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Background The aging process alters upright posture and locomotion control from an automatically processed to a more cortically controlled one. The present study investigated a postural-cognitive dual-task paradigm in young and older adults using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Methods Twenty healthy participants (10 older adults 72 ± 3 y, 10 young adults 23 ± 3 y) performed a cognitive (serial subtractions) and a postural task (tandem stance) as single-tasks (ST) and concurrently as a dual-task (DT) while the oxygenation levels of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were measured. Results In the cognitive task, young adults performed better than older adults in both conditions (ST and DT) and could further increase the number of correct answers from ST to DT (all p s ≤ 0.027) while no change was found for older adults. No significant effects were found for the postural performance. Cerebral oxygenation values (O 2 Hb) increased significantly from baseline to the postural ST ( p  = 0.033), and from baseline to the DT ( p  = 0.031) whereas no changes were found in deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb). Finally, the perceived exertion differed between all conditions ( p  ≤ 0.003) except for the postural ST and the DT ( p  = 0.204). Conclusions There was a general lack of age-related changes except the better cognitive performance under motor-cognitive conditions in young compared to older adults. However, the current results point out that DLPFC is influenced more strongly by postural than cognitive load. Future studies should assess the different modalities of cognitive as well as postural load.

Cooling the body before exercise (precooling) has been studied as an ergogenic aid for many thermal conditions; however, airflow accompanying exercise is seldom reported. To determine whether the physiologic and ergogenic benefits of precooling before endurance exercise may be negated with semirealistic airflow in hot conditions. Crossover study. Climate-controlled chamber in a research laboratory. Ten fit, healthy cyclists. After a familiarization trial, participants completed 4 randomized, counterbalanced sessions consisting of no precooling versus precooling and no fan airflow versus airflow (~4.8 m/s) during exercise. Precooling was via chest-deep immersion (~24 °C) for 1 hour or until core temperature dropped 0.5 °C. Participants then cycled at 95% ventilatory threshold in a hot environment (temperature = 30 °C, relative humidity = 50%) until volitional exhaustion, core temperature reached >39.5 °C, or heart rate reached >95% of maximum. Thermal strain was assessed via core temperature (esophageal and rectal thermistors) and mean skin temperature (thermistors at 10 sites) and cardiovascular strain via heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion. Endurance time (28 ± 12 minutes without precooling or airflow) increased by 30 ± 23 minutes with airflow (~109%; 95% confidence interval = 12, 45 minutes; P < .001) and by 16 ± 15 minutes with precooling (~61%; 95% confidence interval = 4, 25 minutes; P = .013), but it was not further extended when the strategies were combined (29 ± 21 minutes longer than control). During cycling without precooling or airflow, mean core and skin temperatures were higher than in all other trials. Precooling reduced heart rate by 7-11 beats/min during the first 5 minutes of exercise, but this attenuation ended by 15 minutes. Most laboratory-based precooling studies have (inadvertently) overestimated the extent of the physiologic and ergogenic benefits for typical athlete-endurance situations. Precooling increases work capacity effectively when airflow is restricted but may have little or no benefit when airflow is present.

Background/Aims: Hyperglycemia may influence the hydration status in diabetic individuals. During exercise, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) individuals may be challenged by a higher risk of dehydration due to a combination of fluid losses from sweat and increased urine output via glycosuria. So far, no study has characterised spontaneous fluid intake in T1DM individuals during active trainings. Methods: A validated questionnaire was used to assess T1DM participants’ diabetes therapy, sports characteristics and fluid intake during training; results were then compared to an age- and sport-matched sample of non-diabetic individuals. Results: Ninety individuals completed the survey (n = 45 T1DM individuals, n = 45 matched controls). A proportion of T1DM ­individuals reported blood glucose levels greater than 10.0 mmol at both the start (28.9%) and end (24.4%) of the exercise. The mean self-reported fluid intake was greater in T1DM (0.60 ± 0.47 L·h –1 ) compared to that of the control (0.37 ± 0.28 L·h –1 , p < 0.05). In spite of drinking fluid volumes in line with international guidelines, 84.4% of those with T1DM reported that they were still feeling thirsty at the end of their training session. Conclusions: T1DM individuals self-report spontaneously consuming fluid adequate volumes suggested by sport nutrition guidelines for non-diabetic athletes. Discrepancies in the T1DM subjectively reported feelings of thirst suggest that more education on hydration during exercise is needed for this population to adequately compensate for elevated blood glucose levels. It remains to be established whether fluid volumes suggested for healthy athletes are adequate for maintaining euhydration in T1DM patients due to their altered diuresis.

Intercontinental PA initiatives assessing children and adolescents differ greatly, resulting in contradictory internation comparisons.3 Resource-limited countries, younger children, those not attending school, children and adolescents with disabilities or chronic conditions and those from rural areas are generally under-represented or not represented.3 This continues despite calls to establish systematic PA surveillance from infancy onwards to inform public health policy and practice.4 The global transition to the current low levels of habitual PA observed among children and adolescents, beginning in the second half of the last century, now limits progress towards several sustainable development goals, undermines non-communicable disease prevention and increases healthcare costs. The AHKGA’s vision is ‘a world of active, healthy kids’ and its mission is to ‘power the global movement to get kids moving’ through thought leadership, knowledge translation, mobilisation, capacity building and advocacy. [...]far, the dominant effort of AHKGA has been its thought leadership, knowledge translation, mobilisation, capacity building, and its Global Matrix initiative, which began in 2014 with participation from 15 countries, before rapidly expanding to include expected participation rates of >70 jurisdictions for its forthcoming fifth edition.5 Harmonising the assessment of the child physical activity landscape internationally The first Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth was launched in 2005, in Toronto, Canada, to ‘power the movement to get kids moving’. Eventually, the time constraints of mentoring the increasing number of interested parties became sufficiently burdensome that the Canadian team opened the process to make these Report Cards an international group effort, with 15 countries preparing Report Cards following a harmonised approach and timeline.6 AHKGA innovation and impact Over the past decade, the AHKGA, through its Global Matrix initiative, has built an extensive, global network, producing significant, high-quality scientific outputs, which includes >68 jurisdictions and in excess of 682 PA leaders/child PA experts. Prevalence of meeting 24-Hour Movement Guidelines from pre-school to adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis including 387,437 participants and 23 countries.

In Slovenia, the existing studies of relations between physical activity (PA), academic performance (AP) and urbanization grade have used subjective self-reporting tools for assessing physical activity, which usually led to an underestimation of true PA. We have attempted to overcome this and have investigated the link between PA in rural and urban Slovenian schoolchildren by an objective assessment of PA, using a multi-sensor SenseWear PRO armband. The analysis showed that urban children in Slovenia are more physically active than rural children are and achieve better AP (mathematics grade). Additionally, children who are active between 60 and 120 minutes of MVPA/day have higher AP than their peers who are active less than 60 or more than 120 minutes, whereas the latter groups did not differ in academic performance.

The microclimate of an airline cabin consists of dry, recirculated, and cool air, which is maintained at lower pressure than that found at sea level. Being exposed to this distinctive, encapsulated environment for prolonged durations, together with the short-term chair-rest immobilization that occurs during long-haul flights, can trigger distinct and detrimental reactions to the human body. There is evidence that long-haul flights promote fluid shifts to the lower extremity and induce changes in blood viscosity which may accelerate dehydration, possibly compromising an athlete’s potential for success upon arrival at their destination. Surprisingly, and despite several recent systematic reviews investigating the effects of jet lag and transmeridian travel on human physiology, there has been no systematic effort to address to what extent hypohydration is a (health, performance) risk to travelers embarking on long journeys. This narrative review summarizes the rationale and evidence for why the combination of fluid balance and long-haul flight remains a critically overlooked issue for traveling persons, be it for health, leisure, business, or in a sporting context. Upon review, there are few studies which have been conducted on actual traveling athletes, and those that have provide no real evidence of how the incidence rate, magnitude, or duration of acute dehydration may affect the general health or performance of elite athletes.

PurposeAthletes in Olympic combat sports experience body water fluctuations resulting from training and intentional dehydration when making weight. Despite the popularity of urine specific gravity (USG) and urine osmolality (UOSM) measurement in characterizing fluid fluctuations, their utility remains questioned. This systematic review/meta-analysis examined the utility of urinary hydration indices in laboratory and field settings in Olympic combat sport athletes.Methods27 articles met the inclusion criteria for systematic review, 15 studies were included in the meta-analysis; with USG and UOSM the main outcome variables. Meta-regression analyses evaluated the interrelationship among body mass (BM), fluid intake, and urine measures.ResultsSignificant USG alterations were observed following different sampling time frames: dehydration (ES 0.59; 95% CI 0.46–0.72; p = 0.001), follow-up period (ES 0.31; 95% CI 0.11–0.50; p = 0.002) and rehydration (ES − 0.34; 95% CI − 0.56 to − 0.12; p = 0.003). Direct comparison of laboratory (ES 0.20; 95% CI − 0.19 to 0.59; p = 0.324) and field (ES 0.35; 95% CI 0.14–0.56; p = 0.001) sampling showed marginally trivial and small effects. Small effects on UOSM were observed following dehydration (ES 0.31; 95% CI 0.12–0.74, p = 0.15), follow-up period (ES 0.39; 95% CI 0.08–0.70, p = 0.015) and rehydration (ES − 0.45; 95% CI − 0.60 to 0.30, p = 0.001). Meta-regression analysis suggests only fluid intake predicts USG alterations (p = 0.044) during rehydration protocols.ConclusionsThere were likely small changes in both USG and UOSM readings across all experimental conditions, with moderate-to-large heterogeneity in all studies, except for USG readings during dehydration protocols. The meta-regression failed to provide conclusive evidence concerning the interrelationship among urine measures, BM fluctuations, and fluid intake.

Background and Aim: The Mediterranean is one of the major gateways of human migratory fluxes from Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia to Europe. Sea accidents have become an urgent humanitarian crisis due to the high number of migrants on the move, but data on the physiological effects to sudden cool water immersion are not as extensive as cold-water studies. We wanted to evaluate to what extent cool water immersion (~18 °C) may detrimentally affect cognitive ability and cardiorespiratory strain compared to the more prevalent cold-water (<10–15 °C) studies. Methods: In this case, 10 active, healthy men participated in this study which consisted of completing one familiarization trial, and then a control (CON) or experimental (EXP) trial in a randomized, repeated-measures, cross-over fashion, separated by at least 7-days. Cognitive function was assessed via the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), a code substitution test, performed at baseline, then repeated in either a thermoneutral (~25 °C room air) dry environment, or when immersed to the neck in 18 °C water. Testing consisted of six “Step” time-blocks 45-s each, with a 5-s pause between each Step. Cardiorespiratory measures, continuously recorded, included heart rate (beats per minute), minute ventilation (V˙E, L∙min−1), oxygen consumption (V˙O2, L∙min−1), and respiratory frequency (fR, count∙min−1). Results: Initial responses to cool water (<2 min) found that participants performed ~11% worse on the code substitution test (p = 0.025), consumed 149% greater amounts of oxygen (CI: 5.1 to 9.1 L∙min−1, p < 0.0001) and experienced higher cardiovascular strain (HR CI: 13 to 38 beats per minute, p = 0.001) than during the control trial. Physiological strain was in-line to those observed in much colder water temperature. Conclusion: Sudden, cool water immersion also negatively affects cognitive function and cardiorespiratory strain, especially during the first two minutes of exposure. The magnitude increase in heart rate is strongly associated with poorer cognitive function, even in (relatively) warmer water consistent with temperatures found in the Mediterranean Sea environment.

Background FitBack is an international network established to support the creation of physical fitness monitoring and surveillance systems for children and adolescents across Europe. Aims As a part of the greater scope of the FitBack European project, the FitBack web portal was designed and tailored for various target groups, such as teachers, health professionals, policy makers, parents, and youths, with the aim to promote their physical and health literacy. Methods The FitBack web portal is a free and multilingual online resource, and two of its webpages were evaluated: “Make interactive report” was evaluated by 78 secondary school students and 27 physical education teachers, and “10 steps to design a physical fitness monitoring system” by 14 physical activity promotion policy makers. Validated scales and open-ended questions were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative responses. Results ‘Good’-to-‘excellent’ scores emerged for user experience (5.43–6.36 out of 7) and webpage usability (3.70–4.27 out of 5). Qualitative feedback highlighted positive comments and cues on how to improve website features. Conclusions Results indicate that the current FitBack web portal is a clear and user-friendly mobile health tool, which includes relevant information on how to use and implement youth physical fitness monitoring and surveillance systems.

COVID-19 may increase the risk of heat-related symptoms during hot weather since vulnerable populations, including the elderly and those with neurological disabilities, must continue to self-isolate, often indoors. Within the chronic neurological patient population, indoor conditions in summer months present a hazard because of impaired and/or altered thermoregulation, including poor hydration status due to both autonomic and behavioral dysfunction(s). To address this increased risk, telemedicine protocols should include an assessment of the patient’s environmental parameters, and when combined with physiological data from wearable devices, identify those with neurological diseases who are at higher risk of heat illness. Personalized medicine during times of self-isolation must be encouraged, and using smart technology in ambient assisted living solutions, including e-health to monitor physiological parameters are highly recommended, not only during extreme weather conditions but also during times of increased isolation and vulnerability.