The Effect of an Acute Bout of Foam Rolling on Running Economy

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology Volume 2: Issue 1, Article 4, 2021. This study examined the impact of pre-exercise foam rolling on running economy at 5 km race pace. Sixteen trained distance runners (31.5±12.2 yr; V̇O2max 53.6±11.0) volunteered for the study. Participants completed two treadmill runs at self-selected 5 km race pace; one session with the use of pre-exercise foam rolling and the other with a controlled rest period prior to the run. Running economy was improved during the session with pre-exercise foam rolling applied (t(15)=2.48, p=.026, d=.62). These findings provide evidence for the acute effects of pre-run foam rolling on a parameter of running performance. These results also support the use of foam rolling as a warm-up strategy prior to a high intensity run. Future studies are needed to determine the underlying mechanisms behind the observed improvement

Activity of a Pediatric Emergency Department of a Tertiary Center in Bologna, Italy, during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the pediatric emergency department (ED) of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy faced a reorganization to better deal with the new clinical needs. We herein describe the main changes in the organization and in the attendances to our pediatric ED. From the 1 March 2020 to the 31 January 2022, 796 children positive for SARS-CoV-2 presented to our pediatric ED, but only 26 required hospitalizations, of which only 9 for COVID-19 related reasons. During this period, we also registered a temporal correlation between multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) admissions and the peaks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Italian population. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remained during last year the viral infection with the highest hospitalization rate. The analysis and description of the changes in the activity of the pediatric ED during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may help to better understand the routinary activity and be prepared for any possible new challenge

The Relationship between Gut Microbiota and Respiratory Tract Infections in Childhood: A Narrative Review

Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are common in childhood and represent one of the main causes of hospitalization in this population. In recent years, many studies have described the association between gut microbiota (GM) composition and RTIs in animal models. In particular, the “inter-talk” between GM and the immune system has recently been unveiled. However, the role of GM in human, and especially infantile, RTIs has not yet been fully established. In this narrative review we provide an up-to-date overview of the physiological pathways that explain how the GM shapes the immune system, potentially influencing the response to common childhood respiratory viral infections and compare studies analysing the relationship between GM composition and RTIs in children. Most studies provide evidence of GM dysbiosis, but it is not yet possible to identify a distinct bacterial signature associated with RTI predisposition. A better understanding of GM involvement in RTIs could lead to innovative integrated GM-based strategies for the prevention and treatment of RTIs in the paediatric population

Initial evaluation of the "Trauma surgery course"

BACKGROUND: The consequence of the low rate of penetrating injuries in Europe and the increase in non-operative management of blunt trauma is a decrease in surgeons' confidence in managing traumatic injuries has led to the need for new didactic tools. The aim of this retrospective study was to present the Corso di Chirurgia del Politrauma (Trauma Surgery Course), developed as a model for teaching operative trauma techniques, and assess its efficacy. METHOD: the two-day course consisted of theoretical lectures and practical experience on large-sized swine. Data of the first 126 participants were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: All of the 126 general surgeons who had participated in the course judged it to be an efficient model to improve knowledge about the surgical treatment of trauma. CONCLUSION: A two-day course, focusing on trauma surgery, with lectures and life-like operation situations, represents a model for simulated training and can be useful to improve surgeons' confidence in managing trauma patients. Cooperation between organizers of similar initiatives would be beneficial and could lead to standardizing and improving such courses

Usefulness of Peptide C during the oral glucose tolerance test to evaluate insulin resistance in pediatric patients

La Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 es un trastorno metabólico, poligénico y multifactorial en el que se dan dos hechos fundamentales: la insulinoresistencia (IR) y la disfunción de la célula ß pancreática. Comofactor pre-coz en la historia natural de la diabetes, hasta 10 años antes de observarse laprimera hiperglucemia en ayunas, se han descripto fallas del pico precoz de insulina pos-tprandiala los 30 minutos de administrada la sobrecar-ga. El péptido C se libera en cantidades equimolecula-res con la insulina, por lo que la medición del mismo es una representación fidedigna de la función de la célula ß pancreática. Los inmunoensayos para la determinación de insulina presentan alta variabilidad, tanto que se ha considerado controvertida su utilidad. El péptido C tiene menor variabilidad metodológica, haciendo más repro-ducible y simple la interpretación de los resultados. Objetivos: evaluar la reproducibilidad de las determi-naciones de insulina y péptido C en dos plataformas comerciales, y establecer la utilidad de la medición de péptido C durante la prueba de tolerancia oral a la glu-cosa (PTOG) como una herramienta sencilla y confiable para la valoración de insulinorresistencia en pacientes pediátricos

An optical/NIR survey of globular clusters in early-type galaxies III. On the colour bimodality of GC systems

The interpretation that bimodal colour distributions of globular clusters (GCs) reflect bimodal metallicity distributions has been challenged. Non-linearities in the colour to metallicity conversions caused by the horizontal branch (HB) stars may be responsible for transforming a unimodal metallicity distribution into a bimodal (optical) colour distribution. We study optical/near-infrared (NIR) colour distributions of the GC systems in 14 E/S0 galaxies. We test whether the bimodal feature, generally present in optical colour distributions, remains in the optical/NIR ones. The latter colour combination is a better metallicity proxy than the former. We use KMM and GMM tests to quantify the probability that different colour distributions are better described by a bimodal, as opposed to a unimodal distribution. We find that double-peaked colour distributions are more commonly seen in optical than in optical/NIR colours. For some of the galaxies where the optical (g-z) distribution is clearly bimodal, the (g-K) and (z-K) distributions are better described by a unimodal distribution. The two most cluster-rich galaxies in our sample, NGC4486 and NGC4649, show some interesting differences. The (g-K) distribution of NGC4649 is better described by a bimodal distribution, while this is true for the (g-K) distribution of NGC4486 GCs only if restricted to a brighter sub-sample with small K-band errors (< 0.05 mag). Formally, the K-band photometric errors cannot be responsible for blurring bimodal metallicity distributions to unimodal (g-K) colour distributions. However, simulations including the extra scatter in the colour-colour diagrams (not fully accounted for in the photometric errors) show that such scatter may contribute to the disappearance of bimodality in (g-K) for the full NGC4486 sample. For the less cluster-rich galaxies results are inconclusive due to poorer statistics. [Abridged]Comment: A&A accepted, 15 pages, 10 figures, 4 table

Kawasaki-like multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children during the covid-19 pandemic in Paris, France: prospective observational study.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics of children and adolescents affected by an outbreak of Kawasaki-like multisystem inflammatory syndrome and to evaluate a potential temporal association with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: General paediatric department of a university hospital in Paris, France. PARTICIPANTS: 21 children and adolescents (aged ≤18 years) with features of Kawasaki disease who were admitted to hospital between 27 April and 11 May 2020 and followed up until discharge by 15 May 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcomes were clinical and biological data, imaging and echocardiographic findings, treatment, and outcomes. Nasopharyngeal swabs were prospectively tested for SARS-CoV-2 using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and blood samples were tested for IgG antibodies to the virus. RESULTS: 21 children and adolescents (median age 7.9 (range 3.7-16.6) years) were admitted with features of Kawasaki disease over a 15 day period, with 12 (57%) of African ancestry. 12 (57%) presented with Kawasaki disease shock syndrome and 16 (76%) with myocarditis. 17 (81%) required intensive care support. All 21 patients had noticeable gastrointestinal symptoms during the early stage of illness and high levels of inflammatory markers. 19 (90%) had evidence of recent SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive RT-PCR result in 8/21, positive IgG antibody detection in 19/21). All 21 patients received intravenous immunoglobulin and 10 (48%) also received corticosteroids. The clinical outcome was favourable in all patients. Moderate coronary artery dilations were detected in 5 (24%) of the patients during hospital stay. By 15 May 2020, after 8 (5-17) days of hospital stay, all patients were discharged home. CONCLUSIONS: The ongoing outbreak of Kawasaki-like multisystem inflammatory syndrome among children and adolescents in the Paris area might be related to SARS-CoV-2. In this study an unusually high proportion of the affected children and adolescents had gastrointestinal symptoms, Kawasaki disease shock syndrome, and were of African ancestry

Tyrosine kinase signalling in breast cancer: Epidermal growth factor receptor and c-Src interactions in breast cancer

Both the non-receptor tyrosine kinase, c-Src, and members of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor family are overexpressed in high percentages of human breast cancers. Because these molecules are plasma membrane-associated and involved in mitogenesis, it has been speculated that they function in concert with one another to promote breast cancer development and progression. Evidence to date supports a model wherein c-Src potentiates the survival, proliferation and tumorigenesis of EGF receptor family members, in part by associating with them. Phosphorylation of the EGF receptor by c-SRC is also critical for mitogenic signaling initiated by the EGF receptor itself, as well as by several G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), a cytokine receptor, and the estrogen receptor. Thus, c-Src appears to have pleiotropic effects on cancer cells by modulating the action of multiple growth-promoting receptors