The ingestion of 5 mg/kg of anhydrous caffeine improves overall CMJ performance without inducing side effects.

No abstract

Muscle activation during landing is paramount to stabilise lower limb joints and avoid abnormal movement patterns. Delayed muscle activity onset measured by electromyography (EMG) has been suggested to be associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to test the hypothesis if ACL-injured patients display different results for muscle onset timing during standard deceleration tasks compared to healthy control participants. PubMed, Embase, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases were systematically searched over the period from January 1980 to February 2015, yielding a total of 1461 citations. Six studies meeting inclusion criteria underwent quality assessment, data extraction and re-computing procedures for the meta-analysis. The quality was rated “moderate” for 2 studies and “poor” for 4. Patients included and procedures used were highly heterogeneous. The tasks investigated were single leg hopping, decelerating from running or walking, tested on a total of 102 ACL-injured participants and 86 controls. EMG analyses of the muscles vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, lateral and medial hamstrings revealed trivial and non-significant standardised mean differences (SMD<0.20; p>0.05) between patients and control participants. Furthermore, no differences were found between the contralateral leg of patients and controls for muscle activity onset of the medial and lateral gastrocnemius (SMD<0.20; p>0.05). Based on 3 studies, the involved legs of ACL-injured patients showed overall earlier muscle activity onset compared to control participants for the medial gastrocnemius (SMD = 0.5; p = 0.05). Similar results were found for the lateral gastrocnemius (SMD = 2.1; p<0.001), with a greater effect size but based only on a single study. We conclude that there are no differences between leg muscles of ACL-injured patients and healthy controls regarding the muscle activity onset during landing. However, current evidence is scarce and weak, which highlights the need for further research in this area.

Background During recent decades intraregional migration has increased in Latin America. Chile became one of the main receiving countries and hosted diverse international migrant groups. Evidence have suggested a healthy migrant effect (HME) on health status, but it remains scarce, controversial and needs to be updated. This study performed a comprehensive analysis verifying the existence of HME and its association with social determinants of health (SDH). Methods We analyzed data from the Chilean National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN, version 2017). Unadjusted prevalence of health status indicators such as negative self-perceived health, chronic morbidity, disability, and activity limitations were described in both international migrants and local population. Adjusted associations between these outcomes and sets of demographics, socioeconomic, access to healthcare, psychosocial and migration-related SDH were tested using multivariate logistic regression in each population. The HME for each health outcome was also tested using multivariate logistic regression and sequentially adjusting for each set of SDH (ref = Chilean). Results International migrants had lower unadjusted prevalence of all health indicators compared to Chileans. That is, unadjusted analysis revealed an apparent HME in all health outcomes. Age, unemployment, and health care system affiliation were associated with health outcomes in both populations. Psychosocial determinants were both risk and protective for the analysed health outcomes. After adjustment for each set of SDH, the immigrant health advantage was only significant for chronic morbidity. Being migrant was associated with 39% lower odds of having chronic diseases compared to locals (OR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.44–0.84; P = 0.0003). For all other outcomes, HME disappeared after adjusting by SDH, particularly unemployment, type of health system and psychosocial factors. Conclusions Testing the HME in Chile revealed an advantage for chronic morbidities that remained significant after adjustment for SDH. This analysis shed light on health disparities between international migrants and local population in the Latin American region, with special relevance of unemployment, type of health system and psychosocial SDH. It also informed about differential exposures faced during migration process that could dissolve the HME over time. Evidence from this analytical approach is useful for informing health planning and intersectoral solutions from a SDH perspective.

ObjectivesSpontaneous cervical artery dissections (SCeAD) and coronary artery dissections (SCoAD) are major causes of neurovascular and cardiovascular morbidity in young adults. Although multiple aspects of their etiology are still unknown, most consensuses are focused on the presence of constitutional genetic aspects and environmental triggers. Since recent evidence of genetic contribution points to a possible overlap between these conditions, we aimed to describe current information on SCeAD and SCoAD genetics and their potential shared pathological aspects.Materials and methodsA narrative review is presented. Publications in English and Spanish were queried using database search. The articles were evaluated by one team member in terms of inclusion criteria. After collecting, the articles were categorized based on scientific content.ResultsGiven that patients with SCeAD and SCoAD rarely present connective tissue disorders, other genetic loci are probably responsible for the increased susceptibility in some individuals. The common variant rs9349379 at PHACTR1 gene is associated with predisposition to pathologies of the arterial wall, likely mediated by variations in Endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels. The risk of arterial dissection may be increased for those who carry the rs9349379(A) allele, associated with lower expression levels of ET-1; however, the local effect of this vasomotor imbalance remains unclear. Sex differences seen in SCeAD and SCoAD support a role for sex hormones that could modulate risk, tilting the delicate balance and forcing vasodilator actions to prevail over vasoconstriction due to a reduction in ET-1 expression.ConclusionsNew evidence points to a common gene variation that could explain dissection in both the cervical and coronary vasculatures. To further confirm the risk conferred by the rs9349379 variant, genome wide association studies are warranted, hopefully in larger and ethnically diverse populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further deepened socioeconomic and health inequities worldwide, especially among populations experiencing social vulnerability, such as international migrants. Sustained lockdowns and social distancing have raised challenges to conducting public health research with hard-to-reach populations. This study aims at exploring strategies to recruit “hard-to-reach” international migrants for qualitative public health research during the pandemic in Chile, based on the authors’ experience. A retrospective qualitative evaluation process was carried out on the recruitment processes of three qualitative research projects focused on international migrants in Chile. All projects were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, demanding complementary and flexible strategies: (i) social media; (ii) snowball sampling; (iii) referrals from social workers and pro-migrant and migrant-led organizations; (iv) vaccination centers and healthcare centers; and (v) community-based recruitment. The strategies are qualitatively evaluated around seven emerging qualitative categories: (i) feasibility during lockdown periods; (ii) speed of recruitment; (iii) geographical coverage; (iv) sample diversity; (v) proportion of successful interviews; (vi) ethical considerations; and (vii) cost. Engaging hard-to-reach international migrants in public health research during the pandemic required constantly adapting recruitment strategies. Furthermore, relying on strategies that were not only Internet-based promoted the participation of populations with limited access to the Internet and low-digital literacy.

Globally, and particularly in the Latin American region, international migration continues to grow. Access and use of health care services by migrants vary according to their country of origin and residence time. We aimed to compare the access and use of health care services between international migrants (including settled migrants from Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador; Emerging migrants from Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Haiti; and migrants from other countries) and the Chilean population. After performing a secondary data analysis of population-based nationally representative surveys (CASEN 2011–2017), access and use patterns (insurance, complementary insurance, non-consultation, and non-treatment coverage) were described and compared among settled immigrants, recent emerging immigrants, others, and locals. Immigrants had a significantly higher uninsured population compared to locals. Specifically, in CASEN 2017, 19.27% of emerging (95% CI: 15.3–24.1%), 11.79% of settled (95% CI: 10.1–13.7%), and 2.25% of locals (95% CI: 2.1–2.4%) were uninsured. After 2013, settled and recent emerging migrants showed higher percentages of non-consultation. Collaborative and interculturally relevant strategies from human rights and equity perspectives are needed. Initiatives with a particular focus on recent immigrants can contribute to reducing the existing disparities in health care access and use with locals due to lack of insurance and treatment coverage.

Background: During recent decades intraregional migration has increased in Latin America. Chile became one of the main receiving countries and hosted diverse international migrant groups. Evidence have suggested a healthy migrant effect (HME) on health status but remains scarce, controversial and needs to be updated. This study performed a comprehensive analysis verifying the existence of HME and its association with social determinants of health (SDH). Methods: We analyzed data from the Chilean National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN, version 2017). Crude prevalence of health status indicators such as negative self-perceived health, chronic morbidity, disability and activity limitations were described in both international migrants and local population. The association between these outcomes and demographic, socioeconomic, access to health care, psychosocial and migratory related factors were tested using multivariate logistic regression in each population. The HME was also tested using multivariate logistic regression, sequentially adjusted for each set of SDH to obtain the odds ratio of presenting each health outcome if being an international migrant (ref=Chilean). Results: International migrants had lower crude prevalence of all health indicators than Chileans. Age, unemployment and health care system affiliation were associated with health outcomes in both populations. Psychosocial determinants were both risk and protective factors. Crude analysis revealed an apparent HME in all health outcomes. After adjustment for each set of SDH, the immigrant health advantage was only significant for chronic morbidity. Being migrant was associated with 39% lower odds of having chronic diseases compared to locals (OR: 0,61; 95% CI: 0,44-0,84; P = 0,0003). For all other conditions, HME disappeared after adjusting by SDH, particularly unemployment, type of health system and psychosocial factors. Conclusions: Testing the HME in Chile reveals an advantage for chronic morbidities that remained significant after adjustment for SDH. This analysis shed light on health disparities between international migrants and local population in the Latin American region, with special relevance of unemployment, type of health system and psychosocial factors. As well as differential exposures faced during migration process that could dissolve the HME over time. Evidence from this integrative approach is useful for informed health planning and intersectoral local and regional solutions.