Introdução: O desenvolvimento infantil é um período de progressivas e complexas transformações relacionadas ao crescimento, maturação, aprendizagem, habilidades motoras e questões psicossociais. ...Objetivo: Analisar o desempenho das habilidades motoras em crianças obesas, analisar a qualidade de vida das mesmas e os níveis de ansiedade e depressão de suas mães. Método: Pesquisa transversal, descritiva, comparativa e de abordagem quantitativa com crianças atendidas em um ambulatório de endocrinologia pediátrica localizada no município de Fortaleza – CE, entre junho e novembro de 2017. A amostra foi composta por 24 crianças, de 3 a 8 anos de idade. Foi realizada a quantificação antropométrica, aplicação da Escala de Desenvolvimento Motor, do Questionário Pediátrico sobre Qualidade de Vida das crianças (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory – PedsQL™) e dos questionários de ansiedade e depressão de Beck com as mães. Resultados: 16 eram do sexo feminino e 17 obesos graves. Obteve-se alteração no desenvolvimento motor em quase 100% da amostra, com uma classificação quanto ao nível motor como “inferior” em 42,85% no grupo de obesos e 41,17% no grupo de obesos graves. Houve um predomínio da lateralidade “destro completo” e “indefinida” em ambos os grupos com pouco mais de 40% da amostra. Quanto a qualidade de vida foi observada uma baixa média de escores; estando as mães classificadas, em sua maioria, nos dois grupos, com presença de ansiedade e depressão mínimas. Conclusão: A obesidade interfere negativamente no desenvolvimento motor global, determinação da lateralidade e qualidade de vida das crianças, percebendo-se níveis mais graves de ansiedade e depressão nas mães de crianças com obesidade grave.
Introdução: O desenvolvimento infantil é um período de progressivas e complexas transformações relacionadas ao crescimento, maturação, aprendizagem, habilidades motoras e questões psicossociais. ...Objetivo: Analisar o desempenho das habilidades motoras em crianças obesas, analisar a qualidade de vida das mesmas e os níveis de ansiedade e depressão de suas mães. Método: Pesquisa transversal, descritiva, comparativa e de abordagem quantitativa com crianças atendidas em um ambulatório de endocrinologia pediátrica localizada no município de Fortaleza – CE, entre junho e novembro de 2017. A amostra foi composta por 24 crianças, de 3 a 8 anos de idade. Foi realizada a quantificação antropométrica, aplicação da Escala de Desenvolvimento Motor, do Questionário Pediátrico sobre Qualidade de Vida das crianças (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory – PedsQL™) e dos questionários de ansiedade e depressão de Beck com as mães. Resultados: 16 eram do sexo feminino e 17 obesos graves. Obteve-se alteração no desenvolvimento motor em quase 100% da amostra, com uma classificação quanto ao nível motor como “inferior” em 42,85% no grupo de obesos e 41,17% no grupo de obesos graves. Houve um predomínio da lateralidade “destro completo” e “indefinida” em ambos os grupos com pouco mais de 40% da amostra. Quanto a qualidade de vida foi observada uma baixa média de escores; estando as mães classificadas, em sua maioria, nos dois grupos, com presença de ansiedade e depressão mínimas. Conclusão: A obesidade interfere negativamente no desenvolvimento motor global, determinação da lateralidade e qualidade de vida das crianças, percebendo-se níveis mais graves de ansiedade e depressão nas mães de crianças com obesidade grave.
The cerebellum is hypothesized to refine movement through online adjustments. We examined how such predictive control may be generated using a mouse reach paradigm, testing whether the cerebellum ...uses within-reach information as a predictor to adjust reach kinematics. We first identified a population-level response in Purkinje cells that scales inversely with reach velocity, pointing to the cerebellar cortex as a potential site linking kinematic predictors and anticipatory control. Next, we showed that mice can learn to compensate for a predictable reach perturbation caused by repeated, closed-loop optogenetic stimulation of pontocerebellar mossy fiber inputs. Both neural and behavioral readouts showed adaptation to position-locked mossy fiber perturbations and exhibited aftereffects when stimulation was removed. Surprisingly, position-randomized stimulation schedules drove partial adaptation but no opposing aftereffects. A model that recapitulated these findings suggests that the cerebellum may decipher cause-and-effect relationships through time-dependent generalization mechanisms.
Injuries and lack of motivation are common reasons for discontinuation of running. Real-time feedback from wearables can reduce discontinuation by reducing injury risk and improving performance and ...motivation. There are however several limitations and challenges with current real-time feedback approaches. We discuss these limitations and challenges and provide a framework to optimise real-time feedback for reducing injury risk and improving performance and motivation. We first discuss the reasons why individuals run and propose that feedback targeted to these reasons can improve motivation and compliance. Secondly, we review the association of running technique and running workload with injuries and performance and we elaborate how real-time feedback on running technique and workload can be applied to reduce injury risk and improve performance and motivation. We also review different feedback modalities and motor learning feedback strategies and their application to real-time feedback. Briefly, the most effective feedback modality and frequency differ between variables and individuals, but a combination of modalities and mixture of real-time and delayed feedback is most effective. Moreover, feedback promoting perceived competence, autonomy and an external focus can improve motivation, learning and performance. Although the focus is on wearables, the challenges and practical applications are also relevant for laboratory-based gait retraining.
Electroencephalography (EEG), a non-invasive and real-time measure of the brain's electrical potentials (Biasiucci et al., 2019), is fairly suitable for investigating cortical activity in both ...laboratory and field conditions as compared to other neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), probably due to its compact size and low cost (Mehta and Parasuraman, 2013). Prolonged and repeated data collection may also induce allergic reactions or infections. ...frequent gel replacement due to gel drying is necessary to ensure the quality of EEG signals, making long-term monitoring more challenging. ...the investigations of such neuroelectric profiles in artificial environments would only further our understanding of the brain functioning associated with sports expertise in these specific circumstances, but not necessarily generalize to natural sports environments. ...although quite a few studies have examined self-paced, closed-skilled sports in more ecologically valid conditions (Deeny et al., 2009; Nakata et al., 2010; Babiloni et al., 2011; Cheng et al., 2015), these are limited to conditions requiring very little movement such as the pre-performance period (Hatfield et al., 2004). P300 is commonly thought to reflect attention allocated to a given task (Polich, 2007; Wang et al., 2016; Kao et al., 2019) and has been associated with sports expertise (Nakata et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2015; Wang and Tu, 2017). ...the investigation of P300 using dry systems may provide information complementary to that of conventional EEG systems.
Young children with brain tumours are at high risk of developing treatment-related sequelae. We aimed to assess neuropsychological outcomes 5 years after treatment. This cross-sectional study ...included children under 4 years of age with medulloblastoma (MB) or ependymoma (EP) enrolled in the German brain tumour trials HIT2000 and HIT-REZ2005. Testing was performed using the validated Wuerzburg Intelligence Diagnostics (WUEP-D), which includes Kaufman-Assessment-Battery, Coloured Progressive Matrices, Visual-Motor Integration, finger tapping "Speed", and the Continuous Performance Test. Of 104 patients in 47 centres, 72 were eligible for analyses. We assessed whether IQ was impacted by disease extent, disease location, patient age, gender, age at surgery, and treatment (chemotherapy with our without craniospinal irradiation CSI or local radiotherapy LRT). Median age at surgery was 2.3 years. Testing was performed at a median of 4.9 years after surgery. Patients with infratentorial EPs (treated with LRT) scored highest in fluid intelligence (CPM 100.9±16.9, mean±SD); second best scores were achieved by patients with MB without metastasis treated with chemotherapy alone (CPM 93.9±13.2), followed by patients with supratentorial EPs treated with LRT. In contrast, lowest scores were achieved by patients that received chemotherapy and CSI, which included children with metastasised MB and those with relapsed MB M0 (CPM 71.7±8.0 and 73.2±21.8, respectively). Fine motor skills were reduced in all groups. Multivariable analysis revealed that type of treatment had an impact on IQ, but essentially not age at surgery, time since surgery or gender. Our results confirm previous reports on the detrimental effects of CSI in a larger cohort of children. Comparable IQ scores in children with MB treated only with chemotherapy and in children with EP suggest that this treatment strategy represents an attractive option for children who have a high chance to avoid application of CSI. Longitudinal follow-up examinations are warranted to assess long-term neuropsychological outcomes.
This study aims to assess fundamental movement skill (FMS) proficiency, physical self-confidence levels, and the relationship between these variables and gender differences among adolescents. Three ...hundred and ninety five adolescents aged 13.78 years (SD = ±1.2) from 20 schools were involved in this study. The Test of Gross Motor Development-2nd Edition (TGMD), TGMD-2 and Victorian Skills Manual were used to assess 15 FMS. Participants' physical self-confidence was also assessed using a valid skill-specific scale. A significant correlation was observed between FMS proficiency and physical self-confidence for females only (r = 0.305, P < 0.001). Males rated themselves as having significantly higher physical self-confidence levels than females (P = 0.001). Males scored significantly higher than females in FMS proficiency (P < 0.05), and the lowest physical self-confidence group were significantly less proficient at FMS than the medium (P < 0.001) and high physical self-confidence groups (P < 0.05). This information not only highlights those in need of assistance to develop their FMS but will also facilitate in the development of an intervention which aims to improve physical self-confidence and FMS proficiency.
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the collated integration of practitioner expertise, athlete values and research evidence aimed to optimise the decision-making process surrounding sport performance. ...Despite the academic interest afforded to sport science research, our knowledge of how this research is applied in elite sport settings is limited. This current opinion examines the existing evidence of the translation of sport science research into the field, with a tailored focus on the current perceptions of practitioners, researchers and coaches. Recent studies show that practitioners and researchers report they ascertain sport science knowledge differently, with coaches preferring personal interactions compared with coaching courses or scientific journals. The limited peer-reviewed research shows that coaches perceive their knowledge is greater in fields such as tactical/technical areas, rather than physical fitness or general conditioning. This likely explains coaches' greater perceived value in research dedicated to technical and tactical expertise, as well as mental training and skill acquisition. Practitioners place a large emphasis on the need for research in physical fitness areas, which is likely due to their occupational focus. There are many perceived barriers of sport science research application, including funding, time, coach/player/staff 'buy in' and research questions that may not apply to the setting. We contend that researchers and practitioners may benefit in producing research, ascertaining knowledge and disseminating findings in alternative methods that better align with coaches' needs. In addition, educational strategies that focus on real-world context and promote social interaction between coaches, practitioners, organisational personnel and researchers would likely benefit all stakeholders.
Cognitive impairment is often observed in multiple sclerosis and its animal models, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Using mice with immunization‐induced EAE, we have previously shown ...that the stability of cortical synapses is markedly decreased before the clinical onset of EAE. In this study, we examined learning‐dependent structural synaptic plasticity in a spontaneous EAE model. Transgenic mice expressing myelin basic protein‐specific T cell receptor genes develop EAE spontaneously at around 8 weeks of age. Using in vivo two‐photon microscopy, we found that the elimination and formation rates of postsynaptic dendritic spines in somatosensory and motor cortices increased weeks before detectable signs of EAE and remained to be high during the disease onset. Despite the elevated basal spine turnover, motor learning‐induced spine formation was reduced in presymptomatic EAE mice, in line with their impaired ability to retain learned motor skills. Additionally, we found a substantial elevation of IFN‐γ mRNA in the brain of 4‐week‐old presymptomatic mice, and treatment of anti‐IFN‐γ antibody reduced dendritic spine elimination in the cortex. Together, these findings reveal synaptic instability and failure to form new synapses after learning as early brain pathology of EAE, which may contribute to cognitive and behavioral deficits seen in autoimmune diseases.
One of the basic factors in the sports training of footballers at all levels, including junior level, is motor skills training. Specifically, the junior age coincides, to a large extent, with the ...sensitive periods of development of most motor skills, which is why this age should be given greater attention by football specialists. Thus, in order to start the differentiated development of specific motor skills at junior level in the game of football, it is necessary to experimentally assess the level of their development for each skill. These data are necessary to be compared with the national standards of Romania for the given age. In this way it is possible to intervene with different modern methods in order to optimize the level of motor skills training of junior footballers.
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