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- Identifying characteristics of marketing-influenced eating vulnerabilityPublication . Henriques, Carla; Guiné, Raquel P. F.; Matos, Ana; Malva, MadalenaNumerous people’s dietary decisions are influenced by commercial and marketing motiva- tions. Advertising and marketing tactics are in fact intended to pique consumer attention and influence their purchasing decisions. Yong people are known to be particularly vulner- able [1], and it is of interest to identify some other characteristics that may differentiate most vulnerable consumers. In this study, based in a sample of size 11919, collected as part of the project EATMOT [3], marketing motivations in food choices are analyzed through seven items. Factor analysis was applied by country, looking for a factor structure common to all countries. Three items were consistently combined in one factor. The other items were studied individually. Five variables were, then, considered to measure marketing mo- tivations in consumer’s food choices and used in a cluster analysis. Ward’s method, single linkage, and average linkage were three hierarchical techniques that were used; their results were considered as initial solutions for the k-means method. To find an optimal number of clusters, k-means method was applied to 50 bootstrap samples and the similarity of cluster solutions for different numbers of clusters was examined using the rand index [2]. The two cluster solution emerged as an optimal solution, distinguishing consumers more prone to the influence of marketing (Figure 1). Then, using statistical tests and logistic regression analysis, these two clusters were com- pared. For example, consumers of the Notably Motivated cluster were significantly younger (32.7 vs 36.7 years old, p < 0.005), as expected, and this cluster also had a higher per- centage of women (72.2% vs. 70.2%, p=0.016), a higher percentage of single individuals (51.9% vs. 37.9%, p < 0.005), a lower proportion of individuals with university education (58.3% vs. 66.1%, p < 0.005), more consumers living in rural or suburban areas (37.2% vs. 27.6%, p < 0.005), and more consumers without an active professional activity, that is, unemployed, non-working students or retired (43.1% vs.31.1%, p < 0.005). Furthermore, higher BMI and less physical exercise revealed to be associated with a greater chance of belonging to the notably motivated group (p < 0.005). We thus obtained evidence that the propensity for higher levels of commercial and marketing motivations is associated with socio-demographic, anthropometric, behavioural and health related characteristics of the consumer.
- Tratamento pré-hospitalar da dor traumática aguda: um estudo observacionalPublication . Mota, Mauro; Santos, Margarida Reis; Santos, Eduardo; Henriques, Carla; Matos, Cristina Bico Rodrigues de; Cunha, MadalenaObjective: To describe and analyze the effectiveness of nurses’ interventions in pain reduction among patients with traumatic injury. Methods: Prospective cohort study conducted in the Immediate Life Support Ambulances in Portugal from March 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020. We have collected data on the kind of interventions implemented and the time elapsed during rescue procedures. To investigate the course of acute trauma pain, a 11-point Numeric Rating Scale was used. Changes in the level of pain registered throughout the three assessment moments were studied using linear mixed-effects models with random intercepts to account for the repeated measurements conducted on the same patient. These changes were assessed before and after the administration of the pain relief interventions. Results: 596 patients were included in this study. Most of them were male (65.9%) and had a mean age of 53.05±19.72 years. There was a reduction in the average pain intensity of 2.44 points (p
- OP0147 THE SLE-DAS REMISSION AND LOW DISEASE ACTIVITY STATES DISCRIMINATE DRUG FROM PLACEBO AND BETTER HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE: POST-HOC ANALYSIS OF THE BLISS-52 AND BLISS-76 PHASE III TRIALS.Publication . Jesus, D.; Henriques, Carla; Matos, A.; Doria, A.; Inês, L.Background Accurate and practical outcome measures for clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are lacking. The SLE Disease Activity Score (SLE-DAS) is a recently validated 17-item instrument, with high accuracy and sensitivity to changes in SLE disease activity. The SLE-DAS definitions of remission and low disease activity (LDA) were newly validated in the clinical setting1,2. These definitions may constitute accurate and easy to apply endpoints for SLE trials. Objectives (1) To evaluate the ability of SLE-DAS remission and LDA definitions to discriminate drug from placebo in SLE phase 3 trials; (2) To determine if attainment of these SLE-DAS targets are associated with better health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). Methods Post-hoc analysis of the merged study population in the BLISS-52 and -76 trials (NCT00424476; NCT00410384) of intravenous belimumab versus placebo for moderate to severe SLE disease activity. We analyzed the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG), Physician Global Assessment (PGA), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) and 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) trial data. The fulfillment of SLE-DAS remission and LDA definitions were retrospectively assessed from the individual participants’ data. Proportion of patients attaining SLE-DAS Boolean remission (defined as absence of all SLE-DAS clinical items and prednisone ≤5mg/day) and LDA (defined as SLE-DAS≤2.48 and prednisone ≤7.5mg/day), at week 52, was compared between belimumab and placebo arms, using likelihood ratio chi-square test. We further compared the SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) and domain scores and the FACIT score between patients attaining SLE-DAS remission vs non-remission and SLE-DAS LDA vs non-LDA, using t-test and Mann-Whitney test. Results A total of 1684 SLE patients were included: 562 on placebo, 559 on belimumab 1mg/Kg and 563 on belimumab 10mg/Kg. At week 52, significantly more patients attained SLE-DAS LDA on belimumab 1mg/Kg and 10mg/Kg as compared with placebo (13.0% vs 17.9%, OR=1.459, p=0.023, and 13.0% vs 21.7%, OR=1.853, p<0.001, respectively). Likewise, more patients attained SLE-DAS remission on belimumab 10mg/Kg as compared with placebo (10.1% vs 14.7%, OR= 1.532, p=0.019) (Table 1). Importantly, none of the patients achieving SLE-DAS remission or LDA presented a new BILAG A or more than 1 new B domain score, neither a worsening in PGA≥0.3. Conclusion The SLE-DAS remission and LDA showed discriminant validity for identifying patients receiving active drug in clinical trials. These treatment targets are associated with better HR-QoL and lower fatigue.
- Morbidity and mortality in preterm infants less than 29 weeks of gestational agePublication . Marques, B.R.; Dinis, A.C.; Rocha, G.; Flôr-de-Lima, F.; Matos, Ana; Henriques, C.; Guimarães, H.Background: Preterm birth is certainly a public health problem. Aside from being an important cause of mortality, prematurity increases the risk of serious lifetime disabilities. Objective: To assess the overall survival, causes of death and neonatal morbidities associated with prematurity of newborns less than 29 weeks of gestational age (GA). Methods: Retrospective study including all preterm infants less than 29 weeks of GA admitted to the level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Centro Hospital São João in Porto, Portugal, between January 1st, 2005 and December 31st, 2016. Newborns were grouped into three groups according to their GA: G23+0-24+6, G25+0-26+6, G27+0-28+6. Results: In this 12-year-period, 160 preterm neonates less than 29 weeks of GA admitted to this NICU met our inclusion criteria. Overall deaths were 60 (37.5%), variating between 25 (92.6%) in the G23+0-24+6, 23 (46%) in the G25+0-26+6 and 12 (14.5%) in the G27+0-28+6. The leading causes of death were intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and sepsis. Early neonatal mortality was 20.6%. Among survivors, 41% had bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), 69% developed late sepsis, 56% retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), 44% IVH and 10% cystic periventricular leukomalacia (cPVL). Conclusions: Mortality rates in this preterm group were high in spite of all the technological and scientific advances. Pulmonary conditions (respiratory distress syndrome and BPD), sepsis and neurologic outcomes (ROP, IVH and cPVL) were still major causes of morbidity. In line with other series, the limit of viability in this cohort of preterm infants is 25 weeks of GA. Prenatal, perinatal and postnatal care still all have a long road ahead, especially when it comes to these “gray zone” newborns.
- Industry 4.0: a challenge of competitionPublication . Antunes, Joaquim; Pinto, António; Reis, Pedro; Henriques, CarlaIntroduction: The value creation in industry in developed countries is being driven by the fourth stage of industrialization, denominated by Industry 4.0. The new industrial revolution will be motivated by next-generation information technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Big Data and data analysis, robotics, mobile computing, simulation and modelling, cyber-physical systems, among others. This opens new horizons for industry, but the challenges are countless creating difficulties for companies in the adoption of these technologies. Objectives: To make a powerful and deep literature revision pursuing a technical analysis of the Industry 4.0 requirements. Further. Methods: We will address the main risks and challenges associated with IoT and define the regional attractiveness measures as growth drivers that leaders must put in place to appeal for companies chasing 4.0. Results: IoT joins the digital world and the physical world being considered the next generation network or the future Internet. It allows to give life and communication capacity either to living beiings or to inanimate objects. IoT's intervention in Industry 4.0 im extreme, with a continuous interconnection of the digital and physical domain. Conclusions: Portugal's growth prospects will increasingly depend on policies that enable the economy to compete successfully and create new income opportunities. At the moment, there are structural bottlenecks that continue to curb growth and exacerbate vulnerabilities. Solving some of these problems will now lay the foundation for solid growth in the coming years, but this calls for a renewal of the impetus for structural reforms. Industry 4.0, can contribute significantly to reducing regional asymmetries. But in the longer term, skills will need to be improved to foster development and reduce the high levels of such inequalities.
- The effect of incubation on business performance: A comparative study in the Centro region of PortugalPublication . Almeida, Rita; Pinto, António; Henriques, CarlaPurpose – The role that incubators play in business performance is a topic that has been discussed in the literature. They help to create the necessary conditions for the development of entrepreneurship and business innovation, but studies on their real contribution are lacking, especially in contexts such as the Portuguese one. Business incubators have been strong drivers of entrepreneurship and innovation. The main objective of this study is to assess whether business incubation offers benefits to incubated companies compared to non-incubated ones, particularly in terms of performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from incubated and nonincubated companies in the central region of Portugal. These two groups of companies (incubated and non-incubated) were initially compared using the t-test and the Mann-Whitney test. Then, using linear regression models, the impact of incubation on performance variables was estimated, adjusting for the effect of control variables, when significant. Findings The results suggest that in the first years of life, incubated companies present a higher level of performance than non-incubated ones, an effect that decreases as companies become more mature. Originality/value – The study contributes to deepening the understanding of the role that business incubators play, providing further evidence that in their early life incubated companies outperform non-incubated ones.
- POS0119 SLE-DAS REMISSION AND LOW DISEASE ACTIVITY STATES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH IMPROVED HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AND FATIGUE: POST-HOC ANALYSIS OF THE BLISS-52 AND BLISS-76 PHASE III TRIALS.Publication . Jesus, D.; Matos, A.; Henriques, Carla; Doria, A.; Inês, L.Background Accurate and practical outcome measures for clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are lacking. The SLE Disease Activity Score (SLE-DAS) is a recently validated 17-item instrument, with high accuracy and sensitivity to changes in SLE disease activity. The SLE-DAS definitions of remission and low disease activity (LDA) were newly validated against disease activity physician-applied measures in the clinical setting [1, 2]. Criterion validity of SLE-DAS for Patient Reported Outcomes, namely health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) and fatigue needs to be assessed. Objectives To evaluate if the attainment of SLE-DAS remission and LDA states is associated with improvements in HR-QoL and fatigue. Methods Post-hoc analysis of the merged study population in the BLISS-52 and -76 trials (NCT00424476; NCT00410384) of intravenous belimumab versus placebo for moderate to severe SLE disease activity. We analysed the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) and 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) trial data. Fulfillment of SLE-DAS remission (defined as absence of all SLE-DAS clinical items and prednisone ≤5mg/day) and LDA (defined as SLE-DAS≤2.48 and prednisone ≤7.5mg/day) definitions were retrospectively assessed from the individual participants’ data. Mean changes from study baseline to week 52 in FACIT and SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) and domain scores were compared between patients attaining at week 52 the SLE-DAS remission vs non-remission and the SLE-DAS LDA vs non-LDA using multivariate regression analysis adjusted for baseline scores. Results A total of 1684 SLE patients were included. Few patients were in SLE-DAS remission (0.5%) and LDA (0.8%) at study entry. At week 52, 12.5% patients attained SLE-DAS remission and 17.5% attained SLE-DAS LDA. Mean improvements in SF-36 PCS and MCS scores were greater in patients that attained SLE-DAS remission vs non-remission (5.4 vs 3.4, and 4.6 vs 2.7, respectively; multivariate p<0.005 for both) and SLE-DAS LDA vs non-LDA (5.0 vs 3.4 and 4.6 vs 2.6, respectively; multivariate p<0.005 for both), at week 52 (Figure 1). Similarly, improvements in all individual domain scores were greater in SLE-DAS remission vs non-remission patients (all multivariate p<0.005) and SLE-DAS LDA vs non-LDA patients (all multivariate p<0.005) (Figure 1). Importantly, improvements in the summary scores and in all the individual domain scores largely exceeded the minimum clinically important differences (MCIDs) of 2.5 and 5 points, respectively, in those patients attaining SLE-DAS remission or LDA. Additionally, mean improvements in FACIT scores were higher in SLE-DAS remission than non-remission (6.3 vs 3.6, multivariate p<0.001) and in SLE-DAS LDA than non-LDA (5.9 vs 3.6, multivariate p<0.001), and exceeded the MCID of 4 points. Conclusion Attainment of SLE-DAS remission and LDA is associated with meaningful improvement in HR-QoL and fatigue.
- Bank Credit and Trade Credit: The Case of Portuguese SMEs from 2010 to 2019Publication . Pinto, Pedro; Henriques, Carla; Cardoso, Carolina Esteves Oliveira da Silva; Neves, Maria Elisabete DuarteSmall companies face significant difficulties in accessing finance, and the use of bank credit and trade credit are the primary sources of financing, specifically in small countries, with little market liquidity, and focused on the banking system, as is the case of Portugal. The main objective of this article is to identify significant drivers of bank and trade credit, as well as investigate the complementary or substitutive relationship between them, considering that both constitute an essential source of financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The sample comprises 5860 companies, and the analysis was performed using panel data methodology (2010–2019). The results suggest that, during the period in which the financial crisis was most felt in the country (2010–2013), companies intensified their demand for trade credit, and in the following years for bank credit. Our evidence does support the substitution hypothesis between trade and bank credit.
- Motivation-Based Segmentation of Visitors to a UNESCO Global GeoparkPublication . Amaro, Suzanne; Balula Chaves, Naír; Henriques, Carla; Barroco, CristinaGiven the sustained growth that Geotourism has experienced worldwide, it is crucial to gain a better understanding of geotourists. Therefore, this study aims to examine visitors’ motivations for visiting geoparks, segment them accordingly, and characterize each segment. An online questionnaire was developed to collect information from visitors of the Arouca Geopark—UNESCO Global Geopark and was completed by 607 who had visited this park at least once. Respondents were asked about their motivations for visiting the park using 18 items that were combined into fve dimensions through exploratory factor analysis. These dimensions (Escape, Relaxation and Enjoyment, Novelty Seeking and Nature, Knowledge, Socialization, and Sports and Adrenaline) were the basis for a cluster analysis that revealed four segments of visitors: the Want it All Geotourists (representing 27% of the sample), that have the highest levels for all motivations; the True Geotourists (19.9%) which highest levels of motivations were on the three motivations that typically defne a geotourist: nature/adventure, knowledge seeking, and socialization; the Sensation Seekers (34.4%) whose strongest motivations were sports/adrenaline and escape from routine; the Accidental Geotourists (18.6%) who scored lowest for all motivations and are motivated essentially by the escape from routine and by nature/adventure. These segments were then further profled based on other variables such as age, gender, satisfaction, and quality of experience. The segmentation and description of each segment found in this study provide a better understanding of the typology of visitors to geoparks, which is crucial for better management of such places.
- Elevados níveis de ferro nos doentes alcoólicos: Um contributo para esclarecer esta correspondênciaPublication . Matos, Ana; Henriques, Carla; Matos, Luís; Monteiro, Nuno; Batista, PauloO mecanismo que estimula o aumento dos níveis de ferro nos pacientes com doença hepática alcoólica (DHA) não está ainda completamente esclarecido, sendo este o cerne deste estudo. Desde a recente descoberta da hepcidina como proteína com papel crucial na regulação do mecanismo do ferro, várias investigações em animais foram efetuadas, sendo ainda escassos estudos em humanos. Este trabalho envolve um estudo observacional, sobre a expressão da hepcidina em tecido hepático humano em indivíduos com DHA e em indivíduos saudáveis.