Impact of Menstrual cycle-based Periodized training on Aerobic performance, a Clinical Trial study protocol-the IMPACT study.

Background: The menstrual cycle and its impact on training and performance are of growing interest. However, evidence is lacking whether periodized exercise based on the menstrual cycle is beneficial. The primary purpose of this proposed randomized, controlled trial, the IMPACT study, is to evaluate the effect of exercise periodization during different phases of the menstrual cycle, i.

Does injury risk increase when youth athletes start to study at a sports high school?

Background/aim: The injury risk is high in adolescent elite athletes. However, little is known about how the injury risk changes when young talented athletes start studying at a sports high school. The primary aim was therefore to explore the risk of injury when the athlete starts to study at a sports high school.

Experiences of rehabilitation in young elite athletes: an interview study.

Even though injuries are common in elite youth sports, rehabilitation experiences are limited explored in young athletes. This study explored rehabilitation experiences in athletes with a previous injury studying at sports high schools. Twenty-six (14/12 females/males) young elite athletes (age 15-19 years) from 11 individual/team sports were interviewed in focus groups about the rehabilitation experiences following a sports injury.

Body Weight Satisfaction, Comments, Nutrition and Injury Risk in 489 Adolescent Elite Athletes.

Exposure to critical body weight comments in youth athletes could lead to decreased self-esteem, affect body image, and increase the risk of eating disorders and cause depressive symptoms. The aim was to explore differences between sex, body mass index, sports type, with regards to body weight satisfaction, exposure to critical body weight comments from their coach and nutrition status in adolescent elite athletes. A questionnaire about body weight, critical body weight comments and nutrition was distributed to 489 adolescent elite athletes and injury prevalence was monitored across 20 weeks.

Previous Injury and Lower Well-being Increase Injury Risk in Female Adolescent Athletes.

Several risk factors for injury have been suggested in female elite athletes. However, there is a lack of prospective studies in young female athletes where multiple risk factors have been studied. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for injury in female adolescent elite athletes.

Previous injury, sex and well-being are associated with injury profiles in 422 adolescent elite athletes of age 15-16 years: a 20-week longitudinal study.

Background: Adolescent elite athletes have a high injury risk and many risk factors for injury have been suggested. However, there is a lack of prospective studies in adolescent elite athletes of age 15-16 years.

Aim: The aim of the study was to prospectively explore risk factors associated with different injury prevalence profiles in adolescent elite athletes.

Offered Support and Knowledge about the Menstrual Cycle in the Athletic Community: A Cross-Sectional Study of 1086 Female Athletes.

Many female athletes perceive that symptoms related to the menstrual cycle such as dysmenorrhea, premenstrual symptoms, amenorrhea or side-effects of hormonal contraceptives negatively impact their training, performance, and general well-being. Knowledge and communication about female athletes' health is therefore important in the sport community. The aims of this study were to explore the level of knowledge and communication about menstrual cycle issues and use of hormonal contraceptives in the athletic community and to describe the kinds of medical support offered to female athletes.

Perceived impact of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptives on physical exercise and performance in 1,086 athletes from 57 sports.

Female athletes train and compete under the potential influence of hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle or during use of various hormonal contraceptives. Dysmenorrhea and premenstrual symptoms are common in the general population, as well as side effects of hormonal contraceptives. More detailed knowledge concerning prevalence and perceived impact of these symptoms on training and performance in different sports is required.

Cardiovascular Autonomic Function Changes and Predictors During a 2-Year Physical Activity Program in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A PARA 2010 Substudy.

Chronic inflammation leads to autonomic dysfunction, which may contribute to the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Exercise is known to restore autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and particularly its parasympathetic component. A practical clinical tool to assess autonomic function, and in particular parasympathetic tone, is heart rate recovery (HRR).

Inflammatory Arthritis and the Effect of Physical Activity on Quality of Life and Self-Reported Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: Although physical activity is an evidence-based intervention that reduces disease-related symptoms and comorbidity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the effect of physical activity on self-reported function and quality of life (QoL) has not yet been analyzed. The present study synthesizes the evidence for the effectiveness of physical activity on QoL and self-reported function in adults with RA, spondyloarthritis (SpA), and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Methods: The databases PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched to identify relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Home visits as an interprofessional learning activity for students in primary healthcare.

Aim: To evaluate person-centred home visits as an interprofessional learning (IPL) activity for undergraduate students during clinical placements in primary healthcare.

Background: Interprofessional collaboration is known to improve patient safety, increase job satisfaction, and reduce stress among healthcare professionals. Students should already during their basic training experience interprofessional collaboration.

Changes in premenstrual symptoms in women starting or discontinuing use of oral contraceptives.

It is not clear whether oral contraceptive (OC) treatment affects premenstrual symptoms in women. The aim of the present study was to evaluate changes in premenstrual symptoms (PMS) in women starting to use or discontinuing the use of OCs. Twenty-four healthy women with no previous diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric disorder were included in this study with a prospective crossover design.

Acupuncture or metformin to improve insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: study protocol of a combined multinational cross sectional case-control study and a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is linked to hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance with dysfunctional glucose metabolism. Pilot studies suggests that acupuncture treatment with combined manual and low-frequency electrical stimulation (electroacupuncture (EA)) of the needles decrease circulating glycated haemoglobulin (HbA1c) and homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance. Therefore, we here aim to investigate if acupuncture treatment or metformin together with lifestyle or lifestyle management alone improves insulin sensitivity and related symptoms in overweight/obese women with PCOS.

General practitioners' reasoning on risk screening and primary prevention of stroke - a focus group study.

Background: By screening and modifying risk factors, stroke incidence can be reduced. Clinical guidelines states that primary prevention of stroke is a responsibility and task of primary health care, but research shows that this not always the case. The aim of the study was to explore and describe what characterizes GPs' reasoning around risk screening and primary prevention among persons at risk for stroke in primary health care.

Long-term, health-enhancing physical activity is associated with reduction of pain but not pain sensitivity or improved exercise-induced hypoalgesia in persons with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the 1-year and 2-year outcome of a health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) support program on global pain, pressure pain sensitivity, and exercise-induced segmental and plurisegmental hypoalgesia (EIH) in persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Thirty participants (27 women and 3 men) were recruited from a larger intervention cohort that engaged in strength training and moderate-intensity aerobic activity. Assessments were performed before the HEPA intervention and at 1-year and 2-year follow-ups.

Effects of acute psychological stress on athletic performance in elite male swimmers.

Background: While physical activity has been shown to affect psychological as well as physiological stress responses, less research has explored the effects of acute stress on athletic performance. The current study hence aimed to investigate the effect of an acute psychological stress (APS) provocation on performance and plasma lactate concentration during a following 200-m swim race among elite male swimmers. Furthermore, associations between physiological stress responses (salivary cortisol and testosterone), and outcome measures (speed and lactate) were explored.

An Outsourced Health-enhancing Physical Activity Program for People with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Study of the Maintenance Phase.

Objective: To describe changes of health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA), health perception, and functioning during the second year of a 2-year support program, determine aspects of adherence and response, and describe perceptions of the program.

Methods: Out of 220 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 177 participated in the followup. Group support, strength training, and moderate-intensity aerobic activity were encouraged.

Pain sensitivity at rest and during muscle contraction in persons with rheumatoid arthritis: a substudy within the Physical Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis 2010 study.

Background: We aimed to explore pressure pain sensitivity and the function of segmental and plurisegmental exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) in persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with healthy control subjects (HC).

Methods: Forty-six participants with RA (43 female, 3 male) and 20 HC (16 female, 4 male) participated in the study. Pressure pain thresholds, suprathreshold pressure pain at rest, and segmental and plurisegmental EIH during standardised submaximal contractions were assessed by algometry.

Young, talented and injured: Injury perceptions, experiences and consequences in adolescent elite athletes.

Even though injury is common in elite sports, there is still a lack of knowledge of young athletes' injury perception both during and after injury. The aim of this mixed-method study was, therefore, to explore, in-depth, data on injury consequences and adolescent elite athletes' perceptions and experience of injury. Three hundred and forty adolescent elite athletes (age range 15-19), from 16 different sports, were bi-weekly monitored over 52 weeks using a valid questionnaire.

High Injury Burden in Elite Adolescent Athletes: A 52-Week Prospective Study.

Context:   Our understanding of the injury burden in elite adolescent athletes in most sports is limited or unknown because of the lack of prospective, long-term injury studies.

Objective:   To describe injury patterns in terms of type, location, prevalence and incidence, recurrence, and severity grade; time to first injury; and prevalence of illness in elite adolescent athletes and to compare differences in injury data by sex and sport type.

Design:   Cohort study.

Menstrual irregularity and use of oral contraceptives in female adolescent athletes in Swedish National Sports High Schools.

Objective Female adolescent athletes seem to use oral contraceptives (OCs) in the same proportion as the general population. In athletes not using OCs, menstrual irregularity (MI) is reported to be common but there are few studies of MI in adolescent athletes. The aim of the study was to survey menarche, menstrual irregularity and use of OCs in adolescent athletes in the National Sports High Schools in Sweden.

An outsourced health-enhancing physical activity programme for people with rheumatoid arthritis: exploration of adherence and response.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to document adherence to and changes in health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) levels and self-reported and assessed functioning and to explore aspects of adherence and response during the first year of an outsourced 2-year HEPA programme in people with RA.

Methods: Two-hundred and twenty patients participated in this observational cohort study, which included daily physical activity, twice-weekly circuit training and biweekly support group meetings. Self-reported data included current (past week) and maintained (past 6 months) HEPA levels, sociodemographics and disease-related and psychosocial factors.

Criterion validation of two submaximal aerobic fitness tests, the self-monitoring Fox-walk test and the Åstrand cycle test in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Aerobic capacity tests are important to evaluate exercise programs and to encourage individuals to have a physically active lifestyle. Submaximal tests, if proven valid and reliable could be used for estimation of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max). The purpose of the study was to examine the criterion-validity of the submaximal self-monitoring Fox-walk test and the submaximal Åstrand cycle test against a maximal cycle test in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Nitrosative modifications of the Ca2+ release complex and actin underlie arthritis-induced muscle weakness.

Objective: Skeletal muscle weakness is a prominent clinical feature in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the underlying mechanism(s) is unknown. Here we investigate the mechanisms behind arthritis-induced skeletal muscle weakness with special focus on the role of nitrosative stress on intracellular Ca(2+) handling and specific force production.

Methods: Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) expression, degree of nitrosative stress and composition of the major intracellular Ca(2+) release channel (ryanodine receptor 1, RyR1) complex were measured in muscle.