Weekly sport practice and adolescent well-being.

OBJECTIVE: Sport practice is widely encouraged, both in guidelines and in clinical practice, because of its broad range of positive effects on health. However, very limited evidence directly supports this statement among adolescents and the sport duration that we should recommend remains unknown. We aimed to determine sport durations that were associated with poor well-being. METHODS: We conducted a survey including 1245 adolescents (16-20 years) from the general Swiss population. Participants were recruited from various settings (sport centres, peers of sport practicing adolescents, websites) and asked to complete a web-based questionnaire. Weekly sport practice was categorised into four groups: low (0-3.5 h), average (≈ recommended 7 h (3.6-10.5)), high (≈14 h (10.6-17.5)) and very high (>17.5 h). We assessed well-being using the WHO-5 Well-Being Index. RESULTS: Compared with adolescents in the average group, those in the very high group had a higher risk of poor well-being (OR 2.29 (95% CI 1.11 to 4.72)), as did those in the low group (OR 2.33 (1.58 to 3.44)). In contrast, those in the high group had a lower risk of poor well-being than those in the average group (OR 0.46 (0.23 to 0.93)). CONCLUSIONS: We found an inverted, U-shaped relationship between weekly sport practice duration and well-being among adolescents. The peak scores of well-being were around 14 h per week of sport practice, corresponding to twice the recommended 7 h. Practicing higher sport durations was an independent risk factor of poor well-being.

Artificial Snow Optimization in Winter Sport Destinations Using a Multi-agent Simulation

This paper presents the Juste-Neige system for predicting the snow height on the ski runs of a resort using a multi-agent simulation software. Its aim is to facilitate snow cover management in order to i) reduce the production cost of artificial snow and to improve the profit margin for the companies managing the ski resorts; and ii) to reduce the water and energy consumption, and thus to reduce the environmental impact, by producing only the snow needed for a good skiing experience. The software provides maps with the predicted snow heights for up to 13 days. On these maps, the areas most exposed to snow erosion are highlighted. The software proceeds in three steps: i) interpolation of snow height measurements with a neural network; ii) local meteorological forecasts for every ski resort; iii) simulation of the impact caused by skiers using a multi-agent system. The software has been evaluated in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier and provides useful predictions.

Health impact of sport and exercise in emerging adult men: a prospective study.

PURPOSE: Health benefits of sport and exercise are well documented in children, adolescents and adults, but little is known about emerging adulthood-a period of life characterized by significant demographic and developmental changes. The present study aimed to assess the health impact of changes in sport and exercise levels during that specific period of life. METHODS: The analysis used baseline and 15-month follow-up data (N = 4,846) from the cohort study on substance use risk factors. Associations between baseline exercise levels or changes in exercise levels and health indicators (i.e., health-related quality of life, depression, body mass index, alcohol dependence, nicotine dependence and cannabis use disorder) were measured using chi-squared tests and ANOVA. Direction of effects was tested using cross-lagged analysis. RESULTS: At baseline, all health indicator scores were observed to be better for regular exercisers than for other exercise levels. At follow-up, participants who had maintained regular exercise over time had better scores than those who had remained irregular exercisers or had discontinued, but their scores for health-related quality of life and depression were close to those of participants who had adopted regular exercise after the baseline questionnaire. Cross-lagged analysis indicated that regular exercise at baseline was a significant predictor of health-related quality of life and substance use dependence at follow-up, but was itself predicted only by health-related quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: From a health promotion perspective, this study emphasizes how important it is for emerging adult men to maintain, or adopt, regular sport and exercise.

Creació i gestió de la pàgina web del club esportiu Diagonal Mar

El projecte està encarat en la creació d’una pàgina web per un club esportiu. Es gestionarà la part dels socis del club (alta, modificació i baixa), d’aquesta manera la informació estarà centralitzada i serà consultable en tot moment. Es mostrarà tota la informació referent al club i també de l’activitat principal que és el bàsquet, mostrant informació dels partits, dels equips, dels jugadors, notícies, entrevistes, esdeveniments, imatges i vídeos, a part hi haurà una àrea privada on els usuaris podran comunicar-se amb d’altres usuaris i podran consultar dades privades de l’equip i dades personals. Tota la informació de l’aplicació la podrà gestionar l’administrador.

La prévention est un sport de combat

Fred Paccaud, professeur d'épidémiologie et de santé publique (Lausanne), réagit à la campagne de dénigrement menée en avril 2008 contre le directeur de l'Office fédéral de la santé publique et les campagnes de prévention. Selon lui, "le vrai enjeu de cette campagne est de contrecarrer la mise sur pied d'une loi fédérale sur la prévention, qui devrait être mise en consultation en juin 2008".

Diseño, desarrollo y gestión de un club deportivo

Desarrollo de una aplicación para la gestión de un Club Deportivo. El principal objetivo será satisfacer la necesidad de crear un sistema que gestione el Club Deportivo de una manera más eficiente. Esta aplicación también supondrá un medio de comunicación entre el Club y sus abonados, así como una ampliación de los servicios ofrecidos. La aplicación controlará los diferentes elementos del Club y ofrecerá la posibilidad al abonado de realizar diferentes gestiones sin necesidad de desplazamiento ni de realizar colas y facilitará el trabajo a los empleados.

Implantación CRM en un club deportivo

La propuesta CRM que se pretende ofrecer consiste en una herramienta estratégica de negocio para gestionar las relaciones con los clientes. La aplicación está desarrollada bajo un prisma Siebel para un determinado club deportivo. Esta herramienta ha de permitir estudiar todas las posibles oportunidades de negocio cubriendo la necesidad de saber en cualquier momento la circunstancia personalizada de cada cliente (socio o no socio) y de sus trámites. El objetivo fundamental del CRM es lograr la fidelización del cliente maximizando los recursos utilizados, mejorar los servicios ofrecidos en un grado óptimo y aumentar la cuenta de resultados. Para ello se plantea implantar una aplicación totalmente configurada y adaptada a las necesidades de un club deportivo.

Central nervous system stimulants and sport practice.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Central nervous system (CNS) stimulants may be used to reduce tiredness and increase alertness, competitiveness, and aggression. They are more likely to be used in competition but may be used during training to increase the intensity of the training session. There are several potential dangers involving their misuse in contact sports. This paper reviews the three main CNS stimulants, ephedrine, amfetamine, and cocaine, in relation to misuse in sport. METHODS: Description of the pharmacology, actions, and side effects of amfetamine, cocaine, and ephedrine. RESULTS: CNS stimulants have psychotropic effects that may be perceived to be ergogenic. Some are prescription drugs, such as Ephedra alkaloids, and there are issues regarding their appropriate therapeutic use. Recently attention has been given to their widespread use by athletes, despite the lack of evidence regarding any ergogenic or real performance benefit, and their potentially serious side effects. Recreational drugs, some of which are illegal (cocaine, amfetamines), are commonly used by athletes and cause potential ergolytic effects. Overall, these drugs are important for their frequent use and mention in anti-doping laboratories statistics and the media, and their potentially serious adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS: Doping with CNS stimulants is a real public health problem and all sports authorities should participate in its prevention. Dissemination of information is essential to prevent doping in sport and to provide alternatives. Adequate training and education in this domain should be introduced.

Desenvolupament i gestió d'un entorn web pel Club Esportiu Futbol Sala Santpedor

Aplicació per al Club Esportiu Futbol Sala Santpedor, que no només contindrà les dades referents a les competicions a on juguen els equips de l’entitat, sinó que també serà un mitjà de comunicació per transmetre informació sobre les seves activitats. L’aplicació permetrà, a través de comentaris i enquestes, millorar la interactivitat tant amb els usuaris del Web com amb els jugadors del club. Per aconseguir-ho s’utilitzaran diverses tecnologies com HTML per l’estructuració de la pàgina, CSS per al seu disseny, MySQL per a la base de dades, PHP per poder transmetre les dades i JavaScript i ActionScript per aportar més dinamisme a la pàgina.

Pàgina web pel Club Bellaterra

El projecte sorgeix per oferir als socis del Club Bellaterra un nou servei per tal que puguin sentir-se més pròxims al Club. Es tracta d'una web que es vol que sigui d’un ús simple, amigable i confortable. Es vol mantenir informat a tot visitant dels serveis i instal·lacions que ofereix el Club, a més de comunicar notícies d’interès per tal d’atreure tant a nous visitants com als socis, els quals tindran accés a zones reservades per a ells: un fòrum, un taulell d’anuncis, un sistema de reserva on-line de pistes per a pàdel i tenis i una galeria de fotografies.