Acute caffeine intake increases performance in the 15-s Wingate test during the menstrual cycle.

Aims: In male athletes, caffeine is considered an ergogenic aid to increase anaerobic performance during the Wingate anaerobic test (WANT). However, information about the effect of caffeine on WANT performance in female athletes is contradictory. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the ergogenicity of caffeine is present during all the phases of the menstrual cycle. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of caffeine intake on WANT performance during 3 phases of the menstrual cycle. Methods: Thirteen well-trained eumenorrhoeic triathletes participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over experimental trial. On 2 different days in each phase, and in randomized order, participants ingested caffeine (3 mg kg−1 ) or a placebo (cellulose). The menstrual cycle phases were individually characterized as follows: (i) early follicular; (ii) preovulatory; and (iii) midluteal. In each trial, participants performed a 15-s adapted version of the WANT. Results: In comparison to the placebo, caffeine increased peak power during the WANT in the early follicular (8.6 ± 0.8 vs 8.9 ± 0.9 W/kg, P = .04; effect size [d] = 0.45), preovulatory (8.6 ± 0.9 vs 8.9 ± 0.9 W/kg, P = .04; d = 0.23) and mid-luteal phases (8.6 ± 0.8 vs 8.9 ± 0.9 W/kg, P < .01; d = 0.52). Conclusion: The ergogenic effect of caffeine on WANT peak cycling power was of a similar magnitude in the follicular, preovulatory, and mid-luteal phases. These results suggest that caffeine increases performance in the 15-s Wingate test in women athletes and it might be considered an ergogenic aid to increase anaerobic performance in eumenorrhoeic women during their menstrual cycle.post-print486 K

Developing a TRIZ-based Design for Flexibility Tool for Manufacturing Facilities

As manufacturers evaluate assets and long-term production plans, they struggle with how best to meet complex building requirements that maximize building flexibility and minimize costs. Research shows that manufacturers highly prioritize facility flexibility. However, infusing flexibility into facility design can be complex and achieving it can be costly. These issues could be mitigated with a dedicated tool for addressing flexibility in facility design. TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) is a problem-solving method that exploits information contained in millions of patents to identify solution genres and standard contradictions to drive inventive design principles. This userfriendly, decision support tool can efficiently reduce the complexity of incorporating flexibility into manufacturing facility design. Using this tool as a platform and incorporating information from fifteen case studies, constructionspecific terms were mapped to TRIZ parameters and principles to create a construction industry specific TRIZ contradiction matrix. This paper describes basic TRIZ theory and previous uses in the construction industry. It then discusses industry input and case studies that helped make it construction-specific. Finally, it addresses the modified TRIZ tool’s potential benefits to the construction industry regarding flexibility considerations

FROM TOURISM GEOGRAPHY PERSPECTIVE SALDA LAKE (TURKEY) AND NEAR SURROUNDING

Salda Lake, located within the borders of Yeşilova district of Burdur province in the Antalya Section of the Mediterranean Region, is one of Turkey's most popular tourist attractions. Located in the southwest of Turkey and encompassing many lake basins, the “Lakes Region” has been designated as the “Lakes Region Ecotourism Development Region” in the Turkey 2023 tourism strategy and attention has been drawn to the tourism potential of the lakes in the region. Located in the Lakes Region, Lake Salda draws attention with its natural beaches and water sports opportunities, rich flora and fauna, recreation areas and camping areas by the lake, various accommodation opportunities and natural beauties, healing lake waters and rich tourism diversity. Rural tourism, lake tourism, ecological tourism, winter tourism, botanical tourism, health tourism and cultural tourism are the most developed types of tourism in and around Salda Lake. In this research, the geographical location, tourism potential and main tourism resources of both Yeşilova district and Salda Lake were examined. In addition, in this article focused on tourism geography, the negative ecological and socio-economic effects of increasing human pressure and tourism activities around Salda Lake were investigated. In this study, which deals with the examination of Salda Lake and its surroundings in terms of recreation and tourism activities, the natural and human environmental factors of the region are analyzed, and the main tourism advantages and disadvantages of the region are discussed. At the beginning of the most important results obtained from this research, it has been determined that factors such as climate change, uncontrolled and intense touristic flow, increasing environmental pollution and illegal construction threaten sustainable tourism in the Salda Lake basin

Unpublished Mediterranean and Black Sea records of marine alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species

To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173 marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized a dataset of 12,649 records. It includes 247 taxa, of which 217 are Animalia, 25 Plantae and 5 Chromista, from 23 countries surrounding the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Chordata was the most abundant taxonomic group, followed by Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Annelida. In terms of species records, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus, Saurida lessepsianus, Pterois miles, Upeneus moluccensis, Charybdis (Archias) longicollis, and Caulerpa cylindracea were the most numerous. The temporal distribution of the records ranges from 1973 to 2022, with 44% of the records in 2020–2021. Lethrinus borbonicus is reported for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, while Pomatoschistus quagga, Caulerpa cylindracea, Grateloupia turuturu, and Misophria pallida are first records for the Black Sea; Kapraunia schneideri is recorded for the second time in the Mediterranean and for the first time in Israel; Prionospio depauperata and Pseudonereis anomala are reported for the first time from the Sea of Marmara. Many first country records are also included, namely: Amathia verticillata (Montenegro), Ampithoe valida (Italy), Antithamnion amphigeneum (Greece), Clavelina oblonga (Tunisia and Slovenia), Dendostrea cf. folium (Syria), Epinephelus fasciatus (Tunisia), Ganonema farinosum (Montenegro), Macrorhynchia philippina (Tunisia), Marenzelleria neglecta (Romania), Paratapes textilis (Tunisia), and Botrylloides diegensis (Tunisia)

Regulation of peripheral blood flow in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: clinical implication for symptomatic relief and pain management

Background. During the chronic stage of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), impaired microcirculation is related to increased vasoconstriction, tissue hypoxia, and metabolic tissue acidosis in the affected limb. Several mechanisms may be responsible for the ischemia and pain in chronic cold CPRS. Discussion. The diminished blood flow may be caused by either sympathetic dysfunction, hypersensitivity to circulating catecholamines, or endothelial dysfunction. The pain may be of neuropathic, inflammatory, nociceptive, or functional nature, or of mixed origin. Summary. The origin of the pain should be the basis of the symptomatic therapy. Since the difference in temperature between both hands fluctuates over time in cold CRPS, when in doubt, the clinician should prioritize the patient's report of a persistent cold extremity over clinical tests that show no difference. Future research should focus on developing easily applied methods for clinical use to differentiate between central and peripheral blood flow regulation disorders in individual patients