The stepping response in early infancy.

Postnatally, the stepping response can be elicited right after birth, but soon diminishes and disappears by about 2-3 months of age. It is still not clear if the disappearance of the response is caused by gradual maturation of the central nervous system, environmental factors, or biomechanical factors such as added body weight and/or increased muscle mass of the legs. This clinical study assessed the stepping response in a group of healthy infants (n = 58) at the age of 6 weeks: 37 born preterm and corrected for gestational age.

Exercise-physiological approach in the analysis of blood glucose curves.

The effect of a single bout of oral glucose administration on the blood glucose level during three hours of observation was studied at rest in 6 physical education students and in 6 elite walkers with different physical condition. The influence of the physical condition on the observed data was also investigated. The evaluation of the glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was first built on a mathematical model and it was developed by a new method.

Gender differences in the echocardiographic characteristics of the athletic heart.

Differences between males and females in the effects of regular physical training on the heart were investigated by echocardiography in 579 male (nonathletes: 122, athletes: 457) and in 336 (nonathletes: 84, athletes: 252) female subjects of variable age. The age groups were: children (<15 yr.), adolescent-young (15-18 yr.

Characteristics influencing changes in aerobic performance of children aged 7-9.

Interpretation of the actual level of aerobic endurance in a growing child is difficult. Endurance capacity per se is influenced by a number of factors, e.g.

The effect of detraining on echocardiographic parameters due to injury.

Regular exercise training modifies the morphological and functional properties as well as the autonomous regulation of the heart. Such changes constitute what is termed an athletic heart, and were found to be reversible so after a discontinuation of regular exercise cardiac parameters gradually return to the non-athletic values. As yet, however, it has not been fully settled 1) how long a period of detraining is necessary to elicit such reversion, and 2) whether the various characteristics of an athletic heart would move concurrently or the time course of their change is different.

An approach to primary prevention from the aspect of applied physiology.

The main reason for our decreasing population number--a most remarkable indicator of the inadequacy of our health culture--is the high rate of overall mortality. In its background one finds a number of risk factors of high prevalence, such as hypertension disease, addiction pathology, reduced stress tolerance as well as physical and psychic inactivity. Patterns of life that are positive are scarce and as yet not attractive or efficient.

Changes in urine 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine levels of super-marathon runners during a four-day race period.

We have determined the urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels of five well trained supra-marathon runners during a four-day race. The daily running distances of the four-day race were the following; 93 km, 120 km, 56 km and 59 km, respectively. Pre-race and post-race urine samples were collected on each day and analyzed by a monoclonal antibody technique.

Doppler echocardiographic examinations in the assessment of the athletic heart.

Doppler echocardiography is a method with the help of which flow velocity and the duration of different intervals can be estimated. The ratio between early and late peak velocities (E/A) is linearly proportional to diastolic function, i.e.

The effect of exercise training on oxidative damage of lipids, proteins, and DNA in rat skeletal muscle: evidence for beneficial outcomes.

Moderate daily exercise is known to be beneficial to health, reducing risks of a number of age-related disorders. Molecular mechanisms that bring about these effects are not clear. In contrast, it has been claimed that some types of prolonged physical exertion are detrimental to health because active oxygen species are generated excessively by enhanced oxygen consumption.

Foot placement modifies kinematics and kinetics during drop jumping.

Purpose: Sprinting, bouncing, and spontaneous landings are associated with a forefoot contact whereas walking, running, and jumping are associated with heel-toe foot placement. Because such foot placement strategies influence landing mechanics or the ensuing performance, the purpose of this work was to compare lower extremity kinematics and kinetics and muscle activation patterns between drop vertical jumps performed with heel-toe (HTL) and forefoot (FFL) landings.

Methods: Ten healthy male university students performed two types of drop jump from a 0.

Muscle soreness-induced reduction in force generation is accompanied by increased nitric oxide content and DNA damage in human skeletal muscle.

We examined the effect of exercise-induced muscle soreness on maximal force generation, tissue nitric oxide (NO) and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) content in human skeletal muscle. Female volunteers were assigned to control (C) and muscle soreness (MS) groups (n = 6 in each). MS group performed 200 eccentric muscle actions of the rectus femoris to induce muscle soreness.

Echocardiographic estimates related to various body size measures in athletes.

In comparing subjects of different body size echocardiographically measured data have usually been related to various body measures, mostly to body surface area (BSA). The present study serves to point out an inherent error of this procedure. Two-dimensionally guided M-mode echocardiography was performed in 106 elite male athletes.

The medical aspects of doping.

One of the crucial problems in the competitive sports of our days is the illicit use of drugs in increasing physical performance. The moral, professional, and legal responsibility of the physicians having a role in doping is quite explicit. Sports medicine can significantly contribute to the repression of doping; due to the diverging interests, however, it will not be able to solve it alone.