Professional liability and litigation in dental medicine: an analysis of the Portuguese context.

The activity of a dentist reveals itself in numerous aspects, and its regulation is determined by the Deontological Code of the Dental Association, which contains a set of rules that dentists are obliged to follow in the exercise of their profession. The regulation of this activity goes beyond following these precepts because, in the legal relationship that is established whenever an agreement is made with a patient to carry out the treatment deemed appropriate, a series of duties and obligations begin for each party, translated into a reciprocal contract, in which the non-compliance of one of them may result in a legal claim. The objective of this study was to research most court decisions delivered in this century, in Portugal, regarding the activity of dentists when faced with patient claims and to outline a framework that better allows us to understand the regulation of this activity within the scope of the contracts established with them.

Co-delivery of antioxidants and siRNA-VEGF: promising treatment for age-related macular degeneration.

Current treatments for retinal disorders are anti-angiogenic agents, laser photocoagulation, and photodynamic therapies. These conventional treatments focus on reducing abnormal blood vessel formation in the retina, which, in a low-oxygen environment, can lead to harmful proliferation of endothelial cells. This results in dysfunctional, leaky blood vessels that cause retinal edema, hemorrhage, and vision loss.

Digital Feedback Loop in Paraxial Fluids of Light: A Gate to New Phenomena in Analog Physical Simulations.

Easily accessible through tabletop experiments, paraxial fluids of light are emerging as promising platforms for the simulation and exploration of quantumlike phenomena. In particular, the analogy builds on a formal equivalence between the governing model for a Bose-Einstein condensate under the mean-field approximation and the model of laser propagation inside nonlinear optical media under the paraxial approximation. Yet, the fact that the role of time is played by the propagation distance in the analog system imposes strong bounds on the range of accessible phenomena due to the limited length of the nonlinear medium.

Novel anticancer drug discovery efforts targeting glycosylation: the emergence of fluorinated monosaccharides analogs.

Introduction: Glycosylation is an essential enzymatic process of building glycan structures that occur mainly within the cell and gives rise to a diversity of cell surface and secreted glycoconjugates. These glycoconjugates play vital roles, for instance in cell-cell adhesion, interaction and communication, activation of cell surface receptors, inflammatory response and immune recognition. This controlled and well-coordinated enzymatic process is altered in cancer, leading to the biosynthesis of cancer-associated glycans, which impact glycan-dependent biological roles.

Lower Cranial Nerves in the Neck: An Anatomical Study.

Objectives The aim of this anatomical study was to analyze distances and anatomical relations between the lower cranial nerves and important neck landmarks. Methods Anatomical study based on neck dissection in Thiel-embalmed cadavers. Anatomical relations and distances between the vagus (X), accessory (XI), and hypoglossal (XII) nerves and important neck landmarks were registered and compared.

Type 2 inflammation: a Portuguese consensus using Web-Delphi and decision conferencing (INFLAT2-PT).

Objectives: Atopic/allergic diseases impose a growing burden on public health, affecting millions of patients worldwide. The main objective of this study was to develop a national expert consensus on relevant clinical questions related to type 2 inflammation.

Methods: We conducted: a comprehensive literature review with a qualitative analysis to identify the most repeated themes on the overlap of conditions; a modified 3-round Web-Delphi (or e-Delphi); and a final online decision conference.

Molecular properties of the RmlT wall teichoic acid rhamnosyltransferase that modulates virulence in Listeria monocytogenes.

Wall teichoic acids (WTAs) from the major Gram-positive foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes are peptidoglycan-associated glycopolymers decorated by monosaccharides that, while not essential for bacterial growth, are required for bacterial virulence and resistance to antimicrobials. Here we report the structure and function of a bacterial WTAs rhamnosyltransferase, RmlT, strictly required for L. monocytogenes WTAs rhamnosylation.

Economic Impact of Surveillance of Head Trauma Patients with Coagulopathy and Normal Initial Computed Tomography Scan (ECO-NCT).

Introduction: According to the Portuguese clinical guidelines published in 1999, patients with traumatic brain injury and coagulopathies should remain in-hospital for 24 hours for clinical and image surveillance, despite having an admission computed tomography (CT) scan showing no intracranial lesions. Growing evidence suggests this practice is not only void of clinical relevance, but that it can also be potentially harmful for the patient. Nevertheless, up until now there is no published data concerning the economic impact of this clinical practice.

Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology and Portuguese Society of Human Genetics Joint Clinical Practice Guidelines for Genetic Testing in Inherited Retinal Dystrophies.

The Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology and the Portuguese Society of Human Genetics developed clinical practice guidelines to streamline genetic testing for inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs), underlining the critical role of molecular diagnosis in enhancing patient care. Genetic testing is pivotal in diagnosis, genetic counselling, prognosis and access to clinical trials, and new gene-specific therapies. These guidelines recommend genetic testing in all IRD patients and provide a detailed assessment of available testing methods, ensuring that genetic counselling is integrated into ophthalmic care.

Cardiovascular risk profile with SCORE2 and SCORE2-OP: comparing Portugal, Spain, Italy, and France using the new European predictive models.

Introduction: This study aims to characterize the cardiovascular risk profile in countries with low-to-moderate cardiovascular mortality risk (Italy, Portugal, France, and Spain) using the SCORE2 and SCORE2-OP models. It also examines regional variations and the involvement of healthcare professionals in performing risk assessments.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted using data from 24,434 cardiovascular risk assessments performed between December 2022 and July 2023 through a digital application used by physicians.

Gender-specific effects of delay in cardiology consultation following primary care physician referral in atrial fibrillation patients: Impact on one-year outcomes.

Background And Objectives: Over the last two decades, reductions in cardiovascular (CV) and cerebrovascular events for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) have been observed, but the non-cardiovascular rates have increased. Early initiation of oral anticoagulation helps reduce AF complications; however, the impact of delayed cardiology care after referral by a Primary Care Physician (PCP) is unknown. The aim of our study is to investigate the association between the elapsed time to cardiology care following a PCP referral and one-year outcomes among patients with AF and analyses gender-specific differences in these outcomes.

Effects of black soldier fly larvae oil on lipid metabolism, liver fatty acid composition, and plasma metabolite profiles in gilthead seabream juveniles.

The potential of insects as alternative ingredients in animal feeds is well-established. However, limited information is available on the use of insect oils as alternative lipid sources in aquafeeds. To address this, a study was conducted on gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) juveniles to evaluate the effects of including black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae oil (HIO).

Comparison of end-to-side and side-to-side anastomosis techniques in arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis. A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Autogenous arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the vascular access of choice for chronic kidney disease to patients requiring hemodialysis. However, there still needs to be more consensus on whether the best surgical approach is an end-of-vein to side-of-artery (ETS) or a side-of-vein to side-of-artery (STS) anastomosis. This study aims to compare venous maturation rates, mid-term patency and post-operative steal syndrome rates between ETS and STS techniques for arteriovenous fistulas.

The nasal mycobiome of individuals with allergic rhinitis and asthma differs from that of healthy controls in composition, structure and function.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma (AS) are two of the most common chronic respiratory diseases and a major public health concern. Multiple studies have demonstrated the role of the nasal bacteriome in AR and AS, but little is known about the airway mycobiome and its potential association to airway inflammatory diseases. Here we used the internal transcriber spacers (ITS) 1 and 2 and high-throughput sequencing to characterize the nasal mycobiome of 339 individuals with AR, AR with asthma (ARAS), AS and healthy controls (CT).

Classification of 3-node restricted excitatory-inhibitory networks.

We classify connected 3-node restricted excitatory-inhibitory networks, extending our previous paper (Aguiar et al., 2024). We assume that there are two node-types and two arrow-types, excitatory and inhibitory; all excitatory arrows are identical and all inhibitory arrows are identical; and excitatory (resp.

Characterization of risk factors for early ambulation in paraplegic dogs with absent pain perception undergoing decompressive surgery for thoracolumbar intervertebral disk extrusions.

Background: Current literature warrants surgical decompression in paraplegic dogs with absent pain perception (APP), but the rate of ambulatory dogs with APP following thoracolumbar (TL) IVDE surgery in a clinical setting remains unknown. Furthermore, the outcome of paraplegic APP French Bulldogs (FBs) is anecdotally considered poor. The aims of this study were threefold within a large population of TL-IVDE paraplegic dogs with APP undergoing decompressive surgery: (1) to characterize early spontaneous pelvic limb movement and ambulation following surgery; (2) to identify risk factors for the recovery of ambulation; and (3) to compare the outcome of FBs and Dachshunds presenting with APP.

SeqLengthPlot v2.0: an all-in-one, easy-to-use tool for visualizing and retrieving sequence lengths from FASTA files.

Motivation: Accurate sequence length profiling is essential in bioinformatics, particularly in genomics and proteomics. Existing tools like SeqKit and the Trinity toolkit provide basic sequence statistics but often fall short in offering comprehensive analytics and plotting options. For instance, SeqKit is a very complete and fast tool for sequence analysis, delivering useful metrics (e.

Extramedullary Intradural Primary Spinal Angiosarcoma: A Case Study.

Angiosarcoma is a rare soft tissue sarcoma, namely when it presents as a primary intradural extramedullary spinal neoplasm, with only one case of non-vertebral origin reported in the literature. We present the case of a 51-year-old woman with neurological symptoms of paraparesis and constipation who underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that revealed a well-demarcated, predominantly homogeneous, intensely enhancing intradural extramedullary lesion in T2-weighted images. Histology, immunohistochemistry, and genetics of the lesion showed an angiosarcoma.

The effect of genotype and sex on carcass characteristics and fatty acid profile of Pekin broiler ducks.

The aim of this study was to compare two different strains of Pekin duck and to answer one scientific hypothesis: 1) Strain and sex influence live body weight, hot and cold carcass weights and carcass portions weights and yields, fatty acid content, fatty acid total cholesterol and α-tocopherol contents of meat. The study used 50 individuals of each strain in comparison (Cherry Valley and Grimaud) equally divided between both sexes), raised in equal rearing and feeding conditions. The results show that, when raised in equal rearing and feeding conditions and slaughtered at matching age, the strain had no significant influence on live body weight at slaughter, warm and cold carcass weights.

Potential backfiring effects of Marine Protected Areas on kelp herbivory.

The management and creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is currently under great focus, with international organisations aiming to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. The success of MPAs depends on a nuanced understanding of local ecological dynamics and threats, which can significantly influence ecosystem balance. Herbivory can be a stressor for foundation species, namely kelp forests, contributing to their decline in several regions of the globe.

Looking at the albumin-drug binding via partitioning in aqueous two-phase system.

The partition coefficient of human serum albumin (HSA) was analyzed in the PEG600-Dex70, 0.15 M NaCl/KCl in 0.01 M Na/K phosphate buffer, pH 7.

Stone-event-free survival after retrograde intrarenal surgery: is the stone-free-status so relevant for the future outcomes?

Introduction: The primary aim of stone treatment is to achieve stone-free status. Residual fragments can cause stone growth, recurrence, urinary tract infections, and ureteric obstruction. Our goal was to describe the natural history of stone burden after retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) based on stone-free status (SFS), evaluating stone growth and stone-events.

Adaptive or non-adaptive? Cranial evolution in a radiation of miniaturized day geckos.

Lygodactylus geckos represent a well-documented radiation of miniaturized lizards with diverse life-history traits that are widely distributed in Africa, Madagascar, and South America. The group has diversified into numerous species with high levels of morphological similarity. The evolutionary processes underlying such diversification remain enigmatic, because species live in different ecological biomes, ecoregions and microhabitats, while suggesting strikingly high levels of homoplasy.

Revealing the Potential of Linnaeus for Cosmetic Purposes: Chemical Profile and Biological Activities of Commercial and Wild Samples.

The natural products industry is gaining increasing interest, not only due to modern lifestyles becoming more aware of environmental and sustainability issues but also because of the loss of efficacy and undesirable side effects of synthetic ingredients. This pioneering study provides a comprehensive comparison between extracts obtained from wild and commercial samples of Linnaeus, highlighting their multifaceted benefits in cosmetic applications. The antiaging potential of acetone (70 and 90%) and ethanol 60% extracts from wild and commercial samples of , focusing on their application in cosmetics, was explored.