Suchergebnisse

This paper deals with the cultural and educational relations between the United States and Portugal during the Cold War. It is built upon the premise that cultural policies and cultural relations between states are a fundamental part of international relations. History of International Relations, therefore, should overcome an analysis based only upon political and diplomatic dimensions to address what can also be referred to as 'cultural diplomacy'. The Cold War period, because of its historical features, is particularly relevant to the study of processes of cultural diplomacy and some authors even consider it as the 'golden age' of cultural diplomacy. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

This text is part of an ongoing research project on the Portuguese Army Staff Corps, created in the first half of the 19th Century. The project focuses mainly on the period between its modern reorganization, in 1937, and its extinction in 1974. One of the main topics of the project is to evaluate and to understand the way officers from the Portuguese Army Staff Corps (ASF) played a relevant role in preparing the Portuguese Army for the colonial wars that started in Angola in 1961. Since the late 1950s many members of the ASF realized that the next armed conflicts Portugal would have to face would be the wars for national liberation in Africa, therefore, wars of counterinsurgency, very different from the conventional wars they were prepared to fight. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

OBJECTIVE: To understand how Californians use and rate various health information sources, including the Internet. RESEARCH DESIGN: Computer-assisted telephone interviews through which surveys were conducted in English or Spanish. SUBJECTS: A household sample generated by random digit dialing. The sample included 1007 adults (18+), 407 (40%) of whom had access to the Internet. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Past health information sources used, their usefulness and ease of use; future health information sources, which are trusted and distrusted; and concerns about integrating the Internet into future health information seeking and health care behaviors. RESULTS: Physicians and health care providers are more trusted for information than any other source, including the Internet. Among those with Internet access, a minority use it to obtain health information, and a minority is "very likely" to use e-mail to communicate with medical professionals or their own doctors and nurses, to refill prescriptions, or to make doctor appointments. Also, most of those with Internet access are "unlikely" to make their medical records available via the Internet, even if securely protected. CONCLUSIONS: The public, including frequent Internet users, has major concerns about the confidentiality of electronic medical records. Legislation may not assuage these fears and a long-term, open and collaborative process involving consumers and organizations from all the health care sectors may be needed for full public assurance.

Psychology as a science and profession studies human phenomena and has several branches composing its fields of practice. In specific terms, the focus of this work falls on Legal Psychology, which integrates the fields of Psychology and of Law. The present study seeks to analyze the performance of a team of psychologists in its interaction with legal professionals and in its relationships in a legal institution. This is developed by means of an experience report prepared from participant observation during the period of July 2019 to March 2020, recorded in a field diary in a Court of Domestic and Family Violence Against Women. Data analysis was also supported by work reports describing situations in the experience and summarizing trajectories in the institution. The results demonstrate that this research contributed to a better understanding of the relationships among teams at the Psychology-Law interface, as well as highlighting the importance of an approach by gender studies and its transversalizations to issues of race, class, and generation, towards a training in Psychology anchored in a commitment to defending women's rights. As the work's return to the field, efforts will be made to improve the analyses on the subjective and social issues involved in the demands related to legal processes in Courts of Domestic and Family Violence against Women shared by both sectors.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the risk‐related disclosure (RRD) practices in annual reports for 2005 Portuguese companies in the non‐finance sector. The paper conducts a content analysis of a sample of 81 companies (42 listed and 39 unlisted). In considering corporate governance effects, the sample is reduced to the 42 listed companies that are required to disclose a corporate governance report. Implementation of IAS/IFRS and the European Union's Modernisation Directive in 2005 did not affect the quantity and quality of RRD positively. Disclosures are generic, qualitative and backward‐looking. Public visibility (as assessed by size and environmental sensitivity) is a crucial influence in explaining RRD: companies appear to manage their reputation through disclosure of risk‐related information. Agency costs associated with leverage are important influences also. In listed companies, the presence of independent directors improves the level of RRD. Content analysis does not allow readily for in‐depth qualitative inquiry. The coding instrument is subject to coder bias. Information about risk can be provided in sources other than annual reports. The study is confined to one year/one country and pre‐dates the global financial crisis (GFC) (2008) and the implementation of IFRS 7 (2007). The results point to the desirability of enhancing accountability by mandating further disclosure of substantive and relevant risk‐related information in company annual reports. The RRD observed are shown to be explained by a confluence of agency theory, legitimacy theory and resources‐based perspectives.

Educational institutions, as well as political, social and scientific discourses, have contributed towards discrimination and violence against people with non-normative sexual orientations. Acts of violence among peers (bullying) motivated by homophobia occur on a frequent basis in school contexts. This study aims to identify the patterns in which homophobic bullying (victim identified) takes place in Portuguese schools using Multiple Correspondence Analysis. This study involved the application of a questionnaire to people of both sexes before obtaining a total of 171 participants reporting themselves as victims of homophobic bullying in schools. Following the identification of eight indicators and the selection of two dimensions, while also structuring the axes in accordance with the representation space, four patterns of homophobic bullying could be identified: masculine violence, feminine violence, violence with less perceived impact, and violence with greater perceived impact. These different patterns have allowed us to learn about the different ways in which peer violence takes place in schools and its possible effects. Among the main study conclusions, it is highlighted how male participants were victims of violence at an earlier age than female participant victims. Another key finding is the complete lack of cases in which the aggressors were only female. Finally, a common conclusion to all participants, encapsulates how none of the victims reported the violence to their families for fear of losing family support by revealing a non-heterosexual orientation. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

[Excerpt] Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most prevalent vaginal disorder in women of childbearing age, posing some significant health risks, such as abnormal pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease and an increased risk of sexual transmitted infections, including HIV [1]. It is characterized by a disruption in the normal balance of bacteria in the vagina with a reduction on lactobacilli number and an overgrowth of anaerobes [2]. Despite several species have been associated with this condition [3], several studies point out for the higher virulence potential of Gardnerella vaginalis [4, 5, 6] and therefore it has been proposed as the main etiological candidate of BV. Current BV treatment is based in antibiotic therapy leading to an increased resistance of BV anaerobes and to a severe reduction of healthy lactobacilli strains in the vaginal epithelium [7, 8, 9]. Therefore, a more appropriate treatment is required, aiming to decrease G. vaginalis and also to promote the lactobacilli re-colonization in BV patients [10]. Previous studies have shown the potential of lactobacilli in preventing vaginal colonization by pathogens [11, 12] through different mechanisms, which may include auto-aggregation, co-aggregation with pathogenic microorganisms, adhesion to epithelial cells and/or by the production of some metabolites (such as lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide, bacteriocins, bacteriocin-like proteins and biosurfactants) [13]. Thus, the probiotic properties of lactobacilli should be explore in order to evaluate their potential as a more effective treatment for BV. [.] ; The authors acknowledge the financial support by European Union funds (FEDER/COMPETE) and by national funds (FCT) under the project with reference FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER008991 (PTDC/BIA-MIC/098228/2008). ...

Lactobacillus species constitute one of the dominant and beneficial bacteria in our body and are used in developed countries as a microbial adjuvant. Identification of these probiotic bacteria is traditionally performed by culture-based techniques. However, such methods are very time-consuming and can give inaccurate results, especially when Lactobacillus is present in mixed bacterial complex communities. Our study aimed to accurately identify Lactobacillus spp. using a novel Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) Fluorescence In Situ Hibridization (FISH) probe. The probe (Lac663) was tested on 36 strains belonging to different Lactobacillus species and on 20 strains of other bacterial species. The sensitivity and specificity of the method were 100% (95% confidence interval (CI), 88.0 to 100.0%) and 95.0% (95% CI, 73.1 to 99.7%), respectively. Additionally, we tested the applicability of the method on milk samples added with Lactobacillus strains at probiotic range concentrations and others taxonomically related bacteria, as well as pathogenic bacteria. The Lac663 probe bound exclusively to Lactobacillus strains and the described PNA-FISH method was capable of directly quantifying Lactobacillus spp. in concentrations at which these potential probiotic bacteria are considered to have an effective benefit on human health. ; This work was supported by European Union funds (FEDER/COMPETE) and by national funds (FCT) under the project with reference FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-008991 (PTDC/BIA-MIC/098228/2008. Antonio Machado acknowledges the FCT individual fellowship-SFRH/BD/62375/2009. However, it is important to refer that FCT did not have any role in the design of the experiments or manuscript ...

The synthesis of galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) by the action of Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase free and immobilized on magnetic polysiloxane-polyvinyl alcohol (mPOS-PVA) was studied. A maximum GOS concentration of 26% (w/v) of total sugars was achieved at near 55% lactose conversion from 50%, w/v lactose solution at pH 4.5 and 40 °C. Trisaccharides accounted for more than 81% of the total GOS produced. GOS formation was not considerably affected by pH and temperature. The concentrations of glucose and galactose encountered near maximum GOS concentration greatly inhibited the reactions and reduced GOS yield. GOS formation was not affected by enzyme immobilization in the mPOS-PVA matrix, indicating the absence of diffusional limitations in the enzyme carrier. Furthermore, this water insoluble magnetic derivative was reutilized 10-times and retained about 84% of the initial activity. In addition, the kinetic parameters for various initial lactose concentrations were determined and compared for the free and immobilized enzyme. ; David F. M. Neri gratefully acknowledges support by the Programme Alpan, the European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America (Scholarship No. E05D057787BR). Luiz B. Carvalho Jr. is recipient of a scholarship of the Brazilian National Research Council ...

Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common vaginal infection occurring in women of reproductive age. It is widely accepted that the microbial switch from normal microflora to BV is characterized by a decrease in vaginal colonization by Lactobacillus species together with an increase of Gardnerella vaginalis and other anaerobes. Our goal was to develop and optimize a novel Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) Fluorescence in situ Hybridization assay (PNA FISH) for the detection of Lactobacillus spp. and G. vaginalis in mixed samples. Results: Therefore, we evaluated and validated two specific PNA probes by using 36 representative Lactobacillus strains, 22 representative G. vaginalis strains and 27 other taxonomically related or pathogenic bacterial strains commonly found in vaginal samples. The probes were also tested at different concentrations of G. vaginalis and Lactobacillus species in vitro, in the presence of a HeLa cell line. Specificity and sensitivity of the PNA probes were found to be 98.0% (95% confidence interval (CI), from 87.8 to 99.9%) and 100% (95% CI, from 88.0 to 100.0%), for Lactobacillus spp.; and 100% (95% CI, from 92.8 to 100%) and 100% (95% CI, from 81.5 to 100.0%) for G. vaginalis. Moreover, the probes were evaluated in mixed samples mimicking women with BV or normal vaginal microflora, demonstrating efficiency and applicability of our PNA FISH. Conclusions: This quick method accurately detects Lactobacillus spp. and G. vaginalis species in mixed samples, thus enabling efficient evaluation of the two bacterial groups, most frequently encountered in the vagina. ; This work was supported by European Union funds (FEDER/COMPETE) and by national funds (FCT) under the project with reference FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-008991 (PTDC/BIA-MIC/098228/2008). AM acknowledges the FCT individual fellowship - ...

Bioconversions using enzymes immobilized in magnetic supports present significant advantages due to the easy separation of the enzyme from the reaction mixture and the simplicity and low cost of the support preparation. The characterization of the oligosaccharide mixture obtained by the action of b-galactosidase covalently attached, via glutaraldehyde, to a hydrazideeDacronemagnetite composite is presented. The fractionation of the oligosaccharide mixture by high performance liquid chromatography, followed by the analysis of the purified compounds by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy permitted the identification of glucose, galactose, lactose and a hexose disaccharide containing a 1/6 linkage. Also, the following GOS were identified: b-D-Galp-(1/6)-b-D-Galp-(1/4)- Glcp, b-D-Galp-(1/4)-[b-D-Galp-(1/6)]-Glcp and b-D-Galp-(1/6)-b-D-Galp-(1/6)-b-D-Galp-(1/4)- Glcp. When GOS yield (26.2%) and kinetics of biotransformation of lactose by the Dacron immobilized b-galactosidase were compared with values obtained for the enzyme immobilized in other magnetic supports, similar behaviour was observed ; David F.M. Neri gratefully acknowledges support by Alban, the European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America (Scholarship No. E05D057787BR). Luiz B. Carvalho Jr. is recipient of a scholarship from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq). M.R.M. Domingues acknowledges financial support provided to the project POCI/QUI/59337/2004. Duarte P. M. Torres acknowledges Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portugal) for the PhD Grant received (reference ...