Digital Health Opportunities to Improve Primary Health Care in the Context of COVID-19: Scoping Review.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought social, economic, and health impacts, requiring fast adaptation of health systems. Although information and communication technologies were essential for achieving this objective, the extent to which health systems incorporated this technology is unknown.

Objective: The aim of this study was to map the use of digital health strategies in primary health care worldwide and their impact on quality of care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The links of stress, substance use and socio-demographic factors with domestic violence during the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal.

Background: Lockdown, as a measure implemented to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, left many domestic violence (DV) victims trapped with their abusers. This study intends to explore the links between perceived stress, substance use and socio-demographic factors with DV experiences during COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 1062 participants over 16 years old, residing in Portugal.

Patients' Perspectives on Determinants Avoidable Hospitalizations: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire.

Ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) can be avoided through effective care in the ambulatory setting. Patients are the most qualified individuals to express the social and individual contexts of their own experience. Thus, understanding why potentially preventable hospitalizations occur is important to develop patient-centred policies or interventions that may reduce them.

Simvastatin Downregulates the SARS-CoV-2-Induced Inflammatory Response and Impairs Viral Infection Through Disruption of Lipid Rafts.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently a worldwide emergency caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In observational clinical studies, statins have been identified as beneficial to hospitalized patients with COVID-19. However, experimental evidence of underlying statins protection against SARS-CoV-2 remains elusive.

Unlike Chloroquine, Mefloquine Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Physiologically Relevant Cells.

Despite the development of specific therapies against severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the continuous investigation of the mechanism of action of clinically approved drugs could provide new information on the druggable steps of virus-host interaction. For example, chloroquine (CQ)/hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) lacks in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 in TMPRSS2-expressing cells, such as human pneumocyte cell line Calu-3, and likewise, failed to show clinical benefit in the Solidarity and Recovery clinical trials. Another antimalarial drug, mefloquine, which is not a 4-aminoquinoline like CQ/HCQ, has emerged as a potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 antiviral in vitro and has also been previously repurposed for respiratory diseases.

Factors Associated with COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy after Implementation of a Mass Vaccination Campaign.

An online cross-sectional study on COVID-19 vaccination adhesion was conducted in Portugal nine months after vaccination rollout (September-November 2021). Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with hesitancy to take the COVID-19 vaccine in the community-based survey, "COVID-19 Barometer: Social Opinion". Hesitancy was 11%; however, of those, 60.

Comparing the effects of tumor necrosis factor alpha, lipopolysaccharide and palmitic acid on lipid metabolism and inflammation in murine 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Aims: This study aimed to develop a model of dysregulated lipid metabolism and inflammation by treating 3T3-L1 adipocytes with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and palmitic acid (PA) individually or in combination to assess their effects and mechanism of action.

Main Methods: Differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with TNFα (10 ng/mL), LPS (100 ng/mL), and PA (0.75 mM) individually or in combination for 24 h.

Dementia and primary care teams: obstacles to the implementation of Portugal's Dementia Strategy.

Background: Portugal has a Dementia Strategy that endorses care coordination in the community, but the strategy is not implemented despite there being a network of multidisciplinary primary care clinics that could support it. Recent research into barriers to dementia management in primary care has focused essentially on general practitioners' (GPs) factors and perspectives. A comprehensive triangulated view on the barriers to dementia management emphasising teamwork is missing.

How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Migrant Populations in Lisbon, Portugal? A Study on Perceived Effects on Health and Economic Condition.

Increasing evidence on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that its social and health impacts are being disproportionately shouldered by socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, including migrants. Knowledge of how these populations are experiencing the COVID-19 crisis is scarce. We examined the effects of the pandemic on the perceived individual financial situation and health condition of migrants in Lisbon, Portugal, and described the most affected subgroups.

Astrocytes as Key Regulators of Brain Energy Metabolism: New Therapeutic Perspectives.

Astrocytes play key roles in the regulation of brain energy metabolism, which has a major impact on brain functions, including memory, neuroprotection, resistance to oxidative stress and homeostatic tone. Energy demands of the brain are very large, as they continuously account for 20-25% of the whole body's energy consumption. Energy supply of the brain is tightly linked to neuronal activity, providing the origin of the signals detected by the widely used functional brain imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography.

Microbiological assessment at slaughter of chicken carcasses from commercial, backyard and semi-backyard production systems.

Introduction: Smaller scale, alternative, chicken production systems are gaining popularity globally. However, this brings public health and market confidence concerns, especially where there are no established standards of production. The aim of this study was to carry out a microbiological analysis of chicken carcasses from the commercial, backyard and semi-backyard production systems, slaughtered in the same slaughterhouse.

Synergistic activity and immunomodulatory potential of levofloxacin and Synoeca-MP peptide against multi-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae.

The purpose of this article is to study the isolated and combined effect of the peptides Synoeca-MP and IDR-1018 against multi-resistant clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae (Kp2177569 - LACEN) in vitro. The bactericidal activity of the peptide Synoeca-MP in combination with three different classes of commercial antimicrobials and its immunomodulatory potential was also evaluated.

Modelling approaches for histology-independent cancer drugs to inform NICE appraisals: a systematic review and decision-framework.

Background: The first histology-independent marketing authorisation in Europe was granted in 2019. This was the first time that a cancer treatment was approved based on a common biomarker rather than the location in the body at which the tumour originated. This research aims to explore the implications for National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisals.

Spinous-Process-Splitting Versus Conventional Decompression for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Comparative Study with Respect to Short-Term Postoperative Pain and Analgesics Use.

Objective: Several microsurgical techniques are available for the decompression of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). More recently, a spinous process-splitting laminectomy (SPSL) technique was introduced, with the premise of diminishing paraspinal muscle damage. This study aims to compare the neurologic and functional outcomes, as well as the differences in early postoperative pain and analgesic use during hospitalization after conventional decompression (CD) versus SPSL surgery for LSS.

Factors Associated with the Patient's Decision to Avoid Healthcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in changes in healthcare use. This study aimed to identify factors associated with a patient's decision to avoid and/or delay healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used data from a community-based survey in Portugal from July 2020 to August 2021, "COVID-19 Barometer: Social Opinion", which included data regarding health services use, risk perception and confidence in health services.

Hydrogen Peroxide Release Kinetics of Four Tooth Whitening Products-In Vitro Study.

Tooth whitening efficacy can be influenced by several factors, of which concentration and application time are two of the most important. This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the initial content and release kinetics of the hydrogen peroxide (HP) content, or the carbamide peroxide (CP) content as converted to its HP equivalent, of four tooth whitening products with different concentrations (6% HP, 16% CP, 10% CP, and 5% CP). Titrations with Cerium Sulphate IV were performed to determine HP concentration.

Subclinical Persistent Inflammation as Risk Factor for Crohn's Disease Progression: Findings From a Prospective Real-World Study of 2 Years.

Background And Aims: Subclinical intestinal inflammation is common in Crohn's disease (CD). We aimed to explore its impact in the disease progression of infliximab-treated patients and the usefulness of fecal calprotectin (FC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) as surrogate minimally invasive biomarkers.

Methods: The registry-based, prospective, observational, multicenter DIRECT (study to investigate the correlation of fecal calprotectin with serum Drug levels and development of an antI-dRug antibodiEs among adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease reCeiving anti-TNF-alfa treatment or vedoluzimab treatment) study followed infliximab-treated CD patients for 2 years in a tertiary care setting.

Methods to assess evidence consistency in dose-response model based network meta-analysis.

Network meta-analysis (NMA) simultaneously estimates multiple relative treatment effects based on evidence that forms a network of treatment comparisons. Heterogeneity in treatment definitions, such as dose, can lead to a violation of the consistency assumption that underpins NMA. Model-based NMA (MBNMA) methods have been proposed that allow functional dose-response relationships to be estimated within an NMA, which avoids lumping different doses together and thereby reduces the likelihood of inconsistency.

Spatial and Temporal Trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Wastewater Treatment Plants over 6 Weeks in Cape Town, South Africa.

Recent scientific trends have revealed that the collection and analysis of data on the occurrence and fate of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may serve as an early warning system for COVID-19. In South Africa, the first COVID-19 epicenter emerged in the Western Cape Province. The City of Cape Town, located in the Western Cape Province, has approximately 4 million inhabitants.

Microbial Characterization of Yellow Curing Process of Codfish.

Yellow cured codfish has a typical yellow colour, distinctive taste, and low salt content due to its special curing process of the raw salted codfish involving several soaks in water of the raw salted codfish, alternated with drying steps. The purpose of this study was to assess the main functional groups of bacteria involved in this process and relate them with physicochemical properties of the product. A total of 28 codfish from Iceland were supplied by two local companies.