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The flu season is caused by a combination of different pathogens, including influenza viruses (IVS), that cause the flu, and non-influenza respiratory viruses (NIRVs), that cause common colds or influenza-like illness. These viruses have similar circulation patterns, and weather has been considered a main driver of their dynamics, with peaks in the winter and almost no circulation during the summer in temperate regions. However, after the emergence of SARS-CoV2, in 2019, the dynamics of these respiratory viruses were strongly perturbed worldwide: some infections almost disappeared, others were delayed or occurred “off-season”. This disruption raised questions regarding the dominant role of weather while also providing an unique opportunity to investigate the relevance of different driving factors on the epidemiological dynamics of IVs and NIRVs, including viral interactions, non-pharmacological individual measures (such as masking), or mobility. Here, we use epidemiological surveillance data on several respiratory viruses from Canada and the USA from 2016 to 2023, and tested the effects of weather and mobility in their dynamics before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using statistical modelling, we found evidence that whereas in the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period, weather had a strong effect and mobility a limited effect on dynamics; in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period the effect of weather was strongly reduced and mobility played a more relevant role. These results, together with previous studies, indicate that at least some of the behavioral changes resulting from the non-pharmacological interventions implemented during COVID-19 pandemic had a strong effect on the dynamics of respiratory viruses. Furthermore, our results support the idea that these seasonal dynamics are driven by a complex system of interactions between the different factors involved, which probably led to an equilibrium that was disturbed, and perhaps permanently altered, by the COVID-19 pandemic.

O projeto visa propor um plano de marketing para o Sifarma.Coaching, um serviço Glintt que compreende um programa de formação criado para apoiar as Farmácias a consolidar e melhorar o atendimento prestado aos seus clientes, através da utilização do software Sifarma. Os principais objetivos do projeto consistem em incrementar a visibilidade do serviço e impulsionar as suas vendas, permitindo à Glintt reforçar o seu posicionamento enquanto empresa tecnológica de referência em Portugal e impulsionadora da transformação digital na área da saúde. Para tal, foi conduzida uma revisão da literatura referente às temáticas envolvidas e identificada a metodologia utilizada, que engloba a recolha, análise e combinação de dados primários e secundários. De seguida, procedeu-se à análise situacional e, tendo em consideração as conclusões chave do estudo realizado, foi delineada uma estratégia de marketing e respetivo plano operacional para 2022 que, pela necessidade emergente, incidiu sobre a variável comunicação do marketing-mix. The project aims to propose a marketing plan for Sifarma.Coaching, a Glintt service that comprises a training program created to support Pharmacies to consolidate and improve the service provided to their customers, through the use of Sifarma software. The main objectives of the project are to increase the visibility of the service and boost its sales, allowing Glintt to reinforce its position as a top technology company in Portugal and a driver of digital transformation in the healthcare area. To this end, a literature review was conducted on the themes involved and the methodology used was identified, which includes the collection, analysis, and combination of primary and secondary data. Then, the situational analysis was carried out and, considering the key findings of the study, a marketing strategy and respective operational plan for 2022 was outlined, which, due to emerging need, focused on the communication variable of the marketing-mix.

The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of highly skilled and less skilled volleyball players about the influences that parents, coaches, and peers had on their sport development and performance achievement. Highly skilled (n= 30) and less skilled (n= 30) volleyball players participated in semi-structured retrospective interviews to explain how parents, coaches and peers may have influenced their sport participation. Data was analyzed through a process of content analysis. Results indicated that parents, coaches, and peers had an important influence in player's sport development but differing according to players' expertise level. Concerning to parental influences, tangible support during the early years of development was mentioned by all players. However, parents' level of involvement and parenting styles revealed interesting differences between highly skilled and less skilled players. Highly skilled players perceived a moderate parental involvement and an autonomy-supportive parenting style, while less skilled players referred a excessive parental involvement in players' sport participation. Coaches influences showed to have some similarities in the early years with all players mentioning coaches as caring and recognizing their value as an athlete. However, highly skilled players described a different training environment characterized by a demanding coach, individualized instruction, and specific goal setting. Regarding peers' influence, all players recognized that friends were not only one of the main reasons to start playing volleyball, but also an important source of support to remain engaged and staying motivated to do sport. Highly skilled players, however, mentioned the importance of teammates' positive push and critiques during practice for enhancing their motivation, team cohesion and friendship. They also highlighted the importance of friends outside of sport in the later years of their career by acting as an escape from all the pressure that emerged from volleyball training and competition demands. Overall, these findings highlight different social influences according to the players' expertise level suggesting the need to examine more extensively the nature of significant others' support on athlete and talent development.

Background/Objective: It is essential to carry out a diagnosis of people’s healthy lifestyles, in order to apply strategies to improve them. The aim of the study was to validate the Healthy Lifestyles Questionnaire (CEVS-II), collecting all factors that make up the concept of a healthy lifestyle, such as a balanced diet, respect for mealtimes, tobacco consumption, rest habits, alcohol consumption, other drug use and physical activity. Method: The questionnaire was completed by 1,132 people between 18 and 89 (M = 42.43; SD = 18.69) years from different parts of Spain. Results: The seven-factor model proposed by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, according to the goodness indices, presented an acceptable fit (SRMR = .059; CFI = .973; RMSEA = .049; 90% CI [.046, .052]; χ2/df = 3.76), also presented good reliability indices and was endowed with concurrent validity. Conclusions: The results of the present study proved the validity and reliability of the Healthy Lifestyles Questionnaire in a Spanish population, which is an adequate instrument for the diagnosis of a healthy lifestyles in the Spanish population.

Online searches have been used to study different health-related behaviours, including monitoring disease outbreaks. An obvious caveat is that several reasons can motivate individuals to seek online information and models that are blind to people’s motivations are of limited use and can even mislead. This is particularly true during extraordinary public health crisis, such as the ongoing pandemic, when fear, curiosity and many other reasons can lead individuals to search for health-related information, masking the disease-driven searches. However, health crisis can also offer an opportunity to disentangle between different drivers and learn about human behavior. Here, we focus on the two pandemics of the 21st century (2009-H1N1 flu and Covid-19) and propose a methodology to discriminate between search patterns linked to general information seeking (media driven) and search patterns possibly more associated with actual infection (disease driven). We show that by learning from such pandemic periods, with high anxiety and media hype, it is possible to select online searches and improve model performance both in pandemic and seasonal settings. Moreover, and despite the common claim that more data is always better, our results indicate that lower volume of the right data can be better than including large volumes of apparently similar data, especially in the long run. Our work provides a general framework that can be applied beyond specific events and diseases, and argues that algorithms can be improved simply by using less (better) data. This has important consequences, for example, to solve the accuracy-explainability trade-off in machine-learning.

The practice of sport and physical activity can be hampered by the presence of amotivation, the frustration of basic psychological needs, and barriers to carrying out that practice. Based on the principles of self-determination theory (SDT), the objective of this study was to analyze the relationship of these variables and assess differences based on age, sex, residential independence, academic/employment situation, and prior sport and physical activity. The sample comprised 102 individuals, aged between 18 and 25 (M = 21.61, SD = 2.04), who completed the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire, the Frustration of Psychological Needs in Physical Exercise Scale, and the Self-Perceived Barriers of Physical Activity Questionnaire. Our results showed that participants had high values of controlled motivation, the frustration of the basic psychological need for competence, and high values for the barrier of obligations/lack of time. We found a significant and positive association between the frustration of the basic psychological need for competence and the barriers present in the practice of physical activity. Moreover, we found that women reported experiencing body image/anxiety as a barrier to practicing sport and physical activity more than men and individuals aged 22–25 years experiencing obligations/lack of time as a barrier more than the those aged 18 to 21 years. Practical applications were proposed to avoid the frustration of basic psychological needs, increase the most self-determined forms of motivation, and reduce barriers to the practice of sport and physical activity.

Submitted by Ana Costa (apcosta@porto.ucp.pt) on 2020-03-11T10:42:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_SaraMoutinho .pdf: 1422695 bytes, checksum: 4f5741977e58ad618610247f0efe4748 (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Maria Helena Ribeiro (helena.ribeiro@lisboa.ucp.pt) on 2020-03-16T13:29:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_SaraMoutinho .pdf: 1422695 bytes, checksum: 4f5741977e58ad618610247f0efe4748 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2020-03-16T13:29:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_SaraMoutinho .pdf: 1422695 bytes, checksum: 4f5741977e58ad618610247f0efe4748 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-07-26

Biological parenthood is a central life-goal for many couples that can become blocked when they experience infertility. Many couples who undergo fertility treatment will face failure and consequently have to decide whether to continue with treatment. The present study used the qualitative methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine self-regulatory approaches that underlie decision-making about continuing treatment. One-time, one-on-one, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 individuals (eight heterosexual couples) after they had experienced at least one treatment failure and were considering whether to undergo another treatment. After treatment failure, individuals used several approaches to remain engaged with biological parenthood, including reframing treatment failure as a learning tool and emphasizing the importance of persistence in achieving success. The apparent decision to continue with treatment was considered non-negotiable and largely made by women in the partnership. Once the decision was made to pursue treatment, it was not discussed further. Given individuals’ willingness to engage in treatment, patients should be offered additional support to consider wide psychosocial implications of continuing treatment.

In the surgical field, the patient's needs and requirements increasingly follow the newest technological developments. Nowadays it is still problematic to implement different types of technologies in operating environments due to the drawbacks that these can bring to their users and their longstanding learning process. A research was carried out with the objective of clarifying concepts and gathering some existing approaches to the solution of these problems as well as the respective technologies used. This chapter addresses a new concept of mobile applications for surgical planning using augmented reality technologies. The proposed solution aims to help the surgeon from the planning stage to the surgery intervention itself. In addition to some examples and practical demonstrations of the solution, its implementation process and system architecture are described and explained. Based on the developed prototype, the advantages of its use in a surgical context are discussed, being pointed out some improvements to be made.

A significant proportion of all deaths globally can be attributed to alcohol consumption. Although a range of correlates of alcohol consumption have already been identified at the individual level, less is understood about correlates at the macro level, such as cultural values. As a development in this understanding may prove useful for global health organizations aiming to tackle the problems associated with excessive drinking, our aim was to investigate the association between encultured alcohol consumption and Cultural Value Orientations. We obtained data describing average alcohol consumption and Cultural Value Orientations, for 74 countries, from an online data repository. To assess whether Cultural Value Orientations are associated with alcohol consumption we calculated partial correlations and performed a ridge regression analysis. Our analyses revealed that Cultural Value Orientations were significantly associated with alcohol consumption, even after controlling for average income and education level. A profile emerged in which values of autonomy and harmony were shown to be positively associated with alcohol consumption, and hierarchy and embeddedness negatively associated with alcohol consumption. The effect was modified by gender. Changes in cultural Harmony, Mastery, Autonomy and Egalitarianism were associated with increases in alcohol consumption in males, but not females, while changes in cultural Embeddedness and Hierarchy were associated with decreases in consumption in females, but no change in males. Finally, we demonstrate that latitude, and by extension its covariates such as climatic demands, partially accounted for the effect of harmony and affective autonomy on alcohol consumption. This research highlights that cultural values, and their interaction with gender, should be an important consideration for international public health organizations aiming to tackle the problems associated with alcohol consumption, but that future research is required to fully understand the link between cultural values and alcohol.

Developmental regulation theories claim that continuing to pursue a goal when it becomes\ud blocked contributes to poorer wellbeing. This consequence is expected to lead to the use of\ud self-regulation strategies in the form of higher disengagement from the goal and higher\ud reengagement in other meaningful goals. The use of these strategies is expected to lead to\ud better wellbeing. A systematic-review and meta-analyses were conducted to test the major\ud predictions of developmental regulation theories for blocked parenthood goal and to investigate\ud possible moderator variables, particularly type and degree of blockage. A total of eight\ud meta-analyses were performed using random-effects models. Moderation was tested with\ud subgroup analysis. After searching eight databases, 4977 potential relevant manuscripts\ud were identified but only six met inclusion criteria. From the eight meta-analyses conducted,\ud only two were significant. In line with prediction, higher goal blockage was related to higher\ud negative mood and reengagement in other life goals was associated to higher positive\ud mood (p < .001). From a total of eight subgroup analyses performed, results showed that\ud disengaging had a positive impact on wellbeing for people experiencing an unanticipated\ud type of blockage (i.e., infertility) but not for those with an anticipated one (i.e., postponing\ud parenthood; X2 = 4.867, p = .03). From the total of twelve sensitivity analyses performed\ud only one suggested that results might differ. The association between disengagement and\ud mood varied according to study quality. When only average studies were included this association\ud was negative, although non-significant. The evidence obtained did not fully support\ud developmental regulation theories for the pursuit of parenthood goal, but primary research\ud had too many methodological limitations to reach firm conclusions. Future studies aimed at\ud investigating blocked parenthood goal are required to evaluate the value of developmental\ud regulation theories.

Dissertação de mestrado, Biologia Marinha, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015 Submitted by sapientia repositorio (repositorio@ualg.pt) on 2016-02-10T09:56:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 a6574_Sara_Magalhaes_Relatorio de Atividade Profissional_MSc_BM_2015.pdf: 345523 bytes, checksum: 9fea78c1a8e0f9ddaecc0daf71a9a24f (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-10T09:56:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 a6574_Sara_Magalhaes_Relatorio de Atividade Profissional_MSc_BM_2015.pdf: 345523 bytes, checksum: 9fea78c1a8e0f9ddaecc0daf71a9a24f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-17

O presente relatório de estágio integra o curso de Medicina Veterinária e resulta de um culminar de seis meses de estágio no Hospital Veterinário Montenegro na área de clínica e cirurgia de pequenos animais. Encontra-se dividido em duas partes: a primeira refere-se à casuística observada durante o estágio e a segunda engloba uma monografia subordinada ao tema “Megaesófago adquirido – abordagem diagnóstica e tratamento”, incluindo o relato de um caso clínico de fibrossarcoma num gato. O megaesófago é uma doença esofágica caraterizada por dilatação difusa e hipomotilidade esofágica. Classifica-se em idiopático (congénito e adquirido) e adquirido secundário. Doenças neuromusculares, gastrointestinais, endócrinas, imunomediadas, neoplásicas e tóxicas podem estar associadas a megaesófago adquirido. Sinais clínicos comuns são regurgitação, perda de peso, tosse e halitose. O diagnóstico baseia-se na história clínica e radiografias torácicas, podendo ser necessário métodos de diagnóstico adicionais. O tratamento, maneio e prognóstico de megaesófago variam consoante a causa subjacente; Abstract: Small animal practice This work is a compilation of both the integrated Master in Veterinary Medicine and a six months internship at the Veterinary Hospital Montenegro, in small animal practice. It is divided in two main parts: the first one presents the activities carried out, the second part encompasses the subject "Acquired megaesophagus - diagnostic and treatment" including a case report of fibrosarcoma in a cat. Megaesophagus is a disorder of the esophagus characterized by diffuse dilation and decreased peristalsis. It is classified into idiopathic (congenital and acquired forms) and acquired secondary. Neuromuscular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, imune-mediated, neoplasic and toxic disorders have been associated with acquired megaesophagus. Common clinical signs are regurgitation, weight loss, coughing and halitosis. The diagnosis is based on clinical history and chest radiographs, but additional methods of diagnosis may be necessary. The treatment, management and prognosis of megaesophagus vary greatly depending on the underlying cause.

This paper defines the relative role of firms' characteristics on both their likelihood to innovate and the intensity of innovation (innovative outputs). Using Christensen's (1995; 1996) and Teece's (1986) proposals for analysing assets (resources and capabilities) and inter-asset linkages in order to produce and commercially exploit technological innovation, a conceptual framework is defined suitable to identify the variables affecting the probability of a firm to innovate and those affecting a greater count of innovations, once the firm has decided to innovate. Thus, a "double-hurdle" approach involving censored and truncated models was applied. The findings confirm that firms innovative assets investment in external technology, investment in R&D, and external alliances, alongside firm size are the significant variables in determining firms' likelihood to innovate, whereas external alliances, firm size and market orientation are related to intensity to innovate in the Brazilian Food Industry.

Mestrado em Gerontologia Objectivos: O envelhecimento bem sucedido associa-se à satisfação com a vida, que é influenciada por diversas variáveis, incluindo o bem-estar financeiro, o significado atribuído ao dinheiro (ética monetária) e os comportamentos monetários. Neste estudo pretendemos compreender como a satisfação com a vida de pessoas idosas, de classe socio-económica baixa e média-baixa, que vivem sós se relaciona com a ética e o comportamento monetário. Metodologia: Optou-se por realizar um estudo descritivo-correlacional com uma abordagem quantitativa. A amostra é composta por 32 idosos (mais de 64 anos) de classe média-baixa e baixa, que vivem sós. O questionário de recolha de dados compreende os seguintes instrumentos: Escala da Satisfação com a Vida (Diener, 1985); Índice de Graffar, Índice de Barthel, Escala Geriátrica de Depressão (adaptado do EASYcare), Escala de Ética Monetária (Tang,1997) e Escala de Comportamentos Monetários (Furnham, 1984). Resultados: Os principais resultados indicam que: i) os idosos valorizam moderadamente os bens materiais e comportam-se de forma moderada; ii) as pessoas idosas apresentam moderada/baixa satisfação com a vida; iii) ética e os comportamentos monetários não influenciam a satisfação com a vida; iv) existem diferenças de género na ética e comportamentos monetários. Conclusão: Os idosos estão pouco/moderadamente satisfeitos com a vida, sem que haja relação com a ética e os comportamentos monetários. ABSTRACT: Objectives – Successful ageing is associated to the satisfaction with life and it is influenced by several variables, including the financial well-being, the meaning of money (monetary ethics) and the monetary behaviour. In this study, our goal is to understand the relation between ethics and monetary behaviour and satisfaction with life of elderly people from lower/middle social and economical classes, who live alone. Procedure - A descriptive and correlational study with a quantitative approach was carried out. The sample comprises 32 elderly people (more than 64 years old) from lower/middle classes, who live alone. Data were collected through a questionnaire which included the following instruments: Scale of Satisfaction with Life (Diener, 1985); Graffar Index, Barthel Index, Scale of Geriatric Depression (adapted from EASYcare), Monetary Ethics Scale (Tang, 1997) and Monetary Behaviour Scale (Furnham, 1984). Results – Main findings suggest that: i) elderly people moderately value material goods and behave in a moderate way; ii) elderly people show moderate/lower life satisfaction; iii) ethics and monetary behaviour do not influence satisfaction with life; iv) there are differences of gender in ethics and monetary behaviour. Conclusion - Elderly people are little/moderately satisfied with life, which is not related to ethics and monetary behaviour.

The 30 different species of mRNAs synthesized during the HIV-1 replication cycle are all capped and polyadenilated. Internal ribosome entry sites have been recognized in the 5′ untranslated region of some mRNA species of HIV-1, which would contribute to an alternative mechanism of initiation of mRNA translation. However, the Cap-dependent translation is assumed to be the main mechanism driving the initiation of HIV-1 protein synthesis. In this work, we describe a cell system in which lower to higher levels of transient expression of the poliovirus 2A protease strongly inhibited cellular Cap-dependent translation with no toxic effect to the cells during a 72-hour time frame. In this system, the synthesis of HIV-1 proteins was inhibited in a temporal dose-dependent way. Higher levels of 2A protease expression severely inhibited HIV-1 protein synthesis during the first 24 hours of infection consequently inhibiting viral production and infectivity. Intermediate to lower levels of 2A Protease expression caused the inhibition of viral protein synthesis only during the first 48 hours of viral replication. After this period both protein synthesis and viral release were recovered to the control levels. However, the infectivity of viral progeny was still partially inhibited. These results indicate that two mechanisms of mRNA translation initiation contribute to the synthesis of HIV-1 proteins; during the first 24–48 hours of viral replication HIV-1 protein synthesis is strongly dependent on Cap-initiation, while at later time points IRES-driven translation initiation is sufficient to produce high amounts of viral particles.

Parenthood is a major life-goal that the majority of the population ultimately aims to achieve. Unfortunately, some individuals are not able to achieve parenthood when they desire to. This can happen for reasons related with the postponement of parenthood beyond the optimal biological period to achieve it and/or infertility. In these situations the parenthood goal becomes blocked. The studies presented in this thesis aimed to investigate \ud how people self-regulate when experiencing such a blocked parenthood goal. More specifically, theories of developmental regulation claim that when facing a blocked goal individuals are expected (1) to experience poor wellbeing and (2) to disengage from the goal and reengage in alternative goals; (3) the use of goal disengagement and reengagement strategies is then expected to result in better wellbeing. This thesis directly tests these \ud predictions. Dyadic approaches of regulation were also investigated in an exploratory way. \ud Overall, results provided weak support for the predictions made by developmental regulation theories. People facing a blocked parenthood goal did not want to disengage from it and only reengaged in alternative life-goals if doing so did not interfere with the \ud pursuit of parenthood. Additionally, in general, disengagement from parenthood did not seem to have benefits for wellbeing. However, in line with predictions, the experience of a blocked parenthood goal was associated with poor wellbeing and reengaging in alternative goals had wellbeing benefits. At the dyadic level, the decision to continue treatment as long \ud as opportunities were not exhausted was predetermined and couples neither communicated about it, nor updated this decision after experiencing a treatment failure. \ud These results suggest that health professionals should ensure that the true chances of achieving pregnancy are clearly communicated to patients as they often intend to invest in the parenthood goal until the opportunities are absolutely exhausted. Based on the work presented here, more studies aimed at testing developmental regulation theories in the context of parenthood goal should opt to use longitudinal designs and integrate dyadic processes of regulation.

Plant molecular farming (PMF) is a convenient and cost-effective way to produce high-value recombinant proteins that can be used in the production of a range of health products, from pharmaceutical therapeutics to cosmetic products. New plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) provide a means to enhance PMF systems more quickly and with greater precision than ever before, and have the potential to produce health and health-related products that are superior to current mammalian systems. However, the feasibility, regulatory standing and social acceptability of both PMF and NPBTs are in question. This paper qualitatively explores the perceptions of key stakeholders on two European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 programmes – Pharma-Factory and Newcotiana – towards the barriers and facilitators of PMF and NPBTs in Europe. One-on-one qualitative interviews were undertaken with N=20 individuals involved in one or both of the two projects at 16 institutions in seven countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Spain and the UK). The findings indicate that the current EU regulatory environment and the perception of the public towards biotechnology are seen as the main barriers to scaling-up PMF and NPBTs. Competition from existing systems and the lack of plant-specific regulations likewise present challenges for PMF developing beyond its current niche. However, respondents felt that the communication of the benefits and purpose of NPBT PMF could provide a platform for improving the social acceptance of genetic modification. The importance of the media in this process was highlighted. This article explores the justifications used by scientists for the use of NPBTs for crop improvement and suggests that the multi-level perspective framework is a useful tool for understanding the systemic factors that have shaped the development of PMF up until today.