RESUMO
The importance of physical activity has been widely demonstrated both in clinics and in sports. One of the new frontier training programs is high-intensity functional training (HIFT). The immediate effects of HIFT on the psychomotor and cognitive performance of well-trained people are still not clear. This paper aims to evaluate the immediate effects induced by HIFT on blood lactate levels, physical performance in terms of body stability and jump ability, and cognitive performance in terms of reaction time. Nineteen well-trained participants were enrolled in the experimental studies and asked to execute six repetitions of a circuit training. Data were gathered both in a pre-training session and after each one of the circuit repetitions. An immediate significant increase with respect to the baseline was observed during the first repetition, with a further increase after the third one. No effects on jump ability were found, whereas a deterioration in body stability was found. Positive immediate effects on cognitive performance in terms of accuracy and speed in task execution were assessed. The findings can be exploited by trainers during coaching to optimize the design of training programs.
Assuntos
Treinamento Intervalado de Alta Intensidade , Esportes , Humanos , Adulto , Exercício Físico , CogniçãoRESUMO
The aim of this study was to evaluate how the management of children admitted with headache to a Pediatric Emergency Department, was modified by the introduction of the Second International Classification of Headache Disorders ( ICHD-II) published in 2004. The complexity and average costs of the services provided to patients in 2002 and 2011 were compared. The results revealed a decrease in the number of tests performed and in-hospital admissions. However, tests were more complex, and an increase in requests of specialist advice was observed. We hypothesized that this change may be related to the introduction of ICHD-II, which suggests a more rational approach to the child with headache and a better use of hospital resources.
Assuntos
Grupos Diagnósticos Relacionados , Gerenciamento Clínico , Serviço Hospitalar de Emergência , Transtornos da Cefaleia/classificação , Transtornos da Cefaleia/terapia , Pediatria , Criança , Custos e Análise de Custo , Testes Diagnósticos de Rotina/economia , Testes Diagnósticos de Rotina/estatística & dados numéricos , Serviço Hospitalar de Emergência/economia , Serviço Hospitalar de Emergência/estatística & dados numéricos , Transtornos da Cefaleia/economia , Custos Hospitalares , Hospitais Universitários/economia , Hospitais Universitários/estatística & dados numéricos , Humanos , Itália , Medicina , Admissão do Paciente/estatística & dados numéricos , Pediatria/economia , Pediatria/organização & administração , Radiografia/economia , Radiografia/estatística & dados numéricos , Encaminhamento e Consulta/economia , Encaminhamento e Consulta/estatística & dados numéricos , Alocação de Recursos , Estudos Retrospectivos , Procedimentos DesnecessáriosRESUMO
There is no evidence of seasonal variation in visits to clinics dedicated to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Italy, nor of changes after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. An observational, retrospective, multicentric study was conducted to record and analyze all the visits to the STI clinics of the Dermatology Units of the University Hospitals of Ferrara and Bologna and of the Infectious Disease Unit of Ferrara, Italy, between January 2016 and November 2021. Overall, 11.733 visits were registered over a 70-month study period (63.7% males, mean age 34.5 ± 12.8 yrs). The mean number of monthly visits significantly decreased from the advent of the pandemic (136) compared to before (177). In the pre-pandemic period, visits to STI clinics increased in the autumn/winter months when compared to spring/summer, while the trend was the opposite in the pandemic period. Thus, during the pandemic, both an overall significant reduction in visits to STI clinics and a reversal in their seasonality were observed. These trends affected males and females equally. The marked decrease, mostly found in the pandemic winter months, can be linked to the "lockdown"/self-isolation ordinances and social distancing measures during the colder months, coinciding with the spread of the COVID-19 infection, which limited the opportunities for meeting and socializing.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to analyse the frequency of beta1 and/or beta2 adrenergic receptor polymorphisms in patients with takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC). METHODS AND RESULTS: beta1 and/or beta2 adrenergic receptor polymorphisms in 61 patients with TTC were compared with 109 controls. The beta1 adrenoreceptor (amino acid position 389) genotype frequencies were significantly different in the two groups; assuming a recessive model for the allelic variant coding for Arg on this position, the odds ratio was 3.14, 95% Cl 1.55-6.37 (P = 0.0015). The beta2 adrenoreceptor amino acid position 27 genotype was significantly different and assuming a recessive model for the allelic variant coding for Gln on this position, the odds ratio was 0.29, 95% Cl 0.12-0.74 (P = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed for the first time an association between TTC phenotype and beta1 adrenoreceptor gene polymorphisms. Beta adrenoreceptors gene polymorphisms are probably disease modifiers, and any risk estimate should be based on a combination of genotypes and on interactions with other genes and environmental features.
Assuntos
Polimorfismo Genético , Receptores Adrenérgicos beta 1/genética , Receptores Adrenérgicos beta 2/genética , Cardiomiopatia de Takotsubo/genética , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Feminino , Genótipo , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Razão de ChancesRESUMO
Graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by a solvothermal synthesis method using sodium and ethanol. A sequence of pyrolysis, washing and purification steps was developed for the total removal of all by-products. The first pyrolysis step is essential to obtain graphitic forms of carbon while a washing and a second pyrolysis step further improved the graphenic structures obtained via the reduction of OH/COOH and C-O groups and the attendant increase in C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bonding (sp2 hybridization). Two purification processes were employed to remove sodium carbonate (by-product), i.e. vacuum filtration and centrifugation, but the latter produced a more stable GO product, typically with a few-layer (ca. 3 nm) stack and relatively long platelets (up to ca. 1.3 µm). The functionality of this GO was demonstrated by preparing composites of it with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL). Some of the GO was arranged in flower-like domains dispersed in the PCL matrix. The crystalline content of PCL decreased on addition of GO, though the dynamic modulus of PCL increased and an electrical percolation at 0.5 vol% GO was obtained, manifest by a â¼104 increase in electrical conductivity (in an overall increase of â¼105 achieved at >1 vol%), more than sufficient for anti-static applications.
RESUMO
2D Boron Nitride Nano-sheets (BNNS) were prepared using a high-pressure homogenisation process to exfoliate bulk hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). The effectiveness of this process was studied by characterising bulk h-BN and BNNS post-processing using numerous techniques. The BNNS produced was composed of a mixture of sheets having lengths on the nanometre (nm) scale, but lateral thicknesses on the micron (µm) length scale. The product was a macro-porous material containing slit-like pores with a surface area of 170 m2 g-1. It had a polycrystalline structure with d002 = 0.335 nm and L002 = 2 nm. From the sharp E2g peak in the Raman spectrum at 1360 cm-1 (FWHM = 12.5 cm-1), the sheets had a low defect density and were highly exfoliated. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies detected B-OH and N-H groups on the BNNS surface and the presence of residual surfactant. Contact angle measurements (60°± 3° (0 s); 40°± 2° (10 s)) confirmed a hydrophilic surface. The BNNS was thermally stable under oxidative conditions up to 323 °C.
RESUMO
In our hospitals, diagnostic and therapeutic unbloody technologies allow the development of day care services in substitution for usual hospitalization. The Day Service, as like other daily services, is an organization of the outpatient structure, combining day care and simple services, into a complex clinical situation. A complex outpatient treatment (profile) identifies an "outpatient standard package" in accordance to a specific pathology or diagnostic symptomatology. The hospital clinician is responsible of the possible path as patient's occasion may require. Facilitation of burocratic procedure and more clinical appropriatness for outpatient care represent the best model of welfare practice. Reduction of many medically "improper" cases is another goal reached in this project. The Day Service model, nowadays present in the National Health Service as well, has been born in the Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria of Ferrara, from diagnostic-therapeutic and economic uniform criteria of procedure packages to complex patients.
Assuntos
Assistência Ambulatorial , Hospital Dia , Pacientes Ambulatoriais , Assistência Ambulatorial/economia , Assistência Ambulatorial/organização & administração , Assistência Ambulatorial/tendências , Hospital Dia/economia , Hospital Dia/organização & administração , Hospital Dia/tendências , Humanos , Itália , Satisfação do Paciente , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
Like many other serious acute cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) shows seasonal variation, being most frequent in the winter. We sought to investigate whether age, gender, and hypertension influence this pattern. We studied 4014 (2259 male and 1755 female) consecutive patients with AMI presenting to St. Anna Hospital of Ferrara, Italy between January 1998 and December 2004. Some 1131 (28.2%) of the AMI occurred in persons <65 yrs of age, and 2883 (71.8%) in those > or =65 yrs of age. AMI was over-represented in males (82% in the <65 yr group vs. 56.6% in the > or =65 yr group (chi2=13.99; p<0.001). Hypertension had been previously documented in 964 (24%) of the cases. There were 691 (17.2%) fatal case outcomes; fatal outcomes were significantly higher among the 3054 normotensive (n=614 or 20.1%) than the 964 hypertensive cases (n=77 or 8%; chi2=74.94, p<0.001). AMIs were most frequent in the winter (n=1076 or 26.8% of all the events) and least in the summer (n=924 or 23.0% of all the events; chi2=12.36, p=0.007). The greatest number of AMIs occurred in December (n=379 or 9.44%), and the lowest number in September (n=293 or 7.3%; chi2=11.1, p=0.001). Inferential chronobiological (Cosinor) analysis identified a significant annual pattern in AMI in those > or =65 yrs of age, with a peak between December and February-January for the total sample (p<0.005), January for the sample of males (p=0.014), February for fatal infarctions (p=0.017), and December for non-fatal infarctions (p=0.006). No such temporal variations were detected in any of these categories in those <65 yrs of age. The annual pattern in AMI was also verified by Cosinor analysis in the following hypertensive subgroups: hypertensive males (n=552: January, p=0.014), non-fatal infarctions in hypertensive patients (n=887: January, p=0.018), and elderly normotensives (n=1556: November, p=0.007).