Iodine Status and Iodised Salt Consumption in Portuguese School-Aged Children: The Iogeneration Study.

The World Health Organization promotes salt iodisation to control iodine deficiency. In Portugal, the use of iodised salt in school canteens has been mandatory since 2013. The present study aimed to evaluate iodine status in school-aged children (6-12 years) and to monitor the use of iodised salt in school canteens. A total of 2018 participants were randomly selected to participate in a cross-sectional survey in northern Portugal. Children's urine and salt samples from households and school canteens were collected. A lifestyle questionnaire was completed by parents to assess children's eating frequency of iodine food sources. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The median UIC was 129 µg/L which indicates the adequacy of iodine status and 32% of the children had UIC < 100 µg/L. No school canteen implemented the iodised salt policy and only 2% of the households were using iodised salt. Lower consumption of milk, but not fish, was associated with a higher risk of iodine deficiency. Estimation of sodium intake from spot urine samples could be an opportunity for adequate monitoring of population means. Implementation of iodine deficiency control policies should include a monitoring program aligned with the commitment of reducing the population salt intake.

[Transsexualism: evaluation of two post-operative transsexuals]. / Transsexualismo: Avaliação de dois transsexuais após operação.

Transsexualism refers to the conviction of belonging to one sex in individuals born with normal sexual characteristics of the other biological sex. The hormonal-surgical treatment of this population has proliferated throughout the past decades and is recent in Portugal. The irreversibility of the sex-reassignment surgery and the lack of knowledge still surrounding transsexualism raises questions that require research in this area. This paper describes a rare-case occurrence of two transsexual brothers who received hormonal-surgical treatment. The evaluation of the treatment is generally very positive, both from the medical and the subjects' points of view. It is only partially positive in terms of personal and social life in the new sex (e.g., reported sensations, humour, social acceptance and success). The individuals' profiles correspond to potentially positive prognostics, and the results suggest that this treatment may have been adequate for these two cases. Future follow-up studies are nevertheless necessary.