Health and safety in the construction : subject pending to be included in the curriculum of architecture in Spain

The art of construction is a risky activity that directly affects the life and physical integrity of persons. Since the approval of Law 31/1995, of November 8, Prevention of Occupational Risks was the first legislation that established the current basis in all sectors and then transposed into Spanish law Directive 92/57/CEE called Royal Decree 1627/1997 of October 24, on minimum safety and health dispositions in construction works, measures have been proposed to develop a mixed body of scientific literature composed of researchers and professionals in the field of occupational safety and health, but even today there is still no clear and firm proposal, showing a lack of awareness in the occupational risk prevention and, therefore, a consolidation of the culture of prevention in society. Therefore, the technicians, who make up the building process, can incur in very high responsibilities, such as: Author of the project, Coordinator of Safety and Health during the preparation of the project and during the execution of works, Site Management: Site Manager. This involves the immediate creation of a general training in prevention for all architects starting when still studying, as well as specific training, appropriate and complementary to all the architects that will be devoted to the specialty of occupational safety and health in construction works. That is, first, we must make the responsible bodies aware of the urgent need to integrate risk prevention in the curricula of architecture and later in the continuing education of the profession. It is necessary that our teaching must conform to the laws on safety and health, due to the fact that the law recognizes our academic degrees and professional qualifications to perform functions in that area

Influence of liposoluble vitamin status on health parameter and physical fitness in European adolescents = Influencia del estado en vitaminas liposolubles en parámetros de salud y condición física en adolescentes europeos

La adolescencia es un período de crecimiento y desarrollo crítico e importante para la adquisición de hábitos saludables, en los que tanto la alimentación como la actividad física tienen un papel destacado. Junto con el primer año de vida, los requerimientos de energía y nutrientes son mayores que en cualquier otro periodo. Dentro de la nutrición, las vitaminas se ven involucradas en múltiples procesos celulares y tisulares, y sus deficiencias se vinculan a enfermedades crónicas degenerativas en la edad adulta como las cardiovasculares, cáncer, diabetes y osteoporosis, pero cuyos factores de riesgo se establecen a edades más tempranas. Las concentraciones sanguíneas de vitaminas están influenciadas en gran medida por la ingesta dietética, pero existen otros factores del individuo, entre los que cabe citar la composición corporal, la actividad física y condición física que, junto a la genética, podrían desempeñar un papel crucial. La presente memoria de Tesis Doctoral tiene como objetivo analizar el estado en vitaminas liposolubles y su relación con diversos factores de salud, entre los que destacan la composción corporal, hábitos dietéticos, actividad física y condición física en adolescentes Europeos. El trabajo está basado en los datos del estudio HELENA (“Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence”). Se han analizado un total de 1089 adolescentes procedentes de diez ciudades en nueve paises europeos. Los principales resultados de este trabajo indican; a) La existencia de un estado deficiente en vitaminas liposolubles en adolescentes Europeos, especialmente de vitamina D, que alcanza valores del 80%. b) La estación del año, la latitud, el índice de masa corporal, la condición física, la ingesta de calcio dietético, los suplementos vitamínicos y la edad son las variables más relacionadas con el estado de vitamina D. c) A su vez, la capacidad cardiorrespiratoria puede predecir los niveles de vitamina D en los chicos, mientras que la fuerza muscular y masa magra parecen influir en los niveles de vitamina D en las chicas. La grasa corporal y el índice de masa corporal se correlaccionan negativamente con los niveles de vitamina D, especialmente en chicos. d) Un estado de vitamina D óptimo provoca una mejora de la masa ósea sólo cuando se tiene un nivel adecuado de actividad física. e) Se identifica la necesidad de establecer un consenso sobre los rangos aceptables y puntos de corte para las concentraciones sanguíneas de estas vitaminas en este grupo de población, ya que los actuales están extrapolados de la población adulta ABSTRACT Adolescence is a critical period of physiological growth and development as well as for the acquisition of healthy behaviors where both diet and physical activity play a major role. Apart from the first year of life, both energy and nutrient requirements are greatest during adolescence and the way to spend this energy by movement is also crucial. Vitamins are specifically involved in multiple cellular and tissue processes, and there is increasing evidence that deficiencies at these early ages could contribute to risk factors of chronic diseases like cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis in adulthood, regardless data are scarce for younger ages. Vitamin concentrations are largely influenced by diet but other individual factors like body composition, physical activity or fitness together with genetics could play also an important role. The current thesis analyzes the liposoluble vitamin status in European adolescents and their relation with several health related factors, like body composción, dietary intake, physical activity and fitness. The work is based on data from the HELENA study ("Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence"), for which a total of 1089 adolescents from ten different cities, in nine European countries were recruited. The main outcomes of this thesis are: a) There is a high liposoluble vitamin deficiency prevalence in European adolescents, specifically for vitamin D, which is presenting almost 80% of the adolescents. b) Season, latitude, BMI, fitness, dietary calcium intake, supplements intake and age are highly related to 25(OH)D concentrations found in European adolescents. c) Cardiorespiratory fitness may predict 25(OH)D concentrations in male adolescents, whereas upper limbs muscular strength and FFM may predict 25(OH)D concentrations in young females. Fat mass and BMI are inversely related to 25(OH)D concentrations, especially in males. d) The effect of 25(OH)D concentrations on bone mineral content in adolescents depends on physical activity levels. e) There is a need to establish a consensus on acceptable ranges and cut-offs of blood concentrations of these vitamins during adolescence, as currently they are extrapolated from adults.

Nutritional impact on health and performance in intensively reared rabbits

The present work summarizes research related to the definition of nutrient recommendations for feeds used in the intensive production of rabbit's meat. Fibre is the main chemical constituent of rabbit diets that typically contain 320 to 360 and 50 to 90 g/kg of insoluble and soluble fibre, respectively. Instead, the dietary contents of cereal grains (∼120 to 160 g/kg), fat (15 to 25 g/kg) and protein concentrates (150 to 180 g/kg) are usually low with respect to other intensively reared monogastric animals. Cell wall constituents are not well digested in rabbits, but this effect is compensated by its stimulus of gut motility, which leads to an increasing rate of passage of digesta, and allows achieving an elevated dry matter intake. A high feed consumption and an adequate balance in essential nutrients are required to sustain the elevated needs of high-productive rabbits measured either as reproductive yield, milk production or growth rate in the fattening period. Around weaning, pathologies occur in a context of incomplete development of the digestive physiology of young rabbits. The supply of balanced diets has also been related to the prevention of disorders by means of three mechanisms: (i) promoting a lower retention time of the digesta in the digestive tract through feeding fibre sources with optimal chemical and physical characteristics, (ii) restricting feed intake after weaning or (iii) causing a lower flow of easily available substrates into the fermentative area by modifying feed composition (e.g. by lowering protein and starch contents, increasing its digestibility or partially substituting insoluble with soluble fibre), or by delaying age at weaning. The alteration in the gut microbiota composition has been postulated as the possible primary cause of these pathologies.

Nutrition and physical activity programs for obesity treatment (PRONAF study). methodological approach of the project

Este trabajo aborda la metodología seguida para llevar a cabo el proyecto de investigación PRONAF (Clinical Trials Gov.: number NCT01116856.) Background: At present, scientific consensus exists on the multifactorial etiopatogenia of obesity. Both professionals and researchers agree that treatment must also have a multifactorial approach, including diet, physical activity, pharmacology and/or surgical treatment. These two last ones should be reserved for those cases of morbid obesities or in case of failure of the previous ones. The aim of the PRONAF study is to determine what type of exercise combined with caloric restriction is the most appropriate to be included in overweigth and obesity intervention programs, and the aim of this paper is to describe the design and the evaluation methods used to carry out the PRONAF study. Methods/design: One-hundred nineteen overweight (46 males) and 120 obese (61 males) subjects aged 18–50 years were randomly assigned to a strength training group, an endurance training group, a combined strength + endurance training group or a diet and physical activity recommendations group. The intervention period was 22 weeks (in all cases 3 times/wk of training for 22 weeks and 2 weeks for pre and post evaluation). All subjects followed a hypocaloric diet (25-30% less energy intake than the daily energy expenditure estimated by accelerometry). 29–34% of the total energy intake came from fat, 14–20% from protein, and 50–55% from carbohydrates. The mayor outcome variables assesed were, biochemical and inflamatory markers, body composition, energy balance, physical fitness, nutritional habits, genetic profile and quality of life. 180 (75.3%) subjects finished the study, with a dropout rate of 24.7%. Dropout reasons included: personal reasons 17 (28.8%), low adherence to exercise 3 (5.1%), low adherence to diet 6 (10.2%), job change 6 (10.2%), and lost interest 27 (45.8%). Discussion: Feasibility of the study has been proven, with a low dropout rate which corresponds to the estimated sample size. Transfer of knowledge is foreseen as a spin-off, in order that overweight and obese subjects can benefit from the results. The aim is to transfer it to sports centres. Effectiveness on individual health-related parameter in order to determine the most effective training programme will be analysed in forthcoming publications.

Anabolic drugs consumption of high school students participating in school championships of physical education

This paper aims to analyse the use of anabolic drugs among Greek students participating in school championships of physical education (PE). In order to do it, a survey was conducted during the 2008 to 2009 academic year in suburban, urban and metropolitan areas in Greece. The sample was 2,535 high school students from the 10 to 12th grade, participating in the school physical education championships. The results showed that 9.6% of boys and 3.7% of girls reported that they had used anabolic drugs sometime in the past whereas 11.2% boys and 4.8% girls reported that they would intend to use them in the future. This confirms that anabolic steroids are an important problem among adolescents, and educational programs should increase their knowledge about these drugs. Information should come not only from the state, but also from coaches, teachers, trainers and parents.

Association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness in European adolescents: the HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study

Objective: To examine the association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness. Design: The HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Cross-Sectional Study. Breakfast consumption was assessed by two non-consecutive 24 h recalls and by a ‘Food Choices and Preferences’ questionnaire. Physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness components (cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness and speed/agility) were measured and self-reported. Socio-economic status was assessed by questionnaire. Setting: Ten European cities. Subjects: Adolescents (n 2148; aged 12?5–17?5 years). Results: Breakfast consumption was not associated with measured or self-reported physical activity. However, 24 h recall breakfast consumption was related to measured sedentary time in males and females; although results were not confirmed when using other methods to assess breakfast patterns or sedentary time. Breakfast consumption was not related to muscular fitness and speed/agility in males and females. However, male breakfast consumers had higher cardiorespiratory fitness compared with occasional breakfast consumers and breakfast skippers, while no differences were observed in females. Overall, results were consistent using different methods to assess breakfast consumption or cardiorespiratory fitness (all P#0?005). In addition, both male and female breakfast skippers (assessed by 24 h recall) were less likely to have high measured cardiorespiratory fitness compared with breakfast consumers (OR50?33; 95% CI 0?18, 0?59 and OR50?56; 95 %CI 0?32, 0?98,respectively). Results persisted across methods. Conclusions: Skipping breakfast does not seem to be related to physical activity,sedentary time or muscular fitness and speed/agility as physical fitness components in European adolescents; yet it is associated with both measured and self-reported cardiorespiratory fitness, which extends previous findings.

Factors in the practice of sport and physical excercise in the lifestyles of spanish youth

The paper presents the results of a study on cultural trends in the abandonment of sports and physical activity among the Spanish youth. The study, that is being conducted due to a grant awarded by the Superior Sports Council (CSD) (Ref. 007/UPB10/12), examines how the adoption of this new lifestyle (sedentary) that is gradually taking root among the Spanish youth can influence one way or another the self-perceived health and well-being among this population.

HeartCycle: User interaction and patient education

Cardiovascular Diseases are the most prevalent and serious chronic conditions existing nowadays. They are the primary cause of death in the world and generate enormous expenditures to the health systems. Tele-monitoring and personal health systems have proven to be good options for tackling this situation; however they are still lacking many functionalities. It is necessary to find solutions that allow health professionals to follow up patients more closely and efficiently, while reducing the non-adherence of patients to the treatment regime. HeartCycle research project (partially funded by the European Commission) has developed a personal health system for cardiovascular diseases management with the aim to address this problem. This paper describes the Patient Loop of this solution, including the different components, the adopted user interaction, and the implemented patients education and coaching strategy.