Cortisol Response in Breast Cancer: The Role of Physical Activity and Exercise

Chronic stress is a consistent sense of feeling pressured and overwhelmedfor a long period of time and it has been defined as a maladaptive state thatis associated with altered hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Thehyperactivity of the HPA axis is commonly assessed by cortisol levels.Physical activity (PA) and exercise have been demonstrated to regulatecortisol patterns in different healthy study populations, but also in BCpatients and survivors. The PA and exercise are related but have distinctconcepts that are commonly misused. Nowadays, the regular practice of PAand exercise has been widely recognized as one main strategy to managechronic stress and its related markers, like cortisol, remains elusive. In thepresent review, the authors focused on the evidence of the PA and exerciseon cortisol patterns of BC patients and survivors

An Updated Mini Review of Acute and Chronic Responses to Exercise Training-induced Irisin in Browning of White Fat

Nowadays, is well established that the benefits induced by exercise training (ET) affects not only skeletal muscle, but also other non-contractile organs over time. One potential mechanism underlying this crosstalk is the synthesis and secretion of several biological active factors, such as irisin, by muscle contractile activity. This hormone has been described to be able to induce a brown adipocyte-like phenotype in white adipose (WAT), increase whole-body metabolic rate, and therefore prevent and/or treat obesity-related metabolic diseases. Thus, the modulatory impact of ET on WAT may also occur through skeletal muscle - adipose organ axis. In this review, we summarize the acute and chronic adaptations to ET-induced irisin synthesis and secretion on the development of browning of white fat and, thus, providing an overview of the potential preventive and therapeutic role of ET on the obesity-related underlying pathways.

Monitorization of timed up and go phases in elderly

Aims: to characterize functional mobility during timed “Up and Go” (TUG) test using WivaVR science sensor and to identify which parameter of TUG test best correlates with healthrelated outcomes in elderly. Methods: 1598 participants (71.53 ± 4.99 y, 64.1% women) were recruited. The body mass index (BMI), muscle strength, health status, and all TUG phases (sit-to-stand, gait-to-go, turning, gait-return, and stand-to-sit) were evaluated. 5-TUG performance-group scores are reported for the <20th; 20–40th,40–60th, 60–80th, 80–100th percentiles, as there is no health standard cutoff for Portuguese elderly. The Pearson’s correlations were assessed between variables (p < 0.05). Results: The best TUG performers (<20th) presented better results than the other groups for all tests, with the exception of the Turning phase. Both gait, sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit were inversely correlated with health status and muscle strength, and positively correlated with BMI. Conclusions: All phases of TUG test are an important tool to assess functional mobility, providing complementary data for clinical settings in elderly population.4811-99FE-2ECD | Luis Paulo RodriguesN/

Monitoring physical performance and training load in young surf athletes

We aimed to study physical performance and monitor training load (both internal and external) during 12 weeks (3 times per week) and analyse the hypothetical association between physical performance and training load of competitive junior surfers. Twelve competitive surfers voluntarily participated (aged 16.00±1.00y) and completed anthropometric and 8 physical performance tests including weight-bearing dorsiflexion test, functional movement screen, star excursion balance test, squat jump and countermovement jump, sprint & endurance paddling, and breath-hold capacity. Moreover, athletes were monitored by using a heart rate (HR) sensor and global position system (GPS) during each training session (n=36). For internal load (IL), HR, rating of perceived exertion RPE, duration*RPE were used as variables and for external load (EL), duration, total distance, average and maximum speed and pace were considered for analysis. No significant correlations were found between physical performance tests and the training load variables. Significant correlations were found between IL (time*RPE), total distance (r=.58, p<.01), maximum speed (r=.43, p=.04) and duration (r=.60, p<.01). The HR was positively associated with average speed (r=.45, p=.04), pace (r=.43, p=.04), maximum speed (r=.64, p<.01). Total distance, average HR and average speed significantly predicted IL during training F(4.18) =3.17; p =.04; R2 =.48. Data suggests that subjective instruments like RPE seems to be a good instrument to assess the training load in surf training. In terms of training for surfing, maximum speed seems to be a determinant factor in the estimation of IL perception

Whey-Bread, an Improved Food Product: Evaluation of Textural Characteristics

The diversity in bread all around the world is enormous and enriched breads are a trend to follow in the next years. The aim of this work was to develop new breads incorporating whey residue, and the final products were analysed for their textural properties, as compared with a basic wheat bread. For measurement of texture two types of teste were used (compression and puncture). The results showed that the whey residue could be used to produce bread with good textural properties, particularly for an improved recipe. The improved whey bread showed good textural characteristics, which remained practically unchanged after 24 h, being this true for the properties evaluated through the compression test (hardness, chewiness, resilience, cohesiveness, springiness) and through the puncture test (external firmness, inner firmness, stickiness, adhesiveness). Finally, very strong correlations were found between cohesiveness and resilience and between adhesiveness and stickiness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A review

Women have a number of specificities that differentiate them from men. In particular, the role of sex steroid hormones and the menstrual cycle (MC) significantly impact women’s physiology. The literature has shown nonlinear relationships between MC, exercise, and nutritional intake. Notably, these relationships are bidirectional and less straightforward than one would suppose. For example, the theoretical implications of the MC’s phases on exercise performance do not always translate into relevant practical effects. There is often a disconnect between internal measures (e.g., levels of hormone concentrations) and external performance. Furthermore, it is not entirely clear how nutritional intake varies across the MC’s phases and whether these variations impact on exercise performance. Therefore, a thorough review of the existing knowledge could help in framing these complex relationships and potentially contribute to the optimization of exercise prescription and nutritional intake according to the naturally occurring phases of the MC. Throughout this re-view, an emerging trend is the lack of generalizability and the need to individualize interventions, since the consequences of the MC’s phases and their relationships with exercise and nutritional intake seem to vary greatly from person to person. In this sense, average data are probably not relevant and could potentially be misleading.publishersversionpublishe

development and validation of a questionnaire

Funding Information: We thank Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central for helping to conduct the study, and the patients that participated in the study. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) can be avoided through effective care in the ambulatory setting. Patients are the most qualified individuals to express the social and individual contexts of their own experience. Thus, understanding why potentially preventable hospitalizations occur is important to develop patient-centred policies or interventions that may reduce them. This study aims to develop and validate a questionnaire to capture the patients’ perspective on the causes of the hospitalizations for ACSC. The development of a new questionnaire involved four phases: a literature review, face validity, pre-test, and validation. We conducted a three-step face validity verification to confirm the relevance of the identified determinants and to collect determinants not previously identified by interviewing healthcare providers, representatives of patients’ associations, and patients. Determinants were identified through the literature review predominantly in the “Healthcare Access”, “Disease self-management”, and “Social Support” domains. The validated resulting questionnaire comprises 25 questions, distributed by two dimensions (individual/contextual) covering seven domains and 20 determinants of ACSC hospitalization. Currently, there are no validated instruments as comprehensive and easy to use as the one described in this paper. This questionnaire should provide a base for further language/context validations.publishersversionpublishe

Skeletal muscle–adipose tissue–tumor axis : molecular mechanisms linking exercise training in prostate cancer

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Increased visceral adiposity may influence the development of prostate cancer (PCa) aggressive tumors and cancer mortality. White adipose tissue (WAT), usually referred to as periprostatic adipose tissue (PPAT), surrounds the prostatic gland and has emerged as a potential mediator of the tumor microenvironment. Exercise training (ET) induces several adaptations in both skeletal muscle and WAT. Some of these effects are mediated by ET-induced synthesis and secretion of several proteins, known as myo- and adipokines. Together, myokines and adipokines may act in an endocrine-like manner to favor communication between skeletal muscle and WAT, as they may work together to improve whole-body metabolic health. This crosstalk may constitute a potential mechanism by which ET exerts its beneficial role in the prevention and treatment of PCa-related disorders; however, this has not yet been explored. Therefore, we reviewed the current evidence on the effects of skeletal muscle–WAT–tumor crosstalk in PCa, and the potential mediators of this process to provide a better understanding of underlying ET-related mechanisms in cancer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

a living systematic review

Background: Hamstrings injuries are common in sports and the reinjury risk is high. Despite the extensive literature on hamstrings injuries, the efectiveness of the diferent conservative (i.e., non-surgical) interventions (i.e., modalities and doses) for the rehabilitation of athletes with acute hamstrings injuries is unclear. Objective: We aimed to compare the efects of diferent conservative interventions in time to return to sport (TRTS) and/or time to return to full training (TRFT) and reinjury-related outcomes after acute hamstrings injuries in athletes. Data Sources: We searched CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science databases up to 1 January, 2022, complemented with manual searches, prospective citation tracking, and consultation of external experts. Eligibility Criteria: the eligibility criteria were multi-arm studies (randomized and non-randomized) that compared conservative treatments of acute hamstrings injuries in athletes. Data Analysis: We summarized the characteristics of included studies and conservative interventions and analyzed data for main outcomes (TRTS, TRFT, and rate of reinjuries). The risk of bias was judged using the Cochrane tools. Quality and completeness of reporting of therapeutic exercise programs were appraised with the i-CONTENT tool and the certainty of evidence was judged using the GRADE framework. TRTS and TRFT were analyzed using mean diferences and the risk of reinjury with relative risks. Results Fourteen studies (12 randomized and two non-randomized) comprising 730 athletes (mostly men with ages between 14 and 49 years) from diferent sports were included. Nine randomized studies were judged at high risk and three at low risk of bias, and the two non-randomized studies were judged at critical risk of bias. Seven randomized studies compared exercise-based interventions (e.g., L-protocol vs C-protocol), one randomized study compared the use of low-level laser therapy, and three randomized and two non-randomized studies compared injections of platelet-rich plasma to placebo or no injection. These low-level laser therapy and platelet-rich plasma studies complemented their interventions with an exercise program. Only three studies were judged at low overall risk of inefectiveness (i-CONTENT). No single intervention or combination of interventions proved superior in achieving a faster TRTS/TRFT or reducing the risk of reinjury. Only eccentric lengthening exercises showed limited evidence in allowing a shorter TRFT. The platelet-rich plasma treatment did not consistently reduce the TRFT or have any efect on the risk of new hamstrings injuries. The certainty of evidence was very low for all outcomes and comparisons. Conclusions: Available evidence precludes the prioritization of a particular exercise-based intervention for athletes with acute hamstrings injuries, as diferent exercise-based interventions showed comparable efects on TRTS/TRFT and the risk of reinjuries. Available evidence also does not support the use of platelet-rich plasma or low-level laser therapy in clinical practice. The currently available literature is limited because of the risk of bias, risk of inefectiveness of exercise protocols (as assessed with the i-CONTENT), and the lack of comparability across existing studies. Clinical Trial Registration PROSPERO CRD42021268499 and OSF (https://osf.io/3k4u2/).9513-E3E4-C5C9 | Sílvia Fernanda Rocha RodriguesN/