Early prediction of the highest workload in incremental cardiopulmonary tests

Incremental tests are widely used in cardiopulmonary exercise testing, both in the clinical domain and in sport sciences. The highest workload (denoted Wpeak) reached in the test is key information for assessing the individual body response to the test and for analyzing possible cardiac failures and planning rehabilitation, and training sessions. Being physically very demanding, incremental tests can significantly increase the body stress on monitored individuals and may cause cardiopulmonary overload. This article presents a new approach to cardiopulmonary testing that addresses these drawbacks. During the test, our approach analyzes the individual body response to the exercise and predicts the Wpeak value that will be reached in the test and an evaluation of its accuracy. When the accuracy of the prediction becomes satisfactory, the test can be prematurely stopped, thus avoiding its entire execution. To predict Wpeak, we introduce a new index, the CardioPulmonary Efficiency Index (CPE), summarizing the cardiopulmonary response of the individual to the test. Our approach analyzes the CPE trend during the test, together with the characteristics of the individual, and predicts Wpeak. A K-nearest-neighbor-based classifier and an ANN-based classier are exploited for the prediction. The experimental evaluation showed that the Wpeak value can be predicted with a limited error from the first steps of the tes

Mortalin Inhibition in Experimental Parkinson's Disease

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The effects of aerobic exercise training at two different intensities in obesity and type 2 diabetes: implications for oxidative stress, low-grade inflammation and nitric oxide production

Aims To investigate the effect of 16 weeks of aerobic training performed at two different intensities on nitric oxide (tNOx) availability and iNOS/nNOS expression, oxidative stress (OS) and inflammation in obese humans with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods Twenty-five sedentary, obese (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)) males (52.8 +/- 7.2 years); 12 controls versus 13 T2DM were randomly allocated to four groups that exercised for 30 min, three times per week either at low (Fat-Max; 30-40 % VO2max) or moderate (T-vent; 55-65 % VO2max) intensity. Before and after training, blood and muscle samples (v. lateralis) were collected. Results Baseline erythrocyte glutathione was lower (21.8 +/- 2.8 vs. 32.7 +/- 4.4 nmol/ml) and plasma protein oxidative damage and IL-6 were higher in T2DM (141.7 +/- 52.1 vs. 75.5 +/- 41.6 nmol/ml). Plasma catalase increased in T2DM after T-vent training (from 0.98 +/- 0.22 to 1.96 +/- 0.3 nmol/min/ml). T2DM groups demonstrated evidence of oxidative damage in response to training (elevated protein carbonyls). Baseline serum tNOx were higher in controls than T2DM (18.68 +/- 2.78 vs. 12.34 +/- 3.56 mu mol/l). Training at T-vent increased muscle nNOS and tNOx in the control group only. Pre-training muscle nNOS was higher in controls than in T2DMs, while the opposite was found for iNOS. No differences were found after training for plasma inflammatory markers. Conclusion Exercise training did not change body composition or aerobic fitness, but improved OS markers, especially when performed at T-vent. Non-diabetics responded to T-vent training by increasing muscle nNOS expression and tNOx levels in skeletal muscle while these parameters did not change in T2DM, perhaps due to higher insulin resistance (unchanged after intervention)

Does supplementation with leucine-enriched protein alone and in combination with fish-oil-derived n–3 PUFA affect muscle mass, strength, physical performance, and muscle protein synthesis in well-nourished older adults? A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

peer-reviewedBackground Leucine-enriched protein (LEU-PRO) and long-chain (LC) n–3 (ω–3) PUFAs have each been proposed to improve muscle mass and function in older adults, whereas their combination may be more effective than either alone. Objective The impact of LEU-PRO supplementation alone and combined with LC n–3 PUFAs on appendicular lean mass, strength, physical performance and myofibrillar protein synthesis (MyoPS) was investigated in older adults at risk of sarcopenia. Methods This 24-wk, 3-arm parallel, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 107 men and women aged ≥65 y with low muscle mass and/or strength. Twice daily, participants consumed a supplement containing either LEU-PRO (3 g leucine, 10 g protein; n = 38), LEU-PRO plus LC n–3 PUFAs (0.8 g EPA, 1.1 g DHA; LEU-PRO+n–3; n = 38), or an isoenergetic control (CON; n = 31). Appendicular lean mass, handgrip strength, leg strength, physical performance, and circulating metabolic and renal function markers were measured pre-, mid-, and postintervention. Integrated rates of MyoPS were assessed in a subcohort (n = 28). Results Neither LEU-PRO nor LEU-PRO+n–3 supplementation affected appendicular lean mass, handgrip strength, knee extension strength, physical performance or MyoPS. However, isometric knee flexion peak torque (treatment effect: −7.1 Nm; 95% CI: −12.5, −1.8 Nm; P < 0.01) was lower postsupplementation in LEU-PRO+n–3 compared with CON. Serum triacylglycerol and total adiponectin concentrations were lower, and HOMA-IR was higher, in LEU-PRO+n–3 compared with CON postsupplementation (all P < 0.05). Estimated glomerular filtration rate was higher and cystatin c was lower in LEU-PRO and LEU-PRO+n–3 postsupplementation compared with CON (all P < 0.05). Conclusions Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not observe a beneficial effect of LEU-PRO supplementation alone or combined with LC n–3 PUFA supplementation on appendicular lean mass, strength, physical performance or MyoPS in older adults at risk of sarcopenia. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03429491.Horizon 2020 Framework ProgrammeThis work was supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Food Institutional Research Measure grant entitled NUTRIMAL “Novel Nutritional Solutions for the Prevention of Malnutrition” (grant 14F822), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 666010, and a Research Fellowship awarded to CHM by the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN). HMR was supported by funding from the Joint Programming Initiative Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life (JPI HDHL) EU Food Biomarkers Alliance “FOODBAll” with Science Foundation Ireland (14/JPHDHL/B3076)

Leadership in South African higher education : a multifaceted conceptualisation

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Predicting cardiopulmonary response to incremental exercise test

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is a non-invasive method widely used to monitor various physiological signals, describing the cardiac and respiratory response of the patient to increasing workload. Since this method is physically very demanding, innovative data analysis techniques are needed to predict patient response thus lowering body stress and avoiding cardiopulmonary overload. This paper proposes the Cardiopulmonary Response Prediction (CRP) framework for early predicting the physiological signal values that can be reached during an incremental exercise test. The learning phase creates different models tailored to specific conditions (i.e., single test and multiple-test models). Each model can be exploited in the real-time stream prediction phase to periodically predict, during the test execution, signal values achievable by the patient. Experimental results on a real dataset showed that CRP prediction is performed with a limited and acceptable erro

Co-ingestion of protein or a protein hydrolysate with carbohydrate enhances anabolic signaling, but not glycogen resynthesis, following recovery from prolonged aerobic exercise in trained cyclists

Purpose: The effect of carbohydrate (CHO), or CHO supplemented with either sodium caseinate protein (CHO–C) or a sodium caseinate protein hydrolysate (CHO–H) on the recovery of skeletal muscle glycogen and anabolic signaling following prolonged aerobic exercise was determined in trained male cyclists [n = 11, mean ± SEM age 28.8 ± 2.3 years; body mass (BM) 75.0 ± 2.3 kg; VO2peak 61.3 ± 1.6 ml kg−1 min−1]. Methods: On three separate occasions, participants cycled for 2 h at ~ 70% VO2peak followed by a 4-h recovery period. Isoenergetic drinks were consumed at + 0 and + 2 h of recovery containing either (1) CHO (1.2 g kg −1 BM), (2) CHO–C, or (3) CHO–H (1.04 and 0.16 g kg−1 BM, respectively) in a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design. Muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis were taken prior to commencement of each trial, and at + 0 and + 4 h of recovery for determination of skeletal muscle glycogen, and intracellular signaling associated with protein synthesis. Results: Despite an augmented insulin response following CHO–H ingestion, there was no significant difference in skeletal muscle glycogen resynthesis following recovery between trials. CHO–C and CHO–H co-ingestion significantly increased phospho-mTOR Ser2448 and 4EBP1 Thr37/46 versus CHO, with CHO–H displaying the greatest change in phospho-4EBP1 Thr37/46. Protein co-ingestion, compared to CHO alone, during recovery did not augment glycogen resynthesis. Conclusion: Supplementing CHO with intact sodium caseinate or an insulinotropic hydrolysate derivative augmented intracellular signaling associated with skeletal muscle protein synthesis following prolonged aerobic exercise