Prevention of ""Risky"" drinking among students at a Brazilian University

Aim: The aim of this paper was to compare the quantity and frequency of alcohol use and its associated negative consequences between two groups of college students who were identified as being ""risky drinkers."" Subjects were randomly allocated in a clinical trial to intervention or control groups. Methods: Risky drinking use was defined as Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) >= 8 and/or Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI) >= 5 problems in the previous year. Students who had undergone the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) (N = 145 at baseline; 142 at 12 months, and 103 at 24 months, loss of 29.7%) were compared with a control group (N = 121 at baseline; 121 at 12 months and 113 at 24 months, loss of 9.3%), the nonintervention group. Variables included drinking frequency, quantity and peak consumption, dependence assessment, and family and friends` abuse assessment. Results: Treated students at a 24-month follow-up decreased quantity of alcohol use per occasion and lowered AUDIT and RAPI scores. Conclusions: This is the first brief intervention work on risky drinking with college students in Brazil and the results are encouraging. However, it is difficult to conduct individual prevention strategies in a country where culture fosters heavy drinking through poor public policy on alcohol and lack of law enforcement.

Mentors, students, and the undergraduate medical course: a virtuous circle

BACKGROUND: Mentoring Programs have been developed in several medical schools, but few studies have investigated the mentors'perspective. PURPOSES: To explore mentors'perceptions regarding their experience. METHODS: Mentors at a medical school were invited to participate in an in-depth interview including questions on satisfaction, difficulties, and perception of changes resulting from the program. RESULTS: Mentors' satisfaction and difficulties are strongly associated with students'involvement in the activity. Mentors believe changes observed in students were more related to life issues; for some mentors, there is no recognition or awareness of the program. However, most of the mentors acknowledged important changes in relation to themselves: as teachers, faculty members, and individuals. CONCLUSION: Attendance is crucial for both the mentoring relationship and strengthening of the program. Students involved in the activity motivate mentors in teaching and curriculum development, thereby creating a virtuous circle and benefiting undergraduate medical education as a whole.

Conteúdos de biologia em vestibulares seriados

A adoção de novos processos seletivos para o acesso de alunos às universidades só foi possível com a promulgação da Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional n. 9.394/96. O vestibular seriado é uma dessas propostas alternativas, que prevê uma avaliação sistemática dos alunos ao término de cada ano do ensino médio. O propósito deste estudo foi caracterizar o vestibular seriado, hoje presente em 22 instituições públicas, quanto ao seu objetivo, estilos de avaliação e conteúdos da disciplina de Biologia distribuídos nos módulos referentes às três séries do ensino médio. Averiguamos que os diferentes programas analisados não apresentam uniformidade em diversos aspectos, tais como número de vagas, estrutura de avaliação e conteúdo programático. Verificamos, ainda, a ausência de consenso sobre a sequência a ser adotada para o ensino de Biologia e a resultante restrição para que o aluno possa preparar-se para as provas seriadas em mais de uma instituição.

Drug consumption among medical students in São Paulo, Brazil: influences of gender and academic year

OBJECTIVE: To analyze alcohol, tobacco and other drug use among medical students. METHOD: Over a five-year period (1996-2001), we evaluated 457 students at the Universidade de São Paulo School of Medicine, located in São Paulo, Brazil. The students participated by filling out an anonymous questionnaire on drug use (lifetime, previous 12 months and previous 30 days). The influence that gender and academic year have on drug use was also analyzed. RESULTS: During the study period, there was an increase in the use of illicit drugs, especially inhalants and amphetamines, among the medical students evaluated. Drug use (except that of marijuana and inhalants) was comparable between the genders, and academic year was an important influencing factor. DISCUSSION: Increased inhalant use was observed among the medical students, especially among males and students in the early undergraduate years. This is suggestive of a specific behavioral pattern among medical students. Our findings corroborate those of previous studies. CONCLUSION: Inhalant use is on the rise among medical students at the Universidade de São Paulo School of Medicine. Because of the negative health effects of illicit drug use, further studies are needed in order to deepen the understanding of this phenomenon and to facilitate the development of preventive measures.

Factors associated with depression symptoms in high school students in São Paulo, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To assess factors associated with depression symptoms in high school students. METHODS: A cross-sectional study involving high school students was conducted in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, 2001. A total of 724 students aged 14-18 years answered questionnaires on life and health conditions. Another questionnaire was applied to working (44.8%) and unemployed (22.9%) students to collect information on working conditions. Factors associated to depressive disorders were analyzed using multiple logistic regression controlled for occupational status. RESULTS: Overall prevalence rate of depression was 7.5%. Rates according to gender were 39 (10.3%) in females and 15 (4.3%) in males. The multiple logistic regression analysis showed that factors associated with depressive disorders were: poor self-perception of health (OR=5.78), being female (OR = 2.45), and alcohol consumption (OR=2.35). CONCLUSIONS: The study results showed that sociodemographic, lifestyle and health variables were associated with symptoms of depression in this population. These ndings suggest that it is important to have mental health professionals available in high schools for early detection of mental conditions and student counseling.

Work and excessive sleepiness among Brazilian evening high school students: effects on days off

Previous studies have revealed that students who work and study build up sleep deficits during the wrkweek, which can trigger a sleep rebound during days off. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of working on sleepiness during days off working / non-working on sleepiness days off among high school students. The study population, aged 14-21 years, attended evening classes in São Paulo, Brazil. For the study, the students completed questionaires on living conditions, health, and work; wore actigraphs; and completed the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). To predict sleepiness, a logistic regression analysis was performed. Excessive sleepiness was observed on the first day off among working students. Results suggest that working is a significant predictor for sleepiness and that two shifts of daily systematic activities, study and work, might lead to excessive daytime sleepiness on the first day off. Further, this observed excessive sleepiness may reflect the sleep debt accumulated during the workweek

Methods and Participant Characteristics of a Randomized Intervention to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Eating Among Brazilian High School Students: The Saude na Boa Project

Background: A cross-cultural, randomized study was proposed to observe the effects of a school-based intervention designed to promote physical activity and healthy eating among high school students in 2 cities from different regions in Brazil: Recife and Florianopolis. The objective of this article is to describe the methodology and subjects enrolled in the project. Methods: Ten schools from each region were matched and randomized into intervention and control conditions. A questionnaire and anthropometry were used to collect data in the first and last month of the 2006 school year. The sample (n = 2155 at baseline; 55.7% females; 49.1% in the experimental group) included students 15 to 24 years, attending nighttime classes. The intervention focused on simple environmental/organizational changes, diet and physical activity education, and personnel training. Results: The central aspects of the intervention have been implemented in all 10 intervention schools. Problems during the intervention included teachers' strikes in both sites and lack of involvement of the canteen owners in schools. Conclusions: The Saude no Boa study provides evidence that public high schools in Brazil represent an important environment for health promotion. Its design and simple measurements increase the chances of it being sustained and disseminated to similar schools in Brazil.

Effectiveness of a School-Based Intervention on Physical Activity for High School Students in Brazil: The Saude na Boa Project

Background: We evaluated the effectiveness of a school-based intervention on the promotion of physical activity among high school students in Brazil: the Saude no Boa project. Methods: A school-based, randomized trial was carried out in 2 Brazilian cities: Recife (northeast) and Florianopolis (south). Ten schools in each city were matched by size and location, and randomized into intervention or control groups. The intervention included environmental/organizational changes, physical activity education, and personnel training and engagement. Students age 15 to 24 years were evaluated at baseline and 9 months later (end of school year). Results: Although similar at baseline, after the intervention, the control group reported significantly fewer d/wk accumulating 60 minutes+ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in comparison with the intervention group (2.6 versus 3.3, P < .001). The prevalence of inactivity (0 days per week) rose in the control and decreased in the intervention group. The odds ratio for engaging at least once per week in physical activity associated with the intervention was 1.83 (95% CI = 1.24-2.71) in the unadjusted analysis and 1.88 (95% CI = 1.27-2.79) after controlling for gender. Conclusion: The Saude no Boa intervention was effective at reducing the prevalence of physical inactivity. The possibility of expanding the intervention to other locations should be considered.

Students' collective knowledge construction in the virtual learning environment ""ToLigado - your school interactive newspaper""

Introduction. The ToLigado Project - Your School Interactive Newspaper is an interactive virtual learning environment conceived, developed, implemented and supported by researchers at the School of the Future Research Laboratory of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Method. This virtual learning environment aims to motivate trans-disciplinary research among public school students and teachers in 2,931 schools equipped with Internet-access computer rooms. Within this virtual community, students produce collective multimedia research documents that are immediately published in the portal. The project also aims to increase students' autonomy for research, collaborative work and Web authorship. Main sections of the portal are presented and described. Results. Partial results of the first two years' implementation are presented and indicate a strong motivation among students to produce knowledge despite the fragile hardware and software infrastructure at the time. Discussion. In this new environment, students should be seen as 'knowledge architects' and teachers as facilitators, or 'curiosity managers'. The ToLigado portal may constitute a repository for future studies regarding student attitudes in virtual learning environments, students' behaviour as 'authors', Web authorship involving collective knowledge production, teachers' behaviour as facilitators, and virtual learning environments as digital repositories of students' knowledge construction and social capital in virtual learning communities.

Oral Health Promotion Through an Online Training Program for Medical Students

The objective of this study was to compare the impact on knowledge and counseling skills of face-to-face and Internet-based oral health training programs on medical students. Participants consisted of 148 (82 percent) of the 180 invited students attending their fifth academic year at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, Brasil, in 2007. The interventions took place during a three-month training period in the clinical Center for Health Promotion, which comprised part of a clerkship in Internal Medicine. The students were divided into four groups: 1) Control Group (Control), with basic intervention; 2) Brochure Group (Br), with basic intervention plus complete brochure with oral health themes; 3) Cybertutor Group (Cy), with basic intervention plus access to an Internet-based training program about oral health themes; and 4) Cybertutor + Contact Group (Cy+C), the same as Cy plus brief proactive contact with a tutor. The impact of these interventions on student knowledge was measured with pre- and post assessments, and student skills in asking and counseling about oral health were assessed with an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Multivariate logistic regression models were applied to identify the odds ratios of scoring above Control's medians on the final assessment and the OSCE. In the results, Cy+C performed significantly better than Control on both the final assessment (OR 9.4; 95% CI 2.7-32.8) and the OSCE (OR 5.6; 95% CI 1.9-16.3) and outperformed all the other groups. The Cy+C group showed the most significant increase in knowledge and the best skills in asking and counseling about oral health.

The characteristics of depressive symptoms in medical students during medical education and training: a cross-sectional study

Background: Medical education and training can contribute to the development of depressive symptoms that might lead to possible academic and professional consequences. We aimed to investigate the characteristics of depressive symptoms among 481 medical students (79.8% of the total who matriculated). Methods: The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and cluster analyses were used in order to better describe the characteristics of depressive symptoms. Medical education and training in Brazil is divided into basic (1(st) and 2(nd) years), intermediate (3(rd) and 4(th) years), and internship (5(th) and 6(th) years) periods. The study organized each item from the BDI into the following three clusters: affective, cognitive, and somatic. Statistical analyses were performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc Tukey corrected for multiple comparisons. Results: There were 184 (38.2%) students with depressive symptoms (BDI > 9). The internship period resulted in the highest BDI scores in comparison to both the basic (p < .001) and intermediate (p < .001) periods. Affective, cognitive, and somatic clusters were significantly higher in the internship period. An exploratory analysis of possible risk factors showed that females (p = .020) not having a parent who practiced medicine (p = .016), and the internship period (p = .001) were factors for the development of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence towards depressive symptoms among medical students, particularly females, in the internship level, mainly involving the somatic and affective clusters, and not having a parent who practiced medicine. The active assessment of these students in evaluating their depressive symptoms is important in order to prevent the development of co-morbidities and suicide risk.

Evaluation of gastrointestinal motility in awake rats: a learning exercise for undergraduate biomedical students

Souza MA, Souza MH, Palheta RC Jr, Cruz PR, Medeiros BA, Rola FH, Magalhaes PJ, Troncon LE, Santos AA. Evaluation of gastrointestinal motility in awake rats: a learning exercise for undergraduate biomedical students. Adv Physiol Educ 33: 343-348, 2009; doi: 10.1152/advan.90176.2008.-Current medical curricula devote scarce time for practical activities on digestive physiology, despite frequent misconceptions about dyspepsia and dysmotility phenomena. Thus, we designed a hands-on activity followed by a small-group discussion on gut motility. Male awake rats were randomly submitted to insulin, control, or hypertonic protocols. Insulin and control rats were gavage fed with 5% glucose solution, whereas hypertonic-fed rats were gavage fed with 50% glucose solution. Insulin treatment was performed 30 min before a meal. All meals (1.5 ml) contained an equal mass of phenol red dye. After 10, 15, or 20 min of meal gavage, rats were euthanized. Each subset consisted of six to eight rats. Dye recovery in the stomach and proximal, middle, and distal small intestine was measured by spectrophotometry, a safe and reliable method that can be performed by minimally trained students. In a separate group of rats, we used the same protocols except that the test meal contained (99m)Tc as a marker. Compared with control, the hypertonic meal delayed gastric emptying and gastrointestinal transit, whereas insulinic hypoglycemia accelerated them. The session helped engage our undergraduate students in observing and analyzing gut motor behavior. In conclusion, the fractional dye retention test can be used as a teaching tool to strengthen the understanding of basic physiopathological features of gastrointestinal motility.

Power-law creep behavior of a semiflexible chain

Rheological properties of adherent cells are essential for their physiological functions, and microrheological measurements on living cells have shown that their viscoelastic responses follow a weak power law over a wide range of time scales. This power law is also influenced by mechanical prestress borne by the cytoskeleton, suggesting that cytoskeletal prestress determines the cell's viscoelasticity, but the biophysical origins of this behavior are largely unknown. We have recently developed a stochastic two-dimensional model of an elastically joined chain that links the power-law rheology to the prestress. Here we use a similar approach to study the creep response of a prestressed three-dimensional elastically jointed chain as a viscoelastic model of semiflexible polymers that comprise the prestressed cytoskeletal lattice. Using a Monte Carlo based algorithm, we show that numerical simulations of the chain's creep behavior closely correspond to the behavior observed experimentally in living cells. The power-law creep behavior results from a finite-speed propagation of free energy from the chain's end points toward the center of the chain in response to an externally applied stretching force. The property that links the power law to the prestress is the chain's stiffening with increasing prestress, which originates from entropic and enthalpic contributions. These results indicate that the essential features of cellular rheology can be explained by the viscoelastic behaviors of individual semiflexible polymers of the cytoskeleton.

Precise determination of quantum critical points by the violation of the entropic area law

Finite-size scaling analysis turns out to be a powerful tool to calculate the phase diagram as well as the critical properties of two-dimensional classical statistical mechanics models and quantum Hamiltonians in one dimension. The most used method to locate quantum critical points is the so-called crossing method, where the estimates are obtained by comparing the mass gaps of two distinct lattice sizes. The success of this method is due to its simplicity and the ability to provide accurate results even considering relatively small lattice sizes. In this paper, we introduce an estimator that locates quantum critical points by exploring the known distinct behavior of the entanglement entropy in critical and noncritical systems. As a benchmark test, we use this new estimator to locate the critical point of the quantum Ising chain and the critical line of the spin-1 Blume-Capel quantum chain. The tricritical point of this last model is also obtained. Comparison with the standard crossing method is also presented. The method we propose is simple to implement in practice, particularly in density matrix renormalization group calculations, and provides us, like the crossing method, amazingly accurate results for quite small lattice sizes. Our applications show that the proposed method has several advantages, as compared with the standard crossing method, and we believe it will become popular in future numerical studies.