MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24142" align="alignleft" width="128"] Dr. Jonathan Silverberg[/caption] Dr. Jonathan L. Silverberg MD PhD MPH Assistant Professor in Dermatology Medical Social Sciences...
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Klaus Gebel
GradDipExRehab, MExSc, MAppSc, PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention
College of Public Health, Medical & Veterinary Sciences
James Cook University
Cairns Australia
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?
Response: The physical activity guidelines in most countries recommend for adults to accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity (e.g. brisk walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous activity (e.g. jogging or cycling) or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous activities where 2 minutes of moderate-intensity activity counts the same as 1 minute of vigorous-intensity activity. However, there have only been a few studies that examined the health benefits of different proportions of moderate and vigorous activity in the composition of total activity. The objective of this study was to examine whether the proportion of total moderate-to-vigorous activity that is achieved through vigorous activity is associated with all-cause mortality, independently of the total amount of moderate-to-vigorous activity. Data were used from the 45 and Up study from the state of New South Wales in Australia, the largest cohort study ever conducted in the Southern hemisphere.
Medical Research: What are the main findings?
Response: During 1,444,927 person-years of follow-up, 7,435 deaths were registered. Compared with those who reported no moderate-to-vigorous activity (crude death rate=8.34%), the adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 0.66 (95% CI 0.61-0.71; crude death rate=4.81%), 0.53 (0.48-0.57; 3.17%), and 0.46 (0.43-0.49; 2.64%) for reporting 10-149, 150-299, and for ≥300 minutes of activity per week respectively. Among those participants who reported any moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, the proportion of vigorous activity showed a dose-response relationship with all-cause mortality: compared with those reporting no vigorous activity (crude death rate=3.84%) the fully-adjusted hazard ratio was 0.91 (95% CI=0.84-0.98; crude death rate=2.35%) in those who reported some vigorous activity (but <30% of total activity); and 0.87 (0.81-0.93; 2.08%) among those who reported ≥30% of activity as vigorous. These associations were consistent in men and women, across categories of body mass index and volume of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and in those with and without existing cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus.
(more…)[caption id="attachment_13080" align="alignleft" width="199"] CDC Image: Cardiorespiratory Fitness[/caption] MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susan G. Lakoski, M.D. Assistant Professor of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology DivisionDepartment of Medicine...
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Pam R. Taub, MD, FACC
Assistant Professor of Medicine
UC San Diego Health System
Division of Cardiology Encinitas, CA 92024
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Taub: Epidemiological studies indicate that the consumption of modest amounts of dark chocolate (DC), which contains the natural cacao flavanol (-)-epicatechin (Epi,) is associated with reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The health benefits of dark chocolate have been attributed to Epi. Clinical studies using cocoa and/or DC in normal volunteers or subjects with CVD have reported improvements in peripheral and coronary vascular endothelial function, blood pressure, lipids, insulin resistance, and inflammatory markers. The mechanism underlying these improvements is thought to be due to increased nitric oxide levels and improved endothelial function. We have also shown that capacity of Epi to favorable impact mitochondria under normal and disease states.
We previously conducted pilot study in five patients with heart failure and type II diabetes, and showed that in skeletal muscle (SkM) biopsies there is a severe reduction in mitochondrial volume and cristae, as well as, in structural/functional proteins. After treatment with Epi rich dark chocolate , there was a significant recovery of SkM mitochondrial cristae, structural/functional proteins (e.g. mitofilin), as well as in regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis. However, no studies have examined the capacity of Epi rich dark chocolate to enhance exercise capacity in normal subjects and assess its impact on mitochondrial and oxidative control systems.
Medical Research: What are the main findings?
Dr. Taub: Seventeen subjects were randomized to placebo (n=8) or DC groups (n=9) and consumed 2 squares of chocolate (20 g, provided by Hershey) for 3 months.
We showed in the chocolate group subjects had improved levels of HDL cholesterol and enhanced exercise capacity that is linked to the stimulation of SkM metabolic control endpoints which enhance mitochondrial function.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dan White PT , ScD, Msc
University of Delaware
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. White: We know that diet and exercise are beneficial to reduce knee pain, however it is not known whether diet and exercise can actually prevent the development of knee pain in people at high risk. We found that an intensive program of diet and exercise had a small but statistically significant protective effect with preventing the development of knee pain in overweight and obese people with diabetes.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Scott M. Hayes, Ph.D. Associate Director
Neuroimaging Research for Veterans Center
Memory Disorders Research Center
VA Boston Healthcare System
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Boston University School of Medicine
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Hayes: Studies with rodents have demonstrated that physical activity positively impacts memory, whereas human studies have tended to emphasize a relationship with executive function—which refers to one’s ability to plan, organize, and manipulate information in one’s mind. To clarify the relationship between fitness, cognition, and aging, we directly assessed cardiorespiratory fitness (heart and lung function) using the gold standard in the field, a graded treadmill test, and assessed both memory and executive functions in young and older adults. Our results showed that cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with memory and executive functions in older adults, but not young adults. In fact, on tests of executive functions, older adults with higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness performed as well as younger adults. The impact of cardiorespiratory fitness may be age-dependent. Young adults, who are at their peak in terms of memory performance, may exhibit minimal associations with cardiorespiratory fitness. In contrast, cardiorespiratory fitness likely has a larger impact in older adults by attenuating age-related decline in memory.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Carl "Chip" Lavie MD, FACC
Medical Director, Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention
Director, Exercise Laboratories
John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute
Professor of Medicine
Ochsner Clinical School-UQ School of Medicine
Editor-in-Chief, Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases
Medical Research: What are the key points of your editorial?
Dr. Lavie:
1) The importance of higher fitness to predict a lower rate of developing Heart Failure;
2) improvements in fitness over time predict a lower rate of developing Heart Failure, and
3) Once Heart Failure develops, higher fitness predicts a more favorable prognosis.
(more…)
Xuemei Sui, MD, MPH, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Exercise Science
Division of Health Aspects of Physical Activity
Arnold School of Public Health
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sui:
First, blood pressure is inversely associated with cardiorespiratory fitness levels among men. People in higher fitness categories had lower blood pressure than those in lower fitness categories.
Second, fitness is a strong effect modifier for the systolic blood pressure aging trajectory.
A higher fitness level can significantly delay the natural age-associated increase in blood pressure.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
James Fisher BSc (Hons) MSc PGCLT(HE)
Senior Lecturer Sports Conditioning and Fitness
IFBB Certified Weight Training Prescription Specialist
Centre for Health, Exercise and Sport Science
Faculty of Business, Sport and Enterprise
Southampton Solent University, Southampton
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: The study reports that pre-conceived ideas about exercise order, and rest intervals are not substantiated by evidence, and that advanced training routines such as pre-exhaustion appear to induce no greater strength adaptations than simpler training methods. Ultimately, that a single set of each exercise performed at a repetition duration which maintains muscular tension is all that is necessary to induce significant increases in strength in even trained persons.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Merja K. Laine
Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care
University of Helsinki
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background of your study?
Answer: We were interesting to know does a top-level sport during young adulthood protect against disturbances in glucose regulation in later life. In Finland, a unique study program including former male elite athletes and their age- and area-matched controls already initiated in 1985. In 2008, we invited those subjects who participated in the study earlier and were still alive.
(more…)