Effects of short-term exercise training on tissue Doppler indices of left ventricular diastolic function in overweight and obese individuals

Abstract

Although exercise training is unable to improve obesity-associated decreases in left ventricular (LV) diastolic function, as assessed using chamber function measurements, the effects on LV diastolic myocardial function, as assessed using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), are uncertain. In 32 overweight (n = 11) or obese (n = 21), sedentary or recreationally active men and women (30–57 years), we assessed the effects of 6 weeks of exercise training either preceded (n = 16) or followed (n = 16) by a 6-week control period on TDI indices of LV diastolic function (e', e'/a' and E/e') (echocardiography). Diastolic function at baseline was comparable to that noted in overweight and obese participants from a community sample (n = 245), and 56% (n = 18) had e' values below the lower 95% CI of a lean and healthy cohort (n = 60) of the community sample. Exercise training increased peak oxygen consumption (27.4 ± 4.9 to 29.4 ± 5.8 mL · kg^–1 · min^–1, P = 0.0001), but had no effect on body mass index (P = 0.99). No changes in TDI indices of diastolic function were observed after exercise training in all the participants (e': P = 0.74, a': P = 0.98, e'/a': P = 0.85, E/e': P = 0.26), participants with abnormal e' values (n = 18)(e': P = 0.99, a': P = 0.96, e'/a': P = 0.91, E/e': P = 0.97) or obese participants (n = 21)(e': P = 0.67, a': P = 1.00, e'/a': P = 0.78, E/e': P = 0.11). In conclusion, exercise training, despite increasing cardiorespiratory fitness, is unable to improve obesity-associated decreases in LV diastolic myocardial function.     

微营养素和肉品质量的关系

日粮中微营养素硒(Se)能够引起肌肉组织的生理变化,从而改变畜禽肉品的品质.本文着重阐明硒和VE在细胞膜和细胞质的抗氧化中独特应用,进而对肉品的形成和贮存过程中保持肉品的完整性起明显作用.     

Reform in the garden

English gardens powered by steam engines offer an intriguing view of how technological and scientific progress was naturalized in the landscape of 19th-century Prussia, and in Prussian culture, during the early years of industrial modernization. One such garden is Peacock Island, in the Havel River near Potsdam. A product of the reform era that preceded and followed the Napoleonic Wars, it expressed the goal of Friedrich Wilhelm III and his government to enter into the British system of factory production and world trade. Modern science, as represented especially by Alexander von Humboldt, played a prominent role.     

Teaching experiments and professional development

The challenge that we address concerns teachers’ shifts toward student-centered instruction. We report on a yearlong professional development study in which two United States elementary school teachers engaged in a teaching experiment, as described by Steffe and Thompson (in: Lesh and Kelly (eds) Research on design in mathematics and science education, 2000). The teaching experiment involved close mathematical interactions with a pair of students after school, in the context of solving fractions tasks. By conducting a teaching experiment, we anticipated that each teacher would have more opportunity to develop insight into students’ mathematics. We also anticipated that these insights would influence the teachers’ classroom practice, even without explicit support for such a shift. Indeed, the teachers found that they began asking more probing questions of their students and spending more time listening to students’ explanations, but shifts to classroom practice were limited by constraining factors such an inflexible curriculum.     

Olympic lightweight and open-class rowers possess distinctive physical and proportionality characteristics

Rowers competing at the 2000 Olympic Games were measured for 38 anthropometric dimensions. The aim was to identify common physical characteristics that could provide a competitive advantage. The participants included 140 male open-class rowers, 69 female open-class rowers, 50 male lightweight rowers, and 14 female lightweight rowers. Body mass, stature, and sitting height were different (P < 0.01) between the open-class and lightweight rowers, as well as a comparison group of healthy young adults ("non-rowers", 42 males, 71 females), for both sexes. After scaling for stature, the open-class rowers remained proportionally heavier than the non-rowers, with greater proportional chest, waist, and thigh dimensions (P < 0.01). Rowers across all categories possessed a proportionally smaller hip girth than the non-rowers (P < 0.01), which suggested the equipment places some constraints on this dimension. Top-ranked male open-class rowers were significantly taller and heavier and had a greater sitting height (P < 0.01) than their lower-ranked counterparts. They were also more muscular in the upper body, as indicated by a larger relaxed arm girth and forearm girth (P < 0.01). For the male lightweight rowers, only proportional thigh length was greater in the best competitors (P < 0.01). In the female open-class rowers, skinfold thicknesses were lower in the more highly placed competitors (P < 0.01). In conclusion, the rowers in this sample demonstrated distinctive physical characteristics that distinguish them from non-rowers and other sports performers.     

The RAVE-O Intervention: Connecting Neuroscience to the Classroom

ABSTRACT—This article explores the ways in which knowledge from the cognitive neurosciences, linguistics, and education interact to deepen our understanding of reading's complexity and to inform reading intervention. We first describe how research on brain abnormalities and naming speed processes has shaped both our conceptualization of reading disabilities and the design of a multicomponent reading intervention, the RAVE-O program. We then discuss the unique ways this program seeks to address the multiple and varied sources of disruption in struggling readers. Finally, we present efficacy data for the RAVE-O reading intervention across multiple school settings.     

Why We Think We Can't Dance: Theory of Mind and Children's Desire to Perform

Theory of mind (ToM) allows children to achieve success in the social world by understanding others' minds. A study with 3‐ to 12‐year‐olds, however, demonstrates that gains in ToM are linked to decreases in children's desire to engage in performative behaviors associated with health and well‐being, such as singing and dancing. One hundred and fifty‐nine middle‐class children from diverse backgrounds in a Northeastern U.S. metropolitan area completed the study in 2011. The development of ToM is associated with decreases in self‐esteem, which in turn predicts decreases in children's willingness to perform. This shift away from performance begins at age 4 (when ToM begins to develop), years before children enter puberty.