THE EFFECTS OF RESISTANCE TRAINING AND PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTATION IN TRANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT PATIENTS

Christopher Schattinger1, Mia Newlin-Bradner1, Michael J. Ormsbee, FACSM1, Morgan Pleasants1, Jenna Rodgers1, Michael Lauber1, Ginny Smith2, Shelby Vidor2, Catie Yarborough2, Pablo Rengifo-Moreno2, Thomas Noel2, Lynn B. Panton, FACSM1. 1Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL. 2Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Tallahassee, FL. BACKGROUND: Many transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) patients develop low muscle mass which increases mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a combination of resistance training with protein supplementation (RT+PRO) or protein supplementation alone (PRO) on muscle mass, strength, and quality of life (QoL) in TAVR patients. METHODS: Twenty-two TAVR patients (75.7±6.5 years) were stratified by gender and arm curl performance into one of two groups: digitally supervised home-based RT and protein supplementation (RT+PRO; n=11) or protein supplementation only (PRO; n=11) for 12 wks. Participants in RT completed a whole-body RT program 2x/wk of 12-15 repetitions for 1 to 3 sets and both groups consumed 75g of whey protein/day. Participants were tested pre and post intervention on anthropometrics, body composition via hand-foot bioelectrical impedance analysis, muscular strength via handgrip dynamometer, push-pull leg dynamometer, 30-second chair stands, 30-second arm curls, and subjective QoL. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze data. Significance was accepted at p\u3c0.05. RESULTS: All participants in RT+PRO completed all RT sessions; adherence to protein consumption over 12 weeks for both groups averaged ~93%. Participants in RT+PRO experienced a significantly greater improvement in 30-second chair stand repetitions (RT+PRO Pre: 11±3, Post: 13±3; PRO Pre: 12±2, Post: 12±3 reps;), time to complete 5 sit-to-stands from a chair (RT+PRO Pre: 12.3±3.8, Post: 9.6±2.7; PRO Pre: 11.2±2.4, Post: 10.9±2.9 secs), and QoL score (RT+PRO Pre: 63.7±12.9, Post: 74.0±14.6; PRO Pre: 69.7±13.6, Post: 69.2±16.1 units), compared to non-exercise PRO group. There were no changes in body composition measures for either group. CONCLUSION: Although RT+PRO did not improve muscle mass, the digitally supervised home-based RT+PRO significantly improved measures of strength and QoL in TAVR patients over 12 weeks compared to a non-exercising PRO group. The convenient nature of home-based RT should be pursued as a method for cardiac rehabilitation to increase both patient participation and benefits from exercise if TAVR patients are faced with barriers such as transportation and lack of reimbursement from insurance companies. Product for this study was donated from Dymatize Nutrition

Investigating the epistemic nature of STEM: analysis of science curriculum documents from the USA using the family resemblance approach

Although STEM education has been prevalent in curriculum policy and research literature, the precise epistemic nature of STEM and how it applies in education are relatively understudied. In this chapter, we use the framework of the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) as a basis for highlighting the epistemic similarities and differences between the constituent STEM disciplines as represented in two US science curriculum documents. FRA allows for understanding constituent disciplines of STEM as members of a “family” that share particular features but also highlights domain specificity where particular knowledge and practices are specific to the respective disciplines. Our aim is to explore the affordances of FRA in clarifying the epistemic nature of STEM and in contributing to curriculum analysis. To do this, we present an analysis of the US Science for All Americans and the Next Generation Science Standards to examine their coverage of epistemic underpinnings of STEM disciplines and discuss implications for curriculum policy