A Role for Behavior in the Relationships Between Depression and Hostility and Cardiovascular Disease Incidence, Mortality, and All-Cause Mortality: the Prime Study

BACKGROUND: Behavioral factors are important in disease incidence and mortality and may explain associations between mortality and various psychological traits.

PURPOSE: These analyses investigated the impact of behavioral factors on the associations between depression, hostility and cardiovascular disease(CVD) incidence, CVD mortality, and all-cause mortality.

METHODS: Data from the PRIME Study (N = 6953 men) were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models, following adjustment for demographic and biological CVD risk factors, and other psychological traits, including social support.

RESULTS: Following initial adjustment, both depression and hostility were significantly associated with both mortality outcomes (smallest SHR = 1.24, p < 0.001). Following adjustment for behavioral factors, all relationships were attenuated both when accounting for and not accounting for other psychological variables. Associations with all-cause mortality remained significant (smallest SHR = 1.14, p = 0.04). Of the behaviors included, the most significant contribution to outcomes was found for smoking, but a role was also found for fruit and vegetable intakes and high alcohol consumption.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate well-known associations between depression, hostility, and mortality and suggest the potential importance of behaviors in explaining these relationships.

Modelling mortality: Are we heading in the right direction?

Predicting life expectancy has become of upmost importance in society. Pension providers, insurance companies, government bodies and individuals in the developed world have a vested interest in understanding how long people will live for. This desire to better understand life expectancy has resulted in an explosion of stochastic mortality models many of which identify linear trends in mortality rates by time. In making use of such models for forecasting purposes we rely on the assumption that the direction of the linear trend (determined from the data used for fitting purposes) will not change in the future, recent literature has started to question this assumption. In this paper we carry out a comprehensive investigation of these types of models using male and female data from 30 countries and using the theory of structural breaks to identify changes in the extracted trends by time. We find that structural breaks are present in a substantial number of cases, that they are more prevalent in male data than in female data, that the introduction of additional period factors into the model reduces their presence, and that allowing for changes in the trend improves the fit and forecast substantially.

Clopidogrel use and cancer-specific mortality: a population-based cohort study of colorectal, breast and prostate cancer patients

PURPOSE: Concerns were raised about the safety of antiplatelet thienopyridine derivatives after a randomized control trial reported increased risks of cancer and cancer deaths in prasugrel users. We investigate whether clopidogrel, a widely used thienopyridine derivative, was associated with increased risk of cancer-specific or all-cause mortality in cancer patients.

METHODS: Colorectal, breast and prostate cancer patients, newly diagnosed from 1998 to 2009, were identified from the National Cancer Data Repository. Cohorts were linked to the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, providing prescription records, and to the Office of National Statistics mortality data (up to 2012). Unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for cancer-specific and all-cause mortality in post-diagnostic clopidogrel users were calculated using time-dependent Cox regression models.

RESULTS: The analysis included 10 359 colorectal, 17 889 breast and 13 155 prostate cancer patients. There was no evidence of an increase in cancer-specific mortality in clopidogrel users with colorectal (HR = 0.98 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77, 1.24) or prostate cancer (HR = 1.03 95%CI 0.82, 1.28). There was limited evidence of an increase in breast cancer patients (HR = 1.22 95%CI 0.90, 1.65); however, this was attenuated when removing prescriptions in the year prior to death.

CONCLUSIONS: This novel study of large population-based cohorts of colorectal, breast and prostate cancer patients found no evidence of an increased risk of cancer-specific mortality among colorectal, breast and prostate cancer patients using clopidogrel.

The daily life of informal caregivers of elderly

Objectives: To identify the reasons why the informal caregivers to take care of the elderly; to identify enjoyed support and the problems/needs senses. Methods: A descriptive, exploratory and cross study. The sample was 366 informal caregivers of the elderly residents in the District of Évora (Alentejo). Applied a questionnaire, which identified the reasons that led to cohabitation, the difficulties experienced by caregivers, experienced changes in their health and support they receive. Results: Most caregivers are women, with a mean age of 54 years. The main reason of care was elderly disease. These caregivers have changed in relaxation and leisure activities, on the organization of day-to-day and on economic aspects. They receive support from health institutions, social security and firemen’s. Conclusions: Family is the support in the disease, despite the difficulties, particularly in relaxation and leisure activities, organization of day-to-day and economic matters. They requested support in healthcare, transportation and economic aid.

Sardine (Sardina pilchardus) delayed mortality associated with purse seine slipping: contributing stressors and responses

Tese dout., Ciências e Tecnologias das Pescas, Universidade do Algarve, 2009

Recreational shore fishing in southern Portugal: biological and socio-economic aspects and perspectives for management

Although overfishing is a concern for many fish stocks, it was for a long time only associated with commercial fishing exploitation, with less or no attention being given to the recreational fisheries. Recent research has shown however that the impact of recreational fishing on particular species can be considerable, and that the recreational harvest needs to be taken into account if fisheries are to be accurately assessed and effectively managed. In Portugal, the first recreational fishing regulations were only recently implemented. However, mirroring other European countries, regulations lacked scientific support, and specific knowledge of the activity was limited to a few studies with limited coverage. This thesis aimed to characterize the biological and socioeconomic aspects of the recreational shore angling activity in southern Portugal, to investigate whether the regulations in place were adequate and effective, and to provide recommendations for improved management and conservation of the inshore fisheries resources. A combined aerial-roving survey was conducted to gather data on fishing effort, catch, fishing trips and socioeconomic aspects (including anglers’ perceptions of regulations) of the recreational angling activity. The analysis of anglers’ catches suggested that compliance with daily bag limits was high, with less than 0.5% of creels exceeding the 10 kg angler-1 day-1 bag limit. Overall, 11.5% of the retained fishes were undersized, but non-compliance with minimum size limits was found to be high for some species (e.g. seabass, 73% undersized). In terms of the impact of recreational shore angling, the total estimated catches corresponded to less than 1% of the commercial landings for the same period (shared species). However, shore angling catches for white sea bream (Diplodus sargus) were found to be considerable, corresponding to 65% of the commercial landings (39.4% of total catch). In terms of anglers’ perceptions about the recreational fishing regulations in Portugal, the present study has shown that the majority of anglers accepted the existence of some kind of SRF regulations, but in general there was a partial or total disagreement with the recreational fishing restrictions recently put in place. Most anglers perceived themselves as not being involved in the decision-making process and claimed that some restrictions lacked a meaningful rationale (e.g. prohibition of fishing from piers/jetties). Fishers’ awareness with regard to specific aspects of the restrictions (such as the rationale for minimum size limits) was found to be very limited. During the same period, catches from sport fishing competitions were examined to test for differences with the recreational activity in terms of catches, and evaluate long term trends in catch and mean size of fish. Catches of the sport fishing competitions were found to be different from those observed for recreational fishing, being dominated by different species (e.g. garfish, mullets), and suggesting different fishing strategies of the the two types of anglers. High percentages of undersized fish were observed to be captured (and retained) during the competitions (in particular seabass, with 100% undersized), probably as a result of a single allowable minimum size (AMS) of 15 cm for all species in use in competitions. Lastly, catch and release fishing experiments were carried out to assess post-release mortality of three recreationally important species: two banded sea bream Diplodus vulgaris; black sea bream Spondyliosoma cantharus; and gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata. Post-release mortalities were found to be low (0-12%). The main predictor of mortality for Sparus aurata was anatomical hooking location, with 63% of the fishes that died being deeply hooked. The results support the release of fish, either from mandatory (e.g. minimum landing sizes) or voluntary practices. In summary, this thesis has demonstrated that the impact of recreational fishing for particular species is significant and needs to be taken into account for more effective management and stock assessment purposes. It has also highlighted several management issues that should be addressed in order to promote more adequate regulations in the future and prevent noncompliance issues. A periodic monitoring of the recreational fishing activity including all fishing modes (i.e. spear fishing, boat, and shore angling) would also be beneficial to ensure a timely knowledge on the global recreational fishing activity and support future management actions.

Dynamics of production and mortality of Aurelia SP. in thau lagoon, northwerstern Mediterranean

Dissertação de mestrado, Biologia Marinha, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Contribuição da ecografia cerebral transfontanelar para a avaliação do crescimento cerebral do recém-nascido pré-termo

Tese de doutoramento, Medicina (Pediatria), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2013

A Corpus-Linguistic Analysis of News Coverage in Kenya's Daily Nation and Great Britain's Times

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2015

Does Daily Sunshine make you Happy? Subjective Measures of Well-being and the Weather

This paper examines to what extent individual measures of well-being are correlated with daily weather patterns in the United Kingdom. Merging daily weather data with data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) allows us to test whether measures of well-being are correlated with temperature, sunshine, rainfall and wind speed. We are able to make a strong case for causality due to ‘randomness’ of weather in addition to using regression methods that eliminate time-invariant individual level heterogeneity. Results suggest that some weather parameters (such as sunshine) are correlated with some measures of well-being (job satisfaction); however, in general the effect of weather on subjective measures of well-being is very small.

Nutritional Evaluation and Optimisation in Neonates: a randomized, double-blind controlled trial of amino acid regimen and intravenous lipid composition in preterm parenteral nutrition

Background: Parenteral nutrition is central to the care of very immature infants. Current international recommendations favor higher amino acid intakes and fish oil–containing lipid emulsions. Objective: The aim of this trial was to compare 1) the effects of high [immediate recommended daily intake (Imm-RDI)] and low [incremental introduction of amino acids (Inc-AAs)] parenteral amino acid delivery within 24 h of birth on body composition and 2) the effect of a multicomponent lipid emulsion containing 30% soybean oil, 30% medium-chain triglycerides, 25% olive oil, and 15% fish oil (SMOF) with that of soybean oil (SO)-based lipid emulsion on intrahepatocellular lipid (IHCL) content. Design: We conducted a 2-by-2 factorial, double-blind, multicenter randomized controlled trial. Results: We randomly assigned 168 infants born at ,31 wk of gestation. We evaluated outcomes at term in 133 infants. There were no significant differences between Imm-RDI and Inc-AA groups for nonadipose mass [adjusted mean difference: 1.0 g (95% CI: 2108, 111 g; P = 0.98)] or between SMOF and SO groups for IHCL [adjusted mean SMOF:SO ratio: 1.1 (95% CI: 0.8, 1.6; P = 0.58]. SMOF does not affect IHCL content. There was a significant interaction (P = 0.05) between the 2 interventions for nonadipose mass. There were no significant interactions between group differences for either primary outcome measure after adjusting for additional confounders. Imm-RDI infants were more likely than Inc-AA infants to have blood urea nitrogen concentrations .7 mmol/L or .10 mmol/L, respectively (75% compared with 49%, P , 0.01; 49% compared with 18%, P , 0.01). Head circumference at term was smaller in the Imm-RDI group [mean difference: 20.8 cm (95% CI: 21.5, 20.1 cm; P = 0.02)]. There were no significant differences in any prespecified secondary outcomes, including adiposity, liver function tests, incidence of conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, weight, length, mortality, and brain volumes. Conclusion: Imm-RDI of parenteral amino acids does not benefit body composition or growth to term and may be harmful. This trial was registered at www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN29665319 and at eudract.ema.europa.eu as EudraCT 2009-016731-34.

O casamento real de William e Kate : a cobertura jornalística nos jornais The Daily Mail, The Guardian e The Sun

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Jornalismo.