BackgroundAlthough postural changes were already reported in blind adults, no previous study has investigated postural stability in blind children. Moreover, there are few studies which used a stabilometric instrument to measure postural balance. In this study we evaluated stabilometric paramaters in blind children.MethodsWe evaluated children between 7 to 12 years old, they were divided into two groups: Blind (n = 11) and age-matched control (n = 11) groups by using computerized stabilometry. The stabilometric examination was performed taking the gravity centers displacement of the individual projected into the platform. Thirthy seconds after the period in which this information was collected, the program defined a medium-pressure center, which was used to define x and y axes displacement and the distance between the pressure center and the platform center. Furthermore, the average sway rate and the body sway area were obtained by dividing the pressure center displacement and the time spent on the task; and by an ellipse function (95% percentille), respectively. Percentages of anterior, posterior, left and right feet weight also were calculated. Variables were compared by using the Student’s t test for unpaired data. Significance level was considered for p <0.05.ResultsDisplacement of the x axis (25.55 ± 9.851 vs. -3.545 ± 7.667; p <0.05) and average sway rate (19.18 ± 2.7 vs. -10.55 ± 1.003; p <0.001) were increased in the blind children group. Percentage of left foot weight was reduced (45.82 ± 2.017 vs. 52.36 ± 1.33; p <0.05) while percentage of right foot weight was increased (54.18 ± 2.17 vs. 47.64 ± 1.33; p <0.05) in blind children. Other variables did not show differences.ConclusionsBlind children present impaired stabilometric parameters.

OBJETIVOS: caracterizar a população com Transtornos de Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade (TDAH); levantar prevalência de Transtornos de Aprendizagem (TA) e presença de respiração oral e verificar possíveis associações. MÉTODOS: foram estudados 77 pacientes do Serviço Ambulatorial de Neurodificuldades da Faculdade de Medicina ABC com diagnósticos de TA. Protocolos adaptados foram utilizados para avaliação respiratória. Os subtipos de TDAH foram classificados pelo DSM-IV, sendo os pacientes agrupados em tipos: 1 (desatento), 2 (hiperativo-impulsivo) e 3 (combinado), presença/ausência de TA e modos respiratórios nasal, oral e oronasal. Foram utilizados: Teste de Igualdade de Duas Proporções, ANOVA e Técnica de Intervalo de Confiança para Proporção/Média. RESULTADOS: houve prevalência de TDAH no gênero masculino, subtipo combinado, faixa etária infantil e 1º grau escolar. Observou-se alta ocorrência de TA (62,3%) com queixa de dificuldade escolar (87%). Houve significância estatística para presença de TA, dificuldade escolar e nenhuma repetência (61%). Houve alta ocorrência de respiração alterada (71,4%), que em associação ao TA foi de 41,6%. Houve predominância de TA e respiração oronasal para gêneros e tipos de TDAH. O tipo 1 foi mais velho em idade média (12,4 anos) do que Tipo 3 (10,63 anos). CONCLUSÕES: o TDAH acometeu preferencialmente meninos entre 7 e 13 anos, tipo 3, com alta prevalência e comorbidade com TA em associação a respiração oronasal. Houve correlação entre queixa de dificuldade escolar e TA; houve associação entre TDAH, baixo rendimento escolar e presença de respiração oronasal devido à alta presença de comorbidade com TA, independente do gênero, idade ou subtipo de TDAH.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by decreased attention span, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity. Autonomic nervous system imbalance was previously described in this population. We aim to compare the autonomic function of children with ADHD and controls by analyzing heart rate variability (HRV). Children with ADHD (22 boys, mean age 9.964 years) and 28 controls (15 boys, mean age 9.857 years) rested in supine position with spontaneous breathing for 20 min. Heart rate was recorded beat by beat. HRV analysis was performed by use of chaotic global techniques. ADHD promoted an increase in the chaotic forward parameter. The algorithm which applied all three chaotic global parameters was only the second optimum statistically measured by Kruskal–Wallis (P  < 0.0001) and low standard deviations. It was also highly influential by principal component analysis with almost all variation covered by the first two components. The third algorithm which lacked the (high spectral Detrended Fluctuation Analysis) parameter performed best statistically. However, we chose the algorithm which applied all three chaotic globals due to previous studies mentioned in the text—forward and inverse problems. Comparison of the autonomic function by analyzing HRV with chaotic global techniques suggests an increase in chaotic activity in children with ADHD in relation to the control group. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 412–419, 2016

BackgroundWe evaluated growth and nutritional status of preschool children between 2 and 6 years old from low income families from 14 daycare centers.MethodsCross-sectional study with 1544 children from daycare centers of Santo Andre, Brazil. Body weight (W), height (H) and body mass index (BMI) were classified according to the 2000 National Center for Health Statistics (CDC/NCHS). Cutoff points for nutritional disorders: -2 z scores and 2.5 and 10 percentiles for malnutrition risk, 85 to 95 percentile for overweight and above BMI 95 percentile for obesity. Stepwise Forward Regression method was used including age, gender, birth weight, breastfeeding duration, age of mother at birth and period of time they attended the daycare center.ResultsChildren presented mean z scores of H, W and BMI above the median of the CDC/NCHS reference. Girls were taller and heavier than boys, while we observed similar BMI between both genders. The z scores tended to rise with age. A Pearson Coefficient of Correlation of 0.89 for W, 0.93 for H and 0.95 for BMI was documented indicating positive association of age with weight, height and BMI. The frequency of children below -2 z scores was lower than expected: 1.5% for W, 1.75% for H and 0% for BMI, which suggests that there were no malnourished children. The other extremity of the distribution evidenced prevalence of overweight and obesity of 16.8% and 10.8%, respectively.ConclusionLow income preschool children are in an advanced stage of nutritional transition with a high prevalence of overweight.

Introduction: depression, besides causing great psychological distress, may lead to poor academic performance and social relationships. Objective: to examine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in medical students from a northeastern region of Brazil. Methods: the population comprised 1024 students from first to twelfth semesters of two medical schools in Cariri, Ceará, Brazil. We used the questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics and the Beck Depression Inventory II version. Results: the prevalence in this population for the diagnosis of depression was 28.8%.652 (63.7%) complied with all protocols to stay in research. After logistic regression, had a negative impact on studentsmental health: female Odds Ratio adjusted (ORa) (95% CI): 1.83 (1.19 to 2.82), reasonable physical health ORa (95% CI): 3.15 (2 0.09 to 4, 73), uncertainty about professional future ORa (95% CI): 2.97 (1.65 to 5.34), desire to change course ORa (95% CI): 2.51 (1.63 to 3.86), good social relationship but without participation in social activities ORa (95% CI): 1.96 (1.27 to 3.04), relationship difficulties ORa (95% CI): 11.40 (4.32 to 30.14) and rare leisure activities (95% CI): 2.45 (1.49 to 4.04) or eventual leisure activities ORa (95% CI): 3.04 (1.70 to 5.42). Conclusion: there was a high prevalence of depression among medical students in this region. Female, reasonable physical health, uncertainty over future career, desire to change course, do not participate in social activities and / or difficulties in relationships, sporadic or rare leisure activity were associated with increased risk of developing depressive symptoms.

BackgroundThe time synchronization is a very important ability for the acquisition and performance of motor skills that generate the need to adapt the actions of body segments to external events of the environment that are changing their position in space. Down Syndrome (DS) individuals may present some deficits to perform tasks with synchronization demand. We aimed to investigate the performance of individuals with DS in a simple Coincident Timing task.Method32 individuals were divided into 2 groups: the Down syndrome group (DSG) comprised of 16 individuals with average age of 20 (+/− 5 years old), and a control group (CG) comprised of 16 individuals of the same age. All individuals performed the Simple Timing (ST) task and their performance was measured in milliseconds. The study was conducted in a single phase with the execution of 20 consecutive trials for each participant.ResultsThere was a significant difference in the intergroup analysis for the accuracy adjustment - Absolute Error (Z = 3.656, p = 0.001); and for the performance consistence - Variable Error (Z = 2.939, p = 0.003).ConclusionDS individuals have more difficulty in integrating the motor action to an external stimulus and they also present more inconsistence in performance. Both groups presented the same tendency to delay their motor responses.

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the effects of chest and motor physiotherapy treatment on hemodynamic variables in preterm newborns with respiratory distress syndrome.MethodsWe evaluated heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), systolic (SAP), mean (MAP) and diastolic arterial pressure (DAP), temperature and oxygen saturation (SO2%) in 44 newborns with respiratory distress syndrome. We compared all variables between before physiotherapy treatment vs. after the last physiotherapy treatment. Newborns were treated during 11 days. Variables were measured 2 minutes before and 5 minutes after each physiotherapy treatment. We applied paired Student t test to compare variables between the two periods.ResultsHR (148.5 ± 8.5 bpm vs. 137.1 ± 6.8 bpm - p < 0.001), SAP (72.3 ± 11.3 mmHg vs. 63.6 ± 6.7 mmHg - p = 0.001) and MAP (57.5 ± 12 mmHg vs. 47.7 ± 5.8 mmHg - p = 0.001) were significantly reduced after 11 days of physiotherapy treatment compared to before the first session. There were no significant changes regarding RR, temperature, DAP and SO2%.ConclusionsChest and motor physiotherapy improved cardiovascular parameters in respiratory distress syndrome newborns.

BackgroundThe literature has already demonstrated that cigarette influences the cardiovascular system. In this study, we performed a literature review in order to investigate the relationship between sidestream cigarette smoke (SSCS) and cardiac autonomic regulation.MethodsSearches were performed on Medline, SciELO, Lilacs and Cochrane databases using the crossing between the key-words: “cigarette smoking”, “autonomic nervous system”, “air pollution” and “heart rate variability”.ResultsThe selected studies indicated that SSCS exposure affects the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to changes in arterial blood pressure. Moreover, heart rate responses to environmental tobacco smoke are increased in smokers compared to non-smokers. The mechanism involved on this process suggest increased oxidative stress in brainstem areas that regulate the cardiovascular system.ConclusionFurther studies are necessary to add new elements in the literature to improve new therapies to treat cardiovascular disorders in subjects exposed to sidestream cigarette smoke.