Zusammenfassung
Der Nutzen von körperlicher Aktivität ist in jedem Alter unbestritten. Mit unterschiedlichen Messmethoden wird aber heute meist eine Reduktion von Bewegung/Zunahme von Inaktivität bei ...Kindern und Jugendlichen beschrieben. Eine Folge ist die Abnahme der körperlichen/motorischen Leistungsfähigkeit, eine weitere die Steigerung von Übergewicht beziehungsweise der Körperfettmasse. Infolgedessen finden sich assoziierte Komorbiditäten, wie zum Beispiel eine Insulinresistenz bis hin zum Vollbild des metabolischen Syndroms. Daher werden neben dem Einsatz von Bewegung in der Therapie der juvenilen Adipositas adäquate präventive Strategien gefordert. In dieser Diskussion wird vor allem mit Blick auf die Umsetzung bislang unzureichend berücksichtigt, dass bestimmte Personengruppen deutlicher von Bewegungsmangel/Inaktivität betroffen sind, zum Beispiel Mädchen, Jugendliche, Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund und/oder niedrigem sozioökonomischem Status. In den übrigen Gruppen wird die geforderte tägliche Bewegungszeit von einer Stunde meist erreicht. Konsekutiv müssen einerseits potenzielle Interventionen die genannten Untergruppen stärker und adäquat fokussieren. Vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Entwicklungen müssen aber auch die derzeitigen Empfehlungen kritisch darauf geprüft werden, ob sie in der vorliegenden Form ausreichen und wie sie nachhaltig implementiert werden können.
The prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing with its negative medical and psychosocial consequences. This paper examines the association between body mass index (BMI), motor abilities and ...leisure habits of 668 children within the CHILT (Children's Health InterventionaL Trial) project.
A total of 668 children (51.0% boys; 49.0% girls) and their parents were questioned on sport and leisure behaviour of the children. The anthropometric data were measured. Motor abilities were determined by a body gross motor development test for children (Köperkoordinationstest für Kinder; KTK) and a 6-min run.
The children were 6.70 +/- 0.42 y old, 122.72 +/- 5.36 cm tall and weighed 24.47 +/- 4.59 kg, the average BMI was 16.17 +/- 2.27 kg/m2. KTK showed an average motor quotient (MQ) of 93.49 +/- 15.01, the 6-min run an average of 835.24 +/- 110.87 m. Both tests were inversely correlated with BMI (KTK and BMI r=-0.164 (P<0.001); 6-min run and BMI r=-0.201 (P<0.001)); the group of overweight/obese children showed poorer results than the normal/underweight ones, even after adjustment for gender and age (in each case P<0.001). Children with the greatest extent of exercise achieve the highest MQ (P=0.035).
Overweight/obesity is associated with a poorer body gross motor development and endurance performance. On the other hand, an active lifestyle is positively correlated with a better gross motor development in first-grade children. Therefore, to prevent the negative consequences of physical inactivity and overweight/obesity early intervention to support exercise and movement is recommended.
In many ways, plumbing is essential to life support. In fact, the advance of humankind on Earth is directly linked to the advance of clean, healthy, reliable plumbing solutions. Shouldn't this also ...be true for the advancement of humankind in space? Unfortunately, the reliability of even the simplest plumbing element aboard spacecraft is rarely that of its terrestrial counterpart. This state of affairs is due entirely to the near-weightless "low-g" state of orbiting and coast spacecraft. But the combined passive capillary effects of surface tension, wetting, and system geometry in space can be exploited to replace the passive role of gravity on earth, and thus achieve similar outcomes there. In this paper, we review a selection of experiments conducted in low-g environments (i.e., ISS and drop towers) that focus on capillary fluidic phenomena. The results of each experiment are highly applicable to subsequent advances in spacecraft plumbing. With examples ranging from spurious droplet ejections to passive bubble coalescence, to droplet bouncing, to complex container wicking, we show how simple low-g demonstrations can lead to significant reliability improvements in practical passive plumbing processes from pipetting to liquid-gas separations, to wastewater transport, to drinking in space.
Background. Most epidemiologic studies of tick-borne rickettsial diseases in the United States are small and have limited demographic scope, making broader risk assessment difficult. Methods. We ...conducted a seroprevalence study of spotted fever group rickettsiae and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis. Specimens were selected randomly from the Department of Defense Serum Repository for 10,000 diverse military personnel at various stages in their careers who were serving with active duty status in 1997. Antibody testing included enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for Rickettsia rickettsii and A. phagocytophilum, and Western blot confirmation for A. phagocytophilum. Risk factors were assessed using logistic regression. Results. Subjects were mostly male and young and were diverse ethnically and geographically. Spotted fever group rickettsiae seropositivity was 6.0% (95% confidence interval, 5.5%–6.4%). In univariable logistic regression, seroprevalence was significantly higher among older subjects, men (6.5%, compared with 3.3% among women), black individuals (8.7%, compared with 5.6% among white individuals), subjects from states with above-average Rocky Mountain spotted fever incidence, and subjects in ground combat specialties. Associations remained significant in multivariable analysis for age, sex, black versus white race, home state with high incidence, and ground combat specialty. Among 696 subjects with serum samples obtained within 7 days after entering the military, the rate of seropositivity was 3.4% (95% confidence interval, 2.1%–4.8%). Seroprevalence was nonsignificantly lower in men (3.4%, compared with 3.7% in women ) and in black individuals (3.4%, compared with 4.1% in white individuals). A. phagocytophilum seropositivity, as determined by by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot, was 2.6% and 0.11% (95% confidence interval, 0.05%–0.18%), respectively. Western blot seropositivity was not significantly associated with subject characteristics in univariable analysis. Conclusions. Spotted fever group rickettsiae exposure was common and A. phagocytophilum exposure was rare in a US population with broad demographic diversity.
Highlights • The origin of circulating maternal and umbilical cord (UC) BDNF remains unresolved. • BDNF traffic between mother and fetus is unlikely. • Mode of delivery and gestational age are ...determinants of UC-BDNF. • Gestational age is the only determinant of maternal BDNF concentration. • BDNF may be involved in the neurohormonal cascade of parturition.
Dielectric electroactive polymers belong to a new class of smart materials, whose functional principle is based on electrostatic forces. They can either be used as actuators to provide considerable ...stretch ratios or as generators to convert mechanical strain energy into electrical energy based on an electrostatic energy converter concept. Since the polymer material and also the covering compliant electrodes have non-ideal electrical properties, such as, respectively, finite resistivity and conductivity, design rules are usually required to optimize the devices. The electrode conductivity combined with the polymer resistivity causes a voltage drop along the electrode surface, resulting in a reduced actuation strain or energy conversion. To minimize its parasitic effects, the influence of this effect is studied, firstly, for the transient and steady state behavior and, secondly, in order to derive design rules for the optimal placement of electrode contacts.
Debris flow is a common process in the Swiss Alps and in other mountainous parts of the world. The understanding of debris-flow behaviour is essential to assess the hazards they present. An important ...approach towards improving the knowledge of debris-flow processes is the gathering of real-time data by debris-flow observation stations. Observation stations were established in three Swiss debris flow prone watersheds and equipped with video cameras, ultrasonic devices, a radar device, geophones, and rain gauges. In 2000, four significant debris flows were observed. The data provided useful information on the mechanics of debris flows and on the efficiency of the measuring devices. The observed debris flows are characterized by volumes between 5 000 and 35 000 m
3
, front velocities ranging from 2 to 5 m/s, and peak discharges between 20 and 125 m
3
/s. The analysis of the monitoring data revealed that ultrasonic and radar devices are very helpful tools, whereas the quality of the geophone signal strongly depends on the substrate on which the instrument is installed (i.e., bedrock versus unconsolidated material). Video images are useful to verify the data obtained by the other devices. A dynamic analysis of one debris flow was carried out and the simulated results are in fair agreement with the observed data.Key words: debris flow, Swiss Alps, monitoring, dynamic analysis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Colloidal particles with a 14 nm diameter Au core surrounded by a 72 nm thick silica shell have been irradiated with 30 MeV heavy ions. The shell deforms into an oblate ellipsoid, while the core ...becomes rod‐shaped (aspect ratio up to 9) with the major axis along the beam. Optical extinction measurements show evidence for split plasmon bands, characteristic for anisotropic metal nanoparticles.
In South America, various species of Leishmania are endemic and cause New World tegumentary leishmaniasis (NWTL). The correct identification of these species is critical for adequate clinical ...management and surveillance activities. We developed a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and evaluated its diagnostic performance using 64 archived parasite isolates and 192 prospectively identified samples collected from individuals with suspected leishmaniasis enrolled at two reference clinics in Lima, Peru. The real-time PCR assay was able to detect a single parasite and provided unambiguous melting peaks for five Leishmania species of the Viannia subgenus that are highly prevalent in South America: L. (V.) braziliensis, L. (V.) panamensis, L. (V.) guyanensis, L. (V.) peruviana and L. (V.) lainsoni. Using kinetoplastid DNA-based PCR as a gold standard, the real-time PCR had sensitivity and specificity values of 92% and 77%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of conventional tests such as microscopy, culture and the leishmanin skin test (LST). In addition, the real-time PCR identified 147 different clinical samples at the species level, providing an overall agreement of 100% when compared to multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data performed on a subset of these samples. Furthermore, the real-time PCR was three times faster and five times less expensive when compared to PCR - MLST for species identification from clinical specimens. In summary, this new assay represents a cost-effective and reliable alternative for the identification of the main species causing NWTL in South America.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Hypochlorous acid (HOCl), the active ingredient in household bleach, is an effective antimicrobial produced by the mammalian host defense to kill invading microorganisms. Despite the widespread use ...of HOCl, surprisingly little is known about its mode of action. In this study, we demonstrate that low molar ratios of HOCl to protein cause oxidative protein unfolding in vitro and target thermolabile proteins for irreversible aggregation in vivo. As a defense mechanism, bacteria use the redox-regulated chaperone Hsp33, which responds to bleach treatment with the reversible oxidative unfolding of its C-terminal redox switch domain. HOCl-mediated unfolding turns inactive Hsp33 into a highly active chaperone holdase, which protects essential
Escherichia coli proteins against HOCl-induced aggregation and increases bacterial HOCl resistance. Our results substantially improve our molecular understanding about HOCl's functional mechanism. They suggest that the antimicrobial effects of bleach are largely based on HOCl's ability to cause aggregation of essential bacterial proteins.
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