Competition and food restriction effects on oxidative stress in judo

International audienceWe examined the effects of weight loss induced by restricting energy and fluid intake on antioxidant status and oxidative stress of judo athletes. Twenty male judoka were randomly assigned to one of two groups (Group A: called diet, n = 10; height 174.8 +/- 1.9 cm, body weight 75.9 +/- 3.1 kg; they were asked to lose similar to 5% of their body weight through self-determined means during the week before the competition; Group 13: called control, n = 10; height 176.4 +/- 1.1 cm, body weight 73.3 +/- 6.3 kg maintained their body weight during the week before the competition). A battery of tests was performed during a baseline period (T-1) on the morning of a simulated competition (T-2) and 10 minutes after the end of the competition (T-3). These tests included assessment for body composition, determination of lag phase (Lp) before free radical induced oxidation, maximum rate of oxidation (R-max) during the propagating chain reaction and maximum amount of conjugated dienes (CDmax) accumulated after the propagation phase, and lipidic profile. Uric acid concentrations were also evaluated in plasma. Dietary data were collected using a 7-day diet record. We noted that the athletes followed a low carbohydrate diet whatever the period of the investigation. Concerning antioxidant nutrients, we can notice that mean nutritional intakes are in the normal range values for vitamin A, C and E at T-1 and T-2. Rapid weight loss induced a significant increase in Lp values (p < 0.05) and uric acid concentrations without alterations in oxidative stress. Our data also showed that the competition induced the same changes of oxidative-antioxidant status whatever the dietary intake during the seven days before the competition. Moreover, the effect of the competition on the antioxidant and oxidant parameters was more pronounced than the diet. Theses results could be linked to the food containing a large proportion of PUFA and a relative low proportion of carbohydrates

Antioxidant status and oxidative stress in professional rugby players: Evolution throughout a season

International audiencePhysical training is known to increase the antioxidant defence system and reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress. However, intense physical aerobic and anaerobic training and competition such as those imposed on professional rugby players, can induce an increase of oxidative stress which can be implicated with the arrival of overtraining. The aim of this study was to test the effect of training and competition load on oxidative stress, antioxidant status, haematological, and cell damage markers in high-level rugby players during a competitive season. Blood samples were collected four times in one year. Oxidative stress (R-max), antioxidant (vitamin E, uric acid, TAC, and lag phase), haematological (neutrophils and monocytes) and biochemical (CK and myoglobin) parameters, as well as training and competition load, and competition results were measured. Intense periods of training and competition (T1 and T4) induced a significant higher maximum rate of conjugated dienes oxidation (+67.2% in T1 and +40.6% in T4) compared to those observed at the reference time (T3). Those periods also induced an increase in uric acid (+ 6.9% and 3.2%), and inflammatory markers such as monocytes (+ 13.3 % and 10.7%). On the other hand, vitamin E (- 8.7% in T1) and lag phase (- 23.0% and - 14.7%) were lower during these periods showing a possible training-induced antioxidant down-regulation. The less intense period of training (T2) was accompanied by lower neutrophils (- 8.5%), CK (- 53.7%), and myoglobin (-16.2%) values. The results suggest that oxidative stress and antioxidant measurement are significant in the biological follow-up of athletes

Experimental insight for flood flow repartition in urban areas

Modeling floods in urban areas remains a challenge. To understand flow patterns in urban geometries better and constrain models, an experimental rig representing a 1/200 scale urban geometry with various street widths and angles is presented. Measurements of hydraulic variables for flow conditions ranging from moderate to extreme flooding were performed. Over this range, accurate inflow and outflow boundary condition measurements allow the geometry effect on inlet–outlet discharge conservation to be studied for each street. Froude numbers are found to be independent of the total flowrate. Interestingly, the flow distribution among all streets remains comparable over the range of boundary conditions. Moreover, three behaviors have been identified depending on street response as a function of the evolution of the upstream discharge distribution. Future measurements with high spatiotemporal sampling would allow possible coupling of flow features and energy dissipation to be studied at various scales and other flow configurations and district geometries to be characterized