Ocean Surfing as a Novel Physiotherapy Environment: A Commentary

Aquatic exercise for both fitness and rehabilitation are presently being offered to individuals of various special populations [1]. Pool programs offer physical activity and educational programming that can be particularly helpful for children with disabilities. The physiologic, psychologic, and social benefits of aquatic exercise are often found to be more pronounced in these children [2]

Development of a Wet Suit for Children with Down’s Syndrome

Individuals with Down syndrome have body types that make it difficult to fit for a standard wet suit. In general, their body composition includes an increase in central body adiposity and an endomorphic somatotypic body type in which the trunk is large while the limbs are shorter. Because of these physical characteristics, the participation by individuals with Down syndrome in aquatics exercise programs in which wet suits are needed can be very limiting. We observed that it was challenging to get these aquatic exercise participants into and out of the wet suits that had a standard wet suit design. This article describes a modified wet suit that is more accommodating for individuals with Down syndrome and allows them to wear the suit with less assistance. Although designed with the Down syndrome individual in mind, this modification may be useful for others with movement restrictions or who have an increase in central body fat

The Ocean as a Unique Therapeutic Environment: Developing a Surfing Program

Educational aquatic programming offers necessary physical activity opportunities to children with disabilities and the benefits of aquatic activities are more pronounced for children with disabilities than for their able-bodied peers. Similar benefits could potentially be derived from surfing in the ocean. This article describes an adapted surfing program that was designed to develop and enhance the children\u27s strength, flexibility, range of motion, coordination, balance, and psychosocial development. Throughout the program, the children and their surf instructors were encouraged to set realistic individual goals. Many positive outcomes were derived from the project, including gains in social development and self-confidence

Benefits of Surfing for Children with Disabilities: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an eight-week surfing intervention for 16 children with disabilities. The assessment procedure consisted of pre and post physical fitness measures to determine the benefits of this intervention. Our results showed an overall improvement in upper body strength (right: P = 0.024, left: P = 0.022), core strength (P = 0.002) and cardiorespiratory endurance (P = 0.013). This research is the first of its kind, illustrating the feasibility and effectiveness of a surfing intervention on improving the physical fitness of children with disabilities

Effectiveness of Surf Therapy for Children with Disabilities

Background: Few researchers have examined the effects of surf programs on children with disabilities. Due to previous research findings, surfing is being used, as the focus of physical activity intervention due to its numerous health and therapeutic benefits. Objective/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of an eight-week surfing intervention on various physical fitness measures in 71 children with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, down syndrome, global developmental delays, and cerebral palsy. The study also sought to compare the differences in overall fitness levels between the surf therapy group and an unstructured pool playgroup. Researchers predicted significant differences in the surf therapy group. Methods: The assessment procedure consisted of pre and post physical fitness measures selected from the Brockport Physical Fitness Test in two groups: surfing (n=71) and an unstructured aquatic program (n=20). Results: The results demonstrated significant improvements in core strength (p = 0.00), upper body strength (p = 0.00), flexibility (p = 0.01) and cardiorespiratory endurance (p = 0.00) in the surfing group. However, there were no significant differences in overall fitness levels between the surfing and unstructured pool playgroups. Body composition measurements on the surfing group demonstrated a significant reduction in total body fat % (p = 0.016) and fat free mass (p = 0.008) and a significant improvement in bone mineral density (p = 0.004) pre to post surf therapy. Conclusions: This research demonstrated the effectiveness and physiological benefits of surf therapy for children with selected disabilities

Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria: Context, Mechanisms of Action, and Roadmap to Commercialization of Biostimulants for Sustainable Agriculture

Microbes of the phytomicrobiome are associated with every plant tissue and, in combination with the plant form the holobiont. Plants regulate the composition and activity of their associated bacterial community carefully. These microbes provide a wide range of services and benefits to the plant; in return, the plant provides the microbial community with reduced carbon and other metabolites. Soils are generally a moist environment, rich in reduced carbon which supports extensive soil microbial communities. The rhizomicrobiome is of great importance to agriculture owing to the rich diversity of root exudates and plant cell debris that attract diverse and unique patterns of microbial colonization. Microbes of the rhizomicrobiome play key roles in nutrient acquisition and assimilation, improved soil texture, secreting, and modulating extracellular molecules such as hormones, secondary metabolites, antibiotics, and various signal compounds, all leading to enhancement of plant growth. The microbes and compounds they secrete constitute valuable biostimulants and play pivotal roles in modulating plant stress responses. Research has demonstrated that inoculating plants with plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) or treating plants with microbe-to-plant signal compounds can be an effective strategy to stimulate crop growth. Furthermore, these strategies can improve crop tolerance for the abiotic stresses (e.g., drought, heat, and salinity) likely to become more frequent as climate change conditions continue to develop. This discovery has resulted in multifunctional PGPR-based formulations for commercial agriculture, to minimize the use of synthetic fertilizers and agrochemicals. This review is an update about the role of PGPR in agriculture, from their collection to commercialization as low-cost commercial agricultural inputs. First, we introduce the concept and role of the phytomicrobiome and the agricultural context underlying food security in the 21st century. Next, mechanisms of plant growth promotion by PGPR are discussed, including signal exchange between plant roots and PGPR and how these relationships modulate plant abiotic stress responses via induced systemic resistance. On the application side, strategies are discussed to improve rhizosphere colonization by PGPR inoculants. The final sections of the paper describe the applications of PGPR in 21st century agriculture and the roadmap to commercialization of a PGPR-based technology

Phenotypic and genotypic diversity of selected Free Range Local Chickens in Tanzania

Free range local chickens are an important source of protein as meat and eggs in Tanzania. Few studies have been done to improve their productivity. To this end, this paper focuses on characterizing three common Tanzanian local chicken ecotypes. Morphologic and genetic diversity studies show that the Kuchi have relatively higher body dimension measures than Ching’wekwe and Morogoro medium and that the Ching’wekwe ecotype is genetically more related to Morogoro medium than to the Kuchi ecotype. These differences indicate variation in traits that call for further research and opportunities to improve productivity of free range local chickens

Working memory and phonological awareness as predictors of progress towards early learning goals at school entry

This study investigates whether working memory skills of children are related to teacher ratings of their progress towards learning goals at the time of school entry, at 4 or 5 years of age. A sample of 194 children was tested on measures of working memory, phonological awareness, and non-verbal ability, in addition to the school-based baseline assessments in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, speaking and listening, and personal and social development. Various aspects of cognitive functioning formed unique associations with baseline assessments; for example complex memory span with rated writing skills, phonological short-term memory with both reading and speaking and listening skills, and sentence repetition scores with both mathematics and personal and social skills. Rated reading skills were also uniquely associated with phonological awareness scores. The findings indicate that the capacity to store and processmaterial over short periods of time, referred to asworkingmemory, and alsothe awareness of phonological structure,may play a crucial role in key learning areas for children at the beginning of formal education