Publications by authors named "Luis Pires"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated the relationship between changes in glenohumeral joint tilt angle (GTA) and functional outcomes in patients with isolated greater tuberosity fractures after surgical treatment.
  • A total of 34 patients were reviewed, with significant reductions in GTA from an average of 84.2° to 62.2° post-surgery, but they still achieved satisfactory functional scores.
  • The type of surgical method used didn't significantly impact the outcomes, and there was a notable negative correlation between post-surgery GTA and constant shoulder score, indicating worse functionality with higher post-surgery GTA values.
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Background: Differences in definitions and operational diagnoses for sarcopenia create difficulties in understanding the epidemiology of the disease. We examined the prevalences of sarcopenia using the revised European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2) and the Sarcopenia Definitions and Outcomes Consortium (SDOC) consensuses and analyzed their level of agreement in patients receiving hemodialysis.

Methods: Data from the SARCopenia trajectories and associations with clinical outcomes in patients receiving hemodialysis (SARC-HD) multicenter study in Brazil were analyzed.

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Standardized tests intend to reduce information asymmetry by providing a common and objective measure of students' academic performance. The basic assumption underlying standardized testing is that differences in student performance on standardized tests should be attributed primarily to differences in the quality of education received by students. However, there is evidence that environmental factors can affect standardized test scores, which may result in anomalous observations or outliers that show a distortion of student performance.

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Atmospheric pollution is a major public health issue and has become increasingly critical for human health. Urban atmospheric pollution is typically assessed through physicochemical indicators aligned with environmental legislation parameters, providing data on air quality levels. While the effects of pollution on sensitive organisms serve as a warning for public health decision-makers, there remains a need to explore the interpretation of environmental data on pollutants.

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Research on the influence of chronotype and time of day (TOD) on cognitive performance, especially in children, is limited. We explored potential interactive effects, hypothesizing that performance differs when comparing preferred vs. non-preferred TOD.

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Insomnia disorder is characterized by disruption in sleep continuity and an overall dissatisfaction with sleep. A relevant feature of insomnia is sleep effort, which refers to both cognitive and behavioural conscious attempts to initiate sleep. The Glasgow Sleep Effort Scale is a self-report tool developed to assess this construct.

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Objective: The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) enabled the detection of low-level brain somatic variants in postsurgical tissue of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). The genetic background of FCD Type I remains elusive, while the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway seems to have a relevant role in the pathogenesis of FCD Type II. Our goal was to uncover information on the molecular basis of FCD, performing whole genome sequencing (WGS) in postsurgical tissue to detect candidate brain-specific somatic variants, and evaluate their clinical significance.

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By controlling the variance of the radiation pressure exerted on an optically trapped microsphere in real time, we engineer temperature protocols that shortcut thermal relaxation when transferring the microsphere from one thermal equilibrium state to another. We identify the entropic footprint of such accelerated transfers and derive optimal temperature protocols that either minimize the production of entropy for a given transfer duration or accelerate the transfer for a given entropic cost as much as possible. Optimizing the trade-off yields time-entropy bounds that put speed limits on thermalization schemes.

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Introduction: The increase in life expectancy brought a higher prevalence of chronic diseases, with an emphasis on those who reached advanced stages and required palliative care. We aimed to characterize patients diagnosed with advanced neoplasms and/or dementia accompanied in primary health care and to test the sensitivity of two tools for identifying patients with palliative needs.

Methods: We recruited three voluntary family physicians who provided data relative to 623 patients with active codification for neoplasm and/or dementia on the MIM@UF platform.

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•Standardization technique producing a systematized surgery.•Assessment and dissection of the pericardium to achieve complete cytoreduction.•Multiples structure resection should not discourage a complete resection.

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The physicochemical and biological parameters of aquatic ecosystems are directly affected by mining activities, increasing the ecotoxicological risk related to exposure to contaminants and pollutants. In this study, a native and adapted floating aquatic macrophyte was used in a gold mining area as a model organism to assess the environmental risk and its potential application in bioremediation of heavy metals. The physicochemical parameters of water and sediments were evaluated, as well as the phytoremediation parameters (bioconcentration and translocation factors) of Hydrocotyle ranunculoides L.

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We propose to use a correlated noise bath to drive an optically trapped Brownian particle that mimics active biological matter. Due to the flexibility and precision of our setup, we are able to control the different parameters that drive the stochastic motion of the particle with unprecedented accuracy, thus reaching strongly correlated regimes that are not easily accessible with real active matter. In particular, by using the correlation time (i.

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Low-grade neuroepithelial tumors (LNETs) represent an important group of central nervous system neoplasms, some of which may be associated to epilepsy. The concept of long-term epilepsy-associated tumors (LEATs) includes a heterogenous group of low-grade, cortically based tumors, associated to drug-resistant epilepsy, often requiring surgical treatment. LEATs entities can sometimes be poorly discriminated by histological features, precluding a confident classification in the absence of additional diagnostic tools.

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A palette of copy number changes in long-term epilepsy-associated tumors (LEATs) have been reported, but the data are heterogeneous. To better understand the molecular basis underlying the development of LEATs, we performed array-comparative genomic hybridization analysis to investigate chromosomal imbalances across the entire genome in 8 cases of LEATs. A high number of aberrations were found in 4 patients, among which deletions predominated.

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Stressing agents can cause morphophysiological and behavioural changes in several animals, including birds, which are good study models for environmental biomonitoring. The heterophil/lymphocyte ratio (H/L) is an efficient indicator of chronic stresses in birds. In this study, we aimed to compare the H/L ratio of birds between the areas with different levels of urbanisation, anthropogenic noise and carbon monoxide (CO) emission rates.

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Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is widely used by veterinary practitioners, being taught mostly by observation. Simulators are known to enhance students' learning of practice skills, but to our knowledge, FNA simulators have never been assessed in veterinary medicine. Fifty-one undergraduate students with no prior experience in cytology were randomly assigned to two groups that practiced on either a box simulator (with artificial nodules) or a fruit (banana).

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Tumor biopsies in uveal melanoma (UM) serve mainly the purpose of prognostication and assessment of individual metastatic risk, but can be used for diagnosis in selected cases. The importance of precise information is paramount for selecting adequate surveillance protocols, patient counseling, and optimization of treatment strategies. However, intratumoral heterogeneity and sample representativity are major concerns and can interfere with the correct prediction of the patient's prognosis.

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Multiple myeloma (MM) genomic complexity reflects in the variable patients' clinical presentation. Genome-wide studies seem to be a reasonable alternative to identify critical genomic lesions. In the current study, we have performed the genomic characterisation of a Portuguese cohort of patients with MM by array comparative genomic hybridisation.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Recent advancements have improved our understanding of the molecular reasons behind FCDs, revealing important connections between genetic factors and the characteristics of the disorder, while also highlighting areas needing further research.
  • * A thorough literature review identified 39 relevant studies showing that technologies like next-generation sequencing have uncovered genetic mutations in FCD tissues, particularly implicating the mTOR signaling pathway in FCD type II, while the genetic causes of FCD type I are still unclear.
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Background: The etiology and relevance of long head of biceps tendon (LHBT) pathology is debated. As it can have important therapeutic consequences and physical examination can be misleading, various morphologic parameters have been described to try to predict it.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that bicipital groove cross-sectional area (CSA), as assessed by ultrasonography, could be related to intra-articular tendon pathology.

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(1) Background: This study aimed to evaluate the incorporation of hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate blocks grafted in rabbit mandibles. (2) Methods: Topographic characterization of biomaterial was performed through scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Ten rabbits randomly received autogenous bone graft harvested from the tibia (Autogenous Group-AG) or synthetic biomaterial manufactured in β-tricalcium phosphate (Biomaterial Group-BG) at their right and left mandibular angles.

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Proximal interstitial deletions of chromosome 9p13 have been described only in a few patients with developmental delay, moderate intellectual disability, craniofacial dysmorphism, short stature, genital anomalies, and precocious puberty. To corroborate and expand these findings, we report on two novel syndromic male patients with 9p13 deletions suffering from a similar form of tremor and compare them with literature data. Despite genomic variability in deletion sizes, all patients displayed homogeneous dysmorphism and clinical manifestations, including very invalidating tremor.

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Air pollution can generate changes in the morphology, physiology, and behavior of several animals, including birds, which, when responding to such environmental changes, can be used as biomonitors. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of erythrocyte nuclear anomalies comprise a useful tool for biomonitoring, with anucleated erythrocytes, called erythroplastids, being particularly significant. The objectives of the present study were to quantify the presence of erythroplastids in Antilophia galeata and relate their presence to distance from the nearest urban environment.

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Background: Hemiarthroplasty has been associated with inferior and unpredictable outcomes when used in the treatment of complex proximal humeral fractures in elderly patients. In this age-group, reverse shoulder arthroplasty is gaining popularity due to the promising results presented in recent evidence. Our aim is to analyze the cases of complex proximal humeral fractures treated by reverse shoulder arthroplasty, regarding functional results and complications.

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