Effects of a Short Term, Short Duration, High Intensity Exercise Intervention on Body Composition and Intra-Abdominal Fat

Short-term high intensity interval training (HIIT) has been shown to significantly improve body composition and intraabdominal fat stores. Studies have shown Tabata, a protocol using repeated rounds of 20-sec of work and 10-sec of rest, to be a valid protocol for HIIT. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a short term, short duration, HIIT intervention using a Tabata protocol, on intra-abdominal fat and body composition. Fourteen participants performed eight rounds of Tabata body weight jump squats, at maximal effort each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for three weeks. There were no significant differences in body composition. The amount of intra-abdominal fat did significantly decrease, p ≤ 0.05. The decrease in intra-abdominal fat suggest that short term, short duration, HIIT can reduce health risks associated with high amounts of intra-abdominal fat, such as cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome. Future research should utilize lower impact body weight exercises, control for outside physical activity, and include a larger population size

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements