Six-month effects of the Groningen active living model (GALM) on physical activity, health and fitness outcomes in sedentary and underactive older adults aged 55-65.

Objective: To determine the effects on energy expenditure, health and fitness outcomes in sedentary older adults aged 55-65 after 6-month participation in the GALM program.

Methods: In three Dutch communities, subjects from matched neighbourhoods were assigned to an intervention (n = 79) or a waiting-list control group (n = 102). The GALM program consisted of fifteen 60 min sessions once a week emphasising moderate-intensity recreational sports activities.

The short-term effects of a body awareness program: better self-management of health problems for individuals with chronic a-specific psychosomatic symptoms.

A three-day residential Body Awareness Program (BAP) was developed to teach people with Chronic A-specific Psychosomatic Symptoms (CAPS) to react adequately to disturbances of the balance between a daily workload and the capacity to deal with it. The short-term effects of the program for people with CAPS are presented in this study. The design is a non-control group design with pre- and post-measures (2 months after the program).

Groningen Active Living Model (GALM): stimulating physical activity in sedentary older adults; validation of the behavioral change model.

Background: A significant proportion of older adults in The Netherlands do not participate regularly in leisure-time physical activity. The Groningen Active Living Model (GALM) was developed to change this situation for the better. Longitudinal results of the validation of the GALM behavioral change model are presented.

Change in self-efficacy during cardiac rehabilitation and the role of perceived overprotectiveness.

Self-efficacy (SE) is an important outcome following cardiac rehabilitation (CR) when claiming benefits to patients and improving existing programs. This study evaluated change in SE during 6 weeks of multidisciplinary CR with either a high or low-frequency exercise training program. The role of overprotectiveness of the spouse, as it potentially counteracts improvement in SE, was examined.

Individual assessment of intensity-level for exercise training in patients with coronary artery disease is necessary.

Background: Target intensity-level of exercise training in patients with coronary artery disease is adjusted usually by a target heart rate (THR). This THR is aimed to be at or nearby the anaerobic threshold (AT) and is calculated commonly from parameters of regular exercise training, instead of an actual measurement of AT and its related heart rate. Therefore, this study evaluated whether a calculation is reliable.

Groningen active living model (GALM): stimulating physical activity in sedentary older adults; first results.

Background: A significant proportion of older adults in The Netherlands does not regularly participate in leisure-time physical activity. The Groningen Active Living Model (GALM) was developed to change this situation for the better. In this article the first results with respect to the validation of the model are presented.

Differential effects of high-frequency versus low-frequency exercise training in rehabilitation of patients with coronary artery disease.

Objectives: We sought to study the influence of frequency of exercise training during cardiac rehabilitation on functional capacity (i.e., peak oxygen consumption [VO2] and ventilatory anaerobic threshold [VAT]) and quality of life (QoL).

A Dutch version of the Social Support for Exercise Behaviors Scale.

We studied the reliability of a Dutch version of the Social Support for Exercise Behaviors Scale, originally developed by Sallis, Grossman, Pinski, Patterson, and Nader, using a sample of 461 older adults between 55 and 65 years of age. Cronbach alpha for the three subscales was calculated, respectively, as .69, .

The Groningen Enjoyment Questionnaire: a measure of enjoyment in leisure-time physical activity.

The purpose of this study was to develop a short and easily used questionnaire to measure enjoyment in leisure-time physical activity. The first part of the study involved the questionnaire's composition. A set of 30 positively formulated potential items was generated and subsequently completed by 59 subjects.

Groningen Active Living Model (GALM): stimulating physical activity in sedentary older adults.

Background: A significant number of Dutch older adults can be considered sedentary when it comes to regular participation in leisure-time physical activity. Sedentariness is considered a potential public health burden-all the more reason to develop a strategy for stimulating older adults toward becoming more involved in leisure-time physical activity. The Groningen Active Living Model (GALM) is a behavioral change strategy for stimulating participation in leisure-time physical activity.

Effect of high- versus low-frequency exercise training in multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation on health-related quality of life.

Background: The authors examined the importance of the frequency of aerobic exercise training in multidisciplinary rehabilitation in improving health-related quality of life in the short run in patients with documented coronary artery disease.

Methods: Patients (114 males and 16 females; age range, 32-70 years) were randomized into either a high-frequency or a low-frequency exercise training program (10 versus 2 sessions per week, respectively) as part of a 6-week multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation program. The General Health Questionnaire and the RAND-36 were used to assess changes in psychological distress and subjective health status.

Impairment of exercise capacity and peak oxygen consumption in patients with mild left ventricular dysfunction and coronary artery disease.

Aims: Most studies in chronic heart failure have only included patients with marked left ventricular systolic dysfunction (i.e. ejection fraction < or =0.

Training effects on peak VO2, specific of the mode of movement, in rehabilitation of patients with coronary artery disease.

Training effects on peak oxygen consumption (VO2), specific to the mode of movement, are well-known in exercise training of young, healthy adults. However, these specific training effects were never studied in patients with coronary artery disease, but may be important in the evaluation of training effects of cardiac rehabilitation programs. Exercise training programs dominated by, for example, cycling might improve peak VO2, measured during cycling, more than during treadmill testing.

Ten-metre walk, with or without a turn?

Objective: To compare results obtained using different procedures to measure 10-metre walking time.

Design: Walking was timed over a straight 10 m, and over 5 m with return. Further, the time taken to turn was measured directly.

Physical fitness related to age and physical activity in older persons.

Objective: This study investigated physical fitness as a function of age and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in a community-based sample of 624 persons aged 57 yr and older.

Methods: LTPA during the last 12 months was assessed through personal interviews. A wide range of physical fitness components was measured using performance-based tests.

Effect of casein-based semi-synthetic food on renal acid excretion and acid-base state of blood in dogs.

Urinary acid excretion and blood acid-base state were determined in dogs fed a casein-based semi-synthetic food (SSF), to which different amounts of salts had been added, in comparison with feeding normal dog food. Net acid excretion (NAE) and inorganic acid excretion (IAE) increased during SSF feeding. IAE was higher than the acid load calculated from the sulphur and phosphorus content of the casein.

The relationship between comfortable and most metabolically efficient walking speed in persons with unilateral above-knee amputation.

Walking is most efficient when the least energy is spent over a certain distance. In six normal male subjects and 11 males with above-knee amputation the comfortable self-selected walking speeds and the most metabolically efficient walking speeds were determined. For that purpose energy expenditure was measured per second and per meter at six incremental walking speeds.

Pitfalls in acid/base experiments with conscious dogs.

Arterial pH and blood gases were measured at intervals in conscious dogs after their first human contact of the day. Blood was sampled through an indwelling catheter in the aorta without disturbing the animals. It appeared that in the first 90 min arterial PO2, oxygen saturation and haemoglobin concentration significantly declined.

Influence of changes in cardiac output on the acid-base status of arterial and mixed venous blood.

While maintaining the arterial CO2 tension constant near the normal level of the dog (4.3 kPa), we studied the influence of decreasing cardiac output on both the arterial and mixed-venous blood acid-base status in anaesthetized, artificially ventilated dogs. Cardiac output was manipulated by applying positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), and by beta-adrenergic blockade to suppress a compensatory heart rate response.

Inhibition of carbonic anhydrase in dog plasma.

Using a pH stat method, we measured the activity of carbonic anhydrase (CA) from dog erythrocytes in the presence of various amounts of dog plasma. A plasma factor appeared to be able to inhibit about 86% of the total CA activity, corresponding to the relative activity of CA II. Naiodoacetate was shown to inhibit the total CA activity up to about 13%, corresponding to the relative activity of CA I.

Permeability of the human placenta to bicarbonate: in-vitro perfusion studies.

The effect of maternal acidosis on fetal acid-base balance was studied in a dual circuit perfusion of a single cotyledon in normal, term, human placentas. Both the fetal and maternal (intervillous) circulations were perfused with a Krebs-Ringer solution adjusted to pH values between 7.35 and 7.

On the reliability of the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation in routine clinical acid-base chemistry.

This paper deals with the variability of the practical coefficient of the first ionisation equilibrium of carbonic acid as related to the CO2 in the liquid phase (Henderson-Hasselbalch equation) (Formula: see text) and that of the practical coefficient of the first ionisation equilibrium of carbonic acid as related to the CO2 in the gas phase (modified Henderson-Hasselbalch equation) (Formula: see text).