Objective: To investigate the effects of a school-based once-a-week sports program on physical fitness, physical activity, and cardiometabolic health in children and adolescents with a physical disability. Methods: This controlled clinical trial included 71 children and adolescents from four schools for special education [mean age 13.7 (2.9) years, range 8–19, 55% boys]. Participants had various chronic health conditions including cerebral palsy (37%), other neuromuscular (44%), metabolic (8%), musculoskeletal (7%), and cardiovascular (4%) disorders. Before recruitment and based on the presence of school-based sports, schools were assigned as sport or control group. School-based sports were initiated and provided by motivated experienced physical educators. The sport group (n = 31) participated in a once-a-week school-based sports program for 6 months, which included team sports. The control group (n = 40) followed the regular curriculum. Anaerobic performance was assessed by the Muscle Power Sprint Test. Secondary outcome measures included aerobic performance, VO2 peak, strength, physical activity, blood pressure, arterial stiffness, body composition, and the metabolic profile. Results: A significant improvement of 16% in favor of the sport group was found for anaerobic performance (p = 0.003). In addition, the sport group lost 2.8% more fat mass compared to the control group (p = 0.007). No changes were found for aerobic performance, VO2 peak, physical activity, blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and the metabolic profile. Conclusion: Anaerobic performance and fat mass improved following a school-based sports program. These effects are promising for long-term fitness and health promotion, because sports sessions at school eliminate certain barriers for sports participation and adding a once-a-week sports session showed already positive effects for 6 months.
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Coupling beams between shear walls are one of the key elements for energy dissipation in tall buildings. A representative mathematical model of coupling beam should represent flexure, shear and interface slip/extension mechanisms simultaneously. This goal can be achieved by using either detailed finite element models or by using macro models. This paper presents a review of various macro model alternatives for diagonally reinforced coupling beams in the literature. Three distinct methods have been reviewed in terms of their modeling techniques, the cyclic response overlap and the amount of cumulative plastic energy dissipated based on the results of previously performed tests. Through an analytical study, adequately accurate results can be captured by using macro models, although they are simpler in practice compared to sophisticated micro models. This study shows that, by modifying ultimate shear capacities where concrete material between diagonal bundles is adequately confined, it is possible to capture a more realistic result and a better approximation to the actual responses. It is also concluded that a simpler numerical model for diagonally reinforced coupling beams can be achieved by introducing linear part of slip/extension behavior into elastic part of the beam. It is observed, as a result of this study, that the ratio of effective stiffness to that of the gross cross-sectional one ranges from 0.04 to 0.14 in diagonally reinforced coupling beams depending on the aspect ratio and the beam strength parameters.
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Purpose: This research aimed to explore factors associated with patient-reported breast and abdominal scar quality after deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstruction (BR). Material and Methods: This study was designed as a descriptive cross-sectional survey in which women after DIEP flap BR were invited to complete an online survey on breast and abdominal scarring. The online survey was distributed in the Netherlands in several ways in order to reach a diverse population of women. Outcomes were assessed with the Patient Scale of the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS). Additional items were assessed with a numeric rating scale (NRS). Results: A total of 248 women completed the survey. There was a statistically significant worse POSAS scar appraisal for the abdominal scar compared with the breast scar. The vast majority of women reported high scores on at least one scar characteristic of their breast scar or ab- dominal scar. Overall, color, stiffness, thickness, and irregularity scored higher than pain and itching. Women were only moderately positive about the size, noticeability, location, and the information provided regarding scarring. Conclusion: It is crucial to address the inevitability of scars in patient education before a DIEP flap BR, with a particular focus on the abdominal scar, as women experience abdominal scars significantly worse than their breast scars. Providing more information on the experience of other women and the expected appearance will contribute to having realistic expectations while allowing them to make well-informed decisions.
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Thermoset materials find use in almost all industrial sectors, especially where lightweight, stiffness, resistance and dimensional stability are key performance requirements. However, traditional thermosets suffer from several drawbacks: they are made of fossil-based non-reversible polymers and toxic monomers; more importantly, thermosetting materials are virtually neither recyclable nor reprocessable, due to their crosslinked microstructure. Currently, most thermoset materials are incinerated or accumulated in landfills at the end of their life. Landfill waste degrades to liquids known as landfill leachates that lead to health and environmental problems. A significant part of these wastes originate from thermoset materials used in paints, coatings, sealants and adhesives applied as a thin film to all sorts of surfaces. These unrecyclable materials contribute to nano- and microplastic formation. Despite many efforts in the past years in this context, substantial further developments are required. Production of thermosets from biobased feedstocks using safe and sustainable-by-design approaches is therefore crucial to address the well-being of people and to have a healthy planet.SMARTCASE aims to develop safe and circular carbohydrate-derived reactive polyester resins for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers for application in the building and interior sectors. The new two-component (‘2K’) formulations are designed to replace currently used fossil-based epoxy and urethane resins by biobased and GHS-label-friendly alternatives. This not only improves the safety of workers and end-users of these materials, but also reduces the dependency on fossil resources and facilitates the transition towards abundantly available biobased raw materials.A new class of biobased polyesters resins and thermosets will be designed in SMARTCASE using safe and sustainable by design approaches allowing for more sustainable and feasible end-of-life options. Biobased polyesters in general meet the requirements of circularity, as they can be efficiently recycled back to their monomers at end-of-life. Accordingly, the recycling and degradation behavior of the developed formulations under thermal, mechanical and chemical conditions and their biodegradation will be studied. Hence, the output of the project contributes to the main goals of the NGF BioBased Circular program.The project follows a value-cycle approach with a multi-disciplinary and balanced consortium of industrial representatives from every part of the value chain, from carbohydrate feedstock suppliers to resin formulators and end users. This enables a system innovation instead of a (single) product innovation. The following results are expected within 10 years (mostly by the end of the project ): - Sustainable feedstock platform for novel biobased (BB) platform chemicals- Access to novel monomers and building blocks- Access to safe and novel polyester-based resin components- Access to high performance, safe and circular thermoset formulations- Scale-up of the best thermoset formulations- Validated performance of novel thermoset formulations in industrial applications- Sustainable and circular-by-design thermoset formulations with defined end-of-life solutions - Data on LCA, TEA, toxicity and sustainability- Engaged stakeholders and effective dissemination of project outcomes By ensuring these results are implemented by industrial partners both during and after the project, they will benefit not only stakeholders, chemical industries, and consortium partners but also the general public.
