Divergent Gut Microbiota: Archaeal and Bacterial Signatures Unveil Unique Patterns in Colombian Cyclists Compared to Weightlifters and Non-Athletes.

Engagement in physical activity, across various sports, promotes a diverse microbiota in active individuals. This study examines the gut microbiota of Colombian athletes, specifically weightlifters (n = 16) and road cyclists (n = 13), compared to non-athletes (n = 15). Using Kruskal-Wallis tests, the physical activity level of a group of non-athletic individuals and the sports experience of a group of professional athletes is analyzed. The median age of participants is 24 years, comprising 25 men and 19 women. The microbiota is collected using fecal samples. Participants provided these samples during their pre-competitive stage, specifically during the concentration phase occurring two weeks prior to national competitions. This timing is chosen to capture the microbial composition during a period of heightened physical preparation. Questionnaire responses and microbial composition assessments identify disparities among groups. Microbial composition analysis explores core microbiome, abundance, and taxonomy using Pavian, MicrobiomeAnalyst 2.0, and GraPhlAn. ANCOM-BC2 reveals differentially abundant species. Road cyclists exhibit decreased Bacteria and increased Archaea abundance. Phylum-level variations included Planctomycetes, Acidobacteria, and Proteobacteria, while Bacteroidetes prevailed. Key families influencing gut microbiota are Bacteroidaceae, Muribaculaceae, and Selenomonadaceae. Weightlifters exhibit unique viral and archaeal community connections, while cyclists showed specialized microbial interplay influenced by endurance exercise. Correlation network analysis emphasizes distinctive microbial interactions within athlete groups, shedding light on the impact of physical activities on gut microbiota and athlete health.

Hemifacial microsomia: treatment alternatives-a systematic review of literature.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review literature on therapeutic options for treating hemifacial microsomia (HFM), in young patients with growth potential, classifying and comparing the different dentofacial treatment methods. STUDY DESIGN: An independent review of databases (Scopus, Embase, Ovid, Cochrane Library and PubMed) following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), conducted by four evaluators. The protocol of this study was registered in International prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO), under the number CRD42021293076. RESULTS: Between 1970-2021, a total number of 1137 articles were published of which 27 were included in this study according to the selection criteria: one randomized multicentric trial, two case-control studies, three case series and 21 case reports. CONCLUSIONS: The most common orthopedic treatments provide vertical stimulation of the maxillary process in the affected side. Orthodontic approaches are mainly applied for vertical correction and stabilization of the occlusal plane. Other treatment options include orthognathic surgery, osteogenic distraction, temporomandibular reconstruction and grafting. It is recommended that prospective clinical randomized controlled studies be conducted using homogeneous pediatric groups with long-term follow-up, to establish recommended evidence-based methods for treating each set of hemifacial microsomia symptoms.

Student attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues: analysis of self-talk categories.

The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the utility of using the thought-listing technique to examine participants' attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues and (b) determine the effectiveness of two new training interventions (rational and experiential) that were designed using cognitive-experiential self-theory (Epstein, 1994). Fifty participants were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions (rational training, experiential training, control group). Participants completed a thought-listing technique before and after receiving one of the theoretically based training interventions. Three judges free sorted the 2,481 collected thoughts and identified and defined 25 thought categories. Three trained judges then placed 2,426 (98%) of the thoughts into these categories. Results indicated that different categories of responses (cognitive, affective, behavioral) emerged among the individuals which provided four distinct profiles of how people thought about the topic of homosexuality. Furthermore, chi-square analyses revealed that the experiential group had changes in their thoughts after receiving the workshop. Findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

Self-regulation and school performance: is there optimal level of action-control?

Research on the self-regulatory implications of psychological control suggests that overestimations of one's capabilities may be associated with enhanced performance. We examined this hypothesis in a two-year (three-occasion) longitudinal study of 381 German school children (8-11 years of age). Controlling for gender, grade in school, prior academic achievement, and level of intelligence, we used path analysis to examine the longitudinal relations between overestimations of one's personal agency and subsequent school performance. We expected overestimations of one's agency to facilitate subsequent school performance. Furthermore, we expected that this relationship would be strongest for those with moderate overestimations of their agency. Supporting our first hypothesis, overestimations of one's capabilities were consistently associated with improvements in subsequent school performance. However, our second hypothesis was not supported. The results suggest that overestimating personal agency is one possible mechanism through which one maintains and improves performance.

Regularities in the development of children's causality beliefs about school performance across six sociocultural contexts.

We examined whether children's (Grades 2-6) causality beliefs about school performance show similar developmental profiles across 6 distinct sociocultural settings (Los Angeles, n = 657; Tokyo, n = 817; East Berlin, n = 313; West Berlin, n = 517; Moscow, n = 551; Prague, n = 768) with the Means-Ends subscale of the tripartite Control, Agency, and Means-Ends Interview. Although previous research on these same children has shown sizable differences in their self-related agency and control-expectancy beliefs, we found markedly similar developmental patterns in their beliefs about the importance of effort, ability, luck, teachers, and unknown factors as causes of school performance. These regularities in children's implicit theories of school suggest that factors such as cognitive maturation, adaptive self-regulatory processes, and commonalities in educational goals are quite uniform influences in shaping school-related causality beliefs.