Pharmacogenetic: screening relevant polymorphisms on antiretroviral therapy in a HIV Portuguese population

Poster presented at the 15th European AIDS Conference. Barcelona, 21-24 October 2015

Relationship between menopause and periodontal disease: a cross-sectional study in a Portuguese population

Article published under a “Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License”, enabling the unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction of the published article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.

Application of dental morphological characteristics for medical-legal identification: sexual diagnosis in a portuguese population

Licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.

Medico-legal age estimation in a sub-adult portuguese population: validation of Atlas Schour and Massler and London

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Trends in diabetes incidence from 1992 to 2015 and projections for 2024: A Portuguese General Practitioner’s Network study

Background: Diabetes is known as a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Portugal is known as the European country with the highest prevalence of this disease. While diabetes prevalence data is updated annually in Portugal, the General Practitioner’s (GP) Sentinel Network represents the only data source on diabetes incidence. This study describes the trends in Diabetes incidence, between 1992 and 2015, and estimate projections for the future incidence rates in Portugal until 2024. Methods: An ecological time-series study was conducted using data from GP Sentinel Network between 1992 and 2015. Family doctors reported all new cases of Diabetes in their patients’ lists. Annual trends were estimated through Poisson regression models as well as the future incidence rates (until 2024), sex and age group stratified. Incidence rate projections were adjusted to the distribution of the resident Portuguese population given Statistics Portugal projections. Results: The average increase in Diabetes incidence rate was in total 4.29% (CI95% 3.80–4.80) per year under study. Until 1998–2000, the annual incidence rate was higher in women, and from 1998–2000 to 2013–2015 turn out to be higher in men. The incidence rate projected for 2022–2024 was 972.77/105 inhabitants in total, and 846.74/105 and 1114.42/105, respectively, in women and men. Conclusions: This is the first study in Portugal to estimate diabetes incidence rate projections. The disturbing reported projections seem realistic if things continue as in the past. Actually, effective public health policies will need to be undertaken to minimize this alarming future scenario.

The Portuguese National Programme for the Promotion of Healthy Eating: 2012–2015

This paper describes the first 4-year period (2012–2015) of implementation of the Portuguese National Programme for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS). PNPAS was approved in 2012 and emerged as a preventive programme for noncommunicable diseases, aiming to improve the nutritional status of the population; it represents the first national strategy in Portugal for the promotion of healthy eating. To accomplish its mission, and taking into account its overall principles, PNPAS has five main goals: (i) to increase knowledge about the food intake of the Portuguese population and about its determinants and consequences; (ii) to modify the availability of certain foods (high in sugar, salt and fat), in schools, workplaces and public spaces; (iii) to inform and empower the population for the purchase, preparation and storage of healthy food, especially the most vulnerable groups; (iv) to identify and promote crosssectoral actions that encourage the consumption of foods of good nutritional quality in an articulate and integrated way with other sectors, namely agriculture, sport, environment, education, social security and local authorities; and (v) to improve the qualifications and conduct of the different professionals who, owing to their roles, may influence nutritional knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. The design of PNPAS followed the latest strategic lines suggested by WHO and the European Commission, proposing a crosssectoral mix of interventions to ensure physical and economic access to healthy eating by creating healthy environments and empowering individuals and communities. Several actions were implemented at different levels during the first 4-year period of implementation of PNPAS; two were especially relevant. The first concerned the empowerment of citizens regarding healthy eating, where the most important aspect was introduction of a digital strategy through development of a website and a blog dedicated to healthy eating. The second concerned the development of documents for health care and other professionals, including several guidelines in new areas, such as anthropometric measures and intervention in preobesity. Process and output indicators were defined to monitor and evaluate the programme. Among those considered as output indicators were the evaluation of childhood obesity, salt consumption and intake of breakfast by school-aged children.

Um novo paradigma no Turismo de Campismo em Portugal

O turismo é um setor de atividade em crescimento a nível mundial, sendo essa, também, a tendência em Portugal nos últimos anos. Dada a diversificação da oferta, optámos por nos centrar numa tipologia de turismo recente e inovadora – o Glamping, uma vertente sustentável, ligada à natureza. A presente dissertação tem como objetivo definir um conceito abrangente de Glamping, através da desconstrução da imagem percebida pelos indivíduos que utilizam esta tipologia de turismo, a qual, sendo bastante procurada por turistas estrangeiros, não é ainda muito conhecida pelos portugueses. A metodologia adotada apresenta duas fases: 1)Teórica que consubstancia uma revisão de literatura criteriosa sobre os conceitos associados a uma experiência de Glamping, uma experiência intimista que reverte nas dimensões de Ryan (2003/2004). Estas dimensões alimentam a análise e interpretação dos comentários deixados pelos turistas no Tripadvisor. 2) Prática - usando as observações escritas dos turistas que experimentaram este "camping de luxo " e com base no programa de codificação ATLAS.ti , foram analisados os códigos associados à intimidade (física, verbal, intelectual e espiritual ) a partir dos 135 comentários transcritos e codificados, com o objetivo último de materializar o conceito de Glamping . Os resultados sugerem que esta experiencia é fundamentalmente espiritual, como comprovado pelos comentários dos turistas, designadamente a tranquilidade, o ambiente calmo e a relação que se estabelece com os anfitriões. No entanto, o que realmente sobressaiu neste estudo, é a maneira como as várias intimidades se interligam neste meio, sugerindo que os turistas procuram neste espaço recuperar o seu equilíbrio e o seu bem estar. Este trabalho exploratório na sua essência pretende materializar conceito geral de Glamping, partilhá-lo, fomentando o seu desenvolvimento e disseminação.

Contributos para a adaptação e aferição de duas medidas de suporte social

"A perceção de suporte social familiar e dos amigos tem uma grande influência no desenvolvimento psicossocial saudável dos adolescentes. Desta forma, propusemo-nos adaptar e aferir para a população portuguesa as escalas de medida Perceção do Suporte Social da Família (PSS-Fam) e dos Amigos (PSS-Am) de Procidado e Heller (1983). Apresentamos os resultados obtidos a partir de uma amostra de 851 adolescentes com idades compreendidas entre os 11 e os 19 anos. Os resultados estão de acordo com os obtidos por Procidano e Heller (1983) que obtiveram uma solução com apenas um fator para cada escala. Os estudos psicométricos revelam, de forma global, bons índices de fiabilidade e validade dos instrumentos. Concluímos contribuindo com duas medidas adequadas para avaliar o suporte social percebido na população adolescente."

Evaluating the Portuguese National Reading Plan: teachers’ perceptions on the impact in schools

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10671-014-9171-y