Search

An increasing number of children are now obese and fail to meet minimum recommendations for physical activity (PA). Schools play a critical role in impacting children's activity behaviors, including PA. Our objective was to assess whether CDC-based school-centered strategies to promote PA increase long-term cardiovascular fitness (CVF) levels in students in schools. A prospective observational trial was conducted in 26 middle schools to implement CDC school-based strategies to increase PA for 3 years. Students had CVF assessed by Fitnessgram (PACER), a 20-meter shuttle run, at the start and end of each school year. A post-study questionnaire was administered to assess each school's strategy adherence. At baseline, 2402 students with a mean age 12.2 ± 1.1 years showed a mean CVF measured by PACER of 33.2 ± 19.0 laps (estimated VO 2 max 44.3 ± 5.3 ml/kg/min). During the first year, there was a significant increase in the mean PACER score (Δ = 3, 95% CI: 2-4.1 laps, p  < 0.001) and PACER z-score (Δ = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.04-0.14, p  = 0.001). Subsequently, however, a significant negative trend in PACER z-scores occurred (β = -0.02, p  < 0.0001) so that over the 3-year study period, the intervention did not increase overall CVF. This effort to implement CDC school-based PA strategies in middle schools did not result in sustained increase in CVF over 3 years. It remains to be clarified whether this limited efficacy indicates that CDC physical activity strategies are not sufficiently robust to meaningfully impact health outcomes and/or additional support is needed in schools to improve fidelity of implementation.

Background/aims: Autoimmune hypophysitis (AH) is a rare inflammatory disease of the pituitary gland causing varying degrees of hypopituitarism and/or sellar compression. Cranial MRI remains the best noninvasive tool to diagnose AH, although a diagnosis of certainty requires pituitary biopsy. The objective of this study was to assess the utility of detecting pituitary antibodies for the diagnosis of AH., Methods: A 15-year-old female with Turner syndrome (TS), hypothyroidism, and ovarian failure presented acutely with hypocortisolism. Laboratory studies revealed secondary adrenal insufficiency. MRI showed a hypotrophic pituitary gland and loss of the posterior pituitary bright spot. To establish an autoimmune basis for the adrenal insufficiency, serum was analyzed by double indirect immunofluorescence for the presence of pituitary autoantibodies., Results: The patient's serum contained autoantibodies that recognized 36% of the adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting cells, suggesting that these adenohypophyseal cells were targeted by autoimmunity. The serum contained antibodies that identified the majority of the gonadotropin-secreting cells (FSH 77%, LH 65%). No recognition of GH-, prolactin-, and TSH-secreting cells was found. Preabsorption experiments showed that antigenic targets of autoantibodies were not anterior pituitary hormones themselves., Conclusion: Demonstration of circulating pituitary antibodies expands the diagnostic options for AH. In this adolescent with TS, positive and cell-specific pituitary antibodies suggested that AH was the cause of her secondary adrenal insufficiency., (© 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Background: Somatotype is a quantified expression of the morphological conformation of a person in terms of three-numeral rating each representing one component; fat (endomorphy), muscle mass (mesomorphy) and bone length (ectomorphy) in the same order. Certain somatotypes are more prone to develop the particular disease. Obesity and overweight are already epidemic among Indian adolescents and are increasing at an alarming rate, and obesity is linked to cardiovascular (CV) risk in this age group. Identifying the heart rate variability (HRV) is an established non-invasive test to identify the CV risk. The objective of this study is to record the HRV data for each somatotype category and to compare the HRV data among these somatotype categories in adolescents. Methods: The volunteer adolescents in the age group of 12–17 years were classified into a different somatotyping categories based on the Heath Carter somatotyping method. The short-term HRV was recorded in all the subjects using wireless BioHarness 3.0. Results: Based on the time domain and frequency domain parameters, the parasympathetic activity showed decreasing order as follows: central>ectomorphy>mesomorphy>endomorphy, whereas sympathetic activity showed increasing order as follows: central

Background Somatotype is a quantified expression of the morphological conformation of a person in terms of three-numeral rating each representing one component; fat (endomorphy), muscle mass (mesomorphy) and bone length (ectomorphy) in the same order. Certain somatotypes are more prone to develop the particular disease. Obesity and overweight are already epidemic among Indian adolescents and are increasing at an alarming rate, and obesity is linked to cardiovascular (CV) risk in this age group. Identifying the heart rate variability (HRV) is an established non-invasive test to identify the CV risk. The objective of this study is to record the HRV data for each somatotype category and to compare the HRV data among these somatotype categories in adolescents. Methods The volunteer adolescents in the age group of 12-17 years were classified into a different somatotyping categories based on the Heath Carter somatotyping method. The short-term HRV was recorded in all the subjects using wireless BioHarness 3.0. Results Based on the time domain and frequency domain parameters, the parasympathetic activity showed decreasing order as follows: central>ectomorphy>mesomorphy>endomorphy, whereas sympathetic activity showed increasing order as follows: central