Effects of open (Racket) and closed (running) skill sports practice on children’s attentional performance

Aims: The first aim of the study was to examine the attentional performance of children (8–13 years of age) who practiced two different sport disciplines: Open skill sport – racket and closed skill sport – running and also to investigate the acute effects of these two specific training sessions on children’s immediate and delayed attentional performance. The second aim of the present study was to verify gender differences in attentional performance. Eighteen children+ (8 girls and 10 boys; age = 10.6 ± 1.5 yrs; height = 144.3 ± 12.2 cm; weight = 44.2 ± 12.5 kg; BMI = 20.8 ± 2.7 kg/m2) engaged in a racket sports and eighteen children (9 girls and 9 boys; age = 9.9 ± 1.2 yrs; height = 142.4 ± 9.5 cm; weight = 40.0 ± 8.6 kg; BMI = 19.6 ± 2.4 kg/m2) engaged in running were enrolled. Methods: Children’s training and experience with these activities averaged 2.3 (± 1.0) years. Children’s attentional capacity was measured before, immediately after and 50 minutes after each specific training session by the d2 test of attention. This paper-and-pencil letter cancellation test evaluated concentration and sustained attention under stress induced by a fixed executing time. A 2 (Sport: open vs closed skill) x 2 (Gender: boys vs girls) x 3 (Time: pre vs 0’ post vs 50’ post) repeated measures ANOVA for time was used to compare the effect of an open skill session and a closed skill session on the individual attentional variables. Results: Children of open skill sport showed higher attentional scores (higher processing speed-TN, higher concentration performance-CP and lower percentage of errors-E%; p < 0.01), improved CP from pre to 0’ post intervention (p = 0.01) and maintained this improved performance at 50’ post intervention (50’ post vs pre; p < 0.01), and decreased E% from pre to 0’ post intervention (p = 0.01) and maintained this improvement at 50’ post intervention (50’ post vs pre; p < 0.001). Children of closed skill sport significantly decreased their CP from pre to 50’ post intervention (50’ post vs pre; p = 0.001 and 50’ post vs 0’ post; p < 0.0001) and worsened their E% across the time (50’ post vs pre; p = 0.001 and 50’ post vs 0’ post; p < 0.0001). Boys showed significantly higher TN values than girls only in closed skill sport (p = 0.023). Finally, all girls of both open and closed skill sports significantly improved their CP from pre to 0’ post intervention (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Results of the study showed that open skill sport practice and training session positively affects children’s attentional performance

High School Student Athletes and Nonathletes\u27 Disciplinary Referrals and Grade Point Averages

High School Student Athletes and Nonathletes\u27 Disciplinary Referrals and Grade Point Averages by Jack Calhoun MEd, Georgia Southwestern State University, 1998 BS, Georgia Southwestern State University, 1997 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University December 2014 This quantitative study investigated how athletic participation in public high schools influenced students\u27 academic achievement and positive social behavior. Disciplinary referrals are on the rise in American schools and are a cause of concern for teachers, administrators, parents, and community members. School personnel currently implement programs designed to curb discipline problems in the classroom and foster productive behavior among adolescents. There is some debate and conflicting literature on whether sports participation has a beneficial influence on students. The writings of Virgina Chomitz, who hypothesized a positive relationship between academic achievement and physical fitness, guided this research. This study analyzed grade point average (GPA) and discipline referral data for 4,433 students in a suburban American high school over a 3-year time period. The GPA and referral data for athletes and nonathletes were compared using multiple t tests, and it was found that athletes had significantly higher GPAs and lower discipline referrals when compared to nonathletes. These results, which match the original hypotheses, provide greater insight into how participating in athletics may improve a student\u27s behavior and academic achievement. With this knowledge, educators may place greater emphasis on athletics as a method to promote achievement and positive experiences among high school students. These positive effects will contribute to social change for students at an individual level and for entire school environments

The importance of lipidomic approach for mapping and exploring the molecular networks underlying physical exercise: A systematic review

Maintaining appropriate levels of physical exercise is an optimal way for keeping a good state of health. At the same time, optimal exercise performance necessitates an integrated organ system response. In this respect, physical exercise has numerous repercussions on metabolism and function of different organs and tissues by enhancing whole‐body metabolic homeostasis in response to different exercise‐related adaptations. Specifically, both prolonged and intensive physical exercise produce vast changes in multiple and different lipid‐related metabolites. Lipidomic technologies allow these changes and adaptations to be clarified, by using a biological system approach they provide scientific understanding of the effect of physical exercise on lipid trajectories. Therefore, this systematic review aims to indicate and clarify the identifying biology of the individual response to different exercise workloads, as well as provide direction for future studies focused on the body’s metabolome exercise‐related adaptations. It was performed using five databases (Medline (PubMed), Google Scholar, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library). Two author teams reviewed 105 abstracts for inclusion and at the end of the screening process 50 full texts were analyzed. Lastly, 14 research articles specifically focusing on metabolic responses to exercise in healthy subjects were included. The Oxford quality scoring system scale was used as a quality measure of the reviews. Information was extracted using the participants, intervention, comparison, outcomes (PICOS) format. Despite that fact that it is well‐known that lipids are involved in different sport‐related changes, it is unclear what types of lipids are involved. Therefore, we analyzed the characteristic lipid species in blood and skeletal muscle, as well as their alterations in response to chronic and acute exercise. Lipidomics analyses of the studies examined revealed medium‐ and long‐chain fatty acids, fatty acid oxidation products, and phospholipids qualitative changes. The main cumulative evidence indicates that both chronic and acute bouts of exercise determine significant changes in lipidomic profiles, but they manifested in very different ways depending on the type of tissue examined. Therefore, this systematic review may offer the possibility to fully understand the individual lipidomics exercise‐related response and could be especially important to improve athletic performance and human health

Recurrence quantification analysis of heart rate variability to detect both ventilatory thresholds

Aims of this study were: To verify if Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) time series could determine both ventilatory thresholds in individuals with different fitness levels, and to assess the validity of RQA method compared to gasexchange method (GE). The two thresholds were estimated in thirty young individuals during incremental exercise on cycle-ergometer: Heart rate (HR), Oxygen consumption (VO2) and Workload were measured by the two methods (RQA and GE). Repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess main effects of methods and methods-by-groups interaction effects for HR, VO2 and Workload at aerobic (AerT) and anaerobic (AnT) thresholds. Validity of RQA at both thresholds was assessed for HR, VO2 and Workload by Ordinary Least Products (OLP) regression, Typical Percentage Error (TE), Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) and the Bland Altman plots. No methods-by-groups interaction effects were detected for HR, VO2 and Workload at AerT and AnT. The OLP analysis showed that at both thresholds RQA and GE methods had very strong correlations (r >0.8) in all variables (HR, VO2 and Workload). Slope and intercept values always included the 1 and the 0, respectively. At AerT the TE ranged from 4.02% (5.48 bpm) to 10.47% (8.53 Watts) (HR and Workload, respectively) and in all variables ICC values were excellent (≥0.85). At AnT the TE ranged from 2.53% (3.98 bpm) to 6.64% (7.81 Watts) (HR and Workload, respectively) and in all variables ICC values were excellent (≥0.90). Therefore, RQA of HRV time series is a new valid approach to determine both ventilatory thresholds in individuals with different physical fitness levels, it can be used when gas analysis is not possible or not convenient

The role of parental involvement in youth sport experience: perceived and desired behavior by male soccer players

Parents play a key role in the youth sports educational experience. They are responsible for the introduction of their children to physical or sporting education and their involvement has been associated with sport participation in early stages. The aims of this cross-sectional study were, first, to assess the perceived and desired parental involvement by children and, secondly, to exam-ine their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with any specific behavior. 80 male soccer players filled the Parental Involvement in Sport Questionnaire (PISQ) before or after a training session in presence of a coach. PISQ results revealed excessive active involvement and pressure, insufficient praise and understanding and satisfactory directive behavior from children’s parents. Our findings suggest that excessive parental involvement can cause pressure on children who would prefer parental participation characterized by praise and understanding. A balance between a supporting involvement without putting too much pressure is needed by the parents. To prevent burnout and dropout and to facilitate future practice, parents should be counseled (possibly by a sport educator) on how to positively support their children concerning their sport experience

EU-DEMO divertor: Cassette design and PFCs integration at pre-conceptual stage

The pre-conceptual design of the DEMO divertor cassette with a novelty, alternative path of the main cooling pipes inside cassette body is presented in this paper, focusing on cassette design and Plasma Facing Components (PFC) integration. The divertor cassette design is reviewed, considering recent updates in the DEMO configuration model as presented by the Programme Management Unit (PMU) in 2018. The new configuration requires the cooling pipes to be integrated inside the cassette body. The components affected by these changes and the impact on the divertor design are analyzed. The study focuses on a new integration system between cassette and cooling pipes. The paper describes the integration on the new cassette geometry and the divertor sub-systems. The design activities related to this system are discussed in detail in terms of CAD modeling and considerations with respect to manufacturing such as welding technologies and non-destructive testing

Insulated fixation system of plasma facing components to the divertor cassette in Eurofusion-DEMO

The design activities of an insulated Plasma Facing Components-Cassette Body (PFCs-CB) support has been carried out under the pre-conceptual design phase for Eurofusion-DEMO Work Package DIV-1 \u201cDivertor Cassette Design and Integration\u201d - Eurofusion Power Plant Physics & Technology (PPPT) program. The Eurofusion-DEMO divertor is a key in-vessel component with PFCs which directly interact with the plasma scrape-off layer. The PFCs have to cope with high heat loads, neutron irradiation and electromagnetic loads. The mechanical integrity of the PFCs and water cooling pipes can be jeopardized by high heat loads and by electromagnetic loads generated in a disruption event. In European-DEMO the possibility to estimate the heat load by measuring the relative thermocurrents is under investigation. In order to allow thermocurrents measurements, a divertor design option provides that PFCs are electrically insulated from CB. In this work authors aim to analyze the opportunity that the PFC-CB fixing system incorporates an electrical insulation system, thus acquiring also an important diagnostic role in the measurement of the thermocurrents and in the management of the current flows. The possible use of ceramic material (e.g. alumina) as the insulating layer between the support components is investigated

Eurofusion-DEMO Divertor - Cassette Design and Integration

The Eurofusion-DEMO design will complete the Pre Conceptual Design phase (PCD) with a PCD Gate, named G1, scheduled to take place in Q4 2020 that will focus on assessing the feasibility of the plant and its main components prior to entering into the Conceptual Design phase. In the paper first an overview is given of the Eurofusion-DEMO Divertor Assembly including design and interface description, systems and functional requirements, load specification, system classification, manufacturing procedures and cost estimate. Then critical issues are discussed and potential design solutions are proposed, e.g.: - Neutron material damage limits of the different (structural) materials present in the divertor assembly (as CuCrZr, Eurofer) and in the vacuum vessel (AISI 316 L(N)-IG); - Temperature hot spots in parts of the divertor assembly exposed to high nuclear heating and high heat radiation (from the plasma core or the separatrix) causing difficulties for active or passive cooling (e.g. cassette body structure, liner support structures, mechanical supports, divertor toroidal rails); - Arrangement and design of plasma-facing components and liner with pumping slot in the divertor cassette to enable pumping of exhaust gases from the lower port

Postoperative Management of Zygomatic Arch Fractures: In-House Rapid Prototyping System for the Manufacture of Protective Facial Shields

Zygomatic fractures account for 10% to 15% of all facial fractures. The surgical management of isolated zygomatic arch fractures usually requires open reduction treatment without fixation through an intraoral access. Therefore, the main problem in the non-fixed treatment of zygomatic arch fractures is related to the difficulty in obtaining a stable reduction for a period long enough to guarantee the physiological bone healing process. We propose an innovative "in-house" rapid prototyping (RP) protocol for the 3D-zygoma mask manufacture of a patient-specific protective device to apply after zygomatic arch fracture reduction. Our study includes 16 consecutive patients who underwent surgical open reduction for an isolated zygoma fracture without fixation between January 2017 and February 2018. The patients received regular postoperative checks at weeks 1 and 2. Before the device was removed, a multiple choice questionnaire was administered to measure the degree of wearability of the mask. The estimated cost of the production is around &OV0556;5 per case and the construction time is around 90 minutes. Based on the encouraging results, obtained in our experience, we hope that other studies can be conducted to confirm our procedure and improve its functionality in the field of facial trauma