Publications by authors named "Sara Mata"

Article Synopsis
  • Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can lead to serious complications like sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which may show overlapping symptoms but rarely occur together.
  • A case of a 29-year-old male with acute myeloid leukemia experienced hyperbilirubinemia and signs of SOS early after HSCT, followed by the development of GVHD affecting his skin, intestines, and liver.
  • The complex nature of this case highlights the need for careful diagnostics, including liver hemodynamic studies and biopsies, to distinguish between SOS and GVHD, as both conditions can severely impact patient outcomes.
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Dysphagia is a symptom that appears with high prevalence in persons diagnosed with dementia, intellectual disability, or severe mental illness. Risk of aspiration pneumonia or even death is very high in these populations. However, screening for dysphagia risk in these patients is complicated by the fact that most of them suffer from cognitive impairments and behavioral manifestations that hinder the assessment process using the existing screening tests.

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Introduction: The transition to digital pathology has been carried out by several laboratories across the globe, with some cases described in Portugal. In this article, we describe the transition to digital pathology in a high-volume private laboratory, considering the main challenges and opportunities.

Material And Methods: Our process started in 2020, with laboratory workflow adaptation and we are currently using a high-capacity scanner (Aperio GT450DX) to digitize slides at 20×.

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Although short-term cultures of tumour sections and xenotransplants have been used to determine drug efficacy, the results frequently fail to confer clinically useful information. Biomarker discovery has changed the paradigm for advanced CRC, though the presence of a biomarker does not necessarily translate into therapeutic success.

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The expression of p16 is a good surrogate of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in HPV-associated cancers. The significance of p16 expression, HPV genotype and genera in the outcome of patients with HPV-associated cervical cancer (CC) is unclear. Our aim is to ascertain the prognostic significance of these factors.

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Objectives: To assess the efficacy and safety of a servo-controlled cooling pad system for target temperature management in critically ill pediatric patients.

Design: A prospective, single-center, observational study.

Setting: PICU of a tertiary hospital from September 2018 to September 2019.

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) with colonic involvement increases colorectal cancer risk. However, the distinction between IBD related and sporadic dysplasia in IBD patients is difficult. Some data favors the importance of abnormal DNA methylation in IBD-related carcinogenesis.

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This study analyzes the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-Learning Potential (WCST-LP) in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) versus children with typical development (TD). Its main aim was to assess: the test's construct validity; the effect of IQ on its pretest and LP scores; and whether the WCST-LP held any relationship to cognitive/EF and social abilities. Participants were 105 children (43 with ASD/62 with TD).

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Unlabelled: : To describe the role of sex, age, educational level and psychosocial group-identification factors in well-being and satisfaction with life.

Method: 229 Spanish Gypsies completed a survey of demographic data, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, ethnic identity and the individual's inclusion of self within the ingroup.

Results: (a) only level of studies is related to satisfaction with life; (b) participants with higher scores in ethnic identity reported more well-being and more life satisfaction; and (c) assessment of ethnic belonging affects more areas of well-being than does perception of closeness to the ingroup.

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Dysphagia is a very common symptom in people of advanced age and with neurological diseases, although it often remains undiagnosed. At present, there are few assessment tools adapted for the Spanish-speaking population; of the few existing, most of them follow a self-reporting format, which requires a well-preserved cognitive state in the patient in order to be tested. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to design and validate an instrument for screening dysphagia without food, which could have a quick application and did not compromise the patient's safety.

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In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there are often discrepancies between direct assessment and third-party reports. We compared these children with groups with/without difficulties in interpersonal problem-solving skills in order to determine whether these discrepancies appear and if they could be a diagnostic indicator for ASD. There were 91 participants (ages 7-13): 28 children with ASD, 36 in a high family risk situation, and 27 typically developing children, all tested with direct measures and third-party reports.

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Situations generated by high family risk have a negative effect on personal development, especially during preadolescence. Growing up in the presence of risk factors can lead to negative consequences on mental health or on school performance. The objective of this study focuses on individual factors related to this phenomenon during preadolescence.

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The control of flexible link parallel manipulators is still an open area of research, endpoint trajectory tracking being one of the main challenges in this type of robot. The flexibility and deformations of the limbs make the estimation of the Tool Centre Point (TCP) position a challenging one. Authors have proposed different approaches to estimate this deformation and deduce the location of the TCP.

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Background: Children with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) frequently present a deficit in interpersonal and social problem solving skills. The Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills Programme for Children (SCI-Children) comprises 10 weekly, one hour sessions working on interpersonal abilities from a mediation strategy for training purposes.

Method: The first study explores the effectiveness of training through pre- and post-treatment evaluations of a sample of 22 children with ASD (7-13 years of age).

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Background: Subjects with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) show persistent deficits in social interaction. In order to explore the scope of their deficits, it is of great interest to compare the different interpersonal skills and executive functions of ASD subjects to those of children with typical development. Assessing these skills usually involves a large variety of informants (parents, teachers, other family members) and of measures, with frequent discrepancies between direct performance measures and indirect measures (third-party report).

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Several studies question the usefulness of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) in determining giftedness due to the importance of speed in some of its subtests, which may penalize children of high intellectual level. This study analyzes the factor structure of the WISC-IV of gifted children based on confirmatory factor analysis. Participants were eighty-seven gifted children from Spain (6-13 years old).

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Introduction: Innovative approaches are needed to reduce cardiometabolic risk among American Indian women with a history of gestational diabetes. We assessed beliefs of Oklahoma American Indian women about preventing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease after having gestational diabetes. We also assessed barriers and facilitators to healthy lifestyle changes postpartum and intervention approaches that facilitate participation in a postpartum lifestyle program.

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For the last 30 years, the sphere of educational assessment has been giving consideration to methodology that would focus on the processes more than on the final results obtained. Dynamic Assessment has appeared within this context, making it possible to assess a child's ability to improve on a certain task after receiving mediated training. One of the techniques developed to assess the learning potential of preschoolers is the Application of Cognitive Functions Scale (ACFS: Lidz & Jepsen, 2003).

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