Earticle

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent difficul-ties in social communication and interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Growing evidence suggests that play, physical activity (PA), and exercise may contribute to improvements in behavioral regulation and social functioning in individuals with ASD. However, findings across studies remain heterogeneous with respect to intervention type, intensity, and targeted outcomes, making it chal-lenging to draw unified conclusions. This narrative review aimed to synthesize and discuss existing literatures on play-based, PA, and exer-cise interventions targeting behavioral and social outcomes in individu-als with ASD. Overall, the literature indicated that PA and exercise pro-grams—particularly those incorporating social interaction, task-orient-ed play, or group-based formats—were associated with meaningful improvements in both sociobehavioral domains. Potential mechanisms underlying these effects included enhanced executive functioning, im-proved self-regulation, neurobiological adaptations, and increased op-portunities for social learning. Nevertheless, variability in study design, outcome measures, and methodological quality limits the generalizabili-ty of findings. Future research should prioritize well-designed trials with standardized outcome measures and clearly defined intervention pa-rameters to strengthen the evidence base and inform clinical and edu-cational practice.

This study examined whether identical body conditioning program would differentially affect hemodynamic, body composition, and physi-cal fitness parameters across blood pressure (BP) categories, and ex-plored the potential role of autonomic modulation in mediating exer-cise-induced adaptations. In this quasi-experimental study, 85 partici-pants completed a structured 15-week exercise program. All partici-pants were categorized into four groups as follows: normal BP (n=21), elevated BP (n=20), stage 1 hypertension (n=22), and stage 2 hyper-tension (n=22). Because muscle mass and basal metabolic rate (BMR) differed among the groups at baseline, a repeated-measures analysis of covariance was conducted using these variables as covariates to assess the effects of time and group. Significant interactions were ob-served for systolic BP with pronounced reductions in the stage 1 hyper-tension and stage 2 hypertension groups, particularly in stage 2 hyper-tension. Diastolic BP and heart rate also demonstrated significant dif-ferential responses across groups. Cardiorespiratory fitness showed group-dependent responses, with significant group and time × group effects observed for maximal oxygen uptake. In contrast, no significant interactions were found for body weight, fat mass, body circumferenc-es and grip strength. Importantly, the hemodynamic improvements oc-curred independently of changes in body composition and were robust after adjustment for baseline muscle mass and BMR. These findings are consistent with the possibility that exercise-induced autonomic mod-ulation may contribute to early BP improvements; however, direct auto-nomic indices were not measured.

This study analyzed the effects of an 8-week Pilates exercise program on health-related physical fitness and spinal morphology in female col-lege students. As a result of performing 8 weeks of Pilates exercise program, there was a significant difference in flexibility and muscular endurance in the experimental group. In addition, there was a signifi-cant difference in lateral deviation after performing 8 weeks of Pilates exercise program. Therefore, it is expected that consistent participation in Pilates exercise will lead to improvements in flexibility, endurance, and lateral deviation. Pilates requires professional and systematic theo-retical establishment, and therefore, future research requires more spe-cific qualitative studies on Pilates exercise.

A case of a female patient with hair loss induced by coronavirus dis-ease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination who was treated with autologous CD34+ enriched hematopoietic progenitor cell fraction (CD34+ HPCF) and umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) was reported. The patient presented with generalized pain and hair loss after COVID-19 vaccination. The patient received subcutaneous injec-tions of autologous CD34+ HPCF at 1-cm intervals into the scalp. These injections were administered once a week for a total of 10 times, except in weeks 5 and 10. During this period, UC-MSCs were administered in-travenously at dose of 7×107 cells in 20 mL and subcutaneously at a dose of 1×107 cells in 5 mL into the scalp twice each in weeks 5 and 10. After 12 weeks of treatment, the patient’s hair loss improved without significant adverse effects. Autologous CD34+ HPCF and UC-MSC in-jections showed significant effects on hair loss induced by COVID-19 vaccination.