The austerity regime implemented in Portugal to face the financial and economic crisis caused readjustments in the country's productive structure and labour market with an impact on immigrants' lifeworlds. This article aims at analysing the consequences of the crisis in the lives of third-country nationals living in Portugal, reflecting particularly on the impact on their integration process, understood as economic incorporation, in a context of increasing work precariousness. Special attention will be given to the resilience of immigrants visible in their responses to the labour market constraints, namely through their choices of geographic (im)mobility and also the implementation of strategies to 'normalise' their lives. Starting with a brief reference to the meaning of integration in Portugal in a context of crisis, we draw on data from two research projects, arguing that despite the increased hardship, the resilience of foreign workers is considerable and they still think it is worth coming to Portugal. The strategies adopted may be either in situ or implying onward migration, resulting from the combination of context opportunities and individual agency. Factors like legal status, education and having relatives abroad play a moderate role in this process.

Since the mid-

This article discusses the self-perceived integration of Swedes permanently residing in Portugal. The knowledge of how EU citizens, particularly Swedes, live and integrate into Portuguese society is limited. The conceptual framework on self-perceived integration takes its points of departure from the concepts of a sense of belonging to society and place, feelings of discomfort and coping tactics. Using a semi-structured interview guide, 36 in-depth interviews with Swedes permanently residing in Portugal were conducted. Whereas some of the permanently residing Swedes have no ambition of integrating into Portuguese society, others display a strong selfperceived feeling of being integrated within the community where they live. The added value of this paper is that it shows the complexity behind the construction of the feeling of self-perceived integration of Swedes in Portugal. Building a feeling of self-perceived integration depends on many factors and is not a linear process.

Background and AimsThe wavefront propagation velocity in the myocardium with fibrosis is characterized by the presence of deceleration zones and late activated zones, that are absent in the normal myocardium. Our aim was to study the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) endocardial activation duration in sinus rhythm, and assess the presence of deceleration zones, in patients with premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and in controls.MethodsWe studied 29 patients with idiopathic PVCs from the outflow tract, subjected to catheter ablation that had an activation and voltage map of the RVOT in sinus rhythm. A control group of 15 patients without PVCs that underwent ablation of supraventricular arrhythmias was also studied. RVOT endocardial activation duration and number of 10 ms isochrones across the RVOT were assessed. Propagation speed was calculated at the zone with the higher number of isochrones per cm radius. Deceleration zones were defined as zones with >3 isochrones within 1 cm radius. Low voltage areas were defined as areas with local electrogram with amplitude <1.5 mV.ResultsThe two groups did not differ in relation to age, gender or number of points in the map. RVOT endocardial activation duration and number of 10 ms isochrones were higher in the PVC group; 56 (41–66) ms vs. 39 (35–41) ms, p = 0.001 and 5 (4–8) vs. 4 (4–5), p = 0.001. Presence of deceleration zones and low voltage areas were more frequent in the PVC group; 20 (69%) vs. 0 (0%), p < 0.0001 and 21 (72%) vs. 0 (0%), p < 0.0001. The wavefront propagation speed was significantly lower in patients with PVCs than in the control group, 0.35 (0.27–0.40) vs. 0.63 (0.56–0.66) m/s, p < 0.0001. Patients with low voltage areas had longer activation duration 60 (52–67) vs. 36 (32–40) ms, p < 0.0001, more deceleration zones, 20 (95%) vs. 0 (0%), p < 0.0001, and lower wavefront propagation speed, 0.30 (0.26–0.36) vs. 0.54 (0.36–0.66) m/s, p = 0.002, than patients without low voltage areas.ConclusionRight ventricular outflow tract endocardial activation duration was longer, propagation speed was lower and deceleration zones were more frequent in patients with PVCs than in controls and were associated with the presence of low voltage areas.

Expanding urbanization rates have engendered increasing research examining linkages between urban environments and older adults’ well-being. This mixed-methods systematic review synthesizes the evidence for the influence of urban neighborhoods’ attributes on older adults’ well-being. We searched for literature published up to December 2020 across six databases and performed quality assessment and thematic analysis. The results, based on 39 identified studies, showed that natural areas in neighborhoods and a sense of community are the attributes most often associated with positive effects on well-being. Transit-related variables, urban furniture, and access to healthcare are also positively related to well-being. Neighborhoods may promote well-being more effectively when these elements are considered. However, almost half of the studies did not include all environmental dimensions simultaneously, and self-reported instruments were largely preferred over more objective assessments of the environment. Future research should thus holistically examine physical, social, and service-related attributes to produce more robust evidence.

Context Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) originating in the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) are traditionally considered idiopathic and benign. Echocardiographic conventional measurements are typically normal. Aims To assess whether right ventricle longitudinal strain, determined by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography, differ between RVOT PVCs patients (treated with catheter ablation) and healthy controls. Methods We retrospectively selected patients with PVCs from the RVOT who underwent electrophysiological study and catheter ablation between 2016 and 2019. Patients with documented structural heart disease were excluded. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed and right ventricle global longitudinal strain (RV-GLS), free wall longitudinal strain (RVFW-LS) and left ventricle global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) were determined as well as conventional ultrasound measurements of RV and LV function. Results We studied 21 patients with RVOT PVCs and 13 controls. Patients with PVCs from the RVOT had lower values of RV-GLS and RVFW-LS compared with the control group (−19.4% versus −22.5%, P = 0.015 and −22.1% versus −25.5, P = 0.041, respectively). They also had lower values of LV-GLS, although still within the normal range (−19.1% versus −20.9%, P = 0.047). Regarding RVOT PVCs patients only, RV-GLS and RVFW-LS had no correlation with the PVCs burden prior to catheter ablation and they did not differ between the patients in whom the catheter ablation was successful and those in whom it was not. RV-GLS also had a positive correlation with RVOT proximal diameter (r = 0.487, P = 0.025). Conclusions In this group of RVOT PVCs patients, we found worse RV longitudinal strain values (and therefore sub-clinical myocardial dysfunction) when compared to healthy controls.

Resumo. Após um período de crescimento económico que potenciou o aumento dos fluxos migratórios para Portugal, o país entrou, após 2008, numa forte crise económica com impactos muito negativos no emprego e em sectores que empregavam um grande número de imigrantes como a construção civil. Pela incorporação diferenciada dos imigrantes nos vários segmentos do mercado de trabalho é importante analisar em profundidade a extensão e a abrangência destes efeitos, designadamente tendo em conta a origem geográfica dos imigrantes. Os brasileiros constituem o maior contingente estrangeiro em Portugal desde meados dos anos 2000 e é sobre os efeitos da crise nestes imigrantes que queremos centrar-nos neste artigo. Abordamos duas questões principais: o impacto da crise nos fluxos Portugal-Brasil e o impacto na situação laboral dos que se encontravam em Portugal entre 2012-2015. Paralelamente, procuramos também averiguar os níveis de satisfação com a experiência migratória em Portugal.Palavras-chave: migração brasileira, Portugal, crise económica, situação laboral, qualidade de vida. Abstract. After a period of economic growth that spurred the increase of migratory flows to Portugal, after 2008, the country went into a deep economic crisis with very negative impacts on employment and on sectors employing a large number of immigrants like civil construction. Due to the differentiated integration of immigrants in the several

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