Anthropometric Profile Assessed by Bioimpedance and Anthropometry Measures of Male and Female Rugby Players Competing in the Spanish National League

Different rugby positions make different demands on players. It therefore follows that optimum body composition may vary according to the position played. Using anthropometry and bioimpedance analysis (BIA) to assess body composition, the present study aimed to compare the effect of sex and position on body composition variables using anthropometry and BIA methods. A total of 100 competitive rugby players (35 women and 65 men) competing in the First Spanish National League were recruited voluntarily and for convenience for this study. In the laboratory, body composition was assessed by anthropometry, following the recommendations established by the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK), and by direct segmental multi-frequency BIA, following the guidelines established by the Spanish Group of Kinanthropometry (GREC) of the Spanish Federation of Sports Medicine (FEMEDE). We found sex-related differences in height, weight, body mass index and body fat (%) by anthropometry and in body lean mass (%) by DSM-BIA, in 4 of the 6 skinfolds assessed (p < 0.05). We also observed position-related differences in all the variables assessed (p < 0.05) except for lean body mass, as measured by both methods of determining body composition, and front thigh skinfold. Body composition and ∑6skinfolds differs according to sex and playing position, backs (16.6 ± 3.8% and 92.3 ± 33.9 mm,) vs. forwards (20.0 ± 6.7 and 115.3 ± 37.6 mm), and the muscle-adipose (meso-endomorphic somatotype) development predominated in both sexes. Thus, forwards of both sexes are taller, heavier and fatter, possibly due to the specific demands of this position. In addition, body composition measurements vary according to the method used (DSM-BIA vs. anthropometry), indicating that anthropometry is probably the best body composition assessment method

CONSECUENCIAS PSICOLÓGICAS DE LOS ATENTADOS TERRORISTAS DEL 11-M EN MADRID. PLANTEAMIENTO GENERAL DE LOS ESTUDIOS Y RESULTADOS EN LA POBLACIÓN GENERAL

On the morning of March 11 of 2004, Madrid city suffered the most violent terrorist attack occurred in the modern European history. Ten bombs exploded in four commuter trains at morning rush hour, when many people went to Madrid down-town, resulted in 191 deaths and 1800 persons in-jured. After terrorist attacks, we started out three longitudinal studies with the aim of assessing the psychological impact of this event in the Madrid city population, and focused on: (1) general population, (2) victims and relatives, and (3) emergency person-nel and rescue workers. Among other variables, it is explored the onset and evolution of different psycho-logical pathologies such as panic attack, PTSD, and depression. In this study a representative sample of Madrid city residents of 1,589 subjects (1,265 resi-dents of the 21 Madrid city districts plus an over-sampling of 324 residents in the affected areas) is addressed. Research design and telephone interview used in this study are similar to those employed by Galea et al. (2002) in the study of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in NYC. Among psycho-pathological prevalence rates, there are remarkable data regarding the 10,9% of panic attack, the 8% of major depression, and the 4% of PTSD after March 11, and the 2,3% of PTSD directed attributable to terrorist attacks.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40311/2/Miguel-Tobal_Consecuencias Psicologicas De Los Atentados_2004.pd

Anthropometry and strength, its influence on the sit and reach test

Analyzes the influence of kinanthropometric and dynamometric variables on the Sit and Reach test in amateur athletes. We used twenty anthropometric variables, four dynamometry tests, the Sit and Reach test and the amount of physical activity practiced. Significant differences were found between men and women in terms of flexibility levels. The prediction equations were differed according to gender (30.6% men and 32.5% women), height being an influential factor in women. The general prediction equation calculated, the level is 39.1% (moderate). Men and women show significant differences in all anthropometric variables except subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds. What other factors influence the kind of results that can be expected? The results of the flexibility test are not influenced by the anthropometric and dynamometric variables, or by the type of physical activity performed. The strength index does not correlate with the Sit and Reach test value.Se analiza la influencia que tienen las variables cineantropométricas y dinamométricas sobre el test Sit and Reach en deportistas amateur. Se tomaron veinte variables antropométricas, cuatro pruebas de dinamometría, el test Sit and Reach y la actividad física realizada. Encontramos diferencias significativas en los valores de flexibilidad entre hombres y mujeres. Las ecuaciones de predicción fueron diferentes en hombres y en mujeres (30.6% y 32.5%), en las mujeres apareció la talla como factor influyente. La ecuación general de predicción calculada se obtiene un 39,1% (moderada). Hombres y mujeres se diferencian significativamente en todas las variables antropométricas excepto en pliegue subescapular y suprailiaco. ¿Qué otros factores influirían sobre una posible predicción del resultado? Los valores de flexibilidad no se consideran influenciados por las variables antropométricas, dinamométricas y la tipología de actividad física realizada. El índice de fuerza no correlaciona con el valor del test Sit and Reac

PTSD and Depression After the Madrid March 11 Train Bombings

The March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid, Spain, caused the largest loss of life from a single terrorist attack in modern European history.We used a cross-sectional random digit dial survey ofMadrid residents to assess the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression in the general population of Madrid 1 to 3 months after the March 11 train bombings. Of respondents 2.3% reported symptoms consistent with PTSD related to the March 11 bombings and 8.0% of respondents reported symptoms consistent with major depression. The prevalence of PTSD was substantially lower, but the prevalence of depression was comparable to estimates reported after the September 11 attacks in Manhattan. The findings suggest that across cities, the magnitude of a terrorist attack may be the primary determinant of the prevalence of PTSD in the general population, but other factors may be responsible for determining the population prevalence of depression.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40310/2/Miguel-Tobal_PTSD and Depression After the Madrid_2006.pd

Psycho-pathological impact of Madrid 3/11 terrorist attacks

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40309/2/Miguel-Tobal_Repercusiones Psicopatologicas de los Atentados_2004.pd

The effect of dietary nitrate supplementation on isokinetic torque in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Dietary nitrate (NO ) supplementation, which can enhance performance in exercise settings involving repeated high-intensity efforts, has been linked to improved skeletal muscle contractile function. Although muscular strength is an important component of explosive movements and sport-specific skills, few studies have quantified indices of muscular strength following NO − supplementation, particularly isokinetic assessments at different angular velocities. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine whether dietary NO supplementation improves peak torque, as assessed by the gold standard method of isokinetic dynamometry, and if this effect was linked to the angular velocity imposed during the assessment. Dialnet, Directory of Open Access Journals, MEDLINE, PubMed, SciELO, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus were searched for articles using the following search strategy: (nitrate OR beet*) AND (supplement* OR nutr* OR diet*) AND (isokinetic OR strength OR “resistance exercise” OR “resistance training” OR “muscular power”). The meta-analysis of data from 5 studies with 60 participants revealed an overall effect size of −0.01 for the effect of nitrate supplementation on isokinetic peak torque, whereas trivial effect sizes ranging from −0.11 to 0.16 were observed for independent velocity-specific (90 /s, 180 /s, 270 /s, and 360 /s) isokinetic peak torque. Four of the five studies indicated that dietary NO supplementation is not likely to influence voluntary knee extensor isokinetic torque across a variety of angular velocities. These results suggest that NO supplementation does not influence isokinetic peak torque, but further work is required to elucidate the potential of NO supplementation to influence other indices of muscular strength, given the dearth of experimental evidence on this topic. 3 3 3 3 3 3 − − ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ − −

Automated Multiclass Classification of Spontaneous EEG Activity in Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

The discrimination of early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and its prodromal form (i.e., mild cognitive impairment, MCI) from cognitively healthy control (HC) subjects is crucial since the treatment is more effective in the first stages of the dementia. The aim of our study is to evaluate the usefulness of a methodology based on electroencephalography (EEG) to detect AD and MCI. EEG rhythms were recorded from 37 AD patients, 37 MCI subjects and 37 HC subjects. Artifact-free trials were analyzed by means of several spectral and nonlinear features: relative power in the conventional frequency bands, median frequency, individual alpha frequency, spectral entropy, Lempel–Ziv complexity, central tendency measure, sample entropy, fuzzy entropy, and auto-mutual information. Relevance and redundancy analyses were also conducted through the fast correlation-based filter (FCBF) to derive an optimal set of them. The selected features were used to train three different models aimed at classifying the trials: linear discriminant analysis (LDA), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) and multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network (MLP). Afterwards, each subject was automatically allocated in a particular group by applying a trial-based majority vote procedure. After feature extraction, the FCBF method selected the optimal set of features: individual alpha frequency, relative power at delta frequency band, and sample entropy. Using the aforementioned set of features, MLP showed the highest diagnostic performance in determining whether a subject is not healthy (sensitivity of 82.35% and positive predictive value of 84.85% for HC vs. all classification task) and whether a subject does not suffer from AD (specificity of 79.41% and negative predictive value of 84.38% for AD vs. all comparison). Our findings suggest that our methodology can help physicians to discriminate AD, MCI and HC