Interpreting data of a repeated sprint test

Alterations in performance are often quantified through physical tests. However, although frequently used there are a few discussions about the reliability and interpretation of their results. The purpose of this study was to verify the reliability of a new method to access the repeated sprint ability denominated Labex-Test (LT) as well as analyzing the effect of 10 weeks of systematized training in soccer players\u27 performance. LT consists of an uncertain number of sprints of 30m until a fall of performance of 10% is observed in relation to its initial speed. All the sprints are intercalated with 20 seconds of active recovery and monitored by a set of photocells placed at each 6 m. The variables analyzed through LT were initial speed (mean speed of the first 30m sprint), initial acceleration (first 6m) and the number of sprints. Twelve soccer players aged 17.2±0.4 years participated of this study. Two sets of 3 tests were accomplished, with intervals of 48 hours, one before and the other at the end of the 10 weeks of training. LT detected increase of the initial speed and of the initial acceleration in 79% and 64% of the tests, respectively. On the other hand, there was a reduction of the sprints number in 79% of the tests. The same variables presented average and standard deviation of 7.30±0.22 m/sec; 8.96±0.85 m/sec and 4.98±1.61 sprints before and 7.60±0.30 m/sec; 9.87±0.90 m/sec and 4.10±1.11 sprints after the training period. LT has shown to be sensitive for the three studied variables

NEW SOFTWARE FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALIZED RESPONSES TO PHYSICAL TESTS IN LARGE GROUPS OF SUBJECTS

The purpose of this study is to present a software developed to facilitate the visualization, identification and selection of subjects from large samples. The software is based on the use of scatter plots and allows the user, in an interactive way, to observe trends and patterns of the group’s results, providing position of the individual within the group and showing the actual results of the subjects. The database used in this study consists of evaluations of strength, speed, endurance and body composition of 526 subjects, all beginners in the military career, collected three times along the year 2010. Because this software is easy to manage and allows the visualization of large amounts of data, it can be used by sports professionals to monitor athletes during competitive seasons and within the frame of talent identification processes

Effect of an endurance training-overtraining protocol on rat muscular oxidative capacity

Overtraining may outcomes for functional overreaching (FOR), a short term decline in performance that leads eventually to an improvement in performance after recovery, or nonfunctional overreaching (NFOR) when performance decline may be reversed only by a longer regenerative period. Recently we developed a training-overtraining protocol for rats with increased workload: eight weeks of daily exercise sessions, followed by three weeks of increasing daily training frequency (2, 3 and 4 times) with decreasing recovery time between sessions (4, 3 and 2h), characterized by analyses of performance before training (T1) and after the 4th(T2), 8th(T3), 9th(T4), 10th(T5) and 11th(T6) training weeks. All rats showed significantly increased performance at T4 and eight rats constitute the trained group (Tr). After T6, two groups were distinguishable by differences in the slope (α) of a line fitted to the individual performances at T4, T5 and T6: NFOR: α\u3c-15.05Kgm and FOR: α≥-15.05Kgm. Our goal was to verify the muscle’s oxidative capacity of Tr, FOR and NFOR groups. Skeletal muscle mitochondrial complexes I, IV and citrate synthase (CS) activity were quantified through Histochemical-staining-BN-PAGE and spectrophotometer analysis, respectively. The area of complexes I and IV was expressed relative to the area for comassie-stained complex V. Significant decreases were found in complex IV (17.2±5.84) and CS activity (22.7±3.21U/gwet) in NFOR group when compared with Tr (35.39±11.33, 32.8±5.24U/gwet) and FOR (28.9±11.37, 31.8±2.75U/gwet). There is a relationship between NFOR and the reduction of muscle oxidative capacity. Thus, aerobic tests should be performed in training routine to monitor performance alterations preventing these situations

Reference change values of some current blood parameters in sports science in physically active subjects

The training monitoring by blood analysis and performance tests may be useful to improve performance. However, effective interpretation of data should take in account the inherent biological and analytical variation. To verify if the difference between two serial results is significant and biologically relevant it can be calculated the Reference Change Value (RCV) from the following formula: RCV = (2)½ * Zp*(CVA2 + CV I 2)1/2, where: 21/2=to verify difference between 2 moments, Zp=Z score (probability 95% =1.96), CVA=analytical coefficient of variation and CVI=intra-individual coefficient of variation. The difference between two consecutive results compared to a calculated RCV make possible the discrimination between pathological states or training induced changes from normal biological variation. However, the RCV is a useful tool to detect the type I error (false positive) but not type II error (false negative). The aim of this study was to calculate the biological and analytical variation for some blood analysis used for training monitoring in physically active subjects. Blood samples were collected from 56 subjects (males, 17±2 years) 4 times during 3 months of systematized aerobic training. The between and within-subjects CV and the RCV were calculated. The results showed that the RCV calculated for the leukocytes count, neutrophils, C-reactive protein and creatine kinase were higher when comparing to values from sedentary subjects described in the literature. The red blood cells RCV’s were similar to sedentary subjects. In practice these results showed that some parameters were more sensitive to training effects than others

Saliva como fluido diagnóstico para utilização na medicina esportiva: potencialidades e limitações

The use of saliva in the diagnosis of pathologies and/or monitoring of athletes in competitions or trainings is an attractive alternative due to the fact that samples are easily obtained and it is mostly a less invasive method in comparison with venous blood collection. The saliva is a hypotonic fluid in relation to plasma, containing compounds produced in the salivary glands (immunoglobulin A [IgA] and α-amylase) as well as compounds diffused in the plasma (water, electrolytes, proteins, metabolites and hormones). It plays a pivotal role in the protection of oral mucosa against microbes and in food digestion. Its production and composition depend on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity, whose antagonistic action may result in different saliva volumes with distinct ionic and protein profiles. The aim of this review was to present a critical analysis of the potential and limitations of saliva as a diagnostic tool in sports medicine. Although there are studies that have deployed it to monitor athletes in training and doping, the standardization of some preanalytical variables are still required, among which the following ones are worth mentioning: the accurate choice of collection system, which allows the easy quantification of volume with adequate sample recovery; well-defined collection schedules in accordance with the circadian variations of the analyte; prevention of sample contamination with blood from oral mucosa lesions. Another key point for its application in sports is the establishment of reference intervals for analytes quantified in the saliva, collected from a population that comprises healthy individual that exercise regularly and systematically, with physical activity progression.A utilização de saliva como alternativa para o diagnóstico de patologias e/ou monitoramento de atletas em competições ou treinos é muito atrativa devido à facilidade de obtenção da amostra e, principalmente, pela natureza menos invasiva que a coleta de sangue venoso. A saliva é um fluído hipotônico em relação ao plasma; contém compostos produzidos localmente nas glândulas salivares (imunoglobulina A [IgA] e α-amilase), além de compostos difundidos do plasma (água, eletrólitos, proteínas, metabólitos e hormônios). A saliva desempenha funções importantes na proteção da mucosa oral contra microrganismos e na digestão dos alimentos. Sua produção e sua composição são dependentes da atividade do sistema nervoso autônomo simpático e parassimpático, cuja ação antagônica pode resultar em diferentes volumes de saliva com perfis proteico e iônico distintos. O objetivo da presente revisão é apresentar uma análise crítica das potencialidades e limitações da utilização da saliva como ferramenta diagnóstica para a medicina esportiva. Embora existam estudos que a utilizam para o monitoramento de atletas em situações de exercício e doping, ainda é necessário padronizar algumas variáveis pré-analíticas, como a escolha correta do melhor sistema de coleta, que permite quantificar facilmente o volume, com boa recuperação de amostra; os horários de coleta bem definidos, de acordo com as possíveis variações circadianas do analito; e a contaminação da saliva com sangue proveniente de lesões da mucosa oral, que tem de ser evitada. Outro ponto fundamental para aplicação no esporte é o estabelecimento de valores de referência para analitos quantificados na saliva, obtidos de uma população composta de sujeitos saudáveis e exercitados de forma constante e sistematizada, com progressão de cargas de esforço.24725

Reliability of the electrocardiogram in normal rats

Several electrocardiogram (ECG) indexes are used to identify cardiac abnormalities in rats. However, there are few studies about the reliability of this tool. The aim of this study was to verify the reliability of a computerized electrocardiography (Heart Ware System) adapted for rats. The ECG was registered under intramuscular anesthesia (Zoletil®, 25mg/kg body weight) in the supine position, using four inserted electrodes in the subcutaneous layer of the animals’ paws (n=11). Three records per day were performed in an interval of fifteen minutes in three distinct days. Six standard leads were obtained (I, II, III, aVR, aVL and aVF) and the following indexes were analyzed: duration of P wave; duration of QRS complex; PR interval; RR interval; QT interval and corrected QT (QTc) interval. Each individual ECG indexes were obtained from the average of three (P; QRS; PR) or ten (RR; QT; QTc) manual measures performed by the same observer. The repeatability in the same day and reproducibility in distinct days were verified by changes in the mean of the raw indexes (Anova with Tukey’s post-test, p\u3c 0.05) and by the typical error expressed as the coefficient of variation (CV) of the LOG transformed indexes. For P, PR, QT and QTc indexes measured in the first day we found significant difference in the mean. All indexes showed a CV minor than 10% (except P, CV=11.9%). We conclude that the electrocardiography used in the described conditions has good reliability when conducted by trained professionals

Effect of Body Weight Variation on Swimming Exercise Workload in Rats With Constant and Size-Adjusted Loads

In swimming animal models, weights are added according to some percentage of body weight (%BW) or as a constant load (CL) to equalize the workload of each animal or to reduce the time in swimming-to-exhaustion endurance tests. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of body weight variation on swimming exercise workload through the reliability analysis of swimming-to-exhaustion endurance tests. We examined the reliability by comparing the mean time to exhaustion (TEx) in trials performed on the 30th, 60th, 90th, 120th and 150th days of life of Wistar rats using three %BW and CL workloads (4%, 6% and 8% and 7 g, 11 g and 15 g, respectively). We also examined the within-subject variation of TEx over three trials of a CL test (15 g) within one week (when variability in body weight is minimal). The rats’ body density was maintained during growth (mean (SD) 1.031 (0.026) g/ml – 1.026 (0.005) g/ml) despite their significant increase in body weight (mean(SD) 109.05(13.80) g - 442.92(29.39) g). Thus, the absolute loads in longitudinal %BW tests increased gradually, causing a decrease in TEx under all workloads. The CV confidence limits for TEx in CL tests showed high within subjects variation (17.1-111%) compared to the body weight variation (0.4-2.8%). We conclude that load adjustment based on %BW does not adequately equate to the workload between rats of different sizes. The methodology also showed high within-subject variation between trials (not related to body mass changes) that compromises the significance of small effects

Electrochemical determination of antioxidant capacity for physical exercise evaluation

Physical training can adapt or cause injury to skeletal muscles implicating metabolic alterations, which can be detected by biochemical analysis. Apparently the increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is involved in both processes. Enzymatic and low molecular weight antioxidants (LMWA) minimize ROS's deleterious action through redox reactions. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) has been suggested as a tool to quantify the antioxidant capacity conferred by LMWA. The use of CV to evaluate the modulation of the antioxidant capacity conferred by LMWA in response to physical exercise is discussed here.98098

Implementação do processo de enfermagem em uma unidade de radioterapia: elaboração de instrumento para registro

The goal of our service is to systematize the nursing care provided to the clients with gynecological and mammary cancer who underwent radiation therapy, using the nursing process, the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) taxonomy and collaborative problems in the diagnoses phase. Therefore, we created a record card in which we briefly reported the relevant data to nursing care, containing: anamnesis, general explanations about treatment, main collaborative problems, nursing diagnoses, interventions, outcomes and evolution. This card was tested in service and evaluated by the group that had created it regarding content and design, enabling the elaboration of its last version that is presented in the article.Con el objetivo de sistematizar la asistencia de enfermería para las pacientes de cáncer genital y mamário, que hacen tratamiento en radioterapia, a través del proceso de enfermería, se hicieron fichas para el registro breve y completo de los datos más relevantes en relación con la atención de enfermería. En el proceso de enfermería fueron usados los diagnósticos de la taxonomía de la North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) y problemas colaborativos durante el periodo de investigación. Las fichas contienen: datos de anamnesis, orientaciones generales en relación con el tratamiento, principales problemas colaborativos, principales diagnósticos de enfermería, intervenciones, resultados esperados y evolución. Los instrumentos fueron probados en el servicio y evaluados por las personas que las hicieron en relación con su contenido y diagramación , hasta tener el formato actual que es el que se presenta en este artículo.É meta de nosso serviço sistematizar a assistência de enfermagem a clientes portadoras de câncer genital e mamário, submetidas a tratamento ambulatorial em radioterapia, através do processo de enfermagem, utilizando-se, na fase diagnóstica, a taxionomia da North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) e os problemas colaborativos. Foram elaboradas fichas que permitissem o registro de forma sucinta e completa dos dados mais relevantes para a assistência de enfermagem, contendo: anamnese, orientações gerais a respeito do tratamento, principais diagnósticos de enfermagem e problemas colaborativos, intervenções, resultados esperados e evolução. Esses impressos foram testados no serviço e avaliados pela equipe que os desenvolveu quanto ao conteúdo e diagramação, até se obterem os modelos atuais que são apresentados neste artigo