Aging, Author Interviews, BMJ, Exercise - Fitness / 08.10.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ulrik Wisløff Professor and Head of CERG and K.G. Jebsen Centre for Exercise in Medicine of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences NTNU-Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The Generation 100 study followed more than 1500 women and men in their 70s for five years. The aim was to find out if exercise gives older adults a longer and healthier life, and we also compare the effect of moderate and high-intensity exercise. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: Overall survival was high in all three groups, compared to what’s expected in this age group. There was a clear trend towards greater survival in the high-intensity compared to the moderate intensity exercise group. High-intensity interval training also had the greatest effect on cardiorespiratory fitness and health-related quality of life. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease / 08.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Emiliano Cè Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health University of Milan Via Giuseppe Colombo, 71(2nd Building) Milan, Italy MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We investigated the effects of long-term passive stretch training of the lower limb on vascular function and stiffness of the arteries involved (femoral and popliteal) and uninvolved (brachial) in the stretching protocol. Thirty-nine healthy participants of both sexes were randomly assigned to bilateral, unilateral or control (i.e., no passive stretch training). Passive stretch training was performed on knee extensor, plantar flexor muscles, and posterior muscle chain, 5 times a week for 12 weeks. Before and after the training period, vascular function was measured by Doppler ultrasounds during single passive limb movement (i.e., passive knee flexion-extension) and flow-mediated dilation (i.e., brachial and popliteal arteries). Measures of central (carotid-femoral artery) and peripheral (carotid-radial artery) arterial stiffness were performed by applanation tonometry technique. The same technique was used to assess the pulse wave velocity at the carotid artery level.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, Hip Fractures, JAMA, Menopause / 28.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean Wactawski-Wende PhD Dean, SUNY Distinguished Professor Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health School of Public Health and Health Professions University of Buffalo MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: This study included data from the Women’s Health Initiative, a prospective study of postmenopausal women from across the United States. We assessed physical activity in 77,206 women over an average of 14 years of follow-up. Approximately 1/3 of these women (average age 63.4 years) had at least one fracture occur. Higher physical activity levels were associated with  lower risk of hip and total fracture. Even levels of activity that were moderate, including regular walking and doing household chores, were beneficial.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Exercise - Fitness, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics / 22.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam Bohr, PhD Postdoctoral researcher Department of Integrative Physiology University of Colorado Boulder  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: ​Recent population studies of former football players from the 1950's did not observe a relationship between participation in football and adverse cognitive outcomes in late adulthood. We were able to replicate this finding in a more recently ascertained cohort from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We did not observe a relationship between participation in contact sports/football in the mid-1990s and impaired cognitive ability or mental health in early adulthood. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Erectile Dysfunction, JAMA / 26.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rachel Grashow PhD Research Associate Department of Environmental Health Football Players Health Study at Harvard University Harvard T.H. Chan  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: It has been previously shown in small studies of boxers and military personnel that traumatic brain injuries can damage the pituitary gland, which serves as the "master controller" of hormone function in the brain. These studies on individuals at risk for repeated head injury found that hits on the head caused deficiencies in certain hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, which could have downstream effects on sexual function. Only one large study was conducted that used Taiwanese health insurance data and looked at single traumatic brain injuries and risk of erectile function (ED). In that study, men who experienced a single severe TBI were more than twice as like to report ED after their injury. In light of these findings, important questions remain regarding whether multiple head injuries are associated with pituitary or sexual dysfunction in a large population with other ED-related health issues. The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University asked former NFL players to fill out a questionnaire that interrogated demographic factors, football-related exposures and current health conditions. Specifically, we asked participants to self-report the frequency of ten different concussion symptoms experienced during professional play, as well as whether a clinician had ever recommended or prescribed medication for low testosterone or ED.   (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Exercise - Fitness / 23.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Ulf Ekelund PhD Professor in Physical Activity and Health Department of Sport Medicine Norwegian School of Sport Sciences Oslo, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We know that physical activity of a moderate or vigorous intensity (such as brisk walking) is good for your health. More recently, it has also been shown that prolonged sitting is also linked to an increased risk for many chronic diseases and premature death. Current physical activity recommendations suggest that all adults should participate in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity and that prolonged sitting should be avoided. However, how much sitting is too much? This is not specified and is widely debated. In addition, are levels of physical activity below those recommended still beneficial for health and does light intensity physical activity still count? Answering these questions have huge relevance for health promotion. We therefore performed a study analysing data from eight studies in which physical activity was assessed precisely with an activity monitor in about 36000 individuals followed for about six years during which more than 2500 died.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health / 31.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Wei Bao, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology College of Public Health, University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242  and Yang Du University of Iowa MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2008, the US Department of Health and Human Services released the first federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which recommended that people should do at least 150 minutes moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. This key recommendation has been reaffirmed in the 2018 recently updated Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. In addition, the new 2018 Guidelines for the first time discussed health risks of sedentary behaviors. Insufficient physical activity and long sitting time have long been recognized as risk factors for major chronic diseases and mortality. Therefore, we were curious whether there have been a significant changes in adherence to the Physical Activity Guidelines in US adults since the release of the first edition of the federal guidelines in 2008 and whether sedentary behavior in US adults changed during the same period. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness / 15.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew J. Stork, PhD Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Postdoctoral Fellow The University of British Columbia School of Health & Exercise Sciences MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves multiple brief, high-intensity efforts, separated by periods of recovery. Research shows that several weeks of HIIT can elicit meaningful physical health benefits that are similar to those of traditional, long-duration aerobic exercise. While HIIT is time-efficient and can induce important health benefits, one major drawback is that people may find it to be unpleasant – especially those who are insufficiently active and not meeting recommended physical activity guidelines. The potentially unpleasant nature of HIIT may deter people from beginning or adhering to a HIIT program. Consequently, researchers have begun to investigate the use of music as a potential strategy to enhance people’s pleasure during HIIT. However, the current research evidence is quite limited and, in particular, insufficiently active individuals have been understudied. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Geriatrics, JAMA / 05.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Teresa Liu-Ambrose, PT, PhD Canada Research Chair (Tier II), Physical Activity, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience Director, Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory University of British Columbia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  Falls in older adults are the third-leading cause of chronic disability and the leading cause of hospitalization for adults over age 65. Older adults who experience multiple falls are at increased risk for disability, loss of independence, and even death. How to best prevent falls in this high risk group is not well established.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA / 02.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: I-Min Lee, MD, ScD Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Professor of Epidemiology Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: While we have many studies showing that physical activity is beneficial for health, there are few data on steps and health, particularly long-term health outcomes.  An expert committee – the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee, which reviewed the scientific evidence to support the recently released Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition – noted this (i.e., the relation between steps and health outcomes) to be a critical gap in knowledge, since many individuals are using wearables and monitoring their step counts. We often hear the number 10,000 steps cited as a daily goal, but the basis for this number is unclear. It likely originated as a marketing tool: in 1965, the Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company, Japan sold a pedometer called “Manpo-kei” – “ten thousand steps meter” in Japanese. For many older people, 10,000 steps/day can be a very daunting goal; thus, we wanted to investigate whether this was necessary for lower mortality rates in older women.  Additionally, steps taken can be fast or slow, and there are no published studies on step intensity and long-term health outcomes.  Note that walking pace and step intensity are not the same concept: walking pace gauges intensity when walking purposefully (e.g., for exercise or transportation), while step intensity assesses an overall best natural effort in our daily life. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Lifestyle & Health, Weight Research / 16.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: sneakers-walkingFrancesco Zaccardi, MD, PhD Clinical Epidemiologist Assistant Director Leicester Real World Evidence Unit Leicester Diabetes Centre UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The role of excess body weight on mortality has been extensively investigated during the last decades. Studies from several countries have also shown, however, that the risk of death in persons who are overweight or obese is lower if their fitness, a parameter indicating cardio-pulmonary health, is higher. Most of these studies reported the beneficial effect of fitness in terms of relative risk reduction, for example 20% reduction of risk of death. Relative estimates, though, are difficult to interpret. (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Parkinson's / 10.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Jojo Kwok  R.N., BN(Hons), MPH, Ph.D. School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine The University of Hong Kong MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Before the study, we knew that mind-body exercises such as yoga and stretching improves the physical health of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), however the benefits to their mental health was not known. This study concludes that mindfulness yoga alleviates psychological distress, improves spiritual well-being and quality of life, not to mention motor symptoms and mobility. When it comes to managing the stress and symptoms of Parkinson Disease, what is exciting, is that yoga has now been proven to be a better strategy than just stretching. Yoga draws together body, mind and spirit through mindful practice of 1) yoga posture, 2) breathing and 3) meditation. These form the three core components of our Mindfulness Yoga Program. Mindfulness is non-judgemental awareness of the present moment - of one’s physical sensations and thoughts, be they positive or negative. By adopting a mind-body approach, patients are much better positioned to reframe their illness journey than through physical training alone. By learning to relate non-judgmentally to their physical symptoms and emotions, they develop new coping skills that cultivate openness, acceptance and resilience to these symptoms. They feel better.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, JAMA, UCLA / 29.03.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christina M. Dieli-Conwright, PhD, MPH, FACSM, CSCS Assistant Professor of Research Director, Integrative Center for Oncology Research in Exercise Division of Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy, Ostrow School of Dentistry Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90033  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: This study was designed to assess the effects of an aerobic and resistance exercise on metabolic dysregulation in sedentary, obese breast cancer survivors, however we further examined the effects on cardiovascular disease risk measured by the Framingham Risk Score, reported here. Our findings indicated that exercise, indeed, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in this population.  (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA / 25.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fuzhong Li, Ph.D. Senior Scientist Oregon Research Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Injurious falls among community-dwelling older adults are a serious public health and cost-bearing problem worldwide.Exercise has been shown to reduce falls and injurious falls among older adults. However, evidence is limited with regard to the type of exercise interventions that are most effective, without exacerbating the risk in some individuals, in reducing injurious falls. This study addresses this knowledge gap in the field of falls prevention. Findings from this study showed that a six-month Tai Ji Quan program reduced the incidence of injurious falls among frail elderly by 53% compared to a regular (multimodal) exercise intervention. The effect of the Tai Ji Quan intervention was shown to be robust, and still evident at follow-up examinations six months after the study. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Exercise - Fitness, Weight Research / 25.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: "Colnago M10 Campagnolo Record Custom Bike 067" by Glory Cycles is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Dr Paul Gentil Faculty of Physical Education and Dance Federal University of Goias Goiania, Brazil  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Although being overweight and/or obese are associated with numerous health risks, the prevalence of both are continuing to increase worldwide. The treatment would include anything that results in an increase in energy expenditure (exercise) or a decrease in energy intake (diet). However, our metabolism seems to adapt to variations in physical activity to maintain total energy expenditure. Although lower-than-expected weight loss is often attributed to incomplete adherence to prescribed  interventions, there are other factors that might influence the results, such as, metabolic downregulation. So, instead of making people spend more calories, maybe we have to think on how to promote metabolic changes in order to overcome these physiological adaptations above-mentioned. In this regard, high intensity training might be particularly interesting as a strategy to promote fat loss. Irrespective the amount of calories spent during training, higher intensity exercise seems to promote many physiological changes that might favor long-term weight loss. For example, previous studies have shown that interval training is able to promote upregulation of important enzymes associated with glycolysis and beta oxidation pathways, which occurs in a greater extent than with moderate intensity continuous exercise. Our findings suggest that interval training might be an important tool to promote weigh loss. However, I t might be performed adequately and under direct supervision in order to get better results. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Exercise - Fitness / 22.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael J. Wheeler Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute Melbourne, Victoria, Australia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We conducted this study because separate lines of inquiry have determined that a bout of exercise can acutely lower blood pressure, and more recently that prolonged sitting can increase blood pressure over the space of a day. We wanted to know whether the blood pressure lowering effects of an exercise bout would be diminished by a subsequent period of prolonged sitting or enhanced by a subsequent period of sitting that is regularly interrupted with short walking breaks. We found an additive blood pressure lowering effect when exercise was combined with breaks in sitting as opposed to exercise plus prolonged sitting. However, this was only true for women. Men had equal blood pressure lowering effects following exercise regardless of whether-or-not subsequent sitting was interrupted (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Frailty / 04.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: "DSC08418" by Debs (\xf2\u203f\xf3)\u266a is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0Cathie Sherrington FAHMS Professor, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow Institute for Musculoskeletal Health The University of Sydney MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What types of exercise were tested or indicated? Response: Falls are a very common problem with at least one in three people aged 60+ falling each year. This review included all types of exercises delivered to people aged 60+ in the general community i.e., not those living in supported accommodation and not among people with particular health conditions such as a stroke or Parkinson’s disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, JAMA / 30.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Laura DeFina, MD President and Chief Executive Officer Chief Science Officer The Cooper Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Several studies suggest that endurance athletes may be at higher risk for asymptomatic hardening of the coronary arteries.  These studies, however, have been done on small numbers of endurance athletes (ie – marathon runners) and do not show whether this increase in hardening actually leads to increase in heart attacks or death of cardiovascular disease. In our population of 21,758 generally healthy individuals (average age 52 years) who presented for a preventive medicine examination, we were able to evaluate for the presence of hardening and cardiovascular events in individuals who exercised high volumes (≥3000 MET·minutes/week or comparable to running 6 miles/hour for an hour 5 days a week) versus those exercising less. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Gender Differences / 22.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lloyd Brandts PhD Candidate Maastricht University Maastricht, the Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Although the number of people who reached old age has increased over the past few decades, in some developing countries it has been observed that the increase in life expectancy started to plateau. One commonly used argument to explain this plateauing is the growing number of obese and physically inactive individuals. Therefore, we assessed whether there is an association between these factors and the chance of reaching the age of 90 years. (more…)
Author Interviews, CDC, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health / 24.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emily N Ussery, PhD Epidemiologist LT, US Public Health Service Physical Activity and Health Branch National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Sitting for too long and being physically inactive can have negative health consequences, and it is important to understand how common these behaviors are among US adults. This study describes sitting time and leisure-time physical activity reported by US adults in a national survey. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Pain Research / 13.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ms Lynne Gaskell MSc University of Salford Manchester UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Musculoskeletal Pain as a result of common problems affecting the back, neck, shoulder, knee and multi-site pain is an increasing cause of reduced function and quality of life, and ever increasing demands on healthcare, Prognosis is often poor with many people reporting persistent symptoms after consulting their primary care practitioner. The likelihood of persistent and recurrent clinical symptoms may accentuate the physical, psychological, and social impacts of musculoskeletal pain particularly with the middle aged and elderly populations. Pilates is an exercise approach that has become increasingly popular in recent years and includes over fifty different exercises to improve flexibility, balance, core strength, core stability. It can therefore can be individualised for people with different needs, preferences, musculoskeletal conditions, ages and abilities. Aligning exercise to patient’s functional needs has been linked to long-term exercise adherence. Many physiotherapists such as sydney physio solutions have started to specialise in this as a form of treatment, click here for more info on pilates and the many benefits they can have on your physical health. This study investigated the personal experiences and perceptions of the impact of Pilates on the day-to-day lives of adults with a myriad of chronic MSK conditions following a 12 week Pilates Exercise Programme.The results were organised into five main themes: 1. Physical Improvements strength, core stability, flexibility and balance. 2. Pilates Promotes an Active Lifestyle and improved performance at work and / or hobbies. 3. Psychosocial benefits and improved confidence, 4. Increased Autonomy in Managing their own Musculoskeletal Condition and 5. Motivation to continue with exercise. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Exercise - Fitness / 10.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Laurien Buffart, PhD Chair Amsterdam eXercise in Oncology (AXiON) research Departments of Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Medical Oncology VUmc  Amsterdam | The Netherlands MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: There is evidence from randomized controlled trials that exercise has beneficial effects on physical fitness, fatigue, quality of life and self-reported physical function during and following cancer treatment. The magnitude of the effects, however, often appear modest, possibly because interventions rarely target patients with worse symptoms and quality of life. Based on individual patient data from 34 randomized controlled trials, we found that exercise interventions during cancer treatment are effective in maintaining muscle strength and quality of life, regardless of their baseline values. Offering exercise interventions post cancer treatment to patients with a relatively high muscle strength and quality of life does not appear to further improve these outcomes. For aerobic fitness, exercise interventions during treatment had larger effects in patients with higher baseline aerobic fitness, whereas all patients were able to improve aerobic fitness post treatment. Greater effects on fatigue and self-reported physical function were found for patients with worse baseline fatigue and physical function, both during and post-treatment.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Neurology, Parkinson's / 23.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Fudi Wang, M.D., Ph.D. Qiushi Chair Professor Nutrition Discovery Innovation Center School of Public Health/School of Medicine Zhejiang University Hangzhou 310058, ChinaFudi Wang, M.D., Ph.D. Qiushi Chair Professor Nutrition Discovery Innovation Center School of Public Health/School of Medicine Zhejiang University Hangzhou  China MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting approximately 10 million people around the world. To date, the cause of PD remains poorly understood. It is reported that 90% PD cases have no identifiable genetic cause. What’s worse, few therapeutic advances for the treatment of PD have been made in the past decades. Nevertheless, growing prospective longitudinal studies shed lights on the potential beneficial effect of lifestyle factors on reducing the risk of developing Parkinson disease. In this study, we performed a a dose-response meta-analysis of more than half a million participants. We found that physical activity, particularly moderate to vigorous physical activity, could significantly reduce PD risk. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Lifestyle & Health / 18.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “sleeping” by Venturist is licensed under CC BY 2.0Matthieu Boisgontier  PhD Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group KU Leuven Brain Behaviour Laboratory University of British Columbia, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: For decades, society has encouraged people to be more physically active. Yet, despite gradually scaling up actions promoting physical activity across the years, we are actually becoming less active. From 2010 to 2016, the number of inactive adults has increased by 5% worldwide, now affecting more than 1 in 4 adults (1.4 billion people). This context raised the question: Why do we still fail to be more physically active? Our hypothesis was that this failure is explained by an “exercise paradox” in which conscious and automatic processes in the brain come into conflict. To illustrate this paradox, you can think of people taking the elevator or escalator when they go to the gym, which does not make sense. This non-sense, this paradox, could be due to the fact that their intention to exercise come into conflict with an automatic attraction to resting in the elevator. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Exercise - Fitness / 14.09.2018

“Girl Playing Soccer” by Bold Content is licensed under CC BY 2.0MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Craig Pulling. MSc, PGCE, BA (Hons), FHEA Head of Physical Education University of Chichester MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Successful perceptual-cognitive skill in team-sports such as football requires players to pick up task-relevant information during the control of action in complex and dynamic situations. It has been proposed that players could perform visual exploratory activity (VEA) to be able to recognise important cues in the playing environment. VEA is defined as: “A body and/or head movement in which the player’s face is actively and temporarily directed away from the ball, seemingly with the intention of looking for teammates, opponents or other environmental objects or events, relevant to perform a subsequent action with the ball” (Jordet, 2005, p.143). Research has suggested that VEA is an important facet of skilled performance in youth and adult football. However, it is currently unknown whether such evidence is commensurate with the views of coaches and whether coaching practices are utilised to develop VEA in training. In order to further current understanding on VEA and coaching practices, the present study developed an online survey to examine: (i) when VEA should be introduced in coaching; (ii) how VEA is delivered by coaches and (iii) how coaches evaluate VEA. Further, this study aimed to explore whether distinct groups of football coaches existed who differed in their approach to the delivery of VEA training and, if so, whether there were differences in the demographics of the coaches across these differentiated groups. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Geriatrics, JAMA / 10.09.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Peter A. Harmer, PhD., MPH., ATC., FACSM Professor - Department of Exercise & Health Science Willamette University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Falls in older adults have long been a significant healthcare problem associated with loss of independence, premature morbidity and mortality, and considerable financial strain on individuals and healthcare systems. With the demographic impact of the Baby Boom generation aging into retirement, this issue is becoming even more critical. Among potential prevention strategies, exercise has been proposed to be beneficial. However, establishing what types of exercise are suitable to the task has been problematic. More importantly, identifying differences in the effectiveness of various exercise approaches has been lacking. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, Heart Disease, Lifestyle & Health, Stroke / 23.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Doug Manuel MD, MSc, FRCPC Professor and Senior Scientist Ottawa Hospital Research Institute | L’Institut de Recherche de l’Hôpital d’Ottawa Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa Départment de Médicine Familiale Université d’Ottawa  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: A lot of people are interested in healthy living, but often we don't have that discussion in the doctor's office," says Dr. Manuel, who is also a professor at the University of Ottawa. "Doctors will check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but they don't necessarily ask about lifestyle factors that could put you at risk of a heart attack and stroke. We hope this tool can help people — and their care team — with better information about healthy living and options for reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke." "What sets this cardiovascular risk calculator apart is that it looks at healthy living, and it is better calibrated to the Canadian population," says Dr. Doug Manuel, lead author, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and a senior core scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).”  (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Microbiome, UCSF / 12.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: James R. Bagley, PhD Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Director, Muscle Physiology Lab Co-Director, Exercise Physiology Lab Research Director, Strength & Conditioning Lab San Francisco State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The human body contains many billions of bacteria cells, and the type of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract (termed gut microbiota) has been linked to certain diseases. Most of your gut microbiota falls into two categories: Firmicutes (F) or Bacteroidetes (B). The relative gut F/B ratio has been used to assess microbiota health. Our study was the first to examine potential relationships among F/B ratio and cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and diet in healthy young men and women We recruited 37 healthy adults to undergo a battery of physiological tests and collected stool samples to analyze their gut F/B ratio using qPCR. We found that F/B ratio was significantly correlated with cardiorespiratory fitness, but with no other variables. In fact, this correlation was so strong that a person’s fitness level explained ~22% of the variance in their gut bacteria composition. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Genetic Research, Heart Disease / 19.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Patricia Munroe PhD Professor of Molecular Medicine William Harvey Research Institute Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Over the years, it has become increasingly evident that impaired capacity to increase heart rate during exercise and reduce heart rate following exercise are important predictors of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. A person's capability to regulate their heart rate is the result of complex interactions of biological systems, including the autonomic nervous and hormonal systems. Prior work has demonstrated that genetic factors significantly contribute to variations in resting heart rate among different individuals, but less was known about the genetic factors modulating the response of heart rate to exercise and recovery. (more…)