Exhaustive Testing Research Articles

Exercise-induced cardiac troponin release in middle-aged and older athletes with different degrees of coronary atherosclerosis

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public hospital(s). Main funding source(s): Radboud University Medical CenterAcademic Alliance Fund Maastricht - Nijmegen Background Current sports medical examinations do not appropriately detect occult coronary atherosclerosis in athletes, whereas coronary atherosclerosis is more prevalent in middle-aged and older athletes compared to physically active controls. Therefore, new diagnostic approaches need to be developed to identify individuals at risk. Cardiac troponin (cTn) is the standard biomarker to assess myocardial injury. Exercise is known to increase cTn concentrations and a delayed recovery of cTn concentrations after exercise cessation is suggested to be indicative of occult obstructive coronary artery disease. We hypothesized that the magnitude of exercise-induced cTn elevations may be associated with the degree of coronary atherosclerosis. Purpose To compare serial measures of exercise-induced cTnT elevations across middle-aged and older athletes with different degrees of coronary atherosclerosis. Methods A subgroup of 59 men from the Measuring Athlete’s Risk of Coronary events-2 study (MARC-2, n=291) were invited for this add-on study. All participants had undergone a cardiac computed tomography (CT) scan and coronary CT angiography to determine the prevalence and magnitude of coronary atherosclerosis. Athletes were stratified based on the degree of coronary atherosclerosis: I) n=20 with a coronary artery calcium score (CACS) of 0, II) n=20 with CACS ≥300 or ≥75th MESA-percentile, and III) n=19 with a >50% stenosis in any coronary artery, but without ischemia on a stress imaging tests. Participants performed an individualized exercise test (>1 hour, cycling) until volitional exhaustion. High-sensitivity cTnT concentrations were measured at baseline, after 30 minutes of exercise and at 0, 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes post-exercise. Results Participants (age 60.8 [57.9-72.6] years, BMI 24.5 [23.9-27.3]) exercised for 76±14 minutes, up to 97.6 [94.4-101.8] % of their expected maximum heart rate. Exercise duration and workload did not differ across groups. Baseline hs-cTnT was detectable in everyone. Exercise induced a 1.98±1.63 fold increase in hs-cTnT concentrations. Peak hs-cTnT concentrations occurred at 180 minutes post-exercise (13.9 [9.4-17.0] ng/L versus 12.1 [10.0-21.5] ng/L versus 13.8 [9.1-19.9] ng/L, for group I, II and III, respectively) and the incidence of hs-cTnT concentrations above the URL (n=9 (45%) vs n=7 (35.0%) vs n=9 (47.4%)) was comparable across groups (p=0.92 and p=0.71, respectively). Patterns of time-dependent changes in hs-cTnT concentrations did not differ across groups (p=.49). Conclusion Exercise-induced elevations in hs-cTnT concentrations did not differ among middle-aged and older athletes with different degrees of coronary atherosclerosis. Our findings suggest that hs-cTnT sampled before, during or within 180 minutes following an exhaustive endurance cycling exercise test is not suitable to detect occult coronary atherosclerosis in athletes.

Combined effects of exercise training and D-allulose intake on endurance capacity in mice.

This study investigated the combined effects of exercise training and D‐allulose intake on endurance capacity in mice. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed either a control diet (Con) or a 3% D‐allulose diet (Allu) and further divided into the sedentary (Sed) or exercise training (Ex) groups (Con‐Sed, Con‐Ex, Allu‐Sed, Allu‐Ex, respectively; n = 6–7/group). The mice in the Ex groups were trained on a motor‐driven treadmill 5 days/week for 4 weeks (15–18 m/min, 60 min). After the exercise training period, all mice underwent an exhaustive running test to assess their endurance capacity. At 48 h after the running test, the mice in the Ex groups were subjected to run at 18 m/min for 60 min again. Then the gastrocnemius muscle and liver were sampled immediately after the exercise bout. The running time until exhaustion tended to be higher in the Allu‐Ex than in the Con‐Ex group (p = 0.08). The muscle glycogen content was significantly lower in the Con‐Ex than in the Con‐Sed group and was significantly higher in the Allu‐Ex than in the Con‐Ex group (p < 0.05). Moreover, exercise training increased the phosphorylation levels of adenosine monophosphate‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the muscle and liver. The phosphorylation levels of acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC), a downstream of AMPK, in the muscle and liver were significantly higher in the Allu‐Ex than in the Con‐Sed group (p < 0.05), suggesting that the combination of exercise training and D‐allulose might have activated the AMPK‐ACC signaling pathway, which is associated with fatty acid oxidation in the muscle and liver. Taken together, our data suggested the combination of exercise training and D‐allulose intake as an effective strategy to upregulate endurance capacity in mice. This may be associated with sparing glycogen content and enhancing activation of AMPK‐ACC signaling in the skeletal muscle.

Melatonin Potentiates Exercise-Induced Increases in Skeletal Muscle PGC-1α and Optimizes Glycogen Replenishment.

Compelling evidence has demonstrated the effect of melatonin on exhaustive exercise tolerance and its modulatory role in muscle energy substrates at the end of exercise. In line with this, PGC-1α and NRF-1 also seem to act on physical exercise tolerance and metabolic recovery after exercise. However, the literature still lacks reports on these proteins after exercise until exhaustion for animals treated with melatonin. Thus, the aim of the current study was to determine the effects of acute melatonin administration on muscle PGC-1α and NRF-1, and its modulatory role in glycogen and triglyceride contents in rats subjected to exhaustive swimming exercise at an intensity corresponding to the anaerobic lactacidemic threshold (iLAn). In a randomized controlled trial design, thirty-nine Wistar rats were allocated into four groups: control (CG = 10), rats treated with melatonin (MG = 9), rats submitted to exercise (EXG = 10), and rats treated with melatonin and submitted to exercise (MEXG = 10). Forty-eight hours after the graded exercise test, the animals received melatonin (10 mg/kg) or vehicles 30 min prior to time to exhaustion test in the iLAn (tlim). Three hours after tlim the animals were euthanized, followed by muscle collection for specific analyses: soleus muscles for immunofluorescence, gluteus maximus, red and white gastrocnemius for the assessment of glycogen and triglyceride contents, and liver for the measurement of glycogen content. Student t-test for independent samples, two-way ANOVA, and Newman keuls post hoc test were used. MEXG swam 120.3% more than animals treated with vehicle (EXG; p < 0.01). PGC-1α and NRF-1 were higher in MEXG with respect to the CG (p < 0.05); however, only PGC-1α was higher for MEXG when compared to EXG. Melatonin reduced the triglyceride content in gluteus maximus, red and white gastrocnemius (F = 6.66, F = 4.51, and F = 6.02, p < 0.05). The glycogen content in red gastrocnemius was higher in MEXG than in CG (p = 0.01), but not in EXG (p > 0.05). In conclusion, melatonin was found to enhance exercise tolerance, potentiate exercise-mediated increases in PGC-1α, decrease muscle triglyceride content and increase muscle glycogen 3 h after exhaustive exercise, rapidly providing a better cellular metabolic environment for future efforts.

Strategies by National Health Systems in the Northern Hemisphere during First Wave of COVID-19: Evaluation and the Way Forward

This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of strategies adopted by national health systems across the globe in different ‘geographical regions’ in the Northern Hemisphere to combat COVID-19 pandemic. Data is included since the first case was reported in November 2019 till mid-April 2020. Sources of information are COVID-19 case repositories, official country websites, university research teams’ perspectives, official briefings, and available published research articles to date. We triangulated all data to formulate a comprehensive illustration of COVID-19 situation in each country included. It has been found that the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak experienced in China, Taiwan, and South Korea saw better strategies adopted by leadership to combat COVID-19 pandemic containment as compared to Iran, Italy, and the United States of America. Saudi Arabia has so far been successful in the implementation of containment strategies as there is no large outbreak in major cities or confined areas as prisons. The situation has yet to unfold in India and Pakistan, which exhibit their own weaknesses in policy formulation or implementation in response to health crises. This review provides conclusive evidence that timely travel bans, early detection of COVID-19 spread through exhaustive and reliable testing, and the establishment of a central, fully authorized body to foresee health trends and implement appropriate containment measures are essential to contain the spread of the virus.

Insect counting through deep learning-based density maps estimation

Digitalization and automation of assessments in field trials are established practice for farming product development. The use of image-based methods has provided good results in different applications. Although these models can leverage some problems, they still perform poorly under real field conditions using mobile devices on complex applications.Among these applications, insect counting and detection is necessary for integrated pest management strategies in order to apply specific treatments at early infection stages to reduce economic losses and minimize chemical usage. Currently the counting task for the assessment of the degree of infestation is done manually by the farmer.Current state of the art object counting methods do not provide accurate counting in crowded images with overlapped or touching objects which is the case for insect counting images. This makes necessary to define novel approaches for insect counting.In this work, we propose a novel solution based on deep learning density map estimation to tackle insects counting in wild conditions. To this end, a fully convolutional regression network has been designed to accurately estimate a probabilistic density map for the counting regression problem. The estimated density map is then used for counting whiteflies in eggplant leaves. The proposed method was compared with a baseline based on candidate object selection and classification approach. The results for alive adult whitefly counting by means of density map estimation provided R2 = 0.97 for the counted insects in the main leaf of the image, that outperforms by far the baseline algorithm (R2 = 0.85) based on image processing methods for feature extraction and candidate selection and deep learning-based classifier.This solution was embedded to be used in mobile devices, and it has been gone for exhaustive validation tests, with diverse illumination conditions and background variability, over leaves taken at different heights, with different perspectives and even unfocused images, for the analyzed pest under real conditions.

The Relative Role of Knowledge and Empathy in Predicting Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behavior

Planet Earth is undergoing unprecedented levels of environmental degradation and destruction at a global scale. Incentivizing people to adopt behaviors that are compatible with a sustainable future will help address the current ecological crisis. However, it is first necessary to understand the psychological drivers of pro-environmental behavior. Here, we examined whether greater levels of environmental knowledge and empathy predicted higher levels of pro-environmental behavior in an Australian population sample. We aimed to advance our understanding of the psychological variables that motivate people to act in pro-environmental ways, while also advancing the ongoing debate amongst conservation scientists regarding the relative importance of fostering empathy. Correlational analyses revealed that objective, verifiable knowledge was a strong predictor of pro-environmental attitudes and behavior. Empathy also correlated positively with pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, but with a dissociation with respect to its cognitive and affective components. Multivariate analyses revealed that knowledge was a stronger predictor of both pro-environmental attitudes and behavior after controlling for individual variation in cognitive and affective empathy. This finding casts doubt on the claim by compassionate conservationists that fostering empathy is the key to solving the current environmental conservation crisis. Future research should aim to extend the present findings by testing whether a more exhaustive test of participants’ environmental knowledge and other measures of empathy, including empathic competencies and the recently developed Emotional and Cognitive Scale of the Human–Nature Relationship (ECS-HNR), yield the same dominance of knowledge over empathy.

Drug Delivery from Hyaluronic Acid-BDDE Injectable Hydrogels for Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Applications.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) injectable biomaterials are currently applied in numerous biomedical areas, beyond their use as dermal fillers. However, bacterial infections and painful inflammations are associated with healthcare complications that can appear after injection, restricting their applicability. Fortunately, HA injectable hydrogels can also serve as drug delivery platforms for the controlled release of bioactive agents with a critical role in the control of certain diseases. Accordingly, herein, HA hydrogels were crosslinked with 1 4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE) loaded with cefuroxime (CFX), tetracycline (TCN), and amoxicillin (AMX) antibiotics and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) anti-inflammatory agent in order to promote antibacterial and anti-inflammatory responses. The hydrogels were thoroughly characterized and a clear correlation between the crosslinking grade and the hydrogels’ physicochemical properties was found after rheology, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses. The biological safety of the hydrogels, expected due to the lack of BDDE residues observed in 1H-NMR spectroscopy, was also corroborated by an exhaustive biocompatibility test. As expected, the in vitro antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity of the drug-loaded HA-BDDE hydrogels was confirmed against Staphylococcus aureus by significantly decreasing the pro-inflammatory cytokine levels.

Effect of exhaustion on dynamic balance of professional padel players

Padel is an intermittent multidirectional racket sport that uses tennis’ rules and its scoring system. The popularity of padel has seen exponential growth; becoming one of the most practiced sports in the world. Balance constitutes a central component of racquet sports competitive demands. The aim of this study was exploring the effect of an exhaustive exercise on dynamic balance in elite padel players. 34 first division padel players with national rankings (age: 31.6 ± 7.9 years, height: 181.1 cm ± 5.26 cm; body mass: 81.1 kg ± 9.95 kg) volunteered for this study. Subjects were first tested for dynamic balance using the Y balance test. Then, they performed a volitional exhaustion test, followed by a dynamic balance retest. A significant main effect of condition for all balance variables was detected (all p < 0.03) except for the postero-lateral distance. A significant main effect of time was only found for the anterior distance (p < 0.001). Significant condition*time interaction was found for all variables (p < 0.02) except for the posterolateral distance. Posthoc analysis of the condition × time interaction indicated that compared to the control condition, exhaustive exercise deteriorated balance as showed by the significant decrease in the composite score (p = 0.05) and in the anterior direction (p < 0.001). This makes us focus on elaborating novel training systems in padel to improve the anterior direction distance after fatigue, being the reason of the decrease of dynamic balance capacity. This will boost the possibilities of scoring during a competitive situation.

A MmWave communication testbed based on IEEE 802.11ad with scalable PtMP configuration

The sub-6G band is too crowded to accommodate higher data rate, while the millimeter wave (mmWave) bands have abundant spectrum resources and massive MIMO can provide high spectral and energy efficiency. Therefore, the combination of the two, namely mmWave-MIMO system, has attracted intensive research interests. In this paper, we develop a high-speed mmWave-MIMO communication system and conduct exhaustive field tests. The detail of the system design is provided and the key modules of the testbed are analyzed. The testbed exploits high gain of mmWave RF and flexible configuration of embedded system. The validation and field tests show that the developed testbed can provide up to 2.3 Gbps network layer data rate in single channel with low latency and support point-to-multi-point (PtMP) transmission aided by relay. The testbed can be used in future B5G and 6G systems to provide high reliability and low latency wireless coverage.

Astragali Radix-Codonopsis Radix-Jujubae Fructus water extracts ameliorate exercise-induced fatigue in mice via modulating gut microbiota and its metabolites.

Astragali Radix (AR) and Codonopsis Radix (CR) are widely used as the tonic herbal medicine with efficacy of tonifying qi in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which showed significant antifatigue activities. In this study, AR and CR were combined, with Jujubae Fructus (JF) further added to improve the taste, to afford the ACJ extracts in the ratio of 2:1:2. The results showed that ACJ water extract exhibited antifatigue effect by the weight-loaded exhaustive swimming test in mice. The untargeted fecal metabolomic approach and 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis showed that ACJ could improve exercise performance by regulating changes of gut metabolites and microbiota to alleviate fatigue. Four pathways were determined as the key pathways relating with its antifatigue effect, which included sphingolipid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis and d-arginine and d-ornithine metabolism. Correlation analysis showed the complex association among bacteria, metabolites and phenotypes. In conclusion, this study revealed new perspectives to study the antifatigue mechanism of ACJ extracts from the gut microbiota, which provided the basis for further functional food development. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Physiological and Somatic Principal Components Determining VO2max in the Annual Training Cycle of Endurance Athletes.

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of training on the physiological variables achieved during the test effort in the macrocycle of road cyclists and their use in the maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) prediction at individual training stages in the VO2max test. Nine well-trained male cyclists (age 25.6 ± 5.2 years and body weight 72.4 ± 7.35 kg) participated in the study and each phase of the macrocycle was followed by a time to exhaustion test (TTE) on the bicycle ergometer. The research showed that training loads significantly influence the maximum power (PPO), ventilation (VE) in the preparatory period (T1), time of the test (TTmax) at the start of the competition period (T2), percentage of body fat in total body weight (%FAT) and skeletal muscle mass (MMS) during the competition period (T3). Of the 16 variables taken for the analysis of the principal components (PC), the regression model determined one principal variable responsible for VO2max in the training macrocycle of cyclists, the relative value of maximum power (PPORV) and the accompanying variables in individual periods: breathing frequency (BF), delta blood lactate concentration (ΔLA), body fat (FAT) and MMS. Determining PC influencing the exercise capacity can be crucial in achieving the intended goals by athletes. Monitoring these indicators can help protect the health of professional athletes and provide guidelines in the training process, stimulate the body properly while protecting against overtraining.

Dietary Nitrate Supplementation Is Not Helpful for Endurance Performance at Simulated Altitude Even When Combined With Intermittent Normobaric Hypoxic Training.

IntroductionTraining intensity and nutrition may influence adaptations to training performed in hypoxia and consequently performance outcomes at altitude. This study investigates if performance at simulated altitude is improved to a larger extent when high-intensity interval training is performed in normobaric hypoxia and if this is potentiated when combined with chronic dietary nitrate (NO3−) supplementation.MethodsThirty endurance-trained male participants were allocated to one of three groups: hypoxia (13% FiO2) + NO3−; hypoxia + placebo; and normoxia (20.9% FiO2) + placebo. All performed 12 cycling sessions (eight sessions of 2*6 × 1 min at severe intensity with 1 min recovery and four sessions of 4*6*10 s all-out with 20 s recovery) during a 4-week period (three sessions/week) with supplementation administered 3–2.5 h before each session. An incremental exhaustion test, a severe intensity exercise bout to exhaustion (Tlim) and a 3 min all-out test (3AOT) in hypoxia (FiO2 = 13%) with pulmonary oxygen uptake (O2), O2 kinetics, and changes in vastus lateralis local O2 saturation (SmO2) measured were completed by each participant before and after training.ResultsIn all tests, performance improved to the same extent in hypoxia and normoxia, except for SmO2 after Tlim (p = 0.04, d = 0.82) and 3AOT (p = 0.03, d = 1.43) which were lower in the two hypoxic groups compared with the normoxic one. Dietary NO3− supplementation did not bring any additional benefits.ConclusionPerformance at simulated altitude was not improved to a larger extent when high-intensity interval training was undertaken in normobaric hypoxic conditions, when compared with normoxic training. Additionally, dietary NO3− supplementation was ineffective in further enhancing endurance performance at simulated altitude.

Grammatical Evolution of Complex Digital Circuits in SystemVerilog

The evolution of complex circuits remains a challenge for the Evolvable Hardware field in spite much effort. There are two major issues: the amount of testing required and the low evolvability of representation structures to handle complex circuitry, at least partially due to the destructive effects of genetic operators. A 64-bit times 64-bit add-shift multiplier circuit modelled at register-transfer level in SystemVerilog would require approximately 33,200 gates when synthesized using Yosys Open SYnthesis Suite tool. This enormous gate count makes evolving such a circuit at the gate-level difficult. We use Grammatical Evolution (GE) and SystemVerilog, a hardware description language (HDL), to evolve fully functional parameterized Adder, Multiplier, Selective Parity and Up–Down Counter circuits at a more abstract level other than gate level—register transfer level. Parameterized modules have the additional benefit of not requiring a re-run of evolutionary experiments if multiple instances with different input sizes are required. For example, a 64-bit times 64-bit and 128-bit times 128-bit multipliers etc., can be instantiated from a fully evolved functional and parameterized N-bit times N-bit multiplier. The Adder (6.4times), Multiplier (10.7times) and Selective Parity (6.7times) circuits are substantially larger than the current state of the art for evolutionary approaches. We are able to scale so dramatically because of the use of a HDL, which permits us to operate at a register-transfer level. Furthermore, we adopt a well known technique for reducing testing from digital circuit design known as corner case testing. Skilled circuit designers rely on this to avoid time-consuming exhaustive testing. We demonstrate a simple way to identify and use corner cases for evolutionary testing and show that it enables the generation of massively complex circuits. All circuits were successfully evolved without resorting to the use of any standard decomposition methods, due to our ability to use programming constructs and operators available in SystemVerilog.

Uji Efek Tonikum Ekstrak Etanol Daun Pecut Kuda (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis L. Vahl) pada Mencit Putih Jantan (Mus musculus)

Tonic is a substance that can increase the bodys defense system. The stimulant effect that is intertwined with the tonic effect is carried out by the central nervous system. Pecut kuda leaf and bases are useful as stimulants and tonics. This research aims to determine the tonicum effect of ethanolic extract pecut kuda leaf in mice. This was an experimental study with completely randomized group design, using male white mice and divided into five namely two control groups (K- given Na CMC 0,5% and K+ given 13 mg caffeine) and three treatment groups (ethanolic axtract of pecut kuda with a dose 50, 100 and 200 mg/kgBW) and each treatment group was repeated 5 times. The methods used were natatory exhaustion test, hanging test and sleep induction test for the parameters observed were the mice'defense on the surface of the water, the duration of the mice endurance on the hanging device and the time the mice fell asleep.The results of the observation data using Duncan's One Way ANNOVA test. The results showed that the pecut kuda leaf extract was effective against the tonic effect test at doses of 50, 100, 200 mg/kgBW. It can be said that pecut kuda leaf extract at a dose of 200 mg/kgBW has almost the same effect as K+ (13mg caffeine).

Sleep loss, mood state, and performance of extreme intensity cycling exercise

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of one night’s sleep loss on mood state and exercise performance, for the purpose of identifying relationships between mood state and performance. A within-subjects repeated-measures design was used. Seven women (21 ± 2 y, 164 ± 9 cm, 62 ± 14 kg) participated. They completed Profile of Mood States questionnaires and performed exhaustive extreme intensity cycle ergometer tests (310 ± 70 W) before, and on three consecutive days following, one night’s sleep loss. Mean time to exhaustion was not affected by sleep loss. Mean total mood state disturbance was elevated on days 1 and 2 after sleep loss compared to baseline. There were strong correlations (r > 0.82) between individual changes (day 1 minus baseline, day 2 minus baseline, day 3 minus baseline) in time to exhaustion and individual changes in mood state: changes in time to exhaustion were associated with changes in the fatigue subscore on day 1; with changes in the vigour subscore on day 2, and with changes in the fatigue subscore on day 3. These results demonstrate a relationship, which may or may not reflect causality, between mood state and performance.

A Route to Translate a Silk-Based Medical Device from Lab to Clinic: The Silk Biomaterials Srl Experience.

Simple SummarySilk has always been a source of inspiration for textile designers to create very disruptive fashion products. More recently, silk has stimulated the creativity of scientists, as it emerged as a promising biomaterial for the development of next generation medical devices. Although silk has been clinically used as a suture for decades, only the development of novel processing approaches paved the way for the production of a plurality of regenerated silk-based materials, i.e., films, hydrogels, sponges, powder, nano- and microparticles, nanofibers, etc., which have been recognized as scaffolds-of-choice in different medical applications. However, the translation of research achievements into medical products used in clinical settings is complex from manufacturing, quality, and regulatory perspectives. The aim of this paper is to disclose how the clinical translation route works using, as a case study, a silk-based medical device recently developed by the Italian start up Silk Biomaterials srl. The results reported here will cover some fundamental aspects of the regulatory and quality path, from the demonstration of the robustness of the manufacturing process up to the evaluation of the biocompatibility, and of the functional performance of the device.The medical device is a nerve conduit entirely made of Bombyx mori silk fibroin. It is a tubular scaffold used for repairing peripheral nerve gaps, whose function is to protect the severed nerves and to favor their natural healing process. As any implantable medical device, the conduit must perform its function without causing adverse effects to the patient, meaning that it must be compliant with a range of regulations aimed at evaluating the risks related to the constituent materials and the manufacturing process, the toxicological impact of the processing aids, the biological safety, the functional performance, and the ability to sustain tissue regeneration processes. An exhaustive on-bench testing plan has been performed for the determination of the morphological, geometrical, physical, structural, and mechanical properties. For the toxicological analysis, the device was extracted with solvent and the number of leachable substances was determined by suitable chromatographic techniques. The biological safety was assessed by means of a set of tests, including cytotoxicity, delayed hypersensitivity, intracutaneous reactivity, pyrogen test, LAL (Limulus Amebocyte Lysate) test, acute systemic toxicity, and genotoxicity. Overall, the accumulated results demonstrated the suitability of the device for the intended use and supported the starting of a first-in-human clinical trial.

Polyprenol Liposomes Improve the Efficiency of Oxygen Usage in Well-Trained Amateur Athletes

Abstract Polyprenols are natural substances that are known for their role as cell membrane protectors from peroxidation. However, there is a lack of information about their effect on the performance of athletes. Therefore, we studied the effects of polyprenol on athlete performance. A total of 30 male floorball players participated in this study, 16 of whom were taking 30 mg polyprenol liposome caps and 14 of whom were not. All of the participants underwent VO2max exhaustive incremental cycling testing, before and after the use of polyprenols. VO2peak and other cardiorespiratory variables were measured to evaluate cardiorespiratory adaptation. For the polyprenol users (PU) the oxygen pulse (O2/HR) increased by 0.9 ml/beat, while in the control group (C) decreased by 0.4 ml/beat from before to after the use of polyprenols (p &lt; 0.05). The diastolic pressure (Pdia) decreased by 4 mmHg for the PU, while it increased by 10 mmHg in the C (p &lt; 0.05). The stroke volume (SVc) in the PU increased by 2.9 ml, while that in the C decreased by 7.4 ml (p &lt; 0.05). In conclusion, polyprenols improved oxygen consumption efficiency by increasing SVc and O2/HR.

Effects of two low-volume high-intensity interval training protocols in professional soccer: sprint interval training versus small-sided games.

The programming of training protocols within a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) framework with appropriate analysis of total training load could deliver optimal training adaptations. This study aims to compare the efficiency of two low-volume HIIT protocols integrated with the regular training regime in professional soccer players. Twenty-five participants aged 18.4-29.7 years were randomly assigned to one of two interventions involving straight-line sprint interval training (SIT, N.=13) or small-sided games (SSG, N.=12). Periodization was divided into two 3-week phases concluded by a 7-day taper. SIT first involved two-session·week-1 of one set of 10·45-s sprints (at maximal intensity) and then three-session·week-1 of two sets of 10·30-s sprints with a 0.75:1 and 1:1 recovery interval (slow running and stretching exercises), respectively. SSG in the first phase involved 5·3-min games of 4 vs. 4 and in the second phase 4·4-min games of 2 vs. 2 with 3-min recovery (practice drills at 60-70% HR<inf>max</inf>). Training load was controlled via session-RPE and HR-based methods. Pre- and postintervention testing included: countermovement jump height, 5-m and 30-m sprints performance, anaerobic power by the 10-s Wingate Anaerobic Test, maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O<inf>2max</inf>) and blood lactate concentration (BLa-) determined by incremental exhaustive running test. Two-way ANOVA showed group×time interaction effects for the 30-m sprint time (F<inf>(1,23)</inf>=3.023; P=0.049; η2 P=0.116), BLa- (F<inf>(1,23)</inf>=5.250; P=0.031; η2 P=0.185), and V̇O<inf>2max</inf> (F<inf>(1,23)=</inf>4.648, P=0.044; η2 P=0.157). SIT elicited greater enhancements in anaerobic performance (30-m sprint time and BLa-), while SSG induced larger improvements in V̇O<inf>2max</inf>. Comparable effects of SIT and SSG protocols were noted, however the aerobic capacity benefits provided by SSG warrant this HIIT protocol as a highly recommended training modality in the professional soccer.

Benefits in cardiac function by CD38 suppression: Improvement in NAD+ levels, exercise capacity, heart rate variability and protection against catecholamine-induced ventricular arrhythmias

CD38 enzymatic activity regulates NAD+ and cADPR levels in mammalian tissues, and therefore has a prominent role in cellular metabolism and calcium homeostasis. Consequently, it is reasonable to hypothesize about its involvement in cardiovascular physiology as well as in heart related pathological conditions. AimTo investigate the role of CD38 in cardiovascular performance, and its involvement in cardiac electrophysiology and calcium-handling. Methods and resultsWhen submitted to a treadmill exhaustion test, a way of evaluating cardiovascular performance, adult male CD38KO mice showed better exercise capacity. This benefit was also obtained in genetically modified mice with catalytically inactive (CI) CD38 and in WT mice treated with antibody 68 (Ab68) which blocks CD38 activity. Hearts from these 3 groups (CD38KO, CD38CI and Ab68) showed increased NAD+ levels. When CD38KO mice were treated with FK866 which inhibits NAD+ biosynthesis, exercise capacity as well as NAD+ in heart tissue decreased to WT levels.Electrocardiograms of conscious unrestrained CD38KO and CD38CI mice showed lower basal heart rates and higher heart rate variability than WT mice. Although inactivation of CD38 in mice resulted in increased SERCA2a expression in the heart, the frequency of spontaneous calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum under stressful conditions (high extracellular calcium concentration) was lower in CD38KO ventricular myocytes. When mice were challenged with caffeine-epinephrine, CD38KO mice had a lower incidence of bidirectional ventricular tachycardia when compared to WT ones. ConclusionCD38 inhibition improves exercise performance by regulating NAD+ homeostasis. CD38 is involved in cardiovascular function since its genetic ablation decreases basal heart rate, increases heart rate variability and alters calcium handling in a way that protects mice from developing catecholamine induced ventricular arrhythmias.

Polyacrylamide Gel Scaffold Immobilized with Silver Nanoparticles as SERS Substrates and Catalysts for H2 Generation via Methanolysis of NaBH4

This report discloses the preparation of a series of polyacrylamide materials with unique surface morphology. Polyacrylamide with N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide cross-linking provides reactive sites for the reduction of silver nitrate. The reaction refurbishes the relatively smooth polymer surface to clusters of submicron cubes impregnated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and residual Ag(+1) ions. Subsequent treatment with NaBH4 grows additional silver structures from the AgNPs seeded in the polymer to give an overall morphology reminiscent of the famous great barrier reefs, the namesake of this material─the Great Barrier Gel (GBG). The GBG surface features a high content of active silver nanostructures. The use of GBG as a substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and a film catalyst for the methanolysis of NaBH4 demonstrates its versatility. The SERS sensitivity of this material is 10–10 M, or better, as assessed using 4-aminophenyl disulfide. It catalyzes the production of H2 by the methanolysis of NaBH4 without significant loss of activity in an exhaustion test. These methods create an enlarged surface area on the shape-adapting polymer material, chemically and productively, while generating a least amount of chemical waste.