Recent studies suggested that immune activation and cytokines might be involved in depression. The proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-18 (IL-18) is less reported in depression but is still relevant since it is expressed in the brain and serum levels of IL-18 have been found to be increased in patients with moderate to severe depression. Therefore, it seems reasonable that IL-18 promoter SNPs may have an effect in antidepressant response phenotypes.
Título: “Influence of Il-18 genetic polymorphisms in antidepressant treatment phenotypes”
Revista: 23rd European Congress of Psychiatry.
JCR: 3.912 (2014)
Referência bibliográfica: Santos, M., Carvalho, S., Lima, L., Mota-Pereira, J., Pimentel, P., Maia, D., Correia, D., Gomes, S., Cruz, A., & Medeiros, R. (2015, março). Influence of Il-18 genetic polymorphisms in antidepressant treatment phenotypes [Comunicação poster]. 23rd European Congress of Psychiatry.
Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease, associated to spine moblity limitations. Until today it isn’t known an efficient treatment; although, there are therapeutic strategies, like exercise, that can alleviate and delay the disease complications.
Revista: Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
JCR: 1.595 (2015)
Referência bibliográfica: Lopes, S., Mesquita, C., & Santos, P. (2015). Influence of exercise on functional capacity and in the lumbar and thoracic disability in ankylosing spondylitis. Journal of REHABILITATION MEDICINE 418. https://doi.org/doi:10.2340/16501977-1996
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory rheumatic disease, associated with limited mobility of the spine, sleep disturbance, and fatigue. The exercise aims are to preserve mobility and decrease sleep disorders.
Título: Effect of Exercise on Quality of Sleep in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis
Revista: Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
JCR: 1.595 (2015)
Referência bibliográfica: Lopes, L., Mesquita, C., & Santos, P. (2015). Effect of Exercise on Quality of Sleep in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis. 417-418. https://doi.org/doi:10.2340/16501977-1996
The school community is exposed to numerous risk factors for the occurrence of neck pain. These symptoms may cause restrictions on their functional capacity and there’s a need to make a proper measurement of this phenomenon, in a valid and reproducible manner. For this, the most recommended instrument is the Neck Disability Index (NDI); however its use in Portugal requires an analysis of its psychometric properties.
Título: Prevalence of Cervical Pain and Functional Disability in the School Community
Revista: Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
JCR: 1.595 (2015)
Referência bibliográfica: Mesquita, C., Santos, P., & Lopes, S. (2015). Prevalence of Cervical Pain and Functional Disability in the School Community. Journal of REHABILITATION MEDICINE, 157. https://doi.org/doi:10.2340/16501977-1996
Neck disorders appear more often associated with pain and muscle fatigue, both in young individuals and in individuals of middle age. Sustained muscle contraction needed to maintain the head in several positions and fatigue caused by muscle weakness are some of the factors for the arising of neck pain.
Revista: Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
JCR: 1.595 (2015)
Referência bibliográfica: Mesquita, C., Santos, P., & Lopes, S. (2015). Relationship between the Ratio of the Cervical Muscles and Non-Specific Neck Pain in the School Community. Journal of REHABILITATION MEDICINE 14. https://doi.org/doi: 10.2340/16501977-1996
Quinoxaline derivatives are an important class of heterocycle compounds, where N replaces some carbon atoms in the ring of naphthalene. Its molecular formula is C8H6N2, formed by the fusion of two aromatic rings, benzene and pyrazine. It is rare in natural state, but their synthesis is easy to perform. In this review the State of the Art will be presented, which includes a summary of the progress made over the past years in the knowledge of the structure and mechanism of the quinoxaline and quinoxaline derivatives, associated medical and biomedical value as well as industrial value. Modifying quinoxaline structure it is possible to obtain a wide variety of biomedical applications, namely antimicrobial activities and chronic and metabolic diseases treatment.
Título: Quinoxaline, its derivatives and applications: A State of the Art review
Revista: European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
JCR: 3.902 (2015)
Referência Bibliográfica: Pereira, J. A., et al. (2015). "Quinoxaline, its derivatives and applications: A State of the Art review." European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 97: 664-672.
Hippocampal neurogenesis has been suggested as a downstream event of antidepressants (AD) mechanism of action and might explain the lag time between AD administration and the therapeutic effect. Despite the widespread use of AD in the context of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) there are no reliable biomarkers of treatment response phenotypes, and a significant proportion of patients display Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD). Fas/FasL system is one of the best-known death-receptor mediated cell signaling systems and is recognized to regulate cell proliferation and tumor cell growth. Recently this pathway has been described to be involved in neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. Since FAS -670A>G and FASL -844T>C functional polymorphisms never been evaluated in the context of depression and antidepressant therapy, we genotyped FAS -670A>G and FASL -844T>C in a subset of 80 MDD patients to evaluate their role in antidepressant treatment response phenotypes. We found that the presence of FAS -670G allele was associated with antidepressant bad prognosis (relapse or TRD: OR=6.200; 95% CI: [1.875–20.499]; p=0.001), and we observed that patients carrying this allele have a higher risk to develop TRD (OR=10.895; 95% CI: [1.362–87.135]; p=0.008). Moreover, multivariate analysis adjusted to potentials confounders showed that patients carrying G allele have higher risk of early relapse (HR=3.827; 95% CI: [1.072–13.659]; p=0.039). FAS mRNA levels were down-regulated among G carriers, whose genotypes were more common in TRD patients. No association was found between FASL-844T>C genetic polymorphism and any treatment phenotypes. Small sample size. Patients used antidepressants with different mechanisms of action. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to evaluate the role of FAS functional polymorphism in the outcome of antidepressant therapy. This preliminary report associates FAS -670A>G genetic polymorphism with Treatment Resistant Depression and with time to relapse. The current results may possibly be given to the recent recognized role of Fas in neurogenesis and/or neuroplasticity.
Título: FAS -670A>G genetic polymorphism Is associated with Treatment Resistant Depression
Revista: Journal of Affective Disorers
JCR: 3.570 (2015)
Referência Bibliográfica: (Santos, Carvalho et al. 2015)Santos, M., et al. (2015). "FAS -670A>G genetic polymorphism Is associated with Treatment Resistant Depression." Journal of Affective Disorders 185: 164-169.
Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic conditions in older adults. In audiology literature, several studies have examined the attitudes and behavior of people with hearing loss; however, not much is known about the manner in which society in general views and perceives hearing loss. This exploratory study was aimed at understanding the social representation of hearing loss (among the general public) in the countries of India, Iran, Portugal, and the UK. We also compared these social representations. The study involved a cross-sectional design, and participants were recruited using the snowball sampling method. A total of 404 people from four countries participated in the study. Data were collected using a free-association task where participants were asked to produce up to five words or phrases that came to mind while thinking about hearing loss. In addition, they were also asked to indicate if each word they presented had positive, neutral, or negative associations in their view. Data were analyzed using various qualitative and quantitative methods. The most frequently occurring categories were: assessment and management; causes of hearing loss; communication difficulties; disability; hearing ability or disability; hearing instruments; negative mental state; the attitudes of others; and sound and acoustics of the environment. Some categories were reported with similar frequency in most countries (eg, causes of hearing loss, communication difficulties, and negative mental state), whereas others differed among countries. Participants in India reported significantly more positive and fewer negative associations when compared to participants from Iran, Portugal, and the UK. However, there was no statistical difference among neutral responses reported among these countries. Also, more differences were noted among these countries than similarities. These findings provide useful insights into the public perception of hearing loss that may prove useful in public education and counseling.
Revista: Clinal Interview Aging
JCR: 2.133 (2015)
Referência Bibliográfica: Manchaiah V, Danermark B, Ahmadi T, Tomé D, Zhao F, Li Q, Krishna R, Germundsson P. Social representation of “hearing loss”: cross-cultural exploratory study in India, Iran, Portugal, and the UK. Clin Interv Aging. 2015;10:1857-1872
Evidence indicates that exposure to high levels of noise adversely affects human health, and these effects are dependent upon various factors. In hospitals, there are many sources of noise, and high levels exert an impact on patients and staff, increasing both recovery time and stress, respectively. The goal of this pilot study was to develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of a training program (TP) on noise reduction in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) by comparing the noise levels before and after the implementation of the program. In total, 79 health professionals participated in the study. The measurements of sound pressure levels took into account the layout of the unit and locations of the main sources of noise.
Revista: Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health
JCR: 2.731 (2014)
Referência Bibliográfica: Carvalhais, C., Santos, J., da Silva, M. V., & Xavier, A. (2015). Is There Sufficient Training of Health Care Staff on Noise Reduction in Neonatal Intensive Care Units? a Pilot Study From Neonoise Project. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 78(13-14), 897-903. https://doi.org/10.1080/15287394.2015.1051204
