Measuring attachment to life in old age: the Portuguese version of the Positive Valuation of Life Scale (Positive VOL)

Purpose This study aims to present the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Positive Valuation of Life Scale (Lawton et al. in J Aging Ment Healt 13:3–31, 2001). Method Sample included 207 community-dwelling elders (129 women; MAge = 77.2 years, SD = 7.5). The data collection included the translated and adapted Portuguese version of Positive Valuation of Life Scale, Life Satisfac- tion Index Z, Meaning in Life Questionnaire and Geriatric Depression Scale. Results From exploratory factor analysis, two factors emerged, existential beliefs and perceived control, ex- plaining 49 % of the total variance. Both factors were positively related with meaning in life and life satisfaction and negatively related with depression (p\0.05). The values obtained for internal consistency for the total scale and for each subscale were good (a [ 0.75). Conclusion The Portuguese version of Positive VOL Scale represents a reliable and valid measure to capture the subjective experience of attachment to one’s life. The two-factor structure is an update to Lawton’s previous work and in line with findings obtained in the USA (Dennis et al. in What is valuation of life for frail community-dwelling older adults: factor structure and criterion validity of the VOL, Thomas Jefferson University, Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research, 2005) and Japan (Nakagawa et al. in Shinrigaku Kenkyu 84:37–46, 2013). Future research is required to investigate VOL predictors and the potential changes toward the end of the life span.

Perception of health benefits of dietary fibre among the Portuguese population

Introduction: Dietary iber (DF) has been part of human diet since ever, and its beneits for the human health have been well estab-lished and scientiically conirmed. Among these stand improved gastrointestinal functions, prevent cholesterol, diabetes or CVD. Objectives: To study the level of knowledge of people residing in Portugal about the health effects related to an adequate ingestion of DF. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out on a non-probabilistic sample of 382 adults residing in Portugal. The questionnaire included a section about the socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, level of education and living environ- ment) and another about the relation between dietary iber and possible beneicial effects to treat and prevent diseases. The data was treated using the SPSS software (V22). Results: The results allowed concluding that people were dif- ferently informed about the effects of DF in preventing and/or treating different diseases, being constipation the most recog- nized, followed in decreasing order by obesity, bowel cancer, cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and breast can- cer. The results also showed that signiicant differences were encountered between age groups for most of the diseases evalu- ated, but not between genders, levels of education or living en- vironments. Conclusions: Generally, it was concluded that the participants in this study were relatively well informed about the roles of DF in preventing and/or treating various diseases.

Next-generation sequencing of hereditary hemochromatosis-related genes: novel likely pathogenic variants found in the Portuguese population

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by excessive iron absorption resulting in pathologically increased body iron stores. It is typically associated with common HFE gene mutation (p.Cys282Tyr and p.His63Asp). However, in Southern European populations up to one third of HH patients do not carry the risk genotypes. This study aimed to explore the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to analyse a panel of iron metabolism-related genes (HFE, TFR2, HJV, HAMP, SLC40A1, and FTL) in 87 non-classic HH Portuguese patients. A total of 1241 genetic alterations were detected corresponding to 53 different variants, 13 of which were not described in the available public databases. Among them, five were predicted to be potentially pathogenic: three novel mutations in TFR2 [two missense (p.Leu750Pro and p.Ala777Val) and one intronic splicing mutation (c.967-1GNC)], one missense mutation in HFE (p.Tyr230Cys), and one mutation in the 5′-UTR of HAMP gene(c.-25GNA). The results reported here illustrate the usefulness of NGS for targeted iron metabolism-related gene panels, as a likely cost-effective approach for molecular genetics diagnosis of non-classic HH patients. Simultaneously, it has contributed to the knowledge of the pathophysiology of those rare iron metabolism-related disorders.

Absence of consistent genetic differentiation among several morphs of Actinia (Actiniaria: Actiniidae) occurring in the portuguese coast

Actinia equina, the beadlet sea anemone, is a very labile species, displaying variable colour patterns, broad habitat choice and diverse modes of reproduction. Historically, studies using genetic markers such as allozymes and differences in habitat choice lead several authors to propose that different colour morphs could represent different species. One of the species defined was A. fragacea. In this paper, the relationships between brown, red and green colour morphs of A. equina and A. fragacea were studied, using two DNA fragments (one mitochondrial and one nuclear). Individuals were sampled from three different areas in Portugal separated by a maximum distance of 500 km. This is the first study applying direct sequencing of selected gene fragments to approach the validity of Actinia morphs as different genetic entities. The results show that, at least in the Portuguese coast, these colour morphs do not correspond to the two valid species recognized in the literature. The existence of cryptic species is discussed.

Early life history of larvae and early juvenile atlantic horse mackerel trachurus trachurus off the portuguese west coast

Early life history traits (ELHTs) are key to understand recruitment patterns in marine animals. However, for reef fishes, studies on ELHTs are mainly focused on tropical systems and little is known for temperate reefs. In this study we used SMURFs (Standard Monitoring Units for the Recruitment of Reef Fishes) to collect fish in a temperate rocky reef system (Arrábida Marine Park, Portugal) on a weekly basis for three months during the recruitment period. Six sub-surface SMURFs sampled 2490 Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) postlarvae and juveniles. Sagittal and lapilli otoliths were extracted from a subsample of 296 fish and ELHTs, such as size and age at settlement, growth rate and age at first secondary growth formation were examined. Additionally, we tested three growth curves and selected the best suited to back-calculate the hatching pattern based on the lengths of all sampled fish. Standard length ranged from 6.13 mm to 48.56 mm and subsampled fish were aged between 19 days to 44 days. Age and size at settlement were estimated between 19 days and 36 days for individuals of 6.13 mm and 24.95 mm, respectively. Otolith shape changed clearly with increasing age and, on average, secondary growth started to form on day 33 (±3 days). Age/length relationship was well described by a Gompertz growth model which was used to back-calculate hatching dates. Four distinct hatching cohorts were identified with fish of the earliest cohort showing a faster body and otolith growth. This study indicates that the nearshore environment might have an important role in the early growth, development and hence recruitment of Atlantic horse mackerel. Information on the early life history of Atlantic horse mackerel is key to understand recruitment processes for this economically and biologically important species.

The Portuguese offline consumer behaviour

Even though much attention has been paid to online consumer behavior, academic studies are deficient in comprehending offline consumer behavior. This study offers a survey of reflections concerning the Portuguese offline consumer behavior by observing how Portuguese adult consumers engage, embrace and act throughout the offline world, i.e., the offline media channels and the customer decision-making process at a store in regard of digital nativity, education and gender. Drawing on an online questionnaire and using a convenience sample of 471 respondents, data was analyzed using descriptive analysis and independent sample t-test analysis. The results observed indicate Portuguese consumers prefer calling or going to a store when they have an operational problem, value the credit card security at a store and that Portuguese females highly value touching and feeling the product at a store. Finally, implications for academics and marketeers are discussed.

Asexual origin of brooding in the sea anemones Actinia equina and A. schmidti: Molecular evidence from the portuguese shore

Reproduction by sexual or asexual viviparity is a common phenomenon in some anemone species. In this short communication, the origin of the brooded young of Actinia equina and A. schmidti from the Portuguese shore was investigated. DNA was extracted from 56 brooding adult Actinia sp. and the nuclear gene that codes for the 28S ribosomal subunit was sequenced. Species identity was then assessed using GenBank. In total, 50 individuals were A. schmidti, five were A. equina and one had a hybrid origin. Three adult anemones (the hybrid, one A. equina and one A. schmidti) possessed two different 28S sequences and so their offspring was selected for further analysis using the same molecular procedure. Each brooded polyp was found to possess the exact same sequence as its parent, strongly suggesting the asexual origin of broods in A. equina and A. schmidti.

Correction of the misclassification of species in the Portuguese collection of Cucurbita pepo L. using DNA markers

In this study, the genetic variability among 130 accessions of the Portuguese germplasm collection of Cucurbita pepo L. maintained at the Banco Portugues de Germoplasma Vegetal was assessed using AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) and RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) techniques for the identification of a genetically diverse core group of accessions for field phenotypic analysis. The surprisingly completely different molecular patterns exhibited by multiple accessions was later confirmed in the distribution of the putative C. pepo plants into two clusters drastically separated at a very low level of genetic similarity (DICE coefficient = 0.37). Additional analyses with RAPD and ISSR (inter single sequence repeat) markers and the introduction of standard genotypes of C. maxima L. and C. moschata L. into the analyses allowed the identification of multiple accessions of the last species wrongly included in the C. pepo collection. This study is a good example of the usefulness of DNA markers in the establishment and management of plant germplasm collections.

National survey of the portuguese elderly nutritional status : study protocol

© 2016 The Author(s). Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Innovation diffusion in the portuguese and italian clothing industry

Doutoramento em Economia

An interaction and network perspective of horizontal relationships in the portuguese pharmaceutical industry

Doutoramento em Gestão

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

Pricing recreation use of national parks for an efficient nature conservation : an application to the portuguese case

Current institutions, research, and legislation have not yet been sufficient to achieve the conservation level of Nature as required by the society. One of the reasons that explains this relative failure is the lack of incentives to motivate local individual and Nature users in general, to adopt behaviour compliant with Nature sustainable uses. Economists believe that, from the welfare point of view, pricing is the more efficient way to make economic actors to take more environmental friendly decisions. In this paper we will discuss how efficient can be the act of pricing the recreation use of a specific natural area, in terms of maximising welfare. The main conservation issues for pricing recreation use, as well as the conditions under which pricing will be an efficient and fair instrument for the natural area will be outlined. We will conclude two things. Firstly that, from the rational utilitarian economic behaviour point of view, economic efficiency can only be achieved if the natural area has positive and known recreation marginal costs under the relevant range of the marshallian demand recreation curve and if price system management is not costly. Secondly, in order to guarantee equity for the different type of visitors when charging the fee, it is necessary to discuss differential price systems. We shall see that even if marginal recreation costs exist but are unknown, pricing recreation is still an equity instrument and a useful one from the conservation perspective, as we shall demonstrate through an empirical application to the Portuguese National Park. An individual Travel Cost Method Approach will be used to estimate the recreation price that will be set equal to the visitor’s marginal willingness to pay for a day of visit in the national park. Although not efficient, under certain conditions this can be considered a fair pricing practice, because some of the negative recreation externalities will be internalised. We shall discuss the conditions that guarantee equity on charging for the Portuguese case.

Marine photosynthetic organisms from the Portuguese coast as sources of antitumoural compounds

Dissertação de Mestrado, Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

The BCG matrix revisited: a strategic management assessment of the portuguese export industries

Doutoramento em Gestão.