Postural disorders in mouth breathing children: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Mouth breathing syndrome can cause sleep disturbances that compromise the performance of children in school. It might also cause postural abnormalities involving the head and cervical spine; however, the association between postural abnormalities and mouth breathing in children is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To assess the methodological quality of studies and determine if there is an association between mouth breathing and postural disorders in children. METHODS: Databases comprised MEDLINE, CINAHL, PEDro, LILACS, EMBASE and Cochrane Central Registrar of Controlled Trials. Searches were until March 2016 and included studies that evaluated postural disorders in children diagnosed with mouth breathing. The Downs and Black checklist was used to evaluate the quality of the evidences. RESULTS: Ten studies were included totaling 417 children from 5 to 14 years. Two studies used the New York State Postural Rating Scale, seven used photography and one used motion capture to measure posture. The methods used to analyze the data included the Postural Analysis Software (SAPO), Fisiometer, ALCimagem and routines in MATLAB program. Quality assessment resulted in low scores (<14) for all the studies. The main areas of weakness were a clear description of the participants, of the methods used to access posture, of the principal confounders and lack of power analysis. External and internal validity were also threatened by the lack of a representative sample and blinding of the participants and assessors, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The review provides low evidence that mouth-breathing pattern in children between the ages 5-14 years is associated with postural deviations.

Paraquat (PQ)-induced pulmonary fibrosis increases exercise metabolic cost, reducing aerobic performance in rats.

Rats exposed to the quaternary herbicide paraquat (PQ) exhibit oxidative stress and lung injury. In the present study, we investigated the effect of multiple exposures to PQ on aerobic performance during progressive exercise on a treadmill in rats. PQ was dissolved in saline (SAL) (10 mg/ml) and administered intraperitoneally 7 mg/kg body wt to Wistar rats (n = 5) once a week for one month. Control rats received SAL (0.7 ml/kg body wt., intraperitoneally, n = 5) over the same time period. The animals were submitted to aerobic evaluation on a treadmill using a progressive protocol until fatigue prior to the administration of the first dose of PQ or SAL and repeated at 1 week and 40 days following the last dose of the herbicide. Twenty-four hours after the last performance tests, the animals were sacrificed, lungs removed and divided in two groups: PQ and SAL for histopathological analysis. The animals exposed to PQ exhibited decrease in aerobic performance and mechanical efficiency (ME) as well as increase in oxygen consumption during exercise in comparison to the controls forty days after the last dose of PQ. Lung histologic changes included atelectasis, interstitial edema, and inflammation cells in PQ group. The collagen system fibers, fraction area of alveolar collapse and influx of polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells in lung parenchyma were higher in PQ compared to SAL. In conclusion, multiple exposures to PQ induce pulmonary fibrosis, reduce the aerobic performance and mechanical efficiency and increase the metabolic cost of exercise in rats.

Efeitos do aquecimento por ultra-som e atividade física aeróbica na flexibilidade do tríceps sural humano: um estudo comparativo / Effects of heating by ultrasound and aerobic activity on flexibility of the human tricpes surae: a compartive study

O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar o efeito do aquecimento do múculo tríceps sural humano in vivo sob a influência do ultra-som e da atividade física no cicloergômetro. Setenta e nove estudantes foram divididos aleatoriamente em tres grupos (controle, ultr-som e bicicleta)e foi analisado o ganho de flexibilidade do movimento de dorsoflexão do tornozelo após o aquecimento seguido do alongamento do tríceps sural. A comparação dos tres grupos mostrou uma forte tendência dos grupos aquecidos a conquistarem maiores amplitudes de movimento que o grupo controle. Os resultados deste estudo confirmam dados da literatura que analisaram as mesmas variáveis in vitro; além de constituir uma referência útil para aplicações clínicas e promover informações sobre os efeitos do aquecimento na flexibilidade.