The effects of cognitive-motor interference on walking performance in adolescents with low balance.

Background: Children with reduced motor competence (MC) have reported differences in their walking performance when compared to their typically developed peers, albeit, with inconsistent results.

Research Questions: What is the effect of reduced balance on walking performance in adolescent boys and girls under cognitive-motor interference conditions?

Methods: This cross-sectional study assessed motor competence, in adolescents aged 13-14 years, using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2nd edition and walking performance from gait parameters derived from an inertial measurement unit placed over the estimated centre of mass. Each participant performed two 10 m straight-line walks at their self-selected speed.

Sensorimotor functioning changes in response to global exercise versus handwriting upper limb exercise training in Parkinson's disease, results from a phase II randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: People with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) present motor alterations which can impact daily life tasks that require speed and/or accuracy of movement.

Objective: A sub analysis of NCT01439022, aiming to estimate the extent to which two different exercise training protocols (global and handwriting upper limb exercise training) impact reaction time, travel speed, and accuracy in PwPD.

Methods: Seventy PwPD, right-side dominant were randomised 1:1 into two six-month training protocol groups; 35 PwPD performed global exercise training and 35 performed specific training (handwriting upper limb exercise movements).

Corrigendum: Motor learning in developmental coordination disorder: behavioral and neuroimaging study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.

Overweight, Obesity, and Age Are the Main Determinants of Cardiovascular Risk Aggregation in the Current Mexican Population: The FRIMEX III Study.

: The Mexican population exhibits several cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) including high blood pressure (HBP), dysglycemia, dyslipidemia, overweight, and obesity. This study is an extensive observation of the most important CVFRs in six of the most populated cities in Mexico. : In a cohort of 297,370 participants (54% female, mean age 43 ± 12.

Starting DNA Synthesis: Initiation Processes during the Replication of Chromosomal DNA in Humans.

The initiation reactions of DNA synthesis are central processes during human chromosomal DNA replication. They are separated into two main processes: the initiation events at replication origins, the start of the leading strand synthesis for each replicon, and the numerous initiation events taking place during lagging strand DNA synthesis. In addition, a third mechanism is the re-initiation of DNA synthesis after replication fork stalling, which takes place when DNA lesions hinder the progression of DNA synthesis.

Replication Protein A, the Main Eukaryotic Single-Stranded DNA Binding Protein, a Focal Point in Cellular DNA Metabolism.

Replication protein A (RPA) is a heterotrimeric protein complex and the main single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)-binding protein in eukaryotes. RPA has key functions in most of the DNA-associated metabolic pathways and DNA damage signalling. Its high affinity for ssDNA helps to stabilise ssDNA structures and protect the DNA sequence from nuclease attacks.

The Relationship Between Motor Competence Physical Activity Cardiorespiratory Fitness and BMI in UK Adolescents.

This study set out to identify the extent of the relationships between subsections of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2nd Edition - MABC2 (manual dexterity, aiming and catching, and balance) to PA, CRF and BMI in adolescents. Height, BMI, the MABC2, a 20m shuttle run test and wrist-worn accelerometery PA levels (mins) were measured. Multivariable linear regression models, adjusting for sex, height and BMI were used to assess the relationship of the three subsections of the MABC2 with PA, CRF and BMI.

The TG/HDL-c Lipid Ratio as a Cardiovascular Risk Marker in a Mexican Urban Middle-Class Population: Do We Need a Risk Score Tailored for Mexicans?

Introduction: Risk scores are essential in primary prevention to detect high-risk patients. The most common scores exclude hypertriglyceridemia and abdominal obesity in their risk assessment. We examined the triglyceride/HDL-cholesterol (TG/HDL-c) ratio as a cardiovascular (CV) risk marker in a middle-class urban Mexican population sample.

Motor learning in developmental coordination disorder: behavioral and neuroimaging study.

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is characterized by motor learning deficits that are poorly understood within whole-body activities context. Here we present results of one of the largest non-randomized interventional trials combining brain imaging and motion capture techniques to examine motor skill acquisition and its underpinning mechanisms in adolescents with and without DCD. A total of 86 adolescents with low fitness levels (including 48 with DCD) were trained on a novel stepping task for a duration of 7 weeks.

Learning a novel rhythmic stepping task in children with probable developmental coordination disorder.

Background: Developmental coordination disorder affects approximately 6% of children, interfering with participation in physical activity and can persist through adulthood. However, no studies have investigated the neuromotor mechanisms of learning of a novel task with rhythmic cueing.

Methods: Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd edition was used to identify 48 children with probable developmental coordination disorder (13.

Neuroergonomic assessment of developmental coordination disorder.

Until recently, neural assessments of gross motor coordination could not reliably handle active tasks, particularly in realistic environments, and offered a narrow understanding of motor-cognition. By applying a comprehensive neuroergonomic approach using optical mobile neuroimaging, we probed the neural correlates of motor functioning in young people with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), a motor-learning deficit affecting 5-6% of children with lifelong complications. Neural recordings using fNIRS were collected during active ambulatory behavioral task execution from 37 Typically Developed and 48 DCD Children who performed cognitive and physical tasks in both single and dual conditions.

Intensity and Duration of Physical Activity and Cardiorespiratory Fitness.

Objectives: There is no clear guidance on the intensity and duration of physical activity (PA) that adolescents require to maximise cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). We aimed to determine the strength of associations between each PA intensity and CRF, independently of other intensities, and the PA duration at each intensity associated with maximal CRF.

Methods: PA and CRF were assessed in 339 adolescents aged 13 to 14 years by wrist-worn accelerometers and 20-m shuttle runs, respectively.

Declining fitness and physical education lessons in UK adolescents.

Objectives: The objective was to determine recent cross-sectional trends in health-related fitness (HRF) in secondary school students by studying the 13-14 years old age group repeatedly over 6 years, considering parallel national trends in physical education (PE).

Methods: Height, weight, broad jump, grip strength, 20 m shuttle run and throwing and catching skills were measured by the same research team using standardised techniques from 2014 to 2019. Trends in these HRF measures were assessed by linear regression, adjusting for school, sex and height.

Long term study of motivational and cognitive effects of low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation in the dorsal striatum of nonhuman primates.

Noninvasive brain stimulation using transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) has many potential applications as a research and clinical tool, including incorporation into neural prosthetics for cognitive rehabilitation. To develop this technology, it is necessary to evaluate the safety and efficacy of FUS neuromodulation for specific brain targets and cognitive functions. It is also important to test whether repeated long-term application of FUS to deep brain targets improves or degrades behavioral and cognitive function.

Outcomes of importance to children and young adults with cerebral palsy, their parents and health professionals following lower limb orthopaedic surgery: A qualitative study to inform a Core Outcome Set.

Introduction: Although several outcomes are commonly measured to assess the effect of surgery for young people with cerebral palsy (CP), these are selected mainly by health professionals and researchers. Including the perspectives of a broader range of stakeholders is an essential step towards determining important outcomes for assessment. This qualitative study involves the development of a core outcome set (COS) for lower limb orthopaedic surgery for ambulant children with CP.

Exploring the factors that influence stakeholders' expectations and subsequent perception of lower limb orthopaedic surgical outcomes for ambulant children with cerebral palsy - a qualitative study.

Purpose: To explore the perspectives of children with CP, their parents or carers, and health professionals on factors affecting expectations and perceptions of surgical outcomes for lower limb orthopaedic surgery.

Materials And Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 healthcare professionals, 10 children and young people with CP, and 8 parents. Interview data were analysed by content analysis supported by the Framework Approach using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF-CY).

Transitive inference after minimal training in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).

Rhesus macaques, when trained for several hundred trials on adjacent items in an ordered list (e.g., A > B, B > C, C > D), are able to make accurate transitive inferences (TI) about previously untrained pairs (e.

Safety evaluation of a clinical focused ultrasound system for neuronavigation guided blood-brain barrier opening in non-human primates.

An emerging approach with potential in improving the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors is the use of focused ultrasound (FUS) to bypass the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in a non-invasive and localized manner. A large body of pre-clinical work has paved the way for the gradual clinical implementation of FUS-induced BBB opening. Even though the safety profile of FUS treatments in rodents has been extensively studied, the histological and behavioral effects of clinically relevant BBB opening in large animals are relatively understudied.

Synergistic multi-spectral CT reconstruction with directional total variation.

This work considers synergistic multi-spectral CT reconstruction where information from all available energy channels is combined to improve the reconstruction of each individual channel. We propose to fuse these available data (represented by a single sinogram) to obtain a polyenergetic image which keeps structural information shared by the energy channels with increased signal-to-noise ratio. This new image is used as prior information during a channel-by-channel minimization process through the directional total variation.

Dual-task walking and automaticity after Stroke: Insights from a secondary analysis and imaging sub-study of a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To test the extent to which initial walking speed influences dual-task performance after walking intervention, hypothesising that slow walking speed affects automatic gait control, limiting executive resource availability.

Design: A secondary analysis of a trial of dual-task (DT) and single-task (ST) walking interventions comparing those with (walking speed ⩾0.8 m s,  = 21) and (walking speed <0.

The effect of a one-year vigorous physical activity intervention on fitness, cognitive performance and mental health in young adolescents: the Fit to Study cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Physical activity (PA) may positively stimulate the brain, cognition and mental health during adolescence, a period of dynamic neurobiological development. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) or vigorous PA interventions are time-efficient, scalable and can be easily implemented in existing school curricula, yet their effects on cognitive, academic and mental health outcomes are unclear. The primary aim of the Fit to Study trial was to investigate whether a pragmatic and scalable HIIT-style VPA intervention delivered during school physical education (PE) could improve attainment in maths.

Dual-Task Effect on Gait in Healthy Adolescents: Association between Health-Related Indicators and DT Performance.

The purpose of this study was to determine how dual-task (DT) effect on gait differs among adolescents with different fitness and health profiles. The gait performances of 365 adolescents aged 13-14 years were assessed at single and DT walking. The proportional changes in gait parameters from single to dual were regressed against gender, body mass index (BMIz), three components of MABC-2 (balance, aiming &catching and manual dexterity), group (high vs low motor competence), body strength, physical fitness level using multiple regression analyses; and gender and four items of balance subtest of MABC-2 in the secondary analysis.

Developing a guidance resource for managing delirium in patients with COVID-19.

As the COVID-19 pandemic escalates worldwide, it is apparent that many patients with more severe illness will also experience delirium. These patients pose a particular challenge in the application of optimal care due to issues with infectious risk, respiratory compromise and potential interactions between medications that can be used to manage delirium with antiviral and other treatments used for COVID-19. We describe a guidance resource adapted from existing guidelines for delirium management that has been tailored to the specific challenge of managing delirium in patients with COVID-19 infection.

Effects of a programme of vigorous physical activity during secondary school physical education on academic performance, fitness, cognition, mental health and the brain of adolescents (Fit to Study): study protocol for a cluster-randomised trial.

Background: Early adolescence is a period of dynamic neurobiological change. Converging lines of research suggest that regular physical activity (PA) and improved aerobic fitness have the potential to stimulate positive brain changes, improve cognitive function and boost academic attainment in this age group, but high-quality studies are needed to substantiate these findings. The primary aim of the Fit to Study trial is to investigate whether short infusions of vigorous PA (VPA) delivered during secondary school physical education (PE) can improve attainment in maths, as described in a protocol published by NatCen Social Research.