Measure It Super Simple (MISS) activity tracker: (re)design of a user-friendly interface and evaluation of experiences in daily life.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were, first, to (re)design the user-interface of the activity tracker known as the MOX with the help of input from elderly individuals living independently and, second, to assess the use of and experiences with the adapted Measure It Super Simple (MISS) activity tracker in daily life.

Methods: The double diamond method, which was used to (re)design the user-interface, consists of four phases: discover, define, develop, and deliver. As a departure point, this study used a list of general design requirements that facilitate the development of technology for the elderly.

Optimization and Validation of an Adjustable Activity Classification Algorithm for Assessment of Physical Behavior in Elderly.

Due to a lack of transparency in both algorithm and validation methodology, it is difficult for researchers and clinicians to select the appropriate tracker for their application. The aim of this work is to transparently present an adjustable physical activity classification algorithm that discriminates between dynamic, standing, and sedentary behavior. By means of easily adjustable parameters, the algorithm performance can be optimized for applications using different target populations and locations for tracker wear.

Impact of Exercise-Nutritional State Interactions in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

Introduction: This study examines the role of nutritional status during exercise training in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus by investigating the effect of endurance-type exercise training in the fasted versus the fed state on clinical outcome measures, glycemic control, and skeletal muscle characteristics in male type 2 diabetes patients.

Methods: Twenty-five male patients (glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), 57 ± 3 mmol·mol (7.4% ± 0.

Monitoring Parkinson's disease symptoms during daily life: a feasibility study.

Parkinson's disease symptoms are most often charted using the MDS-UPDRS. Limitations of this approach include the subjective character of the assessments and a discrepant performance in the clinic compared to the home situation. Continuous monitoring using wearable devices is believed to eventually replace this golden standard, but measurements often lack a parallel ground truth or are only tested in lab settings.

Altered gas-exchange at peak exercise in obese adolescents: implications for verification of effort during cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

Background: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is advised ahead of exercise intervention in obese adolescents to assess medical safety of exercise and physical fitness. Optimal validity and reliability of test results are required to identify maximal exercise effort. As fat oxidation during exercise is disturbed in obese individuals, it remains an unresolved methodological issue whether the respiratory gas exchange ratio (RER) is a valid marker for maximal effort during exercise testing in this population.

Exercise improves cardiac function and attenuates insulin resistance in Dahl salt-sensitive rats.

Background: The development of heart failure (HF) secondary to hypertension is a complex process related to a series of physiological and molecular factors including glucose dysregulation. The overall objective of this study was to investigate whether exercise training could improve cardiac function and insulin resistance in a rat model of hypertensive HF.

Methods: Seven week old Dahl salt-sensitive rats received either 8% NaCl (n = 30) or 0.

Impact of 24 Weeks of Resistance and Endurance Exercise on Glucose Tolerance in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Recently, the authors reported an elevated prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), compared with matched healthy controls, indicating metabolic defects that may increase comorbidity. MS also leads to a more inactive lifestyle, increasing the likelihood to develop fat accumulation, muscle wasting/weakness, and exercise intolerance. In other populations, these health complications can partly be reversed by physical exercise.

Exercise training improves insulin release during glucose tolerance testing in stable chronic heart failure patients.

Purpose: Chronic heart failure (CHF) patients often present with (pre)diabetes, which negatively influences prognosis. Unlike the proven effect of exercise on glucose regulation in the general population, its effect in CHF is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the effect of exercise training on glucose regulation in stable CHF patients.

Mandatory oral glucose tolerance tests identify more diabetics in stable patients with chronic heart failure: a prospective observational study.

Background: Many patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) are believed to have unrecognized diabetes, which is associated with a worse prognosis. This study aimed to describe glucose tolerance in a general stable CHF population and to identify determinants of glucose tolerance focusing on body composition and skeletal muscle strength.

Methods: A prospective observational study was set up.

Endurance exercise intensity determination in the rehabilitation of coronary artery disease patients: a critical re-appraisal of current evidence.

In the care of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients, the benefits of exercise therapy are generally established. Even though the selected endurance exercise intensity might affect medical safety, therapy adherence and effectiveness in the rehabilitation of CAD patients in how to determine endurance exercise intensity properly remains difficult. The aim of this review is to describe the available methods for endurance exercise intensity determination in the rehabilitation of CAD patients, accompanied with their (dis)advantages, validity and reproducibility.

Measures of exercise capacity in adults with congenital heart disease.

Background: Exercise capacity in grown-ups with congenital heart disease (GUCH) is mostly reported by peak oxygen consumption (peak VO(2)). Our aim was to evaluate the maximal character of exercise tests, and to investigate submaximal measures of exercise capacity.

Methods: Adults with Coarctation of the Aorta (COA, n=155), Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF, n=98), dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries (dTGA, n=68) and Univentricular Heart (UVH, n=10), and 122 healthy adults performed cardiopulmonary exercise testing until exhaustion.

The future of adult patients after Mustard or Senning repair for transposition of the great arteries.

Background: After Mustard or Senning repair for transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA), qualitative assessment of the systemic right ventricle remains difficult. We wanted to evaluate the relationship between demographic and echocardiographic variables, and exercise performance.

Methods: In 22 consecutive d-TGA patients (9 Mustard and 13 Senning) a standard transthoracic echocardiogram was performed.

Changes in QRS duration are associated with maximal exercise capacity in adult patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot.

Objective: In adult patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TF) QRS duration at rest seems to be a predictor of maximal exercise. We examined the relationship between QRS duration during exercise and exercise performance.

Design: In 57 consecutive TF patients QRS duration in V1 (ms) was measured at rest, at maximal exercise (Wmax, W), and at peak oxygen consumption (peak VO2, ml/min).

Determinants of the effects of physical training and of the complications requiring resuscitation during exercise in patients with cardiovascular disease.

Background: Benefits of cardiac rehabilitation with exercise therapy are well-established, although individual reactions are heterogeneous. The identification of determinants of training effects is useful from a prognostic point of view, but data regarding this are scarce. Furthermore, limited data exist on the determinants of complications during exercise in cardiac patients.

Effect of exercise training in patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.

Aims: Little research exists on exercise performance and training in patients with an implemented cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and only in a limited number of patients. This study aims to investigate the effect of exercise training in ICD patients in comparison to the effects in other cardiac patients without an ICD.

Methods And Results: 92 ICD patients were compared with a control group of 473 patients.

The assessment of treatment response in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by image guided 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Serial image guided 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies were performed in eight patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to determine the changes in phosphorus metabolites that occur in vivo in response to chemotherapy. Pre-treatment spectral characteristics were different in high and low grade lymphoma. A larger inorganic phosphate (Pi) peak was seen in high grade NHL relative to phosphomonoesters (PME) or beta adenosine triphosphate (beta ATP), producing significant differences in the PME/Pi and Pi/beta ATP metabolite ratios, and probably reflecting a larger hypoxic cell fraction within the high grade lymphomas.

Image localized 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the human liver.

Image localized 31P magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy of the liver was performed in twelve normal volunteers and seven patients with hepatic tumours. The tumours which were clearly imaged by proton MR could also be distinguished from normal tissue because of spectral differences. The malignant tumours had significantly elevated phosphomonoester/inorganic phosphate and phosphomonoester/beta-adenosine triphosphate ratios, probably due to elevated tumour concentrations of phosphocholine and phosphoethanolamine, which are intermediates in the synthesis of membrane phospholipids.

31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies of the response of rat mammary tumors to endocrine therapy.

We have used 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to detect the metabolic changes that occur in estrogen-sensitive, N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced rat mammary tumors as they regress following ovariectomy. In untreated animals the spectra of the tumors showed a steady loss of high energy phosphates (phosphocreatine and nucleoside triphosphates) and an increase in inorganic phosphate. This was reversed after ovariectomy.

31P-Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of rat pituitary tumours in vivo.

31P-Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra were obtained in the living rat from 19 implanted prolactin-secreted pituitary tumours. Seven major peaks were found including those arising from the high energy phosphorus metabolites ATP and phosphocreatine. Intracellular pH of the tumours was measured and a relationship with prolactin secretion was observed, the highest plasma prolactin concentrations being associated with an intracellular pH greater than 7.

Phosphorylation status of liver by 31P-n.m.r. spectroscopy, and its implications for metabolic control. A comparison of 31P-n.m.r. spectroscopy (in vivo and in vitro) with chemical and enzymic determinations of ATP, ADP and Pi.

An investigation into the measurement of Pi and ADP in rat liver in vivo and in freeze-clamped extracts by 31P-n.m.r.

VIP enhances TRH-stimulated prolactin secretion of pituitary tumours. Studies with 31P NMR.

Intravenous thyrotrophin releasing hormone (TRH) caused a 6.5-fold increase in plasma prolactin (PRL) in rats carrying implanted pituitary tumours. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) had no effect, but TRH given after VIP raised TRH stimulated secretion 13-fold above basal.

Detection of glycogen in a glycogen storage disease by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance.

The livers of gsd/gsd rats homozygous for the glycogen storage disease phosphorylase b kinase deficiency were observed by 13C NMR using a surface coil. Clear signals were detected from glycogen. The concentration of glycogen as determined by NMR was approximately 3-times that found in normal strains agreeing well with chemical determinations.