Search

González-Cano, H, Martín-Olmedo, JJ, Baz-Valle, E, Contreras, C, Schoenfeld, BJ, García-Ramos, A, Jiménez-Martínez, P, and Alix-Fages, C. Do muscle mass and body fat differ between elite and amateur natural physique athletes on competition day? A preliminary, cross-sectional, anthropometric study. J Strength Cond Res38(5): 951–956, 2024—Natural physique athletes strive to achieve low body fat levels while promoting muscle mass hypertrophy for competition day. This study aimed to compare the anthropometric characteristics of natural amateur (AMA) and professional (PRO) World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF) competitors. Eleven male natural physique athletes (6 PRO and 5 AMA; age = 24.8 ± 2.3 years) underwent a comprehensive anthropometric evaluation following the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry protocol within a 24-hour time frame surrounding the competition. The 5-component fractionation method was used to obtain the body composition profile of the muscle, adipose, bone, skin, and residual tissues. Five physique athletes exceeded the 5.2 cutoff point of muscle-to-bone ratio (MBR) for natural athletes. Professional physique athletes were older than AMA physique athletes (p= 0.05), and they also presented larger thigh girths (p= 0.005) and bone mass (p= 0.019) compared with AMA physique athletes. Although no statistically significant between-group differences were observed in body mass, height, or body fat levels, PRO physique athletes exhibited a higher body mass index (BMI; AMA: 24.45 ± 0.12; PRO: 25.52 ± 1.01; p= 0.048), lean body mass (LBM; AMA: 64.49 ± 2.35; PRO: 69.80 ± 3.78; p= 0.024), fat-free mass (FFM; AMA: 71.23 ± 3.21; PRO: 76.52 ± 4.31; p= 0.05), LBM index (LBMI; AMA: 20.65 ± 0.52; PRO: 21.74 ± 0.85; p= 0.034), and fat-free mass index index (FFMI; AMA: 22.80 ± 0.22; PRO: 23.83 ± 0.90; p= 0.037) compared with AMA physique athletes. These findings highlight the unique characteristics and anthropometric differences between PRO and AMA natural physique athletes on competition day, emphasizing the significance of age, thigh girth, bone mass, BMI, LBM, FFM, and FFMI in distinguishing these 2 groups. Based on our findings, the established boundaries for muscle mass in natural physique athletes, based on FFMI and MBR, warrant reconsideration.

La cardiopatía isquémica es la primera causa de muerte y una de las cuatro principales causas de carga de enfermedad en el mundo. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar los efectos edad-periodo-cohorte la mortalidad por cardiopatía isquémica en Andalucía (sur de España) y en cada una de sus provincias durante el periodo 1981-2008.

The disposal of olive mill wastewater (OMW) is a critical pollution problem, especially in Mediterranean countries. OMW is produced at a rate of ca. 2 1 kg-1of olives. OMW has a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of 35–48 g kg-1. The evaporation of OMW in ponds produces large amounts of sludge (OMWS), which after being dried can be used as organic fertilizer or amendment, either directly or co-composted with agricultural by-products. The present paper deals with the use of a compost of dried sludge of OMW and other agricultural by-products – olive mill wastewater sludge compost (OMWSC) – to amend for three consecutive years two typical soils of southern Spain: a Typic Xeropsamment, S1 (CaCO386 g kg-1; OM 1.4 g kg-1; sandy soil) and a Typic Xerorthent, S2 (CaCO3270 g kg-1; OM 5.3 g kg-1; sandy–clay–loam soil). Both soils are poor in organic matter, in total Kjeldahl-N (TKN 347 and 536 mg kg-1) and in available-P (Olsen P 3.0 and 2.5 mg kg-1). Mineralization of the organic-N of the OMWSC (OM 106–338 g kg-1; TKN 7–15 g kg-1; C/N 12.3–18.9) and of soils treated with OMWSC was studied under laboratory conditions by an aerobic, non-leaching incubation procedure. In both cases, the N-mineralization process was well described by first-order-reaction kinetics, and the potentially mineralizable-N (N0) and the N-mineralization rate constant (k) estimated from a single first-order equation. Values for N0(equivalent to 16% of the N of the compost) and k(0.041 week-1) indicated that the OMWSC was a mature compost composed mainly of well-humified organic matter, very resistant to mineralization. Soils treated with OMWSC showed increases of the OM, TKN and N0contents and of the potential rate of mineralization (N0x k), with respect to untreated or mineral fertilized soils. The increases of TKN in soils treated with OMWSC were even higher than expected by the N added together with compost, and attributed to non-symbiotic N fixation. Values of OM, TKN, N0and N0x k, were higher in S2 than in S1, which can be explained based on the soil properties related to fertility, especially soil texture.

Abstract:  Short-term changes in N availability in a sandy soil in response to the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from a poultry manure (application rate equivalent to approximately 250 kg N ha–1) were evaluated in a 44-day aerobic incubation experiment. The treatments included poultry manure alone and two treatments in which an extra source of C, of low water solubility, was added with the poultry manure in the form of a low (1.05 g kg–1) and a high (4.22 g kg–1) amount of cellulose. All treatments were fertilised with the equivalent of 60 kg N ha–1 of (15NH4)2SO4 in solution. A control treatment consisted of sieved field-moist soil plus 60 kg N ha–1 of (15NH4)2SO4 in solution. Measurements were made of N2O and CO2 emissions, inorganic N, DOC, biomass N, biomass C and labelled N contained in the inorganic N and biomass N pools. The dynamics of N turnover in this study were driven mainly by processes of mineralisation–immobilisation with little significant loss of N by volatilisation or denitrification. The DOC supplied with the poultry manure played a more important role in N2O emissions than differences in C/N ratio. Changes in DOC and cumulative CO2-C production during the first 11 days were also highly correlated (R 2=0.88–0.66, P<0.01). An initial net immobilisation of N, with significant increases in biomass C and biomass N (P<0.05) for all treatments over the control at day 11, indicated a high availability of C from the DOC fraction. The presence of additional C from the applied cellulose did not enable a massive N immobilisation. Total inorganic N and unlabelled inorganic N concentrations were highest in soils treated with poultry manure alone (P<0.05), indicating that an active gross mineralisation of the added poultry manure and a possible positive priming effect were taking place during the incubation.