We investigated whether sprint interval training (SIT) was a time-efficient exercise strategy to improve insulin sensitivity and other indices of cardiometabolic health to the same extent as ...traditional moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT). SIT involved 1 minute of intense exercise within a 10-minute time commitment, whereas MICT involved 50 minutes of continuous exercise per session.
Sedentary men (27±8y; BMI = 26±6kg/m2) performed three weekly sessions of SIT (n = 9) or MICT (n = 10) for 12 weeks or served as non-training controls (n = 6). SIT involved 3x20-second 'all-out' cycle sprints (~500W) interspersed with 2 minutes of cycling at 50W, whereas MICT involved 45 minutes of continuous cycling at ~70% maximal heart rate (~110W). Both protocols involved a 2-minute warm-up and 3-minute cool-down at 50W.
Peak oxygen uptake increased after training by 19% in both groups (SIT: 32±7 to 38±8; MICT: 34±6 to 40±8ml/kg/min; p<0.001 for both). Insulin sensitivity index (CSI), determined by intravenous glucose tolerance tests performed before and 72 hours after training, increased similarly after SIT (4.9±2.5 to 7.5±4.7, p = 0.002) and MICT (5.0±3.3 to 6.7±5.0 x 10-4 min-1 μU/mL-1, p = 0.013) (p<0.05). Skeletal muscle mitochondrial content also increased similarly after SIT and MICT, as primarily reflected by the maximal activity of citrate synthase (CS; P<0.001). The corresponding changes in the control group were small for VO2peak (p = 0.99), CSI (p = 0.63) and CS (p = 0.97).
Twelve weeks of brief intense interval exercise improved indices of cardiometabolic health to the same extent as traditional endurance training in sedentary men, despite a five-fold lower exercise volume and time commitment.
Building on the successful formula of the first edition, Martin Tovée offers a concise but detailed account of how the visual system is organised and functions to produce visual perception. He takes ...his readers from first principles; the structure and function of the eye and what happens when light enters, to how we see and process images, recognise patterns and faces, and through to the most recent discoveries in molecular genetics and brain imaging, and how they have uncovered a host of new advances in our understanding of how visual information is processed within the brain. Incorporating new material throughout, including almost 50 new images, every chapter has been updated to include the latest research, and culminates in helpful key points, which summarise the lessons learnt. This book is an invaluable course text for students within the fields of psychology, neuroscience, biology and physiology.
Interval exercise typically involves repeated bouts of relatively intense exercise interspersed by short periods of recovery. A common classification scheme subdivides this method into high‐intensity ...interval training (HIIT; ‘near maximal’ efforts) and sprint interval training (SIT; ‘supramaximal’ efforts). Both forms of interval training induce the classic physiological adaptations characteristic of moderate‐intensity continuous training (MICT) such as increased aerobic capacity (V̇O2 max ) and mitochondrial content. This brief review considers the role of exercise intensity in mediating physiological adaptations to training, with a focus on the capacity for aerobic energy metabolism. With respect to skeletal muscle adaptations, cellular stress and the resultant metabolic signals for mitochondrial biogenesis depend largely on exercise intensity, with limited work suggesting that increases in mitochondrial content are superior after HIIT compared to MICT, at least when matched‐work comparisons are made within the same individual. It is well established that SIT increases mitochondrial content to a similar extent to MICT despite a reduced exercise volume. At the whole‐body level, V̇O2 max is generally increased more by HIIT than MICT for a given training volume, whereas SIT and MICT similarly improve V̇O2 max despite differences in training volume. There is less evidence available regarding the role of exercise intensity in mediating changes in skeletal muscle capillary density, maximum stroke volume and cardiac output, and blood volume. Furthermore, the interactions between intensity and duration and frequency have not been thoroughly explored. While interval training is clearly a potent stimulus for physiological remodelling in humans, the integrative response to this type of exercise warrants further attention, especially in comparison to traditional endurance training.
Physiological responses to acute and chronic exercise are mediated by characteristics of the training programme. Training volume is the product of the frequency, intensity, and duration of exercise. The format of the training programme, although often complex, can generally be characterized as moderate‐intensity continuous training (MICT), high‐intensity interval training (HIIT), or sprint interval training (SIT). Characteristics of the training programme influence the magnitude of the skeletal muscle, cardiovascular and integrative adaptations to exercise. In particular, there is strong evidence that exercise intensity mediates mitochondrial adaptations to exercise and improvements in maximum aerobic capacity (V̇O2 max ); however, the influence of exercise intensity is uncertain for specific cardiovascular adaptations, including capillarization, maximum cardiac output and stroke volume, and blood volume.
Key points
A classic unresolved issue in human integrative physiology involves the role of exercise intensity, duration and volume in regulating skeletal muscle adaptations to training.
We employed ...counterweighted single‐leg cycling as a unique within‐subject model to investigate the role of exercise intensity in promoting training‐induced increases in skeletal muscle mitochondrial content.
Six sessions of high‐intensity interval training performed over 2 weeks elicited greater increases in citrate synthase maximal activity and mitochondrial respiration compared to moderate‐intensity continuous training matched for total work and session duration.
These data suggest that exercise intensity, and/or the pattern of contraction, is an important determinant of exercise‐induced skeletal muscle remodelling in humans.
We employed counterweighted single‐leg cycling as a unique model to investigate the role of exercise intensity in human skeletal muscle remodelling. Ten young active men performed unilateral graded‐exercise tests to measure single‐leg V̇O2, peak and peak power (Wpeak). Each leg was randomly assigned to complete six sessions of high‐intensity interval training (HIIT) 4 × (5 min at 65% Wpeak and 2.5 min at 20% Wpeak) or moderate‐intensity continuous training (MICT) (30 min at 50% Wpeak), which were performed 10 min apart on each day, in an alternating order. The work performed per session was matched for MICT (143 ± 8.4 kJ) and HIIT (144 ± 8.5 kJ, P > 0.05). Post‐training, citrate synthase (CS) maximal activity (10.2 ± 0.8 vs. 8.4 ± 0.9 mmol kg protein−1 min−1) and mass‐specific pmol O2•(s•mg wet weight)−1 oxidative phosphorylation capacities (complex I: 23.4 ± 3.2 vs. 17.1 ± 2.8; complexes I and II: 58.2 ± 7.5 vs. 42.2 ± 5.3) were greater in HIIT relative to MICT (interaction effects, P < 0.05); however, mitochondrial function i.e. pmol O2•(s•CS maximal activity)−1 measured under various conditions was unaffected by training (P > 0.05). In whole muscle, the protein content of COXIV (24%), NDUFA9 (11%) and mitofusin 2 (MFN2) (16%) increased similarly across groups (training effects, P < 0.05). Cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV (COXIV) and NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase subunit A9 (NDUFA9) were more abundant in type I than type II fibres (P < 0.05) but training did not increase the content of COXIV, NDUFA9 or MFN2 in either fibre type (P > 0.05). Single‐leg V̇O2, peak was also unaffected by training (P > 0.05). In summary, single‐leg cycling performed in an interval compared to a continuous manner elicited superior mitochondrial adaptations in human skeletal muscle despite equal total work.
Key points
A classic unresolved issue in human integrative physiology involves the role of exercise intensity, duration and volume in regulating skeletal muscle adaptations to training.
We employed counterweighted single‐leg cycling as a unique within‐subject model to investigate the role of exercise intensity in promoting training‐induced increases in skeletal muscle mitochondrial content.
Six sessions of high‐intensity interval training performed over 2 weeks elicited greater increases in citrate synthase maximal activity and mitochondrial respiration compared to moderate‐intensity continuous training matched for total work and session duration.
These data suggest that exercise intensity, and/or the pattern of contraction, is an important determinant of exercise‐induced skeletal muscle remodelling in humans.
Anti-infectives, including antibiotics, are essentially different from all other drugs; they not only affect the individual to whom they are given but also the entire community, through selection for ...resistance to their own action. Thus, their use resides at the intersection of personal and public health. Antibiotics can be likened to a four-edged sword against bacteria. The first two edges of the antibiotic sword were identified immediately after their discovery and deployment in that they not only benefit an individual in treating their infection but also benefit the community in preventing the spread of that infectious agent. The third edge was already recognized by Alexander Fleming in 1945 in his Nobel acceptance speech, which warned about the cost to the community of antibiotic resistance that would inevitably evolve and be selected for during clinical practice. We have seen this cost mount up, as resistance curtails or precludes the activities of some of our most effective drugs for clinically important infections. But the fourth edge of the antibiotic sword remained unappreciated until recently, i.e., the cost that an antibiotic exerts on an individual's own health via the collateral damage of the drug on bacteria that normally live on or in healthy humans: our microbiota. These organisms, their genes, metabolites, and interactions with one another, as well as with their host collectively, represent our microbiome. Our relationship with these symbiotic bacteria is especially important during the early years of life, when the adult microbiome has not yet formed.
The sharing economy seemingly encompasses online peer-to-peer economic activities as diverse as rental (Airbnb), for-profit service provision (Uber), and gifting (Freecycle). The Silicon Valley ...success stories of Airbnb and Uber have catalysed a vibrant sharing economy discourse, participated in by the media, incumbent industries, entrepreneurs and grassroots activists. Within this discourse the sharing economy is framed in contradictory ways; ranging from a potential pathway to sustainability, to a nightmarish form of neoliberalism. However, these framings share a common vision of the sharing economy (a niche of innovation) decentralising and disrupting established socio-technical and economic structures (regimes). Here I present an analysis of the online sharing economy discourse; identifying that the sharing economy is framed as: (1) an economic opportunity; (2) a more sustainable form of consumption; (3) a pathway to a decentralised, equitable and sustainable economy; (4) creating unregulated marketplaces; (5) reinforcing the neoliberal paradigm; and, (6) an incoherent field of innovation. Although a critique of hyper-consumption was central to emergence of the sharing economy niche (2), it has been successfully reframed by regime actors as purely an economic opportunity (1). If the sharing economy follows this pathway of corporate co-option it appears unlikely to drive a transition to sustainability.
•The role of framing in the online sharing economy discourse is analysed.•Six framings of the sharing economy are identified.•Regime actors tend to frame the sharing economy in commercial terms.•Niche actors tend to frame the sharing economy in broader terms.•The sharing economy niche may be following a pathway of corporate co-option.
Objective
This study aimed at estimating the cumulative incidence of antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment failure of first‐line monotherapy levetiracetam vs valproic acid in glioma patients with ...epilepsy.
Methods
In this retrospective observational study, a competing risks model was used to estimate the cumulative incidence of treatment failure, from AED treatment initiation, for the two AEDs with death as a competing event. Patients were matched on baseline covariates potentially related to treatment assignment and outcomes of interest according to the nearest neighbor propensity score matching technique. Maximum duration of follow‐up was 36 months.
Results
In total, 776 patients using levetiracetam and 659 using valproic acid were identified. Matching resulted in two equal groups of 429 patients, with similar covariate distribution. The cumulative incidence of treatment failure for any reason was significantly lower for levetiracetam compared to valproic acid (12 months: 33% 95% confidence interval (CI) 29%–38% vs 50% 95% CI 45%–55%; P < .001). When looking at specific reasons of treatment failure, treatment failure due to uncontrolled seizures was significantly lower for levetiracetam compared to valproic acid (12 months: 16% 95% CI 12%–19% vs 28% 95% CI 23%–32%; P < 0.001), but no differences were found for treatment failure due to adverse effects (12 months: 14% 95% CI 11%–18% vs 15% 95% CI 11%–18%; P = .636).
Significance
Our results suggest that levetiracetam may have favorable efficacy compared to valproic acid, whereas level of toxicity seems similar. Therefore, levetiracetam seems to be the preferred choice for first‐line AED treatment in patients with glioma.
The EM algorithm is a widely used tool in maximum-likelihood estimation in incomplete data problems. Existing theoretical work has focused on conditions under which the iterates or likelihood values ...converge, and the associated rates of convergence. Such guarantees do not distinguish whether the ultimate fixed point is a near global optimum or a bad local optimum of the sample likelihood, nor do they relate the obtained fixed point to the global optima of the idealized population likelihood (obtained in the limit of infinite data). This paper develops a theoretical framework for quantifying when and how quickly EM-type iterates converge to a small neighborhood of a given global optimum of the population likelihood. For correctly specified models, such a characterization yields rigorous guarantees on the performance of certain two-stage estimators in which a suitable initial pilot estimator is refined with iterations of the EM algorithm. Our analysis is divided into two parts: a treatment of the EM and first-order EM algorithms at the population level, followed by results that apply to these algorithms on a finite set of samples. Our conditions allow for a characterization of the region of convergence of EM-type iterates to a given population fixed point, that is, the region of the parameter space over which convergence is guaranteed to a point within a small neighborhood of the specified population fixed point. We verify our conditions and give tight characterizations of the region of convergence for three canonical problems of interest: symmetric mixture of two Gaussians, symmetric mixture of two regressions and linear regression with covariates missing completely at random.
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