The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Support Between Physical Activity Habit Strength and Depressive Symptoms in People Seeking to Decrease Their Cardiovascular Risk: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Regular physical activity treatment has been advocated for the prevention and rehabilitation of patients at risk of cardiovascular diseases and depressive symptoms. How physical activity is related to depressive symptoms is widely discussed.

Objective: The aim of this internet-based study was to investigate the role of perceived social support in the relationship between physical activity habit strength and depressive symptoms.

Christian Orthodox fasting in practice: A comparative evaluation between Greek Orthodox general population fasters and Athonian monks.

Objectives: Christian Orthodox fasting (COF), a periodical vegetarian subset of the Mediterranean diet, has been proven to exert beneficial effects on human health. Athonian fasting is a pescetarian COF variation, where red meat is strictly restricted throughout the year. Previous studies have examined the COF nutritional synthesis and health effects in general population fasters (GF) and Athonian monks (AM), separately.

Perception of the Current Anti-doping Regime - A Quantitative Study Among German Top-Level Cyclists and Track and Field Athletes.

In recent years anti-doping organizations have implemented various measures to deter elite athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs. One of the main challenges in the fight against doping is that the effectiveness of these anti-doping measures is still unknown. Since the effectiveness of the measures depends primarily on the athletes' perception, this study focuses on the following four objectives: (1) How effective do top-level athletes perceive individual anti-doping measures to be? (2) Are the results stable across different sports and (3) genders? (4) How can the anti-doping measures be structured into appropriate categories? To address these issues the perceived effectiveness of 14 anti-doping measures was surveyed among 146 top athletes from Germany (Cycling: = 42; Athletics: = 104) who are members of at least the National Testing Pool.

Thinking about your running movement makes you less efficient: attentional focus effects on running economy and kinematics.

A number of studies have shown that attentional focus instructions can effect running economy. This study assessed spiroergometry, as well as running kinematics as a possible mechanism to explain these effects. Twelve runners had to focus their attention on either their running movement, their breathing or on a video while running on a treadmill at a set, submaximum speed.

An Augmented Perceptual-Cognitive Intervention Using a Pattern Recall Paradigm With Junior Soccer Players.

In sport, perceptual skill training software is intended to assist tactical training in the field. The aim of this field study was to test whether "laboratory-based" pattern recall training would augment tactical skill training performed on the field. Twenty-six soccer players between 14 and 16 years of age from a single team participated in this study and were divided into three groups.

Women with Anorexia Nervosa do not show altered tactile localization compared to healthy controls.

Body image disturbance is a key symptom of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Previous studies found that women with AN overestimate their body size in comparison with healthy controls (HC), at least for unimodal measures involving either only visual input (e.g.

Understanding the Positive Associations of Sleep, Physical Activity, Fruit and Vegetable Intake as Predictors of Quality of Life and Subjective Health Across Age Groups: A Theory Based, Cross-Sectional Web-Based Study.

Due to the increase in unhealthy lifestyles and associated health risks, the promotion of healthy lifestyles to improve the prevention of non-communicable diseases is imperative. Thus, research aiming to identify strategies to modify health behaviors has been encouraged. Little is known about addressing multiple health behaviors across age groups (i.

The use of visual cues in gravity judgements on parabolic motion.

Evidence suggests that humans rely on an earth gravity prior for sensory-motor tasks like catching or reaching. Even under earth-discrepant conditions, this prior biases perception and action towards assuming a gravitational downwards acceleration of 9.81 m/s.

Differences in Vertical Jump Force-Time Characteristics between Stronger and Weaker Adolescent Basketball Players.

The countermovement jump (CMJ) and isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) are commonly used to compare one's force capacity during dynamic and isometric assessments, respectively. However, little research has investigated the influence of maximum isometric strength on drop-jump (DJ) performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore differences in CMJ and DJ force-time characteristics between stronger and weaker adolescent male basketball players.

Cardiovascular Responses During Resistance Exercise in Patients With Parkinson Disease.

Background: Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) present cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction that impairs blood pressure control. However, cardiovascular responses during resistance exercise are unknown in these patients.

Objective: To investigate cardiovascular responses during resistance exercise performed with different muscle masses in patients with PD.

The development and evaluation of a novel repurposing of a peripheral gaming device for the acquisition of forces applied to a hydraulic treatment plinth.

This technical note details the stages taken to create an instrumented hydraulic treatment plinth for the measurement of applied forces in the vertical axis. The modification used a widely available low-cost peripheral gaming device and required only basic construction and computer skills. The instrumented treatment plinth was validated against a laboratory grade force platform across a range of applied masses from 0.

Analyzing the kinematics of hand movements in catching tasks-An online correction analysis of movement toward the target's trajectory.

Free, 3-D interceptive movements are difficult to visualize and quantify. For ball catching, the endpoint of a movement can be anywhere along the target's trajectory. Furthermore, the hand may already have begun to move before the subject has estimated the target's trajectory, and the subject may alter the targeted position during the initial part of the movement.

Skeletal muscle and performance adaptations to high-intensity training in elite male soccer players: speed endurance runs versus small-sided game training.

Purpose: To examine the skeletal muscle and performance responses across two different exercise training modalities which are highly applied in soccer training.

Methods: Using an RCT design, 39 well-trained male soccer players were randomized into either a speed endurance training (SET; n = 21) or a small-sided game group (SSG; n = 18). Over 4 weeks, thrice weekly, SET performed 6-10 × 30-s all-out runs with 3-min recovery, while SSG completed 2 × 7-9-min small-sided games with 2-min recovery.

Why don't serum vitamin D concentrations associate with BMD by DXA? A case of being 'bound' to the wrong assay? Implications for vitamin D screening.

Background: The association between bone mineral density (BMD) and serum25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration is weak, particularly in certain races (eg, BlackAfrican vs Caucasian) and in athletic populations. We aimed to examine if bioavailable vitamin D rather than serum 25(OH)D was related to markers of bone health within a racially diverse athletic population.

Methods: In 604 male athletes (Arab (n=327), Asian (n=48), Black (n=108), Caucasian (n=53) and Hispanic (n=68)), we measured total 25(OH)D, vitamin D-binding protein and BMD by DXA.

Long-Term Prognostic Validity of Talent Selections: Comparing National and Regional Coaches, Laypersons and Novices.

In most sports, the development of elite athletes is a long-term process of talent identification and support. Typically, talent selection systems administer a multi-faceted strategy including national coach observations and varying physical and psychological tests when deciding who is chosen for talent development. The aim of this exploratory study was to evaluate the prognostic validity of talent selections by varying groups 10 years after they had been conducted.

The influence of extra-curricular physical activities in the development of coordination in preschool children.

Background: The aim of this study was to provide information in relation to the coordination ability of preschool children. The study aimed to investigate the influence of preschool physical activity, as part of the enrichment curriculum, on the coordination of the pupils.

Methods: A sample of 120 preschool children (M=63; F=58) aged 4 and 5 years old (M=4.

Vision adds to haptics when dyads perform a whole-body joint balance task.

When two or more people aim to produce joint action outcomes they need to coordinate their individual actions in space and time. Successful joint action performance has been reported to depend, among others, on visual and somatosensory information provided to the joint actors. This study investigated whether and how the systematic manipulation of visual information modulates real-time joint action when dyads performed a whole-body joint balance task.

Electrical and structural adaptations of the paediatric athlete's heart: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Aim: To describe the electrocardiographic (ECG) and echocardiographic manifestations of the paediatric athlete's heart, and examine the impact of age, race and sex on cardiac remodelling responses to competitive sport.

Design: Systematic review with meta-analysis.

Data Sources: Six electronic databases were searched to May 2016: MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus.

Sleep deprivation as an experimental model system for psychosis: Effects on smooth pursuit, prosaccades, and antisaccades.

Current antipsychotic medications fail to satisfactorily reduce negative and cognitive symptoms and produce many unwanted side effects, necessitating the development of new compounds. Cross-species, experimental behavioural model systems can be valuable to inform the development of such drugs. The aim of the current study was to further test the hypothesis that controlled sleep deprivation is a safe and effective model system for psychosis when combined with oculomotor biomarkers of schizophrenia.

Emotionality of Colors: An Implicit Link between Red and Dominance.

The color red has been shown to alter emotions, physiology, psychology, and behavior. Research has suggested that these alterations could possibly be due to a link between red and perceived dominance. In this study we examined if the color red is implicitly associated to the concept of dominance.

The role of error processing in the contextual interference effect during the training of perceptual-cognitive skills.

The contextual interference (CI) effect refers to the learning benefits that occur from a random compared with blocked practice order. In this article, the cognitive effort explanation for the CI effect was examined by investigating the role of error processing. In 2 experiments, a perceptual-cognitive task was used in which participants anticipated 3 different tennis skills across a pretest, 3 practice sessions, and retention test.

Prospective Evaluation of Postural Control and Gait in Pediatric Patients with Cancer After a 4-Week Inpatient Rehabilitation Program.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of a 4-wk inpatient rehabilitation program on postural control and gait in pediatric patients with cancer.

Design: Eighty-eight patients with brain tumors (n = 59) and bone/soft tissue sarcomas (n = 29) were evaluated. Postural control was assessed examining the velocity of the center of pressure and single-leg stance time on a pressure distribution platform.

Carbohydrate and Caffeine Improves High-Intensity Running of Elite Rugby League Interchange Players During Simulated Match Play.

Clarke, JS, Highton, J, Close, GL, and Twist, C. Carbohydrate and caffeine improves high-intensity running of elite rugby league interchange players during simulated match play. J Strength Cond Res 33(5): 1320-1327, 2019-The study examined the effects of carbohydrate and caffeine ingestion on simulated rugby league interchange performance.

Quiet eye facilitates sensorimotor preprograming and online control of precision aiming in golf putting.

An occlusion protocol was used to elucidate the respective roles of preprograming and online control during the quiet eye period of golf putting. Twenty-one novice golfers completed golf putts to 6-ft and 11-ft targets under full vision or with vision occluded on initiation of the backswing. Radial error (RE) was higher, and quiet eye was longer, when putting to the 11-ft versus 6-ft target, and in the occluded versus full vision condition.