The purpose of this investigation was to determine lipid peroxidation markers, physiological stress and muscle damage in elite kayakers in response to a maximum 4-min kayak ergometer test (KE test), ...and possible correlations with individual 1000m kayaking performances. The sample consisted of twenty-three adult male and nine adult female elite kayakers, with more than three years' experience in international events, who voluntarily took part in this study. The subjects performed a 10-min warm-up, followed by a 2-min passive interval, before starting the test itself, which consisted of a maximum 4-min work paddling on an ergometer; right after the end of the test, an 8 ml blood sample was collected for analysis. 72 hours after the test, all athletes took part in an official race, when then it was possible to check their performance in the on site K1 1000m test (P1000m). The results showed that all lipoproteins and hematological parameters tested presented a significant difference (p≤0.05) after exercise for both genders. In addition, parameters related to muscle damage such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) presented significant differences after stress. Uric acid presented an inverse correlation with the performance (r = -0.76), while CK presented a positive correlation (r = 0.46) with it. Based on these results, it was possible to verify muscle damage and the level of oxidative stress caused by indoor training with specific ergometers for speed kayaking, highlighting the importance of analyzing and getting to know the physiological responses to this type of training, in order to provide information to coaches and optimize athletic performance.
This is the first report of
Antiteuchus tripterus
(Fabricius, 1787) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) damaging
Araucaria angustifolia
(Bertol.) Kuntze, 1898 (Pinales: Araucariaceae) plants in Brazil. This ...bug, native to the neotropical region, damaged this plant on fragments of mixed rain forest in Bueno Brandão, Minas Gerais state, Brazil.
Araucaria angustifolia
, native and with ecological and economic values, was widely used in the lumber market and, therefore, threatened with extinction. Nymphs and adults of
A. tripterus
were observed in March and April with a population reduction until June 2022. The bioecology and damage caused by
A. tripterus
on
A. angustifolia
are not known.
The aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of creatine (Cr) supplementation on peak torque (PT) and fatigue rate in Paralympic weightlifting athletes. Eight Paralympic powerlifting ...athletes participated in the study, with 25.40 ± 3.30 years and 70.30 ± 12.15 kg. The measurements of muscle strength, fatigue index (FI), peak torque (PT), force (kgf), force (N), rate of force development (RFD), and time to maximum isometric force (time) were determined by a Musclelab load cell. The study was performed in a single-blind manner, with subjects conducting the experiments first with placebo supplementation and then, following a 7-day washout period, beginning the same protocol with creatine supplementation for 7 days. This sequence was chosen because of the lengthy washout of creatine. Regarding the comparison between conditions, Cr supplementation did not show effects on the variables of muscle force, peak torque, RFD, and time to maximum isometric force (
> 0.05). However, when comparing the results of the moments with the use of Cr and placebo, a difference was observed for the FI after seven days (U
: 1.12; 95% CI: (0.03, 2.27);
= 0.02); therefore, the FI was higher for placebo. Creatine supplementation has a positive effect on the performance of Paralympic powerlifting athletes, reducing fatigue index, and keeping the force levels as well as PT.
With current social, environmental and economic challenges, there is an increasing need to encourage more sustainable business models, which include social entrepreneurship, in the education of our ...future leaders and entrepreneurs. This has resulted in significant research and practice towards improving students' social entrepreneurial intention with higher education programmes. We used survey data collected from 220 university students in Brazil. These students participated in the Enactus programme, which exposed them to social entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial education. Our findings highlight the importance of experience-based programmes in forming empathy, essential to self-efficacy development, and in improving the ability to identify social opportunities, which together are indispensable for developing social entrepreneurial intentions. This paper contributes to social entrepreneurship education literature by emphasising the need to integrate experience-based opportunities into higher education programmes. It confirms that social entrepreneurial actions are contextually driven and should be addressed and developed closer to the needs. This results in empathic individuals who can see opportunities others do not see and become social entrepreneurs. In regard to public policy support and the encouragement of social entrepreneurship models, our findings emphasise the need to help universities and encourage experiential programmes to develop students. In this way, universities which develop social entrepreneurship education programmes have the opportunity to act as agents of change, developing human capital to address the social/environmental challenges and create a fairer society.
Tropical peatlands are important ecosystems for Planet Earth, as they store large amounts of carbon and water. A better understanding of the impact of vegetation type and altitude in content, ...composition, and rate of accumulation of organic matter is key for assessing the current role of such environments. This study evaluated fibric and soluble fractions as well as the lignocellulosic and the isotopic compositions of the peat organic matter from four tropical mountain peatlands located at different altitudes of the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The peatlands are currently under grasslands and forest clusters. Samples of peat under both vegetation types were collected and analyzed for organic matter fractions, cellulose, and lignin (van Soest method), as well as carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Different depths were chosen for radiocarbon dating of selected samples. The organic matter of peatlands currently under grasslands and forest clusters presented differences in soluble fractions, lignocellulosic composition, and δ13C values. Multivariate analyses allowed grouping the peatlands by altitude and vegetation type. The chronological succession of grassland and forest clusters in tropical mountain peatlands was influenced by altitude and was related to paleoclimatic changes.
•Peatlands were chronologically colonized by grasslands and forest clusters.•The altitude influenced species composition in grassland and forest clusters.•Vegetation type affected the contribution of organic fractions and δ13C in the peat.•The succession of grassland and forest clusters was related to paleoclimatic changes.
Foot disorders are responsible for up to 5% of confinement losses. Identifying the cause of lameness and applying the correct treatment are crucial measures. The possibility of determining the ...probable origins of digital lesions, their extension, and assistance in cases in which it was not possible to reach a definitive clinical diagnosis demonstrates that the radiographic evaluation provides information of great importance on cattle digits. Thus, this study aimed to investigate possible radiographic changes in the hoof, bone structures, and soft tissues of the digits of Nelore bulls at the end of the confinement period. Regarding the main signs, 100% ( n = 24) showed proliferation of enthesophytes and osteophytes and irregular contours, 62.5% ( n = 15) enlargement of vascular channels, 37.5% ( n = 9) osteolysis, 33.4% ( n = 8) gas content in the white line region, 20.84% ( n = 5) gas content in the dorsal lamina region, and 4.16% ( n = 1) presented palisade periosteal reaction. Ten (41.7%) out of 24 (100%) animals evaluated at the end of the confinement presented lameness, three animals of score three, four animals of score two, and three animals of score one. The higher the score indicating the severity of the signs observed in the visual assessment of the radiographs, the higher the internal angle values (moderate correlation of 0.5 and p < 0.05). A higher prevalence of osteo‐proliferative radiographic changes was identified at the end of the 114‐day confinement period in the third phalanx of Nellore cattle even in animals that had no lameness.
The western Amazon basin is an important endemic area for malaria by P. vivax. In recent years, several reports showed the treatment failure with chloroquine, which can be related to resistance. The ...assessment of chloroquine resistance requires the evaluation of drug exposure, and when possible, the estimation of the pharmacokinetic parameters. However, there is no data on the pharmacokinetics of chloroquine in this endemic area. Moreover, the influence of the early reappearance of parasites in blood on the exposure to the drug was low exploited in the literature. The present study described the pharmacokinetic parameters of chloroquine in whole blood of adult patients with P. vivax malaria from the western Brazilian Amazon basin and compared the area under the curve (AUC) with the parasitological outcome at day 28. A total of 19 patients with parasite recurrence within 28 days and 20 patients with no recurrence were included in the study. Chloroquine was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated by non-compartmental modeling. The maximum concentration ranged from 1285 to 2030 ng/mL. The terminal half-life varied from 5.3 to 12.8 days. The volume of distribution from 1090 to 2340 L/kg, and the area under the curve to the last measurable concentration from 247 to 432 ng/mL.h. The pharmacokinetic parameters were similar in both groups, which suggests the lack of influence of early reappearance of parasites on chloroquine pharmacokinetics.
•There is a paucity of studies describing the pharmacokinetics of chloroquine in patients with vivax malaria from the western area of the Amazon basin.•The presence of Plasmodium in peripheral blood probably changes the disposition of chloroquine.•The pharmacokinetics parameters of chloroquine in this population group corroborate the long half-life and the high distribution of the drug.•The reappearance of parasites after 28 days did not change the pharmacokinetic profile of the drug.
Bovine laminitis disorder results in animal welfare and economic concerns in dairy and beef farms worldwide. However, the affected metabolic pathways, pathophysiologic characteristics, and ...inflammatory mechanisms remain unclear, hampering the development of new diagnostics. Using cerumen (earwax) as a source of volatile metabolites (cerumenomic) that carry valuable biological information has interesting implications for veterinary medicine. Nonetheless, up to now, no applications of veterinary cerumenomic assays have been made to identify bovine laminitis. This work aims to develop a veterinary cerumenomic assay for bovine laminitis identification that is non-invasive, robust, accurate, and sensitive to detecting the metabolic disturbances in bovine volatile metabolome. Twenty earwax samples (10 from healthy/control calves and 10 from laminitis calves) were collected from Nellore cattle, followed by Headspace/Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS/GC–MS) analysis and biomarker selection in two multivariate approaches: semiquantitative (intensity data) and semiqualitative (binary data). Following the analysis, cerumen volatile metabolites were indicated as candidate biomarkers for identifying bovine laminitis by monitoring their intensity or occurrence. In the semiquantitative strategy, the
p
-cresol presented the highest diagnostic figures of merit (area under the curve: 0.845, sensitivity: 0.700, and specificity: 0.900). Regarding the binary approach, a panel combining eight variables/volatiles, with formamide being the most prominent one, showed an area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.97, 0.81, and 0.90, respectively. In summary, this work describes the first veterinary cerumenomic assay for bovine laminitis that indicates new metabolites altered during the inflammatory condition, paving the way for developing laminitis early diagnosis by monitoring the cerumen metabolites.
To compare the effect of Whole-Body Vibration Exercise (WBVE) applied in push-up modified and half-squat positions, on handgrip strength (HS) and on the electromyography registry (EMGrms) of the ...flexor digitorum superficialis muscle (FDSM) of the dominant hand.
Nineteen healthy women (age 23.40 ± 4.03 years, bodyweight: 58.89 ± 9.87 kg), performed in a randomized order five different tests: (S1) Control; (S2) Push-up modified; (S3) Push-up placebo; (S4); Half-squatting; (S5) Half-squatting placebo. The HS and the EMGrms were assessed at baseline and immediately after the tests. ANOVA two-way design mixed test, with Tukey
, was used to evaluate the HS, EMGrms and the ratio between EMGrms and HS, i.e., neural ratio (NR). Thus, the lower NR represents the greater neuromuscular modifications. The statistical significance level was set up at
< 0.05.
WBVE on S2 increased HS compared to the stimulus applied to the S4 (
= 0.0001). The increase in HS was associated with a reduction in the EMGrms of the FDSM (
< 0.001) and a lower NR (
< 0.0001), i.e., greater neuromuscular modifications, in the S2 compared to the S4 after the tests.
The distance of the stimulus and the positioning on the vibratory platform influence the maximum muscular strength due to neuromuscular modifications of hands in healthy women.
Objective. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes progressive changes in the musculoskeletal system compromising neuromuscular control especially in the hands. Whole-body vibration (WBV) could be an ...alternative for the rehabilitation in this population. This study investigated the immediate effect of WBV while in the modified push-up position on neural ratio (NR) in a single session during handgrip strength (HS) in women with stable RA. Methods. Twenty-one women with RA (diagnosis of disease: ±8 years, erythrocyte sedimentation rate: ±24.8, age: 54± 11 years, BMI: 28±4 kg·m-2) received three experimental interventions for five minutes in a randomized and balanced cross-over order: (1) control—seated with hands at rest, (2) sham—push-up position with hands on the vibration platform that remained disconnected, and (3) vibration—push-up position with hands on the vibration platform turned on (45 Hz, 2 mm, 159.73 m·s-2). At the baseline and immediately after the three experimental interventions, the HS, the electromyographic records (EMGrms), and range of motion (ROM) of the dominant hand were measured. The NR, i.e., the ratio between EMGrms of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) muscle and HS, was also determined. The lower NR represented the greater neuromuscular efficiency (NE). Results. The NR was similar at baseline in the three experimental interventions. Despite the nonsignificance of within-interventions (p=0.0611) and interaction effect (p=0.1907), WBV exercise reduced the NR compared with the sham and control (p=0.0003, F=8.86, η2=0.85, power=1.00). Conclusion. Acute WBV exercise under the hands promotes neuromuscular modifications during the handgrip of women with stable RA. Thus, acute WBV exercise may be used as a preparatory exercise for the rehabilitation of the hands in this population. This trial is registered with trial registration 2.544.850 (ReBEC-RBR-2n932c).
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