Allometry: revealing evolution's engineering principles.

An animal's body size impacts many aspects of its structure and function (Y); insights that only become apparent when viewed over several orders of magnitude of body mass (M) and expressed allometrically in the form of power law equations (Y=aMb). The resulting relationships are apparent clusters of similar exponents (b) revealing emergent 'patterns of design' that shed light on the universal principles of structure and function. Basic physical principles of surface area, volume and heat exchange apply to all objects, including animals, and many consequences must be attributed to these fundamental properties.

Deciphering : limits of the genetic approach.

Maximal oxygen consumption () denotes the upper limit of aerobic energy flux through the cascade of oxygen transfer from the environment to tissue mitochondria, essentially to skeletal muscle mitochondria during intense exercise. A high is a key component for athletic success in human and animal endurance sports. From a public health perspective, a high is a validated negative predictor for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

Knee Extensors Muscle Plasticity Over a 5-Years Rehabilitation Process After Open Knee Surgery.

We investigated molecular and cellular parameters which set metabolic and mechanical functioning of knee extensor muscles in the operated and contralateral control leg of 9 patients with a chronically insufficient anterior cruciate ligament (ACL; 26.6 ± 8.3 years, 8 males, 1 female) after open reconstructive surgery (week 0), after ambulant physiotherapy under cast immobilization (week 9), succeeding rehabilitation training (up to week 26), and subsequent voluntary physical activity (week 260).

T/T homozygosity of the tenascin-C gene polymorphism rs2104772 negatively influences exercise-induced angiogenesis.

Background: Mechanical stress, including blood pressure related factors, up-regulate expression of the pro-angiogenic extracellular matrix protein tenascin-C in skeletal muscle. We hypothesized that increased capillarization of skeletal muscle with the repeated augmentation in perfusion during endurance training is associated with blood vessel-related expression of tenascin-C and would be affected by the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2104772, which characterizes the non-synonymous exchange of thymidine (T)-to-adenosine (A) in the amino acid codon 1677 of tenascin-C.

Methods: Sixty-one healthy, untrained, male white participants of Swiss descent performed thirty 30-min bouts of endurance exercise on consecutive weekdays using a cycling ergometer.

Moderate Load Eccentric Exercise; A Distinct Novel Training Modality.

Over the last 20 years a number of studies have been published using progressive eccentric exercise protocols on motorized ergometers or similar devices that allow for controlled application of eccentric loads. Exercise protocols ramp eccentric loads over an initial 3 weeks period in order to prevent muscle damage and delayed onset muscle soreness. Final training loads reach 400-500 W in rehabilitative settings and over 1200 W in elite athletes.

[Mountaineering for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases?].

Introduction: People in Western countries are gaining more and more weight, which is mainly due to a lack of physical activity predisposing to cardiovascular illnesses. Mountaineering, in particular multi-pitch climbing, seems to have protective effects on the metabolic and cardiovascular systems because it is a low-intensity activity lasting several hours, which leads to continuous physical stimulation.

Methods: Eight climbers in four two-person rope teams with a good leisure sports level and regular climbing activity completed a multi-pitch climbing route (Pfriendler 2501 metres above sea level Via Fritz/Steingletscher/Sustenpass Canton of Bern/Switzerland) with a total of seven pitches with difficulties between 4b and 5c(+) (French Scale).

Capillary ultrastructure and mitochondrial volume density in skeletal muscle in relation to reduced exercise capacity of patients with intermittent claudication.

Intermittent claudication (IC) is the most commonly reported symptom of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Impaired limb blood flow is a major casual factor of lower exercise tolerance in PAD but cannot entirely explain it. We hypothesized that IC is associated with structural changes of the capillary-mitochondria interface that could contribute to the reduction of exercise tolerance in IC patients.

Molecular networks in skeletal muscle plasticity.

The skeletal muscle phenotype is subject to considerable malleability depending on use as well as internal and external cues. In humans, low-load endurance-type exercise leads to qualitative changes of muscle tissue characterized by an increase in structures supporting oxygen delivery and consumption, such as capillaries and mitochondria. High-load strength-type exercise leads to growth of muscle fibers dominated by an increase in contractile proteins.

Angiogenesis-related ultrastructural changes to capillaries in human skeletal muscle in response to endurance exercise.

The ultrastructure of capillaries in skeletal muscle was morphometrically assessed in vastus lateralis muscle (VL) biopsies taken before and after exercise from 22 participants of two training studies. In study 1 (8 wk of ergometer training), light microscopy revealed capillary-fiber (C/F) ratio (+27%) and capillary density (+16%) to be higher (P ≤ 0.05) in postexercise biopsies than in preexercise biopsies from all 10 participants.

Relative Age Effect in Young Swiss Alpine Skiers From 2004 to 2011.

Purpose: To verify whether relative age effects (RAEs) occur among young male and female Swiss Alpine skiers of different age groups and performance levels. In addition, the efficacy of normalizing performance in physical tests to height and body mass to attenuate RAEs eventually present was tested.

Methods: The Swiss Ski Power Test consists of anthropometric measures and physical tests for coordination and speed, endurance, and strength and has been used since 2004 to evaluate 11- to 19-y-old Swiss competitive Alpine skiers.

Capillary growth, ultrastructure remodelling and exercise training in skeletal muscle of essential hypertensive patients.

Aim: The aim was to elucidate whether essential hypertension is associated with altered capillary morphology and density and to what extent exercise training can normalize these parameters.

Methods: To investigate angiogenesis and capillary morphology in essential hypertension, muscle biopsies were obtained from m. vastus lateralis in subjects with essential hypertension (n = 10) and normotensive controls (n = 11) before and after 8 weeks of aerobic exercise training.

The effect of seasonal temperature variation on behaviour and metabolism in the freshwater mussel (Unio tumidus).

Temperature plays a critical role in determining the biology of ectotherms. Many animals have evolved mechanisms that allow them to compensate biological rates, i.e.