Physical inactivity across the lifespan remains a public health issue for many developed countries. Inactivity has contributed considerably to the pervasiveness of lifestyle diseases. Government, national and local agencies and organizations have been unable to systematically, and in a coordinated way, translate behavioral research into practice that makes a difference at a population level. One approach for mobilizing multi-level efforts to improve the environment for physical activity is to engage in a process of citizen science. Citizen Science here is defined as a participatory research approach involving members of the public working closely with research investigators to initiate and advance scientific research projects. However, there are no common measures or protocols to guide citizen science research at the local community setting. We describe overarching categories of constructs that can be considered when designing citizen science projects expected to yield multi-level interventions, and provide an example of the citizen science approach to promoting PA. We also recommend potential measures across different levels of impact. Encouraging some consistency in measurement across studies will potentially accelerate the efficiency with which citizen science participatory research provides new insights into and solutions to the behaviorally-based public health issues that drive most of morbidity and mortality. The measures described in this paper abide by four fundamental principles specifically selected for inclusion in citizen science projects: feasibility, accuracy, propriety, and utility. The choice of measures will take into account the potential resources available for outcome and process evaluation. Our intent is to emphasize the importance for all citizen science participatory projects to follow an evidence-based approach and ensure that they incorporate an appropriate assessment protocol. We provided the rationale for and a list of contextual factors along with specific examples of measures to encourage consistency among studies that plan to use a citizen science participatory approach. The potential of this approach to promote health and wellbeing in communities is high and we hope that we have provided the tools needed to optimally promote synergistic gains in knowledge across a range of Citizen Science participatory projects.

Por iniciativa do Ministério da Saúde, em colaboração com pesquisadores nacionais, elaborou-se o primeiro Guia de Atividade Física (AF) para a População Brasileira, incluindo recomendações para as várias fases da vida e populações especiais. O objetivo deste estudo é apresentar o processo metodológico e os resultados do capítulo de recomendações de AF para idosos. O Grupo de Trabalho Idosos (GT Idosos) contou com a participação de 11 pesquisadores/profissionais que realizaram reuniões virtuais semanais, revisão sistemática de revisões, que incluiu 50 artigos ao final, e escutas com profissionais de Educação Física (n = 143), gestores (n = 17) e com idosos (n = 22), de todas as regiões do país, por meio de entrevistas telefônicas e formulários eletrônicos. Baseado nos resultados da revisão e das escutas, elaborou-se uma primeira versão das recomendações de AF para idosos, que foi submetida à consulta pública. No total foram recebidas 46 sugestões válidas, das quais 34 foram aceitas e incorporadas ao texto final por possuírem relevância técnica e/ou social. Como resultados, o Guia destaca os principais benefícios da AF para idosos, como melhora dos aspectos físicos, mentais e sociais, e recomenda um mínimo de 150 minutos por semana de AF de intensidade moderada, ou 75 minutos de intensidade vigorosa, considerando as AF no tempo livre, no deslocamento, no trabalho/estudo ou nas tarefas domésticas. Acredita-se que o Guia auxiliará os idosos e profissionais de saúde a conhecerem os benefícios da AF, a quantidade recomendada e as diversas possibilidades de prática, por meio de mensagens e exemplos culturalmente apropriados.

In this study, we investigated the cardiovascular risk factors as well as ectonucleotidase activities in lymphocytes of metabolic syndrome (MetS) patients before and after an exercise intervention. 20 MetS patients, who performed regular concurrent exercise training for 30 weeks, 3 times/week, were studied. Anthropometric, biochemical, inflammatory and hepatic parameters and hydrolysis of adenine nucleotides and nucleoside in lymphocytes were collected from patients before and after 15 and 30 weeks of the exercise intervention as well as from participants of the control group. An increase in the hydrolysis of ATP and ADP, and a decrease in adenosine deamination in lymphocytes of MetS patients before the exercise intervention were observed (P<0.001). However, these alterations were reversed by exercise training after 30 weeks of intervention. Additionally, exercise training reduced the inflammatory and hepatic markers to baseline levels after 30 weeks of exercise. Our results clearly indicated alteration in ectonucleotidase enzymes in lymphocytes in the MetS, whereas regular exercise training had a protective effect on the enzymatic alterations and on inflammatory and hepatic parameters, especially if it is performed regularly and for a long period.

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the study routine and physical activity of Physical Education students. The study included, by convenience sampling, 721 undergraduate Physical Education students from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. For data collection, a questionnaire containing questions about sample characterization, study routine and characteristics of physical activity before and during social distancing/isolation was used. This instrument was made available by Google Forms, between April 13th and May 31st of 2020. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that 35% of the students had their studies completely interrupted and 27.9% of them reported an increase in their load of study routine activities. The time spent on television went from one to two hours a day (47.7%) to up to four hours (63.7%), with women having greater screen time for television (> 3h / day; p = 0.027) during the pandemic period. There was an increase from 3.1% to 18.7% of students who were not practicing any physical activity. Those who remained active decreased the number of days of weekly practice and the average time per session (p < 0.001). Thus, it is necessary to think about strategies to increase and maintain the levels of physical activity, as means of protection and reduction of health damages, caused by the infection of the new coronavirus and by the social distancing/isolation imposed to reduce the transmission of the virus.

Resumo Há evidências que o apoio e o comportamento parental interferem diretamente no comportamento saudável dos adolescentes. O objetivo deste estudo é identificar a relação do Perfil de Estilo de Vida (PEV) parental com os estudantes. Participaram 208 escolares, de 11 a 15 anos, e seus respectivos pais (mãe/pai). Para avaliar o PEV dos pais foi utilizado um instrumento que engloba cinco componentes associados ao estilo de vida: nutrição, atividade física, comportamento preventivo, relacionamentos e controle do estresse. Já, para os alunos foi aplicado o instrumento adaptado para adolescentes. A análise dos resultados foi através da estatística descritiva e o teste Qui-Quadrado. Os alunos, as mães e os pais apresentaram um comportamento positivo (CP) para os componentes PEV, a pontuação média das respostas na nutrição dos alunos e dos pais ficou próxima a um comportamento negativo (CN). A média de pontos das mães na atividade física correspondeu a um CN. Não houve relações significativas dos componentes do PEV do grupo casais com o grupo de filhos, somente no componente atividade física foi encontrada uma relação significativa. As relações estabelecidas entre os grupos nos componentes sugerem que uma postura conjunta positiva de ambos os pais possibilita aumentar a possibilidade de ter filhos com CP.

There are still doubts about the real benets of physical activity on the academic performance of adolescents. The aim of this study was to determine whether the physical activity (PA) interferes in the academic performance of high school students.The study included 348 adolescents from one fed- eral public school. For information regarding PA, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ short-version) was used. For PAL classication the adolecents who had 300 minutes/week or more of physical activity were considered as active. The information related to the participation in sports schools was obtained through a question inserted in IPAQ. For the academic performance, the average grades of the rst semester of 2015 were used, within the three major Knowledge Areas, as dened by the National Curriculum Standards. ere was no signicant correlation between academic performance and PA (r= 0.06; p= 0.28). Higher minimum scores were found among active high school students and higher average school for areas 1 – Languages, Codes and its Technologies (7.2±0.8) and 2 – Natural Sciences, Mathematics and its Technologies (6.6±1.3) among participants in sports schools, with statistical signicance (p= 0.017; p= 0.014). In conclusion, PAL did not relate to the academic performance of pupils in this study and participants of sports schools achieved better academic performance demonstrating that sports activities can cause benecial eects in their cognitive performances.