OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between physical inactivity and anthropometric measures in schoolchildren from Paranavaí-Parana, Brazil. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey, carried out in July and August 2013. Sample of 566 students (287 boys and 279 girls) from 6th to 9th grade, aged 10 to 14 years, from public and private schools of Paranavaí - PR, Southern Brazil. The variables analyzed were: time of weekly physical activity through a questionnaire (physical inactivity <300 minutes/week), body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). In the statistical analysis, the U Mann-Whitney and Student's t tests were used for comparison between genders. To identify factors associated with insufficient levels of physical activity, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied and expressed in Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI). RESULTS: There was an association between physical inactivity and anthropometric measurements for BMI (p<0.001) and WC (p<0.001), with a prevalence rate of 56.1% and 52.7% of inactive adolescents, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, there was significant association of physical inactivity and overweight (OR 1.8, 95%CI: 1.1-3.0) and with increased waist circumference (OR 2.8, 95%CI: 1.4-3.8). CONCLUSIONS: Inadequate levels of physical activity is a determining factor for overweight and abdominal adiposity. Accordingly, preventive measures should be taken, especially in schools, emphasizing the importance of exercise for body composition control and weight reduction.

Objective: To investigate the difference in the proportion of students with metabolic syndrome, diagnosed according to different criteria.Methods: The sample consisted of 241 students (136 boys and 105 girls) aged 10 to 14 years, from public and private schools in Paranavaí, Paraná. We used three distinct diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome, considering the presence of at least three of the following risk factors: increased waist circumference, hypertension, fasting hyperglycemia, low HDL-C, and elevated triglycerides.Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome found was 1.7% (confidence interval of 95% - 95%CI 0-3.3) for the IDF criterion; 3.3% (95%CI 1.0-5.6) for Cook; and 17.4% (95%CI 12.6-22.3) for Ferranti. Analyzing the criteria in pairs, the agreement between IDF and Cook was 97.5% (k=0.95); between IDF and Ferranti, 83.4% (k=0.67); and between Cook and Ferranti, 85.9% (k=0.72). Onlyone student (0.4%) was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome solely by the IDF criterion, while 34 (14.1%) were diagnosed exclusively by Ferranti. The comparison of the three criteria showed that Ferranti presented the highest proportion of metabolic syndrome (p<0.001), and Cook had a greater proportion than IDF (p<0.001).Conclusions: We found a significant difference in the proportion of metabolic syndrome in the three criteria. The choice of which criterion to use can compromise not only the percentage of metabolic syndrome prevalence but also interfere in strategies of intervention and prevention in children and adolescents with and without metabolic syndrome, respectively.

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Captive animals exhibit stereotypic pacing in response to multiple causes, including the inability to escape from human contact. Environmental enrichment techniques can minimize pacing expression. By using an individual-based approach, we addressed whether the amount of time two males and a female jaguar (Panthera onca) devote to pacing varied with the number of visitors and tested the effectiveness of cinnamon and black pepper in reducing pacing. The amount of time that all jaguars engaged in pacing increased significantly with the number of visitors. Despite the difference between the males regarding age and housing conditions, both devoted significantly less time to pacing following the addition of both spices, which indicates their suitability as enrichment techniques. Mean time devoted to pacing among the treatments did not differ for the female. Our findings pointed out to the validity of individual-based approaches, as they can reveal how suitable olfactory stimuli are to minimizing stereotypies irrespective of particular traits.Keywords: behavior, jaguar, pacing, Panthera onca, public exposure, spice provisioning.O efeito do número de visitantes e do provisionamento de especiaria na expressão do pacing por onças-pintadas avaliado por estudo de caso ResumoAnimais cativos exibem a estereotipia pacing em resposta a múltiplos fatores, os quais incluem a incapacidade de escapar da exposição ao público. As técnicas de enriquecimento ambiental podem minimizar a expressão do pacing. Usando uma abordagem individual, nós investigamos se a extensão de tempo que dois machos e uma fêmea de onça-pintada (Panthera onca) dispendem com pacing variou em função do número de visitantes e testamos a eficácia da canela e da pimenta-do-reino na redução do pacing. A extensão de tempo em pacing aumentou significativamente com o número de visitantes para todos os indivíduos. Apesar da diferença entre os machos com relação à idade e às condições no cativeiro, ambos devotaram ao pacing menos tempo após a administração das duas especiarias, o que indica a adequabilidade dessas como técnicas de enriquecimento. Para a fêmea, o tempo médio dispendido com pacing não variou entre os tratamentos. Nossos resultados respaldam a validade da realização de abordagens individuais, uma vez que essas podem revelar o grau de eficácia dos estímulos olfativos na minimização de estereotipias independentemente de características particulares.Palavras-chave: comportamento, onça-pintada, pacing, Panthera onca, exposição pública, especiaria no enriquecimento.

ObjectiveTo identify the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist (HTW) phenotype and its association with metabolic abnormalities in schoolchildren.MethodsA cross-sectional study, with a sample of 241 students aged 10 to 14 years from public schools (4 schools) and private (2 schools) from Paranavai town, in Parana State, Brazil. Anthropometric variables (weight, height, waist circumference) and levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL-C, non-HDL and LDL-C were analyzed. In statistical tests of Pearson partial correlation and multivariate logistic regression, considering p<0,05.ResultsThe prevalence of HTW was 20,7% among schoolchildren, 14,1% in males and 6,6% among females with higher proportions aged 10–12 years old. Multivariate analysis indicated that the students who attended private schools were nearly three times more likely (95% CI: 1,2–5,6), to be diagnosed with HTW compared with those who attended public schools (p = 0,006), and LDL-C was the only metabolic variable positively associated with the outcome (p = 0,001), where the students categorized with elevated serum levels had odds 4,2 times (95% CI: 1,6–10,9) having the HTW compared to students in appropriate levels.ConclusionThis study showed higher prevalence of hypertriglyceridemic waist phenotype in students when compared to prospective studies in Brazil and worldwide. It also showed that the only metabolic alteration associated with HTW phenotype was LDL-C (low density lipoprotein).