The snow must go on: how German cross-country skiers maintained training and performance in the face of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 led to disruption of sporting events, with athletes obliged to comply with national lockdown restrictions.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions on national-team XC skiers' annual and weekly training distribution from training diaries, results from submaximal and maximal physiological roller ski tests, and competition results from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) world cup.

Methods: Annual and weekly training type (specific, non-specific, strength, other) and intensity distribution (TID) data were collected for 12 German XC-skiers (Tier 4/5; BM: 67 ± 7 kg; age 26 ± 3 years; 6♀: V̇O 61.

Peroxiredoxin 2 mediates redox-stimulated adaptations to oxidative phosphorylation induced by contractile activity in human skeletal muscle myotubes.

Skeletal muscle generates superoxide during contractions, which is converted to hydrogen peroxide (HO). HO has been proposed to activate signalling pathways and transcription factors that regulate adaptive responses to exercise, but the concentration required to oxidize and activate key redox-sensitive signalling proteins in vitro is much higher than the typical intracellular levels seen in muscle after exercise. We hypothesized that 2-Cys-peroxiredoxins (PRDX), which rapidly oxidize in the presence of physiological concentrations of HO, serve as intermediary signalling molecules and play a crucial role in activating adaptive pathways following muscle contractions.

How to communicate and what to disclose to participants in a recall-by-genotype research approach: a multistep empirical study.

Recall-by-genotype (RbG) is a bottom-up approach using existing genetic data to design follow-up stratified studies. Genetic information may be partially disclosed at invitation, thus raising ethical issues which call for defined best practices for disclosure and communication in RbG approaches. Within the context of the ProtectMove sub-project of the Cooperative Health Research in South Tyrol (CHRIS) study, we investigated research participant perspectives on RbG communication strategies (Step 1 and 4, questionnaire with a subsample of CHRIS participants with and without previous experience of RbG, respectively).