Publications by authors named "Vale C"

Background: Reported results of clinical trials assessing higher-dose anticoagulation in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 have been inconsistent.

Purpose: To estimate the association of higher- versus lower-dose anticoagulation with clinical outcomes.

Data Sources: Randomized trials were identified from the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.

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Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) and glucagon-Like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) are recommended in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) for glycaemic control and for people with high cardiovascular risk. However, current guidelines do not specifically address the role of initial early combination therapy with SGLT2i and GLP-1 RA or dual gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP)/GLP-1 RA, but rather sequential initiation with either in T2D. This review synthesizes the available evidence on the use of SGLT2i and GLP-1-based therapies for T2D and provides a rationale for their combination.

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  • Innovations in advanced prostate cancer have improved outcomes, but there's still a lack of high-level evidence in clinical management, prompting the 2024 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference to survey experts for insights.
  • A panel of 120 international experts developed and voted on 183 consensus questions through a web-based survey prior to the conference, defining consensus as ≥75% agreement.
  • The voting results highlight areas of agreement and disagreement that can guide clinical decisions and future research, with a focus on individualizing treatment based on patient characteristics and encouraging participation in clinical trials.
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  • * Four JAK inhibitors have been approved to manage MF symptoms, with allogeneic stem cell transplantation as a potential cure for higher-risk patients, although it's risky.
  • * Newer JAK inhibitors, like pacritinib and momelotinib, are designed to be more effective for patients with low platelet or red blood cell counts, and ongoing research aims to improve treatment outcomes through sequencing therapies and developing novel combinations.
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  • Okadaic acid (OA) and its related toxins, produced by dinoflagellates, enter the food chain through seafood and cause Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) in humans, known collectively as Diarrhetic Shellfish Toxins (DSTs).
  • This study examined the effects of a sublethal dose of these toxins on mice, revealing that OA and Dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX1) resulted in more severe symptoms like diarrhea compared to Dinophysistoxin-2 (DTX2).
  • The research found that these toxins were distributed throughout the body, causing significant damage in the gastrointestinal tract, with differing rates of elimination: OA was expelled quickly while DTX2
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Background: Ferritin is commonly used to evaluate iron stores and guide therapeutic decisions regarding intravenous iron supplementation. However, in the context of AHF, inflammation-driven upregulation of ferritin might disrupt its correlation with iron stores, restricting iron bioavailability and potentially amplifying the inflammatory response.

Aim: This study aims to assess the clinical and prognostic associations of ferritin levels in an AHF cohort and to determine whether the prognostic value of ferritin is influenced by the presence of infection, inflammatory activation, and other markers of iron deficiency.

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The scope of this article is to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of sexual violence against children and adolescents in the home environment in Brazil. It involves an ecological time-series study using joinpoint regression based on data from the Notifiable Diseases Information System from 2009 to 2021. The relative frequency and crude incidence rates of sexual violence occurring in the home against the population group aged 0 to 19 years were analyzed, estimating the annual percentage change (APC) and average annual percentage change (AAPC), with a 95% confidence interval.

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Background: We compared the relative benefits, harms and cost-effectiveness of hyperthermic intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy + cytoreductive surgery ± systemic chemotherapy versus cytoreductive surgery ± systemic chemotherapy or systemic chemotherapy alone in people with peritoneal metastases from colorectal, gastric or ovarian cancers by a systematic review, meta-analysis and model-based cost-utility analysis.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and the Science Citation Index, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO ICTRP trial registers until 14 April 2022.

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Background: Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have been proposed as a potential treatment for adults hospitalised with COVID-19, due to their potential anti-inflammatory and endothelial protective effects. Published evidence from randomised control trials (RCTs) does not provide evidence of benefit. We aimed to estimate the effect of oral administration of SGLT2 inhibitors compared with usual care or placebo in adults hospitalised with COVID-19.

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Background: Heart failure (HF) patients often experience poor health-related quality-of-life (HR-QoL). The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) is frequently used for assessing HR-QoL in HF. Whether KCCQ scores vary in a clinical meaningful manner according to the setting (home vs office) where patients respond to the questionnaire is currently unknown.

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Life expectancy of patients with a durable, continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (CF-LVAD) continues to increase. Despite significant improvements in the delivery of care for patients with these devices, hemocompatability-related adverse events (HRAEs) are still a concern and contribute to significant morbility and mortality when they occur. As such, dissemination of current best evidence and practices is of critical importance.

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Symmetry-breaking phase transitions are central to our understanding of states of matter. When a continuous symmetry is spontaneously broken, new excitations appear that are tied to fluctuations of the order parameter. In superconductors and fermionic superfluids, the phase and amplitude can fluctuate independently, giving rise to two distinct collective branches.

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Myelodysplastic Neoplasms (MDS) have been traditionally studied through the assessment of blood counts, cytogenetics, and morphology. In recent years, the introduction of molecular assays has improved our ability to diagnose MDS. The role of Measurable (minimal) Residual Disease (MRD) in MDS is evolving, and molecular and flow cytometry techniques have been used in several studies.

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Background: There is uncertainty in the relative benefits and harms of hyperthermic intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) when added to cytoreductive surgery (CRS) +/- systemic chemotherapy or systemic chemotherapy alone in people with peritoneal metastases from colorectal, gastric, or ovarian cancers.

Methods: We searched randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the medical literature until April 14, 2022 and applied methods used for high-quality systematic reviews.

Findings: We included a total of eight RCTs (seven RCTs included in quantitative analysis as one RCT did not provide data in an analyzable format).

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The release of hazardous elements by industrial effluents to aquatic ecosystems is a potential threat to the environment. Chromium (Cr) is one of the elements whose levels in several freshwater ecosystems should be reduced to promote water reuse. In recent years, magnetic materials have gained increasing interest as sorbents because of their easy removal from treated water through magnetic separation.

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Paralytic shellfish poisoning is a foodborne illness that typically derive from the consumption of shellfish contaminated with saxitoxin-group of toxins produced by dinoflagellates of the genus Gymnodinium, Alexandrium and Pyrodinium. N-sulfocarbamoyl, carbamate and dicarbamoyl are the most abundant. In 2007 and 2008 some episodes of PSP occurred in Angola where there is not monitoring program for shellfish contamination with marine biotoxins.

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Heat transport can serve as a fingerprint identifying different states of matter. In a normal liquid, a hotspot diffuses, whereas in a superfluid, heat propagates as a wave called "second sound." Direct imaging of heat transport is challenging, and one usually resorts to detecting secondary effects.

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Background: It is unclear how to disseminate the results of randomised controlled trials effectively to health professionals and policymakers to improve treatment, care or prevention through changing policy and practice. This systematic review examined the effectiveness of different methods of dissemination of clinical research results to professional audiences.

Methods: We systematically reviewed the published and grey literature from 2000 to 2022 for studies assessing different approaches for disseminating clinical study results to professional audiences (health professionals, policymakers and guideline developers).

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By 2050 more than 1.6 billion women worldwide will be of post-reproductive age, with >75% reporting severe menopausal symptoms. The last few years saw a gradual uplift in public awareness reaffirming the health needs of women with menopause.

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Aim: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with higher cardiovascular and metabolic risks, as well as with psychosocial disorders. Data regarding quality of life (QoL) in patients with MetS, point towards a significative association between MetS and a worse QoL. It remains unclear whether MetS components and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are associated with QoL in these individuals.

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Background: Bariatric surgery leads to weight loss and to cardiometabolic risk improvement. Although prediabetes remission after bariatric surgery is biologically plausible, data on this topic is scarce. We aimed to assess prediabetes remission rate and clinical predictors of remission in a 4 year follow up period.

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An increased consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) leads to a rising prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases. This study aims to characterise the nutrient profile of white-label pre-packaged foods and bakery products available in a market leader Portuguese food retail chain, according to the extent of processing proposed by classification system. The nutrient profile (energy, sugar, total fat, saturated fat and sodium) according to processing degree was analysed using non-parametric tests.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a worldwide lockdown, which affected physical exercise habits, as well as having a detrimental effect on psychological health and follow-up visits of patients submitted to bariatric surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the 2-year weight loss of patients submitted to bariatric surgery in our center.

Methods: This was an observational study comparing the weight loss of patients who underwent bariatric surgery from January to March 2020 with a control group submitted to surgery between January and March 2017.

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Article Synopsis
  • There is an increasing concern about ciguatera fish poisoning due to the rise of ciguatoxin-producing microorganisms, necessitating a fast and reliable detection method for ciguatoxins to ensure food safety.
  • The study evaluated various cell lines for their effectiveness in ciguatoxin detection, highlighting issues with the standard N2a cell line, which showed low sodium channel availability and high sensitivity to chemicals used for sensitization.
  • The HEK293 Nav cell line, expressing specific sodium channel subunits, was identified as a suitable alternative for detecting ciguatoxins, enabling detection down to very low concentrations without the need for prior sensitization.
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