Backpacks and school children's obesity: challenges for public health and ergonomics

This descriptive study of cross sectional has focused on analyzing the school material weight transported by students associated with children and adolescents overweight in primary and secondary schools. Participants 339 students of both genders, aged 10-19 years. 243 students carrying and average load of 12.65% of his body weight. 53 students were overweight with a BMI of 20,00 to 35,6. 20 overweight students carrying backpacks more than 10% of his body weight. 21% of the students rated complained of back and shoulder pain. This data is very important in the preventive aspects for the individuals studied, as well as others with the same anthropometric characteristics and the same demand.

Prevention of mental ill-health and suicide: Public health perspectives

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates for the year 2020, approximately 1.5 million people will commit suicide, and at least 10 times that many will make an attempt. This paper offers a brief overview of the current state of the epidemiology of suicide, a burgeoning public health problem. The information provided is based in large measure on reports of suicide mortality from 130/193 countries. In order to contextualize these data, this paper explores the contribution of both individual and sociocultural factors that influence suicidal behavior, from which much has been learned. Outlining the history of attempts by international and national organizations like WHO, United Nations, member states in the European community and other countries to regularize identification and suicide reporting procedures, this paper also demonstrates that serious knowledge gaps remain. Minimal requirements for successful evidence-based interventions are presented. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

NUCLEAR DENSITIES AND THE STATISTICS OF NUCLEONIC CONSTITUENTS

In the quark model of the nucleon, the Fermi statistics of the elementary constituents can influence significantly the properties of multinucleon bound systems. In the Skyrme model, on the other hand, the basic quanta are bosons, so that qualitatively different statistics effects can be expected a priori. In order to illustrate this point, we construct schematic one-dimensional quark and soliton models which yield fermionic nucleons with identical baryon densities. We then compare the baryon densities of a two-nucleon bound state in both models. Whereas in the quark model the Pauli principle for quarks leads to a depletion of the density in the central region of the nucleus, the soliton model predicts a slight increase of the density in that region, due to the bosonic statistics of the meson-field quanta.

Moderate physical activity from childhood contributes to metabolic health and reduces hepatic fat accumulation in adult rats

Background: Obesity, oxidative stress and inflammation, by triggering insulin resistance, may contribute to the accumulation of hepatic fat, and this accumulation by lipotoxicity can lead the organ to fail. Because obesity is growing at an alarming rate and, worryingly, in a precocious way, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of moderate physical training performed from childhood to adulthood on liver fat metabolism in rats. Methods. Twenty rats that were 28days old were divided into two groups: control (C) and trained (T). The C Group was kept in cages without exercise, and the T group was submitted to swimming exercise for 1hour/day, 5days/week from 28 to 90days of age (8weeks) at 80% of the anaerobic threshold determined by the lactate minimum test. At the end of the experiment, the body weight gain, insulin sensitivity (glucose disappearance rate during the insulin tolerance test), concentrations of free fatty acids (FFA) and triglycerides (TG) and hepatic lipogenic rate were analyzed. For the statistical analysis, the Student t-test was used with the level of significance preset at 5%. Results: The T group showed lower body weight gain, FFA concentrations, fat accumulation, hepatic lipogenic rate and insulin resistance. Conclusion: The regular practice of moderate physical exercise from childhood can contribute to the reduction of obesity and insulin resistance and help prevent the development of accumulation of hepatic fat in adulthood. © 2013de Moura et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Inducing ovulation early postpartum influences uterine health and fertility in dairy cows

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of GnRH early postpartum on induction of ovulation, uterine health, and fertility in dairy cows. Holstein cows without a corpus luteum (CL) at 17 +/- 3 DIM were assigned randomly to receive i.m. GnRH (n = 245) at 17 +/- 3 and 20 +/- 3 DIM or remain as controls (n = 245). Ovaries were scanned by ultrasonography twice weekly totaling 4 examinations. Ovulation was characterized by the appearance of a CL >= 20 mm at any ultrasound or CL <20 mm in 2 consecutive examinations. Clinical and cytological endometritis were diagnosed at 35 DIM. Compared with control, GnRH increased ovulation up to 3.5 d after the last treatment (78.7 vs. 45.0%) and did not affect the prevalence of clinical endometritis (23.9 vs. 18.6%) or cytological endometritis (30.9 vs. 32.8%). Prevalence of clinical endometritis increased in cows that had calving problems (32.6 vs. 15.9%) and metritis (40.6 vs. 15.8%). Metritis increased prevalence of cytological endometritis (50.7 vs. 23.5%). Treatment with GnRH did not affect pregnancy per artificial insemination at 32 (37.6 vs. 38.6%) or 74 d after artificial insemination (35.0 vs. 31.5%), but reduced pregnancy loss (6.8 vs. 18.1%). No overall effect of GnRH treatment on hazard of pregnancy was observed; however, an interaction between GnRH treatment and ovulation showed that GnRH-treated cows that ovulated had increased hazard of pregnancy by 300 DIM compared with GnRH-treated and control cows that did not ovulate (hazard ratio = 2.0 and 1.3, respectively), but similar to control cows that ovulated (hazard ratio = 1.1). Gonadotropin-releasing hormone early postpartiim induced ovulation without affecting uterine health, but failed to improve pregnancy per artificial insemination or time to pregnancy, although it reduced pregnancy loss.

Perception and Attitude About Systemic Health and Periodontal Disease Among Dentistry Undergraduates

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

BILL E. KUNKLE INTERDISCIPLINARY BEEF SYMPOSIUM: Temperament and acclimation to human handling influence growth, health, and reproductive responses in Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle

Temperament in cattle is defined as the fear-related behavioral responses when exposed to human handling. Our group evaluates cattle temperament using 1) chute score on a 1 to 5 scale that increases according to excitable behavior during restraint in a squeeze chute, 2) exit velocity (speed of an animal exiting the squeeze chute), 3) exit score (dividing cattle according to exit velocity into quintiles using a 1 to 5 scale where 1 = cattle in the slowest quintile and 5 = cattle in the fastest quintile), and 4) temperament score (average of chute and exit scores). Subsequently, cattle are assigned a temperament type of adequate temperament (ADQ; temperament score <= 3) or excitable temperament (EXC; temperament score > 3). To assess the impacts of temperament on various beef production systems, our group associated these evaluation criteria with productive, reproductive, and health characteristics of Bos taurus and Bos indicus-influenced cattle. As expected, EXC cattle had greater plasma cortisol vs. ADQ cattle during handling, independent of breed type (B. indicus x B. taurus, P < 0.01; B. taurus, P < 0.01; B. indicus, P = 0.04) or age (cows, P < 0.01; heifers or steers, P < 0.01). In regards to reproduction, EXC females had reduced annual pregnancy rates vs. ADQ cohorts across breed types (B. taurus, P = 0.03; B. indicus, P = 0.05). Moreover, B. taurus EXC cows also had decreased calving rate (P = 0.04), weaning rate (P = 0.09), and kilograms of calf weaned/cow exposed to breeding (P = 0.08) vs. ADQ cohorts. In regards to feedlot cattle, B. indicus EXC steers had reduced ADG (P = 0.02) and G:F (P = 0.03) during a 109-d finishing period compared with ADQ cohorts. Bos taurus EXC cattle had reduced weaning BW (P = 0.04), greater acute-phase protein response on feedlot entry (P <= 0.05), impaired feedlot receiving ADG (P = 0.05), and reduced carcass weight (P = 0.07) vs. ADQ cohorts. Acclimating B. indicus x B. taurus or B. taurus heifers to human handling improved temperament (P <= 0.02), reduced plasma cortisol (P < 0.01), and hastened puberty attainment (P <= 0.02). However, no benefits were observed when mature cows or feeder cattle were acclimated to human handling. In conclusion, temperament impacts productive, reproductive, and health characteristics of beef cattle independent of breed type. Hence, strategies to improve herd temperament are imperative for optimal production efficiency of beef operations based on B. taurus and B. indicus-influenced cattle.

Estudos de pré-formulação e desenvolvimento de cosméticos - linha health and beauty

O constante crescimento na quantidade de produtos cosméticos e o interesse e a necessidade da população por uma pele mais jovem e bonita, requer buscas continuas de inovação para o desenvolvimento de novos produtos baseados em pesquisas realizadas por grandes, medias e pequenas empresas. Para o desenvolvimento de novas formulações é necessário possuir um conhecimento especifico e estar em constante atualização sobre novas matérias primas, processos de produção, legislação vigente e outros. Sobretudo é extremamente importante avaliar o publico alvo, o que esses esperam e desejam do mercado de cosmético, antes mesmo de dar inicio ao processo de desenvolvimento. Neste trabalho o publico alvo são as mulheres, porém não existe qualquer restrição para que os homens não os utilize. Desta forma, o presente trabalho propôs-se a desenvolver uma linha de preparações antienvelhecimento que tem como objetivo cuidar da saúde amenizando os sinais e danos causados pelo envelhecimento, realçando e despertando a beleza escondida em cada individuo. A base para o desenvolvimento das formulações foi elaborada por meio de uma pesquisa de cunho bibliográfico constituída essencialmente pela leitura de obras especializadas em cosméticos, cosmecêuticos e ativos dermatológicos. Do ponto de vista prático foram elaboradas diversas formulas que complementaram o desenvolvimento teórico realizado.

The ant fauna of hospitals: advancements in public health and research priorities in Brazil

Ants inhabit several types of natural and urban habitats, where they successfully nest. In urban environments, the hospitals should be considered priority for studies, as ants pose risks to human health due to their pathogen carrying potential. We aimed at surveying the literature about studies on ants in hospital settings in Brazil in the past 20 years. We found 40 papers in 22 journals, the first one published in 1993. Among them, 26 papers assessed pathogenic microorganisms on ants. We recorded 59 ant species, being Tapinoma melanocephalum the most common. The Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo states had the largest number of published papers. Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul showed the highest number of species. Exotic ant species were recorded in all states, except Goias. Considering the potential to carry microorganisms and the importance of thorough studies on the ecology of ant species, our results can support and guide further research in Brazil. (C) 2015 Sociedade Brasileira de Entomologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.