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The meaning of life has been a construct that has received attention from researchers in psychological science, who have sought to understand the importance of it for mental health. In this context, a study was developed with the aim of contributing to the scientific knowledge of this domain. Specifically, we tried to analyze the relationship between the meaning of life and anxiety, depression and stress. 471 adults, aged between 18 and 86 years participated in the study. Data collection through a Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Meaning of Life Questionnaire and the Anxiety, Depression and Stress Scale The results indicated that individuals with a high presence of meaning had lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress, and that individuals with a high level of meaning search had higher levels of anxiety, depression and stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Positive mental health has had different definitions, but the current one embraces the presence of levels of well-being and decreased levels of psychopathology. This vision of positive mental health has increased the interest in developing positive psychological intervention programs and activities that promote mental health, increasing levels of well- being and decreasing levels of psychopathology. This study aimed to verify the impact and effectiveness of a positive psychotherapybased group intervention plan, in a non-clinical sample on the increase of well-being and reduction of psychopathology. Method: The sample was selected by non-random convenience, consisting of 40 participants, who were subdivided into an experimental group and a comparison group, each consisting of 20 elements. The experimental group is made up by 11 men (55%) and 9 women (45%), with ages between 18- 27 years old, being the average of ages 20,70 (SD= 2,830). The comparison group is composed by 10 women (50%) and 10 men (50%) aged between 18 and 27 years old, being the average of the ages 22 (SD=6,808). To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, an assessment was done in two moments (pre and posttest), using the MHC-SF (for well-being assessment) and the DASS-21 (for psychopathology assessment) as assessment measures. Results: The results obtained show a significant improvement in social well-being as well as a reduction in the levels of psychopathology (anxiety, depression, and stress). Conclusions: These results demonstrate that participation in the program is beneficial for mental health promotion. It is suggested that a larger sample size and a randomization process may be used in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is a self-report questionnaire that allows the assessment of positive mental health, including three well-being components—emotional, psychological and social—as well as the categorical diagnosis of the presence or absence of mental health. The purpose of this study is to describe the adaptation and validation of the Portuguese version of MHC-SF and to examine whether this is an adequate measure of positive mental health for the Portuguese context. The participants included 1448 respondents between the ages of 18 and 94 (M = 33.15; SD = 16.3), 70.1% of which were females. Results confirm the reliability (α =.93), tripartite factor structure, and the external and internal validity of the MHC-SF. Data also supported the two-continuum model, with positive mental health and mental illness belonging to two correlated but distinct dimensions. These findings indicated that the Portuguese MHC-SF is valid instrument to measure well-being and positive mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To understand the meaning of illness, death and forgiveness in women with breast cancer and conceptions about the future after a cancer diagnosis. Method: A qualitative approach was developed using semi- structured interviews with a group of eight women diagnosed with breast cancer. Personal histories were analyzed using Grounded Analysis for a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the meaning that individuals attribute to their life experience. Results: They indicate that a diagnosis of breast cancer has an impact associated with feelings of fear, failure, dependency and death. To cope with cancer, the woman seeks to build a new meaning in concepts such as forgiveness, illness, dreams for the future, trying to find a redefinition of the roles assigned to cancer and looking to have a new look on the meaning of life. Conclusions: The results provide important indicators for health professionals to understand the changes and altered meanings that occur in cancer patients, either on a personal level caused by the disease and its treatment, or family and social level, and intervene in the confrontation with the relief of suffering and death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence is accumulating that positive mental health is more than the absence of psychophatology and may play an important role in health outcomes (Huppert, 2005). The aim of this study is to characterize the positive mental health and mental illness of 150 young Portuguese people (18-30 years). For data collection, we use the Mental Wellness Scale Warwick-Edinburgh (Tennant et al., 2007), Continuum Health Mental Scale-Short Version (Keyes, 2002) and the Anxiety, Depression and Stress Scale (Pais-Ribeiro, Honrado & Leal, 2004). Our findings indicated that most of the sample has good levels of positive mental health and lower levels of psychopathology, and negative correlations have been found between the positive mental health and psychopathology. It was also found that are the younger and men who have higher levels of positive mental health, and are the women and the unemployed who have presented higher levels of psychopathology. These findings point the need to include measures of positive mental health and well-being in studies of health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyse some of the theoretical models that describe and explain the additive behaviour. Clinical models, behaviour theory, cognitive theory and some ecological-cultural models are presented. The author presents the main subjects of each theory with a critical analysis. In conclusion drug use and abuse is presented as a phenomenon to be understood with the contributions of the "Sujeito Autopoiético" theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a research with students of a secondary school in the north of Portugal. The main aim was to analyse the relationship between the tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs use and the parental education styles. We pretend to contribute to the study of risk factors in adolescence's drug use and abuse, in order to identify some important domains of prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper characterize narrative emergence in the post-modern science, that interprets human being as a meaning constructor. It is emphasize the language as a crucial element in the narrative and is development some narrative definitions and it importance for the human functioning. It is undertake the importance of the narrative as a essential process in the meaning construction to the human life. Conclusions are discuss in terms of the narrative as an idiosyncratic process in relationship with human life experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: During the last decade, there has been renewed interest in stereotactic approaches to diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs) in children, due to the development of new concepts in molecular biology and management, and subsequent need for tissue sampling. Stereotactic frame-based and robot-assisted techniques are associated with reduced target error and have been incorporated into standard practice at our institution. Methods: Four children (age 2–7 years) underwent a robot-assisted frame-based transcerebellar approach using the Leksell G frame coupled with Renishaw's neuromate® stereotactic robot. The procedures included 3 biopsies (two brainstem tumors and one cerebellar hemispheric lesion) and 1 depth electrode implantation into a low-grade tumor remnant (ganglioglioma) of the middle cerebellar peduncle causing drug-resistant epilepsy in a young girl. Targeting was based on MRI, and in one case, 18F-FET-PET was coregistered to MRI to improve sampling accuracy. The frame was applied 180° rotated compared to standard orientation, and patients were positioned prone during surgery and stereotactic preoperative CT scan. Postoperative CT scan ruled out complications and was coregistered to preoperative MRI to check the target accuracy. Results: No complications occurred, and targeting was accurate in all cases. All tissue samplings provided proper histology; depth electrode EEG exploration was diagnostic and led subsequent resective surgery. Conclusions: According to our experience, the transcerebellar frame-based robotic stereotactic approach to the cerebellum and the brainstem is feasible, safe, and effective even in young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In infants aged less than 12 months, there are few data on pharmacokinetics of high-dose methotrexate (MTX) for brain tumors at the dose of 8 g/m(2). Consolidated knowledges are present only with the dose of 5 g/m(2) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.Methods: We collected data on 8 infants at the time of their first treatment with high-dose MTX, 8 g/m(2), to evaluate the pharmacokinetic profile. All children had a dose adjustment with a weight-based prescription (1 m(2) = 30 kg).Results: The median age was 4.5 months (range 0-9). The median weight was 5.63 kg (range 3.12-9.0). The median steady-state MTX concentration at the end of 6-hr infusion was 486 µM/L (range 227-790). The median systemic MTX clearance was 4.14 L/h/m(2) (range 1.98-9.35). The median MTX concentration after 24 h from the beginning of infusion was 3.29 µM/L (range 1.14-100.44). Three (37.5 %) patients had a delayed elimination of MTX (delayed early, delayed late, or total delayed: one for each). These altered elimination occurred principally in children weighing less than 4 kg (p: 0.0179). Moreover, a systemic MTX clearance at the end of infusion minor than 3 L/h/m(2) can predict a delayed elimination (p: 0.0179). Patients with altered elimination underwent rescue measures (leucovorin supplement and/or exchange transfusion).Conclusions: Our data suggest that a higher dose of MTX for the treatment of aggressive brain tumors in early infants had an acceptable pharmacokinetic profile. Greater attention must be used in the treatment of children weighing less than 4 kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relation of work-related risk factors and well-being among healthcare workers and the impact on patient safety, using the Health and Work Survey (INSAT) and Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF). A sample of 361 Portuguese healthcare workers participated in this study. The results indicate some significant work-related risk factors: for emotional well-being, Impossible to express myself (β = −0.977), Not having recognition by superiors (β = −1.028) and Have to simulate good mood and/or empathy (β = −1.007); for social well-being, Exposed to the risk of sexual discrimination (β = −2.088), Career progress is almost impossible (β = −1.518), and Have to hide my emotions (β = −2.307); finally for psychological well-being Exposed to the risk of sexual discrimination (β = −2.153), Career progress is almost impossible (β = −1.377), and Have to simulate good mood and/or empathy (β = −3.201). The results showed high levels of well-being despite the exposure of several risk factors at workplace. Regarding the work-related risk factors, the study showed that most of the participants are exposed to several risk factors at workplace (ranging from environmental risk factors, biological to physical), although psychosocial risk factors (work relations with superiors and colleagues, employment relations, and emotional demands) are the ones that most impact on well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the case of a 16-year-old girl presenting with spinal clear-cell multiple meningiomas (CCMs). In view of this presentation, we sequenced a bioinformatic panel of genes associated with susceptibility to meningioma, identifying a germline heterozygous variant in SMARCE1. Somatic DNA investigations in the CCM demonstrated the deletion of the wild-type allele (loss of heterozygosity, LOH), supporting the causative role of this variant. Family segregation study detected the SMARCE1 variant in the asymptomatic father and in the asymptomatic sister who, nevertheless, presents 2 spinal lesions. Germline heterozygous loss-of-function (LoF) variants in SMARCE1, encoding a protein of the chromatin-remodeling complex SWI/SNF, have been described in few familial cases of susceptibility to meningioma, in particular the CCM subtype. Our case confirms the role of NGS in investigating predisposing genes for meningiomas (multiple or recurrent), with specific regard to SMARCE1 in case of pediatric CCM. In addition to the age of onset, the presence of familial clustering or the coexistence of multiple synchronous meningiomas also supports the role of a genetic predisposition that deserves a molecular assessment. Additionally, given the incomplete penetrance, it is of great importance to follow a specific screening or follow-up program for symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers of pathogenic variants in SMARCE1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]