Sobre a relação entre rotação, atividade crosmosférica e abundância de lítio em estrelas subgigantes

The connection between rotation, CaII emission flux and lithium abundance is analyzed for a sample of subgiant stars, with evolutionary status was determined from the Toulouse-Geneve code and HlPPARCOS trigonometric parallax measurements. We noted that the distribution of rotation and CaII emission flux, as a function of effective temperature, shows a discontinuity located around the same spectral type, F8IV. Stars located blueward of this spectral type, exhibit a large spread of values of rotation and CaII flux, whereas stars redward of F8lV show essentially low ratation anel low CaII flux. The strength of these declines nevertheless, depends on stellar mass. The distribution of lithium abundances also shows a discontinuity, however with behavior a little more complex for subgiants with mass lower than about 1.2 Solar Masses, this decrease is observed later than that in rotation and CaII flux, whereas for masses higher than 1.2 Solar Masses the decrease in lithium abundance is located around the spectral type F8IV. The discrepancy between the location of the discontinuities of rotation and CaII flux and log n(Li) for stars with masses lower than 102 Solar Masses, seems to reflect the sensitivity of these phenomena to the mass of the convective envelope. The drop in rotation, which results mostly from a magnetic braking, requires an increase in the mass of the convective envelope less than that required for the decrease in lithium abundance The location of the discontinuity in log n( Li) in the same region of the discontinuity ties in rotation and CaII flux, for stars with masses higher than 1.2 Solar Masses, may also be explained by the behavior of the deepening of the convective envelope. In contrast to the relationship between rotation and CaII flux the relationship between lithium abundance and rotation shows no dear tendency toward linear behavior. Similarly, the same tendency is observed in the relationship between lithium abundance and CaII flux in spite of these facts, subgiants with high lithium content also have high rotation and high CaII emission flux. We also observed that stars with high lithium content present, in its majority, an undeveloped convective envelope, whereas stars with low lithium content have a developed convective envelope. In the case of the rotation, stars with undeveloped convective envelope, show rotational velocities as much high as low, whereas stars with developed convective envelope only present low rotation

High body mass index is not a barrier to physical activity: Analysis of international rugby players' anthropometric data

Recent data indicate that levels of overweight and obesity are increasing at an alarming rate throughout the world. At a population level (and commonly to assess individual health risk), the prevalence of overweight and obesity is calculated using cut-offs of the Body Mass Index (BMI) derived from height and weight. Similarly, the BMI is also used to classify individuals and to provide a notional indication of potential health risk. It is likely that epidemiologic surveys that are reliant on BMI as a measure of adiposity will overestimate the number of individuals in the overweight (and slightly obese) categories. This tendency to misclassify individuals may be more pronounced in athletic populations or groups in which the proportion of more active individuals is higher. This differential is most pronounced in sports where it is advantageous to have a high BMI (but not necessarily high fatness). To illustrate this point we calculated the BMIs of international professional rugby players from the four teams involved in the semi-finals of the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) cut-offs for BMI, approximately 65% of the players were classified as overweight and approximately 25% as obese. These findings demonstrate that a high BMI is commonplace (and a potentially desirable attribute for sport performance) in professional rugby players. An unanswered question is what proportion of the wider population, classified as overweight (or obese) according to the BMI, is misclassified according to both fatness and health risk? It is evident that being overweight should not be an obstacle to a physically active lifestyle. Similarly, a reliance on BMI alone may misclassify a number of individuals who might otherwise have been automatically considered fat and/or unfit.