Creatine supplementation : effects on urinary excretion and anaerobic performance

Etude sur 21 hommes pratiquant quotidiennement des activités sportives liées à la vitesse (football rugby, squash et tennis) pour examiner les réactions de la créatine urinaire et de la créatinine urinaire à une supplémentation en créatine en tant que méthode pour améliorer la performance. Il en résulte que la créatine urinaire permet d'obtenir une mesure quantitative précise de la rétention de la créatine. Par ailleurs, la relation étroite entre la créatine urinaire et l'amélioration de la puissance maximale pourrait être particulièrement utile pour surveiller et optimiser la supplémentation

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Physical Activity in a Sample of Greek Adults

It is well known that physical inactivity increases the risk of global death; however, the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown strategy on physical activity (PA) remains unclear. This study compared PA—i.e., daily occupation, transportation to and from daily occupation, leisure time activities, and regular sporting activities—prior (PRE) and during (POST) the on-going COVID-19 outbreak in the Greece lockdown environment. A Greek version of the web-based Active-Q questionnaire was used to access PA. The questionnaire was filled out twice (once each for the PRE and POST conditions) by 8495 participants (age = 37.2 ± 0.2 years (95% confidence interval (CI), 36.9–37.5); males = 38.3% (95%CI, 36.7–40.0); females = 61.7% (95%CI, 60.4–63.0). The relative frequency of overall sporting activities, which, prior to lockdown, occurred at least once per month, and overall participation in competitive sports was significantly reduced (8.6% (95%CI, 7.9–9.3) and 84.7% (95%CI, 82.9–86.6) respectively). With the exception of overall leisure time activities, which were significantly increased in the POST condition, daily occupational, transportation, and sporting activities significant reduced (p < 0.05). Overall PA was reduced in all genders, age, body mass index (BMI) and PA level subgroups in the POST condition, and an interaction between the males and High PA subgroups was observed. The change in overall PA (from PRE to POST conditions) was −16.3% (95%CI, −17.3 to −15.4), while in daily occupational, transportation, and sporting activities, it was −52.9% (95%CI, −54.8–51.0), −41.1% (95%CI, −42.8–39.5) and −23.9% (95%CI, −25.1–22.8), respectively. Thus, the lockdown period is highly associated with a negative change in overall PA. During lockdown, inactivity increased dramatically, with males and the high PA population affected significantly more. The decline in PA is a great concern due to possible long-term consequences on public health and healthcare system

The relationship between physical and technical performance characteristics of young soccer and basketball players: A comparison between two sports

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physical and technical performance characteristics of young athletes in soccer and basketball, as well as to see the differences in between sports. METHODS: Fifty-seven male players (soccer: N.=30, age 13.53±0.51 years; basketball: N.=27, age 13.56±0.51 years) participated in this study. Anthropometrical (height, weight, BMI, body fat), performance (VO2max, HRmax, perceived exertion, lactate concentration, 10-m and 20-m sprint, agility, vertical jump) and technical (passing, dribbling, shooting) tests were carried out. RESULTS: Anthropometrical, performance and technical tests showed a significant effect of sport type on height, weight, BMI, VO2max, HRmax, perceived exertion, 10m sprint, 20m sprint, vertical jump (P≤0.05), but a non-significant effect on agility (P=0.15) between soccer and basketball players. Soccer players showed significant moderate to strong correlation among the majority of performance and technical characteristics (P≤0.05) but not in basketball players, with the exception of the weak correlation observed between lay-up and VO2max, the weak to moderate correlation between lay-up, vertical jump and 10m sprint and the weak to moderate correlation between 20-m left hand dribbling, 10-m sprint and vertical jump respectively (P≤0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Basketball players indicated different level of anthropometric characteristics than soccer players who predominated in performance characteristics and showed a stronger relationship between performance and technical variables. Basketball players were taller and heavier than soccer players, while soccer players predominate in performance characteristics. Furthermore, a moderate to stronger relationship was found between performance and technical variables for soccer subjects but not in that scale for the basketball counterparts. © 2021 Edizioni Minerva Medica. All rights reserved

Meta-Analysis of Carbohydrate Solution Intake during Prolonged Exercise in Adults: From the Last 45+ Years’ Perspective

Carbohydrate (CHO) supplementation during prolonged exercise postpones fatigue. However, the optimum administration timing, dosage, type of CHO intake, and possible interaction of the ergogenic effect with athletes’ cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are not clear. Ninety-six studies (from relevant databases based on predefined eligibility criteria) were selected for meta-analysis to investigate the acute effect of ≤20% CHO solutions on prolonged exercise performance. The between-subject standardized mean difference [SMD = ([mean post-value treatment group–mean post-value control group]/pooled variance)] was assessed. Overall, SMD [95% CI] of 0.43 [0.35, 0.51] was significant (p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that SMD was reduced as the subjects’ CRF level increased, with a 6–8% CHO solution composed of GL:FRU improving performance (exercise: 1–4 h); administration during the event led to a superior performance compared to administration before the exercise, with a 6–8% single-source CHO solution increasing performance in intermittent and ‘stop and start’ sports and an ~6% CHO solution appearing beneficial for 45–60 min exercises, but there were no significant differences between subjects’ gender and age groups, varied CHO concentrations, doses, or types in the effect measurement. The evidence found was sound enough to support the hypothesis that CHO solutions, when ingested during endurance exercise, have ergogenic action and a possible crossover interaction with the subject’s CRF

Data on advanced glycation end-products concentrations and haemodynamic parameters following caffeine and nicotine consumption in nursing students

This work presents data from a non-invasive interventional trial investigating the early effects of caffeine and nicotine on both the concentrations of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and haemodynamic parameters in 178 healthy nursing students aged between 18 and 40. These students were allocated into four groups (A, B, C and D) and the concentrations of AGEs as well as haemodynamic parameters were measured non-invasively using the AgeReader and the Finometer devices, respectively. The haemodynamic parameters that were measured included systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, inter-beat interval, stroke volume, cardiac output, ventricular ejection time, total peripheral resistance, ascending aorta impedance and total arterial compliance. According to our protocol, each beverage contained 100 mg of caffeine each cigarette contained 1.5 mg of nicotine. The present data reveal the combined effect of smoke and caffeine consumption to several hemodynamic parameters that may be related to the onset of elevated blood pressure during smoking and following caffeine consumption. © 202

Effect of 3 vs. 3 Soccer Small-Sided Game on Various Performance, Inflammatory, Muscle Damage and Hormonal Indicators in Semi-Professional Players

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a soccer small-sided game (SSG) on performance, inflammatory, muscle damage and hormonal indicators. Twenty-two male soccer players participated and were assigned to either experimental (EXP = 12) or control (CON = 10) groups. Subjective fatigue (RPE) and lactate (La¯) were measured during the SSG; vertical squat jump (SJ), 20-m sprint, creatine kinase (CK), interleukin-6 (IL-6), cortisol (C), and testosterone (T) were measured before (PRE), after (POST), 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after the SSG in the EXP group. The heart rate during the SSG reached 92 ± 3% of their HRmax, whereas La¯ and RPE reached 13.02 ± 1.60 mmol·L−1 and 15 ± 1 after SSG, respectively. The IL-6, different among measurements (F (1.04, 11.50) = 504.82, p −1 [95%CI; 3.28–3.77]) after the SSG and returned to baseline 24 h later. The CK, different among measurements (F (1.76, 19.32) = 93.96, p −1 [95%CI; 466.01–607.15]) 24 h after the SSG and remained significantly higher than PRE condition in POST and up to 72 h later. The T/C ratio, significantly different among measurements (F (1.73, 19.05) = 12.12, p p < 0.05) and returned to baseline after 24 h. It seems that 48 h (at the most) after an SSG is adequate time for players to recover, and a high training load should be avoided sooner than 24 h after an SSG

Reliability analysis of Finometer and AGE-Reader devices in a clinical research trial

Fundamental issues emerging from the widespread use of noninvasive techniques in healthcare sciences&apos; research are the reliability and validity. This work presents the reliability analysis of a clinical trial that uses a Finometer and an AGE Reader. The aim is to provide a self-consistent and meaningful reliability analysis concerning Finometer and AGE-Reader devices, something that is often missing in the research field of healthcare sciences and present results could be used to fill up this gap. Since four raters are used for taking measurements in this study, the presented reliability analysis includes tests for the raters as well as for the instruments&apos; internal consistency of the instruments. It was found that both the reported inter-rater reliability and instruments&apos; reliability of internal consistency were found adequately high. In conclusion, Finometer and AGE-Reader devices showed high reliability and the present results can be used as a concrete basis for future studies utilising these devices. © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Impact of lockdown on smoking and sleeping in the early COVID-19 presence: Datasets of Greek Adults sample

The impact of lockdown on life style and behaviour have piqued the interest of people and scientific community, all over the world. It has been demonstrated that in some countries, mandatory stay-at-home limitations and self-isolation measures are linked to an increase in sleeping hours and smoking cigarettes per day. However, these results derive from countries that lockdown had different features and length, and it is possible that society, culture, customs, ecological or other factors may independently or in combination affect life style habits (such sleeping and smoking) in different populations. So, we focus on sleeping and smoking changes in Greek adults during the lockdown of early COVID-19 presence in Greece. Therefore, our aim was to investigate whether lockdown alters smoking and sleeping habits and whether physical activity (PA), gender, age or body mass index (BMI) play a role. The modified online-based Active-Q (Greek version) questionnaire (see Supplementary file 1_Active-Q_modyfied) was used to collect data prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (PRE condition) and during physical distancing and lockdown measures (POST condition). The data period collection was from April 4 to April 19, 2020 (15 days in total) and respondents classified into four PA categories based on their sporting activities (PRE condition), five age categories and four BMI categories, which corresponding to different subgroup. Overall, sleeping hours change (from PRE to POST condition) was 11.80% and smoking cigarettes per day change was 9.35%. However, it appears that between the different subgroups significant differences were also identified. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc