The influence of NaCl aerosols on weight and height development of children.

Saline aerosols resulted from natural or artificial sources are used for therapeutic environments. The paper presents the influence of the NaCl aerosols resulted in situ in dynamic halochambers, by structural reformation of saline aerosols in the presence of pentahydrol, on the increase in weight and height of children, as a result of systemically controlled practice of team and individual physical education games, with subjects of ages from 10 to 15. For reference, we used children of the same age and with the same physical education program, but whose activities were performed in open spaces, or in gym classrooms, without saline aerosols. Our study emphasized the fact that the NaCl aerosols formed in situ, in the atmosphere of the halochamber, at a rate of over 0.600 mg/m(3) of saline aerosols, enhanced the growth and weight gain at a higher rate in girls than in boys and at an obviously higher rate than that reported in the children who performed physical exercises in normal conditions, over a period of 3 years. All the data were statistically processed in order to evaluate the influence of the aerosols. The study reports the therapeutic benefits of salt exposure in children's development.

Influences of Psychomotor Behaviors on Learning Swimming Styles in 6-9-Year-Old Children.

The aim of this study was to identify the existence of some relationships between certain psychomotor behaviors, which we consider specific to swimming, and learning to execute the technique of some swimming styles (front crawl and backstroke). The study was carried out for 10 months and included 76 children (40 boys and 36 girls) aged between 6 and 9 years who practice recreational swimming in a city in Romania. Several tools were used: the Tapping test for manual dexterity, the Goodenough test for body schema, the Flamingo test for static balance, and the horizontal buoyancy test for body balance on the water. The results indicated better ratings on all psychomotor behaviors analyzed according to gender (in favor of girls compared to boys). The levels of all analyzed psychomotor behaviors have a direct relationship to the subjects' age. Also, we identified moderate positive correlations for manual dexterity (rs = 0.63 in the front crawl style; rs = 0.57 in the backstroke style) and strong correlations for body schema, static balance and buoyancy, coordination with the learning of the two swimming styles (r or rs between 0.77 and 0.85). In conclusion, psychomotor behaviors can be predictors for learning swimming styles.