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OBJECTIVE Special clinical characteristics and socio-psychological difficulties are observed in individuals with intellectual disability (ID) which may have a negative impact on the psychological and physical health of their parents. This study aimed to evaluate various aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in parents of children suffering from ID. METHOD The sample consisted of 354 parents, aged 48.15±14.2 years, who had a child attending a special education school or institution. The instrument Health Survey SF-36 (scoring 0-100) was used to evaluate the physical and socio-psychological health of the parents. RESULTS The SF-36 scoring revealed the following results: Physical functioning (PF): 74.35±23.77, role physical (RP): 75.81±37.04, physical pain (BP): 67.23±29.55, general health (GH): 62.47±22.13, vitality (VT): 57.66±20.75, social functioning (SF): 71.97±27.69, role emotional (RE): 68.27±39.77, and mental health (MH): 58.32±22.43. The internal consistency reliability measured by Cronbach's alpha was 0.903. The Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance and the Mann-Whitney U-test revealed no significant gender (father - mother) differences in health-related quality of life, but a significant negative impact of parental age on specific items, namely PF: U=11,088, RP: U=11,898, BP: U=11,070, GH: U=10,422, VT: U=12,042, and SF: U=12,078 (p⩽0.007). The marital status of the parents was negatively associated with RP: U=11,898 (p=0.02) and RE: U=11,376 (p=0.004), and when an increase in the number of children was taken into consideration, analysis of variance also revealed a negative influence on PF: x2=51.665, BP: x2=16.485, SF: x2=19.301, RE: x2=30.670 (p=0.000), and MH: x2=6.840 (p=0.033). Parents with chronic illness recorded lower HRQoL, specifically RP: U=10,566, BP: U=5,652, VT: U=8,334, SF: U=9,414, PF: U=3,618 and GH: U=3,114 (p<0.001). The parental educational status positively affected PF: x2=21.446, BP: x2=6.201, GH: x2=13.827, VT: x2=10.292, SF: x2=17.114 and MH: x2=27.250 (p<0.05). In addition, a negative rela tionship was found between abnormal parental body mass index (BMI) and HRQoL, specifically PF: x2=28.137, RP: x2=11.348, BP: x2=25.325, GH: x2=70.140, VT: x2=41.868, MH: x2=20.897 (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Parents of children suffering from ID record low scores on HRQoL scales, indicating a poor level of physical and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the detraining and retraining effects of exercise in patients with diabetes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of training, detraining, and retraining, using a combined strength and aerobic exercise program on glycemic control in women with type 2 diabetes. Thirteen postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes (n = 13, age: 55.8 ± 5.1 years) followed a supervised aerobic and strength training program for 9 months, which was interrupted for 3 months (detraining) and resumed again for a period of 9 months (retraining). Anthropometric characteristics, glycemic control, and physical fitness were determined at baseline and after 9, 12, and 21 months. Training induced a small reduction in body mass index (BMI: - 3.3 %, 95 % CI - 5.1 to - 1.5 %), a moderate decrease in fasting plasma glucose (FPG: - 12.0 %, 95 % CI - 20.70 to - 3.2 %), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c: - 4.7 %, 95 % CI - 12.1 to 2.7 %), and a large decrease in postprandial glucose (PPG: - 12.1 %, 95 % CI - 20.2 to - 4.1 %). In addition, there was an increase in power output (20.2 %, 95 % CI 6.9 to 33.6 %) and total muscle strength (33.8 %, 95 % CI 21.4 to 46.1 %). Detraining reversed PPG, HbA1c, and physical fitness. Resumption of training, however, led to a moderate decrease in BMI ( - 5.4 %, 95 % CI - 8.1 to - 2.7 %), PPG ( - 9.5 %, 95 % CI - 19.4 to 0.3 %), and HbA1c ( - 6.8 %, 95 % CI - 14.1 to 0.5 %), and to large changes in FPG ( - 20.9 %, 95 % CI - 31.9 to - 9.9 %), power output (33.1 %, 95 % CI 17.9 to 48.4 %) and total muscle strength (48.2 %, 95 % CI 34.0 to 62.4 %) compared to baseline. Thus, systematic training improves body composition, glycemic control and physical fitness in patients with type 2 diabetes. The cessation of exercise brings about negative alterations, while retraining restores all beneficial adaptations and improves them even more. Therefore, diabetic patients should follow a regular and an uninterrupted exercise program throughout life in order to control glucose metabolism and improve health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To investigate the immediate adaptations to aerobic exercise of the cardiovascular function of overweight/ obese pre-pubertal children. METHOD The study group consisted of 54 healthy volunteer Cypriot children, aged 11.2±0.5 years, divided according to the IOTF criteria into normal-weight (n=21) and overweight/obese (n=33) subgroups. Measurements were made of their anthropometric characteristics [body mass index (BMI), height, skinfold thickness, and waist, abdominal and hip circumference], and blood pressure and heart rate: (a) At rest, (b) during treadmill exercise at 4 km/h, 5.6 km/h and 8 km/h of 10 min duration at each stage, and (c) at the 3rd min of recovery. In addition, during the last 10 sec of each stage, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were obtained using the Children's OMNI Scale (category range, 0-10). Pulse pressure, mean arterial pressure, double product, stroke volume, cardiac output, peripheral resistance and cardiac index were determined using specific equations. RESULTS The normal-weight children had better values of systolic blood pressure (p<0.01), mean blood pressure (p<0.01), resting pulse pressure (p<0.05), heart rate (p<0.05), double product (p<0.001) and cardiac index (p<0.01) than the overweight/ obese children. In addition, the normal-weight children showed a better response in the cardiac index at rest (p<0.05) and at 8 km/h (p<0.01), and at the 3rd min of recovery (p<0.01) than the overweight/obese children. Significant correlation was demonstrated between RPE and BMI (r=0.422, p<0.001), body fat (r=0.375, p<0.01), waist circumference (r=0.344, p<0.05), abdominal circumference (r=0.376, p<0.001), systolic blood pressure (r=0.279, p<0.05), double product (r=0.301, p<0.05), cardiac index (r=-0.331, p<0,05) and exercise time on the treadmill (r=- 0.487, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Overweight/obese children showed poorer cardiovascular function and higher ratings of perceived exertion than normal-weight children, due to their poor level of physical fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To examine the factors which affect the cardiovascular function of overweight/obese pre-pubertal children and adolescents. METHOD A total of 1,397 healthy children aged 9-14 years participated in the study. The subjects were divided according to their gender (boys: n=728, girls: n=699), age (9-10 years: n=499, 11-12 years: n=408, 13-14 years: n=490), arterial blood pressure (BP) (normotensive: n=1,169, pre-hypertensive: n=101, level I hypertension: n=96, level II hypertension: n=31) and weight (normal-weight: n=984, overweigh: n=280, obese: n=133). Measurements were made of the anthropometric characteristics (height, body mass), arterial BP (systolic, diastolic) and resting heart rate (Hr) in order to determine the pulse pressure, mean arterial BP, double product, stroke volume, cardiac output, peripheral resistance and cardiac index. RESULTS In this sample, 70.4% were of normal weight and the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 20.1% and 9.5%, respectively. The prevalence of elevated BP was 11.5% in the overweight/obese boys and 9.1% in the overweight/obese girls. The odds ratio (OR) and the relative risk (RR) of both obesity and hypertension were OR=7.36 (95% CI: 4.82-11.24) and RR=4.91 (95% CI: 3.49-6.91) for boys and OR=4.29 (95% CI: 2.79-6.61) and RR=3.27 (95% CI: 2.31-4.63) for girls. The normotensive normal-weight children, irrespective of gender, presented more favourable values of heart rate, double product and cardiac index than the hypertensive overweight/obese children (p<0.001). Stepwise multiple regression using the cardiac index as the dependent variable (y=5.312-0.049×W+0.053×Hr-0.076×DP+0.036×SP-0.175×age), showed that 92.5% of the total variance was explained by body mass (W: 53%), Hr (Hr: 14.3%), diastolic BP (DP: 14.1%), systolic BP (SP: 8.5%) and age (age: 2.6%). In addition, negative correlation was demonstrated between the body mass index (BMI) and the cardiac index (r=-0.646, p<0.001) and positive correlation between BMI and the other hemodynamic parameters (r=0.211 to 0.517, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Increased body mass and age affect the cardiac function of overweight/obese prepubertal children and adolescents, irrespective of gender, and are associated with an increased risk of development of hypertension, in comparison with normal weight peers. In clinical practice, it is necessary to implement prognostic indicators in childhood and adolescence aimed at the early detection of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the changes in body composition and lipid profile after a three year systematic program combining aerobic and resistance exercise in healthy elderly women. METHOD Twenty elderly women were divided into two groups: the exercise group (n=10, age 62.0±5.7 years) and the control group (n=10, age 66.2±5.1 years). The exercise program included 3 sessions a week, each of which lasted 50 minutes and combined strength and aerobic exercise. At the beginning and at the end of each 9-month period anthropometric measurements and biochemical analyses were applied. There was a 3 month suspension of the program each year. RESULTS After 3 years of the intervention program, significant differences were recorded between the exercise group and the control group in body mass (p<0.01), body mass index (BMI) (p<0.05), body fat (p<0.01) and blood levels of fasting glucose (p<0.001), total cholesterol (p<0.05) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (p<0.01). Each year, after 9 months of intervention, the exercise group presented significantly lower values in obesity indices (p<0.05), fasting blood glucose (p<0.001) and total cholesterol (p<0.001) and higher values in HDL-C (p<0.05) than the control group. These positive adaptations, however, were reversed during detraining (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Nine months of annual training for a 3-year period induced positive adaptations in body composition and lipid profile in elderly women. Three months of detraining, reversed the favorable adaptations, highlighting the importance of regular exercise in maintaining the positive results beneficial to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the eff ects of pre-exercise food on diff erent glycemic indexes (GI) on exercise metabolism and endurance running capacity. 9 subjects performed 3 exercise trials on diff erent days 15 min after ingesting: lentils, (LGI), potatoes, (HGI), and placebo. Each subject ingested an equal amount of each food (1 g / kg body mass) and ran on a level treadmill for 5 min at 60 % , 45 min at 70 % and then at 80 % of VO 2max until exhaustion. Serum glucose concentrationswere higher ( P < 0.01) 15 min after the HGI trial compared to the LGI and placebo trials. In addition, serum glucose levels were higher ( P < 0.05) during the LGI trial at the time of exhaustion compared to the HGI and placebo trials. Plasma insulin levels, 15 min after ingestion, were higher ( P < 0.001) in the HGI trial as compared to the LGI and placebo trials. Exercise time was longer during the LGI trial ( P < 0.05) compared to the placebo, but the time to exhaustion in the HGI condition did not diff er from the placebo (LGI: 90.0 ± 7.9; HGI: 81.8 ± 5; placebo: 73.0 ± 6.4 min). These results suggest that lentils, the LGI food,ingested 15 min before prolonged exercise maintained euglycemia during exercise and enhanced endurance running capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease and postmenopausal women comprise the group at highest risk. During the first five to ten years after the beginning of menopause, rapid loss of bone density amounting to 2-3% annually is observed in women. Osteoporosis can be caused by multiple factors, the major of which are hormonal, metabolic, dietary and mechanical, including the lack of exercise and physical activity. Bone is not an inactive tissue but responds to pressure, as do other tissues of the body. Each change in the form or function of the bone leads to changes in its internal architecture and exterior configuration, so that the skeleton maintains such a level of structural integrity as to support the daily functional activity of the individual. Bone, like muscle, develops hypertrophy in response to a mechanical stimulus (e.g., strain caused by exercise), and conversely is weakened by immobility. Although limited physical activity has been recognized as an additional factor in the etiology of osteoporosis, the contribution of exercise to the management of the condition has not been clarified completely. Initially, aerobic exercise, and mainly walking, was proposed to postmenopausal women. The results, however, were not those initially expected, and researchers then tried to increase the vertical strain with exercises of higher intensity. They also included specialized resistance exercise programs, to promote deceleration of bone deconstruction and maintenance or even increase of bone density in postmenopausal women. The last decade, the combination of strength and aerobic forms of exercise has been proposed as ideal for bone health, even though it has not been extensively investigated. This review studies the recommended exercise protocols and evaluates their effectiveness and possible contribution to the prevention of osteoporosis and their role in the deceleration of the bone deconstruction that occurs at menopause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the changes of maximal inspiratory mouth pressure (PImax) during a 400-m front crawl swimming trial., Methods: Eleven well-trained competitive swimmers (age: 17.6+/-0.8 years, mean+/-SE) performed a 400-m front-crawl trial with maximum effort (296.2+/-4.76 s). Then, on different days they swam a 300-m, 200-m and 100-m trials at a velocity corresponding to the 400-m trial. Measurements of PImax from residual volume at upright body position before and immediately after each trial were conducted using a portable mouth pressure meter., Results: Maximal inspiratory mouth pressure did not change significantly after the 100-m and 200-m trial compared to baseline (131.8+/-9.7 and 123.7+/-10.3 vs. 140.9+/-8.9 cmH(2)O, P>0.05). However, PImax was significantly lower after the 300-m (118.8+/-7 cmH(2)O, P=0.02) and 400-m trials (118.1+/-9.9 cmH(2)O, P=0.01)., Conclusions: These results indicate that during a maximum effort of 400-m front crawl, the reduction of inspiratory muscle strength occurs after 300-m. This should be considered for competitive swimming training by implementing swim race distance-specific respiratory muscle training.