Changes in cardiac autonomic regulation, expressed by increased sympathetic activity and decreased heart rate variability, have an important relationship with the onset of lethal cardiac phenomena. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the cardiac autonomic behaviour in young people according to their level of physical activity. Through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, 55 healthy young non-smokers with no history of previous diseases and whose parents did not suffer from metabolic syndrome were assessed and divided into groups: sedentary (n=12), insufficiently active (n=16), active (n=14), and very active (n=13). We collected respiratory rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure at rest, and body mass index. Subjects remained supine at rest, and without mental stress for 15 minutes in a controlled environment. Using a cardiofrequency meter (Polar® RS800CX), data were analysed in the time domain, frequency domain, and detrended fluctuation analysis. For the sedentary group, the mean RR and rMSSD were significantly lower, and the insufficiently active group showed higher means, but significantly only for rMSSD. The insufficiently active group showed in the detrended fluctuation analysis that α2 was significantly lower compared with the sedentary, active, and very active groups. We conclude that young, healthy, sedentary individuals present an increased heart rate and that insufficiently active individuals present a decreased fractal correlation and increased parasympathetic activity.

The aim of this study was to describe the ways premature infants and their mothers emotionally interact in the first weeks of their lives. In order to understand the intersubjective dyadic interaction between mother and premature infant, a qualitative and descriptive approach to research has been adopted. Four dyads comprised of primiparae women and their newly-born premature infants took part in the study. The babies were born prematurely after 28 to 35 weeks of gestation and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Data was collected filming the first dyadic interaction with infant in the mother's arms, lasting between 15 to 30 minutes. After that first registry, dyadic behaviors between mother and baby were described and categorized following the intersubjective categories suggested by Fiamenghi (1999) and Fiamenghi et al. (2010). Results showed that dyads display positive emotions, with infants' behaviors falling into the categories of negotiation, interaction and emotional curiosity; as well as a low frequency of negative behaviors. The outcome of this research reinforces the need to adopt a humanizing approach to prematurely born infants and their mothers in NICU, as well as training and awareness of the whole multidisciplinary team that deals with them.

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