Effects of diet-induced obesity and voluntary wheel running on bone properties in young male C57BL/6J mice.

Both physical activity and body mass affect bone properties. In this study we examined how diet-induced obesity combined with voluntary physical activity affects bone properties. Forty 7-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were assigned to four groups evenly: control diet (C), control diet + running (CR), high-fat diet (HF, 60% energy from fat), and high-fat diet + running (HFR).

Familial resemblance and diversity in bone mass and strength in the population are established during the first year of postnatal life.

Familial resemblance and diversity in bone structure and strength in adulthood are determined in part during growth. Whether these characteristics are established during gestation or shortly after birth is not known. Total-body, lumbar spine, and femoral neck size and mass and indices of tibial bending strength and distal radial compressive strength were measured using bone densitometry and quantitative computed tomography in 236 girls at 18.

Relationships between standing broad jump, shuttle run and Body Mass Index in children aged three to ei.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between Body Mass Index (BMI) and performance in standing broad jump and shuttle run in young children and whether this association is similar during the age range studied and in both sexes.

Methods: A total of 1 197 Finnish children aged three to eight years participated in this cross-sectional study. Height and weight measuring and the standing broad jump (SBJ) and shuttle run tests were used.

Effect of physical activity on health in twins: a 30-yr longitudinal study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate whether persistent leisure-time physical activity, adjusted for genetic liability and childhood experiences, protects against chronic diseases, early signs of disability, and loss of life satisfaction.

Methods: From 5663 healthy adult twin pairs, we identified 146 pairs who were discordant for both intensity and volume of leisure physical activity in 1975 and 1981. Of them, both members of 95 pairs were alive and participated in our follow-up study in 2005 when chronic diseases (such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and osteoarthritis), life satisfaction, and disability were assessed by a structured telephone interview.

Electrocardiographic and other clinical correlates of walking ability in older women.

The purpose of this study was to examine how resting electrocardiographic (ECG) and other clinical variables, which can be included in a routine clinical examination, predict walking ability in older women. Three hundred and twenty women (63-75 years) without overt cardiac diseases and apparent mobility limitations were studied. Measurements performed were clinical examination (standard 12-lead resting ECG, assessment of physical activity level, presence of chronic diseases, use of beta-blockers, body mass index (BMI), ability to squat, resting blood pressure) and six-minute walking test.

Hip fractures and femoral bone mineral density in male former elite athletes.

Introduction: We studied whether vigorous physical activity in young adulthood is associated with higher femoral bone density and lower risk of hip fracture at older age in men.

Materials: A cohort of former male elite athletes (n=2147) and matched control subjects (n=1467) were studied for their leisure physical activity, and for fragility fractures at the hip (proximal femur) by Cox regression. Areal bone mineral densities (aBMD) at femoral neck and trochanter region were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in a subgroup of the former athletes (n=87; median age 59 years) and in a population-based control group (n=194) and compared by general linear models.

Electrocardiographic indices of left ventricular hypertrophy and repolarization phase share the same genetic influences: a twin study.

Background: Both left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and repolarization phase (RP) are known to be attributable to genetic influences, but less is known whether they share same genetic influences. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent individual differences in electrocardiographic (ECG) LVH and RP are explained by genetic and environmental influences and whether these influences are shared between these two traits.

Methods: Resting ECG recordings were obtained from 186 monozygotic and 203 dizygotic female twin individuals, aged 63 to 76 years.

Leisure-time physical activity and high-risk fat: a longitudinal population-based twin study.

Background And Objective: Exercise is thought to reduce high-risk body fat, but intervention studies are frequently limited by short follow-ups and observational studies by genetic selection. Therefore, we studied the effects of a physically inactive vs active lifestyle on high-risk (visceral, liver and intramuscular) fat in twin pairs discordant for leisure-time physical activity habits for over 30 years.

Design: A longitudinal population-based twin study.

Higher free fatty acid uptake in visceral than in abdominal subcutaneous fat tissue in men.

Visceral adipose tissue has been shown to have high lipolytic activity. The aim of this study was to examine whether free fatty acid (FFA) uptake into visceral adipose tissue is enhanced compared to abdominal subcutaneous tissue in vivo. Abdominal adipose tissue FFA uptake was measured using positron emission tomography (PET) and [(18)F]-labeled 6-thia-hepta-decanoic acid ([(18)F]FTHA) and fat masses using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 18 healthy young adult males.

Type of sport is related to injury profile: a study on cross country skiers, swimmers, long-distance runners and soccer players. A retrospective 12-month study.

This 12-month retrospective questionnaire compared the occurrence of sports injuries in 149 cross country skiers, 154 swimmers, 143 long-distance runners and 128 soccer players aged 15-35 years. Soccer had significantly more injuries (5.1 injuries/1000 exposure hour) than other sports (2.

Low volumetric BMD is linked to upper-limb fracture in pubertal girls and persists into adulthood: a seven-year cohort study.

The aetiology of increased incidence of fracture during puberty is unclear. This study aimed to determine whether low volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) in the distal radius is associated with upper-limb fractures in growing girls, and whether any such vBMD deficit persists into adulthood. Fracture history from birth to 20 years was obtained and verified by medical records in 1034 Finnish girls aged 10-13 years.

Physical activity in adolescence as a predictor of alcohol and illicit drug use in early adulthood: a longitudinal population-based twin study.

We investigated prospectively whether physical activity level in adolescence predicts use of alcohol and illicit drugs in early adulthood. We studied 4,240 individual twins (1,870 twin pairs). We classified those who consistently reported frequent leisure physical activity at ages 16, 17 and 181/2 as persistent exercisers, those exercising less than three times monthly as persistently inactive, and all others as occasional exercisers.

Evidence on the effects of exercise therapy in the treatment of chronic disease.

Evidence on the effects of exercise in the treatment of patients with chronic diseases should be based on well designed randomised controlled trials. The most consistent finding of the meta-analyses summarised in the present work is that aerobic/functional capacity and muscle strength can be improved by exercise training among patients with different diseases without having detrimental effects on disease progression. This is important, as with population aging exercise therapy may be an important means of reducing disability and increasing the number of older people living independently.

Physical activity history and end-of-life hospital and long-term care.

Background: Little is known about the early predictors of need for care in late life. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether physical activity from midlife onward was associated with hospital and long-term care in the last year of life.

Methods: We studied a decedent population of 846 persons aged 66-98 years at death, who, on average 5.

Long-term leisure time physical activity and properties of bone: a twin study.

Effects of physical activity on bone properties, when controlled for genetic effects, are not fully understood. We aimed to study the association between long-term leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and bone properties using twin pairs known to be discordant for leisure time physical activity for at least 30 yr. Volumetric BMD and geometric properties were measured at the tibia shaft and distal end using pQCT in 16 middle-aged (50-74 yr) same-sex twin pairs (seven monozygotic [MZ] and nine dizygotic [DZ] pairs) selected from a population-based cohort.

Genetic influences on adult body mass index followed over 29 years and their effects on late-life mobility: a study of twin sisters.

Background: The rise in body mass index (BMI) during adulthood increases the risk for metabolic disorders, functional limitations and disability in old age. This twin study examined prospectively whether genetic and environmental influences on women's BMI also account for mobility 29 years later.

Methods: The sample consisted of 103 monozygotic and 114 dizygotic pairs of twin sisters reared together.

Postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy modifies skeletal muscle composition and function: a study with monozygotic twin pairs.

We investigated whether long-term hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is associated with mobility and lower limb muscle performance and composition in postmenopausal women. Fifteen 54- to 62-yr-old monozygotic female twin pairs discordant for HRT were recruited from the Finnish Twin Cohort. Habitual (HWS) and maximal (MWS) walking speeds over 10 m, thigh muscle composition, lower body muscle power assessed as vertical jumping height, and maximal isometric hand grip and knee extension strengths were measured.

Secular trends in aerobic fitness performance in 13-18-year-old adolescents from 1976 to 2001.

Objective: To analyse the secular trends in aerobic fitness performance and some of its determinants (body mass index (BMI) and leisure time physical activity (LTPA)) in adolescents.

Design: Cross-sectional population-based studies in 1976 and 2001 in Finland. A stratified random sample of Finnish 13-18-year-old adolescents was studied in 1976 (n = 717; 384 boys and 333 girls) and in 2001 (n = 558; 305 boys and 253 girls).

Effects of 32-year leisure time physical activity discordance in twin pairs on health (TWINACTIVE study): aims, design and results for physical fitness.

The physically active lifestyle is associated with low future morbidity and mortality, but the causality between physical activity and health is not always clear. As some inherited biological characteristics and childhood experiences may cause selection bias in observational studies, we sought to take them into account by identifying 16 twin pairs (7 MZ, 9 DZ, mean age 60 years) discordant for leisure time physical activity habits for thirty years. We conducted detailed health-related examinations among these twin pairs.

Trait-specific tracking and determinants of body composition: a 7-year follow-up study of pubertal growth in girls.

Background: Understanding how bone (BM), lean (LM) and fat mass (FM) develop through childhood, puberty and adolescence is vital since it holds key information regarding current and future health. Our study aimed to determine how BM, LM and FM track from prepuberty to early adulthood in girls and what factors are associated with intra- and inter-individual variation in these three tissues.

Methods: The study was a 7-year longitudinal cohort study.

Combination of hormone replacement therapy and high physical activity is associated with differences in Achilles tendon size in monozygotic female twin pairs.

Estrogen concentration has been suggested to play a role in tendon abnormalities and injury. In physically active postmenopausal women, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been suggested to decrease tendon diameter. We hypothesized that HRT use and physical activity are associated with Achilles tendon size and tissue structure.

Genetic influences on resting electrocardiographic variables in older women: a twin study.

Background: Previous studies in young and middle-aged men and women have shown that resting electrocardiographic (ECG) variables are influenced by genetic factors. However, the extent to which resting ECG variables are influenced by genetic factors in older women is unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to estimate the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences to individual differences in resting ECG variables among older female twins without overt cardiac diseases.

Gender differences in sport injury risk and types of inju-ries: a retrospective twelve-month study on cross-country skiers, swimmers, long-distance runners and soccer players.

This twelve months survey compared injury risk and injury types by genders (312 females, 262 males) in 15- to 35-year-old cross-country skiers, swimmers, long- distance runners and soccer players. More male than female athletes reported at least one acute injury (44% vs. 35%, p < 0.

Effects of long-term physical activity on cardiac structure and function: a twin study.

Previous studies have shown that athletic training or other physical activity causes structural and functional adaptations in the heart, but less is known how long-term physical activity affects heart when genetic liability and childhood environment are taken into account. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of long-term physical activity vs. inactivity on cardiac structure and function in twin pairs discordant for physical activity for 32 years.