Effects of resistance training on cardiovascular health in non-obese active adolescents

AIM:To determine the benefits of a 10-wk resistance training programme on cardiovascular health in nonobese and active adolescents.METHODS:This is a pragmatic randomised controlled intervention.The study was carried out in a Hong Kong Government secondary school.Thirty-eight lean and active boys and girls were randomised to either the resistance training group or the control group.Students in the resistance training group received in-school 10-wk supervised resistance training twice per week,with each session lasting 70 min.Main outcome measures taken before and after training included brachial endothelial dependent flow-mediated dilation,body composition,fasting serum lipids,fasting glucose and insulin,high sensitive C-reactive protein,24-h ambulatory blood pressure and aerobic fitness.RESULTS:The only training related change was in endothelial dependent flow-mediated dilation which increased from 8.5%to 9.8%.A main effect of time and an interaction(P<0.005) indicated that this improvement was a result of the 10-wk resistance training.Main effects for time(P<0.05) in a number of anthropometric,metabolic and vascular variables were noted;however,there were no significant interactions indicating the change was more likely an outcome of normal growth and development as opposed to a training effect.CONCLUSION:Ten weeks of resistance training in school appears to have some vascular benefit in active,lean children.

Parental behaviors and sleep/wake patterns of infants and toddlers in Hong Kong, China

Background:To describe the sleep patterns of children below 36 months in Hong Kong,and evaluate the associations between parental behaviors and childhood sleep/wake patterns.Methods:Parents of 1049 infants and toddlers completed an internet-based expanded version of the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire.Results:Total sleep duration (P<0.001),frequency (P<0.001) and duration (P<0.001) of nocturnal awakenings decreased with age,whereas the longest sleep duration (P<0.001) and nocturnal sleep duration (P<0.001) increased with age.Children who room-or bed-shared with parents had later bedtimes (P<0.001),but similar sleep duration compared with those who had a separate sleep location.Falling asleep independently was associated with longer nocturnal sleep duration (P<0.001) and less sleep awakenings (P<0.001).Full-time employment of parents was associated with shorter total sleep duration of children (P<0.001).Although breastfeeding was associated with more nocturnal awakenings (P<0.001),no association was detected between breastfeeding and shorter sleep duration in children.Conclusions:As infants and toddlers develop,their sleep consolidates.Falling asleep independently was associated with longer nocturnal sleep duration and fewer sleep awakenings,whereas sleep location was not.This is an important finding,especially for families with limited living space where parent/ child room-or bed-sharing cannot be avoided.

Quantitative and qualitative subgenomic RNA profiles of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory samples: A comparison between Omicron BA.2 and non-VOC-D614G

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants are notorious for their transmissibility,but little is known about their subgenomic RNA(sgRNA)expression.This study applied RNA-seq to delineate the quantitative and qualitative profiles of canonical sgRNA of 118 respiratory samples collected from patients infected with Omicron BA.2 and compared with 338 patients infected with non-variant of concern(non-VOC)-D614G.A unique characteristic profile depicted by the relative abundance of 9 canonical sgRNAs was reproduced by both BA.2 and non-VOCD614G regardless of host gender,age and presence of pneumonia.Remarkably,such profile was lost in samples with low viral load,suggesting a potential application of sgRNA pattern to indicate viral activity of individual patient at a specific time point.A characteristic qualitative profile of canonical sgRNAs was also reproduced by both BA.2 and non-VOC-D614G.The presence of a full set of canonical sgRNAs carried a coherent correlation with crude viral load(AUC¼0.91,95%CI 0.88–0.94),and sgRNA ORF7b was identified to be the best surrogate marker allowing feasible routine application in characterizing the infection status of individual patient.Further potentials in using sgRNA as a target for vaccine and antiviral development are worth pursuing.