Small Blubber Samples (50 mg) Sufficient for Analyses of 10 Stress and Reproductive Steroid Hormones in Gray and Fin Whales via Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Information on stress, reproductive fitness, and health is difficult to obtain in wild cetaceans but critical for conservation and management. The goal of this study was to develop a methodology requiring minimal blubber mass for analysis of reproductive and stress steroid hormones and, hence, suitable for cetacean biopsies. Blubber biopsies and samples were collected from free-ranging and stranded gray and fin whales. Steroid hormones were extracted from blubber samples as small as 50 mg using liquid-liquid extraction methodology developed to handle the high fat content of blubber. Samples were analyzed via liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry for 10 hormones: aldosterone, androstenedione, cortisol, cortisone, corticosterone, 17β-estradiol, estrone, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, progesterone, and testosterone. As part of the optimization, homogenization via bead beating and blade dispersion were compared, and the former found superior. To investigate optimal yet minimal tissue mass required, hormone panels were compared among paired 50, 150, and 400 mg samples, the latter two being commonly reported masses for hormone blubber analysis. Results indicated that 50 mg of blubber was suitable and sometimes superior. Additionally, significant differences in precision values were observed between species, possibly stemming from differences in blubber composition, and relevant to homogenization technique selection and calibration methods that use blubber matrix matches obtained from a species other than the study species. Based on recovery and precision values, our methodology was accurate and precise in the measurement of spiked known quantities for all 10 hormones, confirming the methodology capabilities in 50 mg blubber mass in both species. Altogether, and in our specific sample sets, all endogenous hormones, except corticosterone, were identified above the detection limit in 50 mg gray whale blubber samples while all endogenous hormones, except aldosterone, cortisone, estrone, and progesterone, were detected in 50 mg fin whale blubber samples. We present a robust methodology for the analysis of multiple reproductive and stress steroid hormones in minimal masses of cetacean blubber compatible with small biopsies. Finally, we identified statistically significant differences in corticosteroid concentrations between stranded and free ranging animals.

FACTORS INFLUENCING ADOPTION OF A HALAL APP IN A SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATE (SIDS). A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.

The fourth technological revolution is here, tailgated by stratospheric advances in emerging technologies meant to improve the daily lives of individuals which come with various functionalities, uses and varieties. We are talking of smartphone applications or Apps and they are a rage nowadays given the unrivaled degree of informativeness, convenience, connectivity and networking opportunities they offer, and have been developed to address the needs of consumers in various sectors namely, banking, shopping, travel, fitness and health, food delivery, mapping, news and education, just to name a few. At the same time, the growing demand for Halal consumption fueled by the boom in the global Halal industry and ethical consumerism, consumers are in dire need of a one-stop medium where information about Halal products is available within reach so as to safely maintain their religious commitments and dieting requirements. Therefore, given the uniqueness of Halal-based Apps and more so the peculiar requirements of Halal consumers, it has become imperative to have studies which investigate the factors which influence Muslims to adopt Halal-based Apps, and the literature clearly lacks in terms of such assessments. Hence, the present research is one of the very first to come up with a conceptual framework which can be used to study the predominant factors which would motivate users to adopt Halal-based App. This research has taken the case of a Halal-based App, named HalaalMoris in a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) like Mauritius.

Evaluation of Smartphone’s Embedded Sensors Through Applications: A Case Study of Gyroscope and Accelerometer

Smartphones are used for many daily activities like tele-communication, gaming, web browsing, fitness and health monitoring and traditional office working. Smartphones are equipped with built-in sensors to be able to perform these activities. It is well known that the sensors affect the resolution of the smartphone applications which is very vital in life critical applications (LCA). In this paper, two main sensors, the gyroscope and accelerometer have been studied. All commercial smartphones contain these two sensors and support functions related to them. These two sensors have direct link with the physical measurements which feed the fitness and health applications. A fitness application has been selected and ran under Android and iOS operating systems in two different popular smartphones: Samsung Note5 and iPhone7s smartphones. Statistical methodology has been applied to analysis the data and evaluate the performance of the sensors. The results show that commercial smartphones are not reliable devices for motion-related measurements and they can only be used for general purpose monitoring but not in life critical applications.

Secondary Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on People with Parkinson’s Disease—Results of a Polish Online Survey

The COVID-19 pandemic causes increased mental stress and decreased mobility, which may affect people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study aimed to investigate the secondary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the level of activity, quality of life (QoL) and PD-related symptoms. The respondents completed an online survey in Polish in the period from December, 2020 to June, 2021. The questionnaire was completed by 47 participants aged 43 to 90 years (mean 72.1 ± 1.3 years). A total of 94% reported reduced contact with family and friends. Over 90% remained active during the pandemic. However, 55% of people with PD showed subjectively lower level of activity then before the pandemic. Moreover, 36% of the respondents felt afraid to visit a doctor and reported problems with access to medication. Subjective QoL reduction was reported by 80%, and 83% declared worsening of PD symptoms. The post pandemic deterioration of motor symptoms in people with PD did not affect their QoL. However, the deterioration of contacts and feelings of isolation had a significant impact on the decline in quality of life (p = 0.022 and p = 0.009, respectively) and the presence of anxiety (p = 0.035 and p = 0.007, respectively). These results may indicate than greater importance of social and mental factors than fitness and health-related factors in the QoL self-assessment of the people with PD.

Change of psychophysiological indices in female students of creative occupations

Purpose: studying the dynamics of psychophysiological indices of creative occupation female students. Маterial: the study involved 120 female students. Reactive qualities, level of static and dynamic equilibrium, orientational qualities, speed of operative thinking, volume of rote memorization, attention distribution, level of accuracy, attention speed and switching, accuracy of task performance were assessed. Results: a decrease in the indices of the accuracy of reproducing motion amplitude and a given value of effort, those of response to vertically falling object and those of static and dynamic equilibrium was revealed. An improvement in the dynamics of nervous processes and the ability to constructive praxis was noted. The decrease in the level of development of motor qualities, professional skills, physical fitness, and health is observed already in the 1st year of study. The authors believe that the pedagogical influences should be started from the 1st course and continued until the end of the study. In the process of physical education classes, the physical exercises aimed at improving the professionally significant psychophysiological properties of students should be used. It is they that restrain the negative effect of increasing the intensity of educational classes simultaneously contributing to an increase in the development level of almost all motor qualities and health. Conclusions: uneven decrease of most psychophysiological indices negatively affects both the level of female student motor preparation and professional abilities of the future designers. The findings give ground for the development of the methods for improving motor qualities and psychophysiological properties professionally significant for students-designers. Taking into account the future profession specifics and the health indices will allow more precise planning of the content of physical education classes.

Upaya Menjaga Kebugaran Jasmani Dan Kesehatan Melalui Koreografi Senam Imaji Pandemi Pada Siswa MIM Delegtukang

This training activity aims to provide health sports program training for the maintenance of physical fitness of students at the madrasah level during the covid-19 pandemic. The substance of this devotional activity includes; education on the importance of maintaining physical fitness during pandemics, mentoring physical fitness practice, and education on the principles of good and correct physical fitness training include; Form of exercise, objectives and targets of exercise. Students / i who are the target of this devotional activity are students / i level Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Delegtukang, Wiradesa Subdistrict, Pekalongan Regency.. This devotional activity is carried out using a lecture approach and direct practice assistance by the service team. The result of this devotional activity is (1) students / i have a good understanding of the importance of maintaining physical fitness, (2) mastering physical exercise skills for the maintenance of physical fitness during the covid-19 pandemic, and (3) have an understanding of the principles of good and correct physical fitness training including; Form of exercise, objectives and targets of exercise.Keywords: Physical Fitness And Health, Choreographed Activities, Pandemic Imaji Gymnastics AbstrakKegiatan pelatihan ini bertujuan untuk memberikan pelatihan program olahraga kesehatan untuk pemeliharaan kebugaran jasmani siswa/i tingkat madrasah di masa pandemi covid-19. Substansi kegiatan pengabdian ini meliputi; edukasi pentingnya pemeliharaan kebugaran jasmani selama masa pandemi, pendampingan praktik latihan kebugaran jasmani, serta edukasi mengenai prinsip-prinsip latihan kebugaran jasmani yang baik dan benar meliputi; bentuk latihan, tujuan dan sasaran latihan. Siswa/i yang menjadi target kegiatan pengabdian ini adalah siswa/i tingkat Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Delegtukang, Kecamatan Wiradesa, Kabupaten Pekalongan. Kegiatan pengabdian ini dilakasanakan dengan menggunakan pendekatan ceramah dan pendampingan praktik secara langsung oleh tim pengabdi. Hasil dari kegiatan pengabdian ini adalah (1) siswa/i memiliki pemahaman yang baik mengenai pentingnya pemeliharaan kebugaran jasmani, (2) menguasai keterampilan latihan fisik untuk pemeliharaan kebugaran jasmani selama pandemi covid-19, serta (3) memiliki pemahaman mengenai prinsip-prinsip latihan kebugaran jasmani yang baik dan benar meliputi; bentuk latihan, tujuan dan sasaran latihan.Kata kunci: Kebugaran Jasmani Dan Kesehatan, Aktivitas Koreografi, Senam Imaji Pandemi

Athleticism in the system of physical education of students of a higher education institution

The article, based on the analysis and generalization of data from literature sources and practical experience, identifies the main features of the organization and planning of athletics classes with student youth. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the nature and length of training cycles in athletics depends on the method of training, the nature of the means of recovery and patterns of development of sports form. It is emphasized that the effectiveness of training is determined by the weight of the load, the intensity of work, the number of approaches and repetitions, the sequence of individual exercises in training, the number of exercises in a weekly cycle and rest time between approaches. It is noted that the structure of a separate training session in athletics is characterized by general principles of construction, regardless of its content or form, and consists of three parts: preparatory, basic and final. The comparative analysis of the training equipment of various design is carried out. It is shown that simulators by dosed physical activity and targeted impact on certain muscle groups can selectively affect the musculoskeletal system, cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems. It is optimal to conduct athletics classes with student youth three times a week in the form of optional classes. This number is due to the fact that most students have a low level of physical fitness and health, namely the strength training is facilitated by the technique, which provides for three classes during the week cycle. One of the conditions for improving the efficiency of this process is to build an algorithm for the annual cycle of athletics, taking into account the peculiarities of the training schedule. This allows you to ensure the optimal dynamics of strength training depending on the periods of the semester, exam session, practice, winter and summer vacations. This algorithm allows to achieve correspondence between the factors of pedagogical influence and restorative measures, rational use of various tools and methods of force development, which allows to systematically and gradually increase the load in the process of training. During the first semester, students' strength abilities are improved. The first month (September) should be aimed at gradually preparing students for further strength training with a higher intensity and volume of strength. The intensity of the load this month is relatively small, but the volume sometimes reaches significant values.

Does Childcare Work Promote Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Health? A Cross-Sectional Study of Danish Childcare Workers Based on Accelerometry and Heart Rate Measurements

Childcare workers are reported to have poor cardiorespiratory fitness and health. The Goldilocks Work Principle argues that productive work should be designed with the right composition, intensity and alternations of physical behaviors so that workers get fit and healthy. The purpose of this study was to investigate: (1) composition, (2) intensity and (3) alternations of physical behaviors during work and leisure among childcare workers. Data were collected using accelerometers and heart rate monitors over five workdays among 51 childcare workers at five Danish childcare institutions. Workers mainly spent their work time sedentary (43.0%), spent little time (0.7%) at sufficiently high cardiometabolic intensity to increase cardiorespiratory fitness and often alternated between physical behaviors (67.0% occurred in bouts of <5 min). These findings indicate that the workers have a composition of behaviors at work dominated by sedentary time, little time with high cardiometabolic intensity, and frequent alternations between behaviors. During leisure, workers spent more time sedentary (59.4%), more time at high cardiometabolic intensity (3.4%) and less time occurred in bouts <5 min (38.7%). We see a potential for promoting cardiorespiratory fitness and health of childcare workers by redesigning the way they play with the children, so that work time with high cardiometabolic intensity is increased.

Configurable Offline Sensor Placement Identification for a Medical Device Monitoring Parkinson’s Disease

Sensor placement identification in body sensor networks is an important feature, which could render such a system more robust, transparent to the user, and easy to wear for long term data collection. It can be considered an active measure to avoid the misuse of a sensing system, specifically as these platforms become more ubiquitous and, apart from their research orientation, start to enter industries, such as fitness and health. In this work we discuss the offline, fixed class, sensor placement identification method implemented in PDMonitor®, a medical device for long-term Parkinson’s disease monitoring at home. We analyze the stepwise procedure used to accurately identify the wearables depending on how many are used, from two to five, given five predefined body positions. Finally, we present the results of evaluating the method in 88 subjects, 61 Parkinson’s disease patients and 27 healthy subjects, when the overall average accuracy reached 99.1%.