Activities of daily living, self-efficacy and motor skill related fitness and the interrelation in children with moderate and severe Developmental Coordination Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are diagnosed based on poor motor skills that impact their daily activities. However, this may also lead to lower predilection and participation in physical activities and a higher risk to develop health problems. OBJECTIVE: To determine motor skill related levels in children with moderate and severe DCD and compare that to typically developing children (TD). The study also aimed to determine the level of activities of daily living (ADL) as reported by their parent and self-efficacy as reported by the children. Lastly, the relation of motor skill related fitness, ADL, and self-efficacy has been examined. METHODS: A cross-sectional study has compared TD children (n = 105) and children with DCD (n = 109; 45 moderate DCD and 64 severe DCD) from elementary schools in Tunisia between 7 and 10 years of age. The DCDDaily-Questionnaire and Children's Self-perceptions of Adequacy in and Predilection for Physical Activity Questionnaire have been used to determine ADL and adequacy towards physical activity, respectively. The PERF-FIT has been used to measure motor skill related fitness levels. RESULTS: Large group differences (p = 0.001) were found for ADL and all domains of self-efficacy between TD and DCD children. However, ADL and self-efficacy were not different between moderate and severe DCD. Motor skill related fitness was significantly lower (p = 0.01) for children with DCD than TD children, and between children with moderate and severe DCD. The relation between self-efficacy and DCDDaily-Q was different in the two DCD groups. Slow motor learning was associated with lower perceived enjoyment in physical education in the moderate DCD group, and with lower perceived adequacy in physical education in the severe DCD group. CONCLUSIONS: Children with DCD participate and enjoy physical activity less than their peers. This combination of lower participation, lower predilection to physical activity and lowered motor skill-related fitness is a concern for the present and future health status of children with DCD.

Spatial Accuracy and Variability in Dart Throwing in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder and the Relationship with Ball Skill Items.

The present study aimed to examine precision and variability in dart throwing performance and the relationships between these outcomes and bouncing, throwing and catching tasks in children with and without DCD. Children between the ages of 8 and 10 years (n = 165) were classified according to results obtained on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) and divided into three groups: 65 children with severe DCD (s-DCD), 45 with moderate DCD (m-DCD) and 55 typically developing children (TD). All children performed the dart throwing test and the ball skill items of the Performance and Fitness Test (PERF-FIT). The accuracy and variability of dart throwing tasks were significantly different between TD and s-DCD (p < 0.01), and also between m-DCD and s-DCD (p < 0.01). Participants with s-DCD were also found to perform significantly worse on all PERF-FIT ball skill items than m-DCD (p < 0.001), and m-DCD were significantly poorer than TD (p < 0.001). The dart score and coefficient of variation of the long-distance task appear to be significant predictors for the ball skills and explain between 24 to 29% of their variance. In conclusion, poor results in aiming tasks using darts in children with DCD corroborate with the explanation of deficits in predictive control since the tasks require ballistic movements.

The Impact of Wearing Different Face Masks on Vigorous Physical Exercise Performance and Perceived Exertion among COVID-19 Infected vs. Uninfected Female Students.

Under certain circumstances, masks are an effective and immediate solution to reduce the spread of viral infection. However, the impact of masks on the ability to perform vigorous exercise remains an area of concern. Primarily, this impact has been explored in healthy subjects, yielding contradictory findings, and little is known of it among COVID-19-infected individuals. This study examined the effects of surgical masks, N-95 masks, and unmasked conditions on the performance and perceived exertion (RPE) of infected vs. non-infected young women during high-intensity, repeated sprint exercise (5mSRT). Following a familiarization session, eighty-three (42 COVID-19-previously infected (PIG) and 43 non-infected (NIG)), female participants (age 20.02 ± 1.05 years, BMI 21.07 ± 2.1 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to one of three mask conditions: unmasked, surgical mask, or N95 mask. All participants attended three test sessions (i.e., one session for each mask condition) at least one week apart. At the beginning of each test session, data related to participants' physical activity (PA) and sleep behaviours during the previous week were collected. In each test session, participants performed the 5mSRT, during which performance indicators (best distance (BD), total distance (TD), fatigue index (FI) and percentage decrement (PD)) were collected, along with RPE. ANOVA indicated no significant main effects of Groups and Masks, and no significant interaction for Groups × Masks for BD, FI, PD, RPE and most sleep and PA behaviours (p > 0.05). For TD, the Groups × Mask interaction was significant (p = 0.031 and ƞp2 = 0.042). Posthoc analysis revealed, in the unmasked condition, there was no difference in TD between PIG and NIG (p > 0.05). However, when wearing a surgical mask, PIG covered lower TD compared to NIG (p < 0.05). Additionally, different types of masks did not affect TD in NIG, while PIG performed the worst using the surgical mask (p < 0.05). These results suggest post-COVID-19 individuals can maintain physical fitness through regular exercise (i.e., sport science curricula) in unmasked conditions, but not when wearing a surgical mask. Furthermore, the impact of different types of face masks on physical performance seems to be minimal, particularly in uninfected populations; future research is warranted to further explore this impact in post-COVID conditions.

The Impact of Exercise Training Intensity on Physiological Adaptations and Insulin Resistance in Women with Abdominal Obesity.

Abdominal obesity has emerged globally as a major public health issue due to its high prevalence and morbidity. The benefits of physical exercise among the obese population are well documented. However, the optimal exercise intensity for reducing body fat and preventing insulin resistance and metabolic disorders is still under debate. This study aimed to examine the effects of three different intensities of combined endurance and strength training programs on anthropometric variables, physiological and muscular adaptations, and insulin sensitivity. Forty-three obese young women (age 26.4 ± 4.7 years, BMI 33.1 ± 2.5 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: a control group (G0), a moderate-intensity training group (G50, exercising brisk walking at 50% heart rate reserve HRR), a high-intensity training group (G75, exercise jogging at 75% HRR), and an alternated-intensity training group (G50/75, exercise brisk-walking/jogging at 50−75% HRR) with additional strength training once a week for each group. Body composition, waist circumference (WC), fasting blood glucose, insulin sensitivity and resistance (Homa-IR), resting heart rate (RHR), 6-min walk distance (6MWD), 1-repetition maximum (1-RM), and time to exhaustion (TTE) at 45% and 75% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) for both the flexor and extensor muscle groups of the knees, were recorded before and after three months of exercise training. All training groups showed significant decreases in body mass, BMI, total body fat, body fat percentage, WC, abdominal and visceral mass (p < 0.001), with a greater reduction of body mass and BMI in G75 (p < 0.05). Lean mass increased significantly only in G50/75 (p < 0.05). The insulin sensitivity and Homa-IR decreased in the three training groups (p < 0.01), with greater enhanced resistance in G50 compared to G75 and G50/75 (p < 0.05). In contrast, there were no pre-post changes in all groups for fasting blood glucose (p > 0.05). 1-RM and TTE of the knee flexor and extensor muscles were improved in the three groups (p < 0.01), with greater improvement in G50/75 for 1RM and G75 in most of the TTE parameters (p < 0.05). RHR decreased and 6MWD increased significantly in the three training groups (p < 0.01), with greater 6MWD improvement in G75 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the three training intensities seem to generate benefits in terms of body composition, physiological and muscular adaptations, and insulin resistance. High training intensity resulted in greater improvements in body mass, BMI, and endurance and strength, whereas moderate training intensity resulted in greater improvements of insulin resistance and homo-IR. Following alternate-intensity training, greater improvements were observed in lean mass and maximal strength performance.

Listening to Music and Playing Activities during Recreation between Lessons Regenerate Children's Cognitive Performance at Different Times of Day.

The interruption of learning processes by breaks filled with diverse activities is common in everyday life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the time of day (TOD) of playing with or without music during recess on cognitive performance regeneration among students aged between 11 and 12. Twenty-seven volunteer children (aged 12 ± 0.6 years) completed four trials at 09h45, 10h15, 14h45, and 15h15. Each test session was separated by recreation between classroom lessons with different conditions: music only (MSC), playing only (PAY), music and playing (MSC-PAY), and without music and playing (NON). During each session, oral temperature, reaction time (RT), and constant attention (CA) were measured. For all parameters, the ANOVA revealed a significant effect of the type of activity. However, no significant effect of the TOD and no significant interaction of type of activity × TOD were reported. The Bonferroni post hoc test revealed that Δ-core temperature was significantly higher during PAY and MSC-PAY compared to NON (p < 0.05). Δ-attention was higher during MSC, PAY, and MSC-PAY compared to NON (p < 0.001). Δ-attention was lower during MSC (p < 0.05), PAY (p < 0.05), and MSC-PAY (p < 0.01) compared to NON. Therefore, playing, listening to music, and playing while listening to music at recess improve the child's ability to regenerate cognitive performance regardless of the TOD.