Como o nível de atividade física influencia o comportamento alimentar

A atividade física e a alimentação são dois fatores preponderantes nos níveis de saúde da população e que se podem influenciar mutuamente. A atividade física/ exercício físico tem sido apontado como um comportamento que leva à prática de uma alimentação mais saudável e que regula o comportamento alimentar. O objetivo da presente dissertação foi explorar de que forma o nível de atividade física influencia a regulação para a alimentação e o estilo alimentar dos indivíduos. Foi um estudo transversal, em que os participantes preencheram um questionário on line que avaliou as variáveis em estudo: nível de atividade física (através do IPAQ - SF), tipo de regulação do comportamento alimentar (REBS) e tipo de comportamento alimentar (DEBQ). Participaram 440 adultos, com idades compreendidas entre 19 e 64 anos, praticantes de exercício em ginásios e boxs de Crossfit. Os dados foram recolhidos em conformidade com a declaração de Helsínquia (2013), com aprovação do Comité de Ética do Politécnico de Leiria. No que diz respeito à análise estatística, inicialmente foram calculadas as medidas de tendência central (média) e dispersão (desvio - padrão), assim como correlações bivariadas entre todas as variáveis em estudo. Posteriormente, foi feita uma abordagem de duas etapas para um modelo estrutural de máxima verosimilhança, a partir do software AMOS 27.0. Concluiu-se que um maior nível de atividade física leva a um tipo de regulação mais autodeterminado que por sua vez leva a um melhor comportamento alimentar, ou seja, alimentação menos restritiva, menos influenciada por fatores externos e fatores emocionais

Desarrollo de una aplicación inteligente para crear pruebas personalizadas usando ontologías y Fluent Editor.

Se ha demostrado que la personalización del proceso de enseñanza produce mejores resultados en el aprendizaje, por lo cual se desarrolló el aplicativo SysPBEA cuya finalidad es permitir al docente evaluar a los estudiantes según sus estilos de aprendizaje siguiendo el modelo de David A. Kolb. Para realizar el aplicativo planteado se diseñó la ontología Pruebas Personalizadas Basadas en Estilos de Aprendizaje (PBEA) aplicando la metodología Methontology. A continuación se implementó el diseño de PBEA con la herramienta Fluent Editor empleando el Lenguaje Web de Ontologías (OWL por sus siglas en inglés). La gestión del avance de la aplicación se llevó a cabo mediante la metodología de desarrollo ágil Scrum. Para la codificación se utilizaron las tecnologías de NetBeans como ambiente de desarrollo, el framework Primefaces y la librería Jena para el manejo de la ontología PBEA desde la aplicación. Al finalizar la etapa de desarrollo se midió la usabilidad de la herramienta creada con el método de evaluación heurística bajo los diez principios de Jackob Nielsen. Obteniendo como resultado que SysPBEA cumple en un 94% con los principios mencionados, en consecuencia se considera la herramienta usable para el usuario final. En conclusión se determinó que aplicando el modelo de Kolb con el uso de la ontología PBEA se permitió al docente generar pruebas personalizadas, por lo tanto el proceso evaluativo se enfoca más en el individuo siguiendo el paradigma de enseñanza individualizada; por lo que se recomienda emplear los mismos fundamentos para personalizar todo el proceso de enseñanza en plataformas de educación virtual.It has been shown that the personalization of the teaching process produces better results in learning, for which the SysPBEA application was developed which purpose is to allow the teacher to evaluate the students according to their learning styles following the model of David A. Kolb. To carry out the proposed application, the ontology Personalized Tests Based on Learning Styles (PBEA) was designed applying the methodology Methontology. Next, the PBEA desing was implemented with the Fluent Edito tool using the Ontologies Web Language (OWL). The management of the progress of the application was carried out through the agil Scrum development methodology. For the coding, NetBeans technologies were used as the development environment, the Primefaces framework and the Jena library for the management of the PBEA ontology from the application. At the end of the development stage, the usability of the tool created with the heuristic evaluation method under the then principles of Jackob Nielsen was measured. Obtaining as a result that SysPBEA complies 94% with the aforementioned principles is considered usable for the end-user. In conclusion it was determined that applying the Kolb model with the use of the PBEA ontology allowed the teacher to generate personalized tests, therefore the evaluation process focuses more on the individual following the paradigm of individualized teaching; so it is recommended to use the same fundamentals to personalize the entire teaching process in virtual education platforms

A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Design of an Adaptive Educational Application to Generate Customized Tests Based on Ontology

The personalization of certain teaching processes produces improved learn-ing results. In the assessment of learning, there is a need to personalize the test items according to the learning styles of the students. This paper pro-poses the design of an adaptive application that generates personalized tests according to the students' learning styles. To facilitate the design of the proposed application, an ontology for creating personalized tests was de-signed based on the use of learning styles by means of applying the Methontology methodology. This ontology has a hierarchy of 3 levels, 9 first-level classes, 12 second-level subclasses, and 10 third-level sub-classes. The application was developed using the Primefaces framework and the Jena library to manage the ontology. At the end of the development stage, the usability of the application created was measured using the heu-ristic evaluation method based on the ten principles of Jackob Nielsen. The results obtained indicate that the application complies with the aforemen-tioned principles, earning a 94% usability rating. Consequently, it can be deemed a useful application for end-user

The rehabilitation of children and adolescents with severe or medically complicated obesity: an ISPED expert opinion document

Severe/medically complicated obesity in childhood, and particularly in adolescence, is a real disability that requires an intensive and continuous approach which should follow the procedures and schedule of rehabilitation medicine. Given the lack of a specific document focusing on children and adolescents, the Childhood Obesity Study Group set out to explore the available evidence for the treatment of severe or medically complicated obesity and to set standards tailored to the specific context of the Italian Health Service. Through a series of meetings and electronic communications, the writing committee (selected from members of the Study Group) selected the key issues, explored the literature and produced a draft document which was submitted to the other experts until the final synthesis was approved by the group. In brief, the following issues were involved: (1) definition and epidemiology; (2) identification of common goals designed to regain functional competence and limit the progression of metabolic and psychological complications; (3) a multi-professional team approach; (4) the care setting. This paper is an expert opinion document on the rehabilitation of severe and medically complicated obesity in children and adolescents produced by experts belonging to the Childhood Obesity Study Group of the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology (ISPED)

Delayed colorectal cancer care during covid-19 pandemic (decor-19). Global perspective from an international survey

Background The widespread nature of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been unprecedented. We sought to analyze its global impact with a survey on colorectal cancer (CRC) care during the pandemic. Methods The impact of COVID-19 on preoperative assessment, elective surgery, and postoperative management of CRC patients was explored by a 35-item survey, which was distributed worldwide to members of surgical societies with an interest in CRC care. Respondents were divided into two comparator groups: 1) ‘delay’ group: CRC care affected by the pandemic; 2) ‘no delay’ group: unaltered CRC practice. Results A total of 1,051 respondents from 84 countries completed the survey. No substantial differences in demographics were found between the ‘delay’ (745, 70.9%) and ‘no delay’ (306, 29.1%) groups. Suspension of multidisciplinary team meetings, staff members quarantined or relocated to COVID-19 units, units fully dedicated to COVID-19 care, personal protective equipment not readily available were factors significantly associated to delays in endoscopy, radiology, surgery, histopathology and prolonged chemoradiation therapy-to-surgery intervals. In the ‘delay’ group, 48.9% of respondents reported a change in the initial surgical plan and 26.3% reported a shift from elective to urgent operations. Recovery of CRC care was associated with the status of the outbreak. Practicing in COVID-free units, no change in operative slots and staff members not relocated to COVID-19 units were statistically associated with unaltered CRC care in the ‘no delay’ group, while the geographical distribution was not. Conclusions Global changes in diagnostic and therapeutic CRC practices were evident. Changes were associated with differences in health-care delivery systems, hospital’s preparedness, resources availability, and local COVID-19 prevalence rather than geographical factors. Strategic planning is required to optimize CRC care