Effect of an educational intervention in "spirituality and health" on knowledge, attitudes, and skills of students in health-related areas: A controlled randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: To date there have been no randomized studies that assess whether "Spirituality and Health" (S/H) programs are, indeed, effective, or not. We sought to evaluate if an intervention in teaching S/H fosters competence changes in healthcare students. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was carried out. Students were randomized into two groups: an Intervention Group (a theoretical-practical course in S/H) and a control group (waiting list). Students' S/H knowledge, attitudes, and skills (through a simulated patient) were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 49 students were evaluated. Students in the intervention group received higher scores on knowledge tests, felt more comfortable and prepared to talk about religious/spiritual beliefs with patients, more readily recognized importance of hospital chaplains, and more frequently held the opinion that addressing spirituality is important. Furthermore, a breaking down of S/H barriers was identified. Students also demonstrated more ability in obtaining a patient's spiritual history when compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: There were some differences on knowledge, attitudes, and spiritual history skills between students who participated in the S/H teaching strategy and students who have not been exposed to the theme. These results might foster discussion for the development of new educational strategies about the subject.

Effects of Creatine Supplementation on the Myostatin Pathway and Myosin Heavy Chain Isoforms in Different Skeletal Muscles of Resistance-Trained Rats.

Creatine has been used to maximize resistance training effects on skeletal muscles, including muscle hypertrophy and fiber type changes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of creatine supplementation on the myostatin pathway and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms in the slow- and fast-twitch muscles of resistance-trained rats. Twenty-eight male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: a sedentary control (Cc), sedentary creatine supplementation (Cr), resistance training (Tc), and resistance training combined with creatine supplementation (Tcr). Cc and Tc received standard commercial chow; Cr and Tcr received a 2% creatine-supplemented diet. Tc and Tcr performed a resistance training protocol on a ladder for 12 weeks. Morphology, MyHC isoforms, myostatin, follistatin, and ActRIIB protein expressions were analyzed in soleus and white gastrocnemius portion samples. The results were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test. Tc and Tcr exhibited higher performance than their control counterparts. Resistance training increased the ratio between muscle and body weight, the cross-sectional area, as well as the interstitial collagen fraction. Resistance training alone increased MyHC IIx and follistatin while reducing myostatin (p < 0.001) and ActRIIB (p = 0.040) expressions in the gastrocnemius. Resistance training induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy and interstitial remodeling, which are more evident in the gastrocnemius muscle. The effects were not impacted by creatine supplementation.

Epidemiological profile of soccer-related injuries in a state Brazilian championship: An observational study of 2014-15 season.

BACKGROUND: Soccer related injuries are often reported in studies, but epidemiological research on this theme is rare in Brazil, Furthermore, the conditions in which athletes have returned to sports practice, namely, either symptomatic or asymptomatic, have been neglected in research. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological features of injuries among professional Brazilian soccer players in relation to location, type, mechanism, severity, recurrence, treatment and, lastly, symptoms in return to sport. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive and cross-sectional, observational study. STUDY CENTER: School of Physical Therapy of the University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. METHODS: 116 male professional athletes of teams from a Brazilian state championship were interviewed and information about injuries was recorded using a retrospective reported morbidity questionnaire. Data were analyzed in mean ±â€¯SD for physical characteristics and sports practice history in absolute and relative frequencies (chi-square test with Bonferroni's correction) for characterization of soccer injuries in terms of type, location, severity, recurrence and symptoms in return to sport. RESULTS: The numbers of injuries per athlete and per injured athlete were 0.92 and 1.43 respectively. The injuries of muscle-tendon unit and the joint types localized on lower limbs constituted the most important clinical occurrences with significant difference both in relation to other types (p < 0.05). Moderate and severe injuries were the most frequent occurrences. In relation to mechanisms for each type of injury, body contact was at least three times more responsible for injury cases. This type of mechanism was associated with a significantly greater impairment of joint structures. Concerning occurrence and recurrence of cases, the number of recurrent injuries of the muscle-tendon unit reached about 7.5% of the first-time injuries, while the number of joint recurrent injuries integrated almost 40% of the first-time cases. Significant differences between first-time injuries and recurrent injuries were found only for muscle-tendon and joint structures (p < 0.05), while significant differences among the type of injuries within each type of occurrence (first-time or recurrent injuries) were also found between muscle-tendon and joint injuries (p < 0.05). In relation to athletes with symptoms, in return to sport, 77.6% of them were treated for their injuries but more than half of them returned with symptoms still present when compared to those who returned without any symptoms. Among athletes who did not receive treatment, a lower percentage (58.3%) returned to the sport with symptoms still present. Significant associations between treatment and symptomatology were not found.