Impact of short-term water exercise programs on weight, body composition, metabolic profile and quality of life of obese women

Physical exercises performed in water, such as water aerobics, have a minimal impact on the joints and are frequently indicated to help obese individuals to lose weight. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of two water programs (continuous vs intermittent) on the body composition, resting energy expenditure (REE), metabolic profile, and quality of life of obese women without nutritional intervention. Twenty-seven sedentary female volunteers (mean age and BMI of 42.8±7.4 years and 36.1±6.3kg.m-2, respectively) were selected and allocated randomly into two groups: continuous water exercise (CON) and intermittent water exercise (INT). Both programs lasted two months with 3 weekly sessions of 60 minutes each. The following evaluations were performed before and after the intervention: anthropometry (weight and body circumferences), body composition (fat mass and fat-free mass), metabolic profile (glycemia and lipid profile), REE (indirect calorimetry), and quality of life (SF-36 Questionnaire).Comparisons between groups and times (initial and final) were performed using the nonparametric Wilcoxon test. The groups did not differ in any of the variables analyzed at the initial time (Ti) and at the final time (Tf). Comparison of Ti vs f revealed significant reductions of weight (-0.6 kg), BMI(-0.3 kg.m-2), fat mass (-0.6 kg), arm circumference (-1.8cm) and hip circumference (-4.0cm) for CON group and significant reductions of only fat mass (-0.6kg)and arm circumference (-2.0cm) for INT group. Regarding quality of life, improvement in social and vitality aspects was observed in CON group and improvement in vitality and health status in INT group. Short-term water exercise programs not associated with nutritional monitoring have a modest impact on the weight, body composition and metabolic profile of obese women, with better results for programs with continuous characteristics. However, the improvement of quality of life aspects should not be overlooked

Innovative integration: optimizing performance through warm-up and photobiomodulation in high-intensity test

We investigated whether the application of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) immediately after a standardized warm-up (WU + PBMT) or traditional PBMT (no pre-warming) would influence performance in intermittent testing and intensity variables. In a counterbalanced randomized crossover design, twelve female futsal players (mean age: 23.9 ± 3.8 years) attended four sessions. Each session involved either a standardized warm-up or maintaining seated rest for five minutes. Subsequently, PBMT or placebo (with the PBMT device turned off) was applied, followed by the YoYo Intermittent Recovery Level 1 test (YYIR1) during which we assessed heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, and blood lactate levels. The performance in YYIIR1 was superior (p = 0.02) in the WU + PBMT condition (440.0 ± 59.0 m) compared to the WU + Placebo (353.3 ± 94.7 m), and placebo alone (no warm-up) (325.0 ± 67.2 m). We conclude that a combination of a specific warm-up before PBMT application improves high-intensity intermittent performance in amateur female futsal players without affecting intensity variables

Acute ischemic preconditioning does not influence high-intensity intermittent exercise performance

This study evaluated the acute effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on a high-intensity intermittent exercise performance and physiological indicators in amateur soccer players. Thirteen players (21.5 ± 2 yrs) attended three trials separated by 3–5 days in a counterbalanced randomized cross-over design: IPC (4 × 5-min occlusion 220 mmHg/reperfusion 0 mmHg) in each thigh; SHAM (similar to the IPC protocol but “occlusion” at 20 mmHg) and control (seated during the same time of IPC). After 6-min of each trial (IPC, SHAM or control), the players performed the YoYo Intermittent Endurance Test level 2 (YoYoIE2). The distance covered in the YoYoIE2 (IPC 867 ± 205 m; SHAM 873 ± 212 m; control 921 ± 206 m) was not different among trials (p = 0.10), furthermore, lactate concentration and rate of perceived exertion did not differ (P > 0.05) among protocols. There were also no significant differences in either mean heart rate (HR) or peak HR (p > 0.05) for both IPC and SHAM compared to control. Therefore, we conclude that acute IPC does not influence high-intensity intermittent exercise performance in amateur soccer players and that rate of perceived exertion, heart rate and lactate do not differ between the intervention IPC, SHAM and control

Collaborative virtual community to share class plans for STEAM education

This research presents an international community of practice for teachers using the VISIR remote lab. Throughout the research, it was necessary to study about communities of practice and their potential use in remote laboratories; identify practices with collaborative potential in the institutions and with the participating teachers; develop the necessary technological environment to support the proposed community of practice; validate the proposal with four institutions (four countries - Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Argentina) to evaluate the proposed model. The motivation for developing this research came from the history of the Remote Experimentation Laboratory (REXLAB) with the project VISIR+: Educational Modules for Electric and Electronic Circuits Theory and Practice following an Enquiry based Teaching and Learning Methodology supported by VISIR+”. The VISIR + project is an international cooperation project with the participation of 21 Ibero-American partner institutions between October 2015 and April 2018. The platform, called Labs4STEAM, was developed using Dokuwiki, an open source wiki software that contains a large number of plugins. From the data collection it was possible to receive a mostly positive feedback, but several improvement opportunities were pointed out, which will be performed soon. Thus, from the developed platform one can plan future work, taking into account the results obtained and experience and partnerships with the VISIR + project.The research was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), the Erasmus+ programme through grant 561735-EPP-1-2015-1-PT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP, and also by FCT through grant EQU/04730/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Using remote lab network to provide support to public secondary school education level

The advantages of networking are widely known in many areas (from business to personal ones). One particular area where networks have also proved their benefits is education. Taking the secondary school education level into account, some successful cases can be found in literature. In this paper we describe a particular remote lab network supporting physical experiments accessible to students of institutions geographically separated. The network architecture and application examples of using some of the available remote experiments are illustrated in detail.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparison of High-Volume and High-Intensity Upper Body Resistance Training on Acute Neuromuscular Performance and Ratings of Perceived Exertion

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(1): 723-733, 2020. The assessment of neuromuscular fatigue is important for minimizing the risks of nonfunctional overreaching, and monitoring training loads has rapidly grown in recent years. The objective of the study was to compare the acute upper body performance and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) responses to high-volume (HV) and high-intensity (HI) resistance-training loads. Sixteen young resistance-trained men (4 repetition maximum [RM] bench press = 105.8 ± 15.9 kg) were divided into two groups of eight subjects each that performed a HI (3 sets of 4RM with 180 s of rest), and a HV (4 sets of 12RM with 90 s of rest) training sessions. Session RPE was obtained 30 min Post. The medicine-ball throw (MBT) performance was measured at pre, and 10 min post. Training volume load (movements × load), and intensity (volume load ÷ movements) were calculated. Volume load was significantly higher for HV (10890 ± 1241 kg) than HI (2718 ± 413 kg) protocol (p \u3c 0.001). Intensity was significantly higher for HI (100.7 ± 15.3 kg) than HV (75.6 ± 8.6 kg) protocol (p = 0.002). MBT performance was significantly reduced from pre- to post- HV (p \u3c 0.001; Δ = −11%), but not in HI (p = 0.15; Δ = −5%). RPE was significantly higher Post-HI (9.9 ± 0.4) than Post HV (8.9 ± 0.8) (p = 0.01). We conclude that higher volume loads induce greater upper body neuromuscular fatigue in young resistance-trained men. Session RPE may reflect training intensity, but not the performance impairments

Solving Exercises on Optimal Control by the Conjugated Gradient Method: Benefits of Using a Remote Approach Based on the Internet

A remote application of a computational package for solving optimal control problems by the conjugated gradient method is implemented by the use of Internet technology. The implementation liberates the user from the details of the programming language, allowing him to focus in the Optimal Control problems. The implementation also provides a manner to protect the source code of the computational systems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A distributed computation of Interpro Pfam, PROSITE and ProDom for protein annotation

Interpro is a widely used tool for protein annotation in genome sequencing projects, demanding a large amount of computation and representing a huge time-consuming step. We present a strategy to execute programs using databases Pfam, PROSITE and ProDom of Interpro in a distributed environment using a Java-based messaging system. We developed a two-layer scheduling architecture of the distributed infrastructure. Then, we made experiments and analyzed the results. Our distributed system gave much better results than Interpro Pfam, PROSITE and ProDom running in a centralized platform. This approach seems to be appropriate and promising for highly demanding computational tools used for biological applications

Integração de Plataformas VISIR para Maximizar o Número de Experimentos Remotos Disponíveis

O uso de laboratórios para a prática de eletrônica nem sempre é uma realidade nas instituições de ensino, seja por falta de componentes eletrônicos, técnicos de laboratório ou laboratórios apropriados. Com o intuito de resolver esse problema, foi desenvolvido no instituto BTH na Suécia, em 1999, o laboratório remoto para eletrônica chamado VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality). Esse laboratório é semelhante a um laboratório presencial, onde os alunos acessam e desenvolvem sistemas eletrônicos através de um computador, tablet ou smartphone. A plataforma VISIR disponibiliza um osciloscópio, gerador de funções, fonte digital e multímetros além de componentes eletrônicos para o desenvolvimento das práticas. Embora muito poderosa, a plataforma possui algumas limitações como o número reduzido de componentes eletrônicos que podem ficar disponíveis em uma plataforma VISIR. Entretanto, quando contornadas, permitem que diversos usuários possam acessar um grande número de práticas eletrônicas. Neste artigo, descrevemos uma maneira de reduzir tais limitações, integrando os experimentos remotos disponibilizados nas várias plataformas VISIR instaladas pelo mundo. A partir dessa integração, é possível que um usuário escolha os componentes desejados ou a prática desejada e seja redirecionado para acessar a plataforma VISIR que possui os componentes eletrônicos necessários e ainda evitar que experimentos semelhantes sejam configurados em mais de uma plataforma VISIR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio