Hippotherapy as a treatment for socialization after sexual abuse and emotional stress

[Purpose] Hippotherapy is a therapeutic resource that uses the horse as a kinesiotherapy instrument to elicit motor and cognitive improvements in individuals with special needs. [Subjects and Methods] This research evaluated two women aged 18 and 21 years, who had suffered sexual violence when they were children between the ages of 6 and 7 years old. The subjects did not have mental dysfunction but they were regular students registered at a school of special education. The patients presented severe motor limitation, difficulty with coordination, significant muscular retractions, thoracic and cervical kyphosis, cervical protrusion wich was basically a function of the postures they had adopted when victims of the sexual violence suffered in childhood. The patients performed twenty sessions of 30 minutes of hippotherapy on a horse. The activities were structured to stimulate coordination, proprioception, the vestibular and motor-sensorial systems for the improvement of posture, muscle activity and cognition. [Results] The activities provided during the hippotherapy sessions elicited alterations in postural adjustment resulting in 30% improvement, 80% improvement in coordination in, 50% improvement in corporal balance and in sociability and self-esteem. [Conclusion] Hippotherapy proved to be an effective treatment method for coordination, balance and postural correction, and also improved the patients’ self-esteem that had suffered serious emotional stress.Key words: Hippotherapy, Motor coordination, Emotional stress     

Exercise induces age-dependent changes on epigenetic parameters in rat hippocampus: A preliminary study

Regular exercise improves learning and memory, including during aging process. Interestingly, the imbalance of epigenetic mechanisms has been linked to age-related cognitive deficits. However, studies about epigenetic alterations after exercise during the aging process are rare. In this preliminary study we investigated the effect of aging and exercise on DNA methyltransferases (DNMT1 and DNMT3b) and H3-K9 methylation levels in hippocampus from 3 and 20-months aged Wistar rats. The animals were submitted to two exercise protocols: single session or chronic treadmill protocol. DNMT1 and H3-K9 methylation levels were decreased in hippocampus from aged rats. The single exercise session decreased both DNMT3b and DNMT1 levels in young adult rats, without any effect in the aged group. Both exercise protocols reduced H3-K9 methylation levels in young adult rats, while the single session reversed the changes on H3-K9 methylation levels induced by aging. Together, these results suggest that an imbalance on DNMTs and H3-K9 methylation levels might be linked to the brain aging process and that the outcome to exercise seems to vary through lifespan.     

Carbon Adsorbents from Spent Coffee for Removal of Methylene Blue and Methyl Orange from Water

Activated carbons (ACs) were prepared from dried spent coffee (SCD), a biological waste product, to produce adsorbents for methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solution. Pre-pyrolysis activation of SCD was achieved via treatment of the SCD with aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions at 90 °C. Pyrolysis of the pretreated SCD at 500 °C for 1 h produced powders with typical characteristics of AC suitable and effective for dye adsorption. As an alternative to the rather harsh base treatment, calcium carbonate powder, a very common and abundant resource, was also studied as an activator. Mixtures of SCD and CaCO₃ (1:1 w/w) yielded effective ACs for MO and MB removal upon pyrolysis needing only small amounts of AC to clear the solutions. A selectivity of the adsorption process toward anionic (MO) or cationic (MB) dyes was not observed.     

Low‐frequency heart rate variability is related to the breath‐to‐breath variability in the respiratory pattern

Changes in heart rate variability (HRV) at “respiratory” frequencies (0.15–0.5 Hz) may result from changes in respiration rather than autonomic control. We now investigate if the differences in HRV power in the low‐frequency (LF) band (0.05–0.15 Hz, HRV_LF) can also be predicted by respiration variability, quantified by the fraction of tidal volume power in the LF (V_LF,n). Three experimental protocols were considered: paced breathing, mental effort tasks, and a repeated attentional task. Significant intra‐ and interindividual correlations were found between changes in HRV_LF and V_LF,n despite all subjects having a respiratory frequency above the LF band. Respiratory parameters (respiratory period, tidal volume, and V_LF,n) could predict up to 79% of HRV_LF differences in some cases. This suggests that respiratory variability is another mechanism of HRV_LF generation, which should be always monitored, assessed, and considered in the interpretation of HRV changes.     

Cell adhesion molecules and plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: influence of metabolic syndrome

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory and systemic disease characterized by endothelial activation. The main objective of this study was to verify the profile of cell adhesion molecules (CAM) in RA patients, and the influence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and drugs used in the treatment of RA in this profile. A second objective was to propose models of prediction of activity in RA using these biomarkers. A total of 115 healthy individuals and 144 RA patients were enrolled. Disease activity was determined by DAS28 (disease activity score 28) based on erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) or C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP). Serum CAM and plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), anthropometric and immunological parameters were measured. Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) was significantly decreased, and PAI-1 was significantly higher in RA patients as compared to controls. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that VCAM-1, CRP, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) predicted RA with a sensitivity of 95.9% and a specificity of 89.5%. 42.9% of the variance in DAS28-ESR and 49.2% of the variance in DAS28-CRP are explained by increased PAI-1, TNF-α, body mass index (BMI) and decreased platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1). Our data show that lower levels of VCAM-1 are associated with RA independently of MetS, while increased PAI-1 levels were associated with both RA and MetS and increased selectins (E-selectin and P-selectin) were exclusively associated with MetS and not with RA. A model to predict disease activity based on PECAM-1, PAI-1, TNF-α, age and BMI is proposed.