Background and Purpose-Stroke is the third leading cause of death in most Western countries. Cardioembolism might be responsible for 15% to 20% of ischemic strokes. Although atrial fibrillation can be diagnosed by electrocardiography, the remaining causes of cardioembolic stroke are diagnosed by echocardiography. Recent recommendations on the management of acute ischemic stroke fail to consider echocardiography as an essential test in all patients. Methods-We conducted a prospective observational study, performing transthoracic echocardiography on all patients admitted in our hospital with ischemic stroke, in sinus rhythm, from

Background:The role of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in the evaluation of acute stroke patients is still ill-defi ned. We conducted a prospective observational study to fi nd the prevalence of TEE fi ndings that indicate anticoagulation as benefi cial, in acute ischemic stroke patients without indication for anticoagulation based on clinical, electrocardiographic and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) fi ndings. Methods:We prospectively studied all patients referred to our laboratory for TTE and TEE. Patients were excluded if the diagnosis was not acute ischemic stroke or if they had an indication for anticoagulation based on clinical, electrocardiographic, or TTE data. Patients with TEE fi ndings that might indicate anticoagulation as benefi cial were identifi ed. Results: A total of 84 patients with acute ischemic stroke and without indication for anticoagulation based on clinical and electrocardiographic or TTE data were included in the study. Findings indicating anticoagulation as benefi cial were found in 32.1%: spontaneous echo contrast (1.2%), complex aortic atheroma (27.4%), thrombus (8.3%), and simultaneous patent foramen ovale and atrial septal aneurysm (2.4%). Conclusions:The results of our study show that TEE can have therapy implications in 32.1% of ischemic stroke patients in sinus rhythm and with TTE with no indication for anticoagulation.

Background: Sports athletes, namely high-intensity practitioners, suffer from vascular remodeling overtime. The purpose of this study was to analyze the systolic and diastolic velocities’ variation between non-athletes and futsal athletes by means of arterial lower limb doppler ultrasound. Additionally, we intended to verify if the velocity variations occur primarily at the systolic or the diastolic level and in which arteries. Methods: Seventy-six young males (mean ± SD: 24.9 ± 2.8 years old) volunteered to participate in this cross-sectional study and were divided into two groups: a futsal athletes group (n = 38; 24 ± 2.78 years) in the central region of Portugal playing on the 2nd national league with the same level of practice (16 ± 2.4 years of practice) and a non-athletes group (n = 38: 26 ± 1.8 years) who did not practice sports regularly and were not federated in any sport. All the subjects agreed to participate in the study with the aim of assessing the arterial lower limb through doppler ultrasound (Philips HD7 echograph with linear transducer 7–12 MHz). Results: Differences between groups (p ≤ 0.05) in the systolic velocity of the left deep femoral artery (p = 0.022; d = 0.546, small) and in the right superficial femoral artery (p = 0.028; d = −0.515, small) were found. We also found differences in the diastolic velocity: in the left common femoral artery (p = 0.002; d = −0.748, moderate), in the right deep femoral artery (p = 0.028; d = −0.521, small), in the right superficial femoral artery (p = 0.026; d = −0.522, small), in the right popliteal artery (p = 0.002; d = −0.763, moderate), and in the left popliteal artery (p = 0.007; d = −0.655, moderate). Moreover, the athletes’ group presented the highest mean values, with the exception of the systolic velocity of the left deep femoral artery. In intragroup analysis of variance referring to systolic and diastolic velocities in arterial levels in the right and left arteries, differences were found in all analyses (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: We conclude that futsal athletes of our sample go through a process of changes such as increased blood flow velocity in systolic and diastolic cardiac phase in all studied lower limb arteries, showing that the remodeling occurs regardless of vessel radius. Our results reinforce the existence of vascular remodeling that may vary with the sport and its intensity.

The objective of this article was to describe and validate psychometric properties of a Likert-type scale to assess the perception of equity in health care, characterize equity in health care of users in the district of Vila Real, and analyze the factors that determine equity in health care in the district of Vila Real. The study was developed in a district of the northern interior of Portugal, with 6,113 participants. We resorted to Cronbach's alpha and also Pearson's correlation to validate the scale. The Cronbach's alpha of the scale is adequate, showing a good internal consistency, and the most appointed factors as being influential on equity are age, geographical distance, and socioeconomic resources. The proposed scale was found to perform well, measuring these participants' perception on the equity to access in health care, which can contribute to identify the key determinants appointed by the population as generators of inequity, leading to the implementation of measures.