Aims: To assess women's self-perception of their pelvic floor muscle (PFM) contraction and its agreement with an assessed PFM contraction. Further, to assess a possible correlation between women's self-perception and reports of urinary incontinence (UI) and between PFM contraction and severity of UI. Methods:A cross-sectional observational study including 82 women. The study was conducted in a basic healthcare unit in Brazil. PFM contraction was assessed by a physiotherapist and estimated by women using the Modified Oxford Scale (MOS). UI symptoms were assessed using a validated questionnaire (ICIQ-UI-SF). A descriptive analysis of the data was performed. The weighted κ coefficient, Spearman's correlation coefficient, and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze data. Results: Eighty-two women with a mean age of 46.83 (±17.94) were analyzed.The majority (98.8%) believed they were able to voluntarily contract their PFM, but only 33% correctly estimated their PFM considering the examiner assessment as reference. No agreement (κ = 0.139, P = .087) was found between the examiner's classification and the women's estimation of their PFM contraction. Women's self-perception did not correlate with the ICIQ-IU-SF (r's = .011, P = .922). A moderate negative correlation was found between the assessed PFM contraction and the ICIQ-UI-SF score (r's = −.406, P = .00).Conclusion: Most of the women did not show an accurate self-perception of PFM contraction. No correlation between women's self-perception and the ICIQ-UI-SF score was found, but a negative correlation was found between the assessed PFM contraction and the ICIQ-UI-SF score. K E Y W O R D Sphysiotherapy, women's health, self-perception, urinary incontinence

Introducción: La Diabetes Mellitus (DM) tipo 2 ha incrementado su prevalencia a nivel mundial, nacional y local, convirtiéndose en una de las principales causas de morbi-mortalidad. Su etiología es múltiple, pero está fuertemente asociada a los hábitos de vida inadecuados tales como los bajos niveles de actividad física y consumo excesivo de azúcares procesados.  Objetivo: Determinar el nivel de actividad física en pacientes con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 en la ciudad de Popayán. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó un estudio observacional - descriptivo de 107 participantes, mediante aplicación del cuestionario internacional de actividad física IPAQ y toma de medidas antropométricas como índice cintura-cadera y pliegues cutáneos. Resultados: El 52,3% de los participantes  tenía sobrepeso, el 82,3% presentó riesgo de comorbilidad y un 36,4% realizaba actividad física moderada. Se calculó la relación entre las variables índice de masa corporal – cHDL (p=0,029), índice cintura cadera (ICC) – presión arterial (p= 0,266), densidad corporal - triglicéridos (p= 0,278), edad e IPAQ (p= 0,000). Conclusión: La diabetes mellitus tipo 2 está asociada a las características antropométricas ligadas al sobrepeso y obesidad, y la falta de actividad física.

Pulmonary embolism is a major cause of death worldwide. Recurrences are mainly observed in patients with coagulation disorders or cancers. We describe the case of a brain tumor (Glioblastoma) revealed by behavioral disorder in a young patient admitted for a recurrent pulmonary embolism

IntroductionIntervention strategies that seek to improve early childhood development outcomes are often targeted at the primary caregivers of children, usually mothers. The interventions require mothers to assimilate new information and then act upon it by allocating sufficient physical resources and time to adopt and perform development promoting behaviours. However, women face many competing demands on their resources and time, returning to familiar habits and behaviours. In this study, we explore mothers' allocation of time for caregiving activities for children under the age of 2, nested within a cluster randomised controlled trial of a nutrition and care for development intervention in rural Haryana, India.MethodsWe collected quantitative maternal time use data at two time points in rural Haryana, India, using a bespoke survey instrument. Data were collected from 704 mothers when their child was 12 months old, and 603 mothers when their child was 18 months old. We tested for significant differences in time spent by mothers on different activities when children are 12 months of age vs. 18 months of age between arms as well as over time, using linear regression. As these data were collected within a randomised controlled trial, we adjusted for clusters using random effects when testing for significant differences between the two time points.ResultsAt both time points, no statistically significant difference in maternal time use was found between arms. On average, mothers spent most of their waking time on household chores (over 6 h and 30 min) at both time points. When children were aged 12 months, approximately three and a half hours were spent on childcare activities for children under the age of 2 years. When children were 18 months old, mothers spent more time on income generating activities (30 min) than when the children were 12 years old, and on leisure (approximately 4 h and 30 min). When children were 18 months old, less time was spent on feeding/breastfeeding children (30 min less) and playing with children (15 min). However, mothers spent more time talking or reading to children at 18 months than at 12 months.ConclusionWe find that within a relatively short period of time in early childhood, maternal (or caregiver) time use can change, with time allocation being diverted away from childcare activities to others. This suggests that changing maternal time allocation in resource poor households may be quite challenging, and not allow the uptake of new and/or optimal behaviours.

Introduction: Functional intestinal constipation (FIC) has a high prevalence worldwide. It is higher in adult and elderly women, and in those with alterations in the pelvic floor muscle (PFM) structure and function.Objective: The primary aim of this study was to characterize PFM function, including tone, of women with and without FIC. The secondary aim was to assess and compare the general and symptom-related quality of life (QoL) between participants with and without FIC and its correlation with the assessed PFM function. Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study, the outcomes were assessed using vaginal palpation, vaginal manometry and validated questionnaires: the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire Short Form 7 (PFIQ-7), the Pelvic Floor Distress inventory (PFDI-20), and the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). This study included 60 women, 30 with FIC and 30 without FIC. The mean age of women with FIC was 48.2 years (standard deviation [SD] 12.22) and 51 years (SD 13.47) for those without FIC. Both groups were overweight. There was a significant difference between groups in the bowel domain of the PFIQ-7 (p = 0.016) and in the anal dysfunction domain of the PFDI-20 ( p < 0.001), being higher in those women with FIC. Women with FIC presented a significantly worse ability to voluntarily relax their PFM (38.3%) than those without FIC (11.7%; p = 0.008).participants without FIC presented higher values of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) assessed by vaginal manometry compared to participants without FIC ( p = 0.008). PFM tone was not different between groups. Conclusion:Women with FIC have more difficulty in relaxing their PFM and lower MVC values than women without FIC. FIC negatively impacts women's symptom-related QoL. The main contribution of this study was to reavel the difficulty of the participants with FIC to relax their PFM. This finding is important to guide clinical decision making for an adequate treatment program direct to women with FIC.

The objective of the study was to determine the lifestyle and quality of life in type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome patients in the city of Popayán. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with 81 patients with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus diagnoses. EUROQOL questionnaires of 5 Dimensions-3 Levels were applied, as well as the IMEVID test, in order to evaluate the quality of life and lifestyle of each group of patients. Anthropometric measures were also taken, such as Body Mass Index, Waist-Hip Ratio and skinfolds. Regarding the results, 33.33% of the participants were between 61 and 70 years of age 56.8% presented moderate pain problems/discomfort, 61.7% presented an unhealthy lifestyle and obtained variable relationships such as: waist-hip ratio - glycemia (p = 0.021, r = -0.257), body density - triglycerides (p = 0.018, r = 0.263), age and mobility EUROQOL (p = 0.001, r = 0.350). In conclusion, lifestyle changes are one of the pillars to control metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Evaluating the quality of life also makes it possible to understand how compromised patients’ abilities are, in order to create relevant strategies and actions that seek their well-being.