Complex scenarios with competing factors: A conception paper applied to the COVID-19 case.

A theory to analyze complex scenarios facing threats with competing factors and limited resources has been introduced. The scenarios are modeled as closed systems. Hamilton's principle of stationary action is used to conceive a theory in which competing factors dispute available resources to minimize undesirable outcomes.

Dopamine D2 receptors in the expression and extinction of contextual and cued conditioned fear in rats.

Dopamine seems to mediate fear conditioning through its action on D2 receptors in the mesolimbic pathway. Systemic and local injections of dopaminergic agents showed that D2 receptors are preferentially involved in the expression, rather than in the acquisition, of conditioned fear. To further examine this issue, we evaluated the effects of systemic administration of the dopamine D2-like receptor antagonists sulpiride and haloperidol on the expression and extinction of contextual and cued conditioned fear in rats.

Risk Factors for Breast Cancer, Overall and by Tumor Subtype, among Women from Mozambique, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Breast cancer incidence is rising in Africa, but there are scare data regarding risk factors in this region. We assessed the relation between risk factors and the occurrence of breast cancer, overall and by tumor subtype in women from Mozambique.

Methods: The associations between education, number of births, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and breast cancer risk among 138 cases (participants from the Moza-BC cohort) and 638 controls from the general population (from a World Health Organization stepwise approach to surveillance survey), recruited during 2014 to 2017, were investigated.

Diversity of Cronobacter genus isolated between 1970 and 2019 on the American continent and genotyped using multi-locus sequence typing.

This study aimed to evaluate the Cronobacter spp. strains isolated on the American continent and characterized using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) available in the PubMLST database and current literature. From 465 Cronobacter spp.

Comparing the cost of non-metastatic breast cancer care in a low-income vs a high-income country: A plea for an optimal allocation of health resources in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Breast cancer incidence is rising in low-income countries, but there is limited information regarding health resource allocation for its care. We assessed the cost of care during the first three years after diagnosis in a low-income country (Mozambique; n = 162 women) and compared it with a high-income country (Portugal, n = 703 women). Local currency prices were converted to 2019 international dollars (Int$).

"Help Me to Improve my Own Priorities!": A Feasibility Study of an Individualized Intensive Goal Training for Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy.

Aim: To investigate the feasibility and the preliminary effects of an individualized intensive goal training for adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP).

Methods: Twelve adolescents with CP (12-17 years old, MACS II-III, GMFCS I-IV) identified functional goals to be practiced three hours/day, five days/week, for two weeks. The feasibility aspects included the participant's adherence (i.

Serious Game Platform as a Possibility for Home-Based Telerehabilitation for Individuals With Cerebral Palsy During COVID-19 Quarantine - A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study.

Introduction: There is a need to maintain rehabilitation activities and motivate movement and physical activity during quarantine in individuals with Cerebral Palsy (CP).

Objective: This paper sets out to evaluate the feasibility and potential benefits of using computer serious game in a non-immersive virtual reality (VR) implemented and evaluated completely remotely in participants with CP for Home-Based Telerehabilitation during the quarantine period for COVID-19.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 44 individuals participated in this study between March and June 2020, 22 of which had CP (14 males and 8 females, mean age = 19 years, ranging between 11 and 28 years) and 22 typically developing individuals, matched by age and sex to the individuals with CP.

New germline GATA1 variant in females with anemia and thrombocytopenia.

Familial forms of bone marrow defects are rare disorders and description of new cases are valuable opportunities to clarify the molecular machinery that triggers hematopoiesis and blood formation, as well as risk to malignant transformation. We investigated the genetic scenario and possible patterns of transmission in a rare case of familial myeloid disorder with a history of exposure to pesticides. Blood counts of two proband sisters, age 41 and 42, revealed mild anemia, neutrophilia and thrombocytopenia with bone marrow finding mimicking primary myelofibrosis in the cellular phase.

Mechanisms behind polyphagia in a pest insect: Responses of Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) strains to preferential and alternative larval host plants assessed with gene regulatory networks.

A dataset of gene expression from Spodoptera frugiperda, a highly generalist pest moth, was used to understand how gene regulation is related to larval host plant preference. Transcriptomic data of corn and rice strains of S. frugiperda larvae, reared on different diets, were analysed with three different approaches of gene network inference, namely co-expression, weighted co-expression and Bayesian networks, since each methodology provides a different visualization of the data.

Description of an integrated e-health monitoring system in a Portuguese higher education institution: the e.cuidHaMUstm program.

Background: The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization recognize that workplace health is not only affected by occupational hazards, but is mainly affected by social determinants and individual factors. An accelerated rise in noncommunicable diseases has fostered the importance of creating supportive environments and encouraging healthy behaviours. Therefore, an operational approach to making workplaces healthy and sustainable is needed.

Evaluating the environmental profiles of winter wheat rotation systems under different management strategies.

Climate change poses a remarkable challenge to global food security, for which wheat is one of the main staple agricultural commodities. The cultivation of different varieties of winter wheat in Galicia (commercial and native) under rotation systems with potato, maize and oilseed rape was evaluated from an environmental point of view. The general approach of this study included the gathering of the inventory data of the different crops, the quantification of their environmental impacts and economic benefits, to identify the best land management system.

The Goal Scale: A New Instrument to Measure the Perceived Exertion in Soccer (Indoor, Field, and Beach) Players.

The rating of perceived exertion (RPE) can be used to monitor the exercise intensity during laboratory and specific tests, training sessions, and to estimate the internal training load of the athletes. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a specific pictorial perceived exertion scale for soccer players (indoor, field, and beach soccer) called GOAL Scale. The pictorial GOAL Scale (six drawings; 1 "low exertion" to 6 "exhaustion") was validated for twenty under-17 soccer players (16.

STRUCTURAL BASES OF GASTROINTESTINAL MOTILITY CHANGES IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE: STUDY IN RATS.

Background: Gastrointestinal disorders are frequently reported in patients with Parkinson's disease whose disorders reduce the absorption of nutrients and drugs, worsening the clinical condition of patients. However, the mechanisms involved in modifying gastrointestinal pathophysiology have not yet been fully explained.

Aim: To evaluate its effects on gastrointestinal motility and the involvement of the vagal and splanchnic pathways.

Impact of HIV infection on baseline characteristics and survival of women with breast cancer.

Background: As women living with HIV (WLWH) become older, their risk of developing breast cancer increases. Nonetheless, literature is conflicting regarding tumor stage, distribution of subtypes and overall survival among WLWH vs. HIV-negative women with breast cancer.

Hemodynamic effects of increased intra-abdominal pressure in critically ill children.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of intra-abdominal pressure on the cardiac index (CI) at different intra-abdominal hypertension grades achieved when performing an abdominal compression maneuver (ACM). Evaluating the effectiveness of the ACM in distending the left internal jugular vein (LIJV).

Methods: Prospective observational study conducted in the PICU of a quaternary care teaching hospital.

Social identity of transgender persons: concept analysis and proposition of nursing diagnoses.

Objective: To analyze the concept of social identity of transgender persons and develop nursing diagnoses related to it.

Methods: A concept analysis according to the Walker and Avant model. A scope review was carried out with a search of eight databases, a portal and two information systems, during June and July 2019.

Development and validation of a technology for obstetric intraoperative care safety.

Objectives: to develop and validate an obstetric surgical safety checklist for intraoperative care.

Methods: this is a methodological study with two phases: integrative review in databases, using selection criteria and descriptors to synthesize the evidence and develop the checklist; checklist content validation, with 37 judges, who answered a Likert-type questionnaire. For analysis, a >85% content validation index was applied.

Survival Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of a Multidisciplinary Tumor Board for Breast Cancer in Mozambique, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Despite the international endorsement of multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs) for breast cancer care, implementation is suboptimal worldwide, and evidence regarding their effectiveness in developing countries is lacking. We assessed the impact on survival and the cost-effectiveness of implementing an MTB in Mozambique, sub-Saharan Africa.

Materials And Methods: This prospective cohort study included 205 patients with breast cancer diagnosed between January 2015 and August 2017 (98 before and 107 after MTB implementation), followed to November 2019.

Differential gene expression reveals mechanisms related to habitat divergence between hybridizing orchids from the Neotropical coastal plains.

Background: Closely related hybridizing species are ideal systems for identifying genomic regions underlying adaptive divergence. Although gene expression plays a central role in determining ecologically-based phenotypic differences, few studies have inferred the role of gene expression for adaptive divergence in Neotropical systems. In this study, we conduct genome-wide expression analysis alongside soil elemental analysis in sympatric and allopatric populations of Epidendrum fulgens and E.

Appropriateness of Computed Tomography and Ultrasound for Abdominal Complaints in the Emergency Department.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the appropriateness of ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT) examinations ordered in the emergency department (ED) for abdominal complaints.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed 154 CTs and 154 US orders for appropriateness using evidence-based recommendations by the American College of Radiology. The sample was powered to show a prevalence of inappropriate orders of 25% with a margin of error of 7.

Healthcare use and costs in early breast cancer: a patient-level data analysis according to stage and breast cancer subtype.

Background: The cost of breast cancer care rises with higher stage at diagnosis; however, there are no real-world data regarding the cost of care according to breast cancer subtypes. This study aimed to estimate direct medical costs for early breast cancer care in the first 3 years after diagnosis according to subtype and stage, using patient-level data.

Methods: Women with newly diagnosed stage I-III breast cancer, admitted in 2012 to a Portuguese cancer centre were prospectively followed within the NEON-BC cohort.

Risk factors for hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia in adults with pharmacologically treated type 2 diabetes mellitus: a quantitative systematic review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this review is to identify and synthesize the risk factors for hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia in adults with pharmacologically treated type 2 diabetes mellitus in any scenarios and environments for health care.

Introduction: Studies around the world have investigated which factors are associated with episodes of alteration of blood glucose level. It is through the characterization of these factors that nurses can plan and intervene accurately in the control of serum glucose levels in people with diabetes.