Relationship between Physical Activity Level, Hepatic Steatosis Presence, Metabolic Syndrome and the Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes in Men

Cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory and metabolic disease represent 63% of all deaths worldwide and are considered the major causes of morbidity and mortality. Physical inactivity is considered a case of public health, and other behavioral and metabolic risk factors, according to WHO (2011), such as smoking, increased blood pressure, increased blood glucose, hypercholesterolemia, overweight and obesity. The Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent liver disease in adults, and can progress and be characterized as hepatic steatosis (HS) which is derived from the accumulation of lipids in hepatocytes, and histopathologic condition is more than 5% of the weight of liver. So, the purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the physical activity level and the hepatic steatosis presence, metabolic syndrome and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in men. We evaluated retrospectively medical records of 1399 men (40.7 ± 8.18 years old) who participated in the protocol of Preventive Health Check-up at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein from January to October 2011. According to the results, it is concluded that there is a positive association between low physical activity level and the presence of Hepatic steatosis. The results further demonstrate that, despite the high BMI, blood levels of the subjects remained unchanged. Even without a positive association between these variables, the results showed a high risk behavior for the development of diabetes mellitus type 2.

Energy Drinks Do Not Improve Le Parkour Performance: A Randomized Controlled Study

Le Parkour is a sport where the athletes transpose common day-to-day obstacles in the best possible way. This sport demands elements like strength, focus and decision making;elements supposedly affected by energy drinks, with performance improvement. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of energy drink ingestion on Le Parkour athlete’s performance. Twelve male amateur athletes, mean age of 23.5 ± 2.74, took part in this randomized, double-blind, placebocontrolled study. Subjects were randomly assigned to drink: 250 ml of energy drink, 500 ml of energy drink or placebo. Forty minutes after the beverage consumption, they were evaluated in a specific circuit performance test (time to complete the circuit) followed by a perceived exertion and a circuit technical difficulty evaluation. We also evaluated heart rate in 3 different moments: rest, pre-circuit and post-circuit. All variables were collected in 3 different experimental days. Time, perceived exertion and technical difficulty were higher in the first day compared to the others. Heart rate did not show a difference when we compared the days. Drinking one or two cans of an energy drink did not improve performance of Le Parkour athletes in a sport specific test. It also did not change heart rate or perceived exertion.

Effects of Semi-Ablative Fractional Radiofrequency Associated with Growth Factors in Stretch Marks: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: To investigate the effects of the association of semi-ablative fractional radiofrequency (RFF) with growth factors in stretch marks. Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial. The sample consisted of 28 female patients with complaints of gluteus or abdomen striae and divided into 2 equitable groups, named G1 (semi-ablative RFF without active principle association) and G2 (semi-ablative RFF with active principle association), being subdivided into G-1A and G-2A (abdominal applications) and G-1B and G-2B (gluteus applications). A photographic and histological analysis was performed using questionnaires about inflammation, presence of adverse effects and satisfaction of volunteers. Photographic analysis showed a reduction in the amount of striae alba in all groups. Results: The histological analysis showed an increase in fibroblast activity, collagen type I, and blood vessels, especially in the groups that associated the RFF with the active principle. In the inflammation analysis, the groups that performed intervention with active ingredients showed lower inflammatory signal. All groups had a reasonable level of satisfaction after the interventions;however, the group that used active ingredients reported greater results. Conclusion: The association of semi ablative RFF with growth factors showed a reduction in clinical inflammatory signs, mainly in the first 15 days, as well as higher collagen production, verified in 30 days, with satisfactory clinical results in all groups.

Ecological implications of twentieth century reforestation programs for the urban forests of São Paulo, Brazil: a study based on litterfall and nutrient cycling

The focus of this study was to investigate the wide use of Eucalyptus spp.,an exotic plant with high allelopathic ability,in the reforestation programs of urban parks in São Paulo City,Brazil,over the last century.To understand the implications of using Eucalyptus spp.in the city’s parks,this study aimed to compare nutrient cycling and litter decomposition between a mixed composition of litter(i.e.,native and exotic species)and the litter of a single species(i.e.,Eucalyptus).To accomplish this,newly deciduous leaves were collected from two native and two exotic species that are commonly used in the afforestation of São Paulo as well as from Eucalyptus spp.The mixed composition of litter yielded a higher dry mass loss and return of macro-and micronutrients to the forest floor.The decomposition constant(k)values were 0.00322 and 0.00207 g g^(−1) day^(−1) for the mixed composition and Eucalyptus spp.,respectively.The time required for decomposition of 50 and 95%of deciduous material was 215 and 931 days,respectively,and for the mixed litterfall 334 and 1449 days,respectively,for Eucalyptus spp.Therefore,the mixed litter exhibited greater dry mass loss and nutrient cycling in an urban forest of São Paulo City,since dry mass losses as well as speed and amount of nutrients returned to the forest floor were relatively higher compared to Eucalyptus spp.Nutrient cycling via Eucalyptus spp.litter was less efficient than mixed composition of litter,demonstrating that reforestation programs carried out in the twentieth century using only one species may have had little success.The results of this work emphasize the fact that in urban reforestation programs the City of São Paulo must consider the environmental and biogeographic characteristics of the species employed and use high levels of biodiversity,since the city lies in a megadiverse biome.