Physical activity preferences of 10-year-old children and identified activities with positive and negative associations to cardiorespiratory fitness.

AIM: This study investigated children's physical activity (PA) preferences, as these can aid the design of school-based interventions. METHODS: Data were collected in 2014 as a part of the Active Smarter Kids study and 1026 students (52% boys) from 57 Norwegian primary schools completed a questionnaire about their favourite physical activities at a mean age of 10.2 ± 0.3 years. We identified five patterns of PA and studied whether gender, cardiorespiratory fitness and abdominal adiposity were associated with these patterns. RESULTS: Soccer and slalom skiing were the favourite activities, and the most pronounced gender differences were for activities favoured by girls, which included dancing, gymnastics, exercising to music and jumping rope (p < 0.001). When the five component patterns were analysed using linear mixed-effect models, this showed a strong female preference for dancing, gymnastics, exercising to music and climbing. Cardiovascular fitness was negatively associated with frisbee, dodgeball, baseball and floorball, and positively associated with team handball, volleyball and basketball and with slalom skiing and cross-country skiing. It was interesting that the children's preferences were not related to their abdominal adiposity. CONCLUSION: The results showed different gender-based PA preferences and positive and negative associations with cardiovascular fitness, but no relationship with abdominal adiposity.

Gender-specific effects of physical activity on children's academic performance: The Active Smarter Kids cluster randomized controlled trial.

Active learning combines academic content with physical activity (PA) to increase child PA and academic performance, but the impact of active learning is mixed. It may be that this is a moderated relationship in which active learning is beneficial for only some children. This paper examine the impact of baseline academic performance and gender as moderators for the effects of active learning on children's academic performance. In the ASK-study, 1129 fifth-graders from 57 Norwegian elementary schools were randomized by school to intervention or control in a physical activity intervention between November 2014 and June 2015. Academic performance in numeracy, reading, and English was measured and a composite score was calculated. Children were split into low, middle and high academic performing tertiles. 3-way-interactions for group (intervention, control)∗gender (boys, girls)∗academic performance (tertiles) were investigated using mixed model regression. There was a significant, 3-way-interaction (p=0.044). Both boys (ES=0.11) and girls (ES=0.18) in the low performing tertile had a similar beneficial trend. In contrast, middle (ES=0.03) and high performing boys (ES=0.09) responded with small beneficial trends, while middle (ES=-0.11) and high performing girls (ES=-0.06) responded with negative trends. ASK was associated with a significant increase in academic performance for low performing children. It is likely that active learning benefited children most in need of adapted education but it may have a null or negative effect for those girls who are already performing well in the sedentary classroom. Differences in gendered responses are discussed as a possible explanation for these results. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov registry, trial registration number: NCT02132494.

White matter characteristics and cognition in prenatally opiate- and polysubstance-exposed children: a diffusion tensor imaging study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Prenatal drug exposure may influence the developing brain. Our aim was to study WM characteristics with DTI in children with prenatal opiate and polysubstance exposure and in controls. We assessed whether group differences in FA, DA, and DR could be found and related to cognitive function. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was approved by a committee for medical research ethics. Parents signed an informed consent; children gave spoken consent. Our sample included 14 prenatally substance-exposed adopted children (5 girls; age range, 8.6-13.9 years; mean, 11.3 +/- 1.7 years) and 14 control children (7 girls; age range, 9.0-10.2 years; mean, 9.8 +/- 0.3 years). Tract-based spatial statistics were used to define a common WM skeleton for the sample, and FA was compared between groups throughout the skeleton, controlling for age and sex. Clusters of significant group differences >or=100 voxels (P <. 05) were identified. FA, DA, and DR within clusters were correlated with cognitive function. RESULTS: Ten clusters of FA group differences, mostly in central, posterior, and inferior parts of the brain, were identified (P <. 05), showing lower FA in substance-exposed children. FA and DA correlated positively and DR, negatively with cognitive function across groups. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatally substance-exposed children exhibited lower FA in restricted areas of WM, mostly relatively central, inferior, and posterior, where myelination occurs early in development. Myelin in these areas may be particularly vulnerable to prenatal substance exposure. FA and DR related moderately to cognitive function. Potential confounding factors existed and were considered.

Volumetric cerebral characteristics of children exposed to opiates and other substances in utero.

Morphometric cerebral characteristics were studied in children with prenatal poly-substance exposure (n=14) compared to controls (n=14) without such exposure. Ten of the substance-exposed children were born to mothers who used opiates (heroin) throughout the pregnancy. Groups were compared across 16 brain measures: cortical gray matter, cerebral white matter, hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, accumbens area, caudate, putamen, pallidum, brainstem, cerebellar cortex, cerebellar white matter, lateral ventricles, inferior lateral ventricles, and the 3rd and 4th ventricles. In addition, continuous measurement of thickness across the entire cortical mantle was performed. Volumetric characteristics were correlated with ability and questionnaire assessments 2 years prior to scan. Compared to controls, the substance-exposed children had smaller intracranial and brain volumes, including smaller cerebral cortex, amygdala, accumbens area, putamen, pallidum, brainstem, cerebellar cortex, cerebellar white matter, and inferior lateral ventricles, and thinner cortex of the right anterior cingulate and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Pallidum and putamen appeared especially reduced in the subgroup exposed to opiates. Only volumes of the right anterior cingulate, the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the accumbens area, showed some association with ability and questionnaire measures. The sample studied is rare and hence small, so conclusions cannot be drawn with certainty. Morphometric group differences were observed, but associations with previous behavioral assessment were generally weak. Some of the volumetric differences, particularly thinner cortex in part of the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex, may be moderately involved in cognitive and behavioral difficulties more frequently experienced by opiate and poly-substance-exposed children.

Bluetongue epidemiology in the Caribbean region: serological and entomological findings from a pilot sentinel system in Trinidad and Tobago.

When monitored by the agar gel immunodiffusion test for antibody to bluetongue viruses, a sentinel flock of twenty-five lambs remained seropositive through the year, whereas in a sentinel herd of twenty calves only two individuals seroconverted and these became negative again within 2 months. A light trap operated with the calf herd yielded high numbers of Culicoides insignis Lutz (over 18,000 per trap night) along with C. filariferus Hoffman, C. pusillus Lutz, C. leopoldi Ortiz, C. foxi Ortiz, C. limai Barretto, C. diabolicus Hoffman and C. guyanensis Floch and Abonnenc. Culicoides were trapped at the sheep station which had housed the lambs 3 years following the sentinel study. No virus was isolated from pools of C. insignis, C. filariferus and C. pusillus. Six other species were collected in insufficient numbers to warrant attempted virus isolations.

Bluetongue epidemiology in the Caribbean region: serological and entomological findings from a pilot sentinel system in Trinidad and Tobago

When monitored by the agar gel immunodiffusion test for antibody to bluetongue viruses, a sentinel flock of twenty-five lambs remained seropositive through the year, whereas in a sentinel herd of twenty calves only two individuals seroconverted and these became negative again within 2 months. A light trap operated with the calf herd yielded high numbers of culicoides insignis Lutz (over 18,000 per trap night) along with C. filariferus Hoffman, C. pusillus Lutz, C. leopoldi Ortiz, C. foxi Ortiz, C. limai Barretto, C. diabolicus Hoffman and C. guyanensis Floch and Abonnenc. Culicoides were trapped at the sheep station which had housed the lambs 3 years following the sentinel study. No virus was isolated from pools of C. insignis, C. filariferus and C. pusillus. Six outer species were collected in insufficient numbers to warrant attempted virus isolations. (AU)

Screwworm (Diptera: calliphoridae) myiasis in the Southern Caribbean, and proposals for its management

In a random sample of animal producers and animal health personnel, 33 percent of the respondents in Trinidad, 15 percent in Guyana, and 11 percent in Suriname recalled at least one case of human myiasis due to Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel). During 1981, respondents in Suriname (88 percent), Guyana (85 percent), and Trinidad and Tobago (82 percent) found at least one case of myiasis in their livestock, mainly cattle, pigs, and dogs. Feral animals- e.g., jaguars- were also found to be infested. The initial wounds were mainly the umbilicus neonates, whereas arbitrary cuts, castration wounds, and vampire bite were also affected. Fifty-three to 78 percent of all respondents examined their livestock daily for wounds and infestation by the screwworm. Daily examinations of livestock are now done as a result of the screwworm threat. Annual estimates of losses (in U.S. dollars) due to surveillance and medication ranged from $4.82 to $10.71 per animal. These national losses amounted to $0.30 million (Suriname) $1.02 million (Trinidad and Tobago), and $4.33 million (Guyana). Other losses, such as failure to thrive, reduction in milk production, and hide injury due to screwworm activity, were not available. Most producers found that the greatest infestation occurred in the wet season. Also, most (68 to 83 percent) found the screwworm to be second in importance to the Boophilus spp. ticks as a pest of livestock, but of greater significance than biting flies such as tabanids and stable flies. Eradication of the screwworm can be recommended for the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. Eradication for Suriname and Guyana seems feasible only on the 100-km wide coastal strips, where most human and livestock populations exist. (AU)