The World Health Organization promotes salt iodisation to control iodine deficiency. In Portugal, the use of iodised salt in school canteens has been mandatory since 2013. The present study aimed to evaluate iodine status in school-aged children (6–12 years) and to monitor the use of iodised salt in school canteens. A total of 2018 participants were randomly selected to participate in a cross-sectional survey in northern Portugal. Children’s urine and salt samples from households and school canteens were collected. A lifestyle questionnaire was completed by parents to assess children’s eating frequency of iodine food sources. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The median UIC was 129 µg/L which indicates the adequacy of iodine status and 32% of the children had UIC < 100 µg/L. No school canteen implemented the iodised salt policy and only 2% of the households were using iodised salt. Lower consumption of milk, but not fish, was associated with a higher risk of iodine deficiency. Estimation of sodium intake from spot urine samples could be an opportunity for adequate monitoring of population means. Implementation of iodine deficiency control policies should include a monitoring program aligned with the commitment of reducing the population salt intake.

Adolescents with CHD have worse neuropsychological performance than the control group, mainly the cyanotic patients. Fetal circulation seems to have impact on cerebral and somatic growth, predicting cognitive impairment in adolescents with CHD.

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Introduction: Prospective studies have shown the relation between acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and neurocognitive dysfunction with prevalence ranging between 10.51% and 66.8%. The present study aims to determine the prevalence level of neurocognitive dysfunction; the relations between sociodemographic, clinical and emotional variables and neurocognitive functioning in a sample of ACS patients. Methods: The sample comprised of 53 patients engaged in cardiac rehabilitation within 3 months after an ACS. Patients with any medical history of neuropsychiatric problems prior to the ACS and illiterate subjects were not included in the study. Results: The majority of the sample (85%) exhibits some degree of cognitive impairment, with 84.8% showing verbal fluency impairment, 60.3% memory impairment and only 26,4% had language compromised. Neurocognitive general functioning was correlated with age. Memory domain was negatively correlated with the number of daily smoked cigarettes before the ACS. Verbal fluency was influenced by schooling. Language domain was correlated with mean diastolic pressure and with the type of profession, visuospatial domain was correlated with schooling, number of cardiovascular risk factors, distress, anxiety levels and type of ACS. Conclusion: Prevalence rate of neurocognitive dysfunction is considerably high. Besides global neurocognitive functioning, verbal fluency and memory are the most affected domains. Several variables were related to neurocognitive performance: sociodemographic; cardiovascular risk factors; clinical; psychological. The underlying mechanisms of neurocognitive dysfunction should be further explored.

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The Portuguese version of ACE-III has very good reliability and high diagnostic capacity in the context of MCI and dementia. ACE-III also holds concurrent and divergent validity.

Background: There is growing evidence that emotional distress expressed in terms of anxiety and depression is very high among tuberculosis (TB) patients. Objectives: This study aims to determine levels of anxiety, depression and emotional distress in patients with several types of TB and to determine the association between social-demographic and economical factors, clinical variables and anxiety, depression and emotional distress. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in a sample of 81 TB patients. A social-demographic and economical questionnaire was used, followed by the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Results: 38.3% and 49.4% of our sample presented significant levels of anxiety and depression. 44.4% of patients had significant levels of emotional distress.Married subjects, a diagnosis of extra-pulmonary TB and multidrug resistant TB were related to higher risk for anxiety. Gender, extra-pulmonary and multidrug resistant TB were associated to depression. Female gender and cases of extra-pulmonary TB presented a 1.5 times risk for emotional distress. Conclusions: Our study found high rates of anxiety, depression and emotional distress among TB patients. Marital status, gender, type and treatment of TB were related to higher levels of emotional disorder. Mental health services should be an integral part of programs against tuberculosis.

Our study found high rates of anxiety, depression and emotional distress among TB patients. Marital status, gender, type and treatment of TB were related to higher levels of emotional disorder. Mental health services should be an integral part of programs against tuberculosis.