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This study investigated the effects of 12-week interventions on cognitive and physical fitness adaptations in older men with cognitive decline. We employed a randomized, parallel, and controlled design with five groups: team sports (TS), team sports with cognitive training (TS+C), aerobic exercise (A), aerobic exercise with cognitive training (A+C), and a control group (Control). Fifty older male volunteers (mean age: 69.3 ± 3.2 years) were included in the analysis. Interventions consisted of two 60-minute sessions per week for 12 weeks. Both TS and A groups participated in structured physical training, with TS involving 5v5 handball and football games, and A focusing on circuit training exercises. The TS+C and A+C groups additionally incorporated 20-minute cognitive training sessions using a software, targeting memory, attention, and executive functions. The control group maintained their usual routines. Cognitive function was evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Physical fitness was assessed through six tests of the Senior Fitness Test. Results revealed significant post-intervention differences in MoCA (p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.622), chair stand (p = 0.038, ηp2 = 0.189), up and go (p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.516), and 6-minute walk test (p = 0.001, ηp2 = 0.333) scores among groups. Post hoc analysis showed that TS, TS+C, A, and A+C groups significantly improved in MoCA, chair stand, up and go, and 6-minute walk test compared to the control group (p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed for arm curl, sit and reach, or back scratch tests. Our findings suggest that 12-week interventions incorporating team sports or aerobic exercise, with or without cognitive training, can improve cognitive function and physical fitness in older men with cognitive decline, and may contribute to strategies aimed at promoting healthy aging.

This study has developed an alternative compounding formulation and process for natural rubber latex (NRL) foams for hand exercising application. Deprotenized natural rubber latex was used as raw material and a combination of DIXP and TBzTD, which were fugitive and high molecular weight accelerators, respectively, was used to lower allergenic potential and harmful nitrosamines. The NRL foams were prepared to various densities, characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and tested for hardness index, accelerated ageing and compression set in comparison to the foams with conventional compounding formulation. With the same processes, the foams with these two different formulations were found to have similar densities and hardness indices. However, the foams using DIXP and TBzTD accelerators performed better in compression set and accelerated ageing tests.

Many players and audiences nowadays are involved with hand sports, such as handball, volleyball, and basketball. The most important equipment of these games is ball. Each ball has its own characteristics and has to be made according to the rules of its federation. Many characteristics were defined for an approved handball, volleyball, and basketball by IHF, FIBA, and FIVB, respectively. These are including material properties, mass, pressure, etc. These characteristics so far have been well defined by many researchers to get the most efficient performance from a ball. Nonetheless, the mechanical properties of these balls so far have not been comprehensively studied. Therefore, this study was aimed to experimentally measure the compressive mechanical properties, including linear elastic, nonlinear hyperelastic, and viscoelastic (Prony series), of the handball, volleyball, and basketball using digital image correlation technique. To do this, 26 of each approved balls were mounted on a testing machine, and a set of quasi-static compressive and stress-relaxation loading were applied to them. The stress–strain and reduced relaxation function of the samples were calculated and compared. The results revealed the highest elastic modulus for the basketball (591 kPa), while the lowest one was observed for the handball (17 kPa). In addition, volleyball showed to be able to bear 5.941 and 1.615 times more stress compared to the handball and basketball, respectively. The hyperelastic material models, namely Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden, were employed to address the nonlinear mechanical behavior of the soccer balls. Finite element model of each ball was established as well and the obtained numerical data were found to be in good agreement with that of experimental ones. Many injuries to the human head have been attributed to these games due to the balls’ high speed. However, so far these injuries to the human eye have not been studied. The findings of this study, therefore, may have implications not only for understanding the mechanical properties of the balls, but also for providing raw data to investigate the injury that can be occurred for the human body by these balls, especially the eye.

هدفت هذه الدراسة الى بناء مستويات معيارية لاختبارات القدرات البدنية والمهارية والمواصفات الجسمية للاعبي مراكز الواعدين لكرة اليد في الاردن وقد تكونت عينة الدراسة من 152 طالبا من الذكور (العدو لمسافة 30 مترا)، القوة الانفجارية للرجلين (الوثب للامام من الثبات) القوة الانفجارية للذراعين (رمي الكرة) والمرونة ( ثني الجذع للامام من الجلوس الطويل ) واختبارين مهاريين هما توافق التمرير والاستقبال والتنطيط من الجري المتعرج بالاضافة الى القياسات الجسمية ممثلة في الطول والوزن واتساع الكف واتساع الذراعين ولتحليل نتائج الدراسة ثم استخدام المتوسطات الحسابية والانحرافات المعيارية ومعامل الالتواء والدرجات المثينية واظهرت نتائج الدراسة انخفاض مستوى القدرات البدنية والمهارية والقياسات الجسمية لدى عينة الدراسة حيث تراوحت المتوسطات بين مقبول الى متوسط وقد توصلت الدراسة الى بناء مستويات معيارية باستخدام الدرجات المثينية للقدرات البدية والمهارية والقياسات الجسمية لموهوبي كرة اليد في الاردن واوصت الدراسة بضرورة اعتماد هذه المعاير عند انتقاء لاعب كرة اليد في الاردن