Physical Stamina Research Articles

The Relationship between the Participation in Life Dance, Perception of Health and Lifestyle in the Elderly

Background/Objectives: This study was conducted to review the relation among the elderly participation in life dance, their health perception and lifestyle. Methods/Statistical Analysis: This study carried out a survey with 210 the elderly aged 60 or older. The survey as the research tool consists of total 32 questions. A self-assessment was used and for those who had difficulty understanding the questions, 1 researcher and 2 research assistants helped the subjects. The verification between each variable was done through a one-way ANOVA, after which a multiple regression analysis was conducted. Findings: In terms of health perception in accordance with individual characteristics, there was a difference in physical confidence across gender, education. The more they perceived themselves to be rich, the higher the physical confidence and improvement in stamina. The more they perceived their health status to be very good, their physical confidence, improvement in stamina and mental confidence were higher. Second, the more they perceived their health status to be overall good, the sub-categories of the lifestyle which are the socially active and the traditionalists ranked higher. Third, the health awareness of the life dance experience was significantly improved on physical fitness and stamina. Forth, the socially active lifestyle was significant in terms of dance period, while the traditionalist was significant for dance type and duration. Fifth, health perception appeared to have a significant effect on all lifestyle types. Application/Improvements: The participation by the elderly in life dance has a positive effect on health perception and lifestyle. Health perception was applied differently according to the lifestyle type.

Adding guarana powder to medfly diets: an alternative for improving the Sterile Insect Technique

Ceratitis capitata (medfly) is a globally important horticultural pest that can be controlled using the sterile insect technique (SIT), but the success of SIT depends on the sexual performance of mass-reared males when released into the field. We added “guarana” (Paullinia cupana) powder (derived from an Amazonian fruit that is considered to be a stimulant with aphrodisiac effects, capable of improving human physical stamina) to the diets of adult male medflies to determine whether it increased their sexual performance. The basic diet of a protein extract + sucrose (1:3) was enriched with guarana powder (3 % on a volume basis). Experiments examining sexual competitiveness were performed using lab-reared males fed with the enriched diet vs. lab-reared males fed on the basic diet (and lab-reared females fed on the basic diet), as well as lab-reared males fed with the enriched diet vs. wild males fed on the basic diet (and wild females fed on the basic diet). The results of both experiments indicated that males maintained on diets enriched with guarana powder showed higher copulation successes than males fed only with the basic diet. Guarana powder therefore contributed to the greater mating success of lab-reared males (probably because of its stimulant properties), and may represent a new and viable option for increasing SIT effectiveness.

Sleep, memory, attention and Neurofeedback

Sleep, memory, attention and Neurofeedback

Comparing the Behavioural Effects of Exogenous Growth Hormone and Melatonin in Young and Old Wistar Rats

Growth hormone (GH) and melatonin are two hormones with quite different physiological effects. Curiously, their secretion shows parallel and severe age-related reductions. This has promoted many reports for studying the therapeutic supplementation of both hormones in an attempt to avoid or delay the physical, physiological, and psychological decay observed in aged humans and in experimental animals. Interestingly, the effects of the external administration of low doses of GH and of melatonin were surprisingly similar, as both hormones caused significant improvements in the functional capabilities of aged subjects. The present report aims at discerning the eventual difference between cognitive and motor effects of the two hormones when administered to young and aged Wistar rats. The effects were tested in the radial maze, a test highly sensitive to the age-related impairments in working memory and also in the rotarod test, for evaluating the motor coordination. The results showed that both hormones caused clear improvements in both tasks. However, while GH improved the cognitive capacity and, most importantly, the physical stamina, the effects of melatonin should be attributed to its antioxidant, anxiolytic, and neuroprotective properties.

Gintonin enhances performance of mice in rotarod test: Involvement of lysophosphatidic acid receptors and catecholamine release

Ginseng has a long history of use as a tonic for restoration of vigor. One example of ginseng-derived tonic effect is that it can improve physical stamina under conditions of stress. However, the active ingredient and the underlying molecular mechanism responsible for the ergogenic effect are unknown. Recent studies show that ginseng contains a novel ingredient, gintonin, which consists of a unique class of herbal-medicine lysophosphatidic acids (LPAs). Gintonin activates G protein-coupled LPA receptors to produce a transient [Ca2+]i signal, which is coupled to diverse intra- and inter-cellular signal transduction pathways that stimulate hormone or neurotransmitter release. However, relatively little is known about how gintonin-mediated cellular modulation is linked to physical endurance. In the present study, systemic administration of gintonin, but not ginsenosides, in fasted mice increased blood glucose concentrations in a dose-dependent manner. Gintonin treatment elevated blood glucose to a maximum level after 30min. This elevation in blood glucose level could be abrogated by the LPA1/3 receptor antagonist, Ki16425, or the β-adrenergic receptor antagonist, propranolol. Furthermore, gintonin-dependent enhanced performance of fasted mice in rotarod test was likewise abrogated by Ki16425. Gintonin also elevated plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine concentrations. The present study shows that gintonin mediates catecholamine release through activation of the LPA receptor and that activation of the β-adrenergic receptor is coupled to liver glycogenolysis, thereby increasing the supply of glucose and enhancing performance in the rotarod test. Thus, gintonin acts via the LPA-catecholamine-glycogenolysis axis, representing a candidate mechanism that can explain how ginseng treatment enhances physical stamina.

Dyadic Concordance of Sexuality Among Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Patients and Their Partners

▪IntroductionSexual dysfunction after receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) deteriorates quality of life (QoL) of both HSCT survivors and their partners. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the patients' medical and psychological factors contributing to sexual dysfunction, rather than on the perspectives of the relationship between the patients and their partners. We conducted a cross-sectional, HSCT survivor-partner matching study to determine the concordance of perception, attitude, and problems raised in their sexual activity after receiving HSCT.MethodsHSCT survivors and their partners were recruited through the post-HSCT registry from Samsung Medical Center and Korea Blood Cancer Association. HSCT survivors and their partners have separately answered to a set of questionnaire which includes items on their sexual activity, QoL, depression, fear of recurrence and body image. We analyzed the data using McNemar test, paired t-test, kappa coefficients to correct for the amount of agreement and multivariable logistic regression models.ResultsBetween September 2013 and March 2015, 175 patients who received HSCT for hematologic malignancies and had no evidence of recurrent disease were recruited. Finally, 91 pairs of HSCT survivors and their partners were analyzed. Sixty (65.9%) patients were male and mean age of patients and their partners were 51.5 and 49.8, respectively. Type of HSCT were autologous in 29 patients (31.9%), allogenic from sibling donor in 27 patients (29.7%), allogenic from unrelated donor in 25 patients (27.5%) and haploidentical HSCT in 9 patients (9.9%). Twenty-six (28.6%) and 51 patients (56.0%) experienced acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and chronic GVHD, respectively. The average period after HSCT was 3.3 years and 23 patients were treated with corticosteroids at the time of study enrollment. The patients and their partners showed discordance in the aspects of importance and satisfaction of sexual activity. The patients scored higher than their partners at the questions of "Adequate sexual activity is important." (2.57 vs. 2.14, difference 0.44±1.12, p<.01, agreement 71.6%, weighted κ 0.17) and "I desire to have sexual activity with my partner." (2.30 vs. 1.89, difference 0.41±1.10, p<.01, agreement 72.7%, weighted κ 0.21). Interestingly, however, the partners answered "rejection of spouse" as a cause of sexual difficulties more than the patients (22.0% vs. 15.4%). Decreased physical stamina after HSCT was the most common answer for the cause of sexual difficulties from both of patients (46.2%) and partners (37.4%), and alteration of body due to GVHD also affected the sexual activity of both patients and healthy partners (25.3% and 20.9%). In multivariate analysis of patient-partner dyad factors, male sex and importance of adequate sexual activity were associated with increased sexual activity for both groups. For the patients, sexual desire disorder was associated with decreased sexual activity (hazard ratio [HR] 0.34, 95% confience interval [CI] 0.12-0.93, p<.05), while partners were predicted to have decreased sexual activity when patients had GVHD with body changes (HR 0.22, 95% CI 0.05-0.89, p<.05).ConclusionsHSCT survivors considered sexual activity is important, and they desired to engage in sexual activity more than their partners did. Misunderstanding of the patients' demands by their partners can be one of the causes of decreased sexual activity. Adequate educational and interventional programs for HSCT survivors and their partners are needed for improving QoL after receiving HSCT. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Based on the Growth Curve of Competitive Aerobics Athlete Athletic Ability Development Research

Because of the competitive aerobics sports fun and keeping fit was deeply loved by the masses of young peo- ple, so the national fitness campaign project occupies a very important position, in order to improve the comprehensive performance of competitive aerobics players will be on the level of competitive aerobics athlete's physical stamina and skill in-depth analysis and research. Based on this the paper through the questionnaire survey, mathematical statistics method of competitive aerobics players, lifestyle, training time, frequency, etc were analyzed, and concluded that the competitive aerobics players to participate in a weekly exercise (57%), showed that fewer training needs to be improved, 60% in 40 minutes of exercise time, training time arrangement in the afternoon, the optimal training standards which ac- cord with human body. Then by using logistic growth curve method, fitness in one region predict the number of players, five years after 2014 young competitive aerobics players number, the number of middle-aged competitive aerobics players and the increased Numbers of older players of competitive aerobics, prove competitive aerobics a period of time in the fu- ture will be more and more popular.

An Energy Effective WBAN Architecture for Athletes Efforts Analysis under a Common Activity

Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is one of the most critical real time networks. In order to increase network lifetime, several protocols have been proposed in the Literature. Majority of these protocols are based on either coverage or residual energy of the network. However, none of the protocols is based on node criticality, communication count, coverage and residual energy. In this paper, we have taken into consideration all the above stated parameters to determine the optimal path for transmission of message. In particular, we are implementing this scenario for Athlete Activity Monitoring to identify the athlete with maximum physical stamina. As per best of our knowledge, only intra-BAN routing protocols are proposed till date. However, in this paper we have simulated Athlete Activity Monitoring scenario for intra-WBAN and inter- WBAN architecture. It is clear from the simulation results that our scheme performs much better in terms of energy consumption than earlier routing schemes.

Running on Empty: Leptin Signaling in VTA Regulates Reward from Physical Activity

Hunger increases physical activity and stamina to support food-directed foraging behaviors, but underlying mechanisms are unclear. In this issue, Fernandes et al. (2015) show that disruption of leptin-regulated STAT3 signaling in midbrain dopamine neurons increases the rewarding effects of running in mice, which could explain the "high" experienced by endurance runners.

Humility facilitates higher self-control

Prior evidence and existing theories imply that humility engenders intra- and inter-personal attributes that facilitate self-regulatory abilities. Four experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that humility predicts enhanced self-control. Participants who recalled humility experiences were found to be better able at sustaining their physical stamina in a handgrip task (Studies 1 and 4), resisting indulgence in chocolates (Study 2), and persevering in a frustrating tracing task (Study 3) than those who recalled neutral experiences. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that the effect of humility was distinct from that of self-esteem, which did not affect self-control. Study 2 ruled out two alternative hypotheses concerning achievement and compliance motives. We discuss how the findings might relate to outcomes associated with humility as evidenced in past studies.

Research on the Improving Effect of the Compound Beverage on the Sports Capacity of Basketball Athletes

This study is based on the characteristics of supplying energy from the body of the basketball players during the movement, combined with the characteristics of the compound sports beverage, analyzed the components of the compound sports beverage with the characteristics of basketball and made corresponding analysis on the measures for improving and recovering the physical stamina of the high level basketball players, so as to enlighten the basketball workers to maintain the healthy states and improve the exercise capacities of the athletes. For physical stamina is the basis for basketball players to use the tactics and techniques, reasonably using nutrition as the supplement is the effective means to eliminate exercise fatigue for the basketball athletes during the high load of training.

A Sound Citizen in a Sound Body: Sport and the Issue of Women’s Emancipation in 1920s Sweden

This article focuses on a rare phenomenon: a feminist sport federation active in Sweden during the 1920s. The analysis of rhetoric and ideas on women’s sport show how the association wanted to both politicize sport and enter the sport arena. Women’s sport was regarded as part of an ongoing modernization process, where women needed to develop physical strength and stamina. Through practicing sport, women would be “fit for society,” the Swedish Women’s Federation for Physical Culture (SKCFK) emphatically presented their vision of the female body as productive and capable, with strengths that should be further developed through exercise. Representatives of the federation spoke against biologizing statements about women’s fragile physique. When the activities of SKCFK faded out in the beginning of the 1930s, it meant the end of separate women’s sport in Sweden. It was not until the influence of the feminist second wave during the 1970s that gender equality was put on the agenda of the Swedish Sport movement.

Hepcidin and the global burden of iron deficiency.

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia worldwide. It primarily affects women and children and is particularly prevalent in regions where their diet contains little meat, malaria and intestinal parasites are common, women have many closely spaced pregnancies, and children suffer from diarrheal illnesses (1). Iron deficiency alone or in combination with other forms of malnutrition may impair cognitive development and decrease initiative and physical stamina. On the other hand, iron deficiency may be protective against malaria. Indiscriminate iron supplementation may increase the risk of mortality from malaria and other infections, by mechanisms that are not well understood. Although the optimal strategy for iron supplementation in such settings is not yet established, it makes sense that iron supplementation should be directed only to those children who are known to be iron deficient, will absorb the supplemental iron, and will utilize it to increase their hemoglobin concentrations. Finding a simple, field-friendly diagnostic test that would sensitively and specifically identify children who are most likely to benefit from iron supplementation (and ideally also are least likely to be harmed) has become the Holy Grail of iron-related diagnostics in the global setting. Pasricha et al. (2) have made an important advance in this quest by testing the ability of serum hepcidin measurements to identify iron deficiency in well-characterized blood sample collections from children in areas of the Gambia and Tanzania where malaria is endemic. In addition to conventional diagnostics (serum ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor, and soluble transferrin receptor/log serum ferritin) used to define iron deficiency in all children, …

Mission on the Move for Justice and Peace

Mission on the move: Toward witnessing in religiously plural societies "Mission on the Move" means mission still moving out of traditional perceptions of what mission is; and if "witness" is a new word for mission, it means re-conceptualizing what "witness" means in multi-faith/ religiously plural societies. This is a difficult process as the concept of "mission" carries with it a long history and biblical authority. Further, it has often been aligned with political powers and misused for non-religious purposes. Its practice has focused on converting the other into one's own religious likeness rather than sharing (in a variety of ways) the transformative power of the gospel in one's own life. The European Project for Interreligious Learning (EPIL) is an educational project for Christian and Muslim women from five countries in Europe and the Middle East. It is a two-year intensive learning process that was originally developed and launched as a cooperation by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Protestant Academy Boldern, Switzerland. It owes much to concepts of ecumenical learning and "Learning in Community" and to the liberation pedagogy of Paulo Freire. The first phase of this project (comprising three cycles) took place 2000-2013. In the course of each two-year cycle, participants spent five weeks in live-in situations where they had to deal with cultural and religious differences and explore how these might be harnessed to live more peacefully and fairly. "Interreligious dialogue and engagement should be the way for religions to relate to one another." This statement from the Birmingham Pluralist Summit (September 2003) (1) was the basis of the learning process. There would be no proselytizing and no attempt at missionization on either side. For the Christian participants in EPIL, this marked a relational shift from "mission" (as a hierarchical relationship) to witnessing in the form of presence to and with "the other." Learnings about religion became narratives and conversation--telling each other what religion meant concretely in the lives of participants. It was a work of "translation" that taught students more and at a deeper level about their own faiths than about the faith of the respective other. At the same time it heightened the students' sense of respect, even awe at the richness of religious experiences. And in the course of time it developed into something close to "the communication of love in action," (2) an attentiveness to the needs of the other woman, her limitations, her potential, and the realization of her humanness. If the classical response to "the other" used to be fear of difference (with all the consequences, including suppression and even elimination of the other) there has occurred a shift to valuing diversity, to perceiving it as enriching and helpful in solving the many problems of daily living together. In the discourse developing on a pluralist "theology of religions"/ "interreligious theology" we observe a shift from holding one's own religious truths as only truths (exclusivist approach) to acknowledging that "the great world religions with their diverse teachings and practices constitute authentic paths to the supreme Good." (3) To be "on the move" then could refer in a sense to a concept of living together in complex societies with a multitude of cultural expressions and religious beliefs. A concept that allows us to be attentive to insights and ideas emerging in many locations and that preserves a certain fluidity and openness to different ways of life and different approaches to problem solving. This works on the assumption that cooperation, respect, and acceptance of the different religious perspectives can produce results that draw all into the process of building life together within a culture of justice and peace. Being "on the move": EPIL's pedagogical concept In the educational process of EPIL, being on the move has been the most decisive factor. …

Effects of &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Biebersteinia multifida&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; DC. Root Extract on Physical Stamina in Male Mice

Biebersteinia multifida DC. has been used for the purpose of development of physical strength in iranian folk medicine. In the present study, we investigated the effect of Biebersteinia multifida DC. root extract on performance of the Forced Swimming Test (FST), and on blood biochemical parameters related to fatigue: Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN), Creatine Kinase (CK), Lactic Dehydrogenase (LDH), Glucose (Glc), and Total Protein (TP). Biebersteinia multifida DC. root extract was orally administered to mice at the doses 4, 7 and 10 mg/kg continuously once per day for 1 and 7 days using a feeding atraumatic needle. After 7 days, on FST the immobility time was decreased in the treated-groups at the doses 4 and 7 mg/kg, but after 1 day, only the immobility time of the treated- group at the dose of 4 mg/kg was decreased significantly. In addition, the content of Glc and TP in the blood serum was significantly increased in the groups receiving 4 and 7 mg/kg of Biebersteinia multifida DC. root extract for 7 days and LDH was decreased significantly. However, the levels of BUN and CK did not show a significant change. The results predict a potential benefit of Biebersteinia multifida DC. root extract as an anti-fatigue treatment and for improving physical stamina.

Adapting Military Leadership in a Changing Warfare Environment

The evaluation of warfare is mostly characterized by technological improvements that affect the ways soldiers get to the desired end state on the battlefield. Cyberspace and space are other imminent dimensions changing the conduct of war. So how must leaders adapt themselves to these changes in the battlefield? What kind of features have gained importance in order to lead and to survive in these techno-wars? The aim of this article is to answer the above mentioned questions. First, how leadership is affected by battlefield and technological improvements is analyzed. Then the features which future leaders must have and how they must behave are discussed. This paper seeks to show major effects of technology and modern warfare on leaders' physical capabilities, cognitive abilities and emotional stamina.

La herencia como principal factor etiológico de la anormalidad mental y de ciertas degeneraciones y formas de criminalidad y su prevención eugénica

La herencia fisiológica, la transmisión de padres a hijos, a través de varias generaciones, de ciertos caracteres físicos y morales, ha sido reconocida desde los tiempos más remotos; pero, a medida que los nuevos métodos de investigación han permitido avanzar el estudio de la ciencia biológica, se han multiplicado las teorías para explicar en conjunto los fenómenos de la vida.

Senior soldiers: The thin gray line

The confluence of deep cultural, social, and demographic trends with technological change can create conditions to which fundamental aspects of military organization and structure must rapidly adjust. Nomadic steppe warriors with composite bows and stirrups changed balances of power from China to Western Europe and throughout the Middle East; corned gunpowder and naval cannon technology, combined with powerful commercial, religious, and imperialistic forces, made the world a European realm for centuries; nuclear weapons have made civilization-level wars unthinkable (if not, unfortunately, impossible). Today a similar adjustment becomes necessary, as demographic shifts change the worker pools that the military will need to draw on, and technology increasingly removes the warrior from direct combat, changing fundamentally the types of skills that the military will need to cultivate, from the aggression, emotion, and physical stamina of youth to the judgment, wisdom, and patience of older age.

Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: A limited-resource account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative.

The current research tested the hypothesis that making many choices impairs subsequent self-control. Drawing from a limited-resource model of self-regulation and executive function, the authors hypothesized that decision making depletes the same resource used for self-control and active responding. In 4 laboratory studies, some participants made choices among consumer goods or college course options, whereas others thought about the same options without making choices. Making choices led to reduced self-control (i.e., less physical stamina, reduced persistence in the face of failure, more procrastination, and less quality and quantity of arithmetic calculations). A field study then found that reduced self-control was predicted by shoppers' self-reported degree of previous active decision making. Further studies suggested that choosing is more depleting than merely deliberating and forming preferences about options and more depleting than implementing choices made by someone else and that anticipating the choice task as enjoyable can reduce the depleting effect for the first choices but not for many choices.

The cost of keeping it hidden: Decomposing concealment reveals what makes it depleting.

People possess information or identities that it sometimes behooves them to conceal, but at what cost? Participants who were instructed to conceal information during a short interview--either their sexual orientation (Studies 1-3) or specified words (Study 4)--showed evidence of self-regulatory depletion. Concealment led to deficits in intellectual acuity, interpersonal restraint, physical stamina, and executive function. We decomposed depletion into 2 component processes that, together or separately, might contribute to the observed depletion. When actively concealing information, one must monitor for specific content to inhibit. If taboo content is detected, one must modify or alter one's speech from what one would have said otherwise. Concealment produced depletion even when there was no need to actually alter one's speech (Studies 2 and 4), demonstrating that monitoring one's speech for content to conceal was sufficient to cause depletion. In contrast, having to alter one's speech without having to monitor for specific content to inhibit--either by adding false content (Study 3) or inserting specific words into one's speech stream (Study 4)--did not lead to measurable depletion. In this way, the studies are the first to assess which part of an act of self-regulation--monitoring for specific behavior to override or the actual altering of that behavior--is responsible for observed depletion. Furthermore, the research suggests that social environments that explicitly or implicitly encourage identity concealment may prevent people from performing optimally.