Publications by authors named "Maria J Freitas"

Background: The postpartum period is critical and challenging for women, implying emotional, physical, social and spiritual changes. For a positive postpartum experience, it is important to receive consistent information and support from health professionals. However, this is not always the case, as care is more focused on the newborn, forgetting the needs of the puerperal woman.

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(1) Background: The transition to twin parenthood is a demanding challenge with a higher risk of maternal and fetal complications during pregnancy and a postpartum period that involves caring for more than one newborn at the same time with similar and simultaneous needs. (2) Aim: To find out about parents' needs when experiencing the transition to twin parenthood and to describe the intervention of their specialized nursing support network. (3) Methodology: A descriptive exploratory study, based on a proper non-probabilistic sample of 15 nurses and 55 couples who are parents of twins, using two online questionnaires publicized on social networks.

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The alveolar lateral is phonetically and phonologically complex. Previous studies have shown that /l/ is one of the last segments to be acquired by typically developing Portuguese children. However, little is known about how Portuguese children with atypical development acquire /l/.

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Oncological disease in the palliative stage is a huge challenge for patients and their family caregivers (FCs) due to the fact that it confronts them with death, as well as physical, psychological, and existential suffering. Meaning of Life Therapy (MLT) is a brief structured psycho-existential intervention aiming to help patients in a meaning-making life review process, promoting end-of-life adaptation. The Life Letter (LL) resulting from MLT is an element that facilitates communication between the patient and their caregivers.

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Introduction: Treatment-free remission (TFR) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase is considered a safe option if suitable molecular monitoring is available. However, the question arises as to which factors can contribute to the maintenance of TFR, and immunologic surveillance of the remaining leukemic cells is believed to be one of them. Argentina Stop Trial is an open-label, single-arm, multicenter trial assessing TFR after tyrosine kinase inhibitors interruption, that after more than 4 years showed a successful TFR rate of 63%.

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Treatment-free remission (TFR) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is safe under adequate molecular monitoring, but questions remain regarding which factors may be considered predictive for TFR. Argentina Stop Trial (AST) is a multicenter TFR trial showing that 65% of patients sustain molecular remission, and the prior time in deep molecular response (DMR) was associated with successful TFR. Luminex technology was used to characterize cytokines in plasma samples.

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As a contribution to a special issue with individual profiles in protracted phonological development (PPD), we present a European Portuguese-speaking six-year-old, "Vicente". By age six years, Portuguese-learning children have generally mastered most of the phonology. However, Vicente showed severe persisting PPD, which was negatively impacting his general socialisation.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed greater financial pressure on health systems and institutions that had to respond to the specific needs of COVID-19 patients while ensuring the safety of the diagnosis and treatment of all patients and healthcare professionals. To assess the financial impact of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals, we have characterized the cost of COVID-19 admissions, using inpatient data from a Portuguese Tertiary Care University Centre.

Methods: We analysed inpatient data from adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were admitted between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020.

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Individuals with malignancies and COVID-19 have a lower survival compared with the general population. However, the information about the impact of COVID-19 on the whole hematological population is scarce. We aimed to describe the 30th day overall survival (OS) after COVID-19 infection in patients with a hematological disease in Argentina.

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Purpose: Prostate cancer is a major cause of cancer-related death in males worldwide and, in addition to impairing prostate function, also causes testicular adaptations. In this study, we aim to investigate the preventive effect of exercise training on PCa-induced testicular dysfunction.

Methods: As a model, we used fifty Wistar Unilever male rats, randomly divided in four experimental groups.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers designed peptides that disrupt protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) and coupled them with cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) to affect sperm motility.
  • The study involved analyzing sperm samples from healthy men and Holstein bulls in a lab setting.
  • The results showed that these bioportides were successfully delivered to sperm cells, significantly reducing sperm motility and providing insights into the role of PP1 in male fertility.
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The multiple roles of protein kinase D (PKD) in various cancer hallmarks have been repeatedly reported. Therefore, the search for novel PKD inhibitors and their evaluation as antitumor agents has gained considerable attention. In this work, novel pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine based pan-PKD inhibitors with structural variety at position 1 were synthesized and evaluated for biological activity.

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Sertoli cells are crucial for germ cell support, create a suitable environment for spermatogenesis, and integrate information from the nervous system and germ cell line. To fully understand the role of Sertoli cells, it is necessary to characterize the protein-protein interactions. Identifying the interactome of a given protein may provide leads about the role and molecular mechanism of such protein in Sertoli cells.

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Most techniques to study protein-protein interactions, gene expression or signal transduction, among others, in Sertoli cells, depend on obtaining a protein extract of such cells. This is accomplished by lysing the Sertoli cells and solubilizing the intracellular proteins. Depending on the purpose of your study, the technique used to lyse and consequently obtain protein extracts from Sertoli cells must be considered.

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The goal of sperm is to fertilize the oocyte. To achieve that purpose, it must acquire motility in the epididymis and hyperactivated motility in the female reproductive tract. Motility is only achieved when the sperm presents a fully functional flagellum, is capable of producing energy to fuel the movement, and suffers epididymal maturation and capacitation.

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Many studies have reported a negative impact of lifestyle factors on testicular function, spermatozoa parameters and pituitary-gonadal axis. However, conclusions are difficult to draw, since studies in the general population are rare. In this study we intended to address the early and late short-term impact of acute lifestyle alterations on young men's reproductive function.

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The aging phenomenon is intrinsically responsible for diseases and lifestyle-associated conditions afflicting the aging male. In particular, male infertility seems to result from deleterious lifestyle choices. However, the aging effect at the individual gene/protein level is poorly discussed and valuable information is certainly missing.

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At the Portuguese universities, practical classes of life sciences are usually professor-centered 2-hour classes. This approach results in students underprepared for a real work environment in a research/clinical laboratory. To provide students with a real-life laboratory environment, the Non-Stop Lab Week (NSLW) was created in the Molecular Biomedicine master program at the University of Aveiro, Portugal.

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Exercise and physical activity have long been recognized for health promotion and to delay the onset of many pathological situations such as diabetes and cancers. Still, there appears to be an upper limit on the beneficial health effects regarding intensity and frequency of exercise training. In humans, the effect of exercise training in the male reproductive system has been studied mainly through the analysis of semen quality parameters, with inconsistent results.

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Objective: To determine the correlation between semen basic parameters and the expression and activity of signaling proteins.

Design: In vitro studies with human spermatozoa.

Setting: Academic research institute.

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Since the description of the yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) method, it has become more and more evident that it is the most commonly used method to identify protein-protein interactions (PPIs). The improvements in the original Y2H methodology in parallel with the idea that PPIs are promising drug targets, offer an excellent opportunity to apply the principles of this molecular biology technique to the pharmaceutical field. Additionally, the theoretical developments in the networks field make PPI networks very useful frameworks that facilitate many discoveries in biomedicine.

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The major post-translational modification in eukaryotes is protein phosphorylation which mediates responses to signals in a myriad of cellular processes. Not surprisingly, many steps in spermatogenesis involve the concerted action of the protein (de)phosphorylation key players, kinases and phosphatases. Phosphoprotein phosphatase 1 catalytic subunit (PPP1C), an evolutionarily conserved Ser/Thr-protein phosphatase, catalyzes the majority of eukaryotic protein dephosphorylation reactions.

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The IgE multiple myeloma is a rare neoplasm of plasma cell accounting for 0.01% of all plasma cell dyscrasias. They are generally of more aggressive development and to date there are no more than 50 cases published in current literature.

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