Muscle-tendon architecture in Kenyans and Japanese: Potential role of genetic endowment in the success of elite Kenyan endurance runners.

Aim: The specificity of muscle-tendon and foot architecture of elite Kenyan middle- and long-distance runners has been found to contribute to their superior running performance. To investigate the respective influence of genetic endowment and training on these characteristics, we compared leg and foot segmental lengths as well as muscle-tendon architecture of Kenyans and Japanese males (i) from infancy to adulthood and (ii) non-athletes versus elite runners.

Methods: The 676 participants were divided according to their nationality (Kenyans and Japanese), age (nine different age groups for non-athletes) and performance level in middle- and long-distance races (non-athlete, non-elite and elite adult runners).

Development of accelerometer-based light to vigorous physical activity in fitness profiles of school-aged children.

This study examined the developmental trajectories of light (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in fitness profiles derived from motor competence, perceived motor competence, health-related fitness, and MVPA behavior. Locomotor, stability, and object control skills, muscular and cardiovascular fitness, and physical activity were assessed in 510 (girls 285 and boys 225) Finnish school-aged children (M  = 11.26 ± 33 years) over three years.

Systematic evaluation of the association between hemoglobin levels and metabolic profile implicates beneficial effects of hypoxia.

Activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway reprograms energy metabolism. Hemoglobin (Hb) is the main carrier of oxygen. Using its normal variation as a surrogate measure for hypoxia, we explored whether lower Hb levels could lead to healthier metabolic profiles in mice and humans ( = 7175) and used Mendelian randomization (MR) to evaluate potential causality ( = 173,480).

The Development and Initial Validation of a Short, Self-Report Measure on Social Inclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities-A Transnational Study.

Sport has been promoted as a means of increasing the social inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities. Suitable tools for evaluating this claim are not readily available. The aim of this study was to develop a self-report tool for use by people with intellectual disabilities regarding the social inclusion they experience in sport and in the community.

Physical activity and aerobic fitness show different associations with brain processes underlying anticipatory selective visuospatial attention in adolescents.

Current knowledge about the underlying brain processes of exercise-related benefits on executive functions and the specific contributions of physical activity and aerobic fitness during adolescence is inconclusive. We explored whether and how physical activity and aerobic fitness are associated with the oscillatory dynamics underlying anticipatory spatial attention. We studied whether the link between physical exercise level and cognitive control in adolescents is mediated by task-related oscillatory activity.

Childhood Psychosocial Environment and Adult Cardiac Health: A Causal Mediation Approach.

Introduction: This study used causal mediation analysis to assess the life-course associations of a favorable childhood psychosocial environment with left ventricular mass and diastolic function in adulthood and the extent to which adult health behaviors mediate these associations.

Methods: The sample included 880 participants (56% women) from the Young Finns Study with data on the childhood environment from 1980, adult health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, diet, and BMI) from 2001 and an echocardiographic assessment of the left ventricular mass (g/m) and diastolic function (E/e' ratio; higher values indicating a lower diastolic function) from 2011. The associations of the childhood environment with the left ventricular mass and E/e' ratio and mediation pathways through health behaviors were assessed using marginal structural models that were controlled for age, sex, and time-dependent confounding by adult socioeconomic position (measured as educational attainment) via inverse probability weighting.

Muscle-Tendon Interaction During Human Dolphin-Kick Swimming.

Without high impact forces, it is not clear how humans can utilize tendon elasticity during low-impact activities. The purpose of the present study was to examine the muscle-tendon behavior together with the electromyographic (EMG) activities of the vastus lateralis (VL) muscle during the human dolphin-kicking. In a swimming pool, each subject ( = 11) swam the 25 m dolphin-kicking at two different speeds (NORMAL and FAST).

Socioeconomic position and intergenerational associations of ideal health behaviors.

Background: Promoting ideal cardiovascular health behaviors is an objective of the American Heart Association 2020 goals. We hypothesized that ideal health behaviors of parents are associated with health behaviors of their adult offspring, and that higher socioeconomic position in either generation enhances intergenerational associations of ideal health behaviors.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Using physical education to promote out-of school physical activity in lower secondary school students - a randomized controlled trial protocol.

Background: Given the documented decline in levels of physical activity in early adolescence, promoting physical activity in young people is a priority for health promotion. School physical education (PE) is an important existing network in which participation in physical activity beyond school can be promoted to the captive young people. The objective of current article is to present the protocol for a PE teacher-delivered theory-based trial to promote secondary school students' participation in physical activity out-of-school contexts.

Coronary heart disease risk factor levels in eastern and western Finland from 1980 to 2011 in the cardiovascular risk in Young Finns study.

Background And Aims: In the 1960s and 1970s, Finland, mortality due to coronary heart disease (CHD) was over 30% higher among Finns residing in the east of the country compared with those residing in the west. Today, CHD mortality remains 20% higher among eastern Finns. The higher incidence of CHD mortality among eastern Finns has largely been explained by higher risk factor levels.

Childhood socioeconomic status and lifetime health behaviors: The Young Finns Study.

Background: Differences in health behaviors partly explain the socioeconomic gap in cardiovascular health. We prospectively examined the association between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and lifestyle factors in adulthood, and the difference of lifestyle factors according to childhood SES in multiple time points from childhood to adulthood.

Methods And Results: The sample comprised 3453 participants aged 3-18 years at baseline (1980) from the longitudinal Young Finns Study.

Physical Inactivity from Youth to Adulthood and Risk of Impaired Glucose Metabolism.

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) is important in the prevention and treatment of impaired glucose metabolism. However, association of physical inactivity during the transition between childhood and adulthood with glucose metabolism is unknown. Therefore, we studied the association of persistent physical inactivity since childhood with glucose metabolism in adulthood.

High-impact exercise in adulthood and vertebral dimensions in midlife - the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study.

Background: Vertebral size and especially cross-sectional area (CSA) are independently associated with vertebral fracture risk. Previous studies have suggested that physical activity and especially high-impact exercise may affect vertebral strength. We aimed to investigate the association between high-impact exercise at 31 and 46 years of age and vertebral dimensions in midlife.

Leisure Time Physical Activity in Young Adults Born Preterm.

Objective: To evaluate the amount of self-reported physical activity in young adults born prematurely compared with those born at term.

Study Design: Unimpaired participants of the Preterm Birth Study (Preterm Birth and Early Life Programming of Adult Health and Disease) birth cohort study were studied at age 23.3 ± 1.

Effects of childhood and adolescence physical activity patterns on psychosis risk-a general population cohort study.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders are associated with high morbidity and mortality in somatic diseases. The risk factors of this excess mortality include, e.g.

Effects of resistance training frequency on cardiorespiratory fitness in older men and women during intervention and follow-up.

This study investigated the effects of resistance training (RT) performed with different frequencies, including a follow-up period, on cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy older individuals. Eighty-eight men and women (69±3years, 167±9cm and 78±14kg) were randomly placed into four groups: training one- (M1=11, W1=12), two- (M2=7, W2=14), or three- (M3=11, W3=13) times-per-week or a non-training control group (MCon=11, WCon=9). During months 1-3, all subjects trained two-times-per-week while during the subsequent 6months, training frequency was set according to the group.

Prenatal determinants of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescence - Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 study.

Background: Lower levels of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are key risk factors of chronic adult diseases. Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are predicted by birth weight, but the underlying parental and pregnancy-related factors remain largely unknown. We examined how prenatal determinants are associated with physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescence.

Measuring Physical Activity in Free-Living Conditions-Comparison of Three Accelerometry-Based Methods.

We examined the agreement in time spent on different physical activity (PA) levels using (1) mean amplitude deviation (MAD) of raw acceleration from the hip, (2) wrist-worn Polar Active, and (3) hip-worn Actigraph counts using Freedson's cut-points among adults under free-living conditions. PA was measured in 41 volunteers (mean age 47.6 years) for 14 days.

Association between adolescent sport activities and lumbar disk degeneration among young adults.

The relationship between different sport activities and lumbar intervertebral disk degeneration (DD) is largely unknown. We evaluated whether adolescent participation in different sports is associated with lumbar DD in a population-based birth cohort of young adults. A total of 558 young adults (325 females and 233 males) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, 1.

Objectively measured physical activity and sedentary time in young adults born preterm-The ESTER study.

Background: Young adults born preterm have higher levels of cardio metabolic risk factors and they report less physical activity than their peers born at term. Physical activity provides important cardio metabolic health benefits. We hypothesized that objectively measured physical activity levels are lower and time spent sedentary is higher among preterm-born individuals compared with controls.

Intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic position and ideal cardiovascular health: 32-year follow-up study.

Objectives: Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood predicts cardiovascular health in adulthood but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Using a longitudinal study design, we examined the extent to which adult SEP acts as a pathway (mediator) connecting childhood SEP with adult cardiovascular health, and if upward social mobility mitigates the health-effects of early low SEP.

Method: The sample comprised 697 participants from a prospective Finnish cohort followed during 32 years.

Active commuting to school in Finland, the potential for physical activity increase in different seasons.

Background: Active commuting to school (ACS) can be a significant source of physical activity and provide many health benefits.

Objective: This study identified the potential to increase physical activity levels by promoting ACS in Finnish schools and evaluated the effects of season, distance and age on ACS.

Design: Data were collected with a questionnaire from 5,107 students, aged 10-16, in 45 comprehensive schools in Finland.

Changes in physical activity and sedentary time in the Finnish Schools on the Move program: a quasi-experimental study.

The aim of the Finnish Schools on the Move program is to create a more active and pleasant school day through physical activity (PA). In this quasi-experimental design, we compared changes in moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST) during the school day and outside school hours for Grades 1-9 over two academic years in four program schools and two reference schools. Altogether 319 girls and boys aged 7-15 participated in the study between 2010 and 2012.

Neuromechanical Modulation of the Achilles Tendon During Bilateral Hopping in Patients with Unilateral Achilles Tendon Rupture, Over 1 Year After Surgical Repair.

Background: Patients who have had an Achilles tendon (AT) rupture repaired are potentially at higher risk for re-rupture than those without previous rupture. Little attention has been given to the neuromechanical modulation of muscle-tendon interaction and muscle activation profiles during human dynamic movements after AT rupture repair.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine muscle-tendon behavior and muscle activation during bilateral hopping.