Recent Aspects of Neuroendocrine Mechanisms of Puberty

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Association between endocrine disruptor contamination and thyroid hormone homeostasis in Belgian type 1 diabetic children.

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Neonatal hyperthyroidism: clinical pattern and therapy

Neonatal hyperthyroidism is a rare pathology, most often the consequence of Graves' disease in the mother. Around 0.2% of pregnant women have Graves disease and 1 to 2% of newborns of mother with Graves' disease. This article will describe the case of 4 newborns who have been diagnosed and treated in CHU-NDB between 2007 and 2011. The second part will focus on the new recommendations about the management of these young patients from foetal period to birth.Peer reviewe

What is proposed to overweight and obese youth in a sample of fitness centres?

Purpose. Overweight and obesity take a growing place in the public health preoccupations as the proportion of people over the normal BMI limit increases dramatically year after year. This evolution could have devastating consequences on the economy for years and possibly generations to come. Youth physical activity is pointed out as a priority. Fitness centres are possible partners of health services. This study aimed to know if overweight/obese youth could be welcomed into a sample of fitness centres. Methods. A sample of 13 fitness centres of the Liege area was visited. Fourteen interviews with the managers have been conducted. Specific questions were asked about what is proposed to overweight and obese people and specifically to youth group. Content analysis has been done from verbatim transcripts. Results. Most of the subjects consider that overweight/obese youth could encounter some difficulties to adhere to a fitness centre. Unfounded embarrassment about the look of others is underlined by 7 out of the managers. The real intrinsic motivation of the youth would be a key factor as well as real difficulties to use the equipment. Few fitness centres currently propose specific activities but 7 would be ready to collaborate with a medical unit in order to propose specific activities. Two decided to stop such initiatives according to the cost and lack of perseverance of the youth. Conclusions. This study showed that fitness centres managers would be interested to implement initiatives to offer specific services to overweight/obese youth but it would require collaboration with health services

Constraints experienced by physical education teachers with overweight and obese students

Despite ‘antifat’ attitude of some PE teachers (Greenleaf & Weiller, 2005) and the PE public relations problem in regard to how obese students are treated (Irwin et al., 2003), it seems evident that this school subject represents a key element in the involvement of the education sector in the fight against the worldwide escalating global epidemic of obesity (Tappe & Burgeson, 2004). In fact, PE teachers consider that they lack of specific knowledge to implement instructional strategies dealing with overweight and obese students (Cloes & Ziant, 2009). Some authors proposed models to illustrate constraints that PE teachers encounter in their classes with obese students and their potential solutions (Cloes et al., 2013; Rukavina et al., 2010). On the other hand, data are missing when identifying those that are considered as their main concerns and the ways that they would prefer to receive some support regarding this specific topic. This study is focused on these two aspects. Five hundred thirteen PE teachers fulfilled an online questionnaire (Lickert scales) in which they had to determine (1) the perceived importance of 20 problems proposed by PE teachers and validated by 8 experts; (2) their relative interest toward the reception of support aiming to deal with those problems; (3) their preference for receiving information about the potential instructional strategies. Based on the answers, the top 3 problems are: (1) Students’ lack of awareness about the risks of overweight and obesity; (2) Constraints associated with the motor/physical disabling; (3) Parents’ lack of awareness about physical activity impact on health. Internet (3.49±.6/4), continuing professional development activities (3.29±.8/4), and educational info capsules (3.07±.8/4) were identified as the main resources that PE teachers would use preferentially. This study provides useful information for PE teachers’ educators who should develop now material to be shared with the practitioners

Les mécanismes du déclenchement pubertaire : signaux périphériques, hypothalamiques et environnementaux

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