School self-efficacy is affected by gender and motor skills: findings from an Italian study

Background: Perceived school self-efficacy (SE) is an important variable in students' activities as it affects their motivation and learning. Further, self-efficacy might represent a good predictor of performance, persistence and perseverance. Motor skills and other physical health determinants are extensively debated and linked to cognitive function in children of developmental age. However, inconclusive evidence supports a definitive relationship between perceived school SE and motor skills among schoolchildren. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 6-11-year-old schoolchildren to evaluate the extent by which perceived school SE and physical health determinants were related. Methods: A SE questionnaire and motor performance battery tests were administered to primary school pupils recruited from 154 sampled schools of northwest Italy. Perceived SE at school was assessed via 12 items from the Caprara's questionnaire. Motor performance scores were obtained from motor skill tests: 4 7 10 m shuttle run test, SRT; standing broad jump, SBJ; six-minute walking test, 6MWT. Results: A total of 3,962 children (M = 2,019; F = 1943) were studied and 68% were normal weight. Overall, a 58% of the sample perceived a high SE, while, as to gender differences, a greater percentage of females perceived high levels of school SE with respect to any other level (\u3c72 = 38.93, p < 0.0001). Results from multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that: (i) females perceived higher SE compared to males; (ii) children who performed better in SRT and 6MWT showed higher levels of perceived school SE; (iii) no significant effect was registered for the body weight. Alternative strategies are encouraged to enhance SE through physical education: structured interventions might enhance both complex motor skills and high-order cognitive skills, like SE, in young children

Cardiorespiratory fitness assessment using the PREFIT test in Italian children : a preliminary dataset

BACKGROUND: The cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is one of the most important indicators of the health-related physical fitness components because it reflects the efficiency of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. To indirectly assess CRF, the original protocol of the 20mSRT was adapted in a new version suitable for children called 20mSRT-PREFIT, providing performances comparable to the standards of the European area. In fact, CRF normative values are missing in the Italian context and therefore they would be meaningful to be assessed. We aimed to de- termine CRF from 20mSRT-PREFIT in a small sample of Italian pre-school children and to compare the outcomes with the available European references. METHODS: A convenience sample of 5-year-old pre-school children (N.=32, M/F ratio: 19/13) was freely recruited from a kindergarten of the northwest Italy. Children performed the 20mSRT-PREFIT and the number of full shuttles, exhaustion time, and maximum speed were collected to obtain crf. reSulTS: predicted Vo2max was similar between Italian male and female groups. All other outcomes originating from the 20mSRT-PREFIT were consistent with those included in the available european databases. CONCLUSIONS: According to these preliminary indications, Italian pre-school children may have a CRF level equivalent to that one as- certained in other European countries. Thus, current rakings should be cautiously scrutinized, as they might inappropriately underrate Italian children\u2019s performances

Predictors of six minute walking test among children of Italian primary school: a cross sectional study

Purpose: The 6-minute walking test (6MWT) is a simple assessment tool to evaluate exercise capacity. Existing six-minute walking distance (6MWD) prediction equations were developed using healthy children [1]. Our aim was to evaluate the predictors of 6MWD in healthy Italian children. Methods: In our cross-sectional study, we performed 6MWT in 5614 children aged 6\u201311 years between November 2016 and May 2017. We used Student t test for independent data or Mann\u2013Whitney test to compare the quantitative variables between age groups and gender. We assessed a multiple linear regression model to estimate a prediction equation for the 6MWD. Performance and goodness of fit of the models were assessed using the root-mean-square error and R-squared measures. A p-value\0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean distance walked for all participants was 595.5 \ub1 80.9 m (range 360\u2013800 m). We observed significant differences about gender and age: males walked longer distances than females (598.8 \ub1 83.9 m vs 592.1 \ub1 77.6 m; p = 0.0016), while in younger children (6\u20138 years) correlations between 6MWD and demographic/anthropometric data were significantly higher compared with older children (9\u201311 years; p\0.0001). The regression model showed that age, gender and height were positively related to 6MWD, while weight was negatively related (6MWD = 107.91 ? 25.02 9 age (years) ? 7.52 9 gender (M) ? 2.62 9 height (m) - 2.25 9 weight (kg). Conclusions: Our study confirmed that demographic and anthropometric characteristics can influence the test performance in healthy subjects. In our model, age, gender, height and weight significantly add information and should be taken into account in this particular growth phase. The 6MWT is feasible in education\u2019s environment: school could be a main setting to implement primary prevention by using motor assessment

Patient perception of musculoskeletal MR : A survey research

Background: When undergoing magnetic resonance (MR) exams, patients need to lie still in a noisy and enclosed environment for a long time. This condition, together with the anxiety burden related to the possible implications of the scan results, can entail a diagnostic outcome of poor quality. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the personal perception and experience of adult patients undergoing unenhanced musculoskeletal MR. Method: Consecutive outpatients undergoing unenhanced MR of spine, knee or shoulder were asked to respond a 10-item questionnaire at the end of the exam. Results: 263 patients (54% males, mean age 50.6 \ub115.8 years, range 18-83 years) completed the questionnaire. Patients declared that the most disturbing elements of the exam were forced immobility and noise (30% in both cases). Females perceived significantly higher degree of anxiety than males (56% vs 21%, p<0.001). Exam duration was correctly perceived by 83% of the population. Patients' satisfaction was generally high (mean above 9 over 10). Conclusion: Explanations and clarifications given before the exam were considered satisfactory by the patients. Despite some negative aspects such as noise, immobility and anxiety especially in females, patients' satisfaction with our service was high, as well as the willingness to return

Routine Adoption of Urinary [IGFBP7]∙[TIMP-2] to Assess Acute Kidney Injury at Any Stage 12 hours After Intensive Care Unit Admission: a Prospective Cohort Study

The urinary tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 ([TIMP-2]∙[IGFBP7]) have been introduced to improve risk prediction of severe acute kidney injury (AKI) within 12 hours of measurement. We performed a prospective cohort study to evaluate if the predictive value of [TIMP-2]∙[IGFBP7] for AKI might continue after 12 hours. We enrolled 442 critically ill adult patients from June to December 2016. Urine samples were collected at admission for [TIMP-2]∙[IGFBP7] measurement. Baseline patient characteristics were recorded including patients' demographics, prior health history, and the main reason for admission to build a logistic regression model to predict AKI. AKI occurrence differed between patients with [TIMP-2]∙[IGFBP7] ≤0.3 and >0.3 (ng/ml)2/1000 (31.9% and 68.10% respectively; p < 0.001). Patients with AKI had higher biomarker values compared to those without AKI (0.66 (0.21-2.84) vs 0.22 (0.08-0.63) (ng/ml)2/1000; p < 0.001). [TIMP-2]∙[IGFBP7] at ICU admission had a lower performance in predicting AKI at any stage within 48 hours and 7 days after measurement (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) equal to 0.70 (95%CI 0.65-0.76), AUC 0.68 (95%CI 0.63-0.73)). In the logistic regression model, 0.1 (ng/ml)2/1000-unit increment was likely to increase the risk of AKI by 2% (p = 0.002)