthcare, have been shown to reduce unnecessary healthcare utilization and improve patient outcomes. While much attention has been given to transitional care in heart failure, this review aims to map the interventions implemented for patients following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

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Introduction: Formal nursing leaders play an important role in promoting and sustaining evidence-based practice (EBP) in the clinical context, particularly by creating a conducive environment for change and increasing clinicians' awareness of the positive results of EBP. However, nursing leaders encounter both barriers and facilitators in their work; therefore, it is important to understand their perceptions on this topic.

Objective: The objective of this study was to understand the perceptions of formal nursing leaders about barriers and facilitators for EBP.

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Background: People's involvement and participation in their own care are the essential basis of nursing care. This phenomenon can be characterised as an approach based on the integration of the person's values, beliefs, and preferences during nursing care. This process contributes to improve quality of care, improve satisfaction levels, and result in a better experience for people receiving care.

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The draft genome sequence and main genomic features of Penicillium pancosmium MUM 23.27, isolated from Portuguese raw honey are reported. The genome size is 34.

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The microbial diversity in Portuguese raw honeys remains largely uncharacterized, constituting a serious knowledge gap in one of the country's most important resources. This work provides an initial investigation with amplicon metabarcoding analysis of two Lavandula spp. from different geographical regions of Portugal and one Eucalyptus spp.

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The consumption ofcookies is ever growing and during the COVID-19 pandemic reached record consumption values and it is imperative to guarantee the quality and safety of the products.Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy, combined with chemometric techniques, provides a promising solution in that regard, due to its speed and simple sample preparation. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibilities of using FT-NIR to predict lipids, carbohydrates, fibers, proteins, salt and energy contents, as well as to identify cookies type and main cereals present in a batch of 120 commercially acquired samples.

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Centipedes are venomous arthropods that have an elongated body, divided into many segments, presenting a pair of legs in each segment, adapted pairs of paws that simulate fangs and inject venom causing intense pain, with local erythema and edema, and rarely, blisters and skin necrosis. We present the case of a young woman pricked on her upper lip with intense swelling and local pain and discuss the real danger of envenomation and the therapeutic measures that should be taken.

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Unlabelled: Self-care is an important nursing-sensitive outcome. Reliable and valid measures are needed for therapeutic self-care assessment that may inform the development and evaluation of individualized nursing interventions co-created with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) adults. The therapeutic self-care scale European Portuguese version (TSCS-EPV) is a validated generic measure that may be used to assess self-care in T2DM adults.

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Quantitative image analysis (QIA) was used for monitoring the morphology of activated sludge (AS) during a granulation process and, thus, to define and quantify, unequivocally, structural changes in microbial aggregates correlated with the sludge properties and granulation rates. Two sequencing batch reactors fed with acetate at organic loading rates of 1.1 ± 0.

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Introduction: Mantis shrimps or siriboias are crustaceans belonging to the order Stomatopoda. They are known for their strong claws, which they use for defense and capturing their prey. They are classified into two groups: the spearers, which pierce the prey with sharp projections, and the smashers, which strike their prey with high-powered punches.

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Objectives: To assess the prevalence and extent of chronic periodontitis, and its risk factors in a Portuguese subpopulation referred to periodontal examination.

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study used a subset of data from patients who sought dental treatment in a university dental clinic in the Lisbon metropolitan area. The sample consisted of 405 individuals (225 females/180 males), aged 20-90 years.

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Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) produced from mixed microbial cultures (MMC), regarded as potential substitutes of petrochemical plastics, can be found as intracellular granules in various microorganisms under limited nutrient conditions and excess of carbon source. PHA is traditionally quantified by laborious and time-consuming chromatography analysis, and a simpler and faster method to assess PHA contents from MMC, such as quantitative image analysis (QIA), is of great interest. The main purpose of the present work was to upgrade a previously developed QIA methodology (as reported by Mesquita et al.

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This cytochemical study investigated the acid and alkaline phosphatase of the digestive tract of Hemisorubim platyrhynchos. Acid phosphatase was detected in the lining epithelium throughout the digestive tract, whereas alkaline phosphatase was only observed in the intestine. In the esophagus, an acid phosphatase reaction occurred in the apical cytoplasm of the epithelial cells and was related to epithelial protection and freeing of superficial cells for sloughing.

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Activated sludge systems are prone to be affected by foaming occurrences causing the sludge to rise in the reactor and affecting the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) performance. Nonetheless, there is currently a knowledge gap hindering the development of foaming events prediction tools that may be fulfilled by the quantitative monitoring of AS systems biota and sludge characteristics. As such, the present study focuses on the assessment of foaming events in full-scale WWTPs, by quantitative protozoa, metazoa, filamentous bacteria, and sludge characteristics analysis, further used to enlighten the inner relationships between these parameters.

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Objective: to analyze the contribution of Portuguese nursing to improving universal health access and coverage by means of the identification of nurses in the health system; evolution of health indicators; and access-promoting systems, in which nurses play a relevant role.

Method: this was documentary research of publications from national and international organizations on planning and health outcomes. Statistical databases and legislation on health reforms were consulted.

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The surface of the digestive tract of Hemisorubim platyrhynchos was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Morphometric studies by transmission electron microscopy were performed to analysis the intestinal microvilli. H.

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The aim of this study was to characterize the morphology and histochemistry of the digestive tract of Hemisorubim platyrhynchos, a freshwater carnivorous catfish found in Neotropical region, using gross anatomy, light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. This species presented a short and tubular esophagus with thick longitudinal folds. The esophageal mucosa was lined by stratified squamous epithelium containing epithelial cells, club cells and also numerous goblet cells, which secreted acidic and neutral mucins to protect and lubricate the epithelium.

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Image analysis technique was applied to identify morphological changes of pellets from white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor on agitated submerged cultures during the production of exopolysaccharide (EPS) or ligninolytic enzymes. Batch tests with four different experimental conditions were carried out. Two different culture media were used, namely yeast medium or Trametes defined medium and the addition of lignolytic inducers as xylidine or pulp and paper industrial effluent were evaluated.

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Activated sludge systems are prone to be affected by changes in operating conditions leading to problems such as pinpoint flocs formation, filamentous bulking, dispersed growth, and viscous bulking. These problems are often related with the floc structure and filamentous bacteria contents. In this work, a lab-scale activated sludge system was operated sequentially obtaining filamentous bulking, pinpoint floc formation, viscous bulking and normal conditions.

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Mental and behavioral disorders are common, affecting more than 25% of all people at some time during their lives. Mental disorders and their burden on society have increased dramatically. This scenario can be an opportunity for psychiatric/mental health (P/MH) nurses.

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Background, Aim, And Scope: Fishery wastewater treatment can be compromised due to seasonal production. The use of sequencing batch reactors is not completely successful, despite flexibility being one of the principal advantages. Most research on activated sludge is performed using synthetic wastewater to ensure a stable and constant feed.

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The development of monitoring methods for assessing the physiological state of microorganisms during recombinant fermentation processes has been encouraged by the need to evaluate the influence of processing conditions in recombinant protein production. In this work, a technique based on microscopy and image analysis was developed that allows the simultaneous quantification of parameters associated with viability and fluorescent protein production in recombinant Escherichia coli fermentations. Images obtained from light microscopy with phase contrast are used to assess the total number of cells in a given sample and, from epifluorescence microscopy, both protein producing and injured cells are evaluated using two different fluorochromes: propidium iodide and enhanced yellow fluorescent protein.

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Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome (O/MetS) in a sample of Brazilian outpatients with bipolar disorder.

Methods: Eighty-four patients with bipolar disorder were evaluated. We used the definition of MetS established in the Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, modified by the American Heart Association (AHA).

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