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Edgar Mesquita

    Edgar Mesquita

    Muitas são as evidências de que o sucesso no Ensino Superior depende muito dos métodos e aptidões de estudo que os alunos utilizam. Nesse intuito, o presente trabalho pretende adaptar e validar a Escala de Competências e Métodos de Estudo... more
    Muitas são as evidências de que o sucesso no Ensino Superior depende muito dos métodos e aptidões de estudo que os alunos utilizam. Nesse intuito, o presente trabalho pretende adaptar e validar a Escala de Competências e Métodos de Estudo no Ensino Superior para a população angolana. A amostra foi constituída por 286 alunos, de ambos os géneros, com médias de idade de 22.58 anos (DP=4.65), que frequentavam os primeiros anos das licenciaturas de um Instituto Superior em Angola. O instrumento de avaliação utilizado foi a Escala de Competências de Métodos de Estudo (ECME-ES), com escala tipo Likert, constituída na sua versão final por 47 itens e na versão original 63 itens. Os resultados indicaram que esta escala (ECME-ES), constituída por seis subescalas, apresentou como resultados médios mais elevados, por ordem decrescente, as seguintes dimensões: (I) Motivação, (II) Compreensão, (III) Avaliação, (IV) Organização diária da área de estudo, (V) Gestão do Tempo e VI. Procrastinação. Os...
    Introduction: Following the outbreak of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus it was necessary to increase the non-face-to-face care activity through alternative means such as teleconsultation in primary health care. The adjustment... more
    Introduction: Following the outbreak of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus it was necessary to increase the non-face-to-face care activity through alternative means such as teleconsultation in primary health care. The adjustment to a type of remote consultation could have generated anxiety among family physicians. The main aim of the present study was to develop and validate a scale to assess the anxiety of family physicians during teleconsultation. Material and Methods: Observational, cross-sectional study involving a sample of family physicians working in Portugal. An online survey that evaluated anxiety in teleconsultation was developed.Results: A total of 359 valid responses were included in an exploratory factor analysis, after determining the number of factors to retain. A four-factor structure was detected with loadings ranging overall, from 0.44 to 0.98. Correlations between factors ranged from 0.42 to 0.58. Exploratory factor analysis results varied between good an...
    We present 10 tables with different, related data. Table 1 is the result of an extensive narrative literature review depicting published national secular suicide trends extending by at least a century. Table 2 pinpoints all reforms in the... more
    We present 10 tables with different, related data. Table 1 is the result of an extensive narrative literature review depicting published national secular suicide trends extending by at least a century. Table 2 pinpoints all reforms in the statistical national system by year, period and political regimen since 1886. In Table 3, we relate different consecutive versions of international classification of diseases and causes of death, by year of international approval and periodic implementation in the national statistical system, also by period of political regimen, depicting periods when different data was made accessible (sex, age), when categories of causes of external death begun to be collected (total external, suicide, accidents, undetermined), and types of dates were apt to be estimated (eg., crude death rates, age-standardised death rates, age-specific death rates); Table 3 also shows a cumulative index of years and attributes bibliographic primary sources for each line of data...
    As Catirinas são homens vestidos de mulheres e os Mateus vestem-se com roupas engraçadas (chapéu grande e bengala ou pandeiro), circulando o jogo dramático dos dois partidos e, geralmente, ironizando o clima de luta criado pelos mesmos.... more
    As Catirinas são homens vestidos de mulheres e os Mateus vestem-se com roupas engraçadas (chapéu grande e bengala ou pandeiro), circulando o jogo dramático dos dois partidos e, geralmente, ironizando o clima de luta criado pelos mesmos. Estes personagens que aparentam fragmentos desconexos da encenação também são os que mais aproveitam para pedir esmolas aos espectadores enquanto os guerreiros estão se digladiando ou preparando-se para a guerra. (REIS, Damian, 1997) in: Etnocenologia: textos selecionados. Greiner, Christine; Bião, Armindo (org.), 1999, p. 121. Personagens surpresas para mim desde que eu passei a ter contatos com os presépios da atualidade, Mateus e Catita ou Catirina 1 são dois personagens recorrentes dos festejos folclóricos brasileiros, especialmente nos festejos natalinos, como brincantes ativos nos grupos de Reis. É sabido que os reisados compõem e cantam músicas direcionadas ao poder, pois, são representativas de "lideranças políticas" seguindo uma tr...
    Suicidal behaviors of children and young people are a major public health concern. In Portugal, the increasing awareness of this problem is well reflected by the implementation of the first national suicide prevention plan from 2013 to... more
    Suicidal behaviors of children and young people are a major public health concern. In Portugal, the increasing awareness of this problem is well reflected by the implementation of the first national suicide prevention plan from 2013 to 2017. One of its main goals is to increase information and education about mental health in schools. By use of a setting approach and empowerment strategies, we pretend to develop the teachers' and educators' skills to adequately handle with new situations. To analyse the psychometric characteristics of instrument designed to assess mental health of Portuguese teachers. The instrument has been developed to monitor the learning results of teacher training in a massive open online course (MOOC). Teachers (n=1144) were recruited online by using a link from the platform Qualtrics. Informed consent was obtained before enrolment in the study. Items of the questionnaire Mental Health Literacy QLSM were developed after a screening of literature and ex...
    Research Interests:
    Suicidal behaviors of children and young people are a major public health concern. In Portugal, the increasing awareness of this problem is well reflected by the implementation of the first national suicide prevention plan from 2013 to... more
    Suicidal behaviors of children and young people are a major public health concern. In Portugal, the increasing awareness of this problem is well reflected by the implementation of the first national suicide prevention plan from 2013 to 2017. One of its main goals is to increase information and education about mental health in schools. By use of a setting approach and empowerment strategies, we pretend to develop the teachers’ and educators’ skills to adequately handle with new situations. To analyse the psychometric characteristics of instrument designed to assess mental health of Portuguese teachers. The instrument has been developed to monitor the learning results of teacher training in a massive open online course (MOOC). Teachers (n=1144) were recruited online by using a link from the platform Qualtrics. Informed consent was obtained before enrolment in the study. Items of the questionnaire Mental Health Literacy QLSM were developed after a screening of literature and explorator...
    Objective: While Parkinson’s disease (PD) has traditionally been described as a movement disorder, there is growing evidence of disruption in emotion information processing as ociated with the disease. The aim of this study was to... more
    Objective: While Parkinson’s disease (PD) has traditionally been described as a movement disorder, there is growing evidence of disruption in emotion information processing as ociated with the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are specific electroencephalographic (EEG) characteristics that discriminate PD patients and normal controls during emotion information processing. Method: EEG recordings from 14 scalp sites were collected from 20 PD patients and 30 agematched normal controls. Multimodal (audio-visual) stimuli were presented to evoke s pecific targeted emotional states such as happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. Absolute and relative power, frequency and asymmetry measures derived from spectral ly analyzed EEGs were subjected to repeated ANOVA measures for group comparisons as well a to discriminate function analysis to examine their utility as classification indices. In a ddition, subjective ratings were obtained for the used e...
    Introduction: This study aims to describe the translation and adaptation of the European Portuguese Clinical Frailty Scale and assess its convergent validity and test-retest reliability.Material and Methods: This validation study included... more
    Introduction: This study aims to describe the translation and adaptation of the European Portuguese Clinical Frailty Scale and assess its convergent validity and test-retest reliability.Material and Methods: This validation study included a sample of elderly people admitted in two convalescence units from the National Network of Integrated Continuous Care in Northern Portugal and followed in two outpatient clinics of social solidarity institutions. Convergent validity of the scale was evaluated, against Tilburg Frailty Indicator. Test-retest reliability, sensitivity and specificity were assessed.Results: Overall, 51 patients were included (mean age = 78 years old). The Clinical Frailty Scale identified 43.1% patients with frailty. Kappa values for test-retest reliability (non-frail/frail) was 1.00. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the 9-point total scale was 0.999. A correlation between Clinical Frailty Scale and Tilburg Frailty Indicator was also found (rs = 0.683; p <...
    1435 Introduction: The response to AML treatment is very heterogeneous and relapse risk is high. Hematogones (HG) are B lymphoid cell precursors present in all individuals. HG absolute count grows after chemotherapy, during medullar... more
    1435 Introduction: The response to AML treatment is very heterogeneous and relapse risk is high. Hematogones (HG) are B lymphoid cell precursors present in all individuals. HG absolute count grows after chemotherapy, during medullar recovery and it seems to be related to prognosis. Objectives: Determination of HG number in AML patients with intermediate-risk karyotype, with complete response (CR). Determine prognostic value for HG number in these patients. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 148 patients with non promyelocytic AML, treated with “7+3” chemotherapy induction, followed in our centre, from 1998 to 2011. HG quantification was executed after induction chemotherapy, with flow cytometry pannel (4 colours - CD34, CD10, CD19, CD20 e CD45) in blood marrow samples in patients with CR, according to Cheson et al. (JCO 2003). The patients characteristics were compared with a X2test for binary variables and a Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables. Survival was plotted with Kapl...
    BACKGROUND: The best treatment strategy in patients with relapsed Follicular Lymphoma (FL) remains controversial. The incorporation of rituximab (R) in the 1st line chemotherapy (CT) regimen and in treatment relapse resulted in better... more
    BACKGROUND: The best treatment strategy in patients with relapsed Follicular Lymphoma (FL) remains controversial. The incorporation of rituximab (R) in the 1st line chemotherapy (CT) regimen and in treatment relapse resulted in better progression-free survival (PFS) but the benefit in overall survival (OS) was observed in only one trial (Hiddemann W. et al, Blood 2006). Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is the only treatment potentially curative, although the ideal time for its implementation remains undefined. AIM: Evaluation of the best treatment strategy and the impact of HSCT in PFS and OS in patients with relapsed FL. METHODS: Retrospective study including 85 patients with relapsed FL followed at a cancer care center between 2000-2012. Selection criteria: treatment naïve patients with the diagnosis of FL; absence of histological transformation at diagnosis and/or during the 1st line treatment. Survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier method. Type of response defined acc...
    BACKGROUND: The outcome of patients with advanced stage Follicular Lymphoma (FL) has improved over the last decade, with the use of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The watch and wait approach (WW) in FL with low tumor burden was assumed... more
    BACKGROUND: The outcome of patients with advanced stage Follicular Lymphoma (FL) has improved over the last decade, with the use of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The watch and wait approach (WW) in FL with low tumor burden was assumed when treatment options were limited and less effective than nowadays. In FL patients with indolent disease characterized by multiple relapses evolution, the therapeutic strategy should take into consideration the quality and duration of response and the impact on overall survival (OS) versus the risk of long-term toxicity. AIMS: Evaluation of the impact of WW approach compared with chemotherapy (CT) in time to next treatment (TNT), progression-free survival (PFS) and OS. METHODS: Retrospective study of 213 patients with FL, followed in a cancer care center between 2000-2012. Of these, 79 asymptomatic patients at diagnosis, with Ann Arbor stage III-IV were included and divided in 2 subgroups: 58 patients received the first-line treatment and 21 remained...
    Introdution Follicular Lymphoma (FL) presents a recurrent clinical behavior. The proliferative activity of B-cells in NHL subtypes varies amongst different subtypes, being higher in high grade NHL. In FL without t(14; 18), high... more
    Introdution Follicular Lymphoma (FL) presents a recurrent clinical behavior. The proliferative activity of B-cells in NHL subtypes varies amongst different subtypes, being higher in high grade NHL. In FL without t(14; 18), high proliferative activity appears to be a better predictor of progression free survival (PFS). Objectives Evaluation of proliferative activity of neoplastic B cells in patients with FL and its association with underlying cytogenetic changes (such as t(14;18)). Determination of the prognostic value of proliferative activity of neoplastic B cells and t(14, 18) in patients with FL. Methods Retrospective analysis of 139 patients with FL, followed in our center from 2006 to 2011. Evaluation of the cytogenetic changes and percentage of cells in S phase at the time of diagnosis, performed on lymph nodes. The cell cycle analysis was evaluated by flow cytometry, resorting to DNA labeling kit B-NHL (Cytognos) ModFit software (Verity). The adopted cut-off of S phase cells ...
    4875 Background: Some studies have showed high activity for low-dose radiotherapy (LDRT) in low-grade Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). However, this therapeutic approach is often forgotten and other approaches are used - chemotherapy and/or... more
    4875 Background: Some studies have showed high activity for low-dose radiotherapy (LDRT) in low-grade Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). However, this therapeutic approach is often forgotten and other approaches are used - chemotherapy and/or conventional radiotherapy - associated with greater toxicity. The efficacy of total body LDRT (1.5–2 Gy, fractions 0.1–0.25 Gy in 2 – 5 times a week) in disseminated disease is associated with 10 year progression free survival (PFS) of 15 – 25%, with response rates of 70 – 90% (Gérard et al., IJ Radiation Oncology 2010; 78), despite hematologic toxicity and leukemogenic effects. Although its mechanism of action is unknown, its effectiveness has been confirmed (Jones et al., Cancer 1973; 32) suggesting that low dose radiation induces localized lymphocytes apoptosis that can trigger local and systemic benefits. More recently, LDRT was used in palliative treatment for patients with localized disease (4Gy into two fractions, for 3 days) with a low toxici...
    Psychological assessment is not commonly performed nor easily accepted by coloproctological patients. Our aim was to evaluate the psychological component of coloproctological disorders using uncommon tools. The 21-Item Depression Anxiety... more
    Psychological assessment is not commonly performed nor easily accepted by coloproctological patients. Our aim was to evaluate the psychological component of coloproctological disorders using uncommon tools. The 21-Item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale and the Pescatori projective test were applied to coloproctological outpatients of the Gastroenterology Department of our hospital as well as to healthy volunteers. Seventy patients (median age 47 years, 22 male) divided in 4 groups (functional constipation, constipated irritable bowel syndrome, benign anorectal disease and perianal Crohn's disease) and 52 healthy volunteers (age 45 years, 18 male) completed the tests. Proctological patients showed higher scores of depression (P<0.001), anxiety (P<0.001), and stress (P<0.001) compared to healthy participants. Compared to the control group, patients with functional constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and perianal Crohn's disease maintained the highest scores in al...
    The aim of this work was to evaluate the predictors of mortality in a group of end-stage kidney disease (ESRD) patients under dialysis, by performing a three-year follow-up study. From the 236 patients included in this study, 54 patients... more
    The aim of this work was to evaluate the predictors of mortality in a group of end-stage kidney disease (ESRD) patients under dialysis, by performing a three-year follow-up study. From the 236 patients included in this study, 54 patients died during the three-year follow-up period. Our data showed that the risk of death was higher in patients presenting lower levels of mean cell hemoglobin concentration, transferrin, and albumin. Our study showed that poor nutritional status and an inflammatory-induced iron depleted erythropoiesis are important factors for mortality in these patients.
    Successful emotional communication is crucial for social interactions and social relationships. Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients have shown deficits in emotional recognition abilities although the research findings are inconclusive.... more
    Successful emotional communication is crucial for social interactions and social relationships. Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients have shown deficits in emotional recognition abilities although the research findings are inconclusive. This paper presents an investigation of six emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust) of twenty non-demented (Mini-Mental State Examination score >24) PD patients and twenty Healthy Controls (HCs) using Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based Brain Functional Connectivity (BFC) patterns. The functional connectivity index feature in EEG signals is computed using three different methods: Correlation (COR), Coherence (COH), and Phase Synchronization Index (PSI). Further, a new functional connectivity index feature is proposed using bispectral analysis. The experimental results indicate that the BFC change is significantly different among emotional states of PD patients compared with HC. Also, the emotional connectivity pattern class...
    In Portugal, so far, there is no study or even accurate data on the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR), based on a large representative sample and on a long-term follow-up. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence... more
    In Portugal, so far, there is no study or even accurate data on the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR), based on a large representative sample and on a long-term follow-up. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of DR based on a national screening community-based programme. A 5-year retrospective analysis of the RETINODIAB screening programme results was implemented in Lisbon and Tagus Valley area between July 2009 and October 2014. We estimated the prevalence of retinopathy for all patients with type 2 diabetes and studied the association between known risk factors and retinopathy emergence at their first screening. Throughout this period, from a total of 103 102 DR readable screening examinations, 52 739 corresponded to patients who attended RETINODIAB screening at entry. Globally, DR was detected in 8584 patients (16.3%). Of these, 5484 patients (10.4%) had mild non-proliferative (NP) DR, 1457 patients (2.8%) had moderate NPDR and 672 (1.3%) had severe NP...