Manganese (Mn) is an essential heavy metal. However, Mn’s nutritional aspects are paralleled by its role as a neurotoxicant upon excessive exposure. In this review, we covered recent advances in identifying mechanisms of Mn uptake and its molecular actions in the brain as well as promising neuroprotective strategies. The authors focused on reporting findings regarding Mn transport mechanisms, Mn effects on cholinergic system, behavioral alterations induced by Mn exposure and studies of neuroprotective strategies against Mn intoxication. We report that exposure to Mn may arise from environmental sources, occupational settings, food, total parenteral nutrition (TPN), methcathinone drug abuse or even genetic factors, such as mutation in the transporter SLC30A10. Accumulation of Mn occurs mainly in the basal ganglia and leads to a syndrome called manganism, whose symptoms of cognitive dysfunction and motor impairment resemble Parkinson’s disease (PD). Various neurotransmitter systems may be impaired due to Mn, especially dopaminergic, but also cholinergic and GABAergic. Several proteins have been identified to transport Mn, including divalent metal tranporter-1 (DMT-1), SLC30A10, transferrin and ferroportin and allow its accumulation in the central nervous system. Parallel to identification of Mn neurotoxic properties, neuroprotective strategies have been reported, and these include endogenous antioxidants (for instance, vitamin E), plant extracts (complex mixtures containing polyphenols and non-characterized components), iron chelating agents, precursors of glutathione (GSH), and synthetic compounds that can experimentally afford protection against Mn-induced neurotoxicity.

Introduction: Sarcopenia has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality in older people. However, there is still no consensus about the best diagnostic criteria for it.Objective: This study aimed to evaluate different diagnostic criteria of sarcopenia and their relationship with muscle strength and functional capacity. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Santa Maria-RS, Brazil. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Physical performance was evaluated by the Timed-get-up-and-go test (TGUG). Muscle strength was measured with a handgrip dynamometer. The proposed criteria of sarcopenia were evaluated as follows: A) appendicular lean mass index (aLM/ht 2 ), cutoffs 5.5 kg/m 2 , 2SD, 10 th percentile, and 20 th percentile of young reference; B) a linear regression model was used to adjust appendicular lean mass (aLM) for both height and fat mass, cutoff 20 th percentile of elderly. Results: In total, 104 women agreed to participate in the research, 39 young (20 to 40 years) and 65 elderly (over 60 years). The prevalence of sarcopenia varied from 0% to 17.2% according to the diagnostic criteria. Regarding muscle strength, the aLM/ht 2 cutoff 10 th percentile was the criterion with greater area under the ROC curve. However, there were no criteria with an area under the ROC curve greater than 0.5 when TGUG was the outcome. The reclassification showed that the criterion B reclassified 66.7% with normal grip strength as sarcopenic. Conclusion: Of these criteria, aLM/ht 2 cutoff 10 th percentile had stronger correlation with muscle strength.

Resumo: O artigo aborda a relação entre as questões de gênero, aceitação do corpo, relações interpessoais e as aulas de educação física no contexto escolar, com o intuito de verificar a realidade desses alunos quanto as aulas de educação física e suas implicações, enquanto inclusão (ou exclusão) que poderá resultar em um bom ou mal relacionamento com os colegas. Os dados foram obtidos a partir da aplicação de um questionário com questões abertas e fechadas para alunos de escolas estaduais de diversos municípios do Rio Grande do Sul. Através das respostas dos alunos, foi possível verificar que o ambiente escolar e neste caso, as aulas de educação física reproduzem e reforçam práticas segregadoras, dificuldades de relacionamento entre os alunos LGBT’s e não LGBT’s e a dificuldade de aceitação do próprio corpo. É necessário um olhar mais aprofundado a cerca das questões abordadas neste estudo dentro do ambiente escolar e em especial nas aulas de educação física, com o intuito de compreender as questões de gênero e evitar a exclusão dos alunos LGBT’s.   Palavras-chave: Alunos LGBT’s. homofobia. Educação Física, escolas, exclusão