BackgroundGeneralized anxiety disorder has a strong impact on health-related quality of life. For this reason, it seems relevant to develop strategies allowing early diagnoses in order to promote appropriate treatments. The objective of this study was to culturally adapt and validate the GAD-7 for the Portuguese patients with generalized anxiety disorder.MethodsFor the cultural adaptation of the Portuguese version of the GAD-7 scale we started with a previous translation made by Mapi Institute and decided to perform a clinical review followed by a cognitive debriefing with patients. Once piloted, this version was then tested in a larger sample for feasibility and reliability (1-week test-retest). Construct validity was assessed by the relationship between GAD-7 and socio-demographic and clinical variables. Its unidimensionality was tested by principal component factor analysis. Criterion validity was assessed by comparing GAD-7 scores with those obtained by HADS, and EQ-5D. STAI was mainly used as a screening indicator for patient inclusion.ResultsGAD-7 was considered feasible with a mean completion time of 2.3 minutes and no major floor or ceiling effects. We found an excellent Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency score (0.880) and the test-retest and interclass correlation coefficients were also very good. Regarding the construct validity, younger patients, those with higher education, employed and without anxiety symptoms revealed lower GAD-7 scores, meaning better health. The unidimensionality of GAD-7 index was also confirmed by principal component factor analysis. At last, GAD-7 was significantly correlated with other health outcome indices and the classification levels created by it and by HADS showed to be dependent.ConclusionThe excellent metric properties confirmed the cultural adaptation and validity of GAD-7 into Portuguese population, allowing the clinicians an early detection and treatment of these patients.

BackgroundNeedle and syringe programmes (NSP) are a critical component of harm reduction interventions among people who inject drugs (PWID). Our primary objective was to summarize the evidence on the effectiveness of NSP for PWID in reducing blood-borne infection transmission and injecting risk behaviours (IRB).MethodsWe conducted an overview of systematic reviews that included PWID (excluding prisons and consumption rooms), addressed community-based NSP, and provided estimates of the effect regarding incidence/prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and bacteremia/sepsis, and/or measures of IRB. Systematic literature searches were undertaken on relevant databases, including EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PsychINFO (up to May 2015). For each review we identified relevant studies and extracted data on methods, and findings, including risk of bias and quality of evidence assessed by review authors. We evaluated the risk of bias of each systematic review using the ROBIS tool. We categorized reviews by reported outcomes and use of meta-analysis; no additional statistical analysis was performed.ResultsWe included thirteen systematic reviews with 133 relevant unique studies published between 1989 and 2012. Reported outcomes related to HIV (n = 9), HCV (n = 8) and IRB (n = 6). Methods used varied at all levels of design and conduct, with four reviews performing meta-analysis. Only two reviews were considered to have low risk of bias using the ROBIS tool, and most included studies were evaluated as having low methodological quality by review authors. We found that NSP was effective in reducing HIV transmission and IRB among PWID, while there were mixed results regarding a reduction of HCV infection. Full harm reduction interventions provided at structural level and in multi-component programmes, as well as high level of coverage, were more beneficial.ConclusionsThe heterogeneity and the overall low quality of evidence highlights the need for future community-level studies of adequate design to support these results.Trial registrationThe protocol of this systematic review was registered in Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO 2015:CRD42015026145).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4210-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is the most frequent coagulation disorder associated with metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma. However, DIC with enhanced fibrinolysis as an initial presentation of prostate cancer is extremely rare. The appropriate treatment to control bleeding in these situations is challenging, controversial, and based on isolated case reports in the literature. A 66-year-old male presented at the emergency department with acute severe spontaneous ecchymoses localized to the limbs, laterocervical hematoma, and hemothorax. Prostate specific antigen level was 385 μg/L, bone scintigraphy revealed multiple bone metastases, and prostate biopsy confirmed adenocarcinoma (Gleason 9; 4 + 5). Laboratory investigation showed a pattern of enhanced fibrinolysis rather than the more common intravascular coagulation mechanism. Epsilon aminocaproic acid in monotherapy was initiated with a clear and rapid control of bleeding manifestations. This rare case of massive bleeding due to DIC with enhanced fibrinolysis as the first manifestation of prostate cancer suggests that in selected cases where the acute bleeding dyscrasia is clearly associated with a dominant fibrinolysis mechanism it is possible to use an approach of monotherapy with antifibrinolytics.

Iron refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA) is an autosomal recessive ferropenic anemia. Its hypochromic microcytic pattern is associated with low transferrin saturation, normal-high ferritin, and inappropriately high hepcidin level. This entity is caused by mutants of the TMPRSS6 gene that encodes the protein matriptase II, which influences hepcidin expression, an iron metabolism counterregulatory protein. We report two 29-year-old dizygotic female twins with ferropenic, hypochromic microcytic anemia with 20 years of evolution, refractory to oral iron therapy. After exclusion of gastrointestinal etiologies, IRIDA diagnosis was suspected and a novel mutation in the TMPRSS6 gene was identified. It was found in intron 11 (c.1396+4 A>T) and seems to affect the gene expression. In addition, 3 polymorphisms already associated with a higher risk of developing iron deficiency anemia were also found (D521D, V736A, and Y739Y). Our case reports an undescribed mutation causing IRIDA and supports the hypothesis that this clinical syndrome may be more common than previously thought and its genetics more heterogeneous than initially described.