Sprint training reduces urinary purine loss following intense exercise in humans

The influence of sprint training on endogenous urinary purine loss was examined in seven active male subjects (age: 23.1 ± 1.8 years, weight: 76.1 ± 3.1 kg, VO2peak: 56.3 ± 4.0 ml.kg-1.min-1). Each subject performed a 30s sprint performance test (PT), before and after 7 days of sprint training. Training consisted of fifteen 10s sprints on an air-braked cycle ergometer performed twice per day. A rest period of 50s separated each sprint during training. Sprint training resulted in a 20% higher muscle ATP immediately after PT, a lower IMP (57% and 89%, immediately following and after 10 min recovery from PT, respectively), and inosine accumulation (53% and 56%, immediately following and 10 min after the PT, respectively). Sprint training also attenuated the exercise-induced increases in plasma inosine, hypoxanthine (Hx) and uric acid during the first 120 min of recovery and reduced the total urinary excretion of purines (inosine + Hx + uric acid) in the 24 hours recovery following intense exercise. These results show that intermittent sprint training reduces the total urinary purine excretion after a 30s sprint bout

Um aroma no ar: a ecologia histórica das plantas anti-fantasma entre os Guajá da Amazônia

Entre as plantas medicinais dos Guajá da Amazônia oriental incluem-se várias usadas para repelir os fantasmas dos mortos. Esse artigo discute as plantas repelentes de fantasmas aiyã, em termos de seu significado simbólico, eficácia biológica, e contexto histórico-ecológico. Plantas repelentes de fantasmas são identificadas por seu odor pungente, que age sobre o odor fétido - causador de doenças - dos fantasmas dos mortos. A eficácia da cura pode também relacionar-se a sua interferência com o chamado "fenômeno proustiano", que se refere ao poder dos estímulos olfativos de evocar memórias do passado. Como tais, repelentes de fantasmas podem funcionar, em certo sentido, para afastar memórias e lidar com a dor da perda. Por fim, discutem-se evidências de que a predominância de repelentes de fantasmas entre as plantas medicinais dos Guajá é um efeito da baixa populacional maciça subseqüente ao contato europeu.<br>The medicinal plants of the Guajá people of eastern Amazonia include a number of plants that are used to repel the ghosts of the dead. This work discusses the aiyã ghost repellent plants in terms of their symbolic meaning, biological efficacy, and historical ecological context. Ghost repellent plants are identified through their pungent smell, which counteract the disease-causing foul smell of the ghosts of the dead. The efficacy of the cure may also relate to its interference with the so-called "Proustian phenomenon," which refers to the power of olfactory stimuli to evoke memories of the past. As such, ghost repellent plants may function, in a sense, to repel memory and cope with grief. Finally, evidence is discussed the predominance of ghost repellent plants among the Guajá is an artifact of massive depopulation in the wake of European contact