Violence against children and adolescents: awareness and attitudes of Brazilian dentists

Violence against children and adolescents, ranging from negligence to sexual abuse, is an imperative public health problem. The ill treatments are considered as nonaccidental traumas, actions or omissions against children, who suffer physical or emotional violence. The main perpetrators are fathers, mothers, guardians, family, friends or the children‘s primary caretaker. It is very important to identify abuse cases, because this allows proper medical and legal intervention. In Brazil, the law n. 8.069, of July 13, 1990, known as the ECA -Statute for Children and Adolescents (SCA), stipulates the obligation to report suspected or confirmed cases of ill treatment against a child or adolescent to the Guardianship Council of the respective locality. The health professionals play a crucial role with regard to identifying cases of violence, collecting information, making early diagnosis of suspect cases and reporting such cases to the authorities. The dentists can contribute significantly, as most injuries occur in the orofacial region. Bite marks, burns, bruising, among others, are easily identified during a dental consultation. The aim of this work was to verify the awareness and attitudes of Brazilian dentists concerning violence against children and adolescents. This research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Dentistry of Araraquara – São Paulo State University (FOAr – UNESP). Sixty-three dentists answered an open and closed questionnaire concerning their formation, knowledge, experience and attitudes towards ill-treated children and adolescents. Among other results, thirty-nine dentists (61.9%) affirmed to have the means to identify illtreatment cases, 13 (20.6%) reported having some experience on this matter, but only 8 reported the cases to the Council of Guardianship, as determined by Brazilian law. Twenty percent of the reasons presented for not notifying the Council were fear of reprisal, and 60.0% were uncertain concerning the ethical and legal implications. Physical violence was the most reported form of identified violence (76.9%), followed by negligence (38.5%). Among the 13 professionals that had experience with violence cases, in 10 cases the perpetrators were identified – in 70.0% of the cases, the parents were the originators of such violence. It was concluded that further formation and orientation are necessary, in order to prepare dentists to act correctly when, during their professional activities, they encounter cases of violence against children and adolescents.

Auditory middle latency response and phonological awareness in students with learning disabilities

Introduction Behavioral tests of auditory processing have been applied in schools and highlight the association between phonological awareness abilities and auditory processing, confirming that low performance on phonological awareness tests may be due to low performance on auditory processing tests. Objective To characterize the auditory middle latency response and the phonological awareness tests and to investigate correlations between responses in a group of children with learning disorders. Methods The study included 25 students with learning disabilities. Phonological awareness and auditory middle latency response were tested with electrodes placed on the left and right hemispheres. The correlation between the measurements was performed using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Results There is some correlation between the tests, especially between the Pa component and syllabic awareness, where moderate negative correlation is observed. Conclusion In this study, when phonological awareness subtests were performed, specifically phonemic awareness, the students showed a low score for the age group, although for the objective examination, prolonged Pa latency in the contralateral via was observed. Negative weak to moderate correlation for Pa wave latency was observed, as was positive weak correlation for Na-Pa amplitude.

Publicidade em odontologia: avaliação dos aspectos éticos envolvidos

Objective: To verify whether the professionals who make use of advertising in Dentistry by means of billboards respect the ethical aspects determined by the Federal Council of Dentistry Resolution No 71, 2006. Methods: This was an observational study in which 178 billboards of dental clinics in the municipality of São Paulo were assessed. Results: Among the billboards analyzed, 91.4% belonged to private persons and 9.6% to corporate bodies. With regard to the ethical aspects related to the advertisement, only 44.9% of the billboards presented all the mandatory items in accordance with the Federal Council of Dentistry. The item found the least number of times in the advertisements was the registration number in the Regional Council of Dentistry (34.8%). Among the items allowed by the Federal Council of Dentistry, the telephone number (65.2%) was the most commonly found. Among the ethical infractions, 1.7% of the billboards advertised the terms of payment. Conclusion: Professionals are not following the ethical precepts established by the Code of Ethics in Dentistry, and awareness of these professionals needs to be aroused, so that information about their services is communicated and divulged in an ethical manner.

O distanciamento entre a formação e a prática profissional

The training of the dentist should be aligned with the demands of social needs. For this to happen, contents related to the main problems faced by the population, such as domestic violence, must be addressed in their education. The present study aims to evaluate the degree of knowledge of dentists in relation to domestic violence, as well as verify that the Curriculum Grades of five private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and five state HEIs are in accordance with what is required in Curriculum Matrices established for undergraduate dentistry. It is a cross-sectional study with the application of a questionnaire to dentists of Basic Units of a small municipality in the interior of São Paulo and analysis of the Political-Pedagogical projects and curricular matrices of the HEIs. It was found through this research that only 9.1% of dentists know how domestic violence cases are recorded, 20% are familiar with the legislation and all the professionals are not aware of the records of notifications of violence. With respect to the curricula, between 86.37% and 94.12% of the curriculum content is focused on technical disciplines. A lack of professional efforts in addressing the problem in what refers to the identification and reporting of cases and, the lack of awareness of the legislation on the subject was found. There was also the need to adapt the curricula of the HEIs towards an approach of the subject, seeking to adequate them by the demand of the society with regard to the responsibility of the dentist in the treatment, notification and prevention of the phenomenon.

Levels of phonological awareness, working memory, and lexical knowledge in elementary school children

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estratégias de prevenção e contenção do bullying nas escolas: as propostas governamentais e de pesquisa no Brasil e na Espanha

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Awareness of Daylighting on Student Learning in an Educational Facility

This study examines how awareness of the interior architecture of a building, specifically daylighing, affects students academic performance. Extensive research has proven that the use of daylighting in a classroom can significantly enhance students’ academic success. The problem statement and purpose of this study is to determine if student awareness of daylighting in their learning environment affects academic performance compared to students with no knowledge of daylighting. Research and surveys in existing and newly constructed high schools were conducted to verify the results of this study. These design ideas and concepts could influence the architecture and design industry to advocate construction and building requirements that incorporate more sustainable design teaching techniques.

Promoting ethical and environmental awareness in vulnerable communities: a research action plan

Urban populations that live in the outskirts of major Latin American cities usually face conditions of vulnerability attached to complex environmental issues, such as the lack of sewerage, floods, pollution and soil and water contamination. This article reports an intervention research programme in Sao Paulo, Brazil that combines a moral education approach with sustainability awareness in vulnerable communities. The main conceptual foundations of the project, designed to empower the community and promote ethical and environmental awareness are: strengthening the ties between the school and the surrounding community in order to construct 'moral atmosphere'; adoption of Problem- and Project-based Learning and the Design Thinking approach to reach the proposed goals.

Awareness and knowledge of HPV, cervical cancer, and vaccines in young women after first delivery in São Paulo, Brazil - a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background The success of HPV vaccination programs will require awareness regarding HPV associated diseases and the benefits of HPV vaccination for the general population. The aim of this study was to assess the level of awareness and knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, cervical cancer prevention, vaccines, and factors associated with HPV awareness among young women after birth of the first child. Methods This analysis is part of a cross-sectional study carried out at Hospital Maternidade Leonor Mendes de Barros, a large public maternity hospital in Sao Paulo. Primiparous women (15-24 years) who gave birth in that maternity hospital were included. A questionnaire that included questions concerning knowledge of HPV, cervical cancer, and vaccines was applied. To estimate the association of HPV awareness with selected factors, prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated using a generalized linear model (GLM). Results Three hundred and one primiparous women were included; 37% of them reported that they "had ever heard about HPV", but only 19% and 7%, respectively, knew that HPV is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and that it can cause cervical cancer. Seventy-four percent of interviewees mentioned the preventive character of vaccines and all participants affirmed that they would accept HPV vaccination after delivery. In the multivariate analysis, only increasing age (P for trend = 0.021) and previous STI (P < 0.001) were factors independently associated with HPV awareness ("had ever heard about HPV"). Conclusions This survey indicated that knowledge about the association between HPV and cervical cancer among primiparous young women is low. Therefore, these young low-income primiparous women could benefit greatly from educational interventions to encourage primary and secondary cervical cancer prevention programs.

HEALTH PROBLEMS AWARENESS DURING TRAVEL AMONG FACULTY MEMBERS OF A LARGE UNIVERSITY IN LATIN AMERICA. PRELIMINARY REPORT

Health safety during trips is based on previous counseling, vaccination and prevention of infections, previous diseases or specific problems related to the destination. Our aim was to assess two aspects, incidence of health problems related to travel and the traveler’s awareness of health safety. To this end we phone-interviewed faculty members of a large public University, randomly selected from humanities, engineering and health schools. Out of 520 attempts, we were able to contact 67 (12.9%) and 46 (68.6%) agreed to participate in the study. There was a large male proportion (37/44, 84.1%), mature adults mostly in their forties and fifties (32/44, 72.7%), all of them with higher education, as you would expect of faculty members. Most described themselves as being sedentary or as taking occasional exercise, with only 15.9% (7/44) taking regular exercise. Preexisting diseases were reported by 15 travelers. Most trips lasted usually one week or less. Duration of the travel was related to the destination, with (12h) or longer trips being taken by 68.2% (30/44) of travelers, and the others taking shorter (3h) domestic trips. Most travelling was made by air (41/44) and only 31.8% (14/44) of the trips were motivated by leisure. Field research trips were not reported. Specific health counseling previous to travel was reported only by two (4.5%). Twenty seven of them (61.4%) reported updated immunization, but 11/30 reported unchecked immunizations. 30% (9/30) reported travel without any health insurance coverage. As a whole group, 6 (13.6%) travelers reported at least one health problem attributed to the trip. All of them were males travelling abroad. Five presented respiratory infections, such as influenza and common cold, one neurological, one orthopedic, one social and one hypertension. There were no gender differences regarding age groups, destination, type of transport, previous health counseling, leisure travel motivation or pre-existing diseases. Interestingly, the two cases of previous health counseling were made by domestic travelers. Our data clearly shows that despite a significant number of travel related health problems, these highly educated faculty members, had a low awareness of those risks, and a significant number of travels are made without prior counseling or health insurance. A counseling program conducted by a tourism and health professional must be implemented for faculty members in order to increase the awareness of travel related health problems.

Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS) in patients with fibromyalgia

Background Mindful-based interventions improve functioning and quality of life in fibromyalgia (FM) patients. The aim of the study is to perform a psychometric analysis of the Spanish version of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) in a sample of patients diagnosed with FM. Methods The following measures were administered to 251 Spanish patients with FM: the Spanish version of MAAS, the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire, the Pain Catastrophising Scale, the Injustice Experience Questionnaire, the Psychological Inflexibility in Pain Scale, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and the Euroqol. Factorial structure was analysed using Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA). Cronbach's α coefficient was calculated to examine internal consistency, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated to assess the test-retest reliability of the measures. Pearson’s correlation tests were run to evaluate univariate relationships between scores on the MAAS and criterion variables. Results The MAAS scores in our sample were low (M = 56.7; SD = 17.5). CFA confirmed a two-factor structure, with the following fit indices [sbX2 = 172.34 (p < 0.001), CFI = 0.95, GFI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.05, RMSEA = 0.06. MAAS was found to have high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.90) and adequate test-retest reliability at a 1–2 week interval (ICC = 0.90). It showed significant and expected correlations with the criterion measures with the exception of the Euroqol (Pearson = 0.15). Conclusion Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the MAAS in patients with FM are adequate. The dimensionality of the MAAS found in this sample and directions for future research are discussed.

Los derechos de pesca, ¿una solución al estado de los caladeros de Gran Canaria (Islas Canarias, España)?

Máster en Gestión Sostenible de Recursos Pesqueros

La trasformazione dei processi legislativi nella società dell'informazione: dall'e-Legislation all'e-Parliament

The transformation of legislative processes in the Information society: from eLegislation to eParliament This research analyzes, by means of an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, the transformation of legislative processes produced by the introduction of new ICT technologies. The use of ICT in support of parliamentary activities is concerned with efficiency of parliamentary process and aims at more transparent procedures, improved access to documents, social participation and cooperation among institutions. With ICT Parliaments are now able to improve their efficiency and optimize their business; they can advance the dialogue with their citizen both, through the real access and the effective availability of information and, through new way of participation in the democratic process. Finally, sharing information, know-out, best practices and other records, Parliaments will be able to develop new information and knowledge and to strengthen the role and power of Institutions. Only through a global vision of the full process, re-thinking and develop rules and uniform standard and so implementing the new opportunities carrying out by ICT, it will be possible to put in practice concrete eParliament results. The Research goals are at least three: 1. To Analysed the legislative process and the ICT opportunities to understand the impact of the latter on the former. In particular to check up the problems that ICT can raise in relation of the constitutional principles ensuring the process itself. 2. To realized an abstract model representing the legislative process regardless of the form of government, chambers composition, legal system, etc. 3. To suggest standard, structural, linguistic and ontological, able to implement the new opportunities of sharing, cooperation and reuse among the many and various stakeholders of the democratic/legislative view.