Search

The Committed Action Questionnaire (CAQ-8) is an instrument developed to measure committed action, an adaptive psychological process. The main goal in the current study was to confirm the factorial structure of the Portuguese version of the CAQ-8 in a transdiagnostic clinical sample of participants diagnosed with an eating disorder (ED). Participants were 102 female outpatients (Mage = 28.1, SD = 10.6; MBMI = 20.0, SD = 5.5) recruited from a clinical setting specialized in the treatment of ED. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to confirm the CAQ-8's factorial structure. Both first- and second-order models revealed adequate goodness-of-fit indices (e.g. χ2 /df = 1.545, p = .06; SRMR = 0.049; RMSEA = 0.073; CFI/TLI > 0.95). A moderation model revealed that the conditional effect of weight, shape and eating concerns on experiential avoidance was significantly moderated by increased levels of committed action, F(3, 97) = 23.79, p

Objective: Eating disorders and non-suicidal self-injury frequently co-occur. Therefore, it is important to develop interventions that address this comorbidity. This study aimed to conduct a case s...

BackgroundLockdown implemented to prevent the COVID-19 spread resulted in marked changes in the lifestyle. The objective of the current study was to assess the impact of lockdown measures on a cohort of eating disorder (ED) patients being followed as part of an ongoing naturalistic treatment study.MethodsNinety-nine patients aged 18 or older, currently or previously, in treatment at a Portuguese specialized hospital unit were contacted by phone and invited to participate in the current survey. Fifty-nine agreed to be interviewed by phone, and 43 agreed to respond to a set of self-report measures of ED symptoms, emotion regulation difficulties, clinical impairment, negative urgency, and COVID-19 impact, during the week after the end of the lockdown period.ResultsData showed that of the 26 patients currently in treatment: 8 remained unchanged (31%), 7 deteriorated (27%), and 11 reliably improved (42%). Of the 17 participants not currently in treatment: 3 deteriorated (18%), 9 remained unchanged (53%), and 5 (29%) improved after the lockdown period. The Coronavirus Impact Scale showed that most patients considered their routines moderately or extremely impacted, experienced stress related to coronavirus, and showed difficulty in maintaining physical exercise and feeding routines. Results suggest that higher impact of COVID-19 lockdown was significantly correlated with eating disorder symptoms and associated psychopathology, impulsivity, difficulties in emotion regulation and clinical impairment measured at post-lockdown. In addition, the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown measures on clinical impairment was mediated by difficulties in emotion regulation.ConclusionsFindings suggest that some ED patients may experience worsening of their condition, especially if associated with difficulties in emotion regulation, and these difficulties might be exacerbated in the context of a stressful crisis and lockdown measures, highlighting the need for intervention strategies to mitigate its negative impact., This work was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC); and a grant by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028145) to P. Machado PI).

Purpose of review The traditional model of treatment delivery, based on a psychotherapeutic intervention delivered by a trained professional, in a one-to-one relationship, occurring in a treatment setting context (e.g., clinic, private office, and hospital), highly restricts access to the best standards of care to all of those in need. In this article, we will be focusing on treatment delivering methods for eating disorders that depart from the traditional mode of delivery. We will focus on the use of self-help strategies, both in a pure self-help format, and with external minimal support, guided self-help. We will additionally review the evidence on the use of internet and mobile technology (m-Health) for delivering treatment. Recent findings Internet-based self-help interventions based on cognitive behavioral approaches have shown to be superior to no treatment for patients diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and other specified feeding or eating disorders with binge/purge characteristics. Although face-to-face, traditional, interventions seem to be more effective than internet-based ones, the latter might have cost benefits and constitute a viable first line of treatment in a stepped care model, or as an alternative to a waitlist while treatment is not available. Other forms of mobile health (e.g., mobile apps) have experienced a surge but remain under researched. Mobile health and the internet are promising media for delivering eating disorder treatment. However, more research is needed to determine the utility of internet-based treatments by comparing them to traditional face-to-face treatments for eating disorders, and explore the moderators and mediators impacting adherence and outcome., This work was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC); and a grant by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028209).

Objective The purpose of the current study was to explore the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Eating Disorder-15 (ED-15), as well as to establish cutoff scores and normative data for the Portuguese version. Methods Participants from a nonclinical sample (N = 860) and an eating disorders clinical sample (N = 260) were invited to complete a set of questionnaires, including the Portuguese version of the ED-15. Results The first-order two-factor structure originally proposed by the ED-15 authors was endorsed through a confirmatory factor analysis (chi(2)/df = 2.610; standardized root-mean-square residual = 0.0325; root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.079; Tucker-Lewis index/goodness-of-fit index/incremental fit index > 0.95). Items revealed adequate construct validity (lambda = .54-.90; R-2 = .29-.81). The ED-15 revealed excellent internal consistency (alpha = .91) and temporal stability (intraclass correlation coefficient = .92; 95% CI [.84-.95]). Normative data for the ED-15 were provided. The ED-15 demonstrated acceptable concurrent and convergent validity. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that the ED-15 total score accurately discriminates between participants with and without an eating disorder (area under de curve = .80; SE = .017; p, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Grant/Award Numbers: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028145 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028209

Early View, Objectives Among outpatients with eating disorders (ED), we compared participants without nonsuicidal self-injury (non-NSSI group), with NSSI over a year ago (past NSSI group) and with NSSI in the previous year (current NSSI group) regarding different variables, and examined whether difficulties in emotion regulation and negative urgency moderated the relationship between maternal/paternal invalidation and NSSI. Method The sample included 171 outpatients (94.2% female;M-age = 28.78,SDage = 11.19). Results Fifty-four participants (31.6%) had NSSI in the previous year. This group showed higher eating pathology, difficulties in emotion regulation, negative urgency, and maternal/paternal invalidation than the non-NSSI group. Analyses revealed an adequate fit to the data for the model that included moderating effects of emotional awareness and negative urgency in the relationship between maternal/paternal invalidation and increased likelihood of NSSI in the previous year. Conclusions Interventions for NSSI and ED should include emotion regulation, impulse control, and validation strategies., Center of Mathematics (CMUP), University of Porto, which is financed by national funds through FCT, Grant/Award Number: UIDB/00144/2020; Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) with the Human Capital Operational Programme (HCOP), supported by the European Social Fund and national funds of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Grant/Award Number: Doctoral grant SFRH/BD/116974/2016, Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) with the Human Capital Operational Programme (HCOP), supported by the European Social Fund and national funds of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education under doctoral grant SFRH/BD/116974/2016; and the Center of Mathematics (CMUP), University of Porto, which is financed by national funds through FCT under the project UIDB/00144/2020

Purpose The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the invalidating childhood environment scale (ICES) in a non-clinical and clinical sample of eating disorder (ED) patients. This study also investigated the between-sample differences regarding invalidating parental behaviors and family styles and explored the associations between invalidating childhood environments and eating pathology. Methods A sample of 410 high school and college students and 101 patients with a diagnosis of ED completed self-report measures. Principal component analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the factor structure of the ICES. The internal consistency and the between-sample differences and associations between invalidating childhood environments and eating pathology were also tested. Results Principal component analyses and confirmatory factor analyses indicated a two-factor solution for each parent. The ICES demonstrated high internal consistency and was able to differentiate between non-clinical and clinical samples. The perception of parental invalidation was higher in ED patients, and the clinical sample presented higher scores in the chaotic and perfect family styles and lower scores in the validating family style, in comparison with the non-clinical sample. Both maternal invalidation and invalidating styles were significantly associated with a higher ED symptomatology. Conclusions The Portuguese version of the ICES revealed adequate psychometric properties. Considering the relationship between invalidation in family and eating pathology, the ICES may be useful in clinical practice, especially among ED patients., This research was partially supported by a Foundation for Science and Technology doctoral grant to the first author (SFRH/BD/116974/2016).

The extracorporeal photopheresis is indicated as immunomodulatory treatment in primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. There are no guidelines about the most suitable immunophenotypic panel to monitor and correlate clinical evolution and laboratory parameters. In this study we characterize a patient with Sezary syndrome stage III, who performed 98 sessions of photopheresis; in the last 30, the expression of T-cells in peripheral blood was evaluated. The patient had exfoliative dermatitis (mainly in the lower limbs) and several analytical disorders: anemia, neutropenia and lymphocytosis; abnormal number of effector T-cells and a CD4/CD8 ratio higher than 10; atypical cells (CD7, CD26) with aberrant phenotype (characteristic of malignant T-cell clones); and regulatory T-cells indicating an immunotolerance state. The clinical evolution verified can be related with the therapeutic scheme adopted. We propose a multiparameter flow cytometry approach to monitor patients with Sezary syndrome that realize photopheresis, including the aberrant cases.

Objective The Eating Disorder Examination - Questionnaire (EDE-Q) is a widely used self-report measure of eating-disordered behaviors and attitudes. Recent studies utilizing confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) have proposed alternative and shorter forms. The aim of this study was to compare the full-length version of the EDE-Q and several proposed short forms (7-item, 8-item, and 18-item) in terms of their psychometric properties, including concurrent, convergent and discriminant validity, factor structure, and sensitivity to change.Methods Participants from two eating-disorder clinical samples (N = 175 and 38) and from a nonclinical sample (N = 3,413) completed a battery of measures, including the Portuguese version of the EDE-Q. Analyses compared psychometric properties of the available short forms of the EDE-Q among each other.Results All forms of the EDE-Q showed good internal consistency values, correlated highly among each other (r > .90) and with different measures of eating psychopathology (r > .80). All EDE-Q forms were able to distinguish between cases and controls with moderate-to-high accuracy and were sensitive to change. CFA failed to support the proposed factor structure for all the EDE-Q forms, except for the 7-item form.Discussion The present study provides empirical background for choosing between different forms of the EDE-Q. Findings indicate that for nonclinical and for clinical research, including studies of treatment change and outcome, the short forms of the EDE-Q can be used. A shorter version is a viable alternative when less time-consuming alternatives are needed, such to quickly screen for eating-disorder psychopathology or to perform session-by-session treatment monitoring., Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Grant/Award Numbers: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028209, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028145; National Institutes of Health, Grant/Award Numbers: R01 DK112771, R01 DK114075, R01 DK49587

The development of bioactive and cell-responsive materials has fastened the field of bone tissue engineering. Gellan gum (GG) spongy-like hydrogels present high attractive properties for the tissue engineering field, especially due to their wide microarchitecture and tunable mechanical properties, as well as their ability to entrap the responsive cells. Lactoferrin (Lf) and Hydroxyapatite (HAp) are bioactive factors that are known to potentiate faster bone regeneration. Thus, we developed an advanced three-dimensional (3D) biomaterial by integrating these bioactive factors within GG spongy-like hydrogels. Lf-HAp spongy-like hydrogels were characterized in terms of microstructure, water uptake, degradation, and concomitant release of Lf along the time. Human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) were seeded and the capacity of these materials to support hASCs in culture for 21 days was assessed. Lf addition within GG spongy-like hydrogels did not change the main features of GG spongy-like hydrogels in terms of porosity, pore size, degradation, and water uptake commitment. Nevertheless, HAp addition promoted an increase of the pore wall thickness (from ~13 to 28 &micro, m) and a decrease on porosity (from ~87% to 64%) and mean pore size (from ~12 to 20 &micro, m), as well as on the degradability and water retention capabilities. A sustained release of Lf was observed for all the formulations up to 30 days. Cell viability assays showed that hASCs were viable during the culture period regarding cell-laden spongy-like hydrogels. Altogether, we demonstrate that GG spongy-like hydrogels containing HAp and Lf in high concentrations gathered favorable 3D bone-like microenvironment with an increased hASCs viability with the presented results.

Introdução: A cirurgia bariátrica é o método mais eficaz para o tratamento da obesidade mórbida. No entanto, o desenvolvimento de psicopatologia alimentar e o aparecimento de comportamentos alimentares problemáticos têm sido relatados na literatura. Este estudo transversal teve como objetivo a caracterização da população pós-cirurgia bariátrica em termos da frequência de comportamentos alimentares problemáticos ao longo do tempo e a compreensão das características psicológicas associadas. Material e Métodos: A amostra foi constituída por 155 doentes sujeitos a cirurgia bariátrica que responderam a instrumentos de au-torrelato destinados a avaliar psicopatologia alimentar, comportamentos alimentares problemáticos, ansiedade, depressão e stress e comportamento impulsivo.Resultados: Os resultados mostram que o petisco contínuo, a ingestão alimentar compulsiva, a preocupação com o peso e com a forma e a urgência negativa são significativamente mais frequentes 24 meses após a cirurgia bariátrica (comparativamente com momentos pós-operatórios mais precoces). A psicopatologia alimentar e a presença de comportamentos alimentares problemáticos correlacionam-se significativa e positivamente com níveis de ansiedade, depressão, stress e urgência negativa. Este estudo reforça ainda o papel mediador da urgência negativa na relação entre tempo decorrido desde a cirurgia e distress psicológico, e comporta-mentos alimentares problemáticos, explicando 32,3% e 27,2% da variância, respectivamente.Discussão: Os resultados apontam para uma tendência crescente de doentes a reportar comportamentos alimentares problemáticos e níveis de impulsividade ao longo do tempo.Conclusão: Tendo em conta a evidência estabelecida do seu impacto na perda e aumento ponderal, a identificação precoce de comportamentos alimentares problemáticos e de doentes com tendência para agir impulsivamente em situações de emocionalidade negativa deve ser central no acompanhamento do doente sujeito a cirurgia bariátrica., Introduction: Bariatric surgery is the most effective method for the treatment of morbid obesity. However, the development of eating psychopathology and the emergence of problematic eating behaviours have been reported in the literature. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to characterize the post-bariatric population in terms of the frequency of problematic eating behaviours over time and to understand the related psychological features.Material and Methods: This sample was composed of 155 bariatric patients that responded to several self-reported instruments assessing eating psychopathology, problematic eating behaviours, anxiety, depression and stress and impulsive behaviour.Results: Results showed that grazing, binge eating, concerns about body weight and shape, and negative urgency are significantly more frequent at 24 months after bariatric surgery (when compared to earlier postoperative assessments). Correlational analyses showed that eating psychopathology and problematic eating behaviours were significantly and positively associated with levels of anxiety, depression, stress and negative urgency. This study also reinforces the mediating role of negative urgency in the relationship between time elapsed since surgery and psychological distress, and problematic eating behaviours, accounting for a total of 32.3% and 27.2% of its variance, respectively.Discussion: The results suggest a growing trend of problematic eating behaviours and levels of impulsivity being reported by bariatric patients over time.Conclusion: Given the established evidence that supports its impact on weight variability, early identification of problematic eating behaviours and of patients with a tendency to act impulsively in situations of negative emotionality should be a central concern in the follow-up of the bariatric population, Este estudo foi suportado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, um programa de financiamento da União Europeia COMPETE a Eva Conceição (IF/01219/2014) e bolsa de doutoramento (SFRH/BD/104159/2014) a Ana Pinto-Bastos, (SFRH/BD/104182/2014), Sofia Ramalho e (SFRH/BPD/94490/2013), Ana Vaz. Este trabalho foi conduzido no Centro de Investigação em Psicologia (UID/PSI/01662/2013), Universidade do Minho e parcialmente apoiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia e pelo Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior através de fundos nacionais, tendo sido ainda co-financiado pelo FEDER através do COMPETE2020 sob o PT2020 Compro-misso para a Ciência (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)

"Article in Press, Available online 31 October 2017" ; "S0163-7258(17)30268-1", Cancer is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Around 90% of deaths are caused by metastasis and just 10% by primary tumor. The advancement of treatment approaches is not at the same rhythm of the disease; making cancer a focal target of biomedical research. To enhance the understanding and promts the therapeutic delivery; concepts of tissue engineering are applied in the development of in vitro models that can bridge between 2D cell culture and animal models, mimicking tissue microenvironment. Tumor spheroid represents highly suitable 3D organoid-like framework elucidiating the intra and inter cellular signaling of cancer, like that formed in physiological niche. However, spheroids are of limited value in studying critical biological phenomenon such as tumor-stroma interactons involving extra cellular matrix or immune system. Therefore, a compelling need of tailoring spheroid technologies with physiologically relevant biomaterials or in silico models, is ever emerging. The diagnostic and prognostic role of spheroids rearrangements within biomaterials or microfluidic channel is indicative of patient management; particularly for the decision of targated therapy. Fragmented information on available in vitro spheroid models and lack of critical analysis on transformation aspects of these strategies; pushes the urge to comprehensively overview the recent technological advancements (e.g. bioprinting, micro-fluidic technologies or use of biomaterials to attain the third dimension) in the shed of tranlationable cancer research. In present article, relationships between current models and their possible exploitation in clinical success is explored with the highlight of existing challenges in defining therapeutic targets and screening of drug efficacy., The authors are thankful to European Union (Horizon 2020) funded project FoReCaST (No. 668983), the FCT fellowship to J. Silva-Correia (Grant No. SFRH/BPD/100590/2014), distinctions to J.M.O. under the Investigator FCT program (IF/00423/2012) and V.M.C. under the Investigator FCT program (IF/01214/2014) for supporting this work financially., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This paper is organized into four parts of discussion. Firstly, we present the Portuguese decriminalization law and the central role of harm reduction within this framework. The second section discusses the mainstream meanings ascribed to the 'HR double' mainly anchored in problematic drug uses. The third section highlights the need to take into account the specificities of recreational drug uses, users and environments. Thus, the paper highlights the experience of the Kosmicare Project at the Boom Festival, which combines principles of harm reduction, crisis intervention and Grof's approach. The fourth section draws upon the project's experience itself and in the idea of the normalization of drug uses to acknowledge and to discuss the potentialities, tensions and limitations of these contributions when it comes to analyzing and constructing a strong version of the 'HR double'., O presente texto está organizado em quatro secções de discussão. Em primeiro lugar, discute-se a lei portuguesa de descriminalização do uso de drogas e a sua função na abordagem da redução de riscos. A segunda parte discute os significados tipicamente atribuídos ao ‘HR double’, geralmente ancorados em usos de drogas problemáticos. A terceira parte enfatiza a necessidade de tomar em linha de conta as especificidades dos usos de drogas em contextos de lazer, seus consumidores e ambientes. Assim, este trabalho privilegia a experiência do Projeto Kosmicare no Boom Festival, que combina princípios de redução de riscos, de intervenção em crise e da abordagem de Grof. A quarta secção é desenvolvida a partir do projeto em si e da ideia de normalização de usos de drogas, de modo a reconhecer e a discutir as potencialidades, tensões e limitações destas contribuições quando se trata de analisar e construir uma versão forte do ‘HR double’., Le présent article est organisé en quatre sections de discussion. La première présente la loi portugaise de décriminalisation d’usage de drogues et son rôle central de réduction des risques dans ce cadre. La deuxième examine le sens généralement attribué à “double HR”, principalement ancré dans les usages de drogues problématiques. La troisième met l’accent sur la nécessité d’examiner les spécificités des drogues récréatives, ses utilisateurs et environnements. Ainsi, cet article se concentre sur l’expérience du “Kosmicare Project” au Boom Festival, qui combine les principes de réduction de risques, d’intervention de crises et de l’approche de Grof. La quatrième section s’appuie sur l’expérience du projet lui-même et sur l’idée de la normalisation de l’usage de drogues pour reconnaître et discuter les potentialités, tensions et limitations de ces contributions en matière d’analyse et de construction d’une version forte de “double HR”.

The emerging transdisciplinary field of Toxicogenomics aims to study the cell response to a given toxicant at the genome, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome levels. This approach is expected to provide earlier and more sensitive biomarkers of toxicological responses and help in the delineation of regulatory risk assessment. The use of model organisms to gather such genomic information, through the exploitation of Omics and Bioinformatics approaches and tools, together with more focused molecular and cellular biology studies are rapidly increasing our understanding and providing an integrative view on how cells interact with their environment. The use of the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the field of Toxicogenomics is discussed in this review. Despite the limitations intrinsic to the use of such a simple single cell experimental model, S. cerevisiae appears to be very useful as a first screening tool, limiting the use of animal models. Moreover, it is also one of the most interesting systems to obtain a truly global understanding of the toxicological response and resistance mechanisms, being in the frontline of systems biology research and developments. The impact of the knowledge gathered in the yeast model, through the use of Toxicogenomics approaches, is highlighted here by its use in prediction of toxicological outcomes of exposure to pesticides and pharmaceutical drugs, but also by its impact in biotechnology, namely in the development of more robust crops and in the improvement of yeast strains as cell factories.