Tangible storytelling: let children play with the bits

The use of tangible objects makes it possible to create interactions, or dynamics, which are alternatives to the mouse and keyboard in the process of communicating with the computer. The construction of these objects incorporating electronic components lets us bring that momentum to another level. This meeting with the technology allows children to take an active role, while there is a purpose of control over the objects, which becomes important to them. With the reinforcement of that control, the introduction of programmable digital electronic components also allows the child to develop, strengthen and feel the impact of their role as competent designer and creator of technology. Current technology allows the construction of these objects and the communication with computers at a low cost through micro-controllers, using, on one hand, the open source software and on the other the open hardware.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Is maternal education associated with childhood overweight risk? Trends between 2010 and 2013- the COSI Portugal study

Introduction: Considerable inequalities in overweight and obesity are evident among European children. Particularly in Portugal, a country with one of the highest prevalence of childhood obesity, understanding the most relevant socioeconomical factors such as maternal education, is crucial to promote children's immediate health and well-being throughout life course.N/

Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative: COSI Portugal 2013

Inclui "fact sheet" distribuída na sessão de apresentação do relatório.Ficheiros do relatório e factsheets atualizados em setembro de 2015.O Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI)/World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe é o sistema europeu de vigilância nutricional infantil coordenado pelo Gabinete Regional Europeu da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS). Tem como principal objetivo criar uma rede sistemática de recolha, análise, interpretação e divulgação de informação descritiva sobre as caraterísticas do estado nutricional infantil de crianças dos 6 aos 8 anos, que se traduz num sistema de vigilância que produz dados comparáveis entre países da Europa e que permite a monitorização da obesidade infantil a cada 2-3 anos

Prevalence of Childhood Obesity and Overweight in Portugal and Greece COSI 2010

Introduction: WHO/Europe Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) is an ongoing, systematic process of collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of descriptive information for monitoring excess body weight in the WHO European Region. The system aims to measure trends in overweight and obesity in children aged 6-8 year-olds, every two years. Here we are presenting and comparing the results of the second COSI round (2010), for schoolchildren age 7 years for two countries of Southern Europe: Portugal and Greece. Methods:4020 children(910 age 7 years) from 172 schools participated in the study in Portugal and 5701(1293 age 7 years) from 150 schools in Greece(national representative samples). Height and weight were directly measured by trained fieldworkers. Overweight (including obesity) and obesity prevalence were calculated using the international body mass index cut-offs according to WHO criteria. Dietary and exercise patterns were assessed through school and family questionnaires. Results: Prevalence of overweight (including obesity) in children age 7 years was 31,5% in boys and 36,2% in girls( according to WHO definition) in Portugal and 48,9% in boys and 44,8% in girls in Greece. In both countries dietary and exercise patterns were found very similar with children presenting poor food habits, low level of physical activity and high level of sedentary habits. Conclusion: Portugal and Greece are two of the countries with higher prevalence of overweight and obesity across Europe. This has been consistently higher in Southern European countries which also share several similarities on dietary patterns and physical activity levels among primary school children, suggesting that active implementation of policies or interventions to counteract overweight and obesity are needed

Aleitamento materno e peso à nascença – fatores protetores ou de risco para a obesidade infantil? - Estudo COSI Portugal 2010 .

Introdução: A obesidade continua a ser uma doenças mais prevalentes na infância e um sério desafio de saúde pública a nível mundial. Devido ao seu carácter preditivo de obesidade na idade adulta e co-morbilidades, fatores inerentes ao início da vida têm vindo a ser estudados pelo seu potencial papel determinante no risco de desenvolver obesidade na infância. Objetivos: O presente trabalho pretende estudar o aleitamento materno e o peso à nascença, como possíveis fatores protetores ou de risco para a obesidade infantil. Métodos: O estudo compreende 3637 crianças dos 6-8 anos avaliadas na 2ª fase do COSI Portugal 2010. Os dados do peso à nascença e da amamentação foram obtidos por um questionário familiar. A prevalência de obesidade e excesso de peso foi determinada aplicando o critério da Organização Mundial de Saúde. Resultados: Segundo os critérios estabelecidos pela Organização Mundial de Saúde, no ano de 2010 o excesso de peso afetava 39% das crianças portuguesas, das quais 16,4% eram obesas. No que concerne ao peso à nascença, os resultados mostraram que 8,3% das crianças nasceram com baixo peso (4000g) no momento do nascimento. Cerca de 52% das crianças foram amamentadas por um período inferior a 6 meses. Nesta amostra o baixo peso à nascença não constituiu um risco do excesso de peso nas crianças portuguesas (OR = 0,74; IC95% 0,57-0,98) no entanto, as crianças com macrossomia apresentaram uma maior probabilidade de ter excesso de peso (OR = 1,41; IC95% 1,05 1,90) e as crianças com alimentação artificial exclusiva desde o nascimento, maior risco de obesidade (OR = 1,39; IC95% 1,09-1,77). Conclusões: Maior peso à nascença e a ausência de amamentação revelaram ser factores de risco para a prevalência de excesso de peso e de obesidade infantil

Trends in Overweight and Obesity in Portuguese primary school children: COSI study 2008 -2013

Aims: To investigate trends in childhood obesity in the context of the WHO/Europe Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI study), in Portugal, between 2008 and 2013. Key Methods: Nutritional Status of children aged 6-8 years old, from a national representative sample in Portugal, was evaluated according to the WHO/Europe COSI study protocol in rounds 1 (2008; n=3765); round 2 (2010; n= 4064) and round 3 (2013; n= 5935). Height and weight were directly measured by trained fieldworkers. Overweight (including obesity) and obesity prevalence were calculated using the international body mass index cut-offs according to WHO criteria. Results: In 2008, 37,9% of the portuguese were overweight and 15,3% were obese with higher prevalence shown in boys than in girls (p>0,05). During the 5 year period the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity significantly decreased by 4,3% and by 1,4%(p< 0,05), respectively. Obesity peaked in 8 year olds (boys and girls) but it was only significantly higher for girls aged 7 years old (p<0,05), in 2013. Conclusion: Trends in overweight and obesity in national representative samples of Portuguese children of the COSI study, have declined during the period 2008-2013. However, among countries of the WHO European region, Portugal continues to show one of the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity in primary school aged children suggesting that programs addressing childhood obesity have to continuously be a priority in the public health Portuguese agenda.N/

Strategies for the engagement of youth in health-related activities in Portugal: the CO-CREATE project

Introduction: The lack of attention paid by policymakers to the views and role of young people in societal matters, including health, has been a contributor factor for the poor youth involvement in the development of health-related policies. The CO-CREATE (CC) project aims to collaborate with adolescents across Europe in developing policy ideas that contribute to overweight and obesity prevention. Aim: Present the strategies for the recruitment and engagement of youth in CC project in Portugal. Methods: In order to recruit for a diversity of youths, the Portuguese CC Team identified the scout organization CNE (Corpo Nacional de Escutas) as the most relevant gatekeeper, being the biggest Portuguese youth association. The principles of youth-led participatory action research were employed to design 3 Youth Alliances, temporal gathering of a group of young people that work together towards a common goal: Scout groups of Oeiras, Parque das Nações and São Domingos de Rana. Results: Several opportunities were created to promote the Portuguese youth engagement in the project such as the planning and organization of local and national Dialogue Forums and the presentation of youth policy ideas to three political parties of the Portuguese Parliament. Recommendations from the CC youth for encouraging youth involvement in the development of policies are highlighted below: - Promote training and empower youth, for example, through and in schools; - Create opportunities for youth to be part of national and international projects as active partners is needed, and facilitating youth promoting this via their channels; - Establish partnership with existing youth organizations to foster synergies; - Use tools that ensure equal and balanced participation in discussions between youth and stakeholders. Conclusion: Nowadays young people’s voices remain underrepresented in health policy processes, however CC is an example of a successful initiative that was able to motivate and mobilize youth in Portugal.The CO-CREATE project has received funding from the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Union under funding agreement No 774210.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The development and validation of a novel computer program to assess food and nutrition intake in Portuguese schoolchildren

Food and nutrition are important determinants of noncommunicable diseases such as childhood obesity which is a public health priority1-3. Portugal has shown one of the highest and accelerated increasing rates of childhood obesity in European Union, with an estimated prevalence of overweight of 37,9% and 15,3% of obesity (WHO criteria). Understanding how to prevent it remains a research question. However the design of potentially effective interventions is hampered by the general lack of good-quality data available. There is no validated methodology available to assess food and nutrition intake in schoolage Portuguese children (Figure 1). The purpose of this study is to develop and validate, for the first time in Portugal, a novel engaging method of assessing food and nutrition intake of schoolage Portuguese children

L’enseignement pharmaceutique au Portugal. Etude de cas de la Faculte de Pharmacie de l’Universite de Coimbra (1902)

Les auteurs font l’historique de l’enseignement pharmaceutique au Portugal. Leur recherche se centre essentiellement sur les réformes qui ont marqué la pharmacie dans la première moitié du XXe siècle, une période de profondes modifications scientifiques, techniques et professionnelles au niveau de la pharmacie portugaise. Ils effectuent une étude de cas pour l’École/ Faculté de Pharmacie de l’Université en centrant leur attention aussi bien sur l’enseignement que sur la recherche réalisée, ayant pour rideau de fond le contexte politique, social et scientifique.Pharmaceutical teaching in Portugal - the case study of the University of Coimbra´s Faculty of Pharmacy — The authors make a record of pharmaceutical teaching in Portugal centering their investigation mainly on the reforms that marked pharmacy in the first half of the XX century, a period of scientific, technical and deep professional changes in Portuguese pharmacy. A case study was completed for the University´s School / Faculty of Pharmacy focusing its attention not only on the teaching but also the investigation accomplished, having the political, social and scientific context as a background

Influence of child and maternal variables on childhood obesity in the municipalities of Fundão, Montijo, Oeiras, Seixal and Viana do Castelo

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity has been considered a global epidemic and its prevalence has increased worldwide in the last decades. Such trends as gain special interest in the scientific community and their causes have been large studied. In this context it is recognized the importance of more study on obesity’ influences. According to the literature childhood obesity is linked with some child and maternal features. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between child and maternal variables and childhood obesity in school aged children from Fundão, Montijo, Oeiras, Seixal and Viana do Castelo municipalities. METHODS: Longitudinal study developed into three periods (2008-2011). The present data results from the first stage. 167 public schools were selected from the 5 municipalities, where 3851 children were included. The nutritional status was evaluated according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2000) growthcharts criteria percentiles of Body Mass Index (BMI) and the child and maternal variables was obtained from a self-response family’ questionnaire. The statistics analysis was obtained through descriptive analysis and Binomial Logistic Regression Model was used and the odds ratios for confidence intervals were set at 95 %. RESULTS: 3173 children was evaluated, 50.6% were female with a mean age of 7.5 years (± dp=0.8). The prevalence of overweight was 32.1% (BMI≥P85) and 14.3% was obese (BMI≥P95). Childhood breastfeeding occurred in almost children (90.1%) and showed a protective association with childhood obesity (childhood not-breastfeeding OR=1.6; 95%CI: 1.1-2.2). High children birthweight was positively associated with childhood obesity (OR=2.5; 95%CI: 1.3-4.6). The durability of breastfeeding, maternal weight, gestational age and maternal age did not show relevant link with childhood obesity. CONCLUSION: The child and maternal variables are associated with the development of childhood obesity, however in the present study, just not-breastfeeding and children birth weight showed a statistic link with childhood obesity. Furthermore investigation is useful in order to validate these results, and better understand the influence of child and maternal factors on child development