RCAAP Repository

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Population from Portugal North (Latitude 41N, Longitude 8W) Portugal South (Latitude 37N, Longitude 8W) Portugal Centre (Latitude 39N, Longitude 8W) Cabo Verde (Latitude 16N, Longitude 24W) Madeira (Latitude 32N, Longitude 17W) consisted of 46 Caucasians, 49 Caucasians, 50 Caucasians, 64 Black and 185 Caucasians respectively. All individuals were from an urban and rural environment and in all populations the grandparents had also lived in the same area. HLA alleles were determined by sequence specific oligonucleotide probes. The results have previously been published in Annuals of Human Geriatrics 66, 285–296, 2002. It was not possible to distinguish DRB1*15 from DRB1*16 and the results are given under DRB1*15.

Partial sequences from two mitochondrial DNA genes, cytochrome b and 12S rRNA, were used to assess the phylogenetic relationships of populations of Lacerta dugesii from the volcanic Atlantic islands of Madeira, the Desertas, Porto Santo, and the Selvagens. All four-island groups are genetically distinguishable and populations within each contain similar degrees of genetic diversity. Molecular clock estimates suggest that the islands were colonized much later after their emergence compared to other Atlantic islands, possibly due to their greater geographical isolation. Mismatch analysis of all populations is consistent with exponential growth, as expected after colonization of empty niches. The Selvagens contain genetic substructuring between the islets

Esta investigação científica apresenta um recorte dissertativo, com resultados de uma pesquisa realizada no campo da dimensão pessoal do professor no âmbito da formação continuada, no contexto da educação infantil, beneficiando com esse estudo, educadores, psicólogos e pedagogos. Destacamos que a situação problema partiu de uma inquietação referente a importância quanto a pessoa do professor nos momentos de formação continuada na região metropolitana do Recife- PE. Como objetivo buscamos investigar a formação continuada de professores, considerando a pessoa do professor no âmbito da educação infantil - CMEI. E como objetivos específicos, nos propomos a analisar a dimensão pessoal do professor na formação continuada e identificar o espaço da dimensão pessoal do professor no contexto das ações pedagógicas no CMEI. Levantamos como problemática como é trabalhada a dimensão pessoal do professor na formação continuada, numa vivência na educação infantil. Em nosso caminhar metodológico foi adotado uma abordagem de paradigma qualitativo, como estudo de caso, de um Centro Municipal de Educação Infantil – CMEI, sendo estruturado na coleta e organização dos dados através das observações com diário de bordo, entrevistas semiestruturadas com os quatro participantes e análise de documentos dos momentos de formação continuada. Analisamos os dados investigados e percebemos a importância de trabalhar a pessoa do professor. Assim, ao direcionarmos o olhar para a pessoa do professor durante os momentos de formação continuada, confirmamos que os alunos são beneficiados no processo ensino/aprendizagem, pois neste momento de formação os professores podem trabalhar também sua dimensão pessoal, visando a possibilidade de estarem equilibrados emocionalmente.

It remains unclear so far whether the role of cognitive reserve for cognitive functioning in old age may differ between individuals with low, compared to those with high functional fitness status. Therefore, the present study set out to investigate the relation of education and cognitive leisure activity as key markers of cognitive reserve to mini-mental state in old age (as an indicator of the extent of cognitive impairment) and its interplay with functional fitness status in a large sample of older adults. We assessed MMSE in 701 older adults (M = 70.4 years, SD = 6.9, range: 60–91). We measured functional fitness status using the Senior Fitness Test battery and interviewed individuals on their education and cognitive leisure activity. Results showed that better functional fitness status, longer education, and greater engagement in cognitive leisure activity were significantly related to higher MMSE scores. Moderation analyses showed that the relations of education and cognitive leisure activity to MMSE scores were significantly larger in individuals with low, compared to those with high functional fitness status. In conclusion, cognitive functioning in old age may more strongly depend on cognitive reserve accumulated during the life course in older adults with low, compared to those with high functional fitness status. These findings may be explained by cross-domain compensation effects in vulnerable individuals and may (at least partly) account for the large variability in cognitive reserve–cognition relations debated in the literature.

Aims: The present study set out to investigate the relation of the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level to cognitive performance and its interplay with key markers of cognitive reserve in a large sample of older adults. Methods: We assessed tests of working memory, immediate and delayed cued recall in 701 older adults from Amazonas, Brazil. The HDL-C level was derived from fasting blood samples. In addition, we interviewed individuals on their education, past occupation, and cognitive leisure activity. Results: A critically low HDL-C level (<40 mg/dL) was significantly related to lower performance in working memory, immediate and delayed cued recall. Moderation analyses suggested that the relations of the HDL-C level to working memory and delayed cued recall were negligible in individuals with longer education, a higher cognitive level of the job, and greater engagement in cognitive leisure activity. Conclusion: Cognitive reserve accumulated during the life course may reduce the detrimental influences of a critically low HDL-C level on cognitive functioning in old age.

Este artigo analisa as características psicométricas do Questionário de Atribuições Causais para o Rendimento Escolar (QARE; Miranda & Almeida, 2008), num grupo de 700 alunos do ensino superior de uma universidade pública portuguesa, a maioria do sexo feminino (55,6%), com uma média de idades nos 21 anos. Este instrumento avalia as atribuições causais para as situações de bom e fraco desempenho académico, respondendo os estudantes numa escala Likert consoante o seu grau de acordo. A análise fatorial exploratória foi conduzida pelo método das componentes principais com rotação varimax e a melhor estrutura encontrada é formada por três agrupamentos de atribuições causais: capacidade, esforço e método de estudo, e contingências externas e aleatórias. Estes resultados apontam que os estudantes no Ensino Superior recorrem sobretudo a aspetos internos ou pessoais para explicar o seu rendimento académico, sugerindo níveis mais elevados de autonomia e autorregulação na aprendizagem. No entanto, as pontuações dos estudantes nas três subescalas não se apresentam correlacionadas de forma expressiva com indicadores objetivos e percebidos do rendimento académico. Face aos resultados psicométricos obtidos tecem-se algumas considerações sobre futuros estudos com este questionário avaliando a motivação académica.

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Este estudo aborda a Perturbação do Défice de Atenção e Hiperatividade (PDAH) e sua relação com o rendimento neuropsicológico, do diagnóstico à intervenção em contexto escolar. Nos últimos anos o diagnóstico tem sido tardio, realizado apenas quando a criança entra na escola, despertando-nos a necessidade de diagnóstico e intervenção precoce. Este estudo apresenta a descrição e compreensão das (re)definições, etiologia, fatores ambientais, sintomas, subtipos, comorbilidade e critérios de diagnóstico desta perturbação. Analisa a relação do rendimento com a avaliação neuropsicológica escolar com a PDAH, bem como a perspetiva da psicopatologia ao tratamento, com o objetivo de melhorar os conhecimentos e apoio educacional às crianças e aos profissionais da educação.

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Aims: The present study set out to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL) in 2 different samples of older adults. Methods: We assessed COGTEL in 116 older adults, with retest after 7 days to evaluate the test-retest reliability. Moreover, we assessed COGTEL in 868 older adults to evaluate convergent validity to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: Test-retest reliability of the COGTEL total score was good at 0.85 (p < 0.001). Latent variable analyses revealed that COGTEL and MMSE correlated by 0.93 (p < 0.001), indicating convergent validity of the COGTEL. Conclusion: The present analyses suggest COGTEL as a brief, reliable, and valid instrument for capturing interindividual differences in cognitive functioning in epidemiological and aging studies, with the advantage of covering more cognitive domains than traditional screening tools such as the MMSE, as well as differentiating between individual performance levels, in healthy older adults.

Objectives: (1) To study the relation of physical activity (PA) to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and (2) to investigate if the strength of these associations holds after adjustments for sex, age, and other key correlates. Methods: This study included 550 older adults from Amazonas. HDL-C was derived from fasting blood samples. PA at sport and leisure, smoking, alcohol consumption, and socioeconomic status (SES) were interviewed. Waist circumference (WACI) was assessed. Results: HDL-C was positively related to PA sport, PA leisure, and SES (0.22 ≤ r ≤ 0.34; p ≤ 0.001) and negatively related to smoking and WACI (r ≤−0.10; p < 0.05). Controlling for sex and age did not affect these relationships. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the relation of HDL-C to PA sport and leisure remainedsignificantwhencontrolling forallotherinvestigatedcorrelates (0.14 ≤β≤ 0.24;p ≤ 0.001). Discussion: In order to prevent low HDL-C in older adults, promoting PA seems to be an important additional component besides common recommendations concerning weight reduction.

The goal of the study is to understand the president´s influence and his skills in the strategic decisionmaking process. The qualitative nature of the study implied a participant’s observation during board meetings (with a total of 35 sports directors - 3 professionals and 32 volunteers), as well as interviewing the six board presidents of the sports associations that are part of the study. The main results revealed a poorly structured decision-making process, but with a determinant role of the board president in the conduction and manipulation of the said process. This was especially evident with the professional sports directors who showed higher knowledge and better preparation of the subjects. Likewise, both of the associations headed by full-time professional sports directors, along with an association led by a volunteer sports director (though strongly backed by the technical director of sport or sports manager during the meetings and decision-making), revealed greater strategic management and better organizational results. The main power sources of the board president, and the skills he uses in order to mark the decision’s direction are internal alliances with the closest sports director (volunteer and professional), anticipation through a previous expressed opinion, the use of information, sports expertise, and also the knowledge regarding the existent problems among the clubs and the affiliated coaches. The results found bad governance which shows confusing and poorly structured management practices. This study intents to contribute for the change of the relationship between the role of the board and the technical director of sport or sport manager (specially for the relevance of the last), in order to improve better strategic decision-making in the non-profit sport organizations.