Incidência do cancro do estômago e do pulmão : um estudo espacio-temporal na região sul de Portugal Continental entre 2000-2008

RESUMO - Enquadramento/Objectivos: As doenças oncológicas constituem a segunda causa de morte em Portugal, e têm um profundo impacto psicossocial, não só pela sua elevada incidência e mortalidade mas também pelos enormes custos envolvidos na sua prevenção, tratamento e reabilitação. De acordo com estudos anteriores, existem disparidades geográficas na incidência da doença oncológica. É por isso indispensável caracterizar e analisar as diferentes distribuições espaciais no tempo e no espaço, para controlar a doença e promover a saúde, contribuindo ao mesmo tempo para uma melhor compreensão da etiologia da doença. Este projecto compreende 3 objectivos principais que são: a caracterização de distribuição espacio-temporal do cancro do pulmão e do cancro do estômago, separadamente e em conjunto, na região sul de Portugal Continental (abrangida pelo ROR-Sul) no espaço temporal de 2000 a 2008, procurando identificar potenciais áreas de risco no desenvolvimento destes tumores. Metodologia: Numa primeira fase realizou-se um estudo descritivo das taxas de incidência dos tumores aqui retratados por idades, por sexo, por ano e por distritos. Posteriormente com o objectivo de identificar a presença de áreas de elevada incidência, procedeu-se à análise de clustering espacio-temporal das taxas de incidência ao nível dos concelhos na região do estudo, em 2000-2008. Resultados: Os resultados da análise descritiva revelaram que ambos os tumores são mais incidentes nos homens do que nas mulheres e que estes são igualmente mais incidentes em pessoas com mais de 75 anos. A análise de clustering espacio temporal permitiu verificar a existência um padrão geográfico heterogéneo da incidência de ambos os tumores, da qual resultaram 3 clusters para o cancro do estômago e 2 clusters para o cancro do pulmão (p <0,001). Os clusters do estômago pertencem maioritariamente à região do Alentejo e os clusters do cancro do pulmão à região da grande Lisboa. Conclusões: Os resultados da análise de clustering demonstraram um padrão heterogéneo da distribuição da incidência dos dois cancros na região e período temporal do estudo. As zonas identificadas de elevado risco são diferentes para ambos o tumores. A região que apresenta maior risco para o desenvolvimento do cancro do estômago é o Alentejo e do pulmão é o distrito de Lisboa.

Tuberculose nos imigrantes : análise comparativa entre os biénios 2000-2001 e 2008-2009 das características sóciodemográficas e clínicas dos casos de tuberculose em Portugal Continental

RESUMO - Objectivos: Este estudo pretende caracterizar os casos de Tuberculose notificados em Portugal Continental, em função das suas características sociodemográficas e clínicas, aferir a sua evolução através da comparação dos biénios 2000/2001 e 2008/2009 e a possibilidade de existência de diferenças entre os casos de Tuberculose na população imigrante e não imigrante. Métodos: Foi desenvolvido um estudo descritivo de casos notificados nos biénios 2000/2001 (n= 9182) e 2008/2009 (n= 6087). A fonte de dados foi o Sistema De Vigilância Intrínseco ao Programa Nacional de Luta contra a Tuberculose (SVIG-TB). Para calcular as incidências foram utilizados os dados disponibilizados pelo Instituto Nacional de Estatística e pelo Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras referentes à população não imigrante e imigrante residente em Portugal. Foi utilizado o teste do Qui-quadrado e o teste exacto de Fisher para analisar possíveis relações entre variáveis qualitativas. O teste de Mann-Whitney foi utilizado para comparação da distribuição entre variáveis quantitativas nos dois grupos. A odds ratio foi determinada para aferir a força de associação entre as variáveis e a condição de imigrante. Resultados: No biénio 2000/2001, 10,2% dos casos notificados eram de imigrantes e no biénio 2008/2009 aumentou para 13,3%. Relativamente às características sociodemográficas dos pacientes, observaram-se diferenças estatisticamente significativas apenas na idade. Nas características clínicas observaram-se diferenças significativas em algumas patologias associadas, nomeadamente na infecção VIH (p <0,001: OR=1,696).Quanto aos factores de risco, observaram-se diferenças no consumo do tabaco (p <0,001: OR= 0,499) e drogas (p <0,001; OR= 0,582). Relativamente à situação final de tratamento existem diferenças significativas nas categorias em tratamento (p <0,001;OR=0,661), tratamento completo (p <0,001;OR =1,293) e morte (p <0,001; OR=1,806). Conclusões: O número de casos de Tuberculose em Portugal, bem como a taxa de incidência, diminuíram do biénio 2000/2001 para o biénio 2008/2009 em ambos os grupos. Os imigrantes são mais jovens, têm maior risco de infecção VIH e menor risco de patologias crónicas.

A saúde dos imigrantes em Portugal : que necessidades em saúde? : que utilização dos cuidados de saúde?

RESUMO - Portugal, país de imigração, viu aumentar a população imigrante em 4,56% de 2006 a 2008. Assim, torna-se importante conhecer não só as características socioeconómicas desta população imigrante, mas também quais as suas necessidades em saúde e que utilização fazem dos cuidados de saúde. Este trabalho baseou-se no IV Inquérito Nacional de Saúde realizado em 2005 e 2006 pelo INSA e analisou as populações portuguesa e imigrante nas variáveis de saúde e de utilização dos cuidados. Para a análise do rendimento utilizou-se a Curva de concentração proposta por Wagstaff, Índices de Concentração da Doença, de Utilização e Índice de LeGrand. Os resultados sugeriram melhor estado de saúde da população imigrante relativamente à população portuguesa (estado de saúde auto-reportado, sensação de mal-estar ou adoentado, dias de actividade limitada e dias de acamamento). Nas doenças crónicas (diabetes, asma e dor crónica), a população imigrante apresentou piores resultados na asma. Foram encontrados piores resultados em saúde entre as mulheres nos dois grupos de população, mas também mais frequência de utilização. Os imigrantes revelam também menor acessibilidade a consultas médicas e consumo de medicamentos. A análise do rendimento enquanto factor gerador de desigualdades em saúde permitiu concluir que existem desigualdades na distribuição do rendimento que condicionam tanto a população portuguesa como a população imigrante. Outros estudos poderão ser considerados para análise da saúde da população imigrante, especialmente os que incluam os cidadãos indocumentados, análise das populações por país de nascimento, os anos de permanência em Portugal e as causas de mortalidade. ---------------------------- ABSTRACT - Portugal, a country of immigration, has seen its immigrant population increasing 4.56% from 2006 to 2008. Therefore, it is important to analyse, not only the socioeconomic characteristics of immigrant population, but also their health needs and utilization of health care. This work was based on the IV National Health Survey conducted in 2005 and 2006 by INSA and analyzed the Portuguese and Immigrant populations in the variables of Health and Utilization of Health Services. In order to analyse the income, the Concentration Curve proposed by Wagstaff and the Concentration Index was used. The results suggested a better health in immigrant population compared with Portuguese population (state of self-reported health, feeling sick or ill, days of limited activity and days of lodging). For the variables of chronic diseases (diabetes, asthma and chronic pain), immigrants have shown worse results in asthma. In both groups (Immigrants and Portuguese), women have had more health problems than men. Lower utilization among Immigrants was found in outpatient visits and in prescription drug utilization. In conclusion, it can be stated that the analysis of the income as a generator of health inequalities showed inequalities in the income distribution that affects both Portuguese and immigrants’ health. Other studies may be considered to analyze immigrants’ health especially those that include undocumented immigrants, analysis of populations by country of birth, years of residence in Portugal and the causes of mortality.

Software languages engineering: experimental evaluation

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Co-Authorship of scientists in the energy field: an exploratory study of the ETDE World Energy Database (ETDEWEB) using Social Network Analysis

Paper presented at the 5th European Conference Economics and Management of Energy in Industry, Vilamoura, Algarve. Apr. 14-17, 2009, 11p. URL: http:// www.cenertec.pt/ecemei/

Development and validation of a risk model for prediction of hazardous alcohol consumption in general practice attendees : the PredictAL study

Background: Little is known about the risk of progression to hazardous alcohol use in people currently drinking at safe limits. We aimed to develop a prediction model (predictAL) for the development of hazardous drinking in safe drinkers. Methods: A prospective cohort study of adult general practice attendees in six European countries and Chile followed up over 6 months. We recruited 10,045 attendees between April 2003 to February 2005. 6193 European and 2462 Chilean attendees recorded AUDIT scores below 8 in men and 5 in women at recruitment and were used in modelling risk. 38 risk factors were measured to construct a risk model for the development of hazardous drinking using stepwise logistic regression. The model was corrected for over fitting and tested in an external population. The main outcome was hazardous drinking defined by an AUDIT score >= 8 in men and >= 5 in women. Results: 69.0% of attendees were recruited, of whom 89.5% participated again after six months. The risk factors in the final predictAL model were sex, age, country, baseline AUDIT score, panic syndrome and lifetime alcohol problem. The predictAL model's average c-index across all six European countries was 0.839 (95% CI 0.805, 0.873). The Hedge's g effect size for the difference in log odds of predicted probability between safe drinkers in Europe who subsequently developed hazardous alcohol use and those who did not was 1.38 (95% CI 1.25, 1.51). External validation of the algorithm in Chilean safe drinkers resulted in a c-index of 0.781 (95% CI 0.717, 0.846) and Hedge's g of 0.68 (95% CI 0.57, 0.78). Conclusions: The predictAL risk model for development of hazardous consumption in safe drinkers compares favourably with risk algorithms for disorders in other medical settings and can be a useful first step in prevention of alcohol misuse.

Open innovation and social network analysis

The present article is based on the report for the Doctoral Conference of the PhD programme in Technology Assessment, held at FCT-UNL Campus, Monte de Caparica, July 9th, 2012. The PhD thesis has the supervision of Prof. Cristina Sousa (ISCTE-IUL), and co-supervision of Prof. José Cardoso e Cunha (FCT-UNL).

Institutions and firm formation: An empirical analysis of Portuguese municipalities

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Leader succession: The impact of leaders’ background characteristics on organizations’ performance

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Land cover mapping analysis and urban growth modeling using remote sensing techniques

The rapid growth of big cities has been noticed since 1950s when the majority of world population turned to live in urban areas rather than villages, seeking better job opportunities and higher quality of services and lifestyle circumstances. This demographic transition from rural to urban is expected to have a continuous increase. Governments, especially in less developed countries, are going to face more challenges in different sectors, raising the essence of understanding the spatial pattern of the growth for an effective urban planning. The study aimed to detect, analyse and model the urban growth in Greater Cairo Region (GCR) as one of the fast growing mega cities in the world using remote sensing data. Knowing the current and estimated urbanization situation in GCR will help decision makers in Egypt to adjust their plans and develop new ones. These plans should focus on resources reallocation to overcome the problems arising in the future and to achieve a sustainable development of urban areas, especially after the high percentage of illegal settlements which took place in the last decades. The study focused on a period of 30 years; from 1984 to 2014, and the major transitions to urban were modelled to predict the future scenarios in 2025. Three satellite images of different time stamps (1984, 2003 and 2014) were classified using Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier, then the land cover changes were detected by applying a high level mapping technique. Later the results were analyzed for higher accurate estimations of the urban growth in the future in 2025 using Land Change Modeler (LCM) embedded in IDRISI software. Moreover, the spatial and temporal urban growth patterns were analyzed using statistical metrics developed in FRAGSTATS software. The study resulted in an overall classification accuracy of 96%, 97.3% and 96.3% for 1984, 2003 and 2014’s map, respectively. Between 1984 and 2003, 19 179 hectares of vegetation and 21 417 hectares of desert changed to urban, while from 2003 to 2014, the transitions to urban from both land cover classes were found to be 16 486 and 31 045 hectares, respectively. The model results indicated that 14% of the vegetation and 4% of the desert in 2014 will turn into urban in 2025, representing 16 512 and 24 687 hectares, respectively.

Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea: Issues and Solutions for the 21st Century

A producer of 5.4 M bbl/d, totalling almost half of the consumption of the entire European Union, the Gulf of Guinea is a fundamental lifeline and maritime link between Europe, the Americas and Africa. Geographically positioned as a staging post for transit originating in Latin America and coupled with its relatively porous borders, the region is also the perfect stepping stone for contraband heading to European shores. While blessed with an enviable wealth of marine and mineral resources, the region is also plagued by an ever-increasing spectre of maritime piracy; accounting for around 30% of incidents in African waters from 2003 to 2011. It is for these reasons that this research centres around the issues of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, with a particular focus on the first two decades of the 21st century. This research looks to examine the overall picture of the present state of play in the area, before going on to provide an analysis of potential regional developments in maritime security. This research begins with the analysis of concepts/phenomena that have played a notable role in the shaping of the field of maritime security, namely Globalisation and security issues in the post-Cold War era. The ensuing chapter then focuses in on the Gulf of Guinea and the issues dominating the field of maritime security in the region. The penultimate chapter presents a SWOT analysis, undertaken as part of this research with the aim of correlating opinions from a variety of sectors/professions regarding maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. The final chapter builds upon the results obtained from the abovementioned SWOT analysis, presenting a series of potential proposals/strategies that can contribute to the field of maritime security in the region over the coming years. This research draws to a close with the presentation of conclusions taken from this particular investigation, as well as a final overview of the earlier presented proposals applicable to the field of maritime security during the second decade of the 21st century.

Spinoffs and other entrants: Evidence from Portugal

This thesis studies the prevalence and survival of spinoff entrants in Portugal from 1987 to 2008. Information on worker flows is used to identify them at a population level, providing evidence on other operations such as mergers and acquisitions. We show that the number of spinoffs has been increasing at a higher rate than other entrants of comparable size. Studying the determinants of their exit suggests that the most important predictor is whether the spinoff was motivated by the failure of the parent firm. The effect of industry specific knowledge and previous experience of the founders from working together in the parent firm is seemingly negligible, with only weak evidence supporting the latter.

Performance analysis of an SRI screen based on employment quality in high and low capital industries: International evidence

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics and Maastricht University School of Business and Economics