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Body perception is an individual's ability to recognize their body in attitudinal and/or dimensional aspects. We investigated women's body perceptions before and after bariatric surgery. Participants were 31 women (M age = 36.23, SD = 7.95 years old) with an average pre-operative body mass index of 44.58 (SD = 4.65) kg/m2. We collected anthropometric and body perception measures (attitudinal body image [ABI] and dimensional body image [DBI]) before bariatric surgery and 30, 60, 90, and 120 days after it. There was an average decrease of 21.09% in participants' body weight over the 120 days. Regarding ABI, 51.61% of participants had high body dissatisfaction before surgery, and this proportion of dissatisfied participants decreased to 3.23% 120 days after surgery. We observed no statistically significant differences in DBI perceptions. Fast weight loss caused by bariatric surgery appeared to generate a perception of ghost fat. Somatosensory interventions and/or a longer follow-up are needed to alter this persistent distortion of body dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the factors associated with functional capacity in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). All patients were submitted to six-minute walk test (6MWT), 10-repetition sit-to-stand test (STS-10) and SF-36 health-related quality of life questionnaire (HRQoL). Patients with functional capacity ≥80% exhibited higher education level, family income, body mass index, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and lower age and STS-10 time. Multiple linear regression showed that gender, age, family income, chronic kidney disease stage, STS-10 time, and physical component summary of HRQoL were significantly associated with the 6MWT distance. Functional capacity was significantly associated with gender, age, family income, CKD stage, STS-10 time, and physical component of HRQoL. The progression of CKD has an impact on the decrease in functional capacity in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People who are obese sustain very high foot pressures when standing, with potential consequences to their feet soles' cutaneous sensibility. In the current investigation, we performed a detailed assessment of foot sole sensibility in women with morbid obesity (n = 13; age = 38.85, SD = 8.09 years) status in comparison with leaner women (n = 13; age = 37.62, SD = 7.10 years). We estimated tactile feet sole sensibility through graduated monofilament light touch applied at several hotspots of both feet soles, covering the toes, metatarsal heads, midfoot internal and lateral arches, and heel. Intergroup comparisons per foot sole region indicated significantly lower sensibility for the group with morbid obesity under the fifth and third metatarsal heads, midfoot lateral and internal arches and heel. We found a large variation across the sole regions, with the lowest difference between the obese and lean groups observed under the hallux (18%) and the largest difference observed under the lateral arch of the midfoot (76%). Correlation analyses between body weight and sensibility scores revealed a significant positive correlation among participants who were leaner (r s = 0.56, p = 0.05) but not among participants who were obese (r s = –0.06, p = 0.83). Mainly, our results showed that morbid obesity was associated with significantly higher cutaneous sensibility thresholds, with large variability of the sensibility deficit across different regions of both feet soles. Due to its functional relevance for body balance control, reduced sensibility thresholds among women who are morbidly obese may have implications for stance stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 139 family caregivers in two community health center areas in the city of Belo Horizonte, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship between level of care dependency and quality of life (QOL) of family caregivers. A socio-demographic questionnaire, the Barthel Index for assessing patients' care dependency level, and the World Health Organization's Quality of Life–BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) for evaluating family caregivers' QOL were used. Patients' care dependency level was not significantly associated with family caregivers' QOL. However, the QOL decreased when family caregivers had chronic disease and were dependent on public health care services, and increased when they received caregiver education and practiced a leisure activity. These factors are modifiable or controllable; therefore, family health nurses have an important role in formulating strategies to support family caregivers, especially those related to health education aimed at health care, health promotion, control, and prevention of diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored how children’s prephonological writing foretells differential learning outcomes in primary school. The authors asked Portuguese-speaking preschool children in Brazil (mean age 4 year 3 months) to spell 12 words. Monte Carlo tests were used to identify the 31 children whose writing was not based on spellings or sounds of the target words. Two and a half years later, the children took a standardized spelling test. The more closely the digram (two-letter sequence) frequencies in the preschool task correlated with those in children’s books, the better scores the children had in primary school, and the more preschoolers used letters from their own name, the lower their subsequent scores. Thus, preschoolers whose prephonological writing revealed attentiveness to the statistical properties of text subsequently performed better in conventional spelling. These analytic techniques may help in the early identification of children at risk for spelling difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Over the long term, acute patellar dislocations can result in patellar instability, with high recurrence rates after nonoperative treatment.Purpose: To compare the results of operative (reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament [MPFL]) versus nonoperative treatment of primary patellar dislocation.Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1.Methods: Thirty-nine patients (41 knees) (mean age, 24.2 years; range, 12-38 years) with acute patellar dislocation were randomized into 2 groups. One group was treated nonoperatively with immobilization and physiotherapy, the other was treated surgically with MPFL reconstruction; both groups were evaluated with minimum follow-up of 2 years. The Kujala questionnaire was applied to assess pain and quality of life, and recurrence was evaluated. Pearson χ2 or Fisher exact test was used in the statistical evaluation.Results: The statistical analysis showed that the mean Kujala score was significantly lower in the nonoperative group (70.8), when compared with the mean value of the surgical group (88.9; P = .001). The surgical group presented a higher percentage of “good/excellent” results (71.43%) on the Kujala score when compared with the nonoperative group (25.0%; P = .003). The nonoperative group presented a large number of recurrences and subluxations (7 patients; 35% of cases), whereas there were no reports of recurrences or subluxations in the surgical group.Conclusion: Treatment with MPFL reconstruction using the patellar tendon produced better results, based on the analyses of posttreatment recurrences and the better final results of the Kujala questionnaire after a minimum follow-up period of 2 years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]