A comparative study of the effects of aerobic and resisted exercises on selected cardiopulmonary parameters in patients with asthma

Asthma is a multi-factorial disease associated with genetic, allergic, environmental, infectious, emotional, and nutritional issues. Globally, asthma affects about 300 million people and about 250,000 people die from it every year. These deaths are related to lack of proper treatment. Treatment involves controlling trigger factors, drug therapy, and other non-pharmacological methods. Although a few studies have evaluated the effects of exercises on asthma control, there is the need for well-designed outcome studies that will differentiate efficacious exercise management for asthma from those that hold little therapeutic value. This study compared the effects of aerobic and resisted exercises on selected cardiopulmonary parameters in patients with asthma.Forty-five patients with asthma were recruited from the Respiratory Unit, Department of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos and were randomly assigned to 3 different groups. Group A underwent aerobic exercise and counselling sessions; Group B, resisted exercise and counselling sessions; and Group C had counselling sessions only. Groups A and B had exercise intervention that lasted 10-15 minutes, twice weekly for 6 weeks. Cardiopulmonary parameters were assessed at baseline and at the end of 6 weeks.Only Group B showed significant improvements in all the cardiovascular variables (SBP: p=0.01, DBP: p=0.03, HR: p=0.02 and RPP: p=0.01). There were also significant improvements in most of the pulmonary 1 1 variables of Group A (RR: p=0.01, FEV : p=0.01, FVC: p=0.01 and FEV %: p=0.02), however, there was none in Groups B and C. Comparison of the mean changes in selected variables between the two therapeutic exercise 1 groups showed significant differences in SBP (p=0.01), DBP (p=0.04), RPP (p=0.02), RR (p=0.01), FEV 1 (p=0.01), FVC (p=0.05), FEV % (p=0.01) and IC (p=0.05).Aerobic exercise was more effective in improving pulmonary parameters while resisted exercise was more effective in improving cardiovascular parameters in patients with asthma.Keywords: aerobic exercise, asthma, cardiopulmonary, resisted exercis

Handgrip Strength in Individuals with Long- Standing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A preliminary report

Adequate muscle strength is required for optimum productivity and low muscle strength is a predictor of physical limitations. Individuals with long-standing type 2 diabetes mellitus have been found to have an increased risk of developing functional disabilities. Handgrip strength is a reliable measurement of the disability index. This study was designed to determine the effect of type 2 diabetes on handgrip strength in adults. Twenty adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (10 males, mean age: 52.9 ± 9.01 years and 10 females, mean age: 52.6 ± 5.71 years) and 20 apparently healthy adults (10 males, mean age: 53.1 ± 8.94 years and 10 females, mean age 54.5yrs±5.56 years) who met the inclusion criteria participated in the study. Handgrip strength was measured with an isometric hand dynamometer and comparisons were made between diabetic and non-diabetic males as well as between diabetic and non-diabetic females. Thev independent t-test were used to analyse the significance difference in hand grip strength between the diabetic and the non- diabetic subjects (p=0.05). Results showed significant differences in the mean handgrip strength between the male diabetic and nondiabetic subjects (p<0.004), as well as between the female diabetic and non-diabetic subjects (p<0.002). Long-standing type 2 diabetes mellitus seems to result in a decrease in handgrip strength in both male and female adults. This physical limitation may contribute to low productivity in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Injury prevention in football: Knowledge and behaviour of players and availability of medical care in a Nigerian youth football league

Background. Exposure to competitive football is increasing among male youth football players in Nigeria. However, medical support to abate the impact of injuries appears inadequate and there is limited literature to show whether youth football players are knowledgeable about, and practise effective measures for injury prevention in football (IPF).Objective. To assess the knowledge and behaviour of male youth football players regarding IPF and the availability of medical care for players.Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional study among all registered first-division players of a male youth football league in Lagos, Nigeria. Using a self-administered questionnaire, we assessed players’ knowledge regarding IPF, awareness of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) 11+ injury-prevention programme, injury-prevention behaviour and availability of medical attendants during training and competitive matches.Results. The mean age of the players was 18.5 years (standard deviation (SD) ±1.7; range 12 - 19). Their overall mean knowledge score regarding IPF was 4.40 (SD ±1.92) from a total score of 9, with the majority falling into the poor (39.1%) and fair (43.9%) knowledge categories. Most (79.3%) players were not aware of the FIFA 11+ programme. Less than half (40.5%) wore shin guards during training sessions, while 52.5% reported wearing shin guards during matches. Less than two-thirds always warmed up or cooled down at training or matches. About three-quarters (73.1%) and over half (52.1%) reported not having medical attendants working with their teams during matches and training, respectively.Conclusion. There is a clear deficiency in the knowledge and behaviour of injury-prevention measures among Nigerian male youth football players, and adequate medical care is lacking. There is a need for injury-prevention advocacy and implementation of effective interventions to bridge the identified deficiencies in youth football in Nigeria

Unintentional injuries in the rural population of Twiserkan, Iran: A cross-sectional study on their incidence, characteristics and preventability

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Knowledge is sparse concerning injuries affecting rural populations in low and middle-income countries in general and in Iran in particular. This study documents the incidence and characteristics of severe injuries affecting rural people in the Iranian district of Twiserkan and it investigates these people's suggestions for injury prevention and control.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An interview-based investigation was undertaken that comprised all unintentional injuries leading to hospitalization (more than 6 hours) or death that had occurred within a twelve month period and that were identified in the files of the 62 "health houses" of the Twiserkan district. For each case, semi-structured interviews were conducted at the households of the injured people (134 injuries affecting 117 households were identified).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The incidence rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries were respectively 4.1 and 17.2 per 10 000 person-years and, as expected, men were more affected than women (77.6% of all injury cases). Traffic injuries (in particular among motorcyclists) were as common as home-related injuries but they were far more fatal. Among common suggestions for prevention, people mentioned that the authorities could work on the design and engineering of the infrastructure in and around the village, that the rural health workers could contribute more with local information and education and that the people themselves could consider behaving in a safer manner.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Not only domestic injuries but also those in traffic are an important cause of severe and fatal injury among rural people. Health workers may play an important role in injury surveillance and in identifying context-relevant means of prevention that they or other actors may then implement.</p

Perceived Stigma Among Serbian Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Children with Physical Disabilities: Validation of a New Instrument

Limited research has been done to explore parental perception of stigma. The present study developed the Parental Perceptions of Public Attitudes Scale to examine perceived stigma among Serbian parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with physical disabilities (PD). The convenience sample consisted of 82 participants. A confirmatory factor analysis was done to validate the scale and a 9-item solution clustered into two factors proved to be the best model. Overall, the parents reported a low-to-moderate level of perceived stigma. Parents of children with ASD reported higher degree of perceived stigma compared to the parents of children with PD. The scale was useful in measuring parental perceived stigma and could be used in other Eastern European countries