Both obesity and atrial fibrillation (AF) are increasing in epidemic proportions, and both increase the prevalence of cardiovascular disease events. Obesity has adverse effects on cardiovascular ...hemodynamics and cardiac structure and function, and increases the prevalence of AF, partly related to electroanatomic remodeling in obese patients. However, numerous studies, including in AF, have demonstrated an obesity paradox, where overweight and obese patients with these disorders have a better prognosis than do leaner patients with the same degree of severity of cardiovascular disease/AF. In this paper, the authors discuss special issues regarding AF in obesity, as well as the evidence that despite the presence of an obesity paradox, there are benefits of weight loss, physical activity/exercise training, and increases in cardiorespiratory fitness on the prognosis of obese patients with AF.
Blagus, R, Jurak, G, Starc, G, and Leskošek, B. Centile reference curves of the SLOfit physical fitness tests for school-aged children and adolescents. J Strength Cond Res 37(2): 328-336, 2023-The ...study provides sex- and age-specific centile norms of Slovenian children and youth. Physical fitness was assessed using the SLOfit test battery on population data, including 185,222 children, aged 6-19 years, measured in April and May 2018. Centile curves for both sexes and 12 test items were constructed using the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape (GAMLSS). Boys generally achieved higher scores in most of the physical fitness tests, except in stand and reach, but this was not consistent throughout childhood and adolescence, nor did it pertain to the entire range of performance. Girls outperformed boys in the arm-plate tapping test throughout childhood; the poorest performing girls outperformed the poorest performing boys in the 600-m run, 60-m dash, backward obstacle course, and standing broad jump. The shapes and trends of physical fitness curves adequately reflect the effects of growth and development on boys' and girls' physical performance. Comparing the existing reference fitness curves showed that Slovenian children and adolescents display higher fitness levels than their peers from other countries. This study provides the most up-to-date sex- and age-specific reference fitness centile curves of Slovenian children, which can be used as benchmark values for health and fitness monitoring and surveillance systems.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan on Physical Activity recommends adopting a systems approach to implementing and tailoring actions according to local contexts. We held group ...model-building workshops with key stakeholders in the Caribbean region to develop a causal loop diagram to describe the system driving the increasing physical inactivity in the region and envision the most effective ways of intervening in that system to encourage and promote physical activity. We used the causal loop diagram to inform how the WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity might be adapted to a local context. Although the WHO recommendations aligned well with our causal loop diagram, the diagram also illustrates the importance of local context in determining how interventions should be coordinated and implemented. Some interventions included creating safe physical activity spaces for both sexes, tackling negative attitudes to physical activity in certain contexts, including in schools and workplaces, and improving infrastructure for active transport. The causal loop diagram may also help understand how policies may be undermined or supported by key actors or where policies should be coordinated. We demonstrate how, in a region with a high level of physical inactivity and low resources, applying systems thinking with relevant stakeholders can help the targeted adaptation of global recommendations to local contexts.
ABSTRACTChaabene, H, Negra, Y, Bouguezzi, R, Mkaouer, B, Franchini, E, Julio, U, and Hachana, Y. Physical and physiological profile of wrestler athletesa short review. J Strength Cond Res ...31(5)1411–1442, 2017—Wrestling is one of the oldest combat sports, disputed since the ancient Greek Olympic Games. This combat sport discipline has caught the attention of scientists since 1943 which is the date that matches the appearance of the first scientific research dealing with wrestling. The current short review aimed to summarize and critically analyze the scientific literature related to wrestlingʼs physical and physiological attributes and to provide practical recommendations for testing/training together with new perspective and areas of future scientific research. Regardless of sex and wrestling styles, an optimal level of cardiorespiratory fitness is important to help sustaining effort throughout the duration of the match and to stimulate the recovery process between periods. With regard to the anaerobic power and capacity, the available studies were in agreement about their critical importance toward reaching high-level wrestling success since these variables have discriminated well between successful and less-successful wrestlers regardless of age, weight classes, and wrestling styles. Physical fitness parameters such as maximal dynamic strength, isometric strength, explosive strength, and strength endurance are closely related to high-level wrestling performance. However, flexibility level seems not to be one of the key fitness variables that help to reach high-level wrestling success. Overall, to achieve high-level wrestling performance, training should be directed to develop anaerobic power and capacity, aerobic power, maximal dynamic and isometric strength, explosive strength, and strength endurance.
Physical fitness is related to well-being and health. Adolescence is a key period in the psychological and social development of the person, in which interpersonal relationships gain strength, being ...bullying a type of violence that can affect the personality of those involved. At present, there is not enough research to determine the relationships between bullying and physical condition. The purpose of this study is to find out if there are any relationships among physical fitness, victimisation, and aggression in bullying, and to identify these behaviours. This is a descriptive study done in 1035 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years (M = 14.67, SD = 1.49). The European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (EBIPQ) scale was used, and anthropometric characteristics of weight and height were measured. In addition, physical fitness tests from the Eurofit battery, sit-and-reach, 30-second sit-ups, horizontal jump, manual dynamometry, and 20-meter Multistage Shuttle Run Test (SRT) were included. The relationships between variables were analysed using Spearman correlations, linear regressions, and ordinal regressions. The most relevant findings indicate an inverse relationship between being a victim of bullying and having a better cardiorespiratory cardiovascular endurance. These also show a direct relationship between being a bully and skeletal muscle strength measured through the horizontal jump, 30-second sit-ups, and manual dynamometry tests. Theoretically, we can conclude that physical condition can be considered a predictor to consider in bullying. Specifically, cardiorespiratory fitness, in addition to its multiple physical and mental benefits, may be a protective element against bullying victimisation. In contrast, muscular strength, especially in boys, may be an important predictor, especially in the physical component, of aggression in bullying.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Candida albicans is a prevalent human fungal pathogen. Rapid genomic change, due to aneuploidy, is a common mechanism that facilitates survival from multiple types of stresses including the ...few classes of available antifungal drugs. The stress survival of aneuploids occurs despite the fitness costs attributed to most aneuploids growing under idealized lab conditions. Systematic study of the aneuploid state in C. albicans has been hindered by the lack of a comprehensive collection of aneuploid strains. Here, we describe a collection of diploid C. albicans aneuploid strains, each carrying one extra copy of each chromosome, all from the same genetic background. We tested the fitness of this collection under several physiological conditions including shifts in pH, low glucose, oxidative stress, temperature, high osmolarity, membrane stress, and cell wall stress. We found that most aneuploids, under most conditions, were less fit than their euploid parent, yet there were specific conditions under which specific aneuploid isolates provided a fitness benefit relative to the euploid parent strain. Importantly, this fitness benefit was attributable to the change in the copy number of specific chromosomes. Thus, C. albicans can tolerate aneuploidy of each chromosome and some aneuploids confer improved growth under conditions that the yeast encounters in its host niches.
In the 1980s, a research team led by Parisian scientists identified several unique DNA sequences, or haplotypes, linked to sickle cell anemia in African populations. After casual observations of how ...patients managed this painful blood disorder, the researchers in question postulated that the Senegalese type was less severe. The Enculturated Gene traces how this genetic discourse has blotted from view the roles that Senegalese patients and doctors have played in making sickle cell "mild" in a social setting where public health priorities and economic austerity programs have forced people to improvise informal strategies of care.
Vegetarian and Plant-Based Diets in Health and Disease Prevention examines the science of vegetarian and plant-based diets and their nutritional impact on human health. This book assembles the ...science related to vegetarian and plant-based diets in a comprehensive, balanced, single reference that discusses both the overall benefits of plant-based diets on health and the risk of disease and issues concerning the status in certain nutrients of the individuals, while providing overall consideration to the entire spectrum of vegetarian diets. Broken into five sections, the first provides a general overview of vegetarian / plant-based diets so that readers have a foundational understanding of the topic. Dietary choices and their relation with nutritional transition and sustainability issues are discussed. The second and third sections provide a comprehensive description of the relationship between plant-based diets and health and disease prevention. The fourth section provides a deeper look into how the relationship between plant-based diets and health and disease prevention may differ in populations with different age or physiological status. The fifth and final section of the book details the nutrients and substances whose intakes are related to the proportions of plant or animal products in the diet.Discusses the links between health and certain important characteristics of plant-based diets at the level of food groupsAnalyzes the relation between plant-based diet and health at the different nutritional levels, i.e. from dietary patterns to specific nutrients and substancesProvides a balanced evidence-based approach to analyze the positive and negative aspects of vegetarianismAddresses the different aspects of diets predominantly based on plants, including geographical and cultural variations of vegetarianism
To provide a large reference material on aerobic fitness and exercise physiology data in a healthy population of Norwegian men and women aged 20-90 years.
Maximal and sub maximal levels of VO2, heart ...rate, oxygen pulse, and rating of perceived exertion (Borg scale: 6-20) were measured in 1929 men and 1881 women during treadmill running.
The highest VO2max and maximal heart rate among men and women were observed in the youngest age group (20-29 years) and was 54.4±8.4 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1) and 43.0±7.7 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1) (sex differences, p<0.001) and 196±10 beats·min(-1) and 194±9 beats·min(-1) (sex differences, p<0.05), respectively, with a subsequent reduction of approximately 3.5 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1) and 6 beats·min(-1) per decade. The highest oxygen pulses were observed in the 3 youngest age groups (20-29 years, 30-39 years, 40-49 years) among men and women; 22.3 mL·beat(-1)±3.6 and 14.7 mL·beat(-1)±2.7 (sex differences, p<0.001), respectively, with no significant difference between these age groups. After the age of 50 we observed an 8% reduction per decade among both sexes. Borg scores appear to give a good estimate of the relative exercise intensity, although observing a slightly different relationship than reported in previous reference material from small populations.
This is the largest European reference material of objectively measured parameters of aerobic fitness and exercise-physiology in healthy men and women aged 20-90 years, forming the basis for an easily accessible, valid and understandable tool for improved training prescription in healthy men and women.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A gender-based disparity in physical activity (PA) among youth, whereby girls are less active than boys is a persistent finding in the literature. A greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying ...this difference has potential to guide PA intervention strategies.
Data were collected at age 8 and 12 years (276 boys, 279 girls) from 29 schools as part of the LOOK study. Multilevel linear models were fitted separately for boys and girls to examine effects of individual, family and environmental level correlates on pedometer measured PA. Cardio-respiratory fitness (multi-stage run), percent fat (DEXA), eye-hand coordination (throw and catch test) and perceived competence in physical education (questionnaire) were used as individual level correlates. At the family level, parent's support and education (questionnaire) were used. School attended and extracurricular sport participation were included as environmental level correlates.
Girls were 19% less active than boys (9420 vs 11360 steps/day, p<0.001, 95%CI 1844, 2626). Lower PA among girls was associated with weaker influences at the school and family levels and through lower participation in extracurricular sport. School attended explained some of the variation in boys PA (8.4%) but not girls. Girls compared to boys had less favourable individual attributes associated with PA at age 8 years, including 18% lower cardio-respiratory fitness (3.5 vs 4.2, p<0.001, CI 0.5,0.9), 44% lower eye-hand coordination (11.0 vs 17.3, p<0.001, CI 5.1,9.0), higher percent body fat (28% vs 23%, p<0.001, CI 3.5,5.7) and 9% lower perceived competence in physical education (7.7 vs 8.4, p<0.001, CI 0.2,0.9). Participation in extracurricular sport at either age 8 or 12 years was protective against declines in PA over time among boys but not girls.
Girls PA was less favourably influenced by socio-ecological factors at the individual, family, school and environmental levels. These factors are potentially modifiable suggesting the gap in PA between boys and girls can be reduced. Strategies aiming to increase PA should be multicomponent and take into consideration that pathways to increasing PA are likely to differ among boys and girls.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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