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- Accumulation of mercury in the tissues of the common octopus Octopus vulgaris (L.) in two localities on the Portuguese coastPublication . Seixas, Sónia; Bustamante, Paco; Pierce, GrahamMercury concentrations were measured in tissues of 12 individuals of Octopus vulgaris, captured by the commercial fishery at two points along the Portuguese coast, Viana do Castelo and Cascais, in spring 2002. Concentrations were determined in six tissues (digestive gland, branchial hearts, gills, mantle, arms, and gonads). Correlations between mercury concentrations in different tissues were examined as were correlations between mercury levels and total length, mantle length, weight, gonadosomatic index, digestive gland index, and state of maturation. Differences between sexes and localities were analysed. The concentration of mercury in the digestive gland (Viana, 0.58F0.08, and Cascais, 3.43F2.57 mg/kg dry weight) was higher than in the other tissues, and values were generally similar to those recorded in previous studies on octopods. Arm muscle contained most of the mercury with 56% of the total body burden followed by the digestive gland with 31%, mantle with 11%, gills with 0.8%, gonad with 0.5%, and branchial heart with 0.2%. In all tissues, mercury concentrations were slightly higher in samples from Cascais than in Viana do Castelo, which is consistent with higher concentrations recorded in seawater at Cascais. Levels of mercury determined in octopus were within the range of values legally defined as safe for human consumption.
- Adaptation of the food choice questionnaire using a design thinking approach and application to rice consumption by the major European consumersPublication . Castanho, Ana; Brites, Carla; Rocha, Célia; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Oliveira, Jorge C.; Cunha, Luís MiguelPortugal, the largest rice consumer in Europe, is witnessing an increase in imported rice, prompting a need to understand the underlying reasons for this rise. The Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) has been adapted to particular cases, however, the procedure isn’t standardized. A method based on Design Thinking—a usercentred problem-solving approach—and the use of images in the association technique, was developed and presented to Portuguese rice consumers, comprised of three phases. In the Inspiration phase, the FCQ items and others retrieved from interviews were converted into images through an online survey. In the Ideation phase, eight Portuguese rice consumer consensus-groups performed card-sorting and word association exercises based on these images and an evoked context regarding rice. In the Implementation phase, the generated words were compared to the original FCQ items. The method was revealed to be valuable in adapting the FCQ in a structured manner that can be employed to other realities. The adapted FCQ consisted of 33 items (including 12 new) and was presented to 371 Portuguese rice consumers. An exploratory factorial analysis revealed six factors, where Sensory Appeal, followed by Convenience, and Health & Nutrition were the most relevant. A cluster analysis based on consumption patterns, when compared to the rice choice determinants, revealed three consumer groups: “Nationals” - mainly consumed Portuguese rice, “Varied” - consumed different rice types, and “Imported” - predominantly consumed Basmati rice. The findings indicate that the changes in lifestyle contribute to the preference for more convenient rice, regardless of price, aligning Portuguese consumer patterns with those of other European countries.
- Adaptive-participative sustainability indicators in marine protected areas: designPublication . Marques, A. S.; Ramos, Tomás B.; Caeiro, Sandra; Costa, Maria HelenaRecently there has been an effort to put in practice integrated management plans in Marine Protected Areas (MPA) not only because of their high natural and cultural importance but also due to usual conflicts related to local activities. These plans should include the use of adaptive sustainability indicators that reflect stakeholders concerns, and community interests, allowing a better assessment, management and reporting. An adequate set of indicators for the MPA should help their managers to improve management policies in order to achieve better decision making processes. This study aimed to develop a set of adaptive-participative sustainability indicators (SDI) for the assessment, management and reporting of MPAs that include, through the all process, the participation of local stakeholders at every levels, integrating the stakeholders knowledge and perceptions about the SDI meaning and a self-assessment of the SDI state produced also by the stakeholders. The proposed approach was tested in Luiz Saldanha’s Marine Park, located in South East of Portugal between the municipalities of Sesimbra and Setúbal. The framework to design the SDI comprised four phases: i) an international analysis of SDI sets for coastal zones and MPAs; ii) a participatory process, where the stakeholders had the possibility to state their concerns through an online and face to face questionnaire surveys about the strengths and weaknesses of the MPA; iii) an analysis conducted by a team of experts to reach a set of indicators that include the main relevant aspects of environmental, socioeconomic, and governance issues, taking into account the information from the first two phases and iv) a workshop and questionnaires held to assess the stakeholders’ global views and perception about the selected set of indicators and each indicator’s relative importance. This study showed the importance of a dynamic participative process involving the local stakeholders. It is concluded that this methodology allows a better understanding of each indicator by the local stakeholders and how it could respond to their concerns. It should also help the MPA managers, to define the most suitable management actions and monitor the management plan itself.
- Airway approach for caesarean section under general anaesthesia: a national surveyPublication . Pombo, A.; Cardoso, T. M.; Araújo, A. M.; Frada, R.; Nunes, Catarina S.; Órfão, J.; Lemos, P.
- O aleitamento materno como atitude ambientalmente sustentável : um estudo pilotoPublication . Carapeto, CristinaOs benefícios da amamentação exclusiva tanto para as mães como para os bebés é bem conhecida na maioria dos países. Contudo, a relação existente entre o processo de amamentação e a proteção ambiental ainda não foi estudada. Para avaliar a perceção das mães sobre a amamentação como uma atitude amiga do ambiente foi realizado em Portugal, durante o ano de 2013, um inquérito a 140 mulheres grávidas. Após análise dos resultados concluiu-se que a maioria das mulheres estão conscientes dos benefícios da amamentação relativamente à saúde do bebé mas não em relação à sua própria saúde. Além disso, as mulheres que participaram neste estudo não estavam conscientes da relação que existe entre o processo de amamentação e a proteção ambiental.
- Alimentação e aterosclerose: um artigo informativoPublication . Carapeto, Cristina; Montanari, Francesco; Pinela, Luís MiguelA aterosclerose e as doenças cardiovasculares são, na atualidade, um dos maiores problemas de saúde pública nos países industrializados. O aumento da esperança de vida torna ainda mais urgente o combate a este problema que deve ser feito, no essencial, pela sua prevenção. A alimentação, aliada a estilos de vida saudáveis, são as melhores ferramentas não medicamentosas que estão ao alcance de todos para prevenir o desenvolvimento da aterosclerose e suas consequências.
- Anaesthesia - related fears - a cross - sectional survey among the portuguese populationPublication . Pereira, C.; Fernandes, D. Sobreira; Mota, A. Carmezim; Gonçalves, G.; Pinho, S.; Araújo, M.; Pereira, F.; Saraiva, A.; Paiva, M.; Nunes, Catarina S.; Cavaleiro, C.; Machado, Humberto S.Introduction: Patients experience preoperative anxiety. The objective of this study was to assess patients’ fears concerning anaesthesia and evaluate possible associations with sociodemographic background and previous anaesthesia. Methods: A survey was filled preoperatively, for 6 months, including anaesthesia-related fears, sociodemographic data, previous anaesthesia and surgery, current surgical and anaesthetic procedure, and preferred anaesthesia technique. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, Chi-square test, t-test and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis. Results: 153 questionnaires were collected. The mean age was 58 years, 61.4% were female and 59.5% employed. 47.1% had an anaesthesia consultation before. 49.7% were ASA II. 78.4% had been submitted to surgery before, 81.7% to anaesthesia and 14.5% had regional anaesthesia. In 73.5% general anaesthesia preferred. Half of patients with previous regional anaesthesia favoured this technique. The most relevant fears were “being paralysed because of anaesthesia”, “not waking up” and “waking up during surgery”. The least relevant were “fasting incapacity”, “having nightmares” and “speaking of personal matters”. A statistically significant relation was observed between the fear of “feeling pain after surgery” and having a previous anaesthetic experience. Female and unemployed patients were more concerned with general complications, while male patients gave more importance to awareness and paralysis. Conclusion: Paralysis after anaesthesia, intraoperative awareness and death were the main concerns of our inquiries.
- Analgesic interpatient variability of remifentanil assessed through pupillary dilation reflexPublication . Vide, Sérgio; Correia, Rui P.; Nunes, Catarina S.; Amorim, Pedro
- Analysis of scientific production aligned with the food and nutrition security strategy of Portuguese-Speaking African Institutions: a systematic scoping reviewPublication . Miquitaio, Augusto Mário; Crisp, Alex Harley; Zuliani, Daniela Queiroz; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Oliveira, Maria Rita Marques deThis systematic scoping review aimed to map and characterize the scientific production of researchers from Portuguese-speaking African institutions that align with the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. The literature search was conducted using six electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Virtual Health Library, Scientific Electronic Library Online, Scopus, and Web of Science), with no restrictions on the year of publication nor language. Through the search strategy, 10,061 records were identified, of which 502 documents and 654 researchers were selected by Food and Nutrition Security specialists along three axes: 1) Policy governance; 2) Access to food; 3) Availability of food. Institutional researchers from Mozambique (66.9%), Guinea-Bissau (15.9%), and Angola (11.4%) presented the most publications and international collaborations. Researchers from Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, and Equatorial Guinea institutions added only 5.8% of the total production. A greater number of publications (61%) was related to axis two of the Food and Nutrition Security Strategy of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. The most studied themes were sustainable development, child malnutrition, and agricultural production for the first, second, and third axis, respectively. In general, scientific publications have shown limitations in their approaches due to the challenge imposed by the complexity of the food system. However, there has been a quantitative evolution in publications in the last decade, with a greater participation of researchers from Portuguese-speaking African institutions.
- Application of the food choice questionnaire across cultures: systematic review of cross-cultural and single country studiesPublication . Cunha, Luís Miguel; Cabral, Diva; Moura, Ana Pinto de; Almeida, Maria Daniel Vaz deThe Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) is a 36-item instrument assessing the importance of a number of factors that influence food choice: “health”, “sensory appeal”, “price”, “convenience”, “mood”, “natural content”, “weight control”, “familiarity” and “ethical concern”. The FCQ already counts with applications from over 40 countries and its translation into more than 20 languages. The main objective of this paper is to review the application of the FCQ across cultures considering both cross-cultural and single country studies. A systematic review has been performed enclosing all the studies that apply the FCQ (in full, partially or following an adaptation) referred in the Web of Science and/or Scopus. After the scrutiny of more than 1,000 articles, 71 original articles were retrieved for this analysis. For each article, the following methodological aspects were considered: type of application, response scales, translation, scope, sampling procedures and data analysis strategies. For a smaller set of articles, reporting five cross-cultural studies (fully applying the FCQ), an additional analysis was performed to evaluate response styles, compare scale usage between countries and identify the most and least relevant food choice criteria. Several studies have shown the invariance of the FCQ across cultures, while others present the need for adaptations of the FCQ. Critical appraisal suggests that the original set of items should be adapted to accommodate the different cultures under study and that response scales should have a large number of points. The major conclusion is the strong lack of uniformity of procedures across the different studies hindering an adequate comparison of results between cultures.