Sociodemographic, ethnic and dietary factors associated with childhood obesity in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece.

Objective: To investigate sociodemographic, ethnic and dietary factors associated with the development of childhood obesity.

Design: 276 children, aged 8-12 years, randomly selected from seven schools in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, participated in the study. 13% of the children were immigrants from neighboring Balkan countries and ex-Soviet Union countries.

Electrophysiological, histochemical, and hormonal adaptation of rat muscle after prolonged hindlimb suspension.

The perspective of long-duration flights for future exploration, imply more research in the field of human adaptation. Previous studies in rat muscles hindlimb suspension (HLS), indicated muscle atrophy and a change of fibre composition from slow-to-fast twitch types. However, the contractile responses to long-term unloading is still unclear.