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For bringing together the capacity to inform, educate, and train their users through the interaction with the player and simulation environments very close to reality (in which the acquisition of new skills is the primary goal and fun to play secondary), serious games became the ideal tool for health applications and training military personnel as well as for improving their techniques. In this chapter, a general point of view is presented regarding the use of serious games in the military industry and health. Moreover, it also discusses what serious games are and in which areas they can be applied, which steps a serious game development involves, as well as which platforms and technologies can be used in its development. A description on successful military serious games is also provided, as well as the results of an interview with the psychologists of the Association “ENCONTRA-SE” (Oporto, Portugal) about the use of health serious games as a therapy for patients with mental illnesses.

Nowadays ubiquitous technology can be a suitable way to motivate and engage children in interactive learning activities in order to promote their cognitive and social skills. Technologies, like augmented reality (AR), have the ability to catch the children’s imagination and to promote their attention, as they can experiment artificial, safe and fascinating environments. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) usually have difficulty to recognize facial expressions and to understand associated emotions. We propose to design and develop an innovative GameBook to assist children with ASD to recognize and acquire emotions by engaging their attention and motivation, increasing their competence on this handicap. The GameBook will contain a story that can be read by text or listen by audio. The story will describe some scenarios and real world situations which will conduct the children to become involved on fictional contents associated with emotions. The child will have to interact with these scenarios, by playing with one 3D AR avatar with different facial expressions and choosing the correct one to the right situation and environment described in any page of the GameBook. This GameBook will promote the interaction between the child/storyteller and his/her imagination as well as will help the child to identify the correct emotional face to the situation. The GameBook can be played on any mobile device, such as a tablet, a smartphone or a laptop, with either an external web camera or an inbuilt camera. In order to test it, an exploratory study in a classroom context with ASD children will be performed. We also intend to observe the impact of the game on children interaction, as well as to quantify and evaluate their performance, assess the usability of the technology, and evaluate how it affects the child emotion reactions and the benefits it offers.

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major global public health problem associated with increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity, premature mortality, and decreased quality of life. In Portugal, the PREVADIAB study showed a prevalence of CKD stages 3-5 of 6.1%. To overcome the limitations of the PREVADIAB study, the RENA study aimed to provide an estimate of the prevalence of CKD at a national level and to characterize CKD patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study including users of Primary Health Care Units aged 18 or more. After obtaining written informed consent, sociodemographic and clinical data were recorded through a structured questionnaire, anthropometric measurements were taken, and blood and urine samples were collected. All participants initially meeting the criteria for CKD were contacted at least 3 months after the initial assessment for confirmation of the analytical results. Results: A total of 3,135 individuals were included, 65.4% were female, and the mean age was 56.7 ± 15.9 years. The prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes was 38, 32, and 16%, respectively, and 31% were obese. After data adjustment by gender, age group, and geographical region, the global prevalence of CKD was 20.9% (95% CI: 6.5-35.3%), with no differences between genders and a significant increase with the advance of the age groups. Conclusion: Our study showed a CKD prevalence above the worldwide and Europe average. Despite the study limitations, it has become clear that it is urgent to identify CKD patients earlier and to develop awareness and educational programs to prevent CKD and its associated diseases.

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