Cultural organizations and communication in portuguese decentralization policy

This paper intends to show the Portuguese municipalities’ commitment, since the first decade of this century, in cultural facilities of municipal management and how it provided 12 of the 18 district capitals of mainland Portugal with cultural equipment, but after all we want to know if this effort resulted in a regular, diverse, and innovative schedule. Investing in urban regeneration, local governments have tried to convert cities’ demographic changes (strengthening of the most educated and professionally qualified groups) in effective cultural demands that consolidate the three axes of development competitiveness-innovation-creativity. What the empirical study to the programming and communication proposals of those equipment shows is that it is not enough to provide cities with facilities; to escape to a utilitarian conception of culture, there is a whole work to be done so that such equipment be experienced and felt as new public sphere. Equipment in which proposals go through a fluid bind, constructed through space and discourse with local community, devoted a diversified and innovative bet full filling development axis. This paper presents in a systematic way what contributes to this binding on the analyzed equipment.

Cultural organizations and communication in portuguese decentralization policy

This presentation intends to show to what extent the Portuguese municipalities’ commitment, from the first decade of this century, in cultural facilities of municipal management and which has provided 12 of the 18 district capitals of mainland Portugal with equipment, resulted in a regular, diverse and innovative schedule. Investing in urban regeneration, local government has tried to convert cities’ demographic changes (strengthening of the most educated and professionally qualified groups) in effective cultural demands that consolidate the three axes of development competitiveness-innovation-creativity. What the empirical study to the programming and communication proposals of those equipment shows is that it is not enough to provide cities with facilities; to escape to a utilitarian conception of culture, there is a whole work to be done so that such equipment be experienced and felt as new public sphere. Equipment in which proposals go through a fluid bind, constructed through space and discourse with local community, devotes a diversified and innovative bet full filling development axis. This paper presents in a systematic way what contributes to this binding on the analyzed equipment.

Mediterranean diet: the impact on cardiovascular risk and metabolic syndrome in HIV patients, in Lisbon, Portugal

Introduction - Metabolic syndrome (MS) is common in HIV-infected individuals and it is associated with higher cardiovascular risk (CVR). Mediterranean diet has been associated with a better metabolic control and lower CVR. Materials and methods - From December 2013 to May 2014, individuals between 18 and 65 years of age, who attended the outpatient HIV Clinic at the University Hospital Santa Maria, Lisbon, were selected. Adherence to Mediterranean diet was evaluated with MedDietScore, a scale from 0 to 55 that punctuates 11 food items according to the frequency of intake. Higher scores represent higher adherence. CVR was assessed using D.A.D tool (classified as low, moderate or high risk). We excluded individuals with opportunistic disease, hospitalized in the past three months or with renal disease diagnosis. All participants gave written informed consent. Results - In the 571 HIV patients included, 67.1% (n=383) were male, 91.6% (n=523) Caucasian, with a mean age of 46.5±8.9 years. Patients were divided in two groups: naïve (7.5%; n=43) or on antiretroviral treatment (ART) (92.5%; n=528). Mean length of HIV diagnosis was 6.7±6.5 years (naïve) and 13.3±6.1 years (ART); TCD4+ counts were above 500 cel/mm3 in 55.8% (n=24) and 67.6% (n=357) of the patients, respectively. MS was present in 33.9% (n=179) of patients in ART group and 16.3% (n=7) in naïve group. Presence of MS was associated with ART group (OR=2.7; p=0.018). MS was also associated with older age in this group (p=0.000). Overall, mean MedDietScore was 27.3±5.5. Higher score was associated with older age (r=0.319; p=0.000). Naïve patients presented a trend to higher adherence to Mediterranean diet (65.1% vs 51.7% in naïve group; p=0.090). No relation between MS and Mediterranean diet was found. Higher CVR was associated with the presence of MS in the ART group (p=0.001). In this group, individuals with moderate CVR presented higher rates of adherence to Mediterranean diet (p=0.036) when compared to low and high CVR score. Conclusions - In this cross-sectional study, naïve individuals presented a trend to higher adherence to Mediterranean diet. On the ART group, higher adherence to Mediterranean diet was found in individuals with moderate CVR score. We think that this might suggest that this group of patients adopt this diet only in the presence of metabolic alterations or perceived CVR. Prospective studies in HIV patients are required to determine the impact of adherence to Mediterranean diet on the reduction of CVR.