Introduction: Pediatric overweight and obesity are major public health issues affecting an ever-growing number of children. Reduce the cardiovascular complications associated with obesity is a major goal in the management of the pathology. In obese children, aerobic fitness is diminished, which may contribute to exercise intolerance. The study of VO(2 )max evolution and the parameters measured during a cardiorespiratory exercise test assesses the child's progress and the potential benefits of a fitness program. Material and method: RESOP 53 (Exercise Rehabilitation for Overweight and Pediatric Obesity in Mayenne) is a fitness program that consists of two weekly sessions of exercise tailored to each patient along with pediatric, dietary, and psychological care, for a total duration of 12 weeks. The program is intended for obese children living in Mayenne. It is a retrospective study. Results: Our study includes 34 children (including 53% of boys) who were enrolled in the program between October 2021 and April 2024. The children's average age is 12.5 years, and their average BMI is 30.8 kg/m2 (+2.99 SD). The difference in VO(2 )max during exercise tests between the beginning and the end of the program was +150 mL/min (P < 0.01), which is significantly higher than the physiological increase of 50 mL/min at this age, representing a 7.2% average increase. There was also an increase in maximal aerobic power of 13 Watts, or 11% (P < 0.01), and an increase in power at the first ventilatory threshold (VT1) of 12 Watts, or 18% (P < 0.01). No difference was observed regarding weight or BMI. Conclusion: Our study reveals an immediate gain regarding VO(2 )max, maximal power and power at the first ventilatory threshold with only two sessions per week over 12 weeks. This gain is sufficient to concretely improve the daily life of the child suffering from obesity. Such an increase over a short period suggests that there may not be a threshold effect of physical activity in this patient population. These data should be further validated with a prospective study. The absence of progress with respect to weight or BMI indicates that a short outpatient-based program such as RESOP 53 must be paired with long-term follow up of the patients to impact the multiple factors contributing to obesity and reach weight loss.
Objectives Despite the prevalence and negative consequences of mental health issues among elite athletes, studies suggest many do not seek professional help. Some barriers exist in the process of help-seeking such as a high level of stigma, lack of mental health knowledge. Therefore, understanding barriers and facilitators to help-seeking is imperative to reduce the burden of mental health symptoms and disorders. Cross-sectional evidence suggests that mental health literacy might correlate to attitudes of help-seeking via self-stigma and public stigma. In the current study, a longitudinal design is conducted to extend knowledge of these hypothesized mediational pathways. Methods The data were collected three times with an interval of three months each. A final sample of 82 elite athletes aged 20.6 years (SD=2.86, ranging from 18 to 31; male=39) reported their mental health literacy at Time 1, self-stigma and public stigma at Time 2, and help-seeking attitudes at Time 3. Mediation analysis was conducted using the bootstrap approach of the PROCESS macro version 4.3 of SPSS 29. Results The results of analysis showed the positive relationship between mental health literacy (Time 1) and help-seeking attitude among elite athlete (Time 3), with the public stigma (Time 2) playing mediating roles in this relationship. However, self-stigma (Time 2) did not show mediate effect in this relationship. The chain mediation effect of public stigma and self-stigma (Time 2) on the relationship between mental health literacy (Time 1) and help-seeking attitude among elite athlete (Time 3) was not significant. Conclusion According to the longitudinal evidence for the mediating effects of public stigma, future studies with experimental designs could consider testing the potential changing mechanisms of mental health literacy on improving help-seeking attitudes for elite athletes.
Objectives To develop and evaluate an AI-assisted framework integrating deep learning for injury risk prediction and adaptive physical conditioning in youth basketball players. Methods Biometric data, historical injury records, and training performance metrics were collected from youth basketball players across multiple sessions. Data preprocessing included cleaning and Z-score normalization, with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) used for feature extraction. A Dynamic Pity Beetle-mutated Residual Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (DPB-Res-Bi-LSTM) network predicted temporal and spatial patterns associated with elevated injury risk. Key performance indicators, including jump height, sprint speed, agility, and endurance, were assessed using paired T-tests before and after AI-guided conditioning interventions. Model performance was evaluated against multimodal baseline architectures. Results High predictive performance was attained by the DPB-Res-Bi-LSTM model, with accuracy, F1-score, recall, and precision ranging from 92 to 95%. AI-guided conditioning interventions were linked to improvements in physical performance metrics that were tracked. Python 3.10.1 was used to carry out the investigations, allowing for dynamic training plan modification, progressive overload, appropriate recovery, and reduced injury risk. Conclusion The proposed DPB-Res-Bi-LSTM framework shows potential as a predictive and decision-support tool for coaches, trainers, and sports medicine professionals, supporting personalized training strategies to enhance performance and reduce injury risk in youth basketball.
