Browsing by Author "Pereira, D"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Estado actual e evolução da epidemia tabágica: em Portugal e na EuropaPublication . Precioso, J; Calheiros, JM; Pereira, D; Campos, H; Antunes, H; Rebelo, L; Bonito, JTobacco smoking is the cause of more than half million deaths/year in the European Union (EU). Monitoring smoking prevalence is an important tool to evaluate the epidemic and its evolution and to assess the effectiveness of preventive measures. The comparison between countries may help us identify good control practices. OBJECTIVE: To describe the current state and evolution of the smoking epidemic in several EU countries, and to characterize the Portuguese situation in comparison with those countries. METHODS: To characterize smoking habits and their evolution in the population over 15 years old, several Eurobarometer reports from 1995 to 2007 were used. The characterization of School Aged Children's smoking habits was based on the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children data of 1993-4 and 2002. The Portuguese situation also used the information available from the National Health Surveys of 1987 up to 2005/06. RESULTS: The global prevalence of smoking in adult population in most of the European countries is over 25%. The average prevalence of male and female smokers in School-Aged Children over 15 years of age is approximately 18% if we consider both genders together. In most countries the prevalence of tobacco consumption is higher in girls when compared to boys. In Portugal, the prevalence in the population over 15 years of age has one of the lowest values among European countries (30,6 % for men and 11,6% for women). Despite these crude prevalence rates, high age-sex-specific prevalence rates were found in age groups 25-34 and 35-44 in men (39,9% e 44,6% respectively) and in women (17,6 e 21,2% respectively). In 2002, at the age of 15, the percentage of daily smoking girls in Portugal was 19.5%. This value reveals that Portugal is among the countries with higher prevalence rates of smoking among adolescent girls. Over the last decade (1996-2006), a decrease in tobacco consumption has been observed in most EU countries, both in adult population and in School-Aged Children. In Portugal, this consumption has levelled off in adult men and in youngsters aged 15, but shows a significant increase in female adults and school-aged girls. CONCLUSIONS: Although Portugal presents low global prevalence rates in the European context, the substantial increases observed in the young adult female population are of particular concern because of its impact on women's health and the risk of pre and post-natal associated childhood exposure. These results reveal that current preventive strategies in Portugal are ineffective in reducing smoking prevalence among children and young adults.
- Rare complications also happen: epidural hematoma after spinal anesthesiaPublication . Oliveira, C; Gomes, C; Louro, J; Pereira, D
- Role of the RAD51 G172T polymorphism in the clinical outcome of cervical cancer patients under concomitant chemoradiotherapyPublication . Nogueira, A; Catarino, R; Faustino, I; Nogueira-Silva, C; Figueiredo, T; Lombo, L; Hilário-Silva, I; Pereira, D; Medeiros, RINTRODUCTION: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in women worldwide. Mammalian cells are constantly exposed to a wide variety of genotoxic agents from both endogenous and exogenous sources. The RAD51 protein is required for meiotic and mitotic recombination and plays a central role in homology-dependent recombinational repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs). Given the functional relevance of the DNA repair system on carcinogenesis, potential associations between genetic polymorphisms of DNA repair genes, cancer risk and response to therapy have been intensively evaluated. This is the first study evaluating the role of the RAD51 G172T genetic variants in cancer prognosis and clinical outcome of cervical cancer patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We analyzed RAD51 G172T polymorphism genotypes in cervical cancer patients who underwent a platinum-based chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy. Genotyping was performed by Taqman™ Allelic Discrimination methodology. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Concerning the overall survival rates found using Kaplan-Meier method and Log Rank Test, we observed that the mean survival rates were statistically different according to the patients RAD51 genotypes. The group of patients carrying the T allele present a higher mean survival rate than the other patients (102.3months vs. 86.4months, P=0.020). Using the Cox regression analysis, we found an increased overall survival time for T-carrier patients, when compared with GG genotype, with tumor stage, age and presence of lymph nodes as covariates [hazard ratio (HR), 0.373; 95% CI, 0.181-0.770; P=0.008]. Among patients (n=193), RAD51 genotype frequency distributions were not under the influence of clinicopathologic characteristics, namely, treatment response (P=0.508), recurrence (P=0.150) and tumor stage (P=0.250). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study evaluating the role of the RAD51 G172T genetic variants in cancer prognosis and clinical outcome of cervical cancer patients. Our results indicate an influence of the RAD51 genetic variants in overall survival of cervical cancer. Thereby, RAD51 G172T genotypes may provide additional prognostic information in cervical cancer patients who underwent cisplatin-based chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy.
- The impact of GGH -401C>T polymorphism on cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy response and survival in cervical cancerPublication . Silva, IH; Nogueira-Silva, C; Figueiredo, T; Lombo, L; Faustino, I; Catarino, R; Nogueira, A; Pereira, D; Medeiros, RAIMS: Cervical cancer is the third most frequent cancer in women worldwide, mostly treated with cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy. Since it is known that folate metabolism might interfere with cisplatin effectiveness, we intended to study the influence of the Gamma Glutamyl Hydrolase -401C>T polymorphism in treatment response in cervical cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 167 patients with bulky cervical cancer submitted to cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy. The genotypes of GGH -401C>T SNP were determined by real-time PCR and statistical analysis was performed by χ(2) test and survival analysis. RESULTS: The genotypes of GGH-401C>T were significantly associated with the response to platinum-based chemoradiotherapy. Treatment response was higher in patients carrying the CC genotype, who presented a significant increased chance of treatment response (survival time in months/genotype: 91 for CC Vs 72 for CT/TT; p=0.035, log rank test). A Cox regression analysis accordingly showed that the presence of the T allele was significantly linked to a worse treatment response (HR=3.036; CI 95% 1.032-8.934, p=0.044). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study suggested the potential interest of GGH -401C>T as a predictive factor of the outcome of cervical carcinoma treated with cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy.