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Decades of research support the benefits of movement for cognitive development however this link remains unexploited in educational practice. For this reason, embodied cognition serves as the theoretical underpinnings of this study proposing that thoughts and actions are influenced by sensory experience. Fifty-eight 6th-grade students were divided into two groups: The first group participated in activities designed for full-body movement and the second observed the haptic manipulation of materials by an educator. The study thus utilized a two-group design and was conducted in phases: pretest, intervention, immediate posttest and delayed posttest. The entire process was recorded to assess students’ understanding and the multimodal text thereby created included both spoken word and bodily expressions such as posture and gestures, enabling us to closely follow the progress of every participant. The range of responses was then narrowed down to adequate and inadequate, followed by statistical processing of the data. The results showed that both execution and observation effectively contributed to the improved performance of students immediately after the interventions. Nevertheless, students who participated in bodily-based activities showed an additional advantage four months later. While this study focused solely on circular motion, the idea to investigate physical engagement and its impact on students’ understanding could be extended to other content, and the long-term effectiveness of bodily-based learning ought to encourage a redesign of the official curriculum. Article visualizations

Obesity is a chronic disease that presents a significant prevalence among women within childbearing age. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is a widely used method for the treatment of obesity. Several studies have examined this operation’s impact on pregnancy outcomes with contradictory results. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the maternal and neonatal outcomes following LSG. The electronic databases of MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Scopus as well as grey literature from inception to December 2019 were systematically reviewed. Search strategy included the terms: “sleeve” “gastrectomy” and “pregnancy”. Eligibility criteria were randomized control trials, cohort studies and case series that reported on women with LSG prior to conception and maternal and neonatal outcomes. A total of 406 distinct articles were identified with nine studies included in the systematic review. A cumulative statistical analysis reported a preoperative BMI of 43.6 ± 5.0 kg/m2 while BMI at conception was 29.6 ± 4.9 kg/m2. The average weight gain during pregnancy was 8.9 kg. Preeclampsia appeared in 2.7 %, gestational diabetes (GD) in 5.7 % and cesarean delivery was performed at 42.5 %. Small for gestational age (SGA) neonates were diagnosed in 15.8 % and large for gestational age (LGA) neonates in 3.7 %. Limited data exist on the subject and further prospective studies are needed to prove the exact evidence of relation between LSG and pregnancy outcomes. Initial studies show that patients with LSG present lower rates of GD and LGA neonates, higher rates of SGA neonates and similar rates of hypertensive disorders and prematurity when compared to non operated controls. Time interval between LSG and conception is not proven to have a statistically significant impact on maternal or neonatal outcomes.

Sustainable Urban Development Observatory of Thessaloniki (SUDOTh) started operating in the first semester of 2020 with the objective to promote territorial evidence in policy making in urban governance. SUDOTh was developed as part of the Sustainable Urban Development Strategy 2016-2023 of Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area to address the need to obtain, observe and monitor how complex urban functions interact, at a territorial level, with product development (or lagging) effects. In the first year of operation, the Observatory had to set, test and evaluate the system of indicators and indexes it uses. Initially the system was formed in 4 basic sections: 1. Territorial Development and Urban renewal, 2. Urban Mobility, 3. Environmental Conditions and 4. Social Conditions. An extra set of indicators for Urban Governance was also developed. The process of data collection, test and evaluation of indicators was eventually coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation influenced deeply several urban functions as well as the data collection methodology. The first results and conclusions from the first year of the operation of SUDOTh are presented and discussed further in this paper.

Background. Liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PHx) is regulated by several factors that activate or inhibit hepatocyte proliferation. Apoptosis seems to play an important role in cellular proliferation and liver regeneration. This study investigates the expression apoptosis-associated genes bcl-2 and bax, and the presence of apoptosis and cell proliferation after PHx, in normal and jaundiced rats with or without superimposed ischemia. Materials and methods. The study included 50 male Wistar rats assigned into; five groups (10 rats each). On day 0, rats of groups II, IV, and V underwent common bile duct ligation (BDL). On day 10, total liver ischemia (TLI) (occlusion of hepatic artery and portal vein-TLI) for 30 min was performed on animals of group V. When TLI was completed, all 30 animals (of groups I, IV, and V) underwent PHx (68%). Animals of group III underwent only TLI for 30 min. Rats of groups I, IV, and V were sacrificed 24 and 48 h after PHx was completed. Rats of group II were sacrificed 10, 11, and 12 days after BDL. Rats of group III were sacrificed immediately, 24 and 48 h after TLI completion. Liver tissue was obtained and pathologic examination included: (a) H&E stain, (b) in situ hybridization (detection of bcl-2 and bax mRNA) in paraffin sections, (c) Western blot analysis for the evaluation of bcl-2 and bax protein levels, (d) in situ hybridization (TUNEL) for the detection of apoptotic bodies, and (e) immunohistochemical stains (streptavidin-biotin method) in paraffin sections to detect cells that (i) express bcl-2 and bax proteins and (ii) undergo proliferation (Ki67+ cells). Results were expressed following morphometric analysis. Results. Before hepatectomy, bcl-2 (protein or mRNA) levels were higher in jaundiced rats vs controls. Furthermore, bax (protein or mRNA) levels and apoptotic body index (ABI) were higher in cholestatic livers. After hepatectomy, there was an early decrease in the protein and mRNA levels of antiapoptotic gene bcl-2 and a late increase of proapoptotic gene bax and the ABI, compared to controls. Cell proliferation of hepatocytes was lower in group V (BDL + TLI) compared to that of groups II and IV (BDL). Conclusions. This study shows that apoptosis takes place in cholestatic livers with or without superimposed ischemia and may contribute in the impaired regenerative response observed in livers of jaundiced rats after partial hepatectomy.

Sensitivity-based model error localization and damage detection is hindered by the relative differences in modal sensitivity magnitude among updating parameters. The method of artificial boundary conditions is shown to directly address this limitation, resulting in the increase of the number of updating parameters at which errors can be accurately localized. Using a single set of FRF data collected from a modal test, the artificial boundary conditions (ABC) method identifies experimentally the natural frequencies of a structure under test for a variety of different boundary conditions, without having to physically apply the boundary conditions, hence the term “artificial.” The parameter-specific optimal ABC sets applied to the finite element model will produce increased sensitivities in the updating parameter, yielding accurate error localization and damage detection solutions. A method is developed for identifying the parameter-specific optimal ABC sets for updating or damage detection, and is based on the QR decomposition with column pivoting. Updating solution residuals, such as magnitude error and false error location, are shown to be minimized when the updating parameter set is limited to those corresponding to the QR pivot columns. The existence of an optimal ABC set for a given updating parameter is shown to be dependent on the number of modes used, and hence the method developed provides a systematic determination of the minimum number of modes required for localization in a given updating parameter. These various concepts are demonstrated on a simple model with simulated test data.

ANIMALS that have been exposed to environmental stimulation develop marked differences in brain structure and biochemistry when compared with animals that have not been exposed in this way1–4. Factors influencing the magnitude of these changes are the duration of rearing and the age of the animals when the environmental separation takes place. Most studies have focused on young animals because the brain is thought to be more plastic at this stage. As a result, temporal analyses of the induced changes have usually been limited to fairly short periods of environmental exposure early in the animal's life. Rosenzweig et al.3 have suggested that, in rats differentially reared from weaning, the induced differences in brain weight reach a maximum during the first 30 d of separation, after which they decrease. But the evidence for this biphasic response has been based on relatively short periods of differential rearing (15–160 d).