We compared the motor competence between overweight/obese and eutrophic preschoolers with similar physical activity levels, age, socioeconomic status, maternal education, quality of the home ...environment and quality of the school environment. We also investigated to what extent excess body fat mass explains gross motor skills in preschoolers. A cross-sectional quantitative and exploratory study was conducted with 48 preschoolers assigned into eutrophic and overweight/obese groups. Overweight/obese preschoolers had worse Locomotor subtest standard scores than the eutrophic ones (p = 0.01), but similar Object Control subtest and Gross Motor Quotient scores (p > 0.05). Excess body fat mass explained 12% of the low Locomotor subtest standard scores in preschoolers (R2 = 0.12; p = 0.007). Excess body fat mass was associated with worse locomotor skills when the model was adjusted for physical activity levels, age, socioeconomic status, maternal education, quality of the home environment and quality of the school environment. Thus, excess body fat mass partly explains lower locomotor skills in preschoolers.
Wound healing - A literature review Gonzalez, Ana Cristina de Oliveira; Costa, Tila Fortuna; Andrade, Zilton de Araújo ...
Anais brasileiros de dermatología,
09/2016, Volume:
91, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Regeneration and tissue repair processes consist of a sequence of molecular and cellular events which occur after the onset of a tissue lesion in order to restore the damaged tissue. The exsudative, ...proliferative, and extracellular matrix remodeling phases are sequential events that occur through the integration of dynamic processes involving soluble mediators, blood cells, and parenchymal cells. Exsudative phenomena that take place after injury contribute to the development of tissue edema. The proliferative stage seeks to reduce the area of tissue injury by contracting myofibroblasts and fibroplasia. At this stage, angiogenesis and reepithelialization processes can still be observed. Endothelial cells are able to differentiate into mesenchymal components, and this difference appears to be finely orchestrated by a set of signaling proteins that have been studied in the literature. This pathway is known as Hedgehog. The purpose of this review is to describe the various cellular and molecular aspects involved in the skin healing process.
Active play opportunities seems to influence the level of physical activity during childhood. However, a gap remains about which environmental opportunities including the daycare physical environment ...could have a positive impact on the level of physical activity in preschoolers.
(1) To develop an index to measure the environmental opportunities of free active play for preschoolers of middle-income countries; (2) to check the relationship and contribution of the index to explain objectively the level of physical activity.
A quantitative, cross-sectional, exploratory study with 51 preschool children. The established criteria for the index according to the literature were: (1) Outdoor time on typical days of the week. (2) Outdoor time on a typical weekend day. (3) The presence of internal space and external environment in the child's home that allows playing. (4) Presence of patio with space for games at the school. (5) Presence of a playground with a toy at the school. We applied multi-attribute utility theory for the determination of the multicriteria index of physical environmental opportunities. Pearson's correlation analysis and simple linear regression were used to verify the association between the index and the physical activity level.
The index showed a positive correlation with the level of physical activity, e.g., the average time of MVPA (r = 0.408, p = 0.003). The univariate linear regression demonstrated that the quality of physical environmental opportunities for physical activity explained 20% of the preschooler's classification as active and 16% of the time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (p < 0.001).
Physical environmental opportunities for active play have a positive effect on physical activity in preschoolers and should be encouraged in different social segments.
The emergency of SARS-CoV-2 in China started a novel challenge to the scientific community. As the virus turns pandemic, scientists try to map the cellular mechanisms and pathways of SARS-CoV-2 ...related to the pathogenesis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). After transmembrane angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has been found to be SARS-CoV-2 receptor, we hypothesized an immune-hematological mechanism for Covid-19 based on renin-angiotensin system (RAS) imbalance to explain clinical, laboratory and imaging findings on disease course. We believe that exaggerated activation of ACE/Angiotensin II (Ang II)/Angiotensin Type 1 (AT1) receptor RAS axis in line with reduction of ACE2/Angiotensin-(1-7)/Mas receptor may exert a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Covid-19. In this perspective, we discuss potential mechanisms and evidence on this hypothesis.
The antimicrobial activities of the isomers and enantiomers of pinene were evaluated against bacterial and fungal cells. The agar diffusion test showed that only the positive enantiomers of the α- ...and β-isomers of pinene were active. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal microbicidal concentration (MMC) of these monoterpenes were also determined, confirming that the positive enantiomers exhibited microbicidal activity against all fungi and bacteria tested with MICs ranging from 117 to 4,150 μg/mL. However, no antimicrobial activity was detected with the negative enantiomers up to 20 mg/mL. Time-kill curves showed that (+)-α-pinene and (+)-β-pinene were highly toxic to Candida albicans, killing 100% of inoculum within 60 min. By contrast, the bactericidal effect occurred after 6 h in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In combination with commercial antimicrobials, ciprofloxacin plus (+)-α-pinene or (+)-β-pinene presented synergistic activity against MRSA whereas an indifferent effect against all fungi was detected when amphotericin B was combined with the positive enantiomers of pinene. The potential of (+)-α-pinene and (+)-β-pinene to inhibit phospholipase and esterase activities was also evaluated, and the best inhibition results were obtained with Cryptococcus neoformans. C. albicans biofilm formation was prevented with the MIC concentration of (+)-α-pinene and twice the MIC value of (+)-β-pinene. Finally, the cytotoxicity of the positive enantiomers of pinene to murine macrophages was evaluated, and 250 μg/mL of (+)-α-pinene and (+)-β-pinene reduced the cell viability to 66.8% and 57.7%, respectively.
The archaeological record of the Lagar Velho rock shelter (Lapedo Valley, Leiria, Portugal) bears testimony to several significant Upper Palaeolithic occupations, most notably the Lapedo Child burial ...(LV1) dating from the Gravettian. Excavations undertaken at the site since 2018 have seen the recovery of a large quantity of coprolites, above all in layer 143 (c. 29 ka cal BP). The study of these fossilized remains points to the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) as the main coprogenic agent and provides the first descriptions of these avian coprolites in archaeological assemblages. The analyses reported involved the comparison of the coprogenic samples with modern bearded vulture scats. A new morphotype is proposed for discriminating the faeces of this avian scavenger based on (1) macroscopic analyses, (2) morphometric comparisons with other fossil and modern scats and (3) their mineralogical and elemental composition. Among the criteria proposed here to identify the coprolites of the bearded vulture are their cylindrical shape, diameter, pointed extremities and homogeneous porous texture, as well as their massive internal texture, hard consistency and total absence of bone inclusions (attributable in all likelihood to a high digastric juice acidity capable of dissolving bones). Our results indicate that, as well as being used by humans for short-term stays, the Lagar Velho rock shelter was used by the bearded vulture as a nesting site. We provide new evidence from Iberia of the activity of this avian scavenger as a bone accumulator in archaeological sites.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) pandemic has provoked major stresses on the health‐care systems of several countries, and caused the death of more than a quarter of a ...million people globally, mainly in the elderly population with preexisting pathologies. Previous studies with coronavirus (SARS‐CoV) point to gender differences in infection and disease progression with increased susceptibility in male patients, indicating that estrogens may be associated with physiological protection against the coronavirus. Therefore, the objectives of this work are threefold. First, we aim to summarize the SARS‐CoV‐2 infection pathway and the roles both the virus and patient play in COVID‐19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) progression, clinical symptomatology, and mortality. Second, we detail the effect estrogen has on viral infection and host infection response, including its role in both the regulation of key viral receptor expression and the mediation of inflammatory activity. Finally, we describe how ERs (estrogen receptors) and RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end‐products) play a critical role in metabolic pathways, which we envisage could maintain a close interplay with SARS‐CoV and COVID‐19 mortality rates, despite a current lack of research directly determining how. Taken together, we present the current state of the field regarding SARS‐CoV‐2 research and illuminate where research is needed to better define the role both estrogen and metabolic comorbidities have in the COVID‐19 disease state, which can be key in screening potential therapeutic options as the search for effective treatments continue.
Summary
The MoO3 was synthesized on a pilot scale by combustion reaction and their catalytic performance was investigated to obtain biodiesel from residual oil by simultaneous reactions of ...transesterification and esterification (TES). The catalyst was characterized by X‐ray diffraction with respective Rietveld refinement, Fourier transform infrared, and RAMAN spectroscopies, scanning electron microscopy, determination of the specific surface area by the method of N2 adsorption (Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller), and acidity test by temperature‐programmed desorption of ammonia molecule. The catalytic properties were evaluated through catalytic tests while the products of the TES reactions were characterized by gas chromatography, kinematic viscosity, and acidity index. Such results indicated that single‐phase catalysts (α‐MoO3‐100%) and biphasic (h/α‐MoO3‐hexagonal 56.80% and orthorhombic 43.20%) were synthesized, which presented crystalline fraction and crystal size of 88% to 90% and 33 to 84 nm, respectively. The crystalline phases (α‐MoO3 and h/α‐MoO3) showed typical morphologies of microplate agglomerates, irregular rods, the surface area of 1.5 to 4.7 m2 g−1, and total acidity equivalent to 30 to 84 μmol g−1 NH3. The MoO3 was successfully synthesized by pilot‐scale combustion reaction and showed promising results, with high conversions to ethyl esters (between 93% and 99%), maintaining activity (useful life) after five consecutive reuse cycles. Thus, the catalysts studied have the potential to enable positive impacts on the environment and society in general.
Background Preschool age (3-5 years old) is a crucial period for children to acquire gross motor skills and develop executive functions (EFs). However, the association between the qualitative gross ...motor skills and EFs remains unknown in preschoolers, especially among overweight and obese children. Methods This was a cross-sectional, exploratory, and quantitative study carried out on 49 preschool children, divided into two subgroups according to their body mass index (overweight/obese: 24; eutrophic normal weight: 25). The mean age was 4.59 years. More than half of the sample were boys (55%) and most of the mothers had completed high school (67%) and were class C socioeconomic level (63%). Gross motor skills were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2, while EFs were evaluated using Semantic verbal fluency (SVF), Tower of Hanoi (TH), Day/Night Stroop, and Delayed Gratification tests. Multiple linear regression models adjusted for sex, age, maternal education, socioeconomic status, quality of the home environment, and quality of the school environment using the stepwise method were executed, considering the cognitive tasks as independent variables and gross motor skills as dependent variable. Results The overweight/obese preschoolers showed worse locomotor skills than their eutrophic peers and below average gross motor quotient (GMQ). Overweight/obese girls performed worse in OC skills than boys with excess weight. SVF (number of errors) and TH (rule breaks) explained 57.8% of the variance in object control (OC) skills and 40.5% of the variance in GMQ (p < .05) in the overweight/obese children. Surprisingly, there was no significant association between any of the EF tasks and gross motor skills in the eutrophic children. Conclusion A relationship between EF tasks (number of errors in SVF and rule breaks in TH) and gross motor skills (OC and GMQ) was demonstrated in the overweight/obese preschoolers, indicating that worse cognitive flexibility, working memory, planning, and problem solving are associated with worse gross motor skills in this population when compared to eutrophic children. Keywords: Childhood obesity, Gross motor, Object control, Executive functions, Verbal fluency, Tower of Hanoi, Cognitive flexibility, Planning, Child development, Cognitive function
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