Obesity is one of the biggest health problems globally that, together with sedentarism, requires solutions that increase the enthusiasm towards physical activity. Therefore, this paper describes two ...solutions based on active games using the Kinect sensor and biometric sensors, designed for the outpatient treatment of childhood obesity. The solutions were applied in an intervention program based on active video games and motor games, developed with children in treatment for childhood obesity. An ad hoc questionnaire was used to assess the level of satisfaction, fun, learning, and behavior changes in the children of the experimental group that developed the intervention. The results showed a high index of satisfaction with the intervention program, as well as with the games developed. It is concluded that active video games and group games are highly motivating and can promote behavior change towards healthier life habits in children.
Physical inactivity during pregnancy has been shown to be linked to an increased risk of complications. However, during pregnancy, doubts arise about what type, intensity and frequency of physical ...activity are most recommended.
Our main objective was to know the level of physical activity (PA) and sedentary lifestyle in a representative sample of pregnant women in Málaga, one of the most populated cities in Spain. Also, we aimed to find out the effects of PA on obstetric and perinatal outcomes and on the mental health of pregnant women, differentiated according to PA intensity and domain.
Five hundred and forty full-term pregnant women who had their obstetric checks in the maternity ward of the Regional University Hospital of Málaga were recruited through consecutive sampling. Participants answered a questionnaire that included the WHO Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ), the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and some other sociodemographic and health-related questions. Subsequently, information about perinatal outcomes was obtained after birth.
Only 50.8% of women followed the WHO recommendations on activity. We found a high proportion of obese pregnant women and a direct effect of a sedentary lifestyle on the rate of cesarean sections and vulvovaginal tears in spontaneous births, as well as on the mental health of future mothers. Women's age, the number of children, BMI at the beginning of pregnancy and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) explained anxiety scores, and age, LTPA, BMI at the end of pregnancy and intense work-related physical activity (WTPA) predicted depression scores.
LTPA improves obstetric outcomes, helping to reduce the rate of cesarean sections and vulvovaginal tears, as well as reducing prenatal anxiety and depression.
At present, obesity and overweight are a global health epidemic. Traditional interventions for promoting healthy habits do not appear to be effective. However, emerging technological solutions based ...on wearables and mobile devices can be useful in promoting healthy habits. These applications generate a considerable amount of tracked activity data. Consequently, our approach is based on the quantified-self model for recommending healthy activities. Gamification can also be used as a mechanism to enhance personalization, increasing user motivation. This paper describes the quantified-self model and its data sources, the activity recommender system, and the PROVITAO App user experience model. Furthermore, it presents the results of a gamified program applied for three years in children with obesity and the process of evaluating the quantified-self model with experts. Positive outcomes were obtained in children's medical parameters and health habits.
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Integrated simulation of manufacturing plants plays crucial role in development of sustainable processes and optimized products. However, no investigation has been reported for the ...whole process chain of porcelain stoneware manufacturing. In this contribution, semi-empirical models of porcelain stoneware processing steps have been developed and implemented into Dyssol framework. By validation based on industrial and lab-scale experiments, the simulation has been applied for modeling and sensitivity analysis of the entire process. The simulation results are in a good agreement with experiments showing that the proposed modeling strategy has high potential to be used for future digital transformation in this sector.
Background
Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) outcomes, including infectious complications, change between centers and countries. Thus, the aim of this study was to report the incidence of ...infections and isolated pathogens among recipients of HCT and the association with mortality at a tertiary referral center in Mexico.
Methods
Two hundred and eighty‐two patients undergoing autologous or allogeneic HCT between January 2005 and December 2018 at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutricion Salvador Zubiran were included.
Results
In autologous HCT (n = 176), within the preengraftment and the early postengraftment, 130 (74%) and 31 (18%) recipients presented infections, respectively. Within the preengraftment, the early postengraftment, and the late postengraftment, 81 (76%), 34 (33%), and 58 (60%) allogeneic HCT recipients presented infections, respectively. Non‐relapse mortality (NRM) as a result of infections occurred in 1 (0.6%) and 5 (5%) autologous and allogeneic HCT recipients, respectively.
Conclusions
Our results demonstrated that despite our limited resources, infections were not a significant burden for NRM among HCT recipients. More importantly, the isolation rates were higher than international studies, which could be explained by the existence of a specialized infectious diseases department and laboratory, which we consider key elements for the establishment of an HCT program worldwide.
The Chilean Climate Change Law excludes tree monocultures as a solution to the climate crisis, offering an opportunity for resilience and climate mitigation in Latin America. The Chilean experience ...with mega-fires in extensive, homogeneous forest plantations provides important lessons that could inform climate policies in other countries.
An attractive alternative to the use of fossil fuels is biodiesel, which can be obtained from a variety of feedstock through different transesterification systems such as ultrasound, microwave, ...biological, chemical, among others. The efficient and cost-effective biodiesel production depends on several parameters such as free fatty acid content in the feedstock, transesterification reaction efficiency, alcohol:oil ratio, catalysts type, and several parameters during the production process. However, biodiesel production from vegetable oils is under development, causing the final price of biodiesel to be higher than diesel derived from petroleum. An alternative to decrease the production costs will be the use of economical feedstocks and simple production processes. Castor oil is an excellent raw material in terms of price and quality, but especially this non-edible vegetable oil does not have any issues or compromise food security. Recently, the use of castor oil has attracted attention for producing and optimizing biodiesel production, due to high content of ricinoleic fatty acid and the possibility to esterify with only methanol, which assures low production costs. Additionally, biodiesel from castor oil has different advantages over conventional diesel. Some of them are biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable, they can be used alone, low greenhouse gas emission, among others. This review discusses and analyzes different transesterification processes, technologies, as well as different technical aspects during biodiesel production using castor oil as a feedstock.
Long‐term conservation tillage can modify vertical distribution of nutrients in soil profiles and alter nutrient availability and yields of crops. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of 14 yr of ...conventional (CT) and reduced tillage (RT) on soil macronutrient availability (0–5, 5–15, 15–30 cm) and uptake by Italian ryegrass and maize in a forage rotation under a temperate–humid climate (NW Spain). Soil contents of total C, plant available Ca, Mg, Na, K and P and their uptake by plants were evaluated over 2 yr. The three‐way ANOVA showed that tillage and its interactions with soil depth and sampling date have little influence on soil C and macronutrients contents (<13% of variance explained). In the topsoil layer, all studied variables (except K) increased in RT compared with CT, but they remained unchanged (C, Ca and Na) or decreased (Mg, K and P) in deeper layers. Crop yields were greater with RT than CT during the year with soil‐water‐deficit periods, while limited tillage effect was found in the other year. Whereas no differences were obtained for maize, nutrient concentration (Mg, Na, K and P) in ryegrass increased under RT. Conservation tillage improved surface soil fertility, maize yield and ryegrass nutrient content.
•Oxidation of fatty alcohols may produce high value aldehydes, acids and esters, but is scarcely studied.•Challenges and technological opportunities of this reaction are discussed.•State-of-art of ...selective oxidation of C8+ fatty alcohols is critically reviewed to identify trends and features.•Our critical evaluation supports the feasibility of higher fatty alcohols selective oxidation by green processes.•Such processes may allow new routes to valued chemicals production from biomass.
Selective oxidation of the so-called fatty alcohols, aliphatic long chain alcohols that are present in vegetable waxes, forestry residues and pulping industry subproducts, could be used to obtain the corresponding aldehydes, acids and esters, widely used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications and as emulsifiers. The physico-chemical characteristics of this type of alcohols entail specific challenges for the reaction. This work is aimed to review and evaluate the state-of-art of catalytic selective oxidation of the higher fatty alcohols (C10+), to assess the feasibility of new “green” processes using biomass for the production of fine chemicals. Due to the scarcity of information available on these reactions, the scope was extended to all C8+ primary alkanols, to identify trends and characteristics of the oxidation of longer chain aliphatic alcohols, as well as suitable process conditions.
The critical evaluation of available literature allows to conclude that the oxidation of higher alcohols is feasible using non enzymatic heterogeneous catalysts, either without solvent or with solvents miscible with both polar and nonpolar media (depending on the alcohol chain length), and using clean oxidants such as H2O2, molecular oxygen or air. The appropriate selection of the catalytic system and solvent may allow directing the reaction selectively to production of the aldehyde, the acid or the ester. These features would allow the implementation of small-scale processes, well in accordance with the principles of “green chemistry”.
Contents
The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of three pFSH doses (80 mg; 145 mg and 215 mg) on ovarian response and on quantity and quality of transferable embryos of goats ...during the breeding and the non‐breeding seasons. Ovary structures were exposed (laparatomy under general anaesthesia) and numbers of follicles and corpora lutea were registered. Surgical embryo flushing was conducted to count and classify embryos. There were more follicles (3.4 ± 1.1) in does administered 80 mg of pFSH (p < 0.05) than in goats administered 145 mg of pFSH (2.2 ± 1.1) and 215 mg of pFSH (0.9 ± 0.6). Numbers of corpora lutea, blastocysts, and recovered and transferable embryos of goats administered 145 mg pFSH (13.4 ± 3.7, 2.42 ± 1.0, 3.4 ± 1.2 and 3.2 ± 1.1, respectively) and those of goats administered 215 mg pFSH (11.6 ± 2.6, 3.2 ± 0.9, 5.7 ± 1.5, and 5.6 ± 1.5) were greater (p < 0.05) than values obtained from goats administered 80 mg pFSH (4.0 ± 1.5, 0.5 ± 0.3, 1.0 ± 0.5, and 0.8 ± 0.5). Numbers of morula of does administered 80 and 145 mg pFSH (0.4 ± 0.4 and 0.8 ± 0.3) were lower (p < 0.05) than those obtained from animals treated with 215 mg pFSH (2.4 ± 0.9). There was no effect of season upon the analyzed variables. In conclusion, under the prevalent conditions in north‐eastern Mexico, administration of 145 or 215 mg pFSH in a decreasing dose schedule over 3.5 days to bred goats provided a satisfactory superovulatory result.
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