Task-oriented exercise effects on walking and corticospinal excitability in multiple sclerosis: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that disrupts walking function and results in other debilitating symptoms. This study compares the effects of 'task-oriented exercise' against 'generalized resistance and aerobic exercise' and a 'stretching control' on walking and CNS function in people with MS (PwMS). We hypothesize that task-oriented exercise will enhance walking speed and related neural changes to a greater extent than other exercise approaches.

Tracking Within-Athlete Changes in Whole-Body Fat Percentage in Wheelchair Athletes.

Purpose: To evaluate the tracking of within-athlete changes in criterion measures of whole-body fat percentage (BF%; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) with skinfold thickness (Σ 4, 6, or 8) in wheelchair basketball players.

Methods: Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry-derived whole BF% and Σ 4, 6, or 8 skinfolds were obtained at 5 time points over 15 months (N = 16). A linear mixed model with restricted maximum likelihood (random intercept, with identity covariance structure) to derive the within-athlete prediction error for predicting criterion BF% from Σ skinfolds was used.

Pre-meal active video game playing increased subjective appetite but not food intake in children and adolescents.

Objective: Sedentary video game playing (VGP) and caloric preloads in the pre-meal environment have been shown to influence short-term food intake (FI) regulation in children. Other factors that may affect FI control include physical activity and/or heightened emotion. Therefore, we examined the effects of a glucose preload and 30 min of active VGP (aVGP) on subjective appetite, short-term FI, and subjective emotions in 9-14 year-old children.

The effect of synbiotics pomegranate juice on cardiovascular risk factors in PCOS patients: a randomized, triple-blinded, controlled trial.

Purpose: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common metabolic and endocrine disorders. Functional foods like pomegranate and probiotics are those that are considered to have beneficial effects on metabolic diseases beyond their basic nutritional value. So, we aimed to evaluate the effect of synbiotic pomegranate juice (SPJ) on cardiovascular risk factors on PCOS patients.

Effects of White Potatoes Consumed With Eggs on Satiety, Food Intake, and Glycemic Response in Children and Adolescents.

Short-term studies in adults have shown that white potatoes increase satiety and suppress food intake (FI) compared with several other carbohydrate-containing foods; however, studies are limited in children. The objective was to compare the effects of white potatoes in mixed meals on satiety, FI, and glycemic response in 9-14-year-old children and adolescents. Using a within-subject, repeated-measures design, 21 children completed five counter-balanced test sessions.

Motor unit and muscle fiber type grouping after peripheral nerve injury in the rat.

Muscle unit (MU) fibers innervated by one motoneuron and corresponding muscle fiber types are normally distributed in a mosaic. We asked whether, 4-8months after common peroneal nerve transection and random surgical alignment of nerve stumps in rat tibialis anterior muscles 1) reinnervated MU muscle and muscle fiber type clumping is invariant and 2) slow and fast motoneurons regenerate their nerve fibers within original endoneurial pathways. MU contractile forces were recorded in vivo, the MUs classified into types according to their contractile speed and fatigability, and one MU subjected to alternate exhaustive stimulation-recovery cycles to deplete glycogen for histochemical MU fiber recognition and enumeration, and muscle fiber typing.

Optimal stimulation of paralyzed muscle after human spinal cord injury.

Muscle properties change profoundly as a result of disuse after spinal cord injury. To study the extent to which these changes can be reversed by electrical stimulation, tibialis anterior muscles in complete spinal cord-injured subjects were stimulated for progressively longer times (15 min, 45 min, 2 h, and 8 h/day) in 6-wk intervals. An index of muscle endurance to repetitive stimulation doubled (from 0.