Empowering Girls with Chemistry, Exercise and Physical Activity

Research suggests that a girl\u27s career interests in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) declines between grades 6 and 8. Similarly, in middle school, there is a decrease in physical activity among girls. Researchers at the University of Rhode Island (URI) conducted a chemistry-based science camp that took place over the public school spring break with the goal of increasing girls\u27 interest in chemistry and physical activity. The camp included 42 middle school age girls in grades 6 through 8 from schools throughout Rhode Island. Interdisciplinary curricula were created to link chemistry with physical activity concepts used in physical education classes. Overall, the girls enjoyed the interdisciplinary curriculum and found the connection between science and physical activity to be interesting; as a result, similar science-based interdisciplinary curricula may have the capacity to promote physical activity as well as STEM career interests in girls

Ocean Surfing as a Novel Physiotherapy Environment: A Commentary

Aquatic exercise for both fitness and rehabilitation are presently being offered to individuals of various special populations [1]. Pool programs offer physical activity and educational programming that can be particularly helpful for children with disabilities. The physiologic, psychologic, and social benefits of aquatic exercise are often found to be more pronounced in these children [2]

Effects of a Physical Education Supportive Curriculum and Technological Devices on Physical Activity

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a physical education supportive curriculum and technological devices, heart rate monitor (HRM) and pedometer (PED), on physical activity. A single-subject ABAB research design was used to examine amount and level of participation in physical activity among 106 suburban fourth and fifth graders during physical education class. A curriculum, which was pedagogically centered on the use of the technological devices, was also developed and studied. Six children from each group and the physical education teacher were interviewed. The results of a one-way ANCOVA indicated group differences between the supportive curriculum and technology for HRMs, PEDs, and increased physical activity

Molecular dynamics of ion transport through the open conformation of a bacterial voltage-gated sodium channel

The crystal structure of the open conformation of a bacterial voltage-gated sodium channel pore from Magnetococcus sp. (NaVMs) has provided the basis for a molecular dynamics study defining the channel’s full ion translocation pathway and conductance process, selectivity, electrophysiological characteristics, and ion-binding sites. Microsecond molecular dynamics simulations permitted a complete time-course characterization of the protein in a membrane system, capturing the plethora of conductance events and revealing a complex mixture of single and multi-ion phenomena with decoupled rapid bidirectional water transport. The simulations suggest specific localization sites for the sodium ions, which correspond with experimentally determined electron density found in the selectivity filter of the crystal structure. These studies have also allowed us to identify the ion conductance mechanism and its relation to water movement for the NavMs channel pore and to make realistic predictions of its conductance properties. The calculated single-channel conductance and selectivity ratio correspond closely with the electrophysiology measurements of the NavMs channel expressed in HEK 293 cells. The ion translocation process seen in this voltage-gated sodium channel is clearly different from that exhibited by members of the closely related family of voltage-gated potassium channels and also differs considerably from existing proposals for the conductance process in sodium channels. These studies simulate sodium channel conductance based on an experimentally determined structure of a sodium channel pore that has a completely open transmembrane pathway and activation gate

Development of a Wet Suit for Children with Down’s Syndrome

Individuals with Down syndrome have body types that make it difficult to fit for a standard wet suit. In general, their body composition includes an increase in central body adiposity and an endomorphic somatotypic body type in which the trunk is large while the limbs are shorter. Because of these physical characteristics, the participation by individuals with Down syndrome in aquatics exercise programs in which wet suits are needed can be very limiting. We observed that it was challenging to get these aquatic exercise participants into and out of the wet suits that had a standard wet suit design. This article describes a modified wet suit that is more accommodating for individuals with Down syndrome and allows them to wear the suit with less assistance. Although designed with the Down syndrome individual in mind, this modification may be useful for others with movement restrictions or who have an increase in central body fat

The Ocean as a Unique Therapeutic Environment: Developing a Surfing Program

Educational aquatic programming offers necessary physical activity opportunities to children with disabilities and the benefits of aquatic activities are more pronounced for children with disabilities than for their able-bodied peers. Similar benefits could potentially be derived from surfing in the ocean. This article describes an adapted surfing program that was designed to develop and enhance the children\u27s strength, flexibility, range of motion, coordination, balance, and psychosocial development. Throughout the program, the children and their surf instructors were encouraged to set realistic individual goals. Many positive outcomes were derived from the project, including gains in social development and self-confidence

Benefits of Surfing for Children with Disabilities: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an eight-week surfing intervention for 16 children with disabilities. The assessment procedure consisted of pre and post physical fitness measures to determine the benefits of this intervention. Our results showed an overall improvement in upper body strength (right: P = 0.024, left: P = 0.022), core strength (P = 0.002) and cardiorespiratory endurance (P = 0.013). This research is the first of its kind, illustrating the feasibility and effectiveness of a surfing intervention on improving the physical fitness of children with disabilities

Effectiveness of Surf Therapy for Children with Disabilities

Background: Few researchers have examined the effects of surf programs on children with disabilities. Due to previous research findings, surfing is being used, as the focus of physical activity intervention due to its numerous health and therapeutic benefits. Objective/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of an eight-week surfing intervention on various physical fitness measures in 71 children with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, down syndrome, global developmental delays, and cerebral palsy. The study also sought to compare the differences in overall fitness levels between the surf therapy group and an unstructured pool playgroup. Researchers predicted significant differences in the surf therapy group. Methods: The assessment procedure consisted of pre and post physical fitness measures selected from the Brockport Physical Fitness Test in two groups: surfing (n=71) and an unstructured aquatic program (n=20). Results: The results demonstrated significant improvements in core strength (p = 0.00), upper body strength (p = 0.00), flexibility (p = 0.01) and cardiorespiratory endurance (p = 0.00) in the surfing group. However, there were no significant differences in overall fitness levels between the surfing and unstructured pool playgroups. Body composition measurements on the surfing group demonstrated a significant reduction in total body fat % (p = 0.016) and fat free mass (p = 0.008) and a significant improvement in bone mineral density (p = 0.004) pre to post surf therapy. Conclusions: This research demonstrated the effectiveness and physiological benefits of surf therapy for children with selected disabilities

Social and emotional developmental vulnerability at age five in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in New South Wales: a population data linkage study

Background Early childhood social and emotional development underpins later social, emotional, academic and other outcomes. The first aim of this study was to explore the association between child, family and area-level characteristics associated with developmental vulnerability, amongst Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in their first year of school. The second aim was to quantify the magnitude of the social and emotional developmental inequalities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children and the extent to which differences in socioeconomic disadvantage and perinatal characteristics explained this inequality. Methods This retrospective cohort study used cross-sectoral data linkage to identify and follow participants from birth to school age. In this way, social and emotional development was examined in 7,384 Aboriginal and 95,104 non-Aboriginal children who were included in the Australian Early Development Census in their first year of full-time school in New South Wales (NSW) in 2009 or 2012 and had a birth registration and/or perinatal record in NSW. The primary outcome measures were teacher-reported social competence and emotional maturity as measured using the Australian version of the Early Development Instrument. Results The mean age at the start of the school year for children in the study sample was 5.2 years (SD = 0.36 years). While 84% of Aboriginal children scored favourably - above the vulnerability threshold – for social competence and 88% for emotional maturity, Aboriginal children were twice as likely as non-Aboriginal children to be vulnerable on measures of social development (RR = 2.00; 95%CI, 1.89–2.12) and had 89% more risk of emotional vulnerability (RR = 1.89; 95%CI, 1.77–2.02). The inequality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children was largely explained by differences in the socioeconomic and perinatal health characteristics of children and families. Thus, after adjusting for differences in measures of socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage (Model 2), the relative risk was attenuated to 1.31 (95% CI: 1.23–1.40) on the social competence domain and 1.24 (95% CI, 1.15–1.33) on the emotional maturity domain. Child, family and area-level characteristics associated with vulnerability were identified. Conclusions Most of the gap in early childhood social and emotional development between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children can be attributed to socioeconomic and early life health disadvantage. Culturally safe health and social policies addressing the socioeconomic and health inequalities experienced by Aboriginal children are urgently required.This work was supported by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Project Grant (#1061713) and a Financial Markets Foundation for Children (Australia) grant (2016–341). AW was supported by a NSW Health Early-Mid Career Fellowship. KF was supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (#1016475) and an NHMRC capacity building grant (#573122). EB was supported by an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (#1136128). SE was supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (#1013418)