20 research outputs found
Low Intensity of Running Favors for Anabolic Response after Resistance Exercise
Purpose: Whether active or passive recovery after resistance exercise may affect anabolic and catabolic response is not clear. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of active (moderate or low intensity running) and passive (rest) recovery after resistance exercise on testosterone, cortisol and testosterone/cortisol ratio (T/C) responses. Methods: By counter-balanced design, nine recreationally active males (age: 23.89 ± 0.86 yrs of age; height: 172.89 ± 1.30 cm; weight: 68.37 ± 2.72 kg; VO2max: 56.56 ± 1.70 ml/kg/min) completed three tests including: 65% VO2max running (moderate intensity, RM), 40% VO2max running (low intensity, RL) and passive rest (RR) following 3sets of four resistance exercises (bench press, leg extension, front lat pulldown and leg curl, 12 repetitions at 60%1RM with 2min rest among all sets and exercises). In order to evaluate the systemic anabolic status, we measured plasma testosterone, cortisol and T/C ratio before resistance exercise (baseline), immediately after either active or passive recovery (post), and 30min after recovery (rest). Results: In RM group, T/C was significantly lower (decrease 18.5%, p\u3c.05) than baseline at rest. In RL group, T/C was significantly higher (increase 79.1% at post and increase 123.2% at rest, p\u3c.05) than baseline at post and rest, respectively. At rest, the T/C of RL was higher than RM (RM: 0.49 ± 0.12, RL: 1.08 ± 0.19, p\u3c.05). Conclusions: Resistance exercise and low intensity aerobic exercise is more favorable to enhance anabolic response during post-exercise recovery
Energy Band Gap Modulation in Nd-Doped BiFeO3/SrRuO3 Heteroepitaxy for Visible Light Photoelectrochemical Activity
The ability of band offsets at multiferroic/metal and multiferroic/electrolyte interfaces in controlling charge transfer and thus altering the photoactivity performance has sparked significant attention in solar energy conversion applications. Here, we demonstrate that the band offsets of the two interfaces play the key role in determining charge transport direction in a downward self-polarized BFO film. Electrons tend to move to BFO/electrolyte interface for water reduction. Our experimental and first-principle calculations reveal that the presence of neodymium (Nd) dopants in BFO enhances the photoelectrochemical performance by reduction of the local electron-hole pair recombination sites and modulation of the band gap to improve the visible light absorption. This opens a promising route to the heterostructure design by modulating the band gap to promote efficient charge transfer. © 2018 American Chemical Society
Doubling of the superconducting transition temperature in ultra-clean wafer-scale aluminum nanofilms
Superconducting properties of thin films can be vastly different from those
of bulk materials. Seminal work has shown the critical temperature Tc of
elemental superconductors decreases with decreasing film thickness when the
normal-state sheet resistance is lower than the quantum resistance h/(4e2).
Sporadic examples on disordered films, however, hinted an enhancement in Tc
although, structural and strain characterization was not possible since samples
were prepared on a cold substrate in situ. To clarify the role of reduced
dimensionality and disorder on the superconducting properties of thin films we
employed molecular beam epitaxy to grow wafer-scale high-quality aluminum (Al)
nanofilms with normal-state sheet resistance at least 20 times lower than
h/(4e2) and investigated their electronic and structural properties ex situ.
Defying general expectations, Tc increases with decreasing Al film thickness,
reaching 2.4 K for 3.5-nm-thick Al film grown on GaAs: twice that of bulk Al
(1.2 K). DFT calculations indicate surface phonon softening impacts
superconductivity in pure ultra-thin films, offering a new route for materials
engineering in two dimensions