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The article presents abstracts of articles from various pediatric and sports medicine journals. A. L. Coates and colleagues studied hypercapnia with exercise in people with cystic fibrosis. F. W. Arensman and colleagues looked at racial differences between black and white children in their cardiovascular responses to exercise. Other studies researched body composition in high school wrestlers, iron deficiencies among high school swimmers, the anaerobic arm power in adolescents, and the aerobic and anaerobic training in female children.

Leptoglossus occidentalis Heidemann ( Heteroptera: Coreidae) is a North American conifer seed pest that was accidentally introduced to Europe. In the Mediterranean area, it threatens the production of Pinus pinea Linnaeus seeds. The egg-parasitoid Gryon pennsylvanicum ( Ashmead) ( Hymenoptera: Platygastridae), the main natural enemy in the native range of L. occidentalis, was imported from British Columbia to Italy. Pre-release risk assessments were made under quarantine conditions by no-choice tests conducted with naïve and experienced G. pennsylvanicum offering single eggs of target and non-target species for varying exposure times (1, 4, 48 h). G. pennsylvanicum successfully parasitized from 75% to 100% of the target host eggs. Only one female specimen of the egg-parasitoid emerged from a non-target egg ( Gonocerus juniperi Herrich- Schaeffer, Heteroptera: Coreidae). Two dead female specimens were found, one inside an egg of Coreus marginatus ( Linnaeus) ( Heteroptera: Coreidae) and one in an egg of Camptopus lateralis ( Germar) ( Heteroptera: Alydidae). All three cases occurred at the longest oviposition exposure time. Results obtained with this conservative approach suggest that the risk to non-target species of releasing G. pennsylvanicum in Italy is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: The purposes of this study were 1) to examine the effects of stressful life events on cardiovascular reactivity to acute laboratory stressors in youth and 2) to determine whether these effects varied as a function of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and/or sex.Methods: Four hundred eighty-three youths (mean age = 16.7 years; 249 Caucasian Americans [126 males, 123 females] and 234 African Americans [109 males, 125 females]) completed the Adolescent Resources Challenge Scale (ARCS), a measure of stressful life events, and underwent two laboratory stressors (a car-driving simulation and the Social Competence Interview) during which blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were assessed.Results: Youths who reported high levels of stressful life events showed smaller increases in blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic) and heart rate to the car-driving simulation but larger increases in cardiac output in response to the Social Competence Interview than did youths who reported low levels of stressful life events. The effect of stressful life events on cardiovascular reactivity was not moderated by sex, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. Higher family socioeconomic status was associated with greater blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output increases in response to the Social Competence Interview.Conclusions: The attenuating effects of stressful life events on cardiovascular reactivity in response to car-driving simulation in youths are consistent with an inoculation effect, whereas the potentiating impact of stressful life events on reactivity observed during the social stressor interview is compatible with a possible cost of coping effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Increased peripheral vasoconstriction (ie, total peripheral resistance, or TPR) has been implicated as playing an important role in the early development of essential hypertension. Some studies have demonstrated that Transcendental Meditation (TM) reduces high blood pressure, but the hemodynamic adjustments behind these blood pressure reductions have not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to provide a preliminary investigation of the acute effects of TM on TPR.Methods: Subjects were 32 healthy adults (16 women and 16 men; 30 white and two African American; mean age, 46.4 +/- 3.9 years). Subjects were divided into a TM group of long-term TM practitioners (eight white women, nine white men, and one African American man; mean years of twice-daily TM practice, 22.4 +/- 6.7) and a control group (eight white women, five white men, and one African American man). Hemodynamic functioning was assessed immediately before and during three conditions: 20 minutes of rest with eyes open (all subjects), 20 minutes of TM (TM group), and 20 minutes of eyes-closed relaxation (control group).Results: During eyes-open rest, the TM group had decreases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and TPR, compared with increases in the control group (SBP: -2.5 vs. +2.4 mm Hg, p < .01; TPR: -0.7 vs. +0.5 mm Hg/liter per minute, p < .004). During TM, there was a greater decrease in SBP due to a concomitantly greater decrease in TPR compared with the control group during eyes-closed relaxation (SBP: -3.0 vs. +2.1 mm Hg, p < .04; TPR: -1.0 vs. +0.3 mm Hg/liter per minute, p < .03).Conclusions: TPR decreased significantly during TM. Decreases in vasoconstrictive tone during TM may be the hemodynamic mechanism responsible for reduction of high blood pressure over time. The results of this study provide a preliminary contribution to the understanding of the underlying hemodynamic mechanisms responsible for the beneficial influence of TM on cardiovascular risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]