Influence of the built environment on physical activity and its relationship with childhood obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis / Influência do ambiente construído na atividade física e sua relação com a obesidade infantil: Revisão sistemática com meta-análise

Background: Childhood obesity is understood as a health problem of concern due to the changes it can cause in the development process. Being the physical activity and the built environment important influencers in this process. The authors aimed to analyze studies of the last ten years, checking the relationship between the level of physical activity, the built environment and obesity. Methods: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis, conducted through PubMed, B-on and Web of Science, using the terms (obesity child* AND physi* activit*) AND (obesity child* OR overweight you*) AND (built environment). To evaluate the quality of the studies, the PRISMA tool and the STROBE index were used. Five studies were selected and their data were analyzed by the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V.3. Results: It can be stated that there is an inverse relationship between the evaluated aspects (obesity, built environment and physical activity), presenting a negative correlation of 0.026 with p = 0.0001. The results of the Z test = -4.050, where the ease and availability of physical activity places are related to childhood obesity levels. Conclusions: Childhood obesity may be inversely related to the built environment, due to the ease and availability of places for physical activity

Comparative Study of the Efficacy of L-Tryptophan Nanoparticles on Motor and Cognitive Behavior in an Alzheimer's Experimental Model

Alzheimer's disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder, with cognitive as well as behavioral manifestations. Also related to this pathology, is the decreased production and activation of some neurotransmitters, such as Serotonin, which is derived from the Tryptophan. Different methods to improve the effect and performance of some drugs have been studied including the Nanoparticles. The objective was to analyze the efficacy of L-tryptophan and L-tryptophan Nanoparticles in the acute response of motor and cognitive behavior in an Alzheimer's experimental model. Methods: 15 Wistar rats, divided into 3 groups (n = 5): GC (Alzheimer's control group), GLt (L-tryptophan), and GN (Nanoparticles). They were treated for six consecutive days. Anxiety tests, spatial memory tests, aversive memory tests, and motor behavior tests were all performed during this study. In the analysis of anxiety, improvement was observed in both treatments, being that GN presented improvement in two variables: freezing (79±18.8; 74.6±14.2) and TBF (287.8±1.08; 268±40.8). GLt only presented improvement in freezing (103.8±44.4). In the spatial memory analysis, there were no significant differences in aversive memory and motor behavior during the treatments. During the Size Effect analysis treatments, it is possible to observe some differences both in anxiety and motor behavior, precisely where NG presented better results than GLt. Even in a short period of time, the nanoparticles demonstrated great benefits as a treatment method. Conclusion: the use of nanoparticles is an effective treatment against changes in motor and cognitive behavior caused by Alzheimer´s, as it lowers anxiety and improves motor behavior

Objectively Measured Sedentary Behavior and Physical Fitness in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Sedentary behavior has been considered an independent risk factor to health. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine associations between objectively measured sedentary time and physical fitness components in healthy adults. Methods: Four electronic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed and Sport Discus) were searched (up to 20 September 2020) to retrieve studies on healthy adults which used observational, cohort and cross-sectional designs. Studies were included if sedentary time was measured objectively and examined associations with the health- or skill-related attributes of physical fitness (e.g., muscular strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, balance). After applying additional search criteria, 21 papers (11,101 participants) were selected from an initial pool of 5192 identified papers. Results: Significant negative associations were found between total sedentary time with cardiorespiratory fitness (r = -0.164, 95%CI: -0.240, -0.086, p < 0.001), muscular strength (r = -0.147, 95%CI: -0.266, -0.024, p = 0.020) and balance (r = -0.133, 95%CI: -0.255, -0.006, p = 0.040). Conclusions: The evidence found suggests that sedentary time can be associated with poor physical fitness in adults (i.e., muscular strength, cardiorespiratory fitness and balance), so strategies should be created to encourage behavioral changes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio