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This paper explores the intrapsychic functioning underlying the acceptance of austerity imposed on southern European countries following the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. How does an external "There Is No Alternative" model become internalized into an internal one? Neoliberal economics produces shock and public disorientation among populations in order to impose economic shock therapy. This induces primitive anxieties and phantasies as a result of our incapacity to understand and to give meaning. In this state of mind, a great number of people become prey to authoritarian figures. This also leads to regression to schizoid-paranoid states where fear of the other and guilt-driven renunciation of individual and collective rights for the sake of a greater good duly follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining anhydrous ethanol by extractive distillation has already been the object of several studies in the control literature. However, despite the presence of varying degrees of purity of anhydrous ethanol owing to its applications in industrial and commercial sectors, little attention has been given to dynamic and control for changing the operating conditions to provide anhydrous ethanol with different specifications. Using a soft sensor based on artificial neural network, this work aimed to develop an intelligent control system to contemplate the changes in the specification of anhydrous ethanol, considering the whole process (extractive and recovery columns), and keeping the process operating at an optimal point. Using the developed intelligent control system, the only necessary modification is the new specification and all new set-points values for controllers (temperature and solvent to azeotropic feed ratio) are updated automatically, without human interference, while with a conventional control system, all the new set-points values must be modified manually. The results showed that for the studied anhydrous ethanol specification range (99.1–99.9% mole), the new optimum operating conditions (new steady-state) were reached in a short time (between 1 and 2 h), with no evidence of overflow or emptying of sumps and reflux vessels of the columns. In addition to the easy implementation of the intelligent control system, the existing control structure remains unchanged, not requiring the investment for new instrumentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The presence of cognitive dysfunction in bipolar disorder is well established, but in the euthymic phase appear a few studies that point to the absence of cognitive deficits. Objectives: Alert to cases of euthymic bipolar disorder with no cognitive dysfunction. Methods: Review of relevant literature and description of a clinical case with psychological tests that assess memory and executive functions. Results: Description of a clinical case: FP is a middle age woman, early retired, with a bipolar disorder type 2, which begins at age 30. Her disease has several depressive episodes, and in the last 10 years, she spent most of the days lying in bed and repeatedly resorted to the emergency department for excessive voluntary drug intoxication or simply because she “wanted” to be hospitalized; her husband could not stand this situation. In September of 2009, in addition to the medical and psychological consultations, she starts attending group therapy; over the next 6 months her medication was changed and finally her disease goes into remission. The psychological tests, made at euthymic phase, show’s no significant deficits in verbal memory and executive functions. Conclusions: This patient has a disease with prolonged course and multiple hospitalizations and drug treatments, but don’t present relevant cognitive deficits, which may point to the fact that cognitive impairment is determined by biological factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The suicide of a patient in ongoing treatment is surely among the most traumatic events in the professional life of a psychiatrist. Objectives: Alert to the psychiatrist''s reactions to patient suicide. Methods: Review of literature relevant in medline database. Results: A substantial proportion, estimated to range from 15% to 68%, of psychiatrists has experienced a patient suicide. A significant proportion of psychiatrists show strong negative reactions, affecting professional and personal lives at levels of distress that are frequently comparable with those seen in clinical populations. Psychiatrists develop rather classic symptoms of anxiety, depression, or acute or posttraumatic stress symptoms, and their responses are typical: in the beginning occurs shock, disbelief, denial and depersonalization; and in the second phase takes place: grief, shame and guilt (“did I listen to him?”), anger (toward the patient who did not honor a therapeutic contract), relief (for example, after the suicide of a chronically suicidal patient), and the finding of omens that the psychiatrist considered signs of the coming suicide. But they are predictors of increased distress among psychiatrists who experienced a patient suicide, and the more consistent are age, experience, individual personality and psychiatric history. Recognition of all this combined with an avoidance of isolation is an effective coping mechanism that prevents the structuring of a pathological response to the patient''s suicide. Conclusions: Psychiatrist''s reactions to patient suicide are specific but not noted; its recognition is important to help them find appropriate coping mechanisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction: Knowing the impact that religious beliefs can have on the etiology, diagnosis and course of psychiatric disorders will help psychiatrists better understand their patients, assessing when the religious or spiritual beliefs are used to cope with mental illness and when they may be exacerbating this disease. Objectives: Alert to the importance of religion in clinical practice. Methods: Relevant literature review. Results: Several studies have demonstrated the influence of spirituality on physical, mental and health. In 1988, the World Health Organization (WHO) has given rise to the interest in further investigations in this area, with the inclusion of a spiritual aspect of the multidimensional concept of health. The spiritual well-being can be considered a protective factor for psychiatric disorders. Although it is not possible to determine with accuracy, the mechanisms of interaction of spirituality on health, especially mental health, several studies suggest that exercise can influence the spiritual activities, psychodynamically, through positive emotions. Furthermore, these emotions may be important for mental health in terms of possible psychophysiological and psychoneuroimmunological mechanisms. Anthropological sources suggest that beliefs in demons, black magic and evil spirits as cause of mental illness and distress are common. They may be less prevalent in western countries but even in Europe it''s possible to see patients thought that their condition have been caused by evil and occult possession. Conclusions: Clinicians should understand the negative and positive roles that religion plays in those with mental disorders and use this in clinical practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: Alert to the high prevalence and familial association between schizophrenia and mental retardation. Methods: Review relevant literature after the description if a clinical case example; additional diagnostic exams. Results: Description of a clinical case: Man with 25 years old with mental retardation and first episode of pchicosys. He and his all family works in the fire department. In his family history there is a mother with pchicosys, father with mental retardation, sister with a post partum depression, aunt with bipolar affective disorder, and two uncles who comet suicide. In January of 2008, he begins to hear voices, in his work, that call him and ask for help; then he begin to see an old lady in his bedroom''s window; he stop sleeping and eating. The family brings him to the emergency room and he''s started diazepam (15 mg/day) and olanzapina (20 mg/day) and the symptom remit. Three days later, he stops the medication and the symptoms came back. He gets very scared and begin to take the medication every day. He did a brain computerized tomography that excludes organic diseases and psychological tests that confirms mental retardation. Conclusions: It is well established that prevalence of schizophrenia is around three times greater in those with mild mental retardation and the co-association between mental retardation and schizophrenia is highly familial. Both bipolar illness and major depressive disorder have also increased prevalence in the mental retarded. The prognosis is directly linked with family and social support. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recent investigations on the evolutionary history of the common midwife toad ( Alytes obstetricans ) revealed high levels of geographically structured genetic diversity but also a situation where delineation of major historical lineages and resolution of their relationships are much more complex than previously thought. We studied sequence variation in one mitochondrial and four nuclear genes throughout the entire distribution range of all recognized A. obstetricans subspecies to infer the evolutionary processes that shaped current patterns of genetic diversity and population subdivision. We found six divergent, geographically structured mtDNA haplogroups diagnosing population lineages, and varying levels of admixture in nuclear markers. Given the timeframe inferred for the splits between major lineages, the climatic and environmental changes that occurred during the Pleistocene seem to have shaped the diversification history of A. obstetricans . Survival of populations in allopatric refugia through the Ice Ages supports the generality of the “refugia-within-refugia” scenario for the Iberian Peninsula. However, lineages corresponding to subspecies A. o. almogavarii , A. o. pertinax , A. o. obstetricans , and A. o. boscai responded differently to Pleistocene climatic oscillations after diverging from a common ancestor. Alytes o. obstetricans expanded northward from a northern Iberian refugium through the western Pyrenees, leaving a signal of contrasting patterns of genetic diversity, with a single mtDNA haplotype north of the Pyrenees from SW France to Germany. Both A. o. pertinax and A. o. boscai are widespread and genetically diverse in Iberia, the latter comprising two divergent lineages with a long independent history. Finally, A. o. almogavarii is mostly restricted to the north-eastern corner of Iberia north of the Ebro river, with additional populations in a small region in south-eastern France. This taxon exhibits unparalleled levels of genetic diversity and little haplotype sharing with other lineages, suggesting a process of incipient speciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Bycatch of pelagic seabird species in longline fisheries is recognized as one of the most important and pervasive sources of mortality, contributing to an increased risk of their extinction. Uptake of mitigation measures to reduce seabird bycatch has not been widespread by the industry. Here, we present the results of 18 at‐sea trials conducted between 2011–2015 onboard pelagic longliners targeting tuna (Thunnus spp) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in South African, Brazilian and Australian waters, using a recently designed seabird bycatch mitigation device. The ‘Hookpod’ is a polycarbonate capsule that encases the point and barb of baited pelagic longline hooks to prevent seabirds from becoming hooked and drowning during line‐setting operations. The assessment was based on efficacy (i.e. reducing rates of seabird bycatch without impacting target catch rate) and practicality (i.e. how the Hookpod fitted into fishing operations). We observed 59 130 experimental branchlines over 129 sets and recorded a single seabird mortality on the Hookpod branchlines compared to 24 on the control branchlines, a bycatch rate of 0.04 birds/1000 hooks and 0.8 birds/1000 hooks, respectively. No difference in catch rate of target fish species between Hookpod and control treatments was detected. These findings demonstrate that Hookpods do not negatively affect catch rate of target species and could make an important contribution to halting the decline of many seabird populations if adopted as a mitigation measure by the pelagic longline fishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Psycho-Oncology (PO) is a specific psychiatric approach to cancer patients. The main psychiatric disorders observed are delirium and adjustment disorders (AD) and the most frequent treatments used are pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic. With regard to the type of cancer, the most frequent in Portugal are breast, digestive and prostate. Objective Analyze the activity of PO in a district general hospital in Portugal. Aims Demonstrate that the main core in PO is similar in the world. Methods Prospective longitudinal study, during one year. Results The sample had 130 patients (369 evaluations), mainly male, with the mean age of 64.22 years. The most frequent psychiatric diagnoses were delirium (56 cases; 43%) and AD (44; 34%) and the main interventions used were pharmacologic and psycho-education. The most common frequent cancers were digestive (54; 42%), urologic (16; 12%) and breast (15; 11%). This high frequency of urologic cancer was interpreted as a consequence of the sample and its geographic location, but it was also a reflection of the large number of requests made by this specialty. The majority of cancers had an advanced stage (84% vs 16%) that can be explained by the sample but also by health culture in Portugal, which is reflected in the inpatient services: Oncology (51; 39%) and Palliative Care (25; 19%). Conclusions The type of psychiatric disorders and treatments offered in PO is preserved around the world. The authors propose to do more studies, namely if the relation with others specialties affects psychiatric treatment of the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prototype system of Fiber Optic Sensors (FOS) for the accurate measurement of temperature and relative humidity, has been installed inside the Inner Detector volume of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The goal is to evaluate the behavior of the technology against radiation effects, and possibly to assess its suitability for future collider experiments, starting from HL-LHC. It follows the description of the work that has led to the choice of the sensors, their testing and calibration in the laboratory, their successive installation and operation in ATLAS, and the development of the data acquisition chain. The first results on performance are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19, which was first reported in humans in 2019, in Wuhan, China. This RNA virus has highly efficient transmission. Sporadic cases of infection in pets have been described. Human to animal transmission seems to occur, however, the epidemiologic role of pets remains unclear. This study aimed to screen dogs and cats from the North and Centre regions of Portugal for the exposure to SARS-CoV-2, during the peak of SARS-CoV-2 human infection in Portugal, which occurred between October 2020 and March 2021. A cross-sectional study was conducted in dogs and cats presented to veterinary medical centres from Portugal between October 2020 and March 2021, that required blood sampling as part of their diagnostic plan. Only surplus sera or plasma samples were used in this research. Sera or plasma were tested for the presence of specific antibodies anti-SARS-CoV-2 using a commercial ELISA adapted for multi-species detection (ID Screen SARS-CoV-2Double Antigen Multispecies®, IDVet). Laboratory results were expressed in S/P values and samples with an S/P% ≥ 60% were classified as positive. A total of 107 animals were sampled (dogs n=60; cats n=47). The canine population was composed by 25 purebred and 35 crossbreed dogs, with ages ranging from 5 months to 15 years of age. Cats were mainly of the domestic short-hair breed (n=45), with ages ranging between 6 months and 9 years old. The estimated rate of exposure was of 5.0% (95% CI: 1.71-13.7%) in dogs (n=3) and 2.13% (95% CI: 1.18-14.26%) in cats (n=1). A doubtful result (50≥S/P%<60%) was obtained in 6.7% (95% CI: 2.6-15.9%) of dogs (n=4) and in 4.26% (95% CI: 2.6-15.9%) of cats (n=3). To our best knowledge, this is the first serosurvey conducted in pets in Portugal. An exposure to the agent has been evidenced in dogs and in cats. Further studies must clarify the impact of the exposure in animal health and the role of the pets in spreading the virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rates of substantiated maltreatment documented by the 1993 and 1998 Ontario Incidence Studies of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect doubled between 1993 and 1998. Although increasing public awareness and changes in investigation procedures appear to account for part of this change, the increase also reflects a significant shift in the types of maltreatment agencies are investigating and substantiating. Exposure to spousal violence has increased eightfold, and the proportion of neglect cases has more than doubled, whereas cases of sexual abuse are decreasing. The field requires a differentiated response to address the maltreatment-specific challenges underlying child welfare caseload increases in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]