Portuguese Public Research Articles

Varicella Admissions in Children and Adolescents in Portugal: 2000-2015.

Varicella is a common, usually benign, and autolimited disease in children but can lead to severe complications and hospitalization. With this study, we aim to analyze all varicella hospitalizations to provide epidemiological information to help outline preventive policies. We assessed all varicella hospitalizations in children aged 0 to 17 years, from 2000 to 2015, in mainland, public Portuguese hospitals using a Portuguese administrative database. Seasonality, geographic distribution, severity, complications, risk factors, use of diagnostic and treatment procedures and hospitalization costs were analyzed. A total of 5120 hospitalizations were registered, with an annual rate of 17.3 hospitalizations per 100 000 inhabitants. A higher number of hospitalizations occurred during the summer period and in Southern regions. The median length of stay was of 4 days (interquartile range: 3.0-7.0). We found a high rate of severe complications, mostly dermatologic (19.6%), neurologic (6.0%), and respiratory (5.1%). Of the total number of patients, 0.8% were immunocompromised and 0.1% were pregnant. Total direct hospitalization costs during the 16-year period were estimated to be 7 110 719€ (8 603 970 USD), with a mean annual cost of 444 419.92€ (537 748.10 USD). This is the first national study in which useful epidemiological data to evaluate the burden and impact of varicella in Portugal is provided.

Burden of Disease for Psoriasis in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico

ObjectivesPsoriasis (PsO) is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem disease with predominantly skin and joint manifestations. The disease is also associated with lower quality of life, lower work productivity, and higher healthcare costs. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review of the disease burden for PsO in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. MethodsPubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, SciELO, and LILACS were searched for publications in English, Spanish, or Portuguese from 2003 to July 2018. ResultsA total of 680 records were retrieved and 13 articles were included. In Latin America, PsO has a negative impact on the physical and mental well-being as shown by substantially lower scores on measures of quality of life (eg, 12-item Short-Form Health Survey) for patients than the general population. Patients with PsO reported higher levels of presenteeism, activity impairment, and work productivity loss. The estimated annual costs per patient with PsO in Colombia were $3497.58 and $2160.92 for the private sector and public scenario, respectively. ConclusionsAlthough evidence on the full cost and impact of PsO in Latin America is scarce and further research is needed, the burden in these regions is significant and comparable with that in other parts of the world.

Physical fitness and anthropometrical profile for the recruits of the elite close protection unit of the Portuguese public security police

ABSTRACT The initial assessment of physical fitness (PF) is associated with daily duty tasks/performance, and health-indicators (risk of injury/illnesses) of police officers. This research aimed to characterize the demographic, sports practice, PF, and metabolic profile of Elite Portuguese Public Security Police recruits. This cross-sectional study included 32 participants (age 30.1 ± 2.7 years old). The following data were collected: demographic, sports practice, PF (e.g. muscular resistance [pull/sit/push-ups], cardiorespiratory fitness [Cooper Test]), and metabolic measures (e.g. blood pressure [systolic/diastolic]). A robust PF and metabolic profile was observed: sit-ups 79.6 ± 11.6 rep.; push-ups 65.4 ± 17.3 rep.; VO2max prediction 49.6 ± 4.7 ml/kg/min; Body Mass Index 23.5 ± 2.1 kg/m2; fat mass 10.7 ± 2.3%; systolic blood pressure 134.0 ± 12.0 mm Hg, and diastolic blood pressure 74.6 ± 12.5 mm Hg. Deeper knowledge on initial PF and its impact on health may be relevant for policing policy, allowing one to define assessment guidelines and implement regular training to optimize PF throughout police officers´ lives and careers, with potentially general health benefits.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership in the context of Portuguese Public Administration: the case of a Military Organization


 The interest it the subject of Emotional Intelligence has been growing over the past few years, forcing an extension of its scope to many social and organizational sectors, including the command functions of police forces. However, the literature on the use of Emotional Intelligence in leadership roles, especially in the military context, is still very scarce.That said, this article has the general objective of analyzing the impact of Emotional Intelligence on Leadership. To this end, a Case Study was carried out at the Military Organization, where questionnaire inquiries were implemented, listening to 53 Officers and Sergeants Commanders of Detachment.Through the results obtained it is possible to verify that Emotional Intelligence influences the performance of the Officers and Sergeants Commanders of Detachment as leaders. Bearing this in mind and the general objective of the present article in account, it is possible to state that Emotional Intelligence has a great impact on Leadership.

Medical ethics when moving towards non-anonymous gamete donation: the views of donors and recipients

Drawing on the views of donors and recipients about anonymity in a country that is experiencing a transition towards non-anonymous gamete donation mandated by the Constitutional Court, we explore how...

The Relationship between the Language of Scientific Publication and its Impact in the Field of Public and Collective Health

The language of scientific publications is a crucial factor when seeking to reach an international audience, because it affects linguistic accessibility and the geographical reach of research results. English is the language of science and the fact that it can be understood by most readers represents an undeniable advantage. Moreover, the fact that a large proportion of Ibero-American research has been published in national languages, is often cited as one of the reasons for its limited exposure. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between scientific output published in a native language and its degree of exposure and impact in the field of Public and Collective Health. This bibliometric study was carried out based on the scientific output data obtained from the most prolific countries that are members of the SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online) Network in Public and Collective Health, in the 2011-2018 period. The data was collected from the SciELO Citation Index database (SciELO CI), which was integrated into the larger WoS platform in 2014 and was chosen on account of its importance as one of the few regional indexes that is still scarcely used in studies of this nature. The data shows that Brazilian articles in Portuguese had the greatest citation impact on publications in its own language (48.7%), while its articles in English present practically the same impact (48.5%) on Portuguese publications, followed by 34.5% on Spanish publications. The impact on the national language is also significant in the case of both Mexican and Spanish publications, to whom the percentage of citing articles in Spanish, for documents cited in the same language, is higher than for documents cited in English (respectively 1.6 and 1.8). The same applies to Portuguese and US-American articles where, respectively 56.6% and 43.9% of the citing articles are in their native language. Cuban and Peruvian articles have more than 90% of their citing articles in the national language. In contrast, the USA and Brazil are countries that have a greater citation impact on other languages, especially when published in Spanish. The extent of exposure of a given language of the scientific publication varies per the country´s scientific output. In the case of Brazilian and US-American publications, including publications in the national languages of these countries, the effects on audiences in other languages can be measured by the citation impact. Furthermore, the degree of exposure of certain publications suggests that SciELO CI represents a useful database for evaluating local scientific output, and this can be observed, particularly, for publications in the national language.

Sustentabilidade no Cenário do Centro Cirúrgico: Revisão da literatura

Objetivo: analisar informações e identificar estratégias sobre sustentabilidade em centro cirúrgico. Metodologia: Revisão integrativa da literatura, de acordo com a estratégia PICo e procedimentos definidos pelo Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Bases de dados consultadas: Portal Regional da Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), no Medline do PubMed da National Library of Medicine; Portal de Periódicos da Capes: CINAHL (Ebsco), EMBASE (Elsevier), Scopus (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivaty Analytics). Foram consideradas publicações em português, inglês e espanhol sem restrição do ano de publicação. Seis estudos foram selecionados para análise. Resultados: Obteve-se a sustentabilidade em centro cirúrgico por quatro vertentes: destinação dos resíduos, técnicas anestésicas, uso da energia elétrica utilização de material descartável ou reutilizável. Estudos descritivos produzidos nos Estados Unidos, Canadá, França e China no período entre 2018 e 2020. Conclusão: A sala de cirurgia constitui importante fonte de agressão ao meio ambiente pela geração de resíduos ou consumo de energia. As propostas de sustentabilidade ambiental aplicadas ao centro cirúrgico incluem ações individuais como andar de bicicleta ou caminhar até o trabalho. Sobre as técnicas anestésicas surgem opções sustentáveis: emprego de anestesia de baixo fluxo, uso de anestesia intravenosa total. Outras medidas incluem uso de capotes cirúrgicos reutilizáveis, monitoramento de resíduos, doação de baterias, equipamentos médicos não utilizados e suprimentos para missões médicas; desligamento noturno de máquinas de anestesia e outros equipamentos.

RELATIONAL CONTRACTING AND ITS COMBINATION WITH THE BIM METHODOLOGY IN MITIGATING ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION PROBLEMS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Project management in the construction sector is a complex and uncertain process and companies tend to look for the lowest value in the procurement of services and materials. However, contractors do not share the necessary information with the contracted parties and thus give rise to the asymmetric information (AI) phenomenon. The aim of this study is to perform an analysis of the determining factors in the adoption of relational contracting (RC) in combination with Building Information Modelling (BIM) to reduce AI. The results of a questionnaire survey, which was e-mailed to 14 specialists with solid experience (over twenty years) and knowledge in construction projects, revealed that the probability of the AI phenomenon occurring in Portugal is very high, and its impact on construction projects is equally high. The results also show that RC in combination with the BIM methodology contributes very positively to the mitigation of AI problems in construction projects in Portugal. Approximately 85% of respondents consider that the government should seek to reduce AI in the public works sector through the use of RC and its combination with the BIM methodology in the Portuguese Public Contracts Code.

Precast Concrete Building Construction and Envelope Thermal Behavior: A Case Study on Portuguese Public Social Housing

A considerable part of Southern European countries building stock was constructed before the implementation of national thermal regulations, and as such, it is currently exposed to challenges such as energy poverty and climate change. Portuguese public social housing presents a significant variety of construction systems and applied typologies. Among them, the “Novobra NK1”, a precast concrete construction system that exploits some innovative features in envelope components, has been used in several projects. Considering the importance of retrofitting to improve and adapt the thermal behaviors of buildings to face the aforementioned challenges, this article aims to provide an understanding of the behavior of a NK1 thermal envelope of a dwelling located in Covilhã, Portugal, and the impact of some constructive envelope retrofit measures applied. Results show that existing opaque envelope elements and glazed areas present characteristics that are no longer able to provide proper responses to contemporary building constructive requirements. External insulation was identified as a key retrofit measure, window replacement also being an advised solution for rigorous heating seasons. Improvements from the internal side of windows, such as roller shades, may provide few benefits during cooling seasons, and applying solar films is not advised without a proper thermal repercussion analysis.

Profissionais de Enfermagem na UTI e seu protagonismo na pandemia: Legados da Covid-19

OBJETIVO: Analisar a atuação dos profissionais de enfermagem na Unidade de Terapia Intensiva, considerando seu protagonismo no atendimento aos pacientes com COVID-19 e os legados dessa pandemia até o momento. MÉTODO: Revisão sistemática com base no protocolo Preferred Reporting Itens for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. Foram consideradas publicações em português, inglês e espanhol dos últimos dois anos (2019-2020) indexados na Biblioteca Virtual do Ministério da Saúde do Brasil, na PubMed, Cochrane Central e Web Of Science. RESULTADOS: Foram selecionados 14 artigos para a análise dos dados. A atuação do profissional de enfermagem no combate ao COVID-19 é consenso em diferentes países, sendo destacada sua atuação como linha de frente e as necessidades de adaptação a um contexto inédito, lidando com o desconhecido e com pesquisas frequentes que apontavam novas descobertas. Como implicações futuras frente à atual pandemia verificou-se fatores como maior valorização dos profissionais de enfermagem, inclusive com uso de profissionais intensivistas e anestesistas, diversificação das formas de comunicação, melhor autogerenciamento e gerenciamento das equipes e o teleatendimento em cuidados de enfermagem. CONCLUSÃO: A pandemia trazida pela COVID-19 evidenciou o protagonismo dos enfermeiros. Com as mudanças e adaptações exigindo novos protocolos e formas de atendimento, podendo ser considerados como legados.

Economic Analysis of Portuguese Public Hospitals Through the Construction of Quality, Efficiency, Access, and Financial Related Composite Indicators.

Hospitals consume most of the health systems' financial resources. In Portugal, for instance, public hospitals represent more than half of the National Health Service debt and are decisive in their financial insufficiency. Although profit is not the primary goal of hospitals, it is essential to guarantee their financial sustainability to ensure users' health care and the necessary resources. An analysis of the existing literature shows that researches focus mainly on the hospital's technical efficiency. The literature has paid little or even no attention to the use of composite indicators in hospital benchmarking studies. This study uses the Benefit of Doubt methodology alongside recent data about Portuguese public hospitals (2013–2017) to understand the factors that contribute to low performance and high indebtedness levels. Our results suggest that hospitals perform better in terms of access (average score: 0.982). The group of criteria with the lowest performance was efficiency and productivity (average score: 0.919), suggesting resources waste. Financial performance is, in general, higher than quality, raising social concerns about the way that public hospitals have been managed. Findings bring relevant implications. For example, the way hospitals are currently financed should consider efficiency, productivity, quality, and access. Regulators should ensure that minimum performance levels are fulfilled, applying preventive and corrective measures to avoid future low-performance levels. We suggest that hospital managers introduce satisfaction inquiries to improve quality. These improvements can attract more patients in the medium- or long-term; thus, our results are useful to citizens to make a better choice.

Improving dog training methods: Efficacy and efficiency of reward and mixed training methods.

Dogs play an important role in our society as companions and work partners, and proper training of these dogs is pivotal. For companion dogs, training helps preventing or managing dog behavioral problems-the most frequently cited reason for relinquishing and euthanasia, and it promotes successful dog-human relationships and thus maximizes benefits humans derive from bonding with dogs. For working dogs, training is crucial for them to successfully accomplish their jobs. Dog training methods range widely from those using predominantly aversive stimuli (aversive methods), to those combining aversive and rewarding stimuli (mixed methods) and those focusing on the use of rewards (reward methods). The use of aversive stimuli in training is highly controversial and several veterinary and animal protection organizations have recommended a ban on pinch collars, e-collars and other techniques that induce fear or pain in dogs, on the grounds that such methods compromise dog welfare. At the same time, training methods based on the use of rewards are claimed to be more humane and equally or more effective than aversive or mixed methods. This important discussion, however, has not always been based in solid scientific evidence. Although there is growing scientific evidence that training with aversive stimuli has a negative impact on dog welfare, the scientific literature on the efficacy and efficiency of the different methodologies is scarce and inconsistent. Hence, the goal of the current study is to investigate the efficacy and efficiency of different dog training methods. To that end, we will apply different dog training methods in a population of working dogs and evaluate the outcome after a period of training. The use of working dogs will allow for a rigorous experimental design and control, with randomization of treatments. Military (n = 10) and police (n = 20) dogs will be pseudo-randomly allocated to two groups. One group will be trained to perform a set of tasks (food refusal, interrupted recall, dumbbell retrieval and placing items in a basket) using reward methods and the other group will be trained for the same tasks using mixed methods. Later, the dogs will perform a standardized test where they will be required to perform the trained behaviors. The reliability of the behaviors and the time taken to learn them will be assessed in order to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency, respectively, of the different training methods. This study will be performed in collaboration with the Portuguese Army and with the Portuguese Public Security Police (PSP) and integrated with their dog training programs.

The Determinants of Time Overruns in Portuguese Public Projects

AbstractInfrastructure project delivery is a central topic in construction and project management. Time overruns are a critical dimension of successful project delivery. A significant body of knowl...

Processo de enfermagem informatizado para o cuidado a pacientes portadores de úlcera diabética: revisão integrativa da literatura

Objetivo: Analisar estudos que descrevam o desenvolvimento de softwares para a informatização do Processo de Enfermagem (PE) aplicado a indivíduos portardoes de Úlcera Diabética (UD). Métodos: Revisão Integrativa da Literatura (RIL), nas bases de dados Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Índice Bibliográfico Espanhol em Ciências da Saúde (IBECS) e Base de Dados de Enfermagem (BDENF), com publicações em português, inglês e espanhol, no período de 2015 a 2019, disponibilizados na íntegra. Resultados: Foram avaliadas 236 publicações para elegibilidade, das quais selecionou-se 5 para análise. 4 artigos utilizaram a Teoria das Necessidades Humanas Básicas como referencial teórico. Predominou-se as taxonomias North-American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA-I) e Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC). Apenas 1 informatizou as 5 etapas do PE e 3 estudos utilizaramo Sistema Android. Considerações Finais: Identificou-se uma lacuna na literaturasobre o cuidado informatizado e sistematizado a essa população.Torna-se necessário o engajamento de universidades, instituições de saúde e fomento a pesquisas, no estímulo a iniciativas de ensino, pesquisa e extensãoque evidenciem a importância dainformática no apoio à tomada de decisão dos enfermeiros na assistência a indivíduos portadores de UD.

Social Model—Innovation and Behavioural Intervention as a Public Policy of Action within an Oncology and Loneliness Scope

The article presents concepts and the Public Health Policy University of Lisbon Lab project to answer questions about the macro-environment of cancer and loneliness. Although the biomedical model has considered the disease’s general symptoms, it takes a holistic approach to incorporate several other circumstances that influence health. Emotional, social, psychological, and economic factors mirror influencing layers that affect wellness. Portugal follows Europe’s tendency and simultaneously reflects its reality. Governmental internal policies, amplified by regulations, improve disease prevention and treatment. Nevertheless, it focuses on the general population instead of on the individual. Once cancer, one of the leading causes of global death, is perceived as an isolated incident, we believe macro-environmental circumstances, and not only biological ones, must be considered. Furthermore, cancer in the elderly intensifies solicitude, and expanded policies and actions demand individual health determinants. In the Portuguese Public Health Policy, we started a collaborative Oncology, Human Kinetics, and Public Health Policy project. This is the first project of the Public Health Policy Lab from the Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon. Based on a brief review of two research projects on improving cancer patients’ health, we promote micro-organisational projects to deal with the social phenomena of loneliness, physical activity, and lifestyle. As a sequence of the well-known social determinants, we endorse political determinants as the basis for public health. The latest worldwide governmental trend is to create public labs as an innovation of political policymaking. Throughout this reflection, the need for a new rational approach specially designed for a social model is considered.

Student Burnout: A Case Study about a Portuguese Public University

Burnout is increasingly present in organizations and in the most diverse professions, namely, in university students. Burnout can have negative repercussions on their well-being and can even lead them to abandon their studies. The objective of the study focuses on academic burnout and taking medication as a consequence of the requirements of the academic path of students at a Portuguese public university. To achieve this goal, a quantitative methodology was used, consisting of the distribution of a questionnaire to a sample of students from the analyzed university. The first study questionnaire obtained 207 responses, all valid. To perform the analysis of the quantitative data, the program IBM SPSS Statistics, version 25 was used. Inferential statistics were used, namely, Student t-test and one-way ANOVA (parametric tests), Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and the Chi-square test, to test the previously defined research hypotheses. Among the variables for which statistically significant relationships with burnout were found, the following stand out: the arithmetic mean (course average); the professional situation; participation in extracurricular activities; the practice and frequency of physical exercise; the choice and expectations regarding the course; the uncertainty felt about the professional future; the evaluation of the relationship with colleagues.

Sexual and reproductive health in riverine communities: integrative review.

To analyze the scientific evidence available on the sexual and reproductive health of riverine communities. Integrative review, conducted on the databases LILACS, MEDLINE; WEB OF SCIENCE and SCOPUS, including publications in Portuguese, English or Spanish, without an initial time limit and published until 2018. 11 studies were selected. The studies included are from the period 1993-2017. The results originated four analytical categories: sexual component, which gathered findings about sexually transmitted infections; reproductive component, which included family planning/fertility control, abortion and problems with pregnancy; environmental component, which presented issues with environmental contaminants and its reproductive implications; and the sociocultural component, which discussed gender, beliefs and social indicators. In this review, studies with a quantitative approach, from a female point of view and a biological perspective predominated. No study investigated the meanings and representations of SRH for the riverine communities. In addition, the findings show little evidence of thoughts and practices of people living in riverine communities regarding SRH issues, providing limited evidence.

The Cosmovision of Students Participating in a Research in Portuguese Public Universities

The Cosmovision of Students Participating in a Research in Portuguese Public Universities

Male Reproductive Health - study of a sperm donor population.

ObjectiveEvery individual has the right to a safe and satisfactory sex and reproductive life. Therefore, several countries have made efforts to make Reproductive Health resources available to their populations. However, few results have been published regarding the policies implemented in Portugal. This study looked into the reproductive health status of the Portuguese male population.MethodsSperm donor candidates from the Portuguese Public Gamete Bank registered between 2011 and 2018 were included in the study. Spermogram findings were evaluated with respect to sociodemographic and risk factors.ResultsThis is the first study performed in this population. We found that sperm quality has decreased throughout the last nine years, and that spermatozoa progressive motility is inversely correlated with the body mass index. An association between drug use and decreased sperm pH was also found.ConclusionsChanges in sperm quality have important consequences in male fertility. Most of the identified causes of decreased sperm quality are modifiable factors and should therefore be addressed since an early age.

IDOSOS E O USO DE TECNOLOGIAS ASSISTIVAS EM CASA: UMA REVISÃO SISTEMÁTICA DE LITERATURA

As Tecnologias Assistivas (TAs) possuem grande potencial de auxiliar o envelhecimento saudável em casa e seus campos de atuação atingem diversos setores, exigindo a demanda progressiva de melhoramentos e novas soluções. Nesse sentido, este artigo objetiva compreender o direcionamento dos estudos relacionados ao desenvolvimento de TAs com foco em idosos no ambiente doméstico, nos últimos 5 anos. Para isso, uma revisão sistemática de literatura em quatro etapas foi realizada segundo as recomendações PRISMA. Scopus, SciELO e Google Scholar foram utilizados como bases de dados, com termos pré-definidos em publicações em Inglês e Português, no período de 2015 a 2019. Foram elegidos 36 estudos para a revisão, observando-se a presença do desenvolvimento de tecnologias relativas a artefatos físicos e digitais, ambientes de vida assistida, produtos vestíveis e imersivos, além da implementação de serviços para o ambiente doméstico. Da análise dos estudos, percebeu-se a valorização de questões relativas à privacidade, custo e personalização nos projetos, além do surgimento de novos contextos de ação quando comparado aos trabalhos relacionados anteriores.