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Health and exercise technology may promote a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to understand and involve the perspective of pregnant women as users in the design of a framework for future e-health and exercise interventions during pregnancy. Pregnant women replied to a questionnaire aimed at understanding their physical activity patterns, needs, and preferences regarding the use of mobile applications (apps). The main results showed that one-third of the women did not practice any type of exercise during pregnancy. Women preferred to exercise in a gym, outdoors, or at home. The majority already had or were currently using a fitness app, but never used any pregnancy-specific app. Most women agreed that it was important to have a specific app for pregnancy to improve knowledge about recommendations on lifestyle, have direct contact with health and exercise professionals, have social interaction with other mothers, and have guidance on preparation for childbirth and postpartum recovery. Understanding and involving the perspective of pregnant women as users will allow researchers to improve the design of a pregnancy-specific app and future e-health and exercise interventions during pregnancy. These preliminary results will lead to the development of the "active pregnancy app" focused on the promotion of an active and healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and postpartum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous lung condition, the main symptoms of which are dyspnoea and fatigue. Though exercise has been recommended for subjects with COPD, its benefits remain unclear. The aim of this study was to summarise, through a systematic review and meta-analysis, the available evidence on the effects of aerobic, resistance, stretching, and combined exercise on the main symptoms of COPD. Methods: Search was performed using the electronic databases PubMed and Web of Science. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with interventions based on aerobic, resistance and/or combined exercise published until July 2022 were identified. The effects were summarised based on standardised mean differences (95% confidence intervals) using random and fixed effect models. Results: Eight studies were selected, including a total of 375 subjects. The results obtained showed that resistance exercise, aerobic exercise and combined exercise seem to improve dyspnoea and fatigue symptoms in COPD subjects. Conclusions: In general, we can conclude that exercise-based interventions appear to improve the main COPD symptoms and may benefit quality of life in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central accumulation and distribution of body fat (BF) is an important cardiometabolic risk factor. Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), commonly elevated in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients, has been endorsed as a risk related marker of central BF content and distribution, but no standardized waist circumference measurement protocol (WCmp) has been proposed. We aimed to investigate whether using different WCmp affects the strength of association between WHR and BF content and distribution in NAFLD patients. BF was assessed with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in 28 NAFLD patients (19 males, 51 ± 13 years, and 9 females, 47 ±13 years). Waist circumference (WC) was measured using four different WCmp (WC1: minimal waist; WC2: iliac crest; WC3: mid-distance between iliac crest and lowest rib; WC4: at the umbilicus) and WHR was calculated accordingly (WHR1, WHR2, WHR3 and WHR4, respectively). High WHR was found in up to 84.6% of subjects, depending on the WHR considered. With the exception of WHR1, all WHR correlated well with abdominal BF (r = .47 for WHR1; r = .59 for WHR2 and WHR3; r = .58 for WHR4) and BF distribution (r = .45 for WHR1; r = .56 for WHR2 and WHR3; r = .51 for WHR4), controlling for age, sex and body mass index (BMI). WHR2 and WHR3 diagnosed exactly the same prevalence of high WHR (76.9%). The present study confirms the strong relation between WHR and central BF, regardless of WCmp used, in NAFLD patients. WHR2 and WHR3 seemed preferable for use in clinical practice, interchangeably, for the diagnosis of high WHR in NAFLD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Applied Physiology, Nutrition & Metabolism is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)