BackgroundIncreased sedentary lifestyle and prevalence of overweight/obesity are common in western countries. The purposes of this study were (i) to assess the main health-related anthropometric characteristics in a sample of students in relation to sex, amount of physical activity and sport discipline, and (ii) to investigate the accuracy of the Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist-to-Stature Ratio (WSR) as indicators of body fat percentage (%F) in young adults.Methods734 university students, both sexes, participated in the present research. A self-administered questionnaire acquired socio-demographic information (sex, age) and sport participation (hours/week, sport discipline). Anthropometric measurements and grip strength values were acquired according to standardized procedures. Body composition was assessed by means of the skinfold method.ResultsMost students had normal BMI, WSR and %F. There were significant statistical differences in all anthropometric traits between the two sexes. One-way ANOVAs within sex showed statistically significant differences in biceps skinfold, waist circumference (WC), WSR, body density (BD), %F and fat mass (FM) among different levels of physical activity in males; and in weight, BMI, arm girths and fat free mass (FFM) in females. One-way ANOVAs within sex showed statistically significant differences in arm girths, grip strength and FFM among different sport disciplines in males, and in height, weight, BMI, WC, relaxed arm girth, grip strength, FM and FFM in females. Despite the significant and positive correlation of BMI and WSR with %F both indices had poor sensitivity.ConclusionsPhysical activity plays an important role in body composition parameters: the most active males had the least amount of FM and the most active females had the greatest amount of FFM. BMI and WSR are not accurate indices of adiposity in young adults.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a general lockdown in Italy, one of the most affected countries at the beginning of the outbreak, between 9 March and 3 May 2020. As a consequence, Italian citizens were confined at home for almost two months, an unprecedented situation, which could have negative effects on both psychological and physical health. The aim of this study was to review the published papers concerning the effects of the lockdown on physical activity and the consequences on general health. As expected, most studies highlighted a significant reduction in the amount of performed physical activity compared to before lockdown, in both the general population and in individuals with chronic conditions. This fact had negative consequences on both general health, in terms of increased body mass, and on specific chronic conditions, especially obesity and neurological diseases.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate separately in the two sexes the physical adaptations associated to exposure to high altitude in a sample of 18 nonacclimatized Caucasian subjects (10 males and 8 females, 22-59 years) who participated to scientific expeditions to Himalaya up to the Pyramid Laboratory (5050 m, Nepal) or Everest North Base Camp (5300 m, Tibet). Anthropometric traits (body height and weight, eight girths and six skinfolds) were collected according to standard procedures, before departure at sea level, during ascent (at altitude > 4000 m above sea level), and after return to low altitude. Body composition was assessed by means of the skinfold method. Both sexes lost on average 4.0% of initial body mass, corresponding to 7.6% of fat mass and 3.5% of fat free mass in males, and to 5.0% of fat mass and 3.6% of fat free mass in females. Average fat mass loss was greater in males than in females. Initial fat mass percentage was positively correlated to fat mass loss and negatively to FFM loss in males only, thus at HA leanest subjects lost more FFM and less FM than the fattest ones. Adaptations were faster in males than in females. In conclusion, the present research describes significant adaptations to high altitude, in terms of body weight reduction, regardless of the amount of performed physical activity.

Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death worldwide. The aim of the present study is to verify the performances of a data mining methodology in the evaluation of cardiovascular risk in athletes, and whether the results may be used to support clinical decision making. Anthropometric (height and weight), demographic (age and sex) and biomedical (blood pressure and pulse rate) data of 26,002 athletes were collected in 2012 during routine sport medical examinations, which included electrocardiography at rest. Subjects were involved in competitive sport practice, for which medical clearance was needed. Outcomes were negative for the largest majority, as expected in an active population. Resampling was applied to balance positive/negative class ratio. A decision tree and logistic regression were used to classify individuals as either at risk or not. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to assess classification performances. Data mining and resampling improved cardiovascular risk assessment in terms of increased area under the curve. The proposed methodology can be effectively applied to biomedical data in order to optimize clinical decision making, and—at the same time—minimize the amount of unnecessary examinations.