Primary Hyperparathyroidism: A Common Condition With an Uncommon Location.

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a prevalent clinical condition characterized by an inappropriate secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH). It is most often caused by one or more parathyroid adenomas, which can, in rare cases, be ectopically located. Ectopic adenomas can pose a diagnostic challenge, lead to treatment delay, and be a common cause of recurrent hypercalcemia after parathyroidectomy.

Needs for Care, Service Use and Quality of Life in Dementia: 12-Month Follow-Up of the Actifcare Study in Portugal.

Introduction: The intermediate stages of dementia are relatively under-researched, including in Portugal. The Actifcare (ACcess to TImely Formal Care) EU-JPND project studied people with mild-moderate dementia, namely their needs, access to and use of community services (e.g.

Translation, Cultural Adaptation and Validation of "PROMIS GI - Disrupted Swallowing" Scale for the Portuguese Language.

Introduction: Dysphagia is a prevalent condition (20%), and occurs more frequently in women and in older people. It negatively impacts innumerous aspects of patient's personal and professional lives. Patient-reported outcomes allow patients to directly quantify their experience regarding dysphagia and evaluate its true impact on quality of life.

Off-time Treatment Options for Parkinson's Disease.

Motor fluctuations (MF) are deemed by patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) as the most troublesome disease feature resulting from the increasing impairment in responsiveness to dopaminergic drug treatments. MF are characterized by the loss of a stable response to levodopa over the nychthemeron with the reappearance of motor (and non-motor) parkinsonian clinical signs at various moments during the day and night. They normally appear after a few years of levodopa treatment and with a variable, though overall increasing severity, over the disease course.

Does the placement of a collagen-fibrin sealant reduce complications of radical inguinal lymph node dissection? - Comparative study in patients with penile cancer.

Objective: Management of patients with penile cancer (PeC) with palpable inguinal lymph nodes (ILNs) relies on radical ILN dissection (RILND). Low burden of nodal metastatic disease may lead to long-lasting survival with surgical management. Nevertheless, RILND involves significant postoperative morbidity.

Motor reserve: How to build neuronal resilience against ageing and neurodegeneration?

With the percentage of the population above age 65 expected to double by 2030, the healthcare costs across neurodegenerative diseases will in all likelihood significantly increase. As such, disease-modifying, preventive strategies are urgently needed. However, despite major technological advances and massive concerted efforts, we still fall short of disease prevention, delayed progression or reversal when it comes to neurodegenerative diseases.

Progression in Parkinson's Disease: Variation in Motor and Non-motor Symptoms Severity and Predictors of Decline in Cognition, Motor Function, Disability, and Health-Related Quality of Life as Assessed by Two Different Methods.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is multi-symptom disease with variable progression.

Objectives: We performed a longitudinal study to address the evolution of motor symptoms (MS) and non-motor symptoms (NMS), predictors of motor-, cognitive-, disability-, and health-related quality of life (HRQL) status and the relative usefullness of a battery of separate NMS scales (BSS) versus the Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS).

Methods: Seventy-two patients were assessed at baseline and 4 years later with the NMSS and BSS.

Open-label placebo for chronic low back pain: a 5-year follow-up.

Long-term follow-up of patients treated with open-label placebo (OLP) are nonexistent. In this article, we report a 5-year follow-up of a 3-week OLP randomized controlled trial (RCT) in patients with chronic low back pain. We recontacted the participants of original RCT and reassessed their pain, disability, and use of pain medication.

[Needs for Care and Service Use in Dementia: Baseline Assessment of Portuguese Participants in the Actifcare Cohort Study].

Introduction: People with dementia and their relatives should have timely access to formal care in the community. The EU-Actifcare project analysed access to and use of formal services, as related to unmet needs for care. We describe the cohort study implementation and baseline results in Portugal, with a focus on needs for care and service use assessments.

[Stages for Undertaking a Systematic Review].

There has been an increase in the use of systematic review as a research methodology to compile and analyze large datasets of existing studies. With this increase, the recommendations to conduct this type of research also increased. The aim of this article is to provide a guide for understanding and/or undertaking a systematic review for publication across all stages of the review process.

Experience of a Portuguese Center: Effectiveness of Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapy for Hepatitis C.

Introduction: In late 2014, Portugal implemented a national program for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C with directacting antiviral agents. This program has made Portugal one of the first European countries to implement a structured measure of treatment to eliminate this serious public health problem. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of direct-acting antiviral therapy in the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

Tracing the Impact of Public Health Interventions on HIV-1 Transmission in Portugal Using Molecular Epidemiology.

Background: Estimation of temporal changes in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission patterns can help to elucidate the impact of preventive strategies and public health policies.

Methods: Portuguese HIV-1 subtype B and G pol genetic sequences were appended to global reference data sets to identify country-specific transmission clades. Bayesian birth-death models were used to estimate subtype-specific effective reproductive numbers (Re).

Pulmonary Tuberculosis Reactivation: Triggered by the Descent in Altitude?

High altitudes are linked to decreased rates of pulmonary tuberculosis infection, disease and mortality. However, its relevance as a trigger for pulmonary tuberculosis reactivation in immunocompetent patients is not documented. A 28-year-old healthy Nepalese female was admitted in the emergency department with sudden left pleuritic back pain with shortness of breath, two weeks after arriving in Lisbon, having arrived from Kathmandu and undergone a change in altitude of 1400 metres.

[Ozone Therapy in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review].

Introduction: The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review in order to examine the effectiveness of ozone therapy on knee osteoarthritis. The objectives were to evaluate the effect over time of ozone therapy in terms of knee pain, functional improvement and radiographic progression.

Material And Methods: A search was carried out on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus and Web of Science databases to identify randomized and controlled studies focusing on this association.

Contribution of efflux to colistin heteroresistance in a multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolate.

Purpose: The mechanisms underlying colistin heteroresistance in Acinetobacter baumannii are not fully understood. Here, we investigated the role of efflux in colistin-heteroresistant populations of a multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii clinical isolate.

Prevalence and echo features of mediastinal lymph nodes in EUS for non-malignant indications: a prospective study in a Southern European Population.

Background And Study Aims:  Significant the prevalence of mediastinal lymph nodes (MLN) has been documented in autopsy and computed tomography (CT) studies. Awareness of the local prevalence and characteristics of lymph nodes will be relevant when performing endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) for staging of malignant neoplasias. The aims of this study were to document the prevalence and echo features of MLN in patients undergoing EUS for non-malignant extrathoracic disease and to identify predictive factors for the presence of MLN.

[Quality of Life of Children with Otitis Media and Impact of Insertion of Transtympanic Ventilation Tubes in a Portuguese Population].

Introduction: Quality of life is an important measure for health-outcome evaluation. Although otitis media is one of the most common childhood diseases, its impact on Portuguese children's quality of life is unknown. The aim of this study is to determine the quality of life of Portuguese children with chronic otitis media with effusion and/or recurrent acute otitis media and the short-term impact of transtympanic ventilation tubes, using the Portuguese version of the OM-6 questionnaire, a valid, reliable and sensitive instrument to evaluate the health-related quality of life in children with otitis media.

[Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus].

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a common disease, affecting up to 13.1% of the Portuguese population. In addition to the known micro and macrovascular complications, drug side effects constitute a major concern, leading to changes in the treatment guidelines, which favor safety over efficacy.

Clinical and Endoscopic Features of Gastrointestinal Kaposi Sarcoma: A Single-Center Portuguese Experience over the Last Decade.

Background: Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is an angioproliferative tumor caused by human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8). Gastrointestinal (GI) involvement by KS is a rare endoscopic finding, scarcely characterized in the literature.

Objective: To characterize clinical and endoscopic features of patients with GI KS.

[Anaerobic Bacteria with Clinical Relevance: Morphologic and Taxonomic Classification, Distribution among Human Microbiota and Microbiologic Diagnosis].

The wide burden of anaerobic bacteria colonizing human body comprises about 90% of its total biomass. The biotic relationship between humans and its microbiota sets reciprocal benefits, albeit with pathogenic potencial for the human being in particular dysbiosis situations. Infections adjacent to or originating from the skin or mucous membranes of the intestinal, genitourinary and upper respiratory tracts are often polymicrobial in nature, whereby should anaerobes be invariably included in the etiological differential diagnosis of these conditions.