Avaliação do padrão do ciclo sono-vigília e a cognição em estudantes de medicina com diferentes esquemas de horários de aulas

The sleep patterns of students entering the university, is accompanied by many factors that can lead to changes in sleep habits, such as academic demands, new social opportunities, reduced parental care and irregular teaching schedules. The irregular pattern of sleep-wake cycle is usually accompanied by several daytime consequences, for example, reduced levels of motivation, performance, concentration, alertness and mood as well as increased fatigue and sleepiness.Thus, there are numerous reasons to support the fact that these students may suffer damage in their academic performance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sleep-wake cycle (SWC) and cognition in medical students with different schemes teaching schedules. One group started classes at 08am, while the other started at 07am. We analyzed the data from 88 volunteers, 39 from each group. However, only those who participated in both stages of the study (n = 78) underwent cognitive testing. For subjective evaluation of the SWC was used questionnaires to check the quality of sleep, chronotype, daytime sleepiness and sleep habits. For objective evaluation was used actigraphy. For cognitive assessment was used the test MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment). The results indicate that the group has class earlier had a greater irregularity of the SWC and a worse performance in cognitive testing. There was a difference between the schedules the week and weekend in the subjective variables, bedtime, wake up and sleep duration in both groups. The objective variables, time in bed showed difference between the schedules the week and weekend to the group started class at 08am and the variables bedtime, get up time, actual sleep time, time in bed and wake bouts in the class at 07am. In the cognitive test, there were differences between the groups in overall score and in the areas of executive function and memory recall. Thus, it is suggested that the class starting time may cause irregularity of the SWC and the irregularity may cause mild cognitive impairment. Moreover, cognitive testing MoCA was sensitive to detect differences among students, although the difference between the schedules is small

Relação entre o ciclo sono e vigília e a função cardiorrespiratória em estudantes de medicina

Students, normally, present an irregular sleep pattern characterized by delays in sleep onset and offset from weekdays to weekends, short sleep duration on weekdays and long sleep duration on weekends. The reduction of the necessary sleep and the irregularity in the sleep patterns provoke relevant short- and long-term impairments on performances, for example, in cardiorespiratory function. The cardiorespiratory performance represents, in addition to fitness, traces associated to health conditions and in several studies to pattern and/or individual s sleep quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pattern of the sleep-wake cycle and the cardiorespiratory function of medical students under different class schedules. The study was accomplished with two classes of medical students of UFRN, one had classes at 7 am (n = 47) and the second had classes at 8 am (n = 41) during the week. On the first stage of the study all volunteers filled out an anamnesis, the International Physical Activity questionnaire, the Pittsburgh index of sleep quality, the Portuguese version of the Horne and Östberg cronotype questionnaire, the Health and Sleep questionnaire and the Epworth Scale of Somnolence (ESS). On the second stage, 24 students (12 of each class) had their activity rhythm monitored by actimeters set to record activity at a 2-min interval for 14 days concomitant to the completion of the sleep diary. In this same stage, each volunteer performed the effort test (treadmill) only once in the morning period (between 9:00 and 11:00). The students showed an irregular pattern of the sleep-wake cycle and this irregularity is strongly influenced by the class schedules, in addition to the contribution of the academic demand, social activities and endogenous factors. The students who woke up earlier showed greater irregularity in the sleep-wake pattern. The earlier was the class schedule the worse was the sleep quality and the greater was the frequency of students with excessive diurnal somnolence. The classes schedules and the irregular pattern of the sleep-wake cycle did not show effect on the cardiorespiratory performance of the medical students. The performance on the test seems to be affected by other factors, which can be related to the pattern of the sleep-wake cycle or not. Therefore, it is suggested that the late start of classes provokes less irregularity on the pattern of the sleep-wake cycle. However, it was observed that this irregularity and the class schedule seem not to affect the cardiorespiratory performance directly

A relação de amizade nas redes sociais de estudantes universitários de Natal/RN

The basis of sociability in humans is based on cooperation. The relationship of friendship is vital to the social, emotional and cognitive development of an individual and can be understood as a consequence of selection for reciprocal altruism in humans. The period of adulthood is considered very suitable and appropriate for the investigation of the relations of friendship, but the Brazilian literature on friendship in adults is still nascent. Therefore, the objective was to characterize the relationship of friendship among college students. The study gathered 500 students from higher education institutions in the city of Natal-RN, Brazil, and 250 women (average age 24.1 ± 7.66 years) and 250 men (mean age 26.77 ± 9.64 years). Two questionnaires anonymously and individual were applied: a sociodemographic questionnaire and the other with the desired characteristics in idealized friends. Study 1 assessed the degree of importance of characteristics in the process of choosing a friend of the same sex and opposite sex of the participant. Study 2 investigated the relationship between patterns of idealization of friends and self-assessment of participants. Overall, were the preferred characteristics "Companionship" and "Sincerity" to idealized friends. We also found the influence of sex on the characteristics attributed to an female ideal friend, with emphasis on men for "Beauty/Good looks" and "Intelligence" and women to "Companionship" and "Sincerity". Finally, we observed a positive correlation between participants' self-assessment and preferences for the characteristics of the friends devised. This study revealed important elements for understanding the relationship of friendship, specifically the process of choosing friends. The results reinforce the importance of studying the relationship of friendship to a better understanding of human social behavior.

Estampa temporal na memória de reconhecimento em estudantes universitários

Several studies have shown that there is a circadian modulation of explicit memory. This modulation can occur independently in each one of the mnemonic processes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of time of training on short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM), using a recognition task. Moreover, a possible circadian modulation in retrieving was investigated when this process matched the acquisition hour (time stamp). The chronotype variable was also considered. Fifty-seven undergraduate students aging between 18 and 25 years (21,72 ± 2,14; 28 ♂) participated in this study. In the training phase (acquisition) the subjects heard a ten word list. Following this, they answered a recognition test to evaluate STM and one week later they answered a recognition test to evaluate LTM. In each chronotype, the subjects were divided in groups according to the training hour, part of them in the morning and the other in the afternoon. One week later some of the subjects in each group underwent LTM testing in the morning and others in the afternoon. When the subjects performances were analyzed together, independently of the chronotypes, a training hour effect was found in the LTM. The subjects trained in the afternoon had better performance. No time of day effect was found in the STM and in retrieving from the LTM. However, the morning types who were trained and tested in the same hour had a better performance in the LTM when compared to morning types trained and tested in different hours. This effect did not occur when the other chronotypes were analyzed. The circadian modulation seems to occur at least in two different ways. First, there is a circadian modulation in the acquisition/consolidation processes, with a better performance occuring in the afternoon. Secondly, there is a modulation in the retrieval mnemonic process, called time stamp phenomenon. This phenomenon, that occurred in the morning types, is showed for the first time in humans

Cuidado ambiental em tempos de sustentabilidade: explorando dimensões da conduta sustentável com estudantes universitários

The pro-ecological commitment (CPE) constitutes an important topic within Person- Environment Studies, here seen as a predisposition to practices that result in environmental protection. Under the framework of sustainability, the concept of sustainable behavior emerges, covering, in addition to CPE, new psychological dimensions such as: the future time perspective (PTF) and the ecological worldviews (VEM). The current study intended to explore the concept of sustainable behavior of university students, by means of the association among some of its dimensions: CPE, PTF and VEM. For this purpose, 380 undergraduate students of biology, ecology, nursing, geography, and social service answered a form containing: socio-demographic questionnaire, a question on self-assessment of environmental care, the Scale of Ecocentric and Anthropocentric Environmentalisms, the Scale Consideration of Future Consequences, and the Scale Ecological Worldviews. Based on descriptive and correlational procedures, it was found that 78% of the participants practice or have practiced environmental care (caregivers) and the spread of information has been the practice more frequently reported, and the source of influence for such practices were the school, social networks, and the contact with nature It was also observed the association between practice of environmental care and ecocentric environmentalism, consideration of future consequences and egalitarian worldview (worldview of fragile nature). The lack of environmental care was associated with anthropocentric environmentalism, apathy, and individualistic worldview (worldview of passivity). As expected, and suggested by the literature, positive association were found between the sustainable behavior dimensions investigated in this study and the practice of environmental care

Rendimento acadêmico e sua relação com os estilos de personalidade de estudantes universitários

One of the Psychology challenges, especially among the assessment and educational areas, is to understand and predict individual differences. In this context, this research aimed to verify the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance. The study included 236 university students from Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA campus of the UNIVASF (Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco). They were uniformly distributed in four disciplines (medicine, psychology, administration and civil engineering), 10 students from each semester (five highest scores average students and five lowest scores average students) took place of the sample. The Millon Index Personality Styles (MIPS) was applied to analyze the personality/behavioral styles of the students. The MIPS is a 180 dichotomous (true/false) item scale. It was also developed and applied a questionnaire about the students characteristics and their academic information. Descriptive and central tendency statistics analysis (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) were done to provide sample information. Then we performed a Mann-Whitney test in the overall sample and in each course and a factorial ANOVA. The results suggest that the university population is heterogeneous and there are significant differences (p <0.05) between the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance, when analyzing the overall sample and in courses of different areas of knowledge. Students of Medicine who have higher performance as personality styles prevalent the conformism and compliance, while students with lower income in this course, the styles are: innovation and discrepancy. Psychology students with higher income are more systematic and lower income students to score significantly on accommodation. The civil engineering students of the two groups differed only in personality style intuition, being such a style more characteristic of higher income students. Students of Management with higher yield stand out more in the style of the doubt and lower yields in these styles: individual, reflection and discrepancy. This study is correlational, but had an exploratory nature because there are no studies about this relationship in Brazil. Therefore, it provided a better understanding of the action characteristics of students with high and low academic performance. Further studies using the Big Five Personality Factors instruments are required because it is the most used model in understanding the influence of personality on students performance. This way, the relation between personality and academic performance will be better discussed. Otherwise, it will be possible to compare with the existing studies in the area

Estratégias de aprendizagem utilizadas por estudantes cegos

Learning strategies can be understood as a planned sequence of procedures or activities, selected in order to facilitate the acquisition, storage and use of information. Although important to the learning process, the knowledge on these strategies is still insufficient, especially with regard to students with visual impairments. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize learning strategies used by blind and sighted students, registered in elementary education in schools and special institutions. Were participants 23 teachers, male and female, aged between 26 and 51 years, and 102 students, of whom 25 were blind and 77 seers, of both genders, registered on the 3rd to the 9th grade of elementary school, aged 7 to 16 years old. The instruments used were: field diary (students and teachers); structured questionnaire (teachers); sociodemographic questionnaire, interview and Assessment Scale of Learning Strategies for Elementary School (students). Initially were made observations in the classroom and the teachers received the questionnaires, with instructions for completion. Then were made the interviews with blind students and the scale was administered with these and with the seers. All instruments were administered individually. We conducted content analysis of the questionnaires with teachers and the interviews with blind students. The scale of strategies and sociodemographic questionnaire were analyzed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics. It was noticed that the blind students use few learning strategies in the classroom, regardless of city, series, sex or age. It was found that teachers didn t receive training to deal with blind students, either during graduation or after have completed it, in such a way that few of them were able to inform about the learning strategies the students use, and demonstrated low ability to deal with these inefficiencies. It was also found that the blind and the sighted use cognitive and metacognitive strategies during learning, but those used by the blind seem to be more basic, low complexity, given that the seers have achieved higher scores on all subscales. We conclude that the repertoire of learning strategies for blind students is inflexible, requiring increments so that they can achieve significant results. It is important that teachers receive training to understand the learning strategies and how they positively influence learning

Dados normativos do teste de atenção por cancelamento em estudantes de Natal/RN

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Problemas de aprendizagem sobre ligações químicas para estudantes de graduação

This research aims at identifying the learning problems in newly undergraduate students at university, interpreting the nature and causes of these problems, offering subsidies to overcome these difficulties and enabling a meaningful learning through which students give meaning to their learning. As an object for this work was chosen the theme Chemical Bonds - where were studied the forces between atoms to form molecules, compound ions and ionic crystalline structures - and is characterized as one of the most important subjects of Chemistry. In research, it was used a questionnaire with five open questions, answered by 147 students from the early periods of degrees in Chemistry at Universidade Federal do f Rio Grande do Norte. The answers revealed uncertainty on the part of students, both conceptual and representation, with superficial justifications, always using the octet rule to describe models of chemical bonds. Results suggest that these students had inadequate training in high school and that the examinations for entrance into the ranks were made according to flexible criteria less demanding in terms of knowledge. These observations have led to the conclusion that for future changes, it is necessary for high schools and in the early periods in universities favoring the adoption of pedagogical approaches in context and applying strategies to overcome the teaching of superficial memorization on Chemical Bonds, which probably have applied to the teaching of other subjects of chemistry

Prevalência da disfunção temporomandibular em estudantes de odontologia por meio de diferentes índices

The epidemiology of temporomandibular disorders varies widely in the literature. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of TMD in dental students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte assessed by different indexes. The sample consisted of 101 individuals selected by a randomized process, whose general outline was systematic sampling. For evaluation of the signs and symptoms of TMD, an anamnestic index, Fonseca s protocol, and two clinical indexes, the RDC/TMD (Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders), or standard index, and the Helkimo s Clinical Dysfunction Index were applied. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test and kappa, besides verifying the sensitivity and specificity (5% significance). The diagnosis of TMD by different indexes showed a variation in the prevalence between 72.3% (Helkimo s Clinical index), 64.4% (Fonseca s anamnestic index) and 35.6% (RDC/TMD). There was no statistical difference between the sexes for the RDC/TMD, although this difference was found for Fonseca s and Helkimo s indexes (p<0.05). The most frequent type of TMD were joint disorders (Groups II and III), and the subtypes disc displacement with reduction (17.8%) and arthralgia (15.8%). Most individuals showed a mild TMD (45.5%) for both indexes, Fonseca and Helkimo. When comparing the types of diagnoses, RDC/TMD with Fonseca and Helkimo, low agreement was found (k=0.17 and k= 0.35, respectively). A moderate correlation between the severity of TMD was obtained (kw= 0.53) for Fonseca s protocol and Helkimo s index. High sensitivity and low specificity were seen for both diagnoses compared to standard, resulting in excessive false positives. Within the limitations of the study, it was concluded that the prevalence of TMD can vary widely, depending on the index used for its diagnosis

PET-saúde na percepção de estudantes: contribuições para a formação na área de saúde

This dissertation aimed to analyze the perception of students about (EPW Health) Education Program at Work for Health Training in the area of Health. It discusses the proposed theme from the perception of students graduating from the EPW- Health courses participants (dentistry, medicine, physiotherapy, nursing, nutrition, physical education) who have developed their school activities in family health units in the city of João Pessoa between 2009/2011.The program aims policies curricular changes as a potential route of contributions to training in healthcare. Attention is drawn to the new possibilities of working health training contextualized, ethically grounded, socially endorsed. It is pointed out in this process the need to adapt to the demands of professional profiles of SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde). This is an exploratory, descriptive study within a qualitative approach, conducted in the city of João Pessoa in the context of health care courses at the Federal University of Paraiba. The empirical material of this study was treated by the use of technical analysis "Categorical Content Theme" by Bardin. The results indicate prospects for promoting new practices and curricular changes, which highlights the EPW- Health, which has been presenting important experiences in teaching -community -service- with the inclusion of students in the municipal health network. We conclude that the path from collection to data analysis, corroborated with the literature to reaffirm the importance and urgency of change in educational processes with a view to greater proximity to the health needs and the SUS. The EPW- Health project is incipient and requires further investigation in terms of effective interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary character of its proposal

O consumo de álcool entre os adolescentes estudantes de escolar privadas católicas de Natal-RN

This study has an object the understanding of the alcohol phenomenon consumption that occurs among teenagers. It is adopted as research locus catholic private schools of Natal - RN, which receive pupils proceeding from the social groups pertaining to the classes taken from Natal private schools. The researched public corresponds to 87 teenagers, who had answered to a mixing questionnaire, with open and closed questions. The research uses as a procedure the intentional election, which for the access easinesses privileges subjects who, at the moment of the research accomplishment, reveal to be in condition to participate of it. The study presents quantitative and qualitative character. It presents the following objectives: 1-Identify in which circumstances the teenagers make alcoholic beverage use; 2 -To identify the knowledge that the teenagers have on the alcohol effects; 3 -To identify the performance role of the school institution on the prevention of alcohol use by teenagers. The analysis method used corresponds to the one called answers interpretation method. Regards to the theoretical-methodological support, the Social Control Theory and the Symbolic Interactionism Theory are adopted as referential. Its contained chapters are organized in the following way: The first chapter approaches the situation of drugs adolescent consumption in general and the social confrontation of this situation. The second chapter presents sociocultural aspects of the alcohol consumption and the description of some of the researched public characteristics. The third chapter emphasizes the school and its performance next to the teenagers and the society in general, towards the prevention and combat of the alcohol use, as well as of other drugs

Hábito alimentar e percepção ambiental : um estudo de caso com estudantes do Ensino Médio em Natal-RN

This study has as objective to examine the level of perception of high school students from two private schools in Natal-RN about the existence of a direct link between alimentary habit and its effects on environmental. The research was lead with 433 students, who had their school alimentary habits investigated according to the 24-hour recall method and presents the results of data collection from their opinions on participating in the generation of industrialized solid residues and their yearnings about the improvements of the standard of the food offered in the school. The students show a high rate of grading age for level at school, traditional family structure, riding, predominantly, by car or by bus in the house-school-house way, have generally all three important meals at home, feed frequently at their school, getting it from their won school, which included, mainly, soft drinks and fried or grilled appetizers; show a good knowledge about selective collectors, however with a high variation in their correct use. They show significant approval in the existence of a connection between their alimentary habits and debased effects about environmental and consider their food compounds at school could improve the offering of health/natural food, slowing industrialized foods, which are highly used, sometimes. The study on the students knowledge and concern level with regard to the interface alimentary habit-environmental impact allowed delimitating some of the mainly involved components in the alimentary choices of the same students in the school environment, what might help to develop a set of proposals that stimulates the formation of a responsible consumption standard among teenagers and the need of a consideration about the consequences of their choices

Conhecimento sobre energia eólica: um estudo exploratório a partir das redes semânticas naturais de estudantes da cidade de Natal

The human being has a fundamental role in issues concerning scarcity of energy resources as well as in the success of technologies which favor the use of renewable sources, such as wind energy. But what does wind energy mean for people? What are the psychological meanings concerning this term? Aiming to answer these questions, the general objective of this dissertation was to identify and to analyze the knowledge about wind energy taking into account a network of psychological meanings. One hundred and ninety one (191) university students from Natal-RN participated in the study, being male the majority (53%); aged between 17 and 51 years old (M=23.3 years; SD=5.7). Participants responded to self reports using the Natural Semantic Networks (NSW) technique, as well as to several sociodemographic questions. The results showed a consistent, positive and useful general semantic network. In this semantic network, knowledge about wind energy was represented by words that correspond to the appeal of (pro) environmental stance (e.g., clean and nature), that evinced both the technological aspect (e.g., force) and the economic aspect (e.g., economy). Results from different groups were also analyzed. The first set of groups (non-environemental and environmental) was divided considering the course (e.g., ecology and economy). The second set of groups(non-caretaker and caretaker) was divided based on the practice of environmental care expressed. Subtle differences were observed in the semantic networks of caretakers, who emphasized environment, an attribute not mentioned by non-caretakes. This indicates a construction of knowledge that is influenced by the presence or absence of the environmental commitment. Such findings may be useful in the construction of instruments for surveys and in the development of public and educational policies. Additionally, they may assist the media towards a more objective performance concerning wind energy