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

Effects of different physical education programmes on children's skill- and health-related outcomes: a pilot randomised controlled trial

Aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two different 5-month physical education (PE) interventions conducted by a specialist PE teacher on primary school children’s skill- and health-related outcomes. About 230 children were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: experimental_1 group, experimental_2 group or control group (school curriculum given by the generalist teacher). Pre- and post-intervention tests assessed pupils’ fitness (pacer, curl-up, push-up, trunk lift, sit and reach tests) and gross motor coordination (shifting platforms, balance beam, jumping laterally, hopping on one leg over an obstacle tests). Both experimental groups significantly improved some fitness and coordinative tests after the intervention period when compared with control group. However, no differential changes on coordinative development were observed between the 2 experimental groups. Results of this study demonstrated that children benefitted from a well-structured PE intervention conducted and supervised by a specialist PE teacher improving their motor skills and fitness

Effects of combined physical education and nutritional programs on schoolchildren’s healthy habits

Background. Multidisciplinary approach seems to be effective to create children’s healthy habits. Aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of three 5-month combined physical education (PE) and nutritional interventions on body composition, physical activity (PA) level, sedentary time and eating habits of schoolchildren. Methods. Anthropometric data, weekly PA level, sedentary time and eating habits of 230 healthy students were analysed using a repeated-measures ANOVA with Group (experimental group 1 vs experimental group 2 vs control group), Adiposity Status (under fat vs normal fat vs obese), and Time (pre vs post) as factors. Results. Body fat mass percentage increased after intervention (18.92 ± 8.61% vs 19.40 ± 8.51%) in all groups. Weekly PA level significantly increased after intervention in both experimental groups. Sedentary time significantly decreased after intervention period (565.70 ± 252.93 vs 492.10 ± 230.97 min/week, p < 0.0001). Moreover, obese children were more sedentary than under fat and normal fat children. Children significantly changed the consumption of some specific foods after intervention. Discussion. This study revealed the effectiveness of a combined PE and nutritional intervention to improve children’s healthful dietary practices and to encourage an active lifestyle. However, it further needs an appropriate development to establish patterns of healthful dietary practices to encourage an active lifestyle to maintain a healthy habits through life

Effects of 12-week extracurricular multilateral training on body image perception among youth

Purpose In sport activities, the link between the willingness and motivation is fundamental to reach the aim set. Several reasons push people to do physical activity, one of them is health, also defined by the term positive addiction(1). For these reasons, since the 70's a lot of people began to run and both social and sport psychologist developed an interest of that phenomenon. One of the most important was developed by Carmack and Martens(2). Finally, Master and colleagues (1993,3) performed an analysis of the researchers that investigated the motivation to run in order to develop the “Motivation of Marathoners Scales (MoMS)” questionnaire that examined the motivation of the marathon runners to run. Due to its excellent psychometric properties(3) we developed an Italian version of the MoMS (MoMS-it). Method Before starting the administration and the data collection we translated the items following the translational procedure (4). Anonymously, 604 marathon runners (117 female and 487 male; age 47.32 ± 9.79) filled the italian version of the questionnaire. Cronbach’ alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of MoMS-it. A series of confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis (CFA, ECA) were performed. Paired T.test was performed for each factor in order to verify the different expression of each motivation between the gender and or ages of participants using the media value of the sample.. Results Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire questionnaire was .91, as well as they were the consistencies of each scale. The CFA showed results similar to what Master and colleagues reported(3). Conclusion The data analysis showed that the translation of the items we performed produced a reliable Italian form of the MoMS and the results were similar to another recent work(6)

Psychophysical benefits of rock-climbing activity

The aim of the study was to compare the psychophysical eff ects of rock climbing with a supervised fi tness training in adults. Thirty-three healthy participants ( M age = 32 yr., SD = 7) participated in rock climbing or in fi tness training. The participants’ functional fi tness, anxiety, and mood states were tested before and after 3 mo. of training. There was signifi cant improvement of physical fi tness in both groups after the intervention period. Anxiety signifi cantly decreased after each single training session at the end of both courses. Diff erential eff ects in the rock-climbing group, as compared to the fi tness group, emerged only on Vigor. Specifi cally, the rock-climbing group showed a decreasing trend in Vigor while the fi tness group showed an increasing trend of Vigor after the intervention

Effects of an individualized home‑based unsupervised aerobic training on body composition and physiological parameters in obese adults are independent of gender

Purpose. Evaluation of the effects of an individualized home-based unsupervised aerobic training on body composition, physical and physiological parameters in female and male obese adults. Methods. Two hundred twenty obese adults (age 47.9±12.4 year; BMI 38.0±7.2 kg/m2) entered the 4-month training program. Body composition, physiological and functional capacities were assessed pre and post intervention. All subjects were requested to perform unsupervised aerobic training with the intensity based on heart rate, walking speed and OMNI-RPE score corresponding to the individual ventilatory threshold for at least 5 days/week. Results. After 4-months study period, 40% of patients completed the protocol, 24% had high compliance (HC) (exercise ≥3 days/wk), while 16% had low compliance (LC) to exercise prescription (exercise < than 3 days/wk). In HC group a significant improvement of body composition variables after training was performed. Moreover, oxygen uptake and metabolic equivalent at peak, significantly increased after training. Six minute walking test (6MWT) distance significantly increased while heart rate during 6MWT was significantly lower after training. No significant differences were found in LC group between pre- and post-intervention in all variables. Interestingly, gender does not influence the effects of training. Conclusions. Our results indicate that subjects, independently from gender, with high compliance to the aerobic training based on a new individualized method can achieve a significant reduction in weight loss and also an improvement in physical and physiological parameters. This innovative personalized prescription could be a valuable tool for exercise physiologist, endocrinologists, and nutritionists to approach and correct life style of obese subjects

NPM1 Mutated, BCR-ABL1 Positive Myeloid Neoplasms: Review of the Literature

Breakpoint cluster region - Abelson (BCR-ABL1) chimeric protein and mutated Nucleophosmin (NPM1) are often present in hematological cancers, but they rarely coexist in the same disease. Both anomalies are considered founder mutations that inhibit differentiation and apoptosis, but BCR-ABL1 could act as a secondary mutation conferring a proliferative advantage to a pre-neoplastic clone. The 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) classification lists the provisional acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with BCR-ABL1, which must be diagnosed differentially from the rare blast phase (BP) onset of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), mainly because of the different therapeutic approach in the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). Here we review the BCR/ABL1 plus NPMc+ published cases since 1975 and describe a case from our institution in order to discuss the clinical and molecular features of this rare combination, and report the latest acquisition about an occurrence that could pertain either to the rare AML BCR-ABL1 positive or the even rarer CML-BP with mutated NPM1 at the onset. Differential diagnosis is based on careful analysis of genotypic and phenotypic features and anamnestic, clinical evolution, and background data. Therapeutic decisions must consider the broader clinical aspects, the comparatively mild effects of TKI therapy versus the great benefit that might bring to most of the patients, as may be incidentally demonstrated by our case history