Isabel Costa

Eurocity Chaves-Verín: Regional Development Strengthened by Spa-Linked Research and Professional Education

The Galicia–North Portugal Euroregion boasts the highest number of hot springs of any area on the Iberian Peninsula. This chapter highlights how two bordering towns gifted with about a dozen of mineral hot water springs–Chaves in northern Portugal, and Verin in southern Galicia–started to work together on a more intensive basis and joined to create the Eurocity Chaves-Verin (ECV), in 2007. In 2008 the strategic plan privileged water as a catalyst for regional development and adopted the brand name “Eurocity of Water”. It is our aim, then, to perceive the role of water in the programs/projects in and around ECV, either with public or private funding. Drawing on an analysis of the ECV website, as well as programs and projects operating in the ECV territory, we conclude that water is central in many of these programs/projects, and that it has a unifying and sustainable role in the region, as it joins not only endogenous resources and health and spa services with tourism, but also research and professional education. Strengthening the cluster education/research to promote the sustainability of water-projects seems to be a distinctive feature of ECV, in line with strategic trends in Europe and specifically in the Eixo Atlântico and the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion.

El enoturismo como promotor de la sostenibilidad de la actividad turística regional: el proyecto de la “Casa del Vino” de Valpaços

Este articulo es resultado de un trabajo de investigacion desarrollado por cuatro investigadoresdel Centro de Estudios Transdisciplinarios para el Desarrollo (CETRAD), de la Universidadde Tras-os-Montes y Alto Duero. El texto presenta un resumen del proyecto presentado parala implementacion de la Casa del Vino de Valpacos, considerada como una apuesta por el desarrollodel enoturismo en la zona interior norte de Portugal. Esta es un area que se proponecontemplar diferentes valencias -desarrollo economico, cultural, educativo, turistico- para asisuperar ampliamente el concepto tradicional de museo, a la busqueda de constituir una experienciavariada e interactiva para sus visitantes.

OC37.03: Routine use of ultrasound guided curettage for incomplete abortion or missed abortion—five years experience

Objective: To identify ultrasound measurements which are the best predictors of the presence of retained products of conception (RPOC) within the uterine cavity in women with clinical suspicion of incomplete miscarriage. Methods: This was a prospective study of 200 women with a diagnosis of incomplete miscarriage who were referred for surgical evacuation. All women had a positive urine pregnancy test, and ultrasound findings suggestive of RPOC. The indication for intervention was heavy vaginal bleeding or continuous symptoms following ≥ 7 days of expectant management. The endometrial thickness and the volume of RPOC (D1 × D2 × D3 × 0.532) were measured preoperatively. The final diagnosis of incomplete miscarriage was based on histopathologic evidence of chorionic villi in the surgical specimen. Results: 189 (94.5%) women had evidence of chorionic villi on histology whilst decidua was only found in the remaining 11 (5.5%) women. On multiple logistic regression analysis the best discriminator between RPOC and decidua was endometrial volume, whilst the endometrial thickness was not statistically significant. Using a cut off level ≥ 1 ml the odds of tissue representing chorionic villi were 137 (95% CI 24 to 778). Conclusion: The measurement of endometrial volume on ultrasound scan is a better test to diagnose incomplete miscarriage than endometrial thickness.