Alterations of Neuromuscular Function after the World's Most Challenging Mountain Ultra-Marathon.

We investigated the physiological consequences of the most challenging mountain ultra-marathon (MUM) in the world: a 330-km trail run with 24000 m of positive and negative elevation change. Neuromuscular fatigue (NMF) was assessed before (Pre-), during (Mid-) and after (Post-) the MUM in experienced ultra-marathon runners (n = 15; finish time  = 122.43 hours ±17.21 hours) and in Pre- and Post- in a control group with a similar level of sleep deprivation (n = 8). Blood markers of muscle inflammation and damage were analyzed at Pre- and Post-. Mean ± SD maximal voluntary contraction force declined significantly at Mid- (-13±17% and -10±16%, P<0.05 for knee extensor, KE, and plantar flexor muscles, PF, respectively), and further decreased at Post- (-24±13% and -26±19%, P<0.01) with alteration of the central activation ratio (-24±24% and -28±34% between Pre- and Post-, P<0.05) in runners whereas these parameters did not change in the control group. Peripheral NMF markers such as 100 Hz doublet (KE: -18±18% and PF: -20±15%, P<0.01) and peak twitch (KE: -33±12%, P<0.001 and PF: -19±14%, P<0.01) were also altered in runners but not in controls. Post-MUM blood concentrations of creatine kinase (3719±3045 Ul·(1)), lactate dehydrogenase (1145±511 UI·L(-1)), C-Reactive Protein (13.1±7.5 mg·L(-1)) and myoglobin (449.3±338.2 µg·L(-1)) were higher (P<0.001) than at Pre- in runners but not in controls. Our findings revealed less neuromuscular fatigue, muscle damage and inflammation than in shorter MUMs. In conclusion, paradoxically, such extreme exercise seems to induce a relative muscle preservation process due likely to a protective anticipatory pacing strategy during the first half of MUM and sleep deprivation in the second half

Spin-Peierls transition with strong structural fluctuations in the vanadium oxide VOSb2_{2}O4_{4}

We report on the magnetic susceptibility and electron spin resonance measurements on polycrystalline samples of the vanadium oxide VOSb$_{2}$O$_{4}$, a quasi-one dimensional S=1/2 Heisenberg system. We show that the susceptibility vanishes at zero temperature, as in a gapped system, and we argue that this is due to a spin-Peierls transition with strong structural fluctuations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

High Altitude Increases Alteration in Maximal Torque but Not in Rapid Torque Development in Knee Extensors after Repeated Treadmill Sprinting.

We assessed knee extensor neuromuscular adjustments following repeated treadmill sprints in different normobaric hypoxia conditions, with special reference to rapid muscle torque production capacity. Thirteen team- and racquet-sport athletes undertook 8 × 5-s "all-out" sprints (passive recovery = 25 s) on a non-motorized treadmill in normoxia (NM; FiO2 = 20.9%), at low (LA; FiO2 = 16.8%) and high (HA; FiO2 = 13.3%) normobaric hypoxia (simulated altitudes of ~1800 m and ~3600 m, respectively). Explosive (~1 s; "fast" instruction) and maximal (~5 s; "hard" instruction) voluntary isometric contractions (MVC) of the knee extensors (KE), with concurrent electromyographic (EMG) activity recordings of the vastus lateralis (VL) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles, were performed before and 1-min post-exercise. Rate of torque development (RTD) and EMG (i.e., Root Mean Square or RMS) rise from 0 to 30, -50, -100, and -200 ms were recorded, and were also normalized to maximal torque and EMG values, respectively. Distance covered during the first 5-s sprint was similar (P > 0.05) in all conditions. A larger (P < 0.05) sprint decrement score and a shorter (P < 0.05) cumulated distance covered over the eight sprints occurred in HA (-8 ± 4% and 178 ± 11 m) but not in LA (-7 ± 3% and 181 ± 10 m) compared to NM (-5 ± 2% and 183 ± 9 m). Compared to NM (-9 ± 7%), a larger (P < 0.05) reduction in MVC torque occurred post-exercise in HA (-14 ± 9%) but not in LA (-12 ± 7%), with no difference between NM and LA (P > 0.05). Irrespectively of condition (P > 0.05), peak RTD (-6 ± 11%; P < 0.05), and normalized peak RMS activity for VL (-8 ± 11%; P = 0.07) and RF (-14 ± 11%; P < 0.01) muscles were reduced post-exercise, whereas reductions (P < 0.05) in absolute RTD occurred within the 0-100 (-8 ± 9%) and 0-200 ms (-10 ± 8%) epochs after contraction onset. After normalization to MVC torque, there was no difference in RTD values. Additionally, the EMG rise for VL muscle was similar (P > 0.05), whereas it increased (P < 0.05) for RF muscle during all epochs post-exercise, independently of the conditions. In summary, alteration in repeated-sprint ability and post-exercise MVC decrease were greater at high altitude than in normoxia or at low altitude. However, the post-exercise alterations in RTD were similar between normoxia and low-to-high hypoxia

Can analysis of performance and neuromuscular recoveries from repeated sprints shed more light on its fatigue-causing mechanisms?

International audienc

Ground state of the Kagome-like S=1/2 antiferromagnet, Volborthite Cu3V2O7(OH)2.2H2O

Volborthite compound is one of the very few realizations of S=1/2 quantum spins on a highly frustrated kagome-like lattice. Low-T SQUID measurements reveal a broad magnetic transition below 2K which is further confirmed by a peak in the 51V nuclear spin relaxation rate (1/T1) at 1.4K$\pm$0.2K. Through 51V NMR, the ground state (GS) appears to be a mixture of different spin configurations, among which 20% correspond to a well defined short range order, possibly of the $\sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3}$ type. While the freezing involve all the Cu$^{2+}$ spins, only 40% of the copper moment is actually frozen which suggests that quantum fluctuations strongly renormalize the GS.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in PR

Oxygen Uptake Kinetics Is Slower in Swimming Than Arm Cranking and Cycling during Heavy Intensity.

Oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]) kinetics has been reported to be influenced by the activity mode. However, only few studies have compared [Formula: see text]O2 kinetics between activities in the same subjects in which they were equally trained. Therefore, this study compared the [Formula: see text]O2 kinetics response to swimming, arm cranking, and cycling within the same group of subjects within the heavy exercise intensity domain. Ten trained male triathletes (age 23.2 ± 4.5 years; height 180.8 ± 8.3 cm; weight 72.3 ± 6.6 kg) completed an incremental test to exhaustion and a 6-min heavy constant-load test in the three exercise modes in random order. Gas exchange was measured by a breath-by-breath analyzer and the on-transient [Formula: see text]O2 kinetics was modeled using bi-exponential functions. [Formula: see text]O2peak was higher in cycling (65.6 ± 4.0 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) than in arm cranking or swimming (48.7 ± 8.0 and 53.0 ± 6.7 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1); P < 0.01), but the [Formula: see text]O2 kinetics were slower in swimming (τ1 = 31.7 ± 6.2 s) than in arm cranking (19.3 ± 4.2 s; P = 0.001) and cycling (12.4 ± 3.7 s; P = 0.001). The amplitude of the primary component was lower in both arm cranking and swimming (21.9 ± 4.7 and 28.4 ± 5.1 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) compared with cycling (39.4 ± 4.1 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1); P = 0.001). Although the gain of the primary component was higher in arm cranking compared with cycling (15.3 ± 4.2 and 10.7 ± 1.3 ml·min(-1)·W(-1); P = 0.02), the slow component amplitude, in both absolute and relative terms, did not differ between exercise modes. The slower [Formula: see text]O2 kinetics during heavy-intensity swimming is exercise-mode dependent. Besides differences in muscle mass and greater type II muscle fibers recruitment, the horizontal position adopted and the involvement of trunk and lower-body stabilizing muscles could be additional mechanisms that explain the differences between exercise modalities

Coordination pattern adaptability: energy cost of degenerate behaviors.

This study investigated behavioral adaptability, which could be defined as a blend between stability and flexibility of the limbs movement and their inter-limb coordination, when individuals received informational constraints. Seven expert breaststroke swimmers performed three 200-m in breaststroke at constant submaximal intensity. Each trial was performed randomly in a different coordination pattern: 'freely-chosen', 'maximal glide' and 'minimal glide'. Two underwater and four aerial cameras enabled 3D movement analysis in order to assess elbow and knee angles, elbow-knee pair coordination, intra-cyclic velocity variations of the center of mass, stroke rate and stroke length and inter-limb coordination. The energy cost of locomotion was calculated from gas exchanges and blood lactate concentration. The results showed significantly higher glide, intra-cyclic velocity variations and energy cost under 'maximal glide' compared to 'freely-chosen' instructional conditions, as well as higher reorganization of limb movement and inter-limb coordination (p<0.05). In the 'minimal glide' condition, the swimmers did not show significantly shorter glide and lower energy cost, but they exhibited significantly lower deceleration of the center of mass, as well as modified limb movement and inter-limb coordination (p<0.05). These results highlight that a variety of structural adaptations can functionally satisfy the task-goal

Unusual magnetic properties of the low-dimensional quantum magnet Na2V3O7

We report the results of low-temperature measurements of the specific heat Cp(T), ac susceptibility chi(T) and 23Na nuclear magnetic resonance NMR of Na2V3O7. At liquid He temperatures Cp(T)/T exhibits broad field-dependent maxima, which shift to higher temperatures upon increasing the applied magnetic field H. Below 1.5 K the ac magnetic susceptibility chi(T) follows a Curie-Weiss law and exhibits a cusp at 0.086 mK which indicates a phase transition at very low temperatures. These results support the previous conjecture that Na2V3O7 is close to a quantum critical point (QCP) at mu_{0}H = 0 T. The entire data set, including results of measurements of the NMR spin-lattice relaxation 1/T1(T), reveals a complex magnetic behavior at low temperatures. We argue that it is due to a distribution of singlet-triplet energy gaps of dimerized V moments. The dimerization process evolves over a rather broad temperature range around and below 100 K. At the lowest temperatures the magnetic properties are dominated by the response of only a minor fraction of the V moments.Comment: 10.5 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.