Effect of the 90-second ‘Gear’ exercise programme on cardiometabolic risk factors in persons with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease

Background: High-intensity interval training has recently gained popularity at improving cardiometabolic health. However, a close investigation of high-intensity interval training reveals that the exercise duration is similar to moderate-intensity continuous exercise.Objective: To compare the effect of the time-efficient ‘Gear’ exercise programmes to traditional exercise on cardiometabolic risk factors in persons with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease. Methods: The study implemented a six-week, randomised controlled trial. The variables were low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, total cholesterol, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure and body composition. Forty-eight participants completed the study. Participants were randomly assigned to either the ‘Gear’ exercise programme repeated at different times during the day (GEP-DT): cycled for 90 seconds, repeated three times/day, for three days/week (n = 12); ‘Gear’ exercise programme at one point in time (GEP-OT): cycled for 90 seconds followed by 4 minutes and 30 seconds rest, repeated three times at one point in time, for three days/week (n = 14); 30 minutes of moderate-intensity continuous cycling repeated three days/week at 55-69% HRmax (n = 11); and the controls, who were encouraged not to exercise (n = 11). A demonstration of the ‘Gear’ exercise programme can be viewed on the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAbkRg9ex94 Results: The 90-second GEP-DT intervention reduced HbA1c post six-weeks of training (MD = ­0.1±0.4, % Δ = -1.3%, d = ˗0.70). The GEP-OT group decreased blood triglycerides with a large effect size (MD = ­0.6±1.3, % Δ = ˗31.9%, d = ˗0.83). Conclusion: The novel 90-second ‘Gear’ exercise programme moderately reduced HbA1c and the 18-minute GEP-OT lowered blood triglycerides. ‘Gear’ exercise programmes will encourage future research in persons with non-communicable diseases, and it should be considered as a public health initiative to promote exercise in clinical, home and work environments

Association of the acute:chronic workload ratio and wellness scores in premier league male hockey players

Background: The relationship between acute:chronic workload ratios (ACWR) and the incidence of injury, as well as the relationship between subjective wellness scores and training load, is unclear in hockey players. Objectives: This study investigated these relationships to determine if the ACWR is a useful workload management tool for field hockey players. In addition, the study investigated the association between specific subjective wellness scores (fatigue, sleep quality, general muscle soreness, mood and stress level) and the acute:chronic workload ratio and training load. The study also assessed the association between individual players’ training loads with the self-reported wellness scores. Methods: Fourteen male field hockey players from the men’s first team at the University of the Witwatersrand participated in the study over ten weeks during a premier league competition phase. A Google form was completed within thirty minutes of every training session/match. This form consisted of questions that allowed for the calculation of the ACWR. Results: No incidence of injury was reported during the ten- week period. ACWR scores ranged between 0.67 and 1.87. The ACWR was associated with general muscle soreness (p = 0.010) and training load was associated with fatigue (p = 0.002), sleep quality (p = 0.05), general muscle soreness (p = 0.004), and mood (p=0.025). Conclusion: There may be some merit in the use of subjective wellness measures as workload management tools in field hockey. Further research is required to determine if there is an optimal ACWR for this sport

Changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiovascular health in the workplace: a case study

Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular (CV) and all-cause mortality, contributing a higher proportion of CV risk compared to other traditionally recognised risk factors. However, CRF is not included in usual workplace wellness protocols and, as such, employers are not aware of the importance of this factor. Aim: The aim of this case study was to explore the effect of a 12-week exercise intervention programme on CRF, CV health and medical health claims in a male participant who was employed by a corporate company with existing chronic diseases. Findings: Health outcome measures improved after the 12-week exercise intervention programme. CRF showed the greatest improvement and medical health claims were lowered during the three-month post-intervention period. Implications: CRF should be included as a health outcome measure in worksite wellness programmes and monitored

Evaluation of exercise based intervention programs for metabolic syndrome

Background The optimal exercise load/intensity for exercise programs for individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS) has not been investigated. One method of determining optimal exercise load is to measure the blood lactate transition threshold (BLTT), referred to as the anaerobic threshold (AT). The first part of this thesis (study 1) investigated the reproducibility of BLTT testing and the consequent determination of AT via the Mader method (Mader et al. 1986) and a modified form of the ADAPT method (Cheng et al. 1992) in patients with MetS. Furthermore, a comparison of the reproducibility of the AT determination using the Mader et al. (1986) method as opposed to the ADAPT method has not been investigated in MetS patients. The effect of specific exercise protocols on the different components of MetS has also not been investigated. Therefore, the second study in the thesis compared the effects on the components of the MetS of an exercise program that uses BLTT (specifically, the AT) to those of a comparable exercise program (not using AT) taken from the literature. The main aim of the study was to design an exercise program that optimized exercise responses and may thus improve metabolic characteristics in individuals with MetS. The third part of the thesis (study 3) focused on the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and the components of the metabolic syndrome. This study developed multiple regression models to find the principal variables that associated with peak vi oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) and AT in persons with MetS. Regression models were also developed to investigate whether these variables were associated with the individual metabolic and cardiovascular components of the metabolic syndrome. Methods In study 1, fifteen male patients diagnosed with MetS (age: 43.5 ± 7.52 years) and fifteen healthy, male participants (age: 44.1 ± 6.08 years) each performed a peak oxygen consumption and BLTT test simultaneously using an incremental protocol to exhaustion on a treadmill, at the same daily times, on three different days. Study 2 used three subject groups. One group consisted of ten participants (male, age: 48.3 ± 7.32 years) with MetS that exercised using the walking program of Leon et al. (1979) (MetSL). A second group consisted of ten participants (male, age: 40.8 ± 8.21 years) with MetS that exercised using velocity at AT to set training intensities (MetSV). A third group consisted of ten participants (male, age: 40.2 ± 7.90 years) without MetS that exercised using velocity at AT to set training intensities (Non-MetSV). Training durations and frequency varied from 20 – 90 minutes and 3 -5 days per week respectively. Height, body mass, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL-, LDL- cholesterol, insulin levels, VO2 peak and BLTT were measured in all groups before, during and after twenty weeks of exercise. In addition, oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were administered to all participants. 0 min, 30 min and 2 hours plasma glucose and insulin levels were measured during the OGTT. HOMA-IR and insulinogenic indices were also calculated. Nutritional data were recorded at week 0, 8 and 20 of training. vii In study 3, thirty-one males diagnosed with MetS and twenty-four healthy male participants each performed a VO2 peak and a BLTT test. Height, mass, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDLcholesterol and insulin levels were also measured. In addition, oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were administered to all participants and HOMA indices were calculated. Results There was no significant difference in treadmill velocity at AT determined by the Mader method or the Modified ADAPT method within both groups of study 1 (p > 0.05). The mean treadmill velocity at AT was higher in the healthy compared to the MetS group using both the Mader and the ADAPT method. Regression analysis and ANCOVA in study 1 demonstrated that this difference was largely due to a higher VO2 peak in the healthy group. The study also found an association between VO2 peak and waist circumference. The coefficient of variation of repeat measurements for both the Mader method and the Adapt method was less than 4% indicating good reproducibility. This was confirmed by the typical error method of Hopkins (2000). Study 2 showed that body mass, BMI and waist circumference decreased significantly in all training groups with the training program using AT and the program not using AT showing similar outcomes in these variables among persons with MetS. Velocity at AT also improved in all training groups. While VO2 peak increased (p < 0.05) in both the MetS groups, it did not change significantly in the group without MetS. Similarly, the blood pressure response was favourable in the groups with MetS yet absent in the group viii without MetS. The training group with MetS that used AT was the only group to show significant, positive changes in any of the metabolic parameters (fasting insulin and HOMA). This group also showed the greatest change in the incidence of MetS. In study 3, presence of MetS, waist circumference and AT were found to associate with VO2 peak and VO2 peak was strongly correlated with AT. Age and body mass were found to correlate with fasting glucose, whilst only age correlated with HDL-cholesterol. Age and VO2 peak both correlated with systolic blood pressure but only VO2 peak had a significant association with diastolic blood pressure. Conclusions Study 1 demonstrated that BLTT tests are reproducible in persons with MetS. Study 2 demonstrated that an endurance exercise program using AT to set intensity is effective in eliciting favourable responses in individuals diagnosed with MetS. In addition, the training program using AT elicited the responses with a reduced exercise frequency and intensity. It also improved insulin sensitivity which was not affected by the walking program. The response to the exercise program that used AT was similar in persons with MetS and in persons without MetS, except in the central cardio-vascular adaptations of VO2 peak and in the metabolic parameters of fasting insulin and the HOMA index. Study 3 found that the lower VO2 peak of participants with MetS is associated with their higher waist circumference. The VO2 peak, in turn, was shown to correlate with anaerobic threshold. Therefore, reducing waist circumference in persons with MetS needs to be a focus of intervention programs for such a group. This study also found that both diastolic and systolic blood pressures were associated with cardio-respiratory fitness (VO2 peak). ix This further supports the benefit of increasing cardio-respiratory fitness in persons with MetS. The results of these studies showed that BLTT tests are simple, low-cost, reproducible ways of setting exercise intensity for persons with MetS that can be incorporated in the routine cardio-respiratory fitness assessment of an individual. Furthermore, the determination of AT from such tests can be used to design an individualized exercise program that can “reverse” the effects of MetS

Exercise intervention for post-acute COVID-19 syndrome – do FITT-VP principles apply? A case study

The lack of standardisation of reporting exercise interventions hampers the development of best practice guidelines for long COVID patients. This case study on the effect of an exercise intervention in a long COVID patient applied the Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT) for reporting interventions. FITT-VP exercise prescription principles for long COVID rehabilitation are also suggested. A 58-year-old male, previously hospitalised for 14 days in the ward for the intensive care for the management of severe COVID-19 infection, joined an exercise rehabilitation programme. A medical history, anthropometric, biochemical, lung function, blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness and strength measures were all assessed before and after the eight week exercise intervention programme. Positive changes were found in all lung function test measures. Cardiorespiratory fitness, endurance capacity and muscle strength improved. However, the greatest improvements occurred in functional status, fatigue, dyspnoea and the state of depression levels. This case study suggested that in the absence of other instruments, the FITTVP principles may be used for long COVID patients, and CERT for reporting interventions, but these should be further researched

Intervenção educativa em adolescentes obesos UBS Ipuaçú Feira de Santana

O problema da obesidade tem se revelado como um novo desafio para a saúde pública, uma vez que sua incidência e prevalência têm crescido de forma alarmante. Dessa forma, este trabalho objetiva desenhar um projeto de intervenção a ser realizado na UBS do bairro Ipuaçu, onde trabalharemos o conhecimento e a autoestima dos participantes com o intuito de promover a adesão ao tratamento nutricional e sensibilizar responsáveis, crianças e adolescentes sobre a importância da aquisição de hábitos nutricionais saudáveis, consulta médica e nutricional com avaliação antropométrica; oficinas de educação em saúde sobre alimentação saudável e atividade física; avaliação do impacto das ações realizadas. O projeto está estruturado para ser realizado em quatro etapas com uma duração total de 12 meses e a metodologia a aplicar será a pesquisa-ação. Buscamos com planejamento das ações educativas e palestras, melhorar a qualidade de vida dos pacientes, proporcionando um melhor autocuidado da saúde deles

Dynamic configuration of partitioning in spark applications

Spark has become one of the main options for large-scale analytics running on top of shared-nothing clusters. This work aims to make a deep dive into the parallelism configuration and shed light on the behavior of parallel spark jobs. It is motivated by the fact that running a Spark application on all the available processors does not necessarily imply lower running time, while may entail waste of resources. We first propose analytical models for expressing the running time as a function of the number of machines employed. We then take another step, namely to present novel algorithms for configuring dynamic partitioning with a view to minimizing resource consumption without sacrificing running time beyond a user-defined limit. The problem we target is NP-hard. To tackle it, we propose a greedy approach after introducing the notions of dependency graphs and of the benefit from modifying the degree of partitioning at a stage; complementarily, we investigate a randomized approach. Our polynomial solutions are capable of judiciously use the resources that are potentially at user's disposal and strike interesting trade-offs between running time and resource consumption. Their efficiency is thoroughly investigated through experiments based on real execution data.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

‘I’m doing it for myself’: Using a smartphone-based exercise service during the COVID-19 lockdown in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Background: Sufficient physical activity (PA) lowers poor health outcomes, with data showing these protective effects in populations under varying levels of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The advent of online PA programmes has created novel opportunities to offset the deleterious effects of inactivity. However, data are limited and the readiness and acceptance of such technology is unknown. These authors nevertheless noted an opportunity to investigate this approach based on promising emerging data at the time of the hard lockdown in South Africa. Objective: This exploratory study investigated the engagement and perceptions of a smartphone application to promote health and fitness in a sample of employees at a South African university. Methods: Employed members of staff (n=15) of the University of the Witwatersrand were recruited through email invitation during the hard Level 5 COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Individualised home-based PA programmes were prescribed through a mobile application for a period of eight weeks. Researchers qualified in Biokinetics provided online supervision of the exercise sessions during the intervention. Participants were asked to complete a self-reported questionnaire about their use of the application. Thematic analysis was used to understand these responses. Results: Lack of motivation was perceived to have a negative effect on participation in the online PA programme. Only one participant reported using the mobile application consistently during the study period, while half of the participants reported having trouble with the usage of the application. The participants frequently mentioned the need for technical support and further engagement from the clinicians supervising the PA programme to ensure use and progression. Staff identified issues with connectivity and already having too many phone applications (apps) amongst the reasons for the technical difficulties. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the challenges and potential for the uptake of online PA interventions during COVID-19 and, despite its small sample size, the data provide important lessons learned that will be used as information in further investigations

Postactivation performance enhancement (PAPE) of sprint acceleration performance

Postactivation performance enhancement (PAPE) is a principle that an acute bout of high-intensity voluntary exercise is followed by an enhancement in strength, speed or power production. This study intended to show a direct correlation between intensity, specificity and the outcome of a maximal task of sprint accelerations compared to a previously defined weighted plyometric intervention. In a randomised controlled, double-blind trial, professional footballers undertook 20 m maximal sprint accelerations at a baseline and at 2 and 6 min post-intervention after 1 of 3 interventions; 2 repetitions of 20 m sprint accelerations (S), 3 × 10 alternative leg weighted bounding (P) and control (C). Relative to the baseline there was a significant improvement for S over 10 and 20 m at 2 min of 0.12m.s−1 and 0.11m.s−1 and 6 min of 0.11m.s−1 and 0.12m.s−1. Relative to the baseline P also had a significant improvement over 10 and 20 m at 2 min 0.09m.s−1 and 0.09m.s−1 and 6 min of 0.11m.s−1 and 0.09m.s−1. There was a significant improvement in C between 2 and 6 min post-intervention at 10 and 20 m of 0.06m.s−1 and 0.08m.s−1. This finding suggests a maximal sprint acceleration may enhance the outcome of a subsequent maximal sprint acceleration at 2 min, but the latter results could not be directly attributed to the interventions as previous testing is likely to have influenced these outcomes

Análisis de las actitudes de los puertorriqueños hacia la inclusión de los menores refugiados en los centros educativos

The current conflict in Syria has caused millions of refugees to leave their country in search of asylum and a safe haven. Over the past two years both European and American citizens have received more than thousands of refugees, including children, accompanied by their parents or caretakers and unaccompanied. Similarly, Puerto Rico, which has been accepting refugees from closer countries for years refugees, has expressed its interest in receiving Syrian refugees. However, because of the country being an US territory, this decision lies in the North American country. According to international standards and the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), all refugee minors deserve a number of rights, among them, the right to education. The objective of this research is to measure the attitudes of Puerto Rican adults towards refugee minors and to verify if the Puerto Ricans accept the schooling of refugee minors in Puerto Rican schools. For this investigation a survey was conducted in which 140 Puerto Ricans participated by using the quantitative method. As a result, the majority of the Puerto Ricans accept the schooling of refugee children in Puerto Rican classrooms, they believe their arrival can be enriching and they respect their rights. In conclusion, the greater part of respondents has a positive attitude toward the inclusion of refugee minors in schools