Efficacy of Wii Fit Plus Strength Training in Older Adults Dwelling in an Assisted Living Facility

TACSM Abstract Efficacy of Wii Fit Plus Strength Training in Older Adults Dwelling in an Assisted Living Facility Chandrasekhar Bulusu MHS (PT), Sandor Dorgo Ph.D., C.S.C.S Ross Moore Fitness Center; Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences; University of Texas at El Paso; El Paso, TX Category: Doctoral ABSTRACT Wii fit plus strength training alone to assess physical fitness in older adults is not evident. The purpose of the study was to assess whether regular strength training utilizing the Wii Fit Plus device improves physical fitness in assisted living facility dwelling older adults compared to a non-exercising control group over a twelve-week period.17 volunteering older adults (mean ± SD age: 79.62±8.10; BMI: 32.3±7.65) were recruited from an assisted living facility and randomly assigned to the Wii exercise group (Wii) or the non-exercising control group (Control). Subjects in Wii performed three exercises with three sets of ten repetitions two times per week. Each exercise session was about 30 minutes. Control subjects were asked to continue their normal lifestyle. Pre-, Mid-, and Post-test sessions were conducted to assess potential changes in the subjects’ physical fitness. Assessments included dynamic handgrip strength, 30-second chair stand, 30-second arm curl, timed up and go (TUG), and gallon jug transfer tests. Data were analyzed using the general linear mixed model with alpha level set at p0.07). For the TUG test a significant group-by-time interaction was observed (p=0.005), as the Wii group showed a significant improvement from pre- to post-test (p=0.01) while the control group did not (p=0.08). Our results indicate that the Wii strength training did not improve physical fitness in older adults when compared to the non-exercising older adults, although fitness improvement trends point in that direction. The utilization of Wii Fit Plus exercises for 30-minutes twice weekly over a 12-week period were inadequate to elicit significant changes in fitness measures. Further research is necessary to evaluate if higher intensity or frequency of Wii exercises may be effective for assisted living facility dwelling older adults

Physical and functional fitness changes in older adults in response to a traditional training program and a Wii enhanced training program

The Wii Fit Plus Balance program has been recommended as an alternative training tool for older adults to improve physical and functional fitness. However, the effectiveness of the Wii Fit Plus in combination with traditional training approaches in older adults is unclear. PURPOSE: To compare changes in physical fitness measures in older adults (OA) engaging in two different training programs: 1) traditional exercises performed by the control group (CG) and 2) traditional exercises complemented by Wii balance games performed by the experimental group (EG). METHODS: 35 untrained OA (mean ± SD Age: 68.86 ± 6.13; BMI: 28.89 ± 5.32) with no exercise history were recruited and randomly assigned to either the CG or EG group. CG and EG programs both included cardio, strength, flexibility, and balance training exercises. However, subjects in the EG group performed additional balance exercises using Wii fit plus program. Both CG and EG subjects exercised twice per week for twelve weeks. Fitness assessments were based on standard procedures including the chair stand, gallon jug transfer, 8 foot up-and-go tests, as well as a long ramp walk and medicine ball throw tests. Data were collected at weeks 1, 6, and 12. Data analysis was conducted using the general linear mixed model with alpha level set at p\u3c0.05. RESULTS: A significant time effect was found for all fitness measures in both groups from week 1 to 6 (p\u3c0.001) and week 1 to 12 (p\u3c0.001). In general CG and EG subjects made 5.5% to 31.7% improvement from Week 1 to 6 and 8.1% to 52.5% improvement from Week 1 to 12. No significant group effects were observed between the CG and EG groups (p\u3e0.370). Also, no significant group by time interactions were observed for any of the fitness measures (p\u3e0.290). CONCLUSION: It appears that the use of the Wii Fit Plus Balance in conjunction with a traditional exercise program does not provide added significant fitness benefits for older adults. While additional fitness benefits are not evident, it appears that both a traditional exercise program alone and a traditional exercise program combined with the Wii Fit Plus Balance training may elicit significant fitness improvements

Self-assembly of cyclic homo- and hetero-β-peptides with cis-furanoid sugar amino acid and β-hGly as building blocks

The design, synthesis and characterization of a new class of peptide nanotubes, self-assembled from cyclic homo- and hetero-β -peptides based on cis-furanoid sugar amino acid and β -hGly residues are described; these results represent the expansion of the conformational pool of cis β -sugar amino acids in the design of peptide nanotubes

Expanding the conformational pool of cis-β-sugar amino acid: accommodation of β -hGly motif in robust 14-helix

Tendencies of forming stable helices of heterooligomers composed of alternating rigid cis-β -sugar amino acid and flexible β-hGly motifs have been investigated, using a combination of molecular mechanics, CD, FT-IR, and NMR techniques. The results show that the solution structures of these oligomers exist as robust right-handed 14-helices. Here, we examine the role of conformationally rigid cis-β -sugar amino acid in preorganizing the conformation of β-hGly to form the 14-helix. Our findings also show that a right-handed 14-helix can be formed with as few as four properly sequenced heterogeneous residues. These results represent the expansion of the conformational pool of sugar amino acid in the design of well-folded 14-helices, which can be used to develop β-peptides endowed with biological activity

Formation of left-handed helices in hybrid peptide oligomers with cis β-sugar amino acid and L-Ala as building blocks

Residue based control of specific helical folding is explored in hybrid peptide oligomers consisting of alternating L-Ala and cis-β-furanoid sugar amino acid (FSAA) residues as building blocks; two series of these hybrid oligomers are designed, synthesized and extensively characterized by using NMR, CD, FT-IR and MD simulation studies; results show the co-existence of left-handed 11- and 14/15-helical conformations in these short oligomers of Boc-(α/β) and Boc-(β/α) series

One second vector and scalar magnetic measurements at the low-latitude Choutuppal (CPL) magnetic observatory

One second measurements of the geomagnetic field variations, which meet INTERMAGNET quality and transmission specifications, require very special conditions to be maintained at the observatories over sustained periods of time, which pose serious challenges for the operators, particularly when infrastructural and environmental conditions are far from ideal. This work presents the progressive steps, which led to the successful setup of such measurements at the new magnetic observatory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in the Choutuppal (CPL) campus, Hyderabad (HYB), India. The 1 s magnetic measurements in trial mode commenced in 2015 using the newly developed observatory-grade 1 s fluxgate magnetometer, GEOMAG-02MO, from Research Centre GEOMAGNET (GM), Ukraine, and the Overhauser proton precession magnetometer, GSM-90F1, along with the data acquisition system, Magrec-4B from Mingeo, Hungary. Iterative tuning of the setup led to the generation of good quality data from 2016 onward. The processes of commissioning this setup in low-latitude conditions, with the aim of producing 1 s definitive data, and the characteristics of the data from this new instrument are presented here

An advancement in the synthesis of unique soft magnetic CoCuFeNiZn high entropy alloy thin films

Discovery of advanced soft-magnetic high entropy alloy (HEA) thin films are highly pursued to obtain unidentified functional materials. The figure of merit in current nanocrystalline HEA thin films relies in integration of a simple single-step electrochemical approach with a complex HEA system containing multiple elements with dissimilar crystal structures and large variation of melting points. A new family of Cobalt–Copper–Iron–Nickel–Zinc (Co–Cu–Fe–Ni–Zn) HEA thin films are prepared through pulse electrodeposition in aqueous medium, hosts nanocrystalline features in the range of ~ 5–20 nm having FCC and BCC dual phases. The fabricated Co–Cu–Fe–Ni–Zn HEA thin films exhibited high saturation magnetization value of ~ 82 emu/g, relatively low coercivity value of 19.5 Oe and remanent magnetization of 1.17%. Irrespective of the alloying of diamagnetic Zn and Cu with ferromagnetic Fe, Co, Ni elements, the HEA thin film has resulted in relatively high saturation magnetization which can provide useful insights for its potential unexplored applications