[Exploratory and Confirmatory Validation of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) in a Sample of Individuals Registered in Job Centers].

Introduction: Bonanno defined resilience as the individual's capacity to cope with traumatic events, namely, the ability to maintain the levels of physical and psychological functioning relatively stable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of 10-item Connor-Davidson resilience scale. The Connor-Davidson resilience scale short version has good psychometric qualities (Cronbach α - 0.

One Health-ness Evaluation of Cysticercosis Surveillance Design in Portugal.

The increasing occurrence of human cysticercosis, a zoonotic neglected disease, is challenging the traditional prevention and control paradigm and calling for One Health (OH) solutions in industrialized countries. OH solutions for health interventions are increasingly being used to capture expected and unexpected outcomes across people, animals, and the environment. The Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) proposes an evidence-based framework, relying on systems and mixed methods approaches to evaluate the One Health-ness.

Psychological well-being of Portuguese expatriates in Sub-Saharan Africa: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Psychological health problems are highlighted among the most relevant disease patterns in expatriates. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychological well-being in Portuguese expatriates in Angola and Mozambique, considering the increasing expatriation wave.

Methods: A cross-sectional self-administered web survey was conducted in a sample of 352 Portuguese civil expatriates in Angola and Mozambique.

Portuguese expatriates' health in Angola and Mozambique-a cross-sectional study: increasing awareness and need for more surveillance.

Background: Increasing numbers of expatriates are working in sub-Saharan Africa. There is little published data on the complex population and this survey aimed at understanding expatriate morbidity by accessing self-reported health problems and malaria preventive practices.

Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted targeting Portuguese expatriates in Angola and Mozambique.

Surveillance of imported hospital requiring malaria in Portugal: can it be improved?

Although eradicated in Portugal, malaria keeps taking its toll on travellers and migrants from endemic countries. Completeness of hospital requiring malaria notification in Portugal 2000-11 was estimated, using two-source capture-recapture method. Data sources were: national surveillance database of notifiable diseases and the national database of the Diagnosis-Related Groups resulting from National Health Service (NHS) hospital episodes.

Imported malaria in portugal 2000-2009: a role for hospital statistics for better estimates and surveillance.

Background. Although eradicated in Portugal, malaria keeps taking its toll on travelers and migrants from endemic countries. Disease notification is mandatory but is compromised by underreporting.

The burden of imported malaria in Portugal 2003 to 2012.

Increasing international travel and expatriation to sub-Saharan countries where malaria is endemic has raised public health concerns about the burden of imported malaria cases in Portugal. From 2009 to 2012, there was a 60% increase in malaria hospitalizations, contradicting the declining trend observed since 2003. Older age was associated with longer length of stay in hospital and higher lethality.

[Breast cancer at Pico Island (1998-2008): an epidemiological perspective].

Introduction: Neoplasic disease has been assuming an increasingly relevant role in the world's public health. Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second cause of death by neoplasia in women. In the Portuguese population, breast cancer is the main cause of death by neoplasia in females.

Predictors of mortality in HIV-associated hospitalizations in Portugal: a hierarchical survival model.

Background: The beneficial effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy, increasing survival and the prevention of AIDS defining illness development are well established. However, the annual Portuguese hospital mortality is still higher than expected. It is crucial to understand the hospitalization behaviour to better allocate resources.

Host- and microbe-related risk factors for and pathophysiology of fatal Rickettsia conorii infection in Portuguese patients.

Background: The pathophysiologic mechanisms that determine the severity of Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) and the host-related and microbe-related risk factors for a fatal outcome are incompletely understood.

Methods: This prospective study used univariate and multivariate analyses to determine the risk factors for a fatal outcome for 140 patients with Rickettsia conorii infection admitted to 13 Portuguese hospitals during 1994-2006 with documented identification of the rickettsial strain causing their infection.

Results: A total of 71 patients (51%) were infected with the Malish strain of Rickettsia conorii, and 69 (49%) were infected with the Israeli spotted fever (ISF) strain.

Rickettsia conorii Israeli tick typhus strain isolated from Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks in Portugal.

This report describes the first establishment of five isolates of R. conorii Israeli tick typhus (ITT) strain from Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks in different regions of Portugal. Ticks were collected on two separate expeditions that took place in Bragança, Montesinho Natural Park, and Portalegre City.

Intralesional expression of mRNA of interferon- gamma , tumor necrosis factor- alpha , interleukin-10, nitric oxide synthase, indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase, and RANTES is a major immune effector in Mediterranean spotted fever rickettsiosis.

Background: The mechanisms of immunity to Rickettsia conorii that have been elucidated in mouse models have not been evaluated in human tissues.

Methods: In this study, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the levels of expression of inflammatory and immune mediators in skin-biopsy samples collected from 23 untreated patients with Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF).

Results: In all 23 patients, the levels of intralesional expression of mRNA of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- alpha , interferon (IFN)- gamma , interleukin (IL)-10, RANTES, and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme involved in limiting rickettsial growth by tryptophan degradation, were higher than those in control subjects; 6 of the 23 patients had high levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), a source of microbicidal nitric oxide.

Rickettsia sibirica isolation from a patient and detection in ticks, Portugal.

We report the first isolation of Rickettsia sibirica (strain mongolotimonae) from the blood of a patient and detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the rickettsia in a Rhipicephalus pusillus tick collected from a dead mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) in the Alentejo region, Portugal. We describe also the first PCR detection of a new Rickettsia strain that is related to R. sibirica.

The presence of eschars, but not greater severity, in Portuguese patients infected with Israeli spotted fever.

In Portugal, Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is caused by R. conorii Malish and Israeli spotted fever (ISF) strains. It has been suggested that the ISF strain isolated from patients with MSF causes different clinical manifestations compared to those caused by Malish strain, namely the absence of eschar and greater severity.

[Epidemiologic features of Mediterranean spotted fever in Portugal].

Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is a tick-borne rickettsial disease. It is endemic in Portugal and Ricardo Jorge recognized it in 1930. Rhipicephalus sanguineus is the main vector and reservoir of the disease.

Mediterranean spotted fever in Portugal: risk factors for fatal outcome in 105 hospitalized patients.

Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is the most important tick-borne disease in Portugal. It is a notifiable disease and during 1989-2000 the annual incidence rate in Portugal was 9.8/10(5) inhabitants.