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Health policies seek to promote access to health care and should provide appropriate geographical accessibility to each demographical functional group. The dispersal demand of health‐care services and the provision for such services at fixed locations contribute to the growth of inequality in their access. Therefore, the optimal distribution of health facilities over the space/area can lead to accessibility improvements and to the mitigation of the social exclusion of the groups considered most vulnerable. Requiring for such, the use of planning practices joined with accessibility measures. However, the capacities of Geographic Information Systems in determining and evaluating spatial accessibility in health system planning have not yet been fully exploited. This paper focuses on health‐care services planning based on accessibility measures grounded on the network analysis. The case study hinges on mainland Portugal. Different scenarios were developed to measure and compare impact on the population's accessibility. It distinguishes itself from other studies of accessibility measures by integrating network data in a spatial accessibility measure: the enhanced two‐step floating catchment area. The convenient location for health‐care facilities can increase the accessibility standards of the population and consequently reduce the economic and social costs incurred. Recently, the Portuguese government implemented a reform that aimed to improve, namely, the access and equity in meeting with the most urgent patients. It envisaged, in terms of equity, the allocation of 89 emergency network points that ensured more than 90% of the population be within 30 min from any one point in the network. Consequently, several emergency services were closed, namely, in rural areas. This reform highlighted the need to improve the quality of the emergency care, accessibility to each care facility, and equity in their access. Hence, accessibility measures become an efficient decision‐making tool, despite its absence in effective practice planning. According to an application of this type of measure, it was possible to verify which levels of accessibility were decreased, including the most disadvantaged people, with a larger time of dislocation of 12 min between 2001 and 2011. Plain Language Summary: Equitable access to health services is a critical goal for overcoming health disparities, and many reform efforts have been carried out worldwide to improve equity. This case study from Portugal, using geospatial analysis of public transportation access points and health services, shows that, in this case, reform efforts failed because they did not take into account connection times between where people live, where transport hubs are, and where emergency services are delivered. Key Points: Accessibility levels show significant differences between urban and rural areas, namely, with the population of the two‐major urban centers (Metropolitan Area of Porto and Metropolitan Area of Lisbon)The Portugal's health reform led to reduction in accessibility levels in rural areasHealth policies can contribute to mitigate the social exclusion through the provision of localized emergency units of proximity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper was to study the epidemiological characteristics of orofacial damage resulting from road accidents among victims assessed in the Oporto delegation of the Legal Medicine Institute, in Portugal. It was also our goal to analyze in which way orofacial sequelae was reflected in the victims’ complete social reintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper stresses the important role that output-only dynamic testing of bridges and special structures can play in the assessment of dynamic structural behaviour by presenting a set of applications recently performed at several Portuguese bridges (railway, roadway and pedestrian bridges), as well as at the new Braga Sports Stadium suspended roof, and briefly referring to the most important tools developed for that purpose at the Laboratory of Vibrations and Monitoring at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A diet rich in fruits and vegetables has been suggested to counteract the oxidative stress and inflammation that characterize asthma. We aimed to assess the association between vegetable and fruit diversity consumption and asthma and its related outcomes in school‐aged children. Methods: Participants included 647 children (49% females, aged 7‐12 years) recruited from 20 public schools across the city of Porto, in Portugal. Vegetable intake and fruit intake were ascertained using a single self‐reported 24‐hour recall questionnaire. A diversity score was built taking into account the different number of individual vegetables and fruits consumed and categorized into two groups based on the total reported median consumption, which was rounded to the nearest whole number (≤3 and >3, for vegetables; and ≤1 and >1, for fruits). A questionnaire was used to enquire about self‐reported medical diagnosis of asthma and respiratory symptoms. Airway inflammation was assessed measuring exhaled fractional nitric oxide concentration (eNO) and was categorized into two groups (<35 and ≥35 ppb). The association between fruit and vegetable diversity and respiratory outcomes was examined using logistic regression models, adjusting for confounders. Results: A higher vegetable diversity consumption per day was negatively associated with having self‐reported asthma (OR = 0.67; 95% CI 0.47, 0.95), while having a vegetable diversity consumption superior to 3 items per day was negatively associated with levels of eNO ≥ 35 ppb (OR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.16, 0.88) and breathing difficulties (OR = 0.39; 95% CI 0.16, 0.97). Conclusion: Eating a greater variety of vegetables was associated with a lower chance of airway inflammation and prevalence of self‐reported asthma in school children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To evaluate the prevalence of body dissatisfaction and the association with depressive symptoms in 13-year-old adolescents, according to gender, and also to analyse the possible modifying effect of body mass index on this association. Methods: We evaluated 1868 adolescents as part of a population-based study in an urban community in Porto, Portugal. Using the Figure Rating Scale, participants choose their perceived and their desired figures; body dissatisfaction was measured by the difference between these values. The Beck Disorder Inventory II was used to measure depressive symptoms. Weight and height were measured by trained interviewers. To quantify the association between depressive symptoms and body dissatisfaction, regression parameters and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained by linear regression and bootstrapping. Results: Among females, 15.8% desired a bigger figure and 41.4% desired a thinner figure. Among males, this occurred for 34.1% and 33.5%, respectively. After adjustment, we found that body dissatisfaction was associated with increased depressive symptoms, in both genders, especially in those participants who wish to be thinner and in those presenting higher discrepancy between figures ( B = 6.5, 95% CI 4.1;9.3 for females, B = 3.3, 95% CI 1.3;6.8 for males). The association between body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms was stronger among non-overweight (for participants who wish to be thinner: B = 5.18 95% CI 3.56; 6.95 vs. B = 3.49, 95% CI 1.70; 5.29 among females and B = 2.47, 95% CI 0.73; 4.76 vs. B = 1.60, 95% CI 0.34; 2.88 among males). Conclusions: The direct association between the wish to be thinner and depressive symptoms was stronger among the non-overweight youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies Nematopsis gigas n. sp. from researchers from Oporto, Portugal. Discovery of a new species of Nematopsis; Affinity on the Brazilian Nerita ascencionis; Description of the new species from the mantle tissues of the seawater gastropod.

Enduring struggles between different historical capitalisms arc concretely instantiated in the British "colony" in Porto, Portugal. In contention is the future of the community and its identity as a venerable port merchant or multinational corporate enclave. Residents, both long- and short-term, work to produce the future place and identity of their children. Church, club, and—above all—schools are the focus of their clashes and also of this essay, as it explores the articulation of practices that help to produce those futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the activities held during the 6th Portuguese Congress of Dermatology and Venereology in Porto, Portugal on June 15-18, 2000. Scope of the scientific presentations; Themes that were discussed; Presentations from foreign contributors; Recipients of prizes for the best communication and clinical case presentations; Cultural program.

Water samples (n = 183) from Portuguese rivers were tested for the presence of endocrine disruptors using the recombinant yeast assay (RYA) combined with chemical identification of compounds having endocrine-disruption properties by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Ten selected locations were sampled monthly for a period of 20 months, from April 2001 to December 2002. More than 90% of samples showed either no detectable or low levels of estrogenicity (<0.1 ng/L of estradiol equivalents). The remaining samples (17 in total, 9.3%) showed estrogenicity values ranging from 0.1 to 1.7 ng/L of estradiol equivalents; only two samples showed values greater than 1 ng/L of estradiol equivalents. Most highly estrogenic samples (13 of 17 samples) originated in five sampling sites clustered in two zones near Porto and Lisbon. Chemical analysis detected alkylphenolic compounds (octyl- and nonylphenol plus nonylphenol ethoxylates) in all samples, albeit at concentrations less than 1 µg/L for each compound in 80% of samples. Total analyte concentration exceeded 10 µg/L in only 10 samples, with all but one of those originating from only two sampling sites. In these two locations, a good correlation was observed between the concentrations of octylphenol, nonylphenol, and to a lesser extent, bisphenol A in the samples and their estrogenicity values as calculated by RYA. We conclude that estrogenic activity can be explained by alkylphenol contamination in only these sites; for the remainder, we propose that pesticides and urban waste may be the main factors responsible for estrogenic contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the prevalence and risk factors for immunoglobulin E sensitization to Anisakis simplex in Porto, Portugal. Use of prick tests and fluoroenzymeimmunoassay; Cultural differences in fish consumption; Superiority of the capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

The article presents information related to endodontics. It states that the International Conference on Oral Trauma is sponsored by the Endowment and Memorial Foundation of the American Association of Endodontists and is being held in Dallas, Texas, from November 8-10, 1984, at the Registry Hotel. It also states that the Endodontic Section of the Portuguese Society of Stomatology and Dental Medicine held a meeting in the School of Dental Medicine in Oporto, Portugal, on November 26, 1983. The meeting was attended by almost 100 people.