Design of a randomised controlled trial of adapted physical activity during adjuvant treatment for localised breast cancer: the PASAPAS feasibility study.

INTRODUCTION: After a diagnosis of localised breast cancer, overweight, obesity and weight gain are negatively associated with prognosis. In contrast, maintaining an optimal weight through a balanced diet combined with regular physical activity appears to be effective protective behaviour against comorbidity or mortality after a breast cancer diagnosis. The primary aim of the Programme pour une Alimentation Saine et une Activité Physique Adaptée pour les patientes atteintes d'un cancer du Sein (PASAPAS) randomised controlled trial is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing an intervention of adapted physical activity (APA) for 6 months concomitant with the prescription of a first line of adjuvant chemotherapy. Secondary aims include assessing the acceptability of the intervention, compliance to the programme, process implementation, patients' satisfaction, evolution of biological parameters and the medicoeconomic impact of the intervention. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study population consists of 60 women eligible for adjuvant chemotherapy after a diagnosis of localised invasive breast cancer. They will be recruited during a 2-year inclusion period and randomly allocated between an APA intervention arm and a control arm following a 2:1 ratio. All participants should benefit from personalised dietetic counselling and patients allocated to the intervention arm will be offered an APA programme of two to three weekly sessions of Nordic walking and aerobic fitness. During the 6-month intervention and 6-month follow-up, four assessments will be performed including blood draw, anthropometrics and body composition measurements, and questionnaires about physical activity level, diet, lifestyle factors, psychological criteria, satisfaction with the intervention and medical data. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was approved by the French Ethics Committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes Sud-Est IV) and the national agencies for biomedical studies and for privacy. All participants will give written informed consent. The study findings will be disseminated through the scientific public and serve as a foundation for future randomised controlled trials of efficacy.

[French validation of the Anger Rumination Scale]. / Validation française de l'échelle de rumination de colère (ARS).

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to propose a French version of the Anger Rumination Scale (ARS). The main contribution of this scale is to evaluate cognitive responses involved in rumination experience related to anger. The rumination experience is assessed through four scales: angry afterthoughts, thoughts of revenge, angry memories and understanding of causes. Because anger rumination is related to anger experience, it is usually understood to be a dysfunctional or unconstructive behavior. However, because the rumination involves cognitive activity, it can be assimilated as a cognitive strategy to cope with a negative event in a specific context. The ARS seems to be useful in understanding the rumination effects both on anger experience as well as on aggressive behaviors. METHOD: The original scale was translated following scientific recommendations for cultural adaptation of questionnaires. Six hundred and seventeen voluntary undergraduate students were asked to complete the ARS-French version. Among these 617 students: 305 completed the French ARS version twice over a 1-month period to test the reliability of the French version; 361 filled out both the French ARS version and the STAXI-II; 342 filled out both the French ARS version and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ). The Total Sample was randomly split into two groups. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with group I's data. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with group II's data. RESULTS: The EFA revealed a four factors solution close to the original version. The CFA confirmed a good model fit for the original four factors solution (χ(2)146: 302.14 CFI: 0.96 RMSEA: 0.058). A one factor model was tested, but was not retained. The ARS's internal consistency coefficients replicated those of the literature: alpha coefficients ranged from 0.60 to 0.86, and test-retest correlation coefficients ranged from 0.65 to 0.70. External validity indices conformed to previous studies, both for gender differences and for relationship with STAXI-II and AQ. CONCLUSION: Results of the present study support the validity and the reliability of the French version of the ARS. This validation provides a multifactorial scale for assessing anger rumination. This scale could be used, for example, to explore processes leading to aggressive behavior in several contexts in which overt behavior is prohibited or detrimental to performance.

Human Brucella canis outbreak linked to infection in dogs.

The zoonotic risk of Brucella canis has been considered fairly high for persons who handle breeding dogs in kennels or are exposed to infected animals. Transmission to humans in other circumstances has been thought to be rare. We describe an uncommon outbreak of brucellosis caused by B. canis which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first reported in the literature. This outbreak involved six persons (three children and three adults), a bitch and three puppies which had close daily contact with the family. The clinical symptoms of the index case led to an erroneous diagnosis and the infection would have gone undiagnosed if culture had not been positive. This report aims to increase awareness of medical personnel of the need to order screening tests for children, immunodeficient persons or pregnant women presenting with fever of unknown origin, unexplained spleen or liver enlargement or other systemic signs. The emerging zoonotic potential of this disease in urban areas and the need to coordinate canine brucellosis surveillance systems should be evaluated.

Effect of traditional judo training on aggressiveness among young boys.

This study assessed the effect of one year of traditional judo training on aggressiveness among young boys. 27 primary school pupils and 28 judo students were asked to complete the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire at two times 1 year apart. Analysis showed that judoka were more aggressive (had higher scores on Total Aggression, Verbal Aggression, and Anger) than the control group after one year of training, even if variations in aggressiveness were not significant. So, results do not support the view that judo training leads to less aggressiveness in a sample of children this young.

Do competitive martial arts attract aggressive children?

The purpose of the present study was to ascertain whether children beginning martial arts training were more aggressive than their peers. 150 8-yr.-old children were administered the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Analysis showed that children beginning martial arts training did not score more aggressive than their peers but scored higher on the Anger scale. This difference, however, appeared only in children practicing judo.