Publications by authors named "Bessa F"

Global trends in marine turtle nesting numbers vary by region, influenced by environmental or anthropogenic factors. Our study investigates the potential role of past temperature fluctuations on these trends, particularly whether warmer beaches are linked to increased nesting due to higher female production (since sea turtles have temperature-dependent sex determination). We selected the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) due to its wide distribution, strong philopatry and vulnerability to environmental changes.

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  • Anthropogenic litter, specifically plastic, significantly impacts ecosystems, and scientists from various fields are working together to assess and reduce these pollutants.
  • The research aimed to determine the best methods for monitoring macroplastic litter in rivers and oceans by surveying 46 researchers who evaluated different techniques such as visual census, drone surveys, satellite imagery, and GPS/GNSS trackers.
  • Results indicated that traditional visual census and drone use were the most favored methods (scoring 3.5 and 2.0), while satellite imagery and GPS trackers were less effective due to validation challenges and range limitations, with scores below 1.2.
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Distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic processes in sedimentary records from estuaries with legacy pollutants is an essential task, as it provides baselines to predict future environmental trajectories of coastal areas. Here, we have addressed the recent transformation history of the mining-impacted Nalón Estuary (Asturias, N Spain). Surface and core sediment records from marshes and tidal flats were examined through a broad multidisciplinary approach, involving micropaleontological (benthic foraminifera), sedimentological (grain-size), geochemical (trace metals, major element Al and total organic carbon), physical (magnetic susceptibility, frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility and large microplastics) and radioisotopic (Pb, Cs and Pu) proxies.

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  • The study explores the anatomic and biomechanical aspects of the indirect head of the rectus femoris (IHRF) tendon as a graft for labral reconstruction, focusing on its anatomical relationships and relevance in surgery.
  • Researchers performed cadaveric tests to assess IHRF's effectiveness in restoring joint function, comparing its performance against the iliotibial band (ITB) while also evaluating the potential complications from harvesting the graft.
  • Results highlighted specific anatomical measurements related to the IHRF's attachment points and demonstrated that IHRF may be a viable option for labral reconstruction, with detailed radiographic and contact pressure data supporting its use.
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In the context of marine litter monitoring, reporting the weight of beached litter can contribute to a better understanding of pollution sources and support clean-up activities. However, the litter scaling task requires considerable effort and specific equipment. This experimental study proposes and evaluates three methods to estimate beached litter weight from aerial images, employing different levels of litter categorization.

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Plastic pollution poses global and societal concerns, especially from discarded fishing gear, threatening seabed environments like coral reefs. This study examines the incorporation of lost and/or abandoned fishing gear - specifically synthetic lines, and filaments - into the structure of orange tree coral, Dendrophyllia ramea along the coast of Portugal, in the North-East Atlantic Ocean. The specimens were inadvertently captured by local fishers (Sines and Cascais), with 6 % showing filaments inside their structure, raising questions about their potential impact on coral health.

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Introduction: Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) is the idiopathic osteonecrosis of the capital femoral epiphysis in children. It is a self-healing condition, and the morphology of the hip may vary according to the severity of the disease, among several other factors. The treatment focuses on attempts to prevent femoral head collapse, obtain functional hip motion recovery, and reduce pain.

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Santa Luzia, an uninhabited island in the archipelago of Cabo Verde, serves as a natural laboratory and important nesting site for loggerhead turtles Carettacaretta. The island constitutes an Integral Natural Reserve and a Marine Protected Area. We assessed marine litter accumulation on sandy beaches of the island and analysed their spatial patterns using two sampling methods: at a fine scale, sand samples from 1 × 1 m squares were collected, identifying debris larger than 1 mm; at a coarse scale, drone surveys were conducted to identify visible marine debris (>25 mm) in aerial images.

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Plastic pollution is a global environmental issue affecting multiple ecosystems, namely sea turtle nesting grounds. We analysed the potential chemical contamination caused by plastic debris in loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) nests, focusing on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs, a class of flame retardants). For that, we conducted a field experiment in a turtle hatchery (Cabo Verde) by placing plastic fragments in the nests at two depths: surface and ~20 cm.

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Oceans have been considered as an unlimited supply of goods and services, but resource extraction and waste disposal became ubiquitous and have been damaging the health of marine ecosystems. Finding suitable sentinel species of the human impacts on the oceans is thus imperative, since they may work as early warnings of disruptive situations. In this study, we investigated how taxonomy and foraging distribution influenced the occurrence of anthropogenic debris among five seabird species inhabiting the tropical Atlantic region.

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Marine plastic contamination is currently considered ubiquitous in aquatic environments. These particles present a resistant and hydrophobic substrate known to promote microbial colonisation and biofilm formation in aquatic ecosystems, the so-called "Plastisphere", raising concerns about its potential ecological risks. The novelty of this topic translates into a relatively low number of studies, including for transitional coastal ecosystems, such as sandy beaches or estuarine habitats.

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Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Developmental Milestones Questionnaire of the Survey of Wellbeing of Young Children Brazilian version (DM-SWYC-BR) and establish the preliminary norms to identify suspected developmental delay in Brazilian children up to 65 months.

Methods: A psychometric study was conducted on 1535 children from 3 Brazilian regions. The caregivers answered the Brazilian Portuguese cross-culturally adapted version of the DM-SWYC.

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The abundance of beach litter has been increasing globally during the last decades, and it is an issue of global concern. A new survey strategy, based on uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV, aka drones), has been recently adopted to improve the monitoring of beach macro-litter items abundance and distribution. This work identified and analysed the 15 studies that used drone for beach litter surveys on an operational basis.

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  • Recent studies showed a rise in cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting this evaluation of hospitalization and mortality rates comparing the pandemic year (2020) to the year prior (2019).
  • A cross-sectional study analyzed data from 171 stroke centers worldwide, focusing on CVT admissions and associated mortality from January 2019 to May 2021, revealing no significant differences in overall CVT volume or mortality between 2019 and 2020.
  • However, the first five months of 2021 saw a notable increase in CVT admissions compared to 2019 and 2020, with higher mortality rates linked to COVID-19-positive patients and instances of vaccine-induced immune
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Purpose: To determine the agreeability of femoral torsion measurements on axial and oblique axial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences in patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS).

Methods: Patients who underwent primary hip arthroscopy for FAIS between January 2012 to January 2019 were identified. Inclusion criteria were all patients with an MRI scan containing the pelvis and knee imaging.

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Case: A 32-year-old woman presented with worsening right anterior hip pain, reduced hip flexion strength, and passive range of motion during hip flexion. Magnetic resonance imaging of the hip demonstrated a prominent lesser trochanter and localized fluid signal intensity at the iliopsoas bursa. The patient underwent endoscopic iliopsoas bursectomy and lesser trochanterplasty, reporting improvement in all clinical outcome scores at 1-year follow-up.

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The assessment of contaminant exposure in marine organisms often focuses on the most toxic chemical elements from upper trophic level species. Information on mid-trophic level species and particularly on potentially less harmful elements is lacking. Additionally, microplastics have been considered emergent contaminants in aquatic environments which have not been extensively studied in species from mid-trophic levels in food chains.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) in patients with borderline hip dysplasia and hip instability defined radiographically using the femoroepiphyseal acetabular roof (FEAR) index and in patients without radiographic evidence of hip instability.

Methods: Data from consecutive patients with borderline hip dysplasia (lateral center edge angle between 18˚-25˚) who underwent primary hip arthroscopy between April 2012 and June 2017 for the treatment of FAIS were analyzed. Baseline demographic data, radiographic parameters, preoperative, and 2-year postoperative patient-reported outcome measures were collected.

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Background: The influence of femoral torsion on clinically significant outcome improvement after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) has not been well-studied.

Purpose: To quantify femoral torsion in FAIS patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and explore the relationship between femoral torsion and clinically significant outcome improvement after hip arthroscopy.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

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Background: Femoral torsion imaging measurements and classifications are heterogeneous throughout the literature, and the influence of femoral torsion on clinically meaningful outcome improvement after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) has not been well studied.

Purpose: To (1) perform a computed tomography (CT)-based analysis to quantify femoral torsion in patients with FAIS and (2) explore the relationship between the orientation and magnitude of femoral torsion and the propensity for clinically meaningful outcome improvement after hip arthroscopy.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

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Microplastics (< 5 mm in size) are known to be widespread in the marine environment but are still poorly studied in Polar Regions, particularly in the Antarctic. As penguins have a wide distribution around Antarctica, three congeneric species: Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae), chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarcticus) and gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) were selected to evaluate the occurrence of microplastics across the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Sea. Scat samples (used as a proxy of ingestion), were collected from breeding colonies over seven seasons between 2006 and 2016.

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Our goal was to evaluate phytochemical characterization and the antitumor potential of Calotropis procera. The phytochemical constitution of the crude extract (CE) revealed the presence of flavonoids, glycosides and cardenolide. The MTT assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of CE, methanolic (MF) and ethyl acetate fractions (EAF) of C.

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Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, aka drones) are being used to map macro-litter on the environment. Sixteen qualified researchers (operators), with different expertise and nationalities, were invited to identify, mark and categorize the litter items (manual image screening, MS) on three UAS images collected at two beaches. The coefficient of concordance (W) among operators varied between 0.

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This work analyses the cross-shore (80 m) and long-shore (200 m) spatial and size distribution of macro-litter on coastal dunes, employing a mapping framework based on an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS, aka drone) and a GIS mobile application. Over the cross-shore, plastic percentage increased from 60% to 90% landwards. The largest items (processed wood) were found on the embryo dune.

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Background: Controversies exist about the effect of renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi) on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcome. The inhospital use of RASi and its effect on inflammatory sate are still poorly studied during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: We aimed to compare the impact of previous and inhospital RASi exposure on the outcome and inflammatory response of COVID-19 patients.

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