Are Soccer Players Older Now Than Before? Aging Trends and Market Value in the Last Three Decades of the UEFA Champions League

The aims of the current study were to analyze the evolution of players’ age in the UEFA Champions League since the start of its modern-day format in 1992–1993 up until 2017–2018 and to determine how the players’ age relates to their market value. The sample consisted of all players participating in the UEFA Champions League from the 1992–1993 to 2017–2018 seasons (n = 16062). The following variables were used in this study: players’ age, number of seasons in the club, number of Champions Leagues won, team performance, and market value of the player in the season. Data were examined using a one-way ANOVA and a linear regression. The main finding of the current study is that an aging trend has occurred in the last three decades in the Champions League. A significant increase in average players’ age (>1.6 years) was observed, rising from an age of 24.9 to 26.5 years. Goalkeepers and Center Backs tend to peak later than attackers, and their peak performance can last until an age of about 31 years. Finally, an inverted-U curve defines the association between market value and age, with peak value appearing in the 26–30 age range. These results provide useful information regarding at which age soccer players are likely to perform at the highest level, as well as the age they are likely to have the highest market value

Longitudinal associations between cardiovascular biomarkers and metabolic syndrome during puberty: the PUBMEP study

Puberty has been described as a life stage of considerable metabolic risk specially for those with obesity. The low-grade systemic inflammatory status associated with obesity could be one of the connections with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Thus, we aimed to assess the relationship between inflammatory and cardiovascular biomarkers and the development of MetS during puberty. Seventy-five children from the PUBMEP study (33 females), aged 4–18 years, were included. Cardiovascular and inflammatory biomarkers were measured in the prepubertal and pubertal stage, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), leptin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), interleukin 8 (IL8), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), total plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (tPAI), resistin, adiponectin, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1). MetS was diagnosed at each measurement point. Mixed-effects and logistic regressions were performed. Those children with MetS in puberty presented higher prepubertal values of several cardiometabolic biomarkers in comparison to those without MetS (z-score body mass index (zBMI), waist circumference, insulin, HOMA-IR, leptin, and tPAI (p < 0.05)). For prepubertal children with obesity, the odds of developing MetS in puberty were significantly higher in those having high zBMI (OR = 4.27; CI: 1.39–22.59) or high concentrations of tPAI (OR = 1.19; CI: 1.06–1.43

Association of Diet, Physical Activity Guidelines and Cardiometabolic Risk Markers in Children

The aim was to identify different dietary and physical activity (PA) patterns in 5- to 14-year-old children with a high prevalence of overweight and obesity using cluster analysis based on their adherence to the Spanish Society of Community Nutrition dietary guidelines and levels of PA, and to determine their associations with age, sex, body composition, and cardiometabolic risk markers. In 549 children, hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups with similar adherence to dietary recommendations and level of PA. Three clusters were identified: Cluster 1, with the lowest level of vigorous PA and adherence to dietary recommendations; Cluster 2, with the lowest levels of moderate and vigorous PA and the highest adherence to dietary recommendations; and Cluster 3, with the highest level of PA, especially vigorous PA and a medium level adherence to dietary recommendations. Cluster 3 had lower total body fat and higher lean body mass percentages than Cluster 2. Cluster 2 had lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels than Cluster 1. The results from our study suggest that it is important to consider adherence to PA recommendations together with adherence to dietary guidelines to understand patterns of obesogenic habits in pediatric populations with high prevalence of overweight and obesity.Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (I + D + I), Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Health Research Funding (FONDOS FEDER) (PI05/1968, PI11/01425, PI11/02042, PI11/02059, PI16/01301, PI16/01205 and PI1600871)CIBEROBN Network (CB15/00131, CB15/00043)Plan Propio de la Universidad de Granada with a Sabatical Program 2020–202

Longitudinal associations between cardiovascular biomarkers and metabolic syndrome during puberty: the PUBMEP study

Puberty has been described as a life stage of considerable metabolic risk specially for those with obesity. The low-grade systemic inflammatory status associated with obesity could be one of the connections with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Thus, we aimed to assess the relationship between inflammatory and cardiovascular biomarkers and the development of MetS during puberty. Seventy-five children from the PUBMEP study (33 females), aged 4–18 years, were included. Cardiovascular and inflammatory biomarkers were measured in the prepubertal and pubertal stage, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), leptin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), interleukin 8 (IL8), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), total plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (tPAI), resistin, adiponectin, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1). MetS was diagnosed at each measurement point. Mixed-effects and logistic regressions were performed. Those children with MetS in puberty presented higher prepubertal values of several cardiometabolic biomarkers in comparison to those without MetS (z-score body mass index (zBMI), waist circumference, insulin, HOMA-IR, leptin, and tPAI (p < 0.05)). For prepubertal children with obesity, the odds of developing MetS in puberty were significantly higher in those having high zBMI (OR = 4.27; CI: 1.39–22.59) or high concentrations of tPAI (OR = 1.19; CI: 1.06–1.43)Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by the Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (I + D + I), Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Health Research Funding (FONDOS FEDER) (PI11/01425, PI11/02042, PI11/02059, PI16/01301, PI16/01205, PI16/00871 and PI20/00563); CIBEROBN Network (CB15/00131, CB15/00043); and Redes temáticas de investigación cooperativa RETIC (Red SAMID RD12/0026/0015)S

Longitudinal associations between cardiovascular biomarkers and metabolic syndrome during puberty: the PUBMEP study

Puberty has been described as a life stage of considerable metabolic risk specially for those with obesity. The low-grade systemic inflammatory status associated with obesity could be one of the connections with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Thus, we aimed to assess the relationship between inflammatory and cardiovascular biomarkers and the development of MetS during puberty. Seventy-five children from the PUBMEP study (33 females), aged 4–18 years, were included. Cardiovascular and inflammatory biomarkers were measured in the prepubertal and pubertal stage, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), leptin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), interleukin 8 (IL8), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), total plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (tPAI), resistin, adiponectin, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1). MetS was diagnosed at each measurement point. Mixed-effects and logistic regressions were performed. Those children with MetS in puberty presented higher prepubertal values of several cardiometabolic biomarkers in comparison to those without MetS (z-score body mass index (zBMI), waist circumference, insulin, HOMA-IR, leptin, and tPAI (p < 0.05)). For prepubertal children with obesity, the odds of developing MetS in puberty were significantly higher in those having high zBMI (OR = 4.27; CI: 1.39–22.59) or high concentrations of tPAI (OR = 1.19; CI: 1.06–1.43)Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by the Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (I + D + I), Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Health Research Funding (FONDOS FEDER) (PI11/01425, PI11/02042, PI11/02059, PI16/01301, PI16/01205, PI16/00871 and PI20/00563); CIBEROBN Network (CB15/00131, CB15/00043); and Redes temáticas de investigación cooperativa RETIC (Red SAMID RD12/0026/0015)S

"Almas alla vägar" : En UTAUT-analys av Bibliotekssystemet på Umeå Universitetsbibliotek

Library management systems (LMS) are a big part of the workday for most librarians. Everything from acquisitions, managing e-resources and circulation work is done through these kinds of systems. Umeå university library implemented a new LMS called Alma back in 2018. They moved from a local system to a more complex and advanced cloud-based system. This study has examined how the system has been received through the lens of the Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). A survey containing 23 Likert items were answered by librarians at Umeå university’s libraries. The items were grouped under four overhead categories collected from UTAUT: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions. Afterwards an analysis was made that examined whether age, gender, experience with the system and most used task in Alma had any influence over certain categories. The study shows that age and gender did not influence performance expectancy, but the most common task did with circulation work as an outlier with more negative scoring. Gender did not influence effort expectancy either, but age did where younger people tended to score lower and the age group 42–49 handing out higher scores. The most used task also influenced this factor but experience with the system did not influence the factor in a major way. Facilitating conditions was influenced by age where the age group in the middle once again scored much higher than the youngest group. Experience with Alma also influenced this factor in the sense that less experienced workers scored lower. Most used task in Alma followed the same pattern as the other factors with circulation tasks scoring lower and administration tasks scoring higher. Social influence did not pass the Cronbach’s alpha that was set at 0.7 and showed overall internal low correlation, therefore it was not included in the analysis

Statistik som talangidentifikationsverktyg i basket : En retrospektiv studie av deltagare i de europeiska ungdomsmästerskapen

Syfte och frågeställningar Studiens syfte är att undersöka om matchstatistik och/eller deltagande i europeiska ungdomsmästerskap kan användas för att identifiera talanger inom landslagsverksamheten vid olika åldrar och i olika åldersklasser. Utifrån detta antas frågeställningarna: (1) Är det viktigt att delta i europeiska ungdomsmästerskap vid viss ålder eller i specifika åldersklasser för att nå seniorlandslag? (2) Är det viktigt att delta i många europeiska ungdomsmästerskap, spela många matcher eller vinna många matcher för att nå seniorlandslag? (3) Är det viktigt att prestera väl inom vissa matchstatistiska variabler vid europeiska ungdomsmästerskap – totalt eller vid viss ålder – för att nå seniorlandslag?   Metod Studien hade en kvantitativ ansats. Urvalet bestod av manliga basketspelare födda 1988-1992 som deltagit i europeiska ungdomsmästerskap (n = 2872). Spelarna placerades i kategorierna senior (nått seniorlandslag innan eller vid 23 års ålder) och icke-senior (ej nått seniorlandslag innan 23 års ålder). Datainsamlingen skedde genom inhämtning och sammanställning av officiell matchstatistik från internationella basketbollförbundet (FIBA). Jämförande analys mellan grupperna senior och icke-senior gjordes med hjälp av Chi2-test och oberoende Mann-Whitney U-test.   Resultat Studien visar att antal mästerskap och antal spelade matcher är variabler som skiljer grupperna från varandra. Dessutom visar resultaten att spelare som deltar som underårig i en åldersklass i större utsträckning når seniorlandslag. Dock antyder resultaten att det inte är viktigt att vinna, då varken vinstprocent eller matcher vunna under ett mästerskap skilde grupperna åt. Gruppen senior hade signifikant högre värden inom alla matchstatistiska variabler förutom fouls per minut, där gruppen icke-senior hade ett signifikant högre värde.   Slutsats Studien visar på att matchstatistik och statistik kring deltagande i bör kunna användas som talangidentifikationsverktyg då flera variabler skiljer de som når seniorlandslag från de som inte gör det. Dock behövs ytterligare forskning – framförallt kring de matchstatistiska variablerna – för att kunna utveckla mer precisa modeller som kan omsättas i praktiken