Effects of Cognitive, Motor, and Karate Training on Cognitive Functioning and Emotional Well-Being of Elderly People

The present study investigated the influence of cognitive, motor, and Karate (accordingly the guidelines of the German-Karate-Federation, DKV) training on the cognitive functioning and mental state of older people between 67 and 93 years of age. The three training groups each consisted of 12 elderly participants; the waiting control group included 9 participants. Before the training, participants were evaluated with cognitive measurements (cognitive speed: number-connection test, number–symbol test; memory performance: digit-span test, blocking-tapping test, figure test) and a measurement of emotional well-being. After this pre-testing they participated the specific training in on average sixteen 1-h training sessions. The cognitive training exercised inductive thinking ability, the motor training worked on easy stretching and mobilization techniques, and the Karate training taught tasks of self-defense, partner training, and Katas. After completion of the training sessions, all tests were applied again. The results show no significant difference in cognitive improvement dependent on group between the three training conditions. However a significant improvement was found in the emotional mental state measurement for the Karate group compared to the waiting control group. This result suggests that the integrated involvement in Karate leads to a feeling of self-worth and that, even in elderly people, integration of new sports helps to improve quality of life

Translation initiation factor eIF3 promotes programmed stop codon readthrough.

Programmed stop codon readthrough is a post-transcription regulatory mechanism specifically increasing proteome diversity by creating a pool of C-terminally extended proteins. During this process, the stop codon is decoded as a sense codon by a near-cognate tRNA, which programs the ribosome to continue elongation. The efficiency of competition for the stop codon between release factors (eRFs) and near-cognate tRNAs is largely dependent on its nucleotide context; however, the molecular mechanism underlying this process is unknown. Here, we show that it is the translation initiation (not termination) factor, namely eIF3, which critically promotes programmed readthrough on all three stop codons. In order to do so, eIF3 must associate with pre-termination complexes where it interferes with the eRF1 decoding of the third/wobble position of the stop codon set in the unfavorable termination context, thus allowing incorporation of near-cognate tRNAs with a mismatch at the same position. We clearly demonstrate that efficient readthrough is enabled by near-cognate tRNAs with a mismatch only at the third/wobble position. Importantly, the eIF3 role in programmed readthrough is conserved between yeast and humans

Working Desks as a Classification Tool for Personality Style: A Pilot Study for Validation

We shape our surroundings; form the rooms we live in, so that we feel comfortable in them. This shows parts of our personality – it can be inferred from our environment. In this study, we created stereotypical desks embodying different personality styles and let 190 students choose which desk fits – in their subjective perspective – the most to their personality. To determine their personality style, the personality style and disorder inventory (PSSI) was used. Correspondence analysis (CA) was conducted to investigate the relationship between personality styles and choice of desks. Results did not show convergence of personality styles and desks. Contrary to the popular scientific idea, personality and creation of surroundings were not related; regarding our study, the relation is uninterpretable suggesting an individual’s desk choice is not statistically dependent on one’s individual’s highest PSSI subscale. The study can be regarded as a pilot project for desk designs as classification tool for personality

Evaluation of the Online Sport-Specific Mindfulemotions Program in a Population of Scandinavian Elite Athletes Measuring Psychological Parameters

Professional athletes are often affected by public pressure, choking under pressure, depression, anxiety, stress, or burnout. Mindfulness training seems to be a valuable tool for reducing those symptoms. Due to the general interest in online applications and the constraints of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the future of mindfulness training might be digital, and the expansion of such interventions is inevitable. Therefore, we translated and digitalised the German sports-specific mindfulness program called mindfulemotions (https://mindful-motions.de/) and evaluated it with a psychological randomised controlled trial pilot study in a population of Scandinavian elite athletes making it the first English online mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for professional athletes. 28 athletes started the involvement, and 12 athletes finished the participation. The athletes completed several self-report questionnaires, a diary at the end of the intervention and follow-up questions after one year assessing psychological parameters before and after the mindfulness practices and website feedback. The results suggest that the web-based online program seems at the first glance feasible, comprehensible, and applicable. The nonparametric post-test analyses eventuated in an increase in mindfulness and self-compassion scores for the intervention group, but not for the control group. Overall, due to the small sample size, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the feasibility of the web-based online program, but the website’s establishment and the program’s implementation were successful. This research supports the need to execute a more extensive and comprehensive investigation of the online mindfulemotion program and its potential for elite athletes

Sports and mathematical abilities in primary school-aged children: How important are spatial abilities? An explorative study

It is well known that sports and mathematical abilities are related to spatial abilities, also a relation between sport and mathematical abilities is assumed. However, the relation between all three aspects has not been investigated until now. Therefore, the main goal of the study is to examine the relationship between sport, spatial and mathematical ability in elementary school aged children. 50 boys and 42 girls from third grade solved spatial and sport tasks, which can be differentiated into the following: intrinsic-dynamic, intrinsic-static and extrinsic-static. Furthermore, their performances in mathematical (separated into numerical/arithmetical and geometrical) abilities were analyzed. The results showed significant correlations between the static spatial and sporting activities. This correlation is due to the strong correlation within the group of girls. Furthermore, a good performance in the intrinsic-spatial ability was related to a high geometrical ability of the children, especially in boys. However, the geometrical ability could not be predicted by sport abilities

The relationship between theory of mind and mental rotation ability in preschool aged children

This study investigates the relationship between two tasks of perspective taking, the social perspective taking ability, namely theory of mind, and the spatial one, namely mental rotation, in preschool aged children. Both abilities develop during preschool age (Frick et al., 2013; Wellmann et al., 2001). We investigated 83 children aged between three and four years regarding their theory of mind and mental rotation ability. A significant correlation between both tasks was found for those children, who were able to solve the mental rotation task. This relation was no longer significant when analyzing the two age groups separately. Due to the small sample size as well as the performance in the mental rotation test more research is needed to investigate this relationship and its role in development

The influence of the design of mental rotation trials on performance and possible differences between sexes: A theoretical review and experimental investigation

Sex differences in mental rotation performance are one of the largest in cognitive psychology. Men outperform women by up to 1 SD in psychometric mental rotation tests, but it is often neglected that there are no or only small sex differences for chronometric tests. As both tests are supposed to measure the same ability, we suspect some features of the tests themselves to affect sex differences in performance. Following a theoretical review of the test features, we evaluate the effects of the number of possible answer alternatives, whether they are presented as pairwise mirrored, and their interaction on sex differences in mental rotation performance. In an online experiment, 838 German-speaking participants, 421 women, 417 men, Mage =  42.58 (SD = 12.54) years, solved four blocks of mental rotation trials with two or eight alternatives, which were either pairwise mirrored or not. The results show that that the overall performance was lower for more alternatives and for mixed alternatives but not for their interaction. We could not determine explanations for sex differences as we did not observe meaningful sex differences at all. Possible reasons include the differences between men and women in age and education. This study suggests that the differences between tests affect performance. Sex differences, however, need more investigation, including possible effects and interactions of the test design, education, and age