Maria Vaz Pato

University of Beira Interior | UBI · Faculty of Health Sciences

Purpose: Recent scientific breakthroughs showed that adult brain has enough neuronal plasticity to permit changes in binocular vision. Parameters such as suppressive imbalance and ocular dom- inance are fundamental to evaluate the quality of binocular vision. Through Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) it is possible to change cortical excitabi...

Theta-burst stimulation (TBS) can be a non-invasive technique to modulate cognitive functions, with promising therapeutic potential, but with some contradictory results. Event related potentials are used as a marker of brain deterioration and can be used to evaluate TBS-related cognitive performance, but its use remains scant. This study aimed to s...

Previous reports described three types of auditory evoked potentials (AEP) obtained with continuous synthesized musical instrument tones, two generated in the supratemporal cortex, a third one in the lateral temporal cortex, more prominently on the right. The objective of this work was to examine those AEP in a patient population undergoing surgery...

Background Centenarians are a growing population in Europe and present significant variability in motor and cognitive functions. The aim of our study was to characterize health status, as well as cognitive and motor functions in a group of Portuguese centenarians. In addition, our study also aimed at analyzing the relationship between cognitive fun...

Amblyopia is the most frequent cause of monocular vision loss. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been used to improve several vision parameters of the amblyopic eye in adulthood. This study is relevant in order to evaluate TMS effects and to raise awareness of the need for further research. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a neu...

INTRODUCTION Portuguese older adults are in 2021 23,4% of the total of population. Since 2011 this population sub-group increase 20,6%. In the last two population censuses, levels of disability and functional limitations were assessed, allowing us to understand the evolution during this period. The main objective of the study is to analyze and comp...

Introduction Amblyopia is generally a unilateral disorder, defined by at least a difference of two lines of visual acuity between both eyes with the best-corrected visual acuity, a decrease in contrast sensitivity, and a decrease in stereopsis. Pattern electroretinogram (PERG) is a noninvasive technique that provides a retinal biopotential and is a...

UNSTRUCTURED Introduction: The increase in average life expectancy, ageing, and the rise in the number of people living with dementia originate a growing interest from the scientific community. As the disease progresses, people with dementia may need help with most daily activities and need to be supervised by their carer to ensure their safety. Wi...

Purpose: The aim of this umbrella review was to evaluate the acceptability and barriers to the implementation of digital interventions in older people with dementia (PLWD) and/or caregivers. Study design: Systematic Review and meta-analyse. Methods: A review of systematic reviews on acceptability factors and barriers for (PLWD) and caregivers was c...

INTRODUÇÃO O envelhecimento demográfico da população portuguesa é marcado pelo aumento do número dos adultos mais velhos. Esse crescimento é mais pronunciado nos grupos etários mais velhos, atingindo 75% no grupo das pessoas com 90 e mais anos. É também nos mais velhos que os níveis de incapacidade atingem valores mais pronunciados. OBJECTIVO Anal...

Clinical Relevance Continuous theta burst stimulation may be an important tool in the therapeutic management of amblyopia, when trying to correct the established neuronal imbalance. It is important to understand whether two sessions of continuous theta burst stimulation produce greater and longstanding changes in visual acuity and suppressive imbal...

Purpose The present study was designed to evaluate the risk perception of being infected by SARS-CoV-2 in elderly people, what preventive measures they took and to examine the role of perceived risk in preventive behaviors toward COVID-19 in this population. Methods Data was collected by telephone interviews, April 15th to April 30th, 2020 during...

Demographic changes around the world present an increasing number of elderly people and the health professionals are the ones who need to provide the best possible care for them. There is an urgent need to evaluate their attitudes toward the elderly and infer how these attitudes interfere with the provision of care. The main objective of this study...

Due to its ability to improve the most frequent clinical sequelae left by ischemia, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been considered a promising therapeutic strategy for stroke. Those improvements are associated with changes in neurons and their synaptic liaisons. However, the hypothesis that this technique modulates astrocytes, pot...

Introduction: Pattern Electroretinography (PERG) is a highly sensitive electrophysiological technique used as an indicator of changes in retinal macular area. Amblyopia seems to result from a cortical visual imbalance but changes at the retinal level may also be present. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate if there are any consis...

Study Objectives Our study examined the association between insomnia, and cognitive as well as functional outcomes in a cohort of ischemic stroke patients. We evaluated which stroke features were associated with the development of post-stroke insomnia and how it might affect stroke prognosis. Methods 157 ischemic stroke patients were retrospective...

Justificación y objetivos: La Estimulación Magnética Transcraneal (EMT) puede alterar la respuesta neuro visual de un adulto que tenga un sistema visual que este desequilibrado. Nuestro objetivo fue comparar el efecto de la estimulación magnética transcraneal (EMT) en un grupo de ambliopes con 1 sesión de EMT y un grupo con 2 sesiones de EMT. Para...

Purpose Theta Burst Stimulation can influence adult neuro-visual response in imbalanced visual pathways, possibly by influencing cortical excitability. Our objective was to compare suppressive imbalance (SI) and visual acuity (VA) after applying repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation between groups of subjects with normal binocular vision, vi...

Introdução: A doença de Alzheimer é a forma mais comum de demência, apresentando uma prevalência estimada em 50 milhões a nível mundial. A insónia é a perturbação do sono mais frequente, sendo que as benzodiazepinas constituem a classe farmacológica mais utilizada no tratamento de alterações do sono. Considerando a tendência crescente da prevalênci...

Trata-se de uma revisão integrada da literatura sobre os efeitos das intervenções com música na demência. Os resultados sugerem um impacto globalmente positivo das intervenções com música nas pessoas com demência, seus familiares e cuidadores destacando-se o seu impacto ao nível da cognição, comportamento, humor, emoções, qualidade de vida, bem-est...

Purpose: Theta Burst Stimulation can influence adult neuro-visual response in imbalanced visual pathways, possibly by influencing cortical excitability. Our objective was to compare suppressive imbalance (SI) and visual acuity (VA) after applying repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) between groups of subjects with normal binocular vis...

Nota de edição: Respeitou-se a norma ortográfica seguida pelos Autores. © CDA, Universidade da Madeira O conteúdo desta obra está protegido por Lei. Qualquer forma de reprodução, distribuição, comunicação pública ou transformação da totalidade ou de parte desta obra carece de expressa autorização dos editores e dos seus autores. Os capítulos, bem c...

There is a consensus that elderly individuals are quite vulnerable to adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and headaches are one of the most frequent clinical presentations of central nervous system problems in the general population, which can be an ADR. The purpose of our work was to analyze reports of “headache” associated ADRs in the elderly sent to...

After decades of effort, there are no effective clinical treatments to induce the recovery of ischemia‐injured tissues, and among the several strategies that have been explored, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has proven to be one of the most promising, with beneficial effects in limb motor function, aphasia, hemispatial neglect, or dy...

Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS) is a non-invasive neurophysiological technique, able to induce changes in synaptic activity. Research suggests that TBS may induce changes in cerebral oxygenation, cerebral blood flow, blood pressure and heart rate but there are conflicting results across studies. Thus, the objective of our sham-controlled study is to...

Introduction: Theta-burst stimulation (TBS) is a safe non-invasive neurostimulation technique used to improve cognitive and neuropsychiatric impairments. Combined outcome evaluation using event-related potentials (ERPs) and neuropsychological tests may allow a more thorough assessment of TBS treatment efficacy; however, some mixed results have bee...

High Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (HF-rTMS) is a non-invasive and painless technique, that can promote motor recovery, improvement of ipsilesional cerebral hemodynamic and a global decrease of damage caused by stroke. These benefits result from changes in mechanisms such synaptic plasticity, regulation of gene expression,...

A INVENÇÃO REFERE-SE A UM MÉTODO PARA USAR A ESTIMULAÇÃO MAGNÉTICA TRANSCRANIANA REPETITIVA (RTMS) COM BASE NA INDUÇÃO ELETROMAGNÉTICA, ONDE UMA CORRENTE IÔNICA SECUNDÁRIA INDUZIDA É CRIADA NUMA LOCALIZAÇÃO ESPECÍFICA E DESEJADA DO CÉREBRO, ESTIMULANDO REDES NEURONAIS E ALTERANDO A FORÇA E AS LIGAÇÕES DA SINAPSE AO REORGANIZÁ- LAS.ESTA TÉCNICA TEM...

The last century and the beginning of the current one have seen an increase in the number of elderly people in society. Ageing is generally associated with an increase in dependency, multimorbidity and social isolation, but old people with a healthy ageing process are able to fully operate in society, by being important contributors to several proc...

Objectives: (1) Characterize the sociodemographic and clinical profile of the sample; (2) to evaluate sleep quality perception and the average number of hours of sleep per day and (3) to analyze the relationship between sleep quality perception, cognitive functioning and psychopathological symptoms. Methods: Cross-sectional and descriptive study,...

The present research work aims at the integration of textile materials and electronic components for the development of a new electrotextile structure to be used in human medicine and healthcare, specifically, in monitoring sleep movements of patients with neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s. In this context, we sought the d...

Background: Through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) it is possible to change cortical excitability of the visual cortex, and to influence binocular balance. The main goal of our study is to assess the effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation, specifically theta burst stimulation (TBS), in a group of amblyopic volunteers measuring severa...

Objective: This TBS sham-controlled study aimed to evaluate the effects of intermittent TBS (iTBS) and continuous TBS (cTBS) upon ipsilateral hearing thresholds after stimulation on the left auditory cortex. Methods: Sixty healthy adults, aged between 19 and 32 years (median of 23 years), were randomly dis- tributed into three groups and underwent...

Loneliness and depression are related to the psychological well-being in old age. However, this relationship is not clear because of the complexity of these dimensions, namely the solitude. The objective of this study is to examine these two dimensions and discuss the relationship in elderly people. This study included 213 people aged 65 and 96 yea...

Purpose: The main goal of our study is to assess the effect of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), specifically theta burst stimulation (TBS) in a group of amblyopic volunteers, measuring several visual parameters: visual acuity, suppressive imbalance and stereo-acuity. Methods: Thirteen volunteers aged 19 to 24 years, randomly split in two gr...

Background/Objectives Sulfites are additives commonly used in food and wine industries that are associated to adverse clinical effects such as headaches. The objective of this study is to investigate the possible association between sulfite concentration in wine and the occurrence of headaches in young adults. Subjects/Methods Eighty volunteers, a...

Polycythemia vera (PV) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by overproduction of red blood cells. We have performed a comprehensive characterization of blood immune cells for expression of naïve and memory receptors as well as β2m-associated and β2m-free MHC class I heavy chains, also known as closed and open conformers, respectively, in...

The interest in studying a specific population of centenarians who lives in the country’s interior region (PT100-BI) emerged during the first Portuguese systematic study about centenarians (PT100 Oporto Centenarian Study). This region of Portugal is predominantly rural and is one of the regions with the largest number of aged people. The aim of thi...

Data TBS_P300_PLOSONE. Study SPSS data. (SAV)

Fungi are a group of microbes that are found with particular incidence in the indoor environment. Their direct toxicity or capability of generating toxic compounds has been associated with a large number of adverse health effects, such as infectious diseases and allergies. Given that in modern society people spend a large part of their time indoors...

Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on cognition and motor arm function in patients with middle cerebral artery ischaemic stroke.

Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on cerebral oxymetry and NIHSS in patients with middle cerebral artery ischaemic stroke.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is assuming an important role in cortical activation, with growing potential when applied to neurological and psychiatric diseases. Event related potentials (ERP) are neurophysiological tools that can be used to evaluate cognitive processing, commonly used to evaluate neuropsychiatric diseases. Sin...

Introduction It has been reported new approaches to the treatment of amblyopia in adults. Recent scientific breakthroughs show that the adult brain has enough neuronal plasticity to cause changes in binocular vision, and in case of amblyopia, the binocular vision is not lost but only suppressed. Through Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) it i...

Purpose: Translate and adapt the COVD-QoL questionnaire to Portuguese language and culture and assess the psychometric properties of the translated questionnaire. Methods: The questionnaire was adapted according to the methodology recommended by the literature. The final version of visual symptoms and quality of life questionnaire adapted to Portu...

Purpose: Translate and adapt the Convergence Insuficiency Symptom Survey (CISS) questionnaire to the Portuguese language and culture and assess the psychometric properties of the translated questionnaire (CISSvp). Methods: The CISS questionnaire was adapted according to the methodology recommended by some authors. The process involved two transl...

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) comprises a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of peripheral neuropathies characterized by progressive distal muscle weakness and atrophy, foot deformities and distal sensory loss. Following the analysis of two consanguineous families affected by a medium to late-onset recessive form of intermediate CMT...

Context: Contrast sensitivity (CS) function is one of the most important tests available for evaluating visual impairment. Multiple sclerosis (MS) can produce highly selective losses in visual function and psychophysical studies have demonstrated CS deficits for some spatial frequencies. Aims: This work studies the differences in CS between a gr...

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) comprises a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of peripheral neuropathies characterized by progressive distal muscle weakness and atrophy, foot deformities, and distal sensory loss. Following the analysis of two consanguineous families affected by a medium to late-onset recessive form of intermediate CM...

This project aims to study the relationship between the anatomical position during sleep rest and some neurodegenerative diseases. Sleep studies are gaining a major importance nowadays. In this context, the present research work envisage the development a new technological solution that allow us to establish a link between the nocturnale movements...

When a subject shows changes in his/her ability to express himself/herself verbally or to understand the messages from the people he/she relates with, it is customary to say that such a person has a language disorder, nosologically classified in the field of aphasias. In this article, we show the case of a patient diagnosed with progressive aphasia...

Traditionally, along the first half of the last century, Multiple Sclerosis has been mainly described as a neurological illness that produces predominantly sensory-motor deficits, being not very common the development of investigations regarding to the cognitive problems associated to this pathology. In this article, we try to present a deep vision...

To assess the processing of spectrotemporal sound patterns in multiple sclerosis by using auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) to complex harmonic tones. 22 patients with definite multiple sclerosis but mild disability and no auditory complaints were compared with 15 normal controls. Short latency AEPs were recorded using standard methods. Long latenc...

To determine whether the process responsible for the mismatch negativity (MMN) might be involved in the analysis of temporal sound patterns for information. Synthesized musical instrument tones of 'clarinet' timbre were delivered in a continuous sequence at 16 tones/s, such that there was virtually no N1 potential to each individual tone. The stand...

The object of the study was to look for a neurophysiological substrate of sequential auditory stream segregation. When a sequence of tones alternates rapidly between pitches separated by more than a few semitones, there is a tendency for it to be perceived as two independent "streams". We examined the scalp potentials evoked when the pitch interval...

To examine whether two cortical processes concerned with spectro-temporal analysis of complex tones, a 'C-process' generating CN1 and CP2 potentials at cf. 100 and 180 ms after sudden change of pitch or timbre, and an 'M-process' generating MN1 and MP2 potentials of similar latency at the sudden cessation of repeated changes, are dependent on accum...

In order to assess higher auditory processing capabilities, long-latency auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were recorded to synthesized musical instrument tones in 22 post-comatose patients with severe brain injury causing variably attenuated behavioural responsiveness. On the basis of normative studies, three different types of spectro-temporal mo...

In this study, synthesised instrumental tones were used to examine human auditory cortical processes engaged at the end of a period of rapid pitch modulation. It was previously [S.J. Jones, O. Longe, M. Vaz Pato, Auditory evoked potentials to abrupt pitch and timbre change of complex tones: electrophysiological evidence of 'streaming'?, Electroence...

Examination of the cortical auditory evoked potentials to complex tones changing in pitch and timbre suggests a useful new method for investigating higher auditory processes, in particular those concerned with 'streaming' and auditory object formation. The main conclusions were: (i) the N1 evoked by a sudden change in pitch or timbre was more poste...