Development and psychometric evaluation of a health questionnaire on back care knowledge in daily life physical activities for adolescent students.

PURPOSE: The most relevant musculoskeletal problems are related with back health. Study instruments have been designed for adult patient population but not for school-aged children. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a questionnaire to assess adolescents' level of back care knowledge in daily life physical activities. METHODS: Participants were 171 adolescents from secondary schools. The questionnaire was made up of 24 questions. A Delphi method was used for test validation. Cronbach's alpha, test-retest, Wilcoxon signed-rank and Bland-Altman graph were used to evaluate the instrument reliability. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha (α = 0.82) showed a strong internal consistency. Test-retest was excellent for total score (0.76) and moderate to excellent (0.54-0.76) for seven score conceptual categories with good results of standard error of the mean and minimal detectable change. No differences were found between test 1 and test 2 except for the standing posture scores. CONCLUSION: The questionnaire showed acceptable psychometric values. Results showed that this questionnaire is a good instrument to assess adolescent's back care knowledge.

Are Spanish adolescents who actively commute to and from school more active in other domains? A spatiotemporal investigation.

We examined the association between mode of commuting to/from school (i.e., walking, multimodal, and motorized-vehicle) and movement behaviours in several space-time domains (i.e., total day, home, school, transport, and other locations). Walking to and/or from school was associated with higher MVPA in all space-time domains except home, where no associations were found. After subtracting commuting time to/from school from total day domain, the associations in favour of walking to/from school were maintained compared to those using other commuting modes, and in transport domain these associations dissipated. The study suggests the importance of promoting walking to/from school for increasing MVPA levels.

Leisure-time physical activity and psychological well-being in university students.

An analysis of psychological well-being (self-esteem and subjective vitality) of 639 Spanish university students was performed, while accounting for the amount of leisure-time physical activity. The Spanish versions of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Subjective Vitality Scale were employed. Participants were divided into four groups (Low, Moderate, High, and Very high) depending on estimation of energy expenditure in leisure-time physical activity. Men and women having higher physical activity rated higher mean subjective vitality; however, differences in self-esteem were observed only in men, specifically between Very high and the other physical activity groups.

Psychosocial and Environmental Correlates of Sedentary Behaviors in Spanish Children.

Purpose. To evaluate children's psychosocial and environmental factors associated with sedentary behavior (SB). Method. The study involved a total of 420 children (mean 9.2 years; 52.9% girls) from the community of Madrid, Spain. SB and physical activity (PA) were objectively measured using accelerometers. TV viewing and potential correlates were assessed by questionnaire. Mixed-model regression analysis, adjusted for clustering within school locations, evaluated the relation of each independent variable with SBs. Results. Girls showed higher levels of SB than boys, whereas boys reported more TV viewing (p < .001 in all cases). Regression analysis showed that MVPA levels were negatively related to objective SB measurement in both boys and girls (p < .001). Parent and friend support to PA were negatively associated with SB on weekdays in boys and girls, respectively (p < .05). In the boys' group, parental professional level was a positive predictor of SB on weekend days (p = .011). Boys with more positive neighborhood perceptions spent less time watching TV (p < .001), whereas mother's leisure-time PA level was a negative correlate of TV viewing in girls' group (p < .01). Conclusion. Different psychosocial and environmental correlates of SB were identified. Present findings are promising targets for interventions to improve children's health.

[Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in a population of pregnant women in Cuba]. / Prevalencia de anticuerpos anti-toxoplasma gondii en una población de mujeres embarazadas en Cuba.

Congenital toxoplasmosis is produced by intrauterine infection of the fetus with Toxoplasma gondii from a mother infected for the first time during her pregnancy and its clinical manifestations depend on the gestational age at the time of infection. This disease is considered a health problem in developed and underdeveloped countries and its early diagnosis is very important as part of the medical care to pregnant women. In this paper periodic screening of anti T. gondii antibodies was carried out in pregnant women from 8 health areas in two peripheral regions of the city Havana, Cuba during 1990 and 1991, by an indirect ELISA. In the first test performed before 12 weeks of pregnancy of was found that 70.9% of the women tested presented anti T. gondii antibodies. The remaining 1606 pregnant women (29.1%) were considered potentially susceptible, so the test was repeated during the second and third trimesters. Only 16(1%) of the negative patients showed antibody titers in the second or third test, confirming that they acquired the infection for the first time during pregnancy.

Entrenamiento en equipos automatizados de laboratorio clínico de los centros de alta tecnología en Venezuela: [revisión] / Training in clinical laboratory automated equipments of high tech in Venezuela: [review]

Se presentaron los elementos fundamentales de un programa de entrenamiento de posgrado dirigido a los profesionales cubanos para la operación de los equipos automatizados que están siendo instalados en los centros médicos diagnósticos de alta tecnología en Venezuela.

Main elements of a postgraduate training program were introduced, which is aimed to Cuban professional for manage of automated equipments being installed in high tech diagnosis medical centers in Venezuela.

[The prevalence of the surface antigen of the hepatitis B virus (HBsAg) in pregnant women in Alicante]. / Prevalencia del antígeno de superficie del virus de la hepatitis B (HBsAg) en gestantes de Alicante.

To assess the prevalence of the hepatitis B virus carrier status in pregnant women from the population of Alicante and to evaluate the need of screening studies in future programs of attention to pregnant women, 550 women at the final stage of their pregnancies who were admitted to the Alicante Hospital were evaluated with a questionnaire and the determination of specific markers. Our results disclose a lower prevalence (0.54%) than other studies; it was always associated with risk groups and indicators of high infectiousness were absent. Therefore, before other results are available, screening for the carrier state in all pregnant women does not appear justified except in risk groups. These results are limited to the city of Alicante, where most women attend the Hospital at the final stage of their pregnancies.