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Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical

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2013

InTB – a data integration platform for molecular and clinical epidemiological analysis of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is currently the second highest cause of death from infectious diseases worldwide. The emergence of multi and extensive drug resistance is threatening to make tuberculosis incurable. There is growing evidence that the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis may have important clinical consequences
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Interpersonal violence among immigrants in Portugal

To assess prevalence of interpersonal violence among a mixed gender sample of immigrants in Portugal, describing the type of violence and associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2008 and May 2009, evaluating a sample of 702 immigrants residing in the Lisbon region. Information was obtained by trained interviewers using a structured questionnaire. Overall, 15.1 % (15.5 % females and 14.7 % males; p = 0.844) of the immigrants reported to be victims of at least one episode of violence during the last year, regardless of which type of violence was involved.
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Declining prevalence of HIV-1 drug resistance in antiretroviral treatment-exposed individuals in Western Europe

HIV-1 drug resistance represents a major obstacle to infection and disease control. This retrospective study analyzes trends and determinants of resistance in antiretroviral treatment (ART)-exposed individuals across 7 countries in Europe. Of 20,323 cases, 80% carried at least one resistance mutation: these declined from 81% in 1997 to 71% in 2008. Predicted extensive 3-class resistance was rare (3.2% considering the cumulative genotype) and peaked at 4.5% in 2005, decreasing thereafter. The proportion of cases exhausting available drug options dropped from 32% in 2000 to 1% in 2008. Reduced risk of resistance over calendar years was confirmed by multivariable analysis.
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Evaluation of the growth-inhibitory effect of trifluralin analogues on in vitro cultured Babesia bovis parasites

Bovine babesiosis, caused by Babesia bovis, is a global tick borne hemoprotozoan parasite disease characterized by fever, anemia, weight losses and ultimately death. Several babesicidal drugs that have been in use in cattle for years have proven to be only partially effective and the development of alternative chemotherapeutics that are highly specific and have low toxicity against babesiosis is needed. Trifluralin derivatives specifically bind alpha-tubulin in plants and protozoa parasites causing growth inhibition.
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Analysis of the quality of hospital information systems audit trails

Audit Trails (AT) are fundamental to information security in order to guarantee access traceability but can also be used to improve Health information System’s (HIS) quality namely to assess how they are used or misused. This paper aims at analysing the existence and quality of AT, describing scenarios in hospitals and making some recommendations to improve the quality of information.
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Aedes aegypti on Madeira Island (Portugal): genetic variation of a recently introduced dengue vector. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

The increasing population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes on Madeira Island (Portugal) resulted in the first autochthonous dengue outbreak, which occurred in October 2012. Our study establishes the first genetic evaluation based on the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes [cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4)] and knockdown resistance ( kdr ) mutations exploring the colonisation history and the genetic diversity of this insular vector population.
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Healthcare access and the patterns of maternal health care utilization among poor and non-poor women living in urban areas in Portugal

Studies on attitudes and practices are increasingly used but not specifically related to the motivations for the use of reproductive health care among women of fertile age, living in urban areas and in different social contexts.
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HIV-1 fitness landscape models for indinavir treatment pressure using observed evolution in longitudinal sequence data are predictive for treatment failure

We previously modeled the in vivo evolution of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) under drug selective pressure from cross-sectional viral sequences. These fitness landscapes (FLs) were made by using first a Bayesian network (BN) to map epistatic substitutions, followed by scaling the fitness landscape based on an HIV evolution simulator trying to evolve the sequences from treatment naïve patients into sequences from patients failing treatment.
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