Objectives: To culturally adapt the Falls Efficacy Scale -International (FES-I) and assess its psychometric properties in a sample of community-dwelling elderly Brazilians. Methods: The instrument was translated into Brazilian Portuguese and culturally adapted to the Brazilian population (FES-I-Brazil) as recommended by the Prevention of Falls Network Europe. FES-I-Brazil was applied to 163 elderly people (73.44±5.51 years), and the demographic data and history of falls were also collected. From this group, 58 participants were randomly distributed to evaluate reliability. The reliability was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the internal consistency, using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α). The internal structure of FES-I-Brazil was evaluated by means of exploratory factor analysis. The logistic regression model was used to determine which tasks on the scale were more relevant for discriminating falls. To analyze the sensitivity and specificity of FES-I-Brazil, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used. Results: The internal consistency of FES-I-Brazil was α=0.93, and the intra-and inter-examiner reliability were ICC=0.84 and 0.91, respectively. Factor analysis suggested two factors: concern about falling during social activities and activities of daily living (basic and instrumental), and postural control tasks. FES-I-Brazil scores ≥23 suggested an association with a previous history of sporadic falls, whereas scores ≥31 suggested an association with recurrent falls. Conclusions: FES-I-Brazil was shown to be semantically, linguistically and psychometrically appropriate to evaluate the fear of falling in the community-dwelling Brazilian elderly population. ResumoObjetivos: Adaptar culturalmente a Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) e avaliar suas propriedades psicométricas em uma amostra de idosos brasileiros da comunidade. Métodos: Conforme recomendações da Rede Européia de prevenção às quedas, o instrumento foi traduzido para o português do Brasil e adaptado culturalmente para a população brasileira (FES-I-Brasil). A FES-I-Brasil foi aplicada em 163 idosos (73,44±5,51 anos), e foram coletados dados demográficos e relacionados à história de quedas. Dentre esses idosos, 58 foram distribuídos aleatoriamente para avaliação da confiabilidade. A confiabilidade foi analisada pelo Índice de Correlação Intraclasse (ICC) e a consistência interna pelo α de Cronbach. A estrutura interna foi da FES-I-Brasil foi avaliada pela análise fatorial exploratória. O modelo de regressão logística foi utilizado para identificar quais tarefas da escala eram mais relevantes para discriminar quedas. Para análise de sensibilidade e especificidade da FES-I-Brasil, empregou-se a curva Receiving Operator Characteristic (ROC). Resultados: A consistência interna da FES-I-Brasil foi α=0,93, e a confiabilidade foi ICC=0,84 e 0,91 (intra e interexaminadores, respectivamente). A análise fatorial sugeriu dois fatores que verificavam preocupação em cair durante atividades de socialização e de vid...

One-month detraining was enough to show functional decline, with gait speed the most sensitive parameter to detect these changes and QL measure most resilient, beneficial factor during the detraining process. Based on these findings, it is recommended that programmes devised for elderly should not be interrupted, to maintain the acquired benefits.

Hydration is recommended in order to decrease the overload on the cardiovascular system when healthy individuals exercise, mainly in the heat. To date, no criteria have been established for hydration for hypertensive (HY) individuals during exercise in a hot environment. Eight male HY volunteers without another medical problem and 8 normal (NO) subjects (46 ± 3 and 48 ± 1 years; 78.8 ± 2.5 and 79.5 ± 2.8 kg; 171 ± 2 and 167 ± 1 cm; body mass index = 26.8 ± 0.7 and 28.5 ± 0.6 kg/m 2 ; resting systolic (SBP) = 142.5 and 112.5 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) = 97.5 and 78.1 mmHg, respectively) exercised for 60 min on a cycle ergometer (40% of VO 2peak ) with (500 ml 2 h before and 115 ml every 15 min throughout exercise) or without water ingestion, in a hot humid environment (30ºC and 85% humidity). Rectal (T re ) and skin (T sk ) temperatures, heart rate (HR), SBP, DBP, double product (DP), urinary volume (V u ), urine specific gravity (G u ), plasma osmolality (P osm ), sweat rate (S R ), and hydration level were measured. Data were analyzed using ANOVA in a split plot design, followed by the Newman-Keuls test. There were no differences in V u , P osm , G u and S R responses between HY and NO during heat exercise with or without water ingestion but there was a gradual increase in HR (59 and 51%), SBP (18 and 28%), DP (80 and 95%), T re (1.4 and 1.3%), and T sk (6 and 3%) in HY and NO, respectively. HY had higher HR (10%), SBP (21%), DBP (20%), DP (34%), and T sk (1%) than NO during both experimental situations. The exerciserelated differences in SBP, DP and T sk between HY and NO were increased by water ingestion (P < 0.05). The results showed that cardiac work and T sk during exercise were higher in HY than in NO and the difference between the two groups increased even further with water ingestion. It was concluded that hydration protocol recom-