Assessment of total body water and its compartments in elite judo athletes: comparison of bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy with dilution techniques

Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) is an inexpensive and non-invasive technique to measure total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), and intracellular water (ICW). The purpose of this study was to validate TBW, ECW and ICW assessed by BIS, using dilution techniques as the reference method (REF) in elite judo athletes. Thirty-two Portuguese elite male judo athletes were evaluated during a period of weight stability. TBW, ECW and ICW were assessed by BIS (Xitron 4000). Deuterium and bromide dilution techniques were used as the criterion method for measuring TBW and ECW, while ICW was calculated as the difference between the two. BIS explained 96%, 77% and 94% of the total variability from REFs for TBW, ECW and ICW, respectively. BIS also demonstrated high precision (ρ ≥ 0.88) and accuracy (C_b = 0.98), with a minimum concordance coefficient correlation of 0.87 for ECW. The mean bias demonstrated that BIS slightly overestimated the REF in 1.1 kg (2.3%), 0.3 kg (1.6%) and 0.8 kg (2.7%) for TBW, ECW and ICW, respectively. The 95% limits of agreement ranged from ?1.2 to 3.3 kg in TBW, from ?1.8 to 2.4 kg in ECW and from ?1.0 to 2.6 kg in ICW. A non-significant trend was found between the difference and the mean of reference and alternative methods. These findings highlight the efficacy of BIS as a valid non-biased tool for the assessment of TBW and its compartments in elite male judo athletes, during a period of weight stability.     

Survey on reporting of epithelial cells in urine sediment as part of external quality assessment programs in Brazilian laboratories

IntroductionEpithelial cells (ECs) are structures regularly observed during urine microscopy analysis. The correct identification of EC subtypes can be useful since renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) are clinically relevant. We investigate the urinary ECs report and the judgement of its clinical importance by Brazilian laboratories.Materials and methodsA survey with four questions was made available to participants of the Urinalysis External Quality Assessment Program (EQAP) from Controllab. Laboratories composed 3 groups: (1) differentiating ECs subtypes: “squamous”, “transitional” and “RTECs”; (2) differentiating ECs subtypes: “squamous” or “non-squamous” cells; (3) without ECs subtype identification. Participants did not necessarily answer to all questions and the answers were evaluated both within the same laboratory’s category and within different categories of laboratories.ResultsA total of 1336 (94%) laboratories answered the survey; Group 1, 119/140 (85%) reported that ECs differentiation is important to the physician and 62% want to be evaluated by EQAP, while in Group 3, 455/1110 (41%) reported it is useful to them, however only 25% want be evaluated by EQAP. Group 2 laboratories 37/51 (73%) reported that the information is important, but only 13/52 (25%) are interested in an EQAP with differentiation of the 3 ECs subtypes.ConclusionMost of the laboratories do not differentiate ECs in the three subtypes, despite the clinical importance of RTECs. Education of laboratory staff about the clinical significance of urinary particles should be considered a key priority.     

Cardiac autonomic and haemodynamic recovery after a single session of aerobic exercise with and without blood flow restriction in older adults

This study investigated the autonomic and haemodynamic responses to different aerobic exercise loads, with and without blood flow restriction (BFR). In a crossover study, 21 older adults (8 males and 13 females) completed different aerobic exercise sessions: low load without BFR (LL) (40% VO_2max), low load with BFR (LL-BFR) (40% VO_2max + 50% BFR) and high load without BFR (HL) (70% VO_2max). Heart rate variability and haemodynamic responses were recorded during rest and throughout 30 min of recovery. HL reduced R–R interval, the root mean square of successive difference of R–R intervals and high frequency during 30 min of recovery at a greater magnitude compared with LL and LL-BFR. Sympathetic–vagal balance increased the values for HL during 30 min of recovery at a greater magnitude when compared with LL and LL-BFR. Post-exercise haemodynamic showed reduced values of double product at 30 min of recovery compared to rest in LL-BFR, while HL showed higher values compared to rest, LL-BFR and LL. Reduced systolic blood pressure was observed for LL-BFR (30 min) compared to rest. Autonomic and haemodynamic responses indicate lower cardiovascular stress after LL-BFR compared to HL, being this method, besides the functional adaptations, a potential choice to attenuate the cardiovascular stress after exercise in older adults.     

Do previous sports experiences influence the effect of an enrichment programme in basketball skills?

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of an enrichment programme in motor, technical and tactical basketball skills, when accounting for the age of youth sport specialisation. Seventy-six college students (age: M = 20.4, SD = 1.9) were allocated according to three different paths: (i) non-structured (n = 14), (ii) early specialisation (n = 34), and (iii) late specialisation (n = 28), according to information previously provided by the participants about the quantity and type of sporting activities performed throughout their sporting careers. Then, the participants of each path were randomly distributed across control and experimental groups. Variables under study included agility, technical skills circuit, as well as tactical actions performed in a 4-on-4 full-court basketball game. The results indicated improvements in the early and late specialisation paths namely in the experimental training groups. However, the late specialisation path revealed larger benefits, in contrast with the non-structured path, which showed less sensitivity to the enrichment programme, mostly sustained in physical literacy and differential learning. Higher improvements were observed in agility, and also in reducing the number of unsuccessful actions performed during the game. Overall, this study provided evidence of how early sports experiences affect basketball skill acquisition and contribute to adapt to new contexts with motor and technical-tactical challenges. In addition, a path supported by late specialisation might present several advantages in sport performance achievement.     

Predicting centre of mass horizontal speed in low to severe swimming intensities with linear and non-linear models

We aimed to compare multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks, radial basis function neural networks (RBF) and linear models (LM) accuracy to predict the centre of mass (CM) horizontal speed at low-moderate, heavy and severe swimming intensities using physiological and biomechanical dataset. Ten trained male swimmers completed a 7 × 200 m front crawl protocol (0.05 m.s^?1 increments and 30 s intervals) to assess expiratory gases and blood lactate concentrations. Two surface and four underwater cameras recorded independent images subsequently processed focusing a three-dimensional reconstruction of two upper limb cycles at 25 and 175 m laps. Eight physiological and 13 biomechanical variables were inputted to predict CM horizontal speed. MLP, RBF and LM were implemented with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm (feed forward with a six-neuron hidden layer), orthogonal least squares algorithm and decomposition of matrices. MLP revealed higher prediction error than LM at low-moderate intensity (2.43 ± 1.44 and 1.67 ± 0.60%), MLP and RBF depicted lower mean absolute percentage errors than LM at heavy intensity (2.45 ± 1.61, 1.82 ± 0.92 and 3.72 ± 1.67%) and RBF neural networks registered lower errors than MLP and LM at severe intensity (2.78 ± 0.96, 3.89 ± 1.78 and 4.47 ± 2.36%). Artificial neural networks are suitable for speed model-fit at heavy and severe swimming intensities when considering physiological and biomechanical background.     

Objectively measured sedentary time and academic achievement in schoolchildren

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between objectively measured total sedentary time and academic achievement (AA) in Portuguese children. The sample comprised of 213 children (51.6% girls) aged 9.46 ± 0.43 years, from the north of Portugal. Sedentary time was measured with accelerometry, and AA was assessed using the Portuguese Language and Mathematics National Exams results. Multilevel linear regression models were fitted to assess regression coefficients predicting AA. The results showed that objectively measured total sedentary time was not associated with AA, after adjusting for potential confounders.     

Human capital, R&D, trade, and long-run productivity. Testing the technological absorption hypothesis for the Portuguese economy, 1960-2001

An important characteristic of the role of foreign trade in the technological catch-up of countries is the complementary nature with technological change, human capital development and local R&D efforts. Using cointegration techniques, evidence based on Portuguese long-run growth suggests that by investing in certain capacity-building activities, namely human capital and local R&D efforts, countries can improve their ability to identify, value, assimilate, and apply (or exploit) knowledge that is developed in other (more developed) countries. Although human capital has a stronger direct impact on total factor productivity than internal R&D efforts, the latter's indirect impact, by means of machinery and equipment imports, is tremendous. Trade also emerges as a powerful direct contributor to long-term total factor productivity, especially in its embodied form, through the acquisition of advanced machinery and equipment from more developed countries. The (smaller) productivity enhancing effect of licenses and FDI seems to be strongly dependent on institutional circumstances, namely those related to human capital investments and incentives.