Perceptions of educators and students about using fluoridated mouthwashes

Purpose: The objective of this study was to assess the perceptions and opinions of public school teachers and students in the city of Araçatuba, SP, Brazil, on the importance of using fluoridated mouthwashes, the difficulties of the method and the procedure in general. Methods: Students from grades 5 through 8 in schools with and without dental services were asked about their opinion on the use of fluoridated mouthwashes. The educators answered questions about the importance of preventive methods in oral health and the difficulties in performing those methods at school. Data were collected using a faces scale, a categorization method, and a Likert scale with five levels of responses to check the level of agreement with the questions. Results: The sample consisted of 264 (40.3%) teachers and 5,788 (73.6%) students. A total of 254 (96.2%) and 72 (27.3%) teachers responded favorably to the first and second questions, respectively. A total of 1,128 (19.5%) students had negative feelings about the fluoridated mouthwash. Conclusion: The majority of the teachers supported the use of fluoridated mouthwashes; however, a large number of teachers believed that the practice disrupts the class routine. Most of the students had a positive opinion about the use of fluoridated mouthwash, although they highlighted some negative aspects, which were overcome by the benefits that the method provides.

Association between bruxism, alcohol and tobaco use among brazilian students

The etiology of bruxism is not well defined. Different factors affecting the central nervous system are considered as risk factors for bruxism. Dental students are not immune to the bruxism, alcohol consumption and tobacco use, despite their training, knowledge of its effects and social responsibility. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between bruxism, alcohol consumption and tobacco use among Brazilian dental students. Participants were chosen among 180, 17-29 year-old students at the UNESP’s Dentistry School – Araçatuba Campus. They were divided into those with and without bruxism on the basis at validated clinical criteria. The clinical examinations were carried out by four standardized examiners (Intraexaminer and Interexaminer Unweighted kappa= 0.82, Weighted kappa= 0.89, respectively), in the clinic, with daylight and a tongue depressor. Bruxism was registered with the following categories: no wear facets, wear facets in enamel, dentine wear facets, facets wear half of the crown and wear facets more than 2/3 of the tooth crown. A self report validated questionnaire for alcohol consumption and tobacco use with 29 questions was completed by both groups. Fischer exact test and T-test were used and Odds Ratio and Confidence Interval was estimated. Bruxism was more frequent among cigarette smokers both in men (68.4%) and in women (56.8%). Among all respondents in this group, 82.6% reported that they would like to quit smoking and those who have tried previously to quit (76.4%) found it made them more stressed. Drinker was more frequent in the group with bruxism also (66.5% of the female and 73.5% of the male). 88.4% reported drinking alcohol because it “allows dealing with stress in an adequate way”. Results suggest a positive association between bruxism and alcohol consumption and tobacco use.

Dental students familiarity with the implications of using local anesthetics and dental materials

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Prática de atividade física em estudantes das áreas de saúde e não saúde de uma universidade do interior de São Paulo

The world’s population is having more and more difficulties in performing their daily activities and leisure, becoming, this way, more sedentary. Sedentary lifestyle can be considered as a reduction or as a lack of physical activity, less than the minimum volume suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). Physical activity changes the behavior and some environmental acts. This study aimed to identify the NAF of students in the area of Physical Education and Healt Nursing and compare it with identified students’ levels non-health areas, being Production Engineer and Pedagogy. Aimed to correlate the found volume of 15 participants, with the state of cardio respiratory fitness (VO2max). The study included 125 students of both sexes from a university located in São Paulo state country. We conducted a cross-sectional study from August to October of 2012. For the initial test of the volume of physical activity we used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) long version. In order of assessing cardio respiratory fitness, the Katch and McArdle seat test (1981) was used. Data were analyzed according to Physical Activity Level (PAL) presented by the university students in sessions 1, 2, 3, 4 of the IPAQ, and 15 students’ results were correlated with VO2max test. From these results we can say that: IPAQ session 1 showed that students in the health area are statistically superior to the non-health students area to the high-active classification. In session 2 the results were significant and superior to the health area and very active in sedentary classification. The session 3 results were very similar to session 1, showing that the health area as high-active with statistics differences. In session 4 we can see very significant results for health area in high-active areas and irregular actives. A total of 4 sessions found significant results for very active and sedentary. When was the attempt of association between levels 15 participants found the IPAQ long version and test bank VO2max, the results showed no significant association. The results of this study show a need for policies to encourage physical activity in the University environment, emphasizing a greater need for students who do not work in healthcare.

Anxiety and depression in brazilian undergraduate students: the role of sociodemographic variables, undergraduate course characteristics and social skills

The prevalence of anxiety and depression disorders in undergraduate students is high and several variables can be influential. The aim is to verify the predictive value of social skills, sociodemographic variables, and course characteristics for depression and anxiety. A total of 1282 students of a public university, of both sexes and from different years and courses, participated in this study. Screening instruments for depression and anxiety were applied, as well as an instrument investigating social skills and a questionnaire covering socio demographic indicators and course characteristics. The data were analyzed using univariate analysis followed by multiple binary regression analysis in order to define the relevance of these depression and anxiety measures. The rates of anxiety and depression were 19.4% and 3.8%, respectively. The social skills and living situation were predictive of depression, with the social skills and course area (with higher prevalence for the exact and human sciences) remaining in the final model for anxiety. Such data have implications for psychological prevention and intervention with this population.

Construção de gráficos de funções polinomiais de grau 3

Pós-graduação em Matemática em Rede Nacional - IBILCE

Refuge Update – July/August 2007, Volume 4, Number 4

Table of Contents: Counting Alpine Flora, page 3 Focus on Law Enforcement, pages 8–12 Virtual Geocaching, page 15 The Big Sit! at Your Refuge?, page 21

A Comparative Study of the Information-Seeking Behavior of Bachelor of Science and Master of Science Agricultural Extension and Education Students

This study compares information-seeking behavior of Bachelor of Science and Master of Science students in the fields of agricultural extension and education. The authors surveyed Iranian students in departments of agricultural extension and education at four universities in Tehran, Shiraz, Mollasani, and Kermanshah. This study focused on three aspects: (1) comparison of amounts of information-seeking behavior between Bachelor of Science and Master of Science agricultural extension and education students; (2) comparison of information-seeking behavior varieties in Bachelor of Science and Master of Science agricultural extension and education students; (3) Comparison of amounts of available information resources at four universities and its effectiveness on students' information-seeking behavior; and (4) comparison of research and educational outputs in Bachelor of Science and Master of Science students. Scale free technique, division by mean method, principal components analysis technique, Delphi method, t-test, correlation and regression tools were used for data analysis. This study revealed that Bachelor of Science students' information-seeking behavior is for improving educational output, but Master of Science students' information-seeking behavior is for promoting research output. Among varieties of Internet searching skills, library searching skills, and awareness of library information-seeking methods with students' information-seeking behavior, there are not significant differences between two groups of students.

Implementing the Objective Structured Clinical Examination in a Geriatrics Fellowship Program-A 3-Year Experience

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) appears to be an effective alternative for assessing not only medical knowledge, but also clinical skills, including effective communication and physical examination skills. The purpose of the current study was to implement an OSCE model in a geriatrics fellowship program and to compare the instrument with traditional essay examination. Seventy first- and second-year geriatric fellows were initially submitted to a traditional essay examination and scored from 0 to 10 by a faculty member. The same fellows subsequently underwent an OSCE with eight 10-minute stations covering a wide range of essential aspects of geriatric knowledge. Each OSCE station had an examiner responsible for its evaluation according to a predefined checklist. Checklist items were classified for analysis purposes as clinical knowledge items (CKI) and communication skills items (CSI); fellow responses were scored from 0 to 10.Although essay examinations took from 30 to 45 minutes to complete, 180200 minutes were required to evaluate fellows using the proposed OSCE method. Fellows scored an average of 6.2 +/- 1.2 on the traditional essay examination and 6.6 +/- 1.0 on the OSCE (P < .001). Subanalyses of OSCE scores indicated that average performance on CKI was lower than the average on CSI (6.4 +/- 1.1 vs. 8.4 +/- 1.1; P < .001). Fellow performance on the essay examination was similar to their performance on CKI (P = .13). Second-year fellows performed better than first-year fellows on the essay examination (P < .001) and CKI (P = .05), but not on CSI (P = .25).The OSCE was successfully implemented as an educational strategy during a geriatrics fellowship program. Combining different testing modalities may provide the best assessment of competence for various domains of knowledge, skills, and behavior.

The association between low alcohol use and traffic risk behaviors among Brazilian college students

Although there are a large number of studies focused on binge drinking and traffic risk behaviors (TRB), little is known regarding low levels of alcohol consumption and its association to TRB. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to examine the association of low to moderate alcohol intake pattern and TRB in college students in Brazil. 7037 students from a National representative sample were selected under rigorous inclusion criteria. All study participants voluntarily fulfilled a structured, anonymous, and self-questionnaire regarding alcohol and drug use, social-demographic data, and TRB. Alcohol was assessed according to the average number of alcoholic units consumed on standard occasions over the past 12 months. The associations between alcohol intake and TRB were summarized with odds ratio and their confidence interval obtained from logistic regression. Compared with abstainers students who consumed only one alcohol unit had the risk of being a passenger in a car driven by a drunk driver increased by almost four times, students who reported using five or more units were increased by almost five times the risk of being involved in a car crash. Compared with students who consumed one alcohol unit, the risk of driving under the influence of alcohol increased four times in students using three alcohol units. Age group, use of illicit drugs, employment status, gender, and marital status significantly influenced occurrence of TRB among college students. Our study highlights the potential detrimental effects of low and moderate pattern of alcohol consumption and its relation to riding with an intoxicated driver and other TRB. These data suggest that targeted interventions should be implemented in order to prevent negative consequences due to alcohol use in this population. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved,

Prescribed use of methylphenidate hydrochloride and its correlates among Brazilian college students

Background: The prevalence of prescribed use of methylphenidate (MPH) and its correlates are not well-known in Brazil. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of prescribed use of MPH and its correlates in a sample of Brazilian college students. Methods: Twelve-thousand seven hundred and eleven college students filled out a drug use questionnaire. They were divided into two groups based on the lifetime use of MPH: MPH users (MPHU) and MPH non-users (MPHNU). Quasi-binomial regression models were carried out in order to evaluate the correlation among MPHU and other variables. Results: A lifetime use of MPH was reported from 0.9% of college students (MPHU). Being from the Midwest (PR = 4.8, p < 0.01) and South (PR = 5.2, p < 0.05), living in students housing (PR = 5.8, p < 0.001), prescribed use of amphetamines (PR = 8.9, p < 0.001) and benzodiazepines (< 3 weeks: PR = 4.4, p < 0.001; >= 3 weeks: PR = 6.7, p < 0.001), and harmful use of alcohol (PR = 4.0, p < 0.05) were correlated with MPHU. Discussion: The association of alcohol and drug use with prescribed use of MPH among college students suggests the importance of screening drinking patterns and use of other drugs among students with ADHD symptoms. Cesar ELR, et al. / Rev Psiq Clin. 2012; 39(6):183-8

Drug use in college students: a 13-year trend

OBJECTIVE: To analyze drug use trends among college students in 1996, 2001 and 2009. METHODS: A cross-sectional epidemiological study with a multistage stratified cluster sample with 9,974 college students was conducted in the city of Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on drug use assessed in lifetime, the preceding 12 months and the preceding 30 days. The Bonferroni correction was used for multiple comparisons of drug use rates between surveys. RESULTS: There were changes in the lifetime use of tobacco and some other drugs (hallucinogens [6.1% to 8.8%], amphetamines [4.6% to 8.7%], and tranquilizers [5.7% to 8.2%]) from 1996 to 2009. Differences in the use of other drugs over the 12 months preceding the survey were also seen: reduced use of inhalants [9.0% to 4.8%] and increased use of amphetamines [2.4% to 4.8%]. There was a reduction in alcohol [72.9% to 62.1%], tobacco [21.3% to 17.2%] and marijuana [15.0% to 11.5%] use and an increase in amphetamine use [1.9% to 3.3%] in the preceeding 30 days. CONCLUSIONS: Over the 13-year study period, there was an increase in lifetime use of tobacco, hallucinogens, amphetamines, and tranquilizers. There was an increase in amphetamine use and a reduction in alcohol use during the preceding 12 months. There was an increase in amphetamine use during the preceding 30 days.

THE OCCURRENCE OF HEADACHES AND THEIR EFFECT UPON NURSING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

This study was performed with the objectives of identifying the occurrence of headache as the major cause of pain and characterizing the effect headaches have on the everyday activities of nursing undergraduate students. This cross-sectional study was performed at the College of Nursing of the Federal University of Goias, Goiania, Brazil, from May to June 2008. Participants included 203 students (mean age 21 years; s.d.=1.8), 48.5% from economic class A. Headaches were the major cause of pain for 34.5% of students; described as being of strong intensity; referred to as throbbing (74.3%), stabbing (62.9%), and causing nausea and/or vomiting (55.7%); with episodes occurring in the afternoon (52.9%), and lasting for several hours a day (51.4%). Factors related to the onset of pain were: studying (17.1%) and stress (11.4 %). The activities most affected were: their capacity to concentrate (84.3%) and their mood (84.3%) (p < 0.05). Headaches are less common in the population compared to other country studies, and they affect the students' everyday activities.

THE PERCEPTION AND UNDERSTANDING OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS REGARDING AGING AND THE ELDERLY

This qualitative study was developed with 117 healthcare professionals and undergraduate students who were participants of a non-verbal communication training program in gerontology, with the objective to identify the perception and understanding of healthcare undergraduates and graduates regarding aging and the elderly. The results allowed the construction of the following categories: an evolution of life that brings a variety of experiences; natural, mysterious and with accumulated experiences; a decrease in overall happiness due to an increase in isolation; a time of valuing affection and respect; an inevitable stage including distress, prejudice, and limitations worthy of attention; a natural consequence of life; and the presence of disease and the global physiological process. Regarding perceptions of the elderly, the answers were classified as positive, negative, mixed and neutral. We considered that the understanding regarding the elderly and aging was limited and pessimist, indicating a need to become aware that one's views affect the way we relate to others.

The production of critical-reflexive narratives and their effect on nursing students' portfolios

The objective of this study is to analyze the process of producing reflexive narratives on nursing students' portfolios. This qualitative study performed an analysis of the portfolios of the class discipline Health Promotion in Primary Education, taught in the fourth semester of the Nursing Licensure Course. Results showed an initial predominance of descriptive records, with the incipient approach of theoretical aspects associated with the aspects regarding their experience. Further, in the group and experience discussions, there were narratives containing more critical and reflexive elements, with justifications for the described actions and the relationships with the theoretical-practical aspects studied in the class and in the course. In conclusion, there is a process of producing critical-reflexive narratives in portfolios that could include a summarized description, using common sense and idealization which allows for including the differences and the theoretical review.