Measurements of maturity depend on the biological system considered since differences are often found in performance and body size in subjects of the same chronological age. The objective of this study was to identify associations between biological maturation, body morphology and physical performance in girls aged from 8.0 to 15.9 year-old and to verify the bone age in obese girls and compare it with chronological age. For that purpose 2040 (11.9 ± 2.3 years) school girls from Montes Claros, participated in this study. Regular anthropometric measures as height and body mass were taken. Triceps, biceps, subscapular, abdominal, suprailiac and calf skinfolds were also registered. Physical performance was assessed trough the test of a standing long jump, handgrip strength and 20 m multistage shuttle run. Maturational status, the average age at menarche and identification of PHV (maturity off set) were determined by means of the retrospective method. Girls with the BMI above the 95th percentile got their bone age evaluated through X-ray of the left hand/wrist, in accordance with the FELS method. It was possible to find an average age at menarche of 11.30 ± 0.70, while the average age at PHV was 12.17 ± 0.71 years of age. It was observed that both body composition and physical performance showed a tendency to increase with advancing age. However, when controlling the effect of maturation, despite having higher values in body composition the post-menarche girls group did not show higher levels of physical performance. In all age groups, obese girls showed mean rates of bone age higher than chronologic age (12.25 ± 2.09 and 14.09 ± 2.35, respectively, p=0.000). Chronological age should be used with caution when evaluating obese teenagers as it may underestimate biological age.

Objective: To determine new body mass index (BMI) reference values to classify the nutritional status of children aged six to ten years old from the city of Montes Claros (state of Minas Gerais), Southeast Brazil. Methods: The sample consisted of 3,863 individuals from both genders. Body mass and height were measured to determine the BMI. We adopted the Lambda, Mu, and Sigma (LMS) method to obtain the cut-off points. After that, each stratum curve was smoothed using quartic polynomials by gender. Average interpolation was used to determine the biannual distribution values. We calculated the 3rd, 85th, and 95th centiles to classify underweight, overweight, and obesity, respectively, according to gender and age. Results: After tabulating the LMS parameters at biannual intervals by gender, we plotted a graphic with seven centiles of BMI distribution and calculated the new BMI parameters for children aged 6-10 years old from the city of Montes Claros. The cut-off values for underweight, overweight, and obesity classification were, respectively, 17.5, 25 and 30 kg/m2. Conclusions: For the studied children, the use of traditional BMI references may result in the overestimation of underweight and underestimation of overweight and obesity. Studies should be carried out with periodic updates, respecting the characteristics of each location in order to use BMI reference values to classify the nutritional status of children and adolescents.

OBJETIVO: O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar os efeitos da atividade física em ambiente enriquecido sobre histomorfometria do músculo quadríceps femoral de camundongos C57BL/6 com caquexia associada ao modelo tumoral singênico de melanoma cutâneo. MÉTODOS: Foram utilizados camundongos fêmeas da linhagem C57BL/6 que foram distribuídos aleatoriamente em dois grupos: controle CRC (n=11), que não realizou nenhum tipo de intervenção, o segundo grupo foi o experimental (CRC-ATF) (n=15), que realizou atividade física organizada em ambiente enriquecido de 60 cm de comprimento, 30 cm de largura e 45 cm de altura. Ocorreu indução tumoral de células B16-F10 da linhagem de melanoma cutâneo em todos os animais desse estudo. Após dez dias da indução tumoral, todos os animais já apresentavam quadro de caquexia, assim o grupo experimental iniciou a atividade física em ambiente enriquecido com duração de 30 minutos com intervalos de 48 horas. Após 26 dias do início da intervenção, os animais sobreviventes foram eutanasiados e foi realizada a coleta do músculo quadríceps femoral para análise histomorfométrica. RESULTADOS: Analisando a intervenção realizada, percebemos que o grupo CRC-ATF apresentou a área da fibra muscular maior que o grupo CRC, mas esse resultado não mostrou diferença significativa (p≤0,05) entre os grupos. CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados mostram que é possível preservar a estrutura muscular, pois os melhores resultados foram encontrados com os animais que participaram da atividade física em ambiente enriquecido.

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