Effects of multicycle-run training on triathlete performance.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of triathlon training using multiple, short cycle-run sequences (multicycle-run training) on cycle-run performance. Twelve competitive triathletes, randomized into two groups, underwent multicycle-run training or normal training for 6 weeks. During this period, baseline training remained the same for both groups, and only the high-intensity component differed.

Jump evaluation of elite volleyball players using two methods: jump power equations and force platform.

Background: The aim of the present study was to determine the best jump power equation in the evaluation of elite volleyball players using both the force platform and peak power equations.

Methods: Nine elite volleyball players and nine sedentary subjects performed counter-movement jump tests on a force platform.

Results: Peak power and height were greater in the volleyball players than in the sedentary subjects, whatever the method used.

Alactic anaerobic performance in subjects with sickle cell trait and hemoglobin AA.

The aim of the present study was to assess the performance of subjects with sickle cell trait (SCT) during brief and explosive exercise involving mainly anaerobic metabolism. One hundred and ninety-six black subjects underwent SCT screening, which revealed the presence of 16 subjects with SCT and 180 subjects with normal hemoglobin (HbAA). All subjects performed four tests: 1) a 100-m sprint, 2) a long-jump, 3) a Leger-Boucher shuttle test and 4) a jump-and-reach test.

Venous blood lactate increase after vertical jumping in volleyball athletes.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that venous blood lactate concentrations ([La-]) would vary from the beginning of brief exercise. Maximal vertical jumping was used as a model of brief intense exercise. Eleven healthy male volleyball players, aged [mean (SE)] 18.

Similar myeloid recovery despite superior overall engraftment in NOD/SCID mice after transplantation of human CD34(+) cells from umbilical cord blood as compared to adult sources.

Umbilical cord blood (UCB), bone marrow (BM) and mobilized peripheral blood (mPB) are used as sources of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. The NOD/SCID mouse model was used to compare the lineage-specific repopulating potential of CD34(+) cells derived from these sources. Six to 8 weeks after transplantation, blood, BM, spleen, liver and thymus, were harvested, and analyzed by flow cytometry using CD34, CD45, myeloid, and lymphoid lineage-specific antibodies.

Enhancing cycling performance using an eccentric chainring.

Purpose And Methods: This study was designed to compare the physiological responses and performance of well trained cyclists riding with two different chainring designs, round or eccentric, during a brief and intense cycling exercise: an "all-out" 1-km laboratory test. The eccentrically designed chainring was made of two crank arms sliding into each other, with the inside arm fixed on the center of the arm of a circular chainring and the outside arm sliding along the inside and revolving around an elliptical cam. This design increases crank arm length at the downstroke and decreases it during the upstroke, thus increasing and decreasing the torque.

Insulin-like growth factor induces the survival and proliferation of myeloma cells through an interleukin-6-independent transduction pathway.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a B-cell neoplasia that is associated with an increased level of bone resorption. One important mediator of bone remodelling, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I), has been shown to stimulate the proliferation of human myeloma cells. However, the mechanisms of action of IGF-I in these cells have not been determined.

Ethical aspects of medical decision-making in demented patients: a report from the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, the medical care of demented patients in the last phase of their life is very often the responsibility of the nursing home physician. Against the background of the public debate on euthanasia and related end-of-life decisions, this article discusses the ethical problems encountered in this field of medicine. Special attention is given to the problems of prognosis and the possible contribution of living wills to decision-making on behalf of incompetent demented patients.

[Delirium in the elderly and DSM IV: is there clarity about confusion?].

On the occasion of the recent presentation of DSM IV, this article offers survey of current insights concerning delirium, an important psychogeriatric disorder. Compared with DSM III and IIIR, diagnostic criteria in DSM IV have been enlarged and simplified. This has been done in order to improve clinical diagnosis, especially of mild manifestations of delirium.

The right to genetic information: some reflections on Dutch developments.

New developments in genetics are rapidly spreading over the Western World. The standards of clinical practice differ however according to local value- and health-care systems. In this article a short survey is given of Dutch developments in this field.