A articulação entre a aula de técnica de dança clássica e o repertório : contributo de natureza técnico-artística em função do aperfeiçoamento do repertório clássico - 3º ano da Escola de Dança do Orfeão de Leiria

Relatório Final de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Dança, com vista à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ensino de Dança.

Senses of body image in adolescents in elementary school

OBJECTIVE To comprehend the perception of body image in adolescence. METHODS A qualitative study was conducted with eight focus groups with 96 students of both sexes attending four public elementary school institutions in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil, in 2013. An interview guide with questions about the adolescents’ feelings in relation to: their bodies, standards of idealized beauty, practice of physical exercise and sociocultural influences on self-image. In the data analysis we sought to understand and interpret the meanings and contradictions of narratives, understanding the subjects’ context and reasons and the internal logic of the group. RESULTS Three thematic categories were identified. The influence of media on body image showed the difficulty of achieving the perfect body and is viewed with suspicion in face of standards of beauty broadcast; the importance of a healthy body was observed as standards of beauty and good looks were closely linked to good physical condition and result from having a healthy body; the relationship between the standard of beauty and prejudice, as people who are not considered attractive, having small physical imperfections, are discriminated against and can be rejected or even excluded from society. CONCLUSIONS The standard of perfect body propagated by media influences adolescents’ self-image and, consequently, self-esteem and is considered an unattainable goal, corresponding to a standard of beauty described as artificial and unreal. However, it causes great suffering and discrimination against those who do not feel they are attractive, which can lead to health problems resulting from low self-esteem.

Deported Mexican migrants: health status and access to care

OBJECTIVE To describe the health status and access to care of forced-return Mexican migrants deported through the Mexico-United States border and to compare it with the situation of voluntary-return migrants. METHODS Secondary data analysis from the Survey on Migration in Mexico’s Northern Border from 2012. This is a continuous survey, designed to describe migration flows between Mexico and the United States, with a mobile-population sampling design. We analyzed indicators of health and access to care among deported migrants, and compare them with voluntary-return migrants. Our analysis sample included 2,680 voluntary-return migrants, and 6,862 deportees. We employ an ordinal multiple logistic regression model, to compare the adjusted odds of having worst self-reported health between the studied groups. RESULTS As compared to voluntary-return migrants, deportees were less likely to have medical insurance in the United States (OR = 0.05; 95%CI 0.04;0.06). In the regression model a poorer self-perceived health was found to be associated with having been deported (OR = 1.71, 95%CI 1.52;1.92), as well as age (OR = 1.03, 95%CI 1.02;1.03) and years of education (OR = 0.94 95%CI 0.93;0.95). CONCLUSIONS According to our results, deportees had less access to care while in the United States, as compared with voluntary-return migrants. Our results also showed an independent and statistically significant association between deportation and having poorer self-perceived health. To promote the health and access to care of deported Mexican migrants coming back from the United States, new health and social policies are required.

Handling random errors and biases in methods used for short-term dietary assessment

Epidemiological studies have shown the effect of diet on the incidence of chronic diseases; however, proper planning, designing, and statistical modeling are necessary to obtain precise and accurate food consumption data. Evaluation methods used for short-term assessment of food consumption of a population, such as tracking of food intake over 24h or food diaries, can be affected by random errors or biases inherent to the method. Statistical modeling is used to handle random errors, whereas proper designing and sampling are essential for controlling biases. The present study aimed to analyze potential biases and random errors and determine how they affect the results. We also aimed to identify ways to prevent them and/or to use statistical approaches in epidemiological studies involving dietary assessments.

Educational inequality in the occurrence of abdominal obesity:Pró-Saúde Study

OBJECTIVE To estimate the degree of educational inequality in the occurrence of abdominal obesity in a population of non-faculty civil servants at university campi.METHODS In this cross-sectional study, we used data from 3,117 subjects of both genders aged 24 to 65-years old, regarding the baseline ofPró-Saúde Study, 1999-2001. Abdominal obesity was defined according to abdominal circumference thresholds of 88 cm for women and 102 cm for men. A multi-dimensional, self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate education levels and demographic variables. Slope and relative indices of inequality, and Chi-squared test for linear trend were used in the data analysis. All analyses were stratified by genders, and the indices of inequality were standardized by age.RESULTS Abdominal obesity was the most prevalent among women (43.5%; 95%CI 41.2;45.9), as compared to men (24.3%; 95%CI 22.1;26.7), in all educational strata and age ranges. The association between education levels and abdominal obesity was an inverse one among women (p < 0.001); it was not statistically significant among men (p = 0.436). The educational inequality regarding abdominal obesity in the female population, in absolute terms (slope index of inequality), was 24.0% (95%CI 15.5;32.6). In relative terms (relative index of inequality), it was 2.8 (95%CI 1.9;4.1), after the age adjustment.CONCLUSIONS Gender inequality in the prevalence of abdominal obesity increases with older age and lower education. The slope and relative indices of inequality summarize the strictly monotonous trend between education levels and abdominal obesity, and it described educational inequality regarding abdominal obesity among women. Such indices provide relevant quantitative estimates for monitoring abdominal obesity and dealing with health inequalities.

Specialized care for people with AIDS in the state of Ceara, Brazil

OBJECTIVE To analyze if the distribution of specialized care services for HIV/AIDS is associated with AIDS rates. METHODS Ecological study, for which the distribution of 10 specialized care services in the Ceara state, Northeastern Brazil, was obtained, and the mean rates of the disease were estimated per mesoregion. We evaluated 7,896 individuals who had been diagnosed with AIDS, were aged 13 years or older, lived in Ceara, and had been informed of their condition between 2001 and 2011. Maps were constructed to verify the relationship between the distribution of AIDS cases and institutionalized support networks in the 2001-2006 and 2007-2011 periods. BoxMap and LisaMap were used for data analysis. The Voronoi diagram was applied for the distribution of the studied services. RESULTS Specialized care services concentrated in AIDS clusters in the metropolitan area. The Noroeste Cearense and west of the Sertoes Cearenses had high AIDS rates, but a low number of specialized care services over time. Two of these services were implemented where clusters of the disease exist in the second period. The application of the Voronoi diagram showed that the specialized care services located outside the metropolitan area covered a large territory. We identified one polygon that had no services. CONCLUSIONS The scenario of AIDS cases spread away from major urban areas demands the creation of social support services in areas other than the capital and the metropolitan area of the state; this can reduce access barriers to these institutions. It is necessary to create specialized care services for HIV/AIDS in the Noroeste Cearense and north of Jaguaribe.

Enhancing the selection of a model-based clustering with external categorical variables

In cluster analysis, it can be useful to interpret the partition built from the data in the light of external categorical variables which are not directly involved to cluster the data. An approach is proposed in the model-based clustering context to select a number of clusters which both fits the data well and takes advantage of the potential illustrative ability of the external variables. This approach makes use of the integrated joint likelihood of the data and the partitions at hand, namely the model-based partition and the partitions associated to the external variables. It is noteworthy that each mixture model is fitted by the maximum likelihood methodology to the data, excluding the external variables which are used to select a relevant mixture model only. Numerical experiments illustrate the promising behaviour of the derived criterion. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

An experimental study to compare the interface pressure and experience of healthy participants when lying still for 20 minutes in a supine position on two different imaging surfaces

Introduction: Pressure ulcers are a high cost, high volume issue for health and medical care providers, affecting patients’ recovery and psychological wellbeing. The current research of support surfaces on pressure as a risk factor in the development of pressure ulcers is not relevant to the specialised, controlled environment of the radiological setting. Method: 38 healthy participants aged 19-51 were placed supine on two different imaging surfaces. The XSENSOR pressure mapping system was used to measure the interface pressure. Data was acquired over a time of 20 minutes preceded by 6 minutes settling time to reduce measurement error. Qualitative information regarding participants’ opinion on pain and comfort was recorded using a questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 22. Results: Data was collected from 30 participants aged 19 to 51 (mean 25.77, SD 7.72), BMI from 18.7 to 33.6 (mean 24.12, SD 3.29), for two surfaces, following eight participant exclusions due to technical faults. Total average pressure, average pressure for jeopardy areas (head, sacrum & heels) and peak pressure for jeopardy areas were calculated as interface pressure in mmHg. Qualitative data showed that a significant difference in experiences of comfort and pain was found in the jeopardy areas (P<0.05) between the two surfaces. Conclusion: A significant difference is seen in average pressure between the two surfaces. Pain and comfort data also show a significant difference between the surfaces, both findings support the proposal for further investigation into the effects of radiological surfaces as a risk factor for the formation of pressure ulcers.

Health self-assessment by hemodialysis patients in the Brazilian Unified Health System

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To examine whether the level of complexity of the services structure and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients in hemodialysis are associated with the prevalence of poor health self-assessment. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated 1,621 patients with chronic terminal kidney disease on hemodialysis accompanied in 81 dialysis services in the Brazilian Unified Health System in 2007. Sampling was performed by conglomerate in two stages and a structured questionnaire was applied to participants. Multilevel multiple logistic regression was used for data analysis. RESULTS The prevalence of poor health self-assessment was of 54.5%, and in multivariable analysis it was associated with the following variables: increasing age (OR = 1.02; 95%CI 1.01–1.02), separated or divorced marital status (OR = 0.62; 95%CI 0.34–0.88), having 12 years or more of study (OR = 0.51; 95%CI 0.37–0.71), spending more than 60 minutes in commuting between home and the dialysis service (OR = 1.80; 95%CI 1.29–2.51), having three or more self-referred diseases (OR = 2.20; 95%CI 1.33–3.62), and reporting some (OR = 2.17; 95%CI 1.66–2.84) or a lot of (OR = 2.74; 95%CI 2.04–3.68) trouble falling asleep. Individuals in treatment in dialysis services with the highest level of complexity in the structure presented less chance of performing a self-assessment of their health as bad (OR = 0.59; 95%CI 0.42–0.84). CONCLUSIONS We showed poor health self-assessment is associated with age, years of formal education, marital status, home commuting time to the dialysis service, number of self-referred diseases, report of trouble sleeping, and also with the level of complexity of the structure of health services. Acknowledging these factors can contribute to the development of strategies to improve the health of patients in hemodialysis in the Brazilian Unified Health System.

ERICA: patterns of alcohol consumption in Brazilian adolescents

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To describe the patterns of alcohol consumption in Brazilian adolescents. METHODS We investigated adolescents who participated in the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents (ERICA). This is a cross-sectional, national and school-based study, which surveyed adolescents of 1,247 schools from 124 Brazilian municipalities. Participants answered a self-administered questionnaire with a section on alcoholic beverages consumption. Measures of relative frequency (prevalence), and their 95% confidence intervals, were estimated for the following variables: use of alcohol beverages in the last 30 days, frequency of use, number of glasses or doses consumed in the period, age of the first use of alcohol, and most consumed type of drink. Data were estimated for country and macro-region, sex, and age group. The module survey of the Stata program was used for data analysis of complex sample. RESULTS We evaluated 74,589 adolescents, who accounted for 72.9% of eligible students. About 1/5 of adolescents consumed alcohol at least once in the last 30 days and about 2/3 in one or two occasions during this period. Among the adolescents who consumed alcoholic beverages, 24.1% drank it for the first time before being 12 years old, and the most common type of alcoholic beverages consumed by them were drinks based on vodka, rum or tequila, and beer. CONCLUSIONS There is a high prevalence of alcohol consumption among adolescents, as well as their early onset of alcohol use. We also identified a possible change in the preferred type of alcoholic beverages compared with previous research.

ERICA: sexual initiation and contraception in Brazilian adolescents

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of sexual initiation and contraceptive use at the last sexual intercourse of Brazilian adolescents, according to sociodemographic features. METHODS The data were obtained from the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents (ERICA), a national school-based cross-sectional study. We included 74,589 adolescents from 32 geographic strata (27 capitals and five sets of municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants of each of the five macro-regions of the Country). Information on sexual initiation and contraceptive use at the last sexual intercourse (male condom and oral contraceptive pill) has been used. We have estimated prevalence and confidence intervals (95%CI) considering sample weights according to sex, age, type of school, residence status, macro-region and capitals. RESULTS We observed that 28.1% (95%CI 27.0-29.2) of the adolescents had already initiated sexual life, with higher prevalence among those aged 17 years (56.4%, 95%CI 53.9-58.9), males (33.5%, 95%CI 31.8-35.2), studying at public schools (29.9%, 95%CI 28.5-31.4), and from the Northern region (33.9%, 95%CI 32.3-35.4), mainly from Macapa, Manaus, and Rio Branco. Among those who had started their sexual life, 82.3% (95%CI 81.1-83.4) reported the use of contraceptive methods at the last intercourse, and the prevalence of use was higher among adolescents aged 17 years (85.3%, 95%CI 82.7-87.6), females (85.2%, 95%CI 83.8-86.5) and those living in the Southern region (85.9%, 95%CI 82.9-88.5). Male condom was used by 68.8% (95%CI 66.9-70.7), with no difference by type of school or macro-regions; the contraceptive pill was used by 13.4% (CI95% 12.2-14.6), and more frequently used among women (24.7%, 95%CI 22.5-27,0) and 17-year-old adolescents (20.8%, 95%CI 18.2-23.6) from urban settings(13.7%, 95%CI 12.5-14.9) and from the Southern region (22.6%, 95%CI 19.0-26.8), and less often in the Northern region. CONCLUSIONS ERICA’s data analysis on sexuality and contraception shows heterogeneities in the prevalence of sexual initiation and use of contraceptive methods among Brazilian adolescents, depending on their age, where they live, and the type of school they study at. Younger adolescents and those living in the Northern region seem to be more vulnerable to the consequences of unprotected sexual intercourses.

Wetland Habitat Studies using various Classification Techniques on Multi-Spectral Landsat Imagery: Case study: Tram chim National Park, Dong Thap Vietnam

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

O papel do educador na promoção do envolvimento parental: uma reflexão

Relatório da Prática Profissional Supervisionada Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar

A idade tem influência nas relações de cooperação entre as crianças de jardim de infância?

Relatório da Prática Profissional Supervisionada Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar

Análise do mercado de serviços de regulação de frequência secundária e terciária no sistema eléctrico português

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica Ramo Energia