2025
Autores
Alexandre, MR; Poinhos, R; Oliveira, BMPM; Correia, F;
Publicação
NUTRIENTS
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Obesity is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease, yet traditional risk assessment methods may overlook behavioral and circadian influences that modulate metabolic health. Chronotype, physical activity, sleep quality, eating speed, and breakfast habits have been increasingly associated with cardiometabolic outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the associations between these behavioral factors and both anthropometric and biochemical markers of cardiovascular risk among obese candidates for bariatric surgery. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of 286 obese adults (78.3% females, mean 44.3 years, SD = 10.8, mean BMI = 42.5 kg/m2, SD = 6.2) followed at a central Portuguese hospital. Chronotype (reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), physical activity (Godin-Shephard Questionnaire), eating speed, and breakfast skipping were assessed. Cardiovascular risk markers included waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio, A Body Shape Index (ABSI), Body Roundness Index, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), triglyceride-glucose index (TyG), and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Results: Men exhibited significantly higher WHR, ABSI, HOMA-IR, TyG, and AIP. Eveningness was associated with higher insulin (r = -0.168, p = 0.006) and HOMA-IR (r = -0.156, p = 0.011). Poor sleep quality was associated with higher body fat mass (r = 0.151, p = 0.013), total cholesterol (r = 0.169, p = 0.005) and LDL cholesterol (r = 0.132, p = 0.030). Faster eating speed was associated with a higher waist circumference (r = 0.123, p = 0.038) and skeletal muscle mass (r = 0.160, p = 0.009). Conclusions: Male sex, evening chronotype, and poor sleep quality were associated with more adverse cardiometabolic profiles in individuals with severe obesity. These findings support the integration of behavioral and circadian factors into cardiovascular risk assessment strategies.
2025
Autores
Amarelo, A; da Mota, MCC; Amarelo, BLP; Ferreira, MC; Fernandes, CS;
Publicação
PAIN MANAGEMENT NURSING
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to systematically collect, evaluate, and critically synthesize research findings on the effects of physical exercise on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Method: The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for systematic reviews was adopted for this study. We searched the Medline (R), CINAHL, SportDiscus, and Scopus databases to identify relevant articles published from inception to March 2024. This review was reported in accordance with the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Results: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria, totaling 928 participants. Interventions ranged from aerobic and resistance exercises to balance and strength training. A range of physical exercise interventions was explored, including brisk walking, endurance training, weight exercises, and resistance bands, as well as combined programs of aerobics, resistance, and balance training, all tailored to improve symptoms and quality of life in patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. The meta-analysis focused on five studies that used the FACT/GOG-Ntx scale indicated a standardized mean difference of 0.50 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.74), favoring exercise, reflecting significant improvements in neuropathy symptoms. The heterogeneity among the studies was low (I 2 = 2%), suggesting consistency in the beneficial effects of exercise. Conclusions: From the results analyzed, the descriptive analysis of the 12 included studies shows promising outcomes not only related to individuals' perceptions of CIPN severity but also in terms of physical functioning, balance, ADL (Activities of Daily Living) performance, pain, and quality of life. The findings support the integration of structured exercise programs into oncological treatment plans. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society for Pain Management Nursing. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
2025
Autores
Ribeiro, M; Carneiro, D; Mesquita, L;
Publicação
PROGRESS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, EPIA 2024, PT I
Abstract
With the proliferation of ODR service providers, there is a critical necessity to establish mechanisms supporting their functioning, particularly while designing ODR processes. This article aims to examine the impact of process modelling using BPMN, and of its relevance in the integration of AI into ODR processes within the EU. BPMN allows a meticulous depiction of all the ODR process steps, stakeholders, and underlying data in structured formats that are readable and interpretable by both humans and AI, which enables its integration. The advantages include predictive analysis, identification of opportunities for continuous improvement, operational efficiency, cost and time reduction, and enhanced accessibility for self-represented litigants. Additionally, the transparency afforded by explicitly incorporating AI in BPMN notation fosters a clearer comprehension of processes, facilitating management and informed decision-making. Nevertheless, it remains imperative to address ethical concerns such as algorithmic bias, fairness, and privacy.
2025
Autores
Ferreira, P; Zolfagharnasab, MH; Gonçalves, T; Bonci, E; Mavioso, C; Cardoso, MJ; Cardoso, JS;
Publicação
Artificial Intelligence and Imaging for Diagnostic and Treatment Challenges in Breast Care - Second Deep Breast Workshop, Deep-Breath 2025, Held in Conjunction with MICCAI 2025, Daejeon, South Korea, September 23, 2025, Proceedings
Abstract
Accurate retrieval of post-surgical images plays a critical role in surgical planning for breast cancer patients. However, current content-based image retrieval methods face challenges related to limited interpretability, poor robustness to image noise, and reduced generalization across clinical settings. To address these limitations, we propose a multistage retrieval pipeline integrating saliency-based explainability, noise-reducing image pre-processing, and ensemble learning. Evaluated on a dataset of post-operative breast cancer patient images, our approach achieves contrastive accuracy of 77.67% for Excellent/Good and 84.98% for Fair/Poor outcomes, surpassing prior studies by 8.37% and 11.80%, respectively. Explainability analysis provided essential insight by showing that feature extractors often attend to irrelevant regions, thereby motivating targeted input refinement. Ablations show that expanded bounding box inputs improve performance over original images, with gains of 0.78% and 0.65% contrastive accuracy for Excellent/Good and Fair/Poor, respectively. In contrast, the use of segmented images leads to a performance drop (1.33% and 1.65%) due to the loss of contextual cues. Furthermore, ensemble learning yielded additional gains of 0.89% and 3.60% over the best-performing single-model baselines. These findings underscore the importance of targeted input refinement and ensemble integration for robust and generalizable image retrieval systems. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
2025
Autores
de Souza, JPC; Cordeiro, AJ; Dias, PA; Rocha, LF;
Publicação
EUROPEAN ROBOTICS FORUM 2025
Abstract
This article introduces Friday, a Mobile Manipulator (MoMa) solution designed at iiLab - INESC TEC. Friday is versatile and applicable in various contexts, including warehouses, naval shipyards, aerospace industries, and production lines. The robot features an omnidirectional platform, multiple grippers, and sensors for localisation, safety, and object detection. Its modular hardware and software system enhances functionality across different industrial scenarios. The system provides a stable platform supporting scientific advancements and meeting modern industry demands, with results verified in the aerospace, automotive, naval, and logistics.
2025
Autores
Zolfagharnasab, MH; Gonalves, T; Ferreira, P; Cardoso, MJ; Cardoso, JS;
Publicação
Artificial Intelligence and Imaging for Diagnostic and Treatment Challenges in Breast Care - Second Deep Breast Workshop, Deep-Breath 2025, Held in Conjunction with MICCAI 2025, Daejeon, South Korea, September 23, 2025, Proceedings
Abstract
Breast segmentation has a critical role for objective pre and postoperative aesthetic evaluation but challenged by limited data (privacy concerns), class imbalance, and anatomical variability. As a response to the noted obstacles, we introduce an encoder–decoder framework with a Segment Anything Model (SAM) backbone, enhanced with synthetic depth maps and a multiterm loss combining weighted crossentropy, convexity, and depth alignment constraints. Evaluated on a 120patient dataset split into 70% training, 10% validation, and 20% testing, our approach achieves a balanced test dice score of 98.75%—a 4.5% improvement over prior methods—with dice of 95.5% (breast) and 89.2% (nipple). Ablations show depth injection reduces noise and focuses on anatomical regions, yielding dice gains of 0.47% (body) and 1.04% (breast). Geometric alignment increases convexity by almost 3% up to 99.86%, enhancing geometric plausibility of the nipple masks. Lastly, crossdataset evaluation on CINDERELLA samples demonstrates robust generalization, with small performance gain primarily attributable to differences in annotation styles. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
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