Separation of Scaptotrigona postica Workers into Defined Task Groups by the Chemical Profile on Their Epicuticle Wax Layer

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Lower limb muscle coactivation levels in healthy younger and older adults during functional dual-task gait

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of daily cognitive task on stiffness of old and young female adults during the gait. The study included 17 physically active younger and 18 older women, with low risk of falls. The volunteers were asked to walk on the treadmill at two different gait conditions: normal gait and functional dual-task gait. The electromyographic signals were collected of the lower limb muscles. The percentage of coactivation for the tibialis anterior/gastrocnemius lateralis and tibialis anterior/soleus were significantly higher in elderly than in younger in the normal gait and dual-task gait. Our results suggest that the elderly have a greater stiffness in the ankle joint during gait normal and daily dual task gait. Thus, we conclude that challenging cognitively situations during the gait may increase the risk of falls in this population.

Concurrent training effect on muscle fibers in Wistar rats

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Visuomotor processing and hand force coordination in dyslexic children during a visually guided manipulation task

Developmental Dyslexia negatively affects children's reading and writing ability and, in most cases, performance in sensorimotor tasks. These deficits have been associated with structural and functional alterations in the cerebellum and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Both neural structures are active during visually guided force control and in the coordination of load force (LF) and grip force (GF) during manipulation tasks. Surprisingly, both phenomena have not been investigated in dyslexic children. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare dyslexic and non-dyslexic children regarding their visuomotor processing ability and GF-LF coordination during a static manipulation task. Thirteen dyslexic (8-14YO) and 13 age- and sex-matched non-dyslexic (control) children participated in the study. They were asked to grasp a fixed instrumented handle using the tip of all digits and pull the handle upward exerting isometric force to match a ramp-and-hold force profile displayed in a computer monitor. Task performance (i.e., visuomotor coordination) was assessed by RMSE calculated in both ramp and hold phases. GF-LF coordination was assessed by the ratio between GF and LF (GF/LF) calculated at both phases and the maximum value of a cross-correlation function (r(max)) and its respective time lag calculated at ramp phase. The results revealed that the RMSE at both phases was larger in dyslexic than in control children. However, we found that GF/LF, rmax, and time lags were similar between groups. Those findings indicate that dyslexic children have a mild deficit in visuomotor processing but preserved GF-LF coordination. Altogether, these findings suggested that dyslexic children could present mild structural and functional alterations in specific PPC or cerebellum areas that are directly related to visuomotor processing. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Salivary cortisol response to concurrent strength and high-intensity aerobic exercise: a pilot study

Aim. The aim of this pilot study was to compare strength performance and salivary cortisol levels response during a single strength session, and a strength session after 30 min of high-intensity aerobic exercise (concurrent condition).Methods. Saliva was collected from 7 male subjects, before and after all exercise bouts, and the maximum number of repetitions (MNR) and total volume (TV) in the different conditions assessed.Results. The MNR and TV were reduced in concurrent condition compared with control condition. Strength exercise in the concurrent condition induced higher salivary cortisol in relation to strength exercise or to and high-intensity aerobic exercise, separately.Conclusion. The different salivary cortisol profile in response to concurrent exercise reflects the faster reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system in this circumstance.

Multi-task control strategy for grid-tied inverters based on conservative power theory

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Pre-task music improves swimming performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of pre--task music on swimming performance and other psychological variables. A randomized counterbalanced within--subjects (experimental and control condition) design was employed. Eighteen regional level male swimmers performed two 200m freestyle swimming time trials. Participants were exposed to either 5min of self--selected music (pre--task music condition) or 5min of silence (control condition) and, after 1 minute, performed the swimming task. Swimming time was significantly shorter (--1.44%) in the pre--task music condition. Listening to pre--task music increased motivation to perform the swimming task, while arousal remained unchanged. While fatigue increased after the swimming task in both conditions, vigour, ratings of perceived exertion and affective valence were unaltered. It is concluded, for the first time, that pre--task music improves swimming performance.

Association between concurrent genital bleeding and cervical cancer: a cross-sectional study

Genital bleeding may be a common symptom among women with cervical cancer. Cross-sectional study evaluating whether the prevalence of cervical smear results is different in women with and without clinical information about concurrent genital bleeding. The sample consisted of 2 324 836 smears; of these, 0.4% had clinical information on genital bleeding. When stratified by age group, women with genital bleeding had a higher chance of a cytological result of a high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion [30-49 years odds ratio (OR) 2.38; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.60-3.53 and ≥50 years OR 6.30; 95%CI 3.72-10.67), of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (30-49 years OR 24.70; 95%CI 11.96-51.03 and ≥50 years OR 48.91; 95%CI 31.28-76.47) and of atypical glandular cells (30-49 years OR 5.72; 95%CI 3.30-9.93 and ≥50 years OR 11.56; 95%CI 5.96-22.45); there was also a higher chance of adenocarcinoma for women ≥50 years (OR 53.13; 95%CI 28.08-100.51). The sensitivity of genital bleeding for women aged 18-29 years was 0.4% for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL); for women 30-49 years old the rate was 0.9% for HSIL, 8.6% for SCC and 2.1% for atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (AGUS), while for women aged from 50 years or more the rates were 2.0% for HSIL, 13.7% for SCC, 3.6% for AGUS and 14.7% for adenocarcinoma. Women ≥30 years old with genital bleeding should be referred for colposcopy to rule out the possibility of cervical cancer.

Effect of concurrent training on gender-specific biochemical variables and adiposity in obese adolescents

Objective The purpose of the present study was to analyze the effects of a 20-week concurrent training (20 WCT) intervention program on gender-specific body composition and metabolic variables in obese adolescents.Subjects and methods Sample was composed of twenty-five obese adolescents, aged between 12 and 15 (13.4 ± 0.96) years. Fat-free mass (FFM), percentage trunk fat mass (TFM%) and percentage fat mass (%FM) were evaluated through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Measurement of intra-abdominal adiposity (IAAT) was performed using ultrasound. Blood pressure was measured and blood samples analyzed for total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), triglycerides (TG) and plasma glucose. All participants performed the concurrent training (combination of weight training and aerobic training) three times per week, one hour per day, for 20 weeks. Descriptive analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures were used to compare baseline, 10 week and 20 week moments using the Bonferroni post-hoc test. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Significant decrease in TC, LDL-c and TFM% were verified in both genders after the 10 initial weeks of concurrent training.Results A significant increase in height was found in both the male and female groups (p = 0.001 and p = 0.047, respectively), after 20 weeks of concurrent training. In addition, several modifications were observed in body composition and metabolic variables, with a significant decrease in BMI (p = 0.002 and p = 0.017), BMI z-score (p = 0.033 and p = 0.004), FM% (p = 0.002 and p = 0.002), TFM% (p = 0.009 and p = 0.018), TC (p = 0.042 and p = 0.001) and LDL-c (p = 0.006 and p = 0.001) in the male and female groups, respectively, after 20 weeks of intervention when compared with baseline.Conclusion Our results identified that concurrent training was an effective intervention for treating metabolic variable and body composition disorders, in both genders, by decreasing adiposity with consequent improvement in BMI and BMI z-scores, and enhancement in lipid profile variables.

Task complexity reveals expertise of table tennis players

AIM: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of intensive practice in table-­tennis on perceptual, decision-­making and motor-­systems. Groups of elite (HL=11), intermediate (LL=6) and control (CC=11) performed tasks of different levels. METHODS: All subjects underwent to reaction-­time-­test and response-­time-­test consisting of a pointing task to targets placed at distinct distances (15 and 25-­cm) on the right and left sides. The ball speed test in forehand and backhand condition just for HL and LL group. RESULTS: In CC group reaction time was higher compared to HL (P< 0.05) group. In the response-­time-­test, there was a significant main effect of distance (P< 0.0001) and the tennis-­table expertise (P= 0.011). In the ball speed test the HL were constantly faster compared to the LL in both forehand stroke (P< 0.0001) and backhand stroke (P< 0.0001). Overall, the forehand stroke was significantly faster than the backhand stroke. CONCLUSION: We can conclude that table-­tennis-­players have shorter response-­times than non-­athletes and the tasks of reaction-­time and response-­time are incapable to distinguish the performance of well-­trained table tennis players of the intermediate player, but the ball speed test seems be able to do it.