A structured physical activity program may have clinical relevance in the functional adaptation of children with ADHD. This supports the need for further research in the area of physical activity with this population.

Exercise training could potentially exert beneficial effects on the signaling events associated with cardiac cell apoptosis. Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were trained 5 days/week on a treadmill (18 m/min for 120 min/day) between the ages of 4 weeks and 1 week, corresponding to the hypertensive accelerating phase. The effect of exercise training on the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins HSP-72, Bcl-2 and protein kinase B (PKB), and the apoptotic proteins Bax and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) was examined. Exercise had a significant acute lowering effect on blood pressure, but this decrease did not attenuate the progressive increase in blood pressure. In the left ventricles of exercised SHR, PKB phosphorylation of both Ser473 and Thr308 residues was significantly increased by 166% and 120%, respectively, compared to sedentary SHR. PKB phosphorylation significantly correlated with GSK-3beta phosphorylation. HSP-72 and Bcl-2 protein expression were increased in the left ventricle of exercised SHR, and associated with the concomitant increased expression of the protein Bax. Thus, the Bcl-2/Bax ratio was not changed by exercise training, suggesting that the anti-apoptotic mechanism was effective in compensating the increase in the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax in the myocardium of the SHR.

The induction of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta and prepro-atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) mRNAs represent hallmark features of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. The present study examined whether this pattern of mRNA expression was conserved in a physiological model of cardiac hypertrophy. To address this thesis, female Sprague-Dawley rats were individually housed and permitted to run freely. Voluntary exercise for 3 and 6 wk resulted in biventricular hypertrophy and increased cytochrome c oxidase activity in the triceps muscle. In the hypertrophied left ventricle, the steady-state mRNA level of the cardiac fetal gene prepro-ANP and the extracellular matrix proteins preprocollagen-alpha(1) and fibronectin were similar in exercise-trained and sedentary rats. By contrast, an increased expression of TGF-beta(1) mRNA was observed, whereas TGF-beta(3) mRNA level was unchanged in the hypertrophied left ventricle of exercise-trained compared with sedentary rats. These data highlight a heterogeneity in the regulation of TGF-beta isoforms, and the increased expression of ventricular TGF-beta(1) mRNA in physiological cardiac hypertrophy may contribute to myocardial remodeling.

The purpose of this study was to assess fitness and gross motor performance of children with ADHD, including users and nonusers of methylphenidate medication. Seventy boys took part in the study. Fitness level of children with ADHD using medication or not, including body composition, flexibility, and muscular endurance, was similar to that of a control group. The only difference was observed for body mass index, which was lower in children with ADHD using medication. Aerobic capacity was also similar when measured by a treadmill test. A lower performance was observed when aerobic capacity was estimated using a field shuttle test, however, suggesting that the methodology used is important. Finally, both groups of children with ADHD presented significantly lower scores for locomotion skills.

Cardiac dysfunction is a severe secondary effect of Type 2 diabetes. Recruitment of the protein kinase B/glycogen synthase kinase-3 pathway represents an integral event in glucose homeostasis, albeit its regulation in the diabetic heart remains undefined. Thus the following study tested the hypothesis that the regulation of protein kinase B/glycogen synthase kinase-3 was altered in the myocardium of the Zucker diabetic fatty rat. Second, exercise has been shown to improve glucose homeostasis, and, in this regard, the effect of swimming training on the regulation of protein kinase B/glycogen synthase kinase-3 in the diabetic rat heart was examined. In the sedentary Zucker diabetic fatty rats, glucose levels were elevated, and cardiac glycogen content increased, compared with wild type. A 13-wk swimming regimen significantly reduced plasma glucose levels and cardiac glycogen content and partially normalized protein kinase B-serine473, protein kinase B-threonine308, and glycogen synthase kinase-3alpha phosphorylation in Zucker diabetic fatty rats. In conclusion, hyperglycemia and increased cardiac glycogen content in the Zucker diabetic fatty rats were associated with dysregulation of protein kinase B/glycogen synthase kinase-3 phosphorylation. These anomalies in the Zucker diabetic fatty rat were partially normalized with swimming. These data support the premise that exercise training may protect the heart against the deleterious consequences of diabetes.