Effects of vitamin D supplementation on pulmonary function in postmenopausal women following an aquatic exercise program

Objective: This study sought to investigate the effects of vitamin D supplementation and aquatic exercise on pulmonary function in postmenopausal women. Materials and methods: This prospective and controlled study included 104 women (62 +/- 6.5 years) divided into three groups: a control group lacking vitamin D and calcium supplementation which remained sedentary (CGn = 17)a control group receiving vitamin D and calcium supplementation which remained sedentary (CDG, n = 33)and a group that completed aquatic exercises three times a week and received vitamin D and calcium supplementation (DTG, n = 54). Data before and after 6 months of the study were analyzed, including serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D) and calcium concentrations, peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced vital capacity (FVC), and cirtometry. Results: We observed significant increases in 25(OH) D concentrations in CDG (52.9 +/- 2.4 to 69.1 +/- 2.2nmol/Lp < 0.0001) and DTG groups (55.5 +/- 3 to 71.5 +/- 3 nmol/Lp < 0.0001). PEF increased by 7 +/- 2% (p = 0.0080) in CDG group and 11 +/- 2% (p < 0.0001) in DTG group, whereas FVC increased by 7 +/- 2% (p = 0.0016) in the CDG group and 10 +/- 2% (p < 0.0001) in the DTG group, whereas CG had no changes in any of these parameters. The increment value of cirtometry in DTG group (+ 43 +/- 3%) were significantly (p < 0.0001) higher than those in CG (-4 +/- 8%) and CDG (+ 4 +/- 9%) groups. Conclusion: Our data suggest that vitamin D supplementation improves pulmonary function parameters in postmenopausal women.Fapesp (Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo)Federal AgencFederal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination - Capes)Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Med, Disciplina Endocrinol, Fac Med,Unifesp,EPM, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Sao Judas Tadeu, Fisiol Translac, Programa Posgrad Educ Fis & Ciencias Envelhecimen, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, Escola Educ Fis & Esporte, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Med, Disciplina Endocrinol, Fac Med,Unifesp,EPM, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilFAPESP: 08/50179-9Web of Scienc

Reliability of an isometric and isokinetic strength testing protocol of the knee and ankle in young adults

Background: Isokinetic dynamometers are becoming very common in assessing muscle strength and pathology, both in research and clinical practice, but for most of those devices reliability studies are still needed to support their extended use. The aim of this study is to assess the test-retest reliability also in health adults. Methods: Thirty adults (13 male and 17 females; mean age 25.4 ± 2.7 years) were recruited among University students. They participated to two testing sessions (7 day apart) in which they performed isokinetic and isometric strength assessment of the knee and ankle flexion and extension. Results: All variable showed an Intra-class correlation coefficient higher than 0.7 (isometric knee extension 0.96; isokinetic knee extension 0.96; isokinetic knee flexion 0.97; isometric ankle right flexion pl and flexion do 0.75-0.96; isometric ankle left flexion pl and flexion do 0.78-0.97; isokinetic ankle right flexion pl and flexion do 0.88-0.73; isokinetic ankle right flexion pl and flexion do 0.88-0.85) and paired-sample t-test showed no significant difference. Moreover, most of the recorded values were included within the upper and lower limits of agreement. Conclusion: Multi-joint evaluation system is a reliable device to assess knee and ankle isokinetic and isometric strength among healthy adults

Nordic Walking promoted weight loss in overweight and obese people: A systematic review for future exercise prescription

The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the effect of Nordic Walking (NW) on anthropometric parameters, body composition, cardiovascular parameters, aerobic capacity, blood sample, and glucose tolerance in overweight and obese subjects. The main keywords "Nordic Walking" or "Pole Walking", associated with either "obese", "obesity", "overweight", or "weight loss" were used on the online database MEDLINE, PubMed, SPORTDiscus and Scopus. Additionally, references of the studies included were screened to identify eligible articles. Applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, ten manuscripts were considered as eligible for this review. The results of the studies were categorized in several domains with regard to "anthropometric parameters and body composition", "cardiovascular parameters and aerobic capacity", and "blood sample and glucose tolerance". The results showed positive effects on the anthropometric parameters, body composition, cardiovascular parameters, blood sample, and glucose tolerance. The greatest improvements were observed in supervised and high weekly frequency of NW interventions. NW could be considered as an effective modality through which to involve the obese in physical activity. For weight loss, NW should be prescribed 4-5 times per week, at least 60 min per session, preferably combined with diet control

Lower limb strength profile in elderly with different pathologies: Comparisons with healthy subjects

Sarcopenia and muscle strength reduction are a frequent disorder in non-communicable chronic diseases. The aims of this study are: a) to verify if the absolute and relative to body weight muscle strength of lower limb is affected by the presence of pathology; b) to verify if the trends are different among knee and ankles joints. One-hundred and forty-five elderly were recruited (16 liver transplant recipients, 48 kidney transplant recipients, 52 elderly with obesity, 30 healthy elderly). Muscular strength of lower limb was evaluated. Evaluation protocol included maximal isometric knee extension, maximal isokinetic knee extension and flexion, maximal isokinetic ankle (both right and left) extension and flexion. A statistically significant interaction between measurement and group membership was found for absolute strength measure (F(4.23, 170.56) = 3.316, p = 0.011, partial \u3b72 (\u3b72p) = 0.076), and relative strength measure(F(4.44, 174.72) = 16.407, p < 0.01, partial \u3b72 (\u3b72p) = 0.294). Elderly patients living with kidney transplants showed the lower level of absolute muscular strength, while relative muscular strength is mainly lacking in the elderly with obesity. The strength profile of elderly subjects is affected by obesity, liver transplantation, and kidney transplantation

Reliability of an integrated inertial sensor for the continuous measurement of active cervical range of motion in a group of younger and elderly individuals

The aim of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability of an integrated inertial sensor (IIS) for cervical range of motion assessment. An integrated inertial sensor was placed on the forehead center of thirty older adults (OA) and thirty younger adults (YA). Participants had to perform three continuous rotations, lateral bandings and flexion-extensions with their head. Test-retest reliability was assessed after 7 days. YA showed moderate to good agreement for rotation (0.54-0.82), lateral bending (0.74-0.8), and flexion-extension (0.74-0.81) movements and poor agreement for zero point (ZP). OA showed moderate to good agreement for rotation (0.65-0.86), good to excellent agreement in lateral bending (0.79-0.92), and poor to moderate agreement for flexion-extension (0.37-0.72). Zero point showed poor to moderate agreement. In conclusion, we can affirm that this IIS is a reliable device for cervical range of motion assessment in young and older adults; on the contrary, the ZP seems to be unreliable and the addition of an external reference point could help the subject to solve this shortcoming and reduce possible biases

Effects of circuit-based exercise programs on the body composition of elderly obese women

Danilo Sales Bocalini,1 Lucas S Lima,3 Socrates de Andrade,4 Angelo Madureira,4 Roberta L Rica,4,5 Rodrigo Nolasco dos Santos,4 Andrey Jorge Serra,1,2 Jose Antonio Silva Jr,2 Daniel Rodriguez,6 Aylton Figueira Jr,6 Francisco Luciano Pontes Jr31Departamenteo de Educa&ccedil;&atilde;o F&iacute;sica e, 2Ci&ecirc;ncias da Reabilita&ccedil;&atilde;o da Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE), S&atilde;o Paulo, SP, Brazil; 3Curso de Gerontologia, Escola de Artes, Ci&ecirc;ncias e Humanidades da Universidade de S&atilde;o Paulo (EACH), S&atilde;o Paulo, SP, Brazil; 4Universidade Gama Filho (UGF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; 5Departamento de Educa&ccedil;&atilde;o F&iacute;sica, Colegio Arbos, S&atilde;o Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil; 6Departamento de Educa&ccedil;&atilde;o F&iacute;sica. Universidade S&atilde;o Judas Tadeu (USJT), S&atilde;o Paulo, SP, BrazilAim: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of circuit-based exercise on the body composition in obese older women by focusing on physical exercise and body weight (BW) gain control in older people.Methods: Seventy older women (&gt;60 years old) voluntarily took part in the study. Participants were randomized into six different groups according to body mass index (BMI): appropriate weight (AW) control (AWC) and trained (AWT) groups, overweight (OW) control (OWC) and trained (OWT) groups, and obesity (O) control (OC) and trained (OT) groups. The exercise program consisted of 50 minutes of exercise three times per week for 12 weeks. The exercises were alternated between upper and lower body using rest between sets for 40 seconds with intensity controlled by heart rate (70% of work). The contraction time established was 5 seconds to eccentric and concentric muscular action phase. The following anthropometric parameters were evaluated: height (m), body weight (BW, kg), body fat (BF, %), fat mass (FM, kg), lean mass (LM, kg), and BMI (kg/m2).Results: The values (mean &plusmn; standard deviation [SD]) of relative changes to BW (&minus;8.0% &plusmn; 0.8%), BF (&minus;21.4% &plusmn; 2.1%), LM (3.0% &plusmn; 0.3%), and FM (&minus;31.2% &plusmn; 3.0%) to the OT group were higher (P &lt; 0.05) than in the AWT (BW: &minus;2.0% &plusmn; 1.1%; BF: &minus;4.6% &plusmn; 1.8%; FM: &minus;7.0% &plusmn; 2.8%; LM: 0.2% &plusmn; 1.1%) and OWT (BW: &minus;4.5% &plusmn; 1.0%; BF: &minus;11.0% &plusmn; 2.2%; FM: &minus;16.1% &plusmn; 3.2%; LM: &minus;0.2% &plusmn; 1.0%) groups; additionally, no differences were found for C groups. While reduction (P &lt; 0.03) in BMI according to absolute values was observed for all trained groups (AWT: 22 &plusmn; 1 versus 21 &plusmn; 1; OWT: 27 &plusmn; 1 versus 25 &plusmn; 1, OT: 34 &plusmn; 1 versus 30 &plusmn; 1) after training, no differences were found for C groups.Conclusion: In summary, circuit-based exercise is an effective method for promoting reduction in anthropometrics parameters in obese older women.Keywords: anthropometric parameters, body fat, obesity, older women, physical exercis

Effects of tailored resistance exercise training in a group of metalworkers with ergonomic or manual handlings loads prescription by the occupational physician: A pilot study

Background. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are cause of disability and loss of productivity. Part of the workers suffers from WRMSDs while others are exposed to risk factors. Resistance training (RT) can reduce pain symptomatology, counteracting WRMSDs. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the effectiveness of a RT program in a group of metalworkers on pain perception, disability and physical fitness in context of real work-setting. Methods. Eighteen metalworkers took part to a 12 weeks RT program with a personalized intervention during the sessions. Disability of the arm, shoulder and hand questionnaire (DASH) and the visual analogue scale for the low back (L-VAS) represent the primary outcome regarded. Handgrip strength, shoulder and hamstrings flexibility and cardiorespiratory endurance were tested. Pre-post differences were evaluated through T-test. Results. DASH score improved significantly of 4.28 points (p = 0.03). L-VAS did not change (p = 0.38) while physical fitness outcomes improved significantly except for the shoulder flexibility. Spontaneous attendance reached 83.42%. Conclusions. Pain and disability decreased in upper limb and shoulder but not in the lumbar spine. Moreover, physical fitness of participants improved. Considering the spontaneous attendance to the program of these participants, we exhort RT implementation in occupational primary and secondary prevention programs