Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2018-07-17"
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- Initial therapeutic choices for hypertension in the Portuguese Sentinel Practice NetworkPublication . Pinto, Daniel; Rodrigues, Ana Paula; Nunes, BaltazarIntroduction and Objectives: Finding out which drugs are chosen to treat incident cases of hypertension may help in interpreting prevalent use of antihypertensive agents. We aimed to determine the proportion of patients who begin treatment with each antihypertensive drug class, which physicians initiate treatment and whether family physicians alter prescriptions initiated by others, and to compare the prescribing patterns of family physicians and other specialists. Methods: In this cohort-nested cross-sectional study between 2014 and 2015 within the Portuguese Sentinel Practice Network, family physicians notified incident cases of hypertension, reporting treatment, who issued the initial prescription and whether treatments initiated by other physicians were changed. Results: A total of 681 incident cases were notified. The initial prescription was issued by the patient’s family physician in 86.9% of cases (95% CI: 84.2-89.3%). The most frequently used agents were angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (51.3% of patients, 95% CI: 47.5-55.0%), thiazide and thiazide-like diuretics (32.2%, 95% CI: 28.8-35.8%), and angiotensin receptor blockers (21.4%, 95% CI: 18.5-24.7%). Compared to other specialists, family physicians used less beta-blockers (20.4 vs. 5.9%, p<0.001) and loop diuretics (8.2 vs. 0.8%, p=0.003). Prescriptions initiated by other specialists were changed by family physicians in 11.6% of cases (95% CI: 6.0-19.6%). Conclusion: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors were the most frequently prescribed antihypertensive class. Most diagnoses were made by the patient’s own family physician. Prescriptions initiated by other specialists were usually continued by family physicians. Prescribing patterns were similar between family physicians and other specialists, except for lower use of beta-blockers and loop diuretics.
- Fast and Reliable Extraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Grilled and Smoked Muscle FoodsPublication . Silva, Marta; Viegas, Olga; Melo, Armindo; Finteiro, Daniela; Pinho, Olívia; Ferreira, Isabel M. P. L. V. O.A fast and simple method for analysis of 14 PAHs in grilled and smoked muscle foods using acetonitrile based-extraction was validated. The optimum amounts of magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride that promoted phase separation of acetonitrile extract containing PAHs from water phase were selected by Central Composite Design. Matrix-matched calibration curves were constructed by adding different concentrations of PAHs and then subjected to extraction followed by HPLC with fluorescent detection. An excellent linearity for all compounds applying weighed least squares linear regression procedure was achieved. LODs and LOQs were lower than 0.12 and 0.39 ng g−1 respectively. Validation was done according to International Conference on Harmonization recommendations for 14 PAHs. The criteria for 4 EU marker PAHs (benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene) established by European Comission Regulation No. 836/2011 was also accomplished. Repeatability and reproducibility were lower than 8 and 13.3%, and the most of recoveries fall in the range of 80–110% in different grilled and smoked muscle foods. The proposed method is a robust tool for determination of PAHs in grilled and smoked muscle foods, being easy to perform in short time.