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Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of blended learning with an e-learning material on the Medication Dosage Calculation (MDC) test performance of undergraduate nursing students. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 95 nursing students enrolled in a public university in Turkey. Students were split into the two groups: intervention group with access to the e-learning material and control group using only the traditional face-to-face learning method. Each group sat the same MDC test and the effects of each learning method on their MDC test performance were analyzed. Results: Although both groups improved their MDC skills after the course, the students accessing the e-learning material had significantly greater enhancement in MDC test performance than those receiving only the traditional course. Conclusion: These findings suggest that blended e-learning in combination with the traditional method of classroom-based instruction may contribute to the improvement of nursing students’ MDC test performance. © 2022 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing, Special thanks to all of our students who agreed to participate in this study, the web designer and professional speaker who made great contributions in preparing e-learning material, and finally our professional proof-reader who helped edit this paper.

Aim: This study was conducted to examine the effect of hospital-based group breastfeeding education provided to mothers before discharge from the hospital on mothers’ self-efficacy and on the increase of breastfeeding rates. Methods: This randomized controlled educational research was conducted in the hospital is located in the West of Turkey. Ninety mothers who had healthy and term babies, and an intent to breastfeed their babies participated in the study. The questionnaire forms were collected by the researcher using face to face interview technique. Chi-square, dependent and independent groups t-test and ANOVA analysis were used along with descriptive statistics in analyzing the data. Results: Compared to the control group, the scores obtained from the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale were higher in the education group in all the follow-ups. Similarly, status of exclusive breastfeeding was higher in the education group compared to the control group. In the twelfth week, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 80.0% in the education group, while it was 47.5% in the control group. Conclusion: These results show that breastfeeding group education and follow-up counseling given before discharge from the hospital were effective. This is evidence in favor of increasing the use of group education. This RCT was registered NCT04515862 with www.clinicaltrials.gov on 2020. © 2022, 13 ASYO 009, We would like to thank Ege University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Office and all the participating mothers for their support in this research (Project No:13 ASYO 009)., This work (Project No: 13 ASYO 009 ) was supported by Ege University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Office.

Objectives: Limited and inconsistent findings have been reported on the link between social connections and support and emergency department (ED) visits in older populations. Moreover, the adequacy of informal care for older adults has rarely been considered. This study explored the associations of social connections, social support, and informal care with ED visits in younger-old (

Strain ratio measurements of tendons vary because of the reference tissue selection. The main purpose of this study is to highlight, in detail, the numeric variability attributable to the use of various reference materials on strain ratio measurements of patellar and Achilles tendons. Measurements were performed at the proximal, middle and distal thirds of the patellar and Achilles tendons on the dominant site of healthy volunteers. A total of 3 references were used: the Hoffa's fat pad for the patellar tendon, the Kager's fat pad for the Achilles tendon, subcutaneous tissue and Aquaflex gel pads (Parker Laboratories, Fairfield, NJ, USA) for both tendons. Although the same methods were used by the same physician for each tendon site on repeated measurements, strain ratio values had numeric variability with various reference materials in each measurement. Therefore, comparison of numeric strain ratio results of various studies with various reference materials could confuse the clinical interpretations of these numeric data, and, using a reference material with standard stiffness like Aquaflex ultrasound gel pads, should be considered by verifying these results with further studies. © 2019 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of registered nurse (RN) preceptors working in psychiatric care concerning the organisation of clinical placements and their own preceptor role with undergraduate nursing students. Background: Clinical placements play a central role in undergraduate nursing education, and it is crucial that psychiatric care clinical placements are of high quality. Methods: The RNs’ perceptions before and after the introduction of changes in the organisation of clinical placements were compared. A total of 103 surveys with quantitative and qualitative data were returned, from 59 RN preceptors at baseline and 44 RN preceptors at follow-up. Data were analysed with non-parametrical statistics and qualitative content analysis. Results: The majority of RN preceptors perceived the changes to have been beneficial, but there was still a desire for the students to have more time in their psychiatric care clinical placements according to the RN preceptors. At follow-up, significantly more RN preceptors perceived that they had an intentional pedagogical foundation for their precepting. Conclusions: We conclude that the changes introduced into the clinical placement are beneficial, but there is still need for further improvement in relation to the amount of time student nurses spend in psychiatric clinical placements and in the opportunities provided for RN preceptors to attend preceptor preparation courses. © 2021 The Authors open access

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of performance- and image-enhancing substances (PIES) use, and factors related to this, among a representative sample of the general Swedish population aged 16–25. We used a quantitative cross-sectional self-report design to examine prevalence and possible relationships between PIES use and socio-demographics, physical activity, attitudes towards muscle building and doping, friends’ use, body image, and body modification. Approximately 12% of the respondents reported that they used or had used PIES. A logistic regression analysis pointed out the importance of the social context – friends who used PIES, how body image affected social life, and how others viewed one's body – as more important factors for using PIES than attitudes towards muscle building and doping. Taken together, these results indicate a need to pay attention to the use of PIES among young people as a potential public health problem.

Aim The purpose of this study was to compare physiological responses and frequencies of technical actions in different full-court game formats in young basketball players. Methods Twelve young male basketball players (age 15.8 ± 0.9 years; height 184.1 ± 7.7 cm; body mass 77.2 ± 10.8 kg) participated in this study voluntarily. Different full-court game formats (2-a-side, 3-a-side, 4-a-side and 5-a-side) were organized in random order at 2-day intervals. Results The study results indicate that the full-court 2-a-side and 3-a-side games produced significantly higher physiological responses than the full-court 5-a-side games in terms of HR, %HRmax, and RPE (P < 0.05). In addition, the full-court 2-a-side games resulted in significantly higher frequencies of technical actions than full-court 4-a-side and 5-a-side games (P < 0.05) with the exception of steals. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that, if coaches want to achieve greater physiological responses and higher frequencies of technical actions, they should organize 2-a-side and 3-a-side full-court games. © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS

In dynamic scenes, relative motion between the object, the observer, and/or the environment projects as dynamic visual information onto the retina (optic flow) that facilitates 3D shape perception. When the object is diffusely reflective, e.g. a matte painted surface, this optic flow is directly linked to object shape, a property found at the foundations of most traditional shape-from-motion (SfM) schemes. When the object is specular, the corresponding specular flow is related to shape curvature, a regime change that challenges the visual system to determine concurrently both the shape and the distortions of the (sometimes unknown) environment reflected from its surface. While human observers are able to judge the global 3D shape of most specular objects, shape-from-specular-flow (SFSF) is not veridical. In fact, recent studies have also shown systematic biases in the perceived motion of such objects. Here we focus on the perception of local shape from specular flow and compare it to that of matte-textured rotating objects. Observers judged local surface shape by adjusting a rotation and scale invariant shape index probe. Compared to shape judgments of static objects we find that object motion decreases intra-observer variability in local shape estimation. Moreover, object motion introduces systematic changes in perceived shape between matte-textured and specular conditions. Taken together, this study provides a new insight toward the contribution of motion and surface material to local shape perception. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

New technologies have led to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary behaviour is characterised by physical inactivity and is associated with several health risks. This excessive sitting does not only take place in the office or at home, but also during daily commute. Therefore, BMW AG developed an active seating system for the back seat of a car, consisting of sensors in the back rest that register upper body movements of the passenger, with which the passenger controls a game. This study evaluated three different aspects of active seating compared to other tasks (reading, working on laptop, and gaming on tablet). First, discomfort and comfort perception were measured in a 30-minute driving test. Discomfort was very low for all activities and participants felt significantly more challenged, more fit and more refreshed during active seating. Second, heart rate was measured, indicating a light intensity, but nevertheless non-sedentary, activity. Third, average and variability in activity of six postural muscles was measured by electromyography (EMG), showing a higher muscle activity and higher muscle variability for active seating compared to other activities. Active seating might stimulate movements, thereby increasing comfort and well-being.

To support health and safety practitioners in their obligation of risk assessment the 'Hand Arm Risk Assessment Method' (HARM) was developed. This tool can be used by any type of company for risk assessment of developing arm, neck or shoulders symptoms (pain) resulting from light manual tasks.This paper describes the development of HARM1.0. A literature study and review of existing methods showed that the best available method to use as a basis was the Key Indicator Method for Manual Handling Operations (KIM MHO). Based on a combination of scientific data and input from a scientific committee with experts on risk factors for arm, neck or shoulder pain the KIM MHO was expanded with the evaluation of working postures and using vibrating hand tools. Input from field-experts was included using the paired equations method in which risk factors were ranked and weight factors assessed. A prototype tool was developed and tested for reliability and concurrent validity. A fair to good agreement in the overall risk evaluation (green/amber/red) between practitioners and expert-users was found. However, validity and reliability results were poor for lower arm/wrist posture and force exertion. Therefore, adjustments were made in the web based tool, which resulted in HARM1.0. Relevance to industry: This paper describes the development of a new method for risk assessment of hand arm tasks. The development was based on literature study and expert opinions. Field tests with the tool showed that it can support companies in their task of designing safe and health work environments. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

In spite of its massively parallel architecture [1], the human brain is fundamentally limited if required to perform two tasks at the same time [2, 3]. This limitation can be studied with the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, where two stimuli that require speeded responses occur in close succession [4]. Interference generally takes the form of a delay in the time to respond to the second stimulus [5]. Previous studies suggested that sensory decisions require the accumulation of sensory evidence [6, 7] and that the PRP reflects the inability to form more than one decision at a time [4, 8]. In the present study, we used a psychophysical reverse-correlation technique [9, 10] to measure the time-course of evidence accumulation during the PRP. We found that the accumulation of evidence could occur during the PRP albeit with a reduced efficiency, which implies that multiple decision processes can occur in parallel in the human brain. In addition to the reduced efficiency of evidence accumulation, our results uncover an additional delay in the routing of the decision to motor structures during the PRP, which implies that the process of sensory decision making is separable from the preparation of a motor response [11-13]. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Fil: Zylberberg, Ariel Dario. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Ouellette, Brian. Netherlands Institute For Neuroscience; Países Bajos Fil: Sigman, Mariano. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Roelfsema, Pieter R.. Netherlands Institute For Neuroscience; Países Bajos

[EN] We report a study designed to investigate consumers' crossmodal associations between the color of packaging and flavor varieties in crisps (potato chips). This product category was chosen because of the long-established but conflicting color-flavor conventions that exist for the salt and vinegar and cheese and onion flavor varieties in the UK. The use of both implicit and explicit measures of this crossmodal association revealed that consumers responded more slowly, and made more errors, when they had to pair the color and flavor that they implicitly thought of as being "incongruent" with the same response key. Furthermore, clustering consumers by the brand that they normally purchased revealed that the main reason why this pattern of results was observed could be their differing acquaintance with one brand versus another. In addition, when participants tried the two types of crisps from "congruently" and "incongruently" colored packets, some were unable to guess the flavor correctly in the latter case. These strong crossmodal associations did not have a significant effect on participants' hedonic appraisal of the crisps, but did arouse confusion. These results are relevant in terms of R&D, since ascertaining the appropriate color of the packaging across flavor varieties ought normally to help achieve immediate product recognition and consumer satisfaction. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd., Thanks to the Ministerio de Educacion (Spain) and the UPV for the scholarships awarded to Betina Piqueras-Fiszman. Thanks also to Cesare Parise for his collaboration with the programming.

[EN] We propose to model planar movements between two human segments by means of rolling-without-slipping kinematic pairs. We compute the path traced by the instantaneous center of rotation (ICR) as seen from the proximal and distal segments, thus obtaining the fixed and moving centrodes, respectively. The joint motion is then represented by the rolling-without-slipping of one centrode on the other. The resulting joint kinematic model is based on the real movement and accounts for nonfixed axes of rotation; therefore it could improve current models based on revolute pairs in those cases where joint movement implies displacement of the ICR. Previous authors have used the ICR to characterize human joint motion, but they only considered the fixed centrode. Such an approach is not adequate for reproducing motion because the fixed centrode by itself does not convey information about body position. The combination of the fixed and moving centrodes gathers the kinematic information needed to reproduce the position and velocities of moving bodies. To illustrate our method, we applied it to the flexion-extension movement of the head relative to the thorax. The model provides a good estimation of motion both for position variables (mean R pos=0.995) and for velocities (mean R vel=0.958). This approach is more realistic than other models of neck motion based on revolute pairs, such as the dual-pivot model. The geometry of the centrodes can provide some information about the nature of the movement. For instance, the ascending and descending curves of the fixed centrode suggest a sequential movement of the cervical vertebrae. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd., This work was funded by the Spanish Government and co-financed by EU FEDER funds (Grants DPI2006-14722-C02-01, DPI2006-14722-C02-02, DPI2009-13830-C02-01, DPI2009-13830-C02-02 and Ramon y Cajal contract to JAG).

The main objective of this study was to investigate the thermal comfort effects of ramie blended seat cover (RBSC) material on drivers. In the experiment, polyester seat covers (PSC) were compared to RBSCs. Both quantitative (measured) and qualitative (perceived) thermal comfort data were collected under normal traffic conditions. Ten volunteer subjects (seven males and three females) who had at least 5 years driving experience and were between 30 and 35 years of age were selected to participate in the study. During trials, temperature was measured at four points that have direct contact between the driver and the seat. Skin wettedness was measured at the back of the subject's torso. During the trials, subjects provided qualitative data by responding to a five question survey administered at 5 min intervals. A significance level of 0.001 inferred that subjects preferred RBSC over PSC seat covers. Relevance to industry This study demonstrates the effects of ramie blended seat cover material (RBSC) and real traffic conditions in thermal comfort. Industries can use our findings to evaluate their ergonomic seat comfort in vehicles and the results of this study can be applied to related industrial applications.

The objective of this study was to compute reference SEMG values for normal subjects of 13 parameters extracted in the time, frequency and bispectrum domain, from the Biceps Brachii (BB) muscle generated under isometric voluntary contraction (IVC). SEMG signals were recorded from 94 subjects for 5 s at 10, 30, 50, 70 and 100% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). The Wilcoxon signed rank test was applied to detect significant differences or not at p < 0.05 between force levels for each of the 13 parameters. The main findings of this study can be summarized as follows: (i) The time domain parameters turns per second and number of zero crossings per second increase significantly with force level. (ii) The power spectrum median frequency parameter decreases significantly with force level, whereas maximum power and total power increase significantly with force level. (iii) The bispectrum parameter, maximum amplitude, increases significantly with force level with the exception the transition from 30% to 50% MVC. Although, the tests for Gaussianity and linearity show no significant difference with force level, the SEMG signal exhibits a more Gaussian distribution with increase of force up to 70% MVC. The SEMG linearity test, which is a measure of how constant the bicoherence index is in the bi-frequency domain, shows that the signal's bicoherence index is less constant (hence, the signal is less linear) at 70% of MVC compared to 10, 30, 50 and 100% MVC. (iv) The time domain parameters have good correlation between them as well as, between each one of them and maximum and total power. The median frequency has a good (negative) correlation with the bispectrum peak amplitude. (v) No significant differences exist between values based on gender or age. The findings of this study can further be used for the assessment of subjects suffering with neuromuscular disorders, or in the rehabilitation laboratory for monitoring the elderly or the disabled, or in the occupational medicine laboratory. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 19 1 157 171

Background Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an attractive research and possibly therapeutic tool for non-invasive central nervous system stimulation. However, relatively little is known about the direction, magnitude and distribution of induced electric field and current flows in tissue, and optimal setup characteristics as well as appropriate sham stimulation conditions remain largely undetermined, hampering reproducibility. Methods We reconstruct the conductive phenomena induced by TMS by implementing digitized coil geometry and realistic stimulator parameters and solving the electromagnetic problem over an MRI-based, realistic head model of 1 mm resolution. Findings are validated by recording motor evoked potentials from the right abductor pollicis brevis muscle from healthy subjects stimulated in a stereotaxic framework. Results Several commonly used sham stimulation configurations elicit conductive patterns which achieve up to 40% of the strength of real stimulation. Also, variations in coil position of the order of a 7° tilt, which are expected to occur in non-stereotaxic stimulation, can alter the stimulation intensity by up to 25%. Conclusions In accordance with our findings, several clinical studies observe measurable effects during sham stimulation or no significant difference between sham and real stimulation, and the sensitivity of stimulation intensity to tiny coil rotations affords a partial explanation for the poor reproducibility and partial disagreements observed across clinical TMS studies. Knowledge of coil and stimulator specifications alone is hence not sufficient to control stimulation conditions, and a stereotaxic setup coupled with individually adjusted field solvers appear essential in performing reliable TMS studies.

Two studies investigated the effect of a food's viscosity on bite size, bite effort and food intake using a standardized protocol in which subjects sipped through a straw every 20 s for a period of 15 min from one of two products, a chocolate-flavored dairy drink and a chocolate-flavored dairy semi-solid, matched for energy density. In the first study, subjects consumed 47% more from the liquid than from the semi-solid to reach the same degree of satiation, with larger bite sizes for the liquid throughout the 15 minute period (8.7 ± 0.45 g) compared to the semi-solid (5.8 ± 0.3 g, p < 0.01). In the second study bite effort was eliminated by using a peristaltic pump to present the products every 20 s. Oral processing time before swallowing was set at 5 s (both products) or 8 s (semi-solid). With the elimination of bite effort and a standardized oral processing time, subjects consumed as much from the semi-solid as from the liquid to reach the same degree of satiation. Bite size for liquids started relatively small and grew gradually over successive bites, whereas the bite size for the semi-solid food started relatively large and became gradually smaller. The latter effect was even more pronounced when the oral processing time was increased from 5 to 8 s. In conclusion, semi-solids resulted in smaller bite sizes and lower intake than liquids, but these differences disappeared when differences in bite effort were eliminated. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A preliminary investigation on the possibility of using volatile organic compounds (VOCs) determination of expired air, blood and urine, for the early location of entrapped people in earthquakes, has been carried out. A group of 15 healthy subjects has been sampled. The identification of a common "core" of substances might provide indications of human presence that can be used for the development of a real time field analytical method for the on site detection of entrapped people. Expired air samples have been analyzed by thermal desorption GC/MS and VOCs from blood and urine by headspace SPME-GC/MS. Acetone was the only compound found common in all three matrices. Isoprene was found in both expired air and blood samples. Acetone and isoprene along with a number of saturated hydrocarbons were among the major constituents identified in expired air analysis. Various ketones (2-pentanone, 4-heptanone, 2-butanone) were also determined over urine specimens. Using the techniques and methods of field analytical chemistry and technology appears to be the proper approach for applying the results of the present study in real situations. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 822 1-2 112 117 Cited By :43

Memory for texture plays an important role in food expectations. After fasting overnight, subjects (41 women, 35 men, age 19-60 years) received a breakfast including breakfast drink, biscuits and yoghurt. Subsequently, they rated their hunger feelings every hour, and returned for a taste experiment in the evening. When unexpectedly confronted with five texture variations of each breakfast item, they were asked to recognise the samples they had eaten earlier. Signal detection showed that subjects could recognise the drinks and yoghurts, but not the biscuits. In a second test with newly coded samples, subjects rated liking and compared their perception of the sample with the remembered target on different attributes. Memory was not related to liking and it was poor for fat (biscuits and yoghurt), but good for thickness (drinks and yoghurt) and crispiness (biscuits). Levels of fat were not remembered as such, but showed some indirect distinctiveness in related attributes as crispiness, thickness or crumbling (biscuits) and thickness or creaminess (yoghurt). © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To evaluate the effect of local anesthesia on the skin vasodilation induced by the iontophoresis of sodium nitroprusside and heating.Skin vascular reactivity, in response to iontophoresis of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), was evaluated at the forearm and foot in 13 neuropathic diabetic (DN) and 11 nonneuropathic diabetic (D) patients and 9 healthy, nondiabetic subjects who served as controls (C). The direct (DI) and nerve axon reflex-related (N-V) vasodilation were measured by using two single-point laser Doppler probes. The vasodilation in response to local warming was also assessed. A topical anesthetic was applied on the contralateral forearm and foot and all the measurements were repeated.Dermal anesthesia resulted in a reduction of the direct vasodilation to SNP at the forearm [C: 58.1 +/- 16, D: 60.6 +/- 11%, and DN: 48.3 +/- 37% (postanesthesia percentage of reduction; mean +/- SEM), P0.01] and at the foot in all three groups (D: 38.5 +/- 12%, P0.01; C: 27.2 +/- 14% and DN: 11.3 +/- 17.5%, P=NS). The N-V related vasodilation was very low before and did not change after local anesthesia. The postanesthesia hyperemic response to warming was significantly reduced at low temperatures but did not change at 44 degrees C.The sodium nitroprusside-related vasodilation is reduced after local anesthesia in a similar way in healthy subjects and diabetic patients with and without neuropathy. The response to heating is also reduced at low temperatures. This indicates a stabilizing effect of local anesthesia on the smooth muscle cell.

Although there is a general consensus concerning the lower risk for cardiovascular disease in moderate drinkers, the mechanisms responsible for the cardioprotective effect of red wine remain unknown. It has been proposed that increased serum paraoxonase activity may be a mechanism of action underlying reduced cardiovascular disease risk in moderate drinkers, since paraoxonase inhibits lipoprotein oxidation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of red wine consumption on serum paraoxonase/arylesterase activities and on lipoprotein oxidizability in healthy-men. Fourteen healthy-men were included in the study. The subjects consumed 0.375 g alcohol / kg body weight for 3 weeks. Paraoxonase and arylesterase activities were studied spectrophotometrically. Oxidizability of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins were determined, after separating them with precipitation method, by incubating with copper-sulfate. Paraoxonase activity did not change, however arylesterase activity significantly decreased after red wine consumption (P < 0.01). There was a reduced susceptibility of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins to copper-sulfate induced oxidation after red wine consumption (P < 0.01). Our results support that red wine protects lipoproteins against oxidation, however there was not any significant change in serum paraoxonase activity after red wine consumption.

High precision demands in manual tasks can be expected to cause more selective use of a part of the muscular synergy involved. To test this expectation, load sharing of the index finger and middle finger was investigated during a pinching task. Myoelectric activation of lower arm and neck-shoulder muscles was measured to see if overall level of effort was affected by precision demands. Ten healthy female subjects performed pinching tasks with three levels of force and three levels of precision demands. The force level did not significantly affect the relative contribution of the index and middle finger to the force. Higher precision demands, however, led to higher contribution of the index finger to the pinch force. Consequently, a more selective load of the forearm and hand occurs during tasks with high precision demands. The variability of the force contribution of the fingers increased during the task. No effects of precision demand on the activation of forearm and neck-shoulder muscles were found. Force level did affect the EMG parameters of several muscles. The effects were most apparent in the muscles responsible for the pinch force, the forearm muscles. Activation of these muscles was higher at higher force levels. In the trapezius muscle at the dominant side EMG amplitudes were lower at the high pinch force compared to the low force and median force conditions. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

To optimize the postexercise insulin response and to increase plasma amino acid availability, we studied postexercise insulin levels after the ingestion of carbohydrate and wheat protein hydrolysate with and without free leucine and phenylalanine. After an overnight fast, eight male cyclists visited our laboratory on five occasions, during which a control drink and two different beverage compositions in two different doses were tested. After they performed a glycogen-depletion protocol, subjects received a beverage (3.5 mL · kg-1) every 30 min to ensure an intake of 1.2 g · kg-1 · h-1 carbohydrate and 0, 0.2 or 0.4 g · kg-1 · h-1 protein hydrolysate (and amino acid) mixture. After the insulin response was expressed as the area under the curve, only the ingestion of the beverages containing wheat protein hydrolysate, leucine and phenylalanine resulted in a marked increase in insulin response (+52 and + 107% for the 0.2 and 0.4 g · kg-1 · h-1 mixtures, respectively; P < 0.05) compared with the carbohydrate-only trial). A dose-related effect existed because doubling the dose (0.2-0.4 g · kg-1 · h-1) led to an additional rise in insulin response (P < 0.05). Plasma leucine, phenylalanine and tyrosine concentrations showed strong correlations with the insulin response (P < 0.0001). This study provides a practical tool to markedly elevate insulin levels and plasma amino acid availability through dietary manipulation, which may be of great value in clinical nutrition, (recovery) sports drinks and metabolic research. Chemicals/CAS: Amino Acids; Blood Glucose; Dietary Carbohydrates; Dietary Proteins; Insulin, 11061-68-0; Leucine, 61-90-5; Phenylalanine, 63-91-2; Protein Hydrolysates; Tyrosine, 55520-40-6

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. Part of this inverse association may be explained by its effects on HDL. Paraoxonase, an HDL-associated enzyme, has been suggested to protect against LDL oxidation. We examined the effects of moderate consumption of red wine, beer and spirits in comparison with mineral water on paraoxonase activity in serum. In this diet-controlled, randomised, cross-over study 11 healthy middle-aged men consumed each of the beverages with evening dinner for 3 weeks. At the end of each 3 week period, blood samples were collected pre- and postprandially and after an overnight fast. Fasting paraoxonase activity was higher after intake of wine (P

Objective To evaluate the association between handgrip strength and ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) in Colombian children and adolescents. Study design During the 2014-2015 school years, we examined a cross-sectional component of the FUPRECOL (Association for Muscular Strength with Early Manifestation of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors among Colombian Children and Adolescents) study. Participants included 1199 (n?=?627 boys) youths from Bogota (Colombia). Handgrip strength was measured with a standard adjustable hand held dynamometer and expressed relative to body mass (handgrip/body mass) and as absolute values in kilograms. Ideal CVH, as defined by the American Heart Association, was determined as meeting ideal levels of the following components: 4 behaviors (smoking status, body mass index, cardiorespiratory fitness, and diet) and 3 factors (total cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose). Results Higher levels of handgrip strength (both absolute and relative values) were associated with a higher frequency of ideal CVH metrics in both sexes (P for trend ?.001). Also, higher levels of handgrip strength were associated with a greater number of ideal health behaviors (P for trend less than .001 in both boys and girls), and with a higher number of ideal health factors in boys (P for trend less than .001). Finally, levels of handgrip strength were similar between ideal versus nonideal glucose or total cholesterol groups in girls. Conclusions Handgrip strength was strongly associated with ideal CVH in Colombian children and adolescents, and thus supports the relevance of early targeted interventions to promote strength adaptation and preservation as part of primordial prevention. © 2016 Elsevier Inc.

Complex formation of diazepam and of naproxen with β-cyclodextrin results in increased aqueous solubility of the drug. The complex stability constants found were 179 and 2146 M-1, respectively. To study the effect of complex formation of drugs with β-cyclodextrin in vivo, micro-enemas containing diazepam or naproxen with and without β-cyclodextrin were administered to human volunteers. Plasma levels of the drug were determined for the investigation of the absorption of the two drugs. The results demonstrated that absorption neither of cyclodextrin nor of the drug-cyclodextrin complex took place, and that a decrease in the rate of absorption of the drug did not occur when administered as the drug-cyclodextrin complex. The absence of absorption deceleration was explained by the fact that complexed drug is displaced from the complex by lipids in the mucus adjacent to the absorption membrane. The ability of mucus and bile samples to displace complexed drug was shown in vitro in displacement studies with phenolphthalein. Especially bile was shown to possess a high capacity for displacement. The micro-enemas in which all drug was dissolved through complexation showed much faster absorption as compared with those in which the drug was suspended.

We tested the hypothesis that the importance of calf muscle-tendon properties for maintaining balance during single-leg stance increases in the absence of visual feedback. Trial duration, centre of pressure displacement normalized for trial duration (nD), electromyographic (EMG) activity of the main ankle plantarflexors and dorsiflexors, and ground reaction forces (F(P)), were measured in 20 younger (aged 18+/-1 years; mean+/-S.E.M.) and 28 older (aged 68+/-1 years) healthy participants during single-leg stance in eyes-open (EO) and eyes-closed (EC) conditions. Plantarflexor muscle strength, activation capacity and tendon stiffness were assessed by dynamometry, electrical stimulation and ultrasonography, respectively. Muscle-tendon characteristics in the older participants were up to 55% (P0.0001) lower compared with their younger counterparts. Trial duration, F(P), nD and EMG changed in EC compared with EO by 21% and up to approximately 4.6 times (P0.01) in the two population groups. Multiple linear regression with age and the three muscle-tendon properties showed a substantial increment in EC compared to EO for trial duration (R(2)=0.86 versus R(2)=0.72), but a similarity for nD (R(2)=0.36 versus R(2)=0.33). These results suggest that factors other than the ones that we examined become important when steadiness rather than stance duration is the object of single-leg stance in the absence of vision.

Serum homocysteine increases after moderate consumption of red wine and spirits, but not after moderate consumption of beer. Vitamin B6 in beer seems to prevent the alcohol-induced rise in serum homocysteine. Chemicals/CAS: Homocysteine, 454-28-4; Pyridoxine, 65-23-6

To investigate the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on blood constituents related to cardiovascular disease, 12 male volunteers consumed (instead of their usual alcoholic drinks) four different standardized amounts of red wine in addition to their habitual diet. Each dose was given to the subjects during a period of 5 weeks in a randomized order, all subjects receiving the four doses. They consisted of 0, 2, and 4 glasses/d, providing 0, 23, and 46 g alcohol/d as well as in 'binge drinking' (14 glasses in the weekend, comparable to an average of 2 glasses/d). The results showed a clear dose-related response to the drinking for several blood constituents. Most marked was a decrease in the tissue-type plasminogen activator activity and to a lesser degree an increase in plasminogen levels. Collagen-induced platelet aggregation was reduced, affecting all parameters measured. Levels of HDL3-cholesterol, gammaglutamyltransferase, and urate showed a small but significant increase. No change was noted in the levels of alkaline phosphatase, alanine-aminotransferase, aspartate-aminotransferase, bile acids, folate, fibrinogen, the ADP-induced platelet aggregation, platelet secretion, or in hematologic values. The results are only partially in accordance with the presumed protective action of moderate drinking on the cardiovascular system and show a stronger response to the consumption of alcohol in coagulation and fibrinolysis factors than in blood lipids. Chemicals/CAS: gamma-Glutamyltransferase, EC 2.3.2.2; Lipids; Lipoproteins, HDL Cholesterol; Plasminogen, 9001-91-6; Tissue Plasminogen Activator, EC 3.4.21.68

Diazepam-β-cyclodextrin and diazepam-lactose products were prepared by spray-drying. Complex formation could be demonstrated by differential scanning calorimetry and by application of a so-called “ether-wash” method, for diazepam-β-cyclodextrin but not for diazepam-lactose. Intrinsic dissolution rates were measured using a rotating disc method. The results indicated that, for the drug tested, complexation played only a minor role in dissolution rate enhancement. Both the processing of the drug and the excipient as well as the solubility and amount of the excipient used seemed to be rate-determining factors. Release rates from tablets and capsules were measured using the USP paddle method. For the capsules an enhancement of the dissolution rate by complex formation of the drug with β-cyclodextrin, was only found when low stirring rates were used (20 rpm). The difference in dissolution rate, as obtained at 50 and 20 rpm, can be explained by the presence of an aggregate at the bottom of the beaker at low stirring rates. In the microenvironment around the aggregate the solubility of the drug is enhanced by complex formation. Absorption experiments in human volunteers showed also an increased absorption of diazepam by β-cyclodextrin complexation.

The concentrations of lipid-soluble, chain-breaking antioxidants in human plasma and in erythrocyte ghosts have been determined for the first time by an inhibited-autoxidation method. The results are very similar to the concentrations of vitamin E measured for the same blood components by the HPLC method. It is concluded that vitamin E, which is largely present as α-tocopherol, is the only significant lipid-soluble, chain-breaking type of antioxidant present in human blood. The concentration of vitamin E-in the plasma lipids divided by the concentration of vitamin E in the ghost membrane lipids is approximately a constant despite the large differences in vitamin E-intake and in plasma lipid concentrations in different individuals. Vitamin E/lipid ratios for plasma and ghosts were larger for subjects taking a supplement of α-tocopherol acetate of 100 IU per week, compared to nonsupplemented subjects (based on data from a limited number of subjects). A larger supplement of 2800 IU per week did not significantly increase the vitamin E/lipid ratios. © 1983.