Physical Fitness Enhancement Through Education, EDUFIT Study: Background, Design, Methodology and Dropout Analysis

El nivel de forma física es un potente indicador del estado de salud cardiovascular ya desde edades tempranas. Mejorar el nivel de condición física es una necesidad educativa ya que contribuye a aumentar la salud pública y el bienestar presente y futuro. El objeto del presente artículo es describir la metodología y diseño de un pro­ yecto educativo diseñado con esta finalidad, denominado EDUFIT (EDUcación para el FITness). EDUFIT se llevó a cabo en 2007 y participaron 67 escolares de 13±1 años, pertenecientes a tres clases de Enseñanza Secundaria. Las clases fueron aleatoriamente asigna­ das a grupo control (GC), grupo experimental 1 (GE1) o grupo expe­ rimental 2 (GE2). El GC recibió 2 sesiones de educación física por semana, el GE1 recibió 4 sesiones (incremento del volumen) y el GE2 recibió 4 sesiones de alta intensidad (incremento del volu­ men+intensidad). Al inicio y tras 16 semanas de intervención se valoró: condición física, composición corporal, perfil lipídico­ metabólico, parámetros ventilatorios, tensión arterial, y rendimiento cognitivo y escolar. La intervención fue viable y tuvo buena acepta­ ción entre el alumnado, padres y centro educativo. Se observaron altas tasas de participación (96%, n=67) y de adhesión al programa (84%, n=56). El análisis de adhesión/abandono mostró que, aunque no llega a ser una diferencia significativa (0,1>P>0,05), los adoles­ centes que completaron el programa mostraron mejores valores en capacidad cognitiva y rendimiento académico, y peores en adiposi­ dad, tensión diastólica, fuerza de prensión manual y presión espira­ toria máxima. La hipótesis del estudio EDUFIT es que duplicar el número de clases de educación física por semana mejorará la condi­ ción física de los adolescentes. Si dicha hipótesis se constata, las implicaciones desde el punto de vista de salud pública podrían ser importantes.Physical fitness is a powerful marker of cardiovascular health already at early stages in life. To promote physical fitness enhancement from the school is therefore needed. The present study describes a school intervention program specifically designed for these purposes, called EDUFIT (EDUcation for FITness). The study was carried out in 2007 and comprised 67 adolescents aged 13+/-1 years from a secondary school who belonged to three different classes. The classes were randomly allocated to control group (CG), experimental group 1 (EG1) and experimental group 2 (EG2). The CG was involved in 2 physical education sessions/week, the EG1 was involved in 4 physical education sessions/week (volume increased) and the EG2 was involved in 4 physical education sessions/week of high intensity (volume+intensity increased). Several health parameters were assessed before and after a 16-weeks intervention: physical fitness, body composition, lipid-metabolic profile, ventilatory parameters, blood pressure, and cognitive and academic performance. The intervention was feasible and well-tolerated. There were high participation and adherence rates, i.e. 96% (n=67) and 84% (n=56) respectively. Yet not always significant (0,1>P>0,05), we observed that the adolescents who satisfactory complete the program showed better cognitive and academic performance, and worse levels of adiposity, diastolic tension, handgrip strength and maximal expiratory pressure. The hypothesis of the EDUFIT study is that to double the number of physical education classes will improve physical fitness in adolescents. The confirmation of the hypothesis could have important public health implications.El presente estudio tiene lugar gracias a recursos materiales y humanos procedentes de dos proyectos europeos financiados por la Comisión Europea: el estudio HELENA (Contract FOOD-CT-2005-007034) y el estudio ALPHA (Ref: 2006120). También gracias a fondos FEDER del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Acciones Complementarias DEP2007-29933-E) y del Grupo de Trabajo 0123/07 del Centro de Profesores y Recursos Murcia II de la Consejería de Educación, Formación y Empleo de la Región de Murcia. Algunos de los investigadores involucrados en este estudio están financiados por becas pre-doctorales y post-doctorales del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (AP-2005-3827, AP2005-4358, EX-2007-1124, EX-2008-0641)

RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Small game water troughs in a Spanish agrarian pseudo steppe: visits and water site choice by wild fauna

International audienceThis paper studies the visits of wild fauna, the influence of vegetal cover and fencing at water site election, and consumption tendency in water troughs designed for small game species distributed in an agricultural Mediterranean area during the summers from 2002 to 2005. Red-legged partridges (), lagomorphs (, ), and other autochthonous species (birds and wild canids) visited water sources throughout the study. The number of visits by target species was higher than non-game. Lagomorphs preferred protected troughs (with surrounding vegetal cover) while partridges opted for open ones (without cover). Fencing had no effect on the visits of birds and lagomorphs, but it did reduce the visits of wild canids. Harsh climatic conditions determined an increase in water consumption in summer. Before designing a water trough device for this fauna, managers should consider that (1) target and non-target species could try to make use of it, (2) water points should be adapted to target species self protection, (3) fencing can prevent undesirable visitors (particularly predators), and (4) water requirements increase in the harsh moments of the dry season

TRIDENT – Technology based impact assessment tool foR sustaInable, transparent Deep sEa miNing exploraTion and exploitation: A project overview

By creating a dependable, transparent, and costeffective system for forecasting and ongoing environmental impact monitoring of exploration and exploitation activities in the deep sea, TRIDENT seeks to contribute to the sustainable exploitation of seabed mineral resources. In order to operate autonomously in remote locations under harsh conditions and send real-time data to authorities in charge of granting licenses and providing oversight, this system will create and integrate new technology and innovative solutions. The efficient monitoring and inspection system that will be created will abide by national and international legal frameworks. At the sea surface, mid-water, and the bottom, TRIDENT will identify all pertinent physical, chemical, geological, and biological characteristics that must be monitored. It will also look for data gaps and suggest procedures for addressing them. These are crucial actions to take in order to produce accurate indicators of excellent environmental status, statistically robust environmental baselines, and thresholds for significant impact, allowing for the standardization of methods and tools. In order to monitor environmental parameters on mining and reference areas at representative spatial and temporal scales, the project consortium will thereafter develop and test an integrated system of stationary and mobile observatory platforms outfitted with the most recent automatic sensors and samplers. The system will incorporate high-capacity data processing pipelines able to gather, transmit, process, and display monitoring data in close to real-time to facilitate prompt actions for preventing major harm to the environment. Last but not least, it will offer systemic and technological solutions for predicting probable impacts of applying the developed monitoring and mitigation techniques.</p

Sex differences in oncogenic mutational processes

Sex differences have been observed in multiple facets of cancer epidemiology, treatment and biology, and in most cancers outside the sex organs. Efforts to link these clinical differences to specific molecular features have focused on somatic mutations within the coding regions of the genome. Here we report a pan-cancer analysis of sex differences in whole genomes of 1983 tumours of 28 subtypes as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. We both confirm the results of exome studies, and also uncover previously undescribed sex differences. These include sex-biases in coding and non-coding cancer drivers, mutation prevalence and strikingly, in mutational signatures related to underlying mutational processes. These results underline the pervasiveness of molecular sex differences and strengthen the call for increased consideration of sex in molecular cancer research.Sex differences have been observed in multiple facets of cancer epidemiology, treatment and biology, and in most cancers outside the sex organs. Efforts to link these clinical differences to specific molecular features have focused on somatic mutations within the coding regions of the genome. Here we report a pan-cancer analysis of sex differences in whole genomes of 1983 tumours of 28 subtypes as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. We both confirm the results of exome studies, and also uncover previously undescribed sex differences. These include sex-biases in coding and non-coding cancer drivers, mutation prevalence and strikingly, in mutational signatures related to underlying mutational processes. These results underline the pervasiveness of molecular sex differences and strengthen the call for increased consideration of sex in molecular cancer research.Peer reviewe