Effects of a randomized controlled trial of a brief, student-nurse led, parent-based sexual health intervention on parental protective factors and HPV vaccination uptake.

BACKGROUND: Parents play a pivotal role in adolescent sexual health and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Nurses are on the frontlines of healthcare and play a critical role in promoting HPV vaccination and parent-child sexual health communication. We enhanced the Families Talking Together (FTT) parent-based sexual health curriculum to include adolescent vaccinations herein, FTT + HPV, and trained student nurses to provide a strong HPV vaccination and parent-child sexual health communication endorsement. METHODS: Using a randomized attention-controlled trial design, we examined the efficacy of FTT + HPV among 519 parents and their 11-14 year old youth recruited from medically underserved communities between 2015 and 2018. Participants were recruited from 22 after-school programs (e.g., Boys and Girls Clubs) and 19 charter schools. For parents, we examined protective factors including parent-child sexual health communication and parental involvement. For youth, we examined sexual health knowledge, parent-child sexual health communication, and parent-child connectedness. To assess HPV vaccination initiation and completion, we searched IMMTRAC immunization registry records for 85% of youth and used parental report for youth without registry records. Group differences were calculated using the estimated mean difference at one- and six months post-intervention with significance set at the p < 0.05 level. RESULTS: Baseline rates of HPV vaccination were low at 55.7%. No significant difference between the groups was seen in vaccination initiation or completion rates by one-month post-intervention. However, by six-months post intervention, there was a significant difference between the groups with 70.3% of the intervention group initiating the HPV vaccination series vs. 60.6% for the control group (p = 0.02). No difference between the groups was found for HPV series completion at six-months. There were significant differences in condom knowledge (p = 0.04), parent-child connectedness (p = 0.04), and communication frequency (p = 0.001) with greater improvement in the intervention vs. the control group. Rates of sexual activity remained low in both groups throughout the six-month follow-up period. CONCLUSION: A brief parent-based adolescent sexual health and HPV vaccination intervention delivered by student nurses can improve sexual health outcomes including protective parental factors, adolescent sexual health knowledge, and HPV vaccination initiation rates. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02600884 . Prospectively registered September 1, 2015.

[The crispr / cas9 techniques applied to human genetic enhancement: a biotechnological, anthropological-philosophical and legal dialogue]. / Las técnicas crispr/cas9 aplicadas al mejoramiento genético humano: un diálogo biotecnológico, antropológico-filosófico y jurídico.

The CRISPR editing method is revolutionary. This technique opens the possibility of countless operations in the genome of living beings. However, the risks are high and, in some cases, unpredictable. Therefore, based on an anthropology that recognizes the human person with an inherent dignity that includes the body, this article intends to propose bases for a regulation capable of facing the challenge of CRISPR, especially, given the possibility of confusing its therapeutic resource with the eugenics, also before the imminent risk of unleashing unforeseen consequences such as mutations, malformations and side effects that could be devastating for human life.

Las técnicas crispr/cas9 aplicadas al mejoramiento genético humano: un diálogo biotecnológico, antropológico-filosófico y jurídico / The crispr/cas9 techniques applied to human genetic enhancement: a biotechnological, anthropological-philosophical and legal dialogue

El método de edición CRISPR es revolucionario. Está técnica abre la posibilidad de infinidades de operaciones en el genoma de seres vivos. Sin embargo, los riesgos son altos y, en algunos casos, imprevisibles. Por ello, a partir de una antropología que reconoce a la persona humana con una dignidad inherente que incluye el cuerpo, este artículo pretende proponer bases para una regulación capaz de afrontar el desafío de las CRISPR, especialmente, ante la posibilidad de confundir su recurso terapéutico con el eugenésico, asimismo ante el inminente riesgo de desencadenar consecuencias imprevistas como mutaciones, malformaciones y efectos secundarios que podrían ser devastadoras para la vida humana

The CRISPR editing method is revolutionary. This technique opens the possibility of countless operations in the genome of living beings. However, the risks are high and, in some cases, unpredictable. There-fore, based on an anthropology that recognizes the human person with an inherent dignity that includes the body, this article intends to propose bases for a regulation capable of facing the challenge of CRISPR, especially, given the possibility of confusing its therapeutic resource with the eugenics, also before the imminent risk of unleashing unforeseen consequences such as mutations, malformations and side effects that could be devastating for human life

Aging, physical activity, and cognitive processing: an examination of P300.

Physical activity appears to attenuate the decline of cognitive function typically observed in older men and women. The P300 component of the event-related potential (ERP) is particularly affected by aging and allows for basic neurobiological assessment of cognitive function. Three aspects of the P300 component (i.e. latency, amplitude, and area under the curve (AUC)), elicited by an oddball task, were derived to assess cognitive function in young and older participants (N=73) who were further classified as high- and low-active. The low-active elderly participants exhibited larger AUC values than those observed in all other groups which were undifferentiated. That is, the high-active elderly and the young participants exhibited smaller AUC values than the low-active older group. In conclusion, higher levels of physical activity in the elderly may be associated with a reduction in the neural resources allocated in response to simple cognitive challenge. This interpretation is consistent with the concept of psychomotor efficiency proposed by Hatfield and Hillman [The psychophysiology of sport: a mechanistic understanding of the psychology of superior performance. In: Singer RN, Hausenbias HA, Janelle CM, editors. Handbook of sport psychology. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley; 2001, p. 362-88].

The role of the left temporal region under the cognitive motor demands of shooting in skilled marksmen.

A number of investigators have reported elevated left temporal alpha power in marksmen during response preparation. This finding has been interpreted to indicate the suppression of irrelevant cognitive processes. However, lower-order motor processes have not been excluded as a possible explanation. Event-related alpha power (11-13 Hz) was examined at sites T3, T4, C3, and C4 in eight skilled marksmen during shooting and two control tasks varying in perceptual-motor complexity. Over an 8-s period preceding the trigger pull, the marksmen exhibited higher power and slope at T3 than at all other sites during shooting compared with the control conditions. No such difference between conditions was detected at C3 and C4. The relative synchrony of left temporal alpha power during shooting, in conjunction with the lack of change at central sites, is inconsistent with the explanation that the effect is accounted for by 'lower-order' motor processes exclusively involving the central region.

Neuro-cognitive activity during a self-paced visuospatial task: comparative EEG profiles in marksmen and novice shooters.

Log-transformed EEG power spectral estimates (6-7, 9,10-11,18-22, and 36-44 Hz), obtained from skilled marksmen and novice shooters at sites F3, F4, C3, C4,T3, T4, P3, P4, O1, and O2 during the aiming period (6 s) of a target shooting task for each of 40 trials up to the moment of trigger pull, were contrasted to determine regional differences in cortical activation. The EEG power obtained from both groups during the preparatory aiming period was also compared to that observed for a similar time period during the processing of standard verbal and spatial tasks. The marksmen exhibited less activation than the novice shooters at all sites during the aiming period with a pronounced difference in the left central-temporal-parietal area. Fewer group differences in cortical activation were observed during the comparative verbal and spatial tasks with which the groups held equal experience. Additionally, the novice shooters exhibited a cortical activation pattern during target shooting that was similar to that observed during the processing of the comparative verbal and spatial tasks. In contrast, marksmen generally exhibited less cortical activation during the aiming period when contrasted to that during the novel comparative tasks. These results are consistent with the notion of relative economy in the cortical processes of marksmen, relative to controls, during the specific challenge with which they are highly practiced.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia during exercise in aerobically trained and untrained men.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was examined in aerobically trained (AT) and untrained (NT) college-aged males during 12 periods consisting of a 3-min sitting baseline, six common 3-min absolute exercise stages, and five 3-min recovery stages that followed voluntary exhaustion to determine the relationship of work and training status to parasympathetic influence upon the heart. RSA systematically decreased during absolute exercise, was observed at heart rates (HR) above 100 beats x min(-1), and progressively increased during recovery. Additionally, independent of work stages, comparative regression analyses were conducted for both the exercise and recovery phases, separately, in which HR was regressed on RSA, as well as RSA on % VO2max, to contrast the obtained relationships for the AT and NT. No differences were revealed as a function of endurance training status as the slopes and intercepts obtained for the two groups from each of these analyses were similar. The within-subject correlations between RSA and % VO2max, calculated for each of the individuals across all 12 periods, were consistently negative. Between-subjects correlations of RSA with RR and tidal volume were predominantly nonsignificant, indicating that RSA, as measured here, is independent of individual differences in ventilatory activity and, as such, can be compared between groups during exercise. The findings demonstrate that RSA is detectable during both exercise and recovery, even at HR beyond 100 beats x min(-1), and reveals a similar relationship to HR and metabolic state in both aerobically trained and untrained populations.

Relationship between simulated fire fighting tasks and physical performance measures.

Twenty-six physical performance variables were assessed on 100 professional fire fighters and correlated against timed measures of five sequentially performed fire fighting tasks and against fractionated heart rates collected during performance of the fire fighting tasks via Holter monitoring of the ECG. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that two factors, physical work capacity and resistance to fatigue, accounted for the fractionated time and heart rate data. The first factor, influenced heavily by the average intra-task heart rate (L = 0.94) and by the approximately equal weights for the five simulated tasks (-0.53 less than L less than -0.36), reflected the fact that relatively high muscular strength and endurance, coupled with a near maximal aerobic capacity effort, were required to complete the simulated tasks. The battery of physical performance variables best predicting the first factor (R2 = 0.63) included maximal heart rate, sit-ups, grip strength, age, and submaximal oxygen pulse. The second factor (R2 = 0.39), most heavily loaded by the simulated rescue (L = 0.70) and chopping tasks (L = 0.42), appeared to represent an ability to complete all tasks quickly by exhibiting a resistance to fatigue brought on by the demands of the earlier tasks. The battery of physical performance variables best predicting the second factor included lean body weight, maximal heart rate, final treadmill grade, age, and percent fat. This study demonstrated that physiological factors related to the performance of occupational tasks can be identified and measured.

An alternative test of the adams-creamer decay hypothesis in timing motor responses.

Ss were randomly assigned to either a vestibular proprioception (VP) group (N = 30) or a no vestibular proprioception (NVP) group (N = 30). The VP group was tested while supine on a table rotated 60 deg. in the vertical plane and, at the cessation of rotation, Ss estimated a 2-sec. interval. Procedures were identical for the NVP group with the exception that they received no body rotation. All Ss received 40 trials and knowledge of results was given during a 20-sec. intertrial interval. The VP group had significantly smaller mean absolute and algebraic error scores than the NVP group. The difference between the mean variable error scores of the two groups was not significant. Results supported the Adams-Creamer decay hypothesis in terms of absolute error scores and algebraic error scores, but did not support the hypothesis in terms of variable error scores.

Pre-motor and motor reaction time differences associated with stretching of the hamstring muscles.

Pre-motor and motor RT scores were obtained from 24 male Ss using a knee flexion task. It was predicted that an increased arousal state due to proprioceptive feedback from stretched hamstring muscles would shorten pre-motor RT while motor RT would shorten because of changes in muscle tension development due to changes in the series elastic and/or contractile components of the muscle tissue. A finger RT task was also included in order to determine whether other factors not related to changes in the stretch of the hamstring muscles were operative. Motor RT decreased with increased muscle stretch and constituted 46% of leg RT. Pre-motor RT as well as finger RT increased rather than decreased with increased muscle stretch. No relationship was found between pre-motor and motor RT indicating that lags in CNS processing are independent of lags associated with the rate of muscular tension development.