Effects of a school-based physical activity program on physical and psychosocial quality of life in elementary school children: a cluster-randomized trial.

The present study tested the effect of a school-based physical activity (PA) program on quality of life (QoL) in 540 elementary school children. First and fifth graders were randomly assigned to a PA program or a no-PA control condition during one academic year. QoL was assessed by the Child Health Questionnaire at baseline and postintervention. Based on mixed linear model analyses, physical QoL in first graders and physical and psychosocial QoL in fifth graders were not affected by the intervention. In first graders, the PA intervention had a positive impact on psychosocial QoL (effect size [d], 0.32; p < .05). Subpopulation analyses revealed that this effect was caused by an effect in urban (effect size [d], 0.38; p < .05) and overweight first graders (effect size [d], 0.45; p < .05). In conclusion, a school-based PA intervention had little effect on QoL in elementary school children.

Trastornos de identidad de género: evaluación de la competencia para el cuidado

En este documento se realiza una descripción de los trastornos de identidad de género (TIG) y de su situación a nivel nacional e internacional, teniendo en cuenta la legislación y epidemiología, con el objetivo de consolidar así una base teórica para el estudio. Se diferencian también otras patologías similares para evitar confusión o errores. Se propone un estudio cuantitativo, observacional, transversal, descriptivo y correlacional que tiene como objetivos principales evaluar los conocimientos, habilidades y actitudes necesarios del personal de enfermería para el cuidado de las personas con TIG y comparar las competencias de la enfermería de distintos niveles asistenciales. Como método de recogida de datos se utiliza un cuestionario de elaboración propia, de preguntas cerradas con múltiples opciones de respuesta. El análisis de los datos será inferencial y descriptivo, ya que el objetivo es realizar una estimación a partir de los resultados obtenidos de la muestra sobre el conjunto total de la población con la finalidad de realizar el contraste de la hipótesis formulada; para ello, se realizará la prueba no paramétrica de Chi-­‐ cuadrado.

Stereoselective metabolism of citalopram in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of depressive patients: relationship with 5-HIAA in CSF and clinical response.

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of the enantiomers of citalopram (CIT), its N-demethylated metabolite demethylcitalopram (DCIT) and its deaminated metabolite citalopram propionic acid derivative (CIT-PROP) were measured in plasma and CSF in 22 depressed patients after a 4-week treatment with 40 mg/d citalopram, which was preceded by a 1-week washout period. CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) were measured at baseline and after the 4-week CIT medication period. Patients were assessed clinically, using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (21-item HAM-D): at baseline and then at weekly intervals. CSF concentrations of S-CIT and R-CIT were 10.6 +/- 4.3 and 20.9 +/- 6 ng/mL, respectively, and their CSF/plasma ratios were 52% +/- 9% and 48% +/- 6%, respectively. The CIT treatment resulted in a significant decrease (28%) of 5-HIAA (P < 0.0001) and a significant increase (41%) of HVA in the CSF. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify the impact of plasma and CSF CIT enantiomers and its metabolites on CSF monoamine metabolites and clinical response. There were 10 responders as defined by a > or =50% decrease of the HAM-D score (DeltaHAM-D) after the 4-week treatment. DeltaHAM-D correlated (Spearman) significantly with CSF S-CIT (r = - 0.483, P < 0.05), CSF S-CIT-PROP (r = -0.543, P = 0.01) (a metabolite formed from CIT by monoamine oxidase [MAO]) and 5-HIAA decrease (Delta5-HIAA) (r = 0.572, P = 0.01). The demonstrated correlations between pharmacokinetic parameters and the clinical outcome as well as 5-HIAA changes indicate that monitoring of plasma S-CIT, CSF S-CIT and CSF S-CIT-PROP may be of clinical relevance.

NR2A at CA1 synapses is obligatory for the susceptibility of hippocampal plasticity to sleep loss.

A loss in the necessary amount of sleep alters expression of genes and proteins implicated in brain plasticity, but key proteins that render neuronal circuits sensitive to sleep disturbance are unknown. We show that mild (4-6 h) sleep deprivation (SD) selectively augmented the number of NR2A subunits of NMDA receptors on postsynaptic densities of adult mouse CA1 synapses. The greater synaptic NR2A content facilitated induction of CA3-CA1 long-term depression in the theta frequency stimulation range and augmented the synaptic modification threshold. NR2A-knock-out mice maintained behavioral response to SD, including compensatory increase in post-deprivation resting time, but hippocampal synaptic plasticity was insensitive to sleep loss. After SD, the balance between synaptically activated and slowly recruited NMDA receptor pools during temporal summation was disrupted. Together, these results indicate that NR2A is obligatory for the consequences of sleep loss on hippocampal synaptic plasticity. These findings could advance pharmacological strategies aiming to sustain hippocampal function during sleep restriction.

Barriers, benefits and preferences for exercise in RA patients: A cross sectional study.

Background/Purpose: Physical exercise is safe and effective as an adjunctive nonpharmacological treatment modality in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is well established that patients with RA are less active compared to healthy controls. The transtheoretical model of health promotion, based on five stages of change, provides a useful framework to better understand patients' motivation towards regular exercise. The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution of exercise stages of change in a RA cohort, and to examine barriers, benefits and preferences for exercise. Methods: One hundred and twenty consecutive patients with RA followed at a hospital-based rheumatology practice were invited to participate in the study. Those who accepted to participate filled in a questionnaire to determine their exercise stage of change, their perceived benefits and barriers to exercise, and their preferences for various features of exercise. Disease activity was measured using the disease activity score (DAS28). Other variables included the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), the short version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2 (AIMS2-SF), pain and fatigue visual analogue scales (VAS), the number of comorbidities and demographic characteristics. Characteristics of patients in the maintenance and precontemplation stages of change were compared using two-sample t tests, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and Chi-square tests. Results: Eighty nine (74%) patients were finally included in the analyses. Mean age was 58.4 (SD 11.7) years, mean RA duration was 10.1 (9.8) years and mean DAS28 was 2.8 (1.2). The distribution of exercise stages of change was as follows: precontemplation (n_30, 34%), contemplation (n_11, 13%), preparation (n_5, 6%), action (n_2, 2%), and maintenance (n_39, 45%). Compared to patients in the maintenance stage of change, precontemplators were less often at work (P_0.05), exhibited a higher body mass index (P_0.01), poorer HAQ (P_0.01), higher pain VAS (P_0.05), poorer scores of physical (P_0.001), symptom (P_0.01), affect (P_0.01) and role (P_0.01) dimensions of the AIMS2-SF, and reported less exercise benefits (P_0.05) and more barriers to exercise (p_0.01). Most participants preferred exercising alone (40%), at home (29%), at a moderate intensity (64%), with advice provided by a rheumatologist (34%) or a specialist in exercise and RA (34%). Walking was by far the preferred type of exercise, in both the summer (86%) and the winter (51%). Conclusion: This study provides new insight into how RA interferes with exercise participation. Our cohort of patients with RA was essentially distributed across the precontemplation and maintenance exercise stages of change. These subgroups of patients exhibit psychological and functional differences that make their needs in terms of exercise counseling different. Walking appears to be a simple but promising way of promoting physical activity among RA patients.

Communication with terminal cancer patients in palliative care: are there differences between nurses and physicians?

The aim of this study was to find whether there were interprofessional differences in specific elements of communication with terminal cancer patients and decision-making processes that concern such patients. Given that interdisciplinary team work is one of the basic values in palliative care, if there are conflicting views between professions on such important issues it is most important to know about these and to understand them. A questionnaire utilized in an earlier survey of palliative care physicians and addressing their attitudes to and beliefs about specific elements of communication and decision making was sent to a sample of palliative care nurses working in the same regions, i.e. the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, Belgium and France. After a second mailing (reminder), 135 of the 163 questionnaires (83%) were returned. There was general agreement between nurses and physicians on questions dealing with perceptions of patients' knowledge of their diagnosis and stage of disease, patients' need for information, "do not resuscitate" orders and ethical principles in decision-making processes. Statistically significant, but small, differences between professional groups were only observed for a minority of the questions. Interprofessional differences in specific elements of communication with terminal cancer patients and decision-making processes affecting these patients were not so marked that they could be called "conflicting interprofessional views."

Inheritance of seed coat color in sesame

The objective of this work was to determine the inheritance mode of seed coat color in sesame. Two crosses and their reciprocals were performed: UCLA37 x UCV3 and UCLA90 x UCV3, of which UCLA37 and UCLA90 are white seed, and UCV3 is brown seed. Results of reciprocal crosses within each cross were identical: F1 seeds had the same phenotype as the maternal parent, and F2 resulted in the phenotype brown color. These results are consistent only with the model in which the maternal effect is the responsible for this trait. This model was validated by recording the seed coat color of 100 F2 plants (F3 seeds) from each cross with its reciprocal, in which the 3:1 expected ratio for plants producing brown and white seeds was tested with the chi-square test. Sesame seed color is determined by the maternal genotype. Proposed names for the alleles participating in sesame seed coat color are: Sc1, for brown color; and Sc2, for white color; Sc1 is dominant over Sc2.

Univariate versus multivariate modeling of panel data

Panel data can be arranged into a matrix in two ways, called 'long' and 'wide' formats (LFand WF). The two formats suggest two alternative model approaches for analyzing paneldata: (i) univariate regression with varying intercept; and (ii) multivariate regression withlatent variables (a particular case of structural equation model, SEM). The present papercompares the two approaches showing in which circumstances they yield equivalent?insome cases, even numerically equal?results. We show that the univariate approach givesresults equivalent to the multivariate approach when restrictions of time invariance (inthe paper, the TI assumption) are imposed on the parameters of the multivariate model.It is shown that the restrictions implicit in the univariate approach can be assessed bychi-square difference testing of two nested multivariate models. In addition, commontests encountered in the econometric analysis of panel data, such as the Hausman test, areshown to have an equivalent representation as chi-square difference tests. Commonalitiesand differences between the univariate and multivariate approaches are illustrated usingan empirical panel data set of firms' profitability as well as a simulated panel data.

Développement et validation d'une méthode de calcul indépendant des unités moniteur basée sur les simulations Monte Carlo pour la vérification des traitements IMRT

Résumé : La radiothérapie par modulation d'intensité (IMRT) est une technique de traitement qui utilise des faisceaux dont la fluence de rayonnement est modulée. L'IMRT, largement utilisée dans les pays industrialisés, permet d'atteindre une meilleure homogénéité de la dose à l'intérieur du volume cible et de réduire la dose aux organes à risque. Une méthode usuelle pour réaliser pratiquement la modulation des faisceaux est de sommer de petits faisceaux (segments) qui ont la même incidence. Cette technique est appelée IMRT step-and-shoot. Dans le contexte clinique, il est nécessaire de vérifier les plans de traitement des patients avant la première irradiation. Cette question n'est toujours pas résolue de manière satisfaisante. En effet, un calcul indépendant des unités moniteur (représentatif de la pondération des chaque segment) ne peut pas être réalisé pour les traitements IMRT step-and-shoot, car les poids des segments ne sont pas connus à priori, mais calculés au moment de la planification inverse. Par ailleurs, la vérification des plans de traitement par comparaison avec des mesures prend du temps et ne restitue pas la géométrie exacte du traitement. Dans ce travail, une méthode indépendante de calcul des plans de traitement IMRT step-and-shoot est décrite. Cette méthode est basée sur le code Monte Carlo EGSnrc/BEAMnrc, dont la modélisation de la tête de l'accélérateur linéaire a été validée dans une large gamme de situations. Les segments d'un plan de traitement IMRT sont simulés individuellement dans la géométrie exacte du traitement. Ensuite, les distributions de dose sont converties en dose absorbée dans l'eau par unité moniteur. La dose totale du traitement dans chaque élément de volume du patient (voxel) peut être exprimée comme une équation matricielle linéaire des unités moniteur et de la dose par unité moniteur de chacun des faisceaux. La résolution de cette équation est effectuée par l'inversion d'une matrice à l'aide de l'algorithme dit Non-Negative Least Square fit (NNLS). L'ensemble des voxels contenus dans le volume patient ne pouvant être utilisés dans le calcul pour des raisons de limitations informatiques, plusieurs possibilités de sélection ont été testées. Le meilleur choix consiste à utiliser les voxels contenus dans le Volume Cible de Planification (PTV). La méthode proposée dans ce travail a été testée avec huit cas cliniques représentatifs des traitements habituels de radiothérapie. Les unités moniteur obtenues conduisent à des distributions de dose globale cliniquement équivalentes à celles issues du logiciel de planification des traitements. Ainsi, cette méthode indépendante de calcul des unités moniteur pour l'IMRT step-andshootest validée pour une utilisation clinique. Par analogie, il serait possible d'envisager d'appliquer une méthode similaire pour d'autres modalités de traitement comme par exemple la tomothérapie. Abstract : Intensity Modulated RadioTherapy (IMRT) is a treatment technique that uses modulated beam fluence. IMRT is now widespread in more advanced countries, due to its improvement of dose conformation around target volume, and its ability to lower doses to organs at risk in complex clinical cases. One way to carry out beam modulation is to sum smaller beams (beamlets) with the same incidence. This technique is called step-and-shoot IMRT. In a clinical context, it is necessary to verify treatment plans before the first irradiation. IMRT Plan verification is still an issue for this technique. Independent monitor unit calculation (representative of the weight of each beamlet) can indeed not be performed for IMRT step-and-shoot, because beamlet weights are not known a priori, but calculated by inverse planning. Besides, treatment plan verification by comparison with measured data is time consuming and performed in a simple geometry, usually in a cubic water phantom with all machine angles set to zero. In this work, an independent method for monitor unit calculation for step-and-shoot IMRT is described. This method is based on the Monte Carlo code EGSnrc/BEAMnrc. The Monte Carlo model of the head of the linear accelerator is validated by comparison of simulated and measured dose distributions in a large range of situations. The beamlets of an IMRT treatment plan are calculated individually by Monte Carlo, in the exact geometry of the treatment. Then, the dose distributions of the beamlets are converted in absorbed dose to water per monitor unit. The dose of the whole treatment in each volume element (voxel) can be expressed through a linear matrix equation of the monitor units and dose per monitor unit of every beamlets. This equation is solved by a Non-Negative Least Sqvare fif algorithm (NNLS). However, not every voxels inside the patient volume can be used in order to solve this equation, because of computer limitations. Several ways of voxel selection have been tested and the best choice consists in using voxels inside the Planning Target Volume (PTV). The method presented in this work was tested with eight clinical cases, which were representative of usual radiotherapy treatments. The monitor units obtained lead to clinically equivalent global dose distributions. Thus, this independent monitor unit calculation method for step-and-shoot IMRT is validated and can therefore be used in a clinical routine. It would be possible to consider applying a similar method for other treatment modalities, such as for instance tomotherapy or volumetric modulated arc therapy.

Comparison between land suitability and actual crop distribution in an irrigation district of the Ebro valley (Spain)

El objetivo de la presente investigación fue analizar la correspondencia entre los resultados de una evaluación de tierras con la distribución real de los cultivos. Para ello la aptitud biofísica de las tierras se comparó con diferentes tipologías de frecuencia de ocurrencia de los cultivos y rotaciones derivadas de mapas de cultivos multitemporales. La investigación fue llevada a cabo en el distrito de riego de Flumen (33.000 ha), localizado en el valle del Ebro (NE España). La evaluación de tierras se basó en una cartografía de suelos 1:100.000, según el esquema FAO, para los principales cultivos presentes en el área de estudio (alfalfa, cereales de invierno, maíz, arroz y girasol). Se utilizaron tres mapas de frecuencia de cultivos y un mapa de rotaciones, derivado de una serie temporal de imágenes Landsat TM y ETM+ del periodo 1993-2000, y se compararon con los mapas de aptitud de tierras para los diferentes cultivos. Se analizó estadísticamente (Pearson χ2, Cramer V, Gamma y Somers D) la relación entre los dos tipos de variables. Los resultados muestran la existencia de una relación significativa (P=0,001) entre la localización de los cultivos y la idoneidad de las tierras, excepto de cultivos oportunistas como el girasol, muy influenciado por las subvenciones en el periodo estudiado. Las rotaciones basadas en la alfalfa muestran los mayores porcentajes (52%) de ocupación en las tierras más aptas para la agricultura en el área de estudio. El presente enfoque multitemporal de análisis de la información ofrece una visión más real que la comparación entre un mapa de evaluación de tierras y un mapa de cultivos de una fecha determinada, cuando se valora el grado de acuerdo entre las recomendaciones sobre la aptitud de las tierras y los cultivos realmente cultivados por los agricultores.

A comparative study of silver amalgam and compomer as retrograde filling materials in periapical surgery

Objective: A comparative study is made of the histological effects of silver amalgam versus compomer (Dyract®) 90 days after placement as retrograde filling materials in experimental animals. Method: Six Beagle dogs were used, with total pulpectomy and orthograde material filling followed by periapical surgery of the 6 upper and 6 lower incisors (for a total of 72 teeth). Thirty-six teeth corresponded to the right side and were filled with the control material (silver amalgam), while the 36 teeth on the left side were filled with the compomer study material (Dyract®). After three months the animals were sacrificed and the histological study was carried out, with evaluation of bone formation, inflammation, and the tissue in contact with the filler material. The results obtained were subjected to a descriptive and comparative statistical analysis (chi-square test). Results: The samples retrogradely filled with compomer showed significantly greater percentage inflammation (76.19% versus 26.66% in the control group). On the other hand, a large proportion of samples with root cement growth were found in the compomer group. Filler material expulsion was also significantly more common when compomer was used. Conclusions: the comparative study of the histological findings showed greater inflammation but also greater root cement growth in the compomer group versus the controls

Ohjelmoinnin perusteet -kurssin opintosuoritusten analyysi

The purpose of this Bachelor’s thesis is to review Fundamentals of programming course over six-year time period (2001–2006). We try to find out if students have passed the course in years 2005 and 2006, after the change of a lecturer, relatively more often than before. We also analyze the problem areas of the course so that these kinds of problems could be avoided in future. The work includes building of the database, creating of the statistics and analysis of the results. The statistics tell many things about development of the course but the analysis phase gives even more accurate information. In analysis phase we look for significant statistical differences with chi-square test and try to find causes and solutions for those differences. In this study we found out that the biggest proportion of passed students was in year 2006. However year 2005 had very bad results which were caused by many different factors. That’s why the null hypothesis, that year 2005 and 2006 had better results than the earlier years, has to be rejected. Despite that the good results in year 2006 imply that the course has developed in right direction.

O ajuste de funções matemáticas a dados experimentais

The least square method is analyzed. The basic aspects of the method are discussed. Emphasis is given in procedures that allow a simple memorization of the basic equations associated with the linear and non linear least square method, polinomial regression and multilinear method.

Data mining and mall users profile

Marketing scholars have suggested a need for more empirical research on consumer response to malls, in order to have a better understanding of the variables that explain the behavior of the consumers. The segmentation methodology CHAID (Chi-square automatic interaction detection) was used in order to identify the profiles of consumers with regard to their activities at malls, on the basis of socio-demographic variables and behavioral variables (how and with whom they go to the malls). A sample of 790 subjects answered an online questionnaire. The CHAID analysis of the results was used to identify the profiles of consumers with regard to their activities at malls. In the set of variables analyzed the transport used in order to go shopping and the frequency of visits to centers are the main predictors of behavior in malls. The results provide guidelines for the development of effective strategies to attract consumers to malls and retain them there.