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Background: Public health recommendations and governmental measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in numerous restrictions on daily living including social distancing, isolation and home confinement. While these measures are imperative to abate the spreading of COVID-19, the impact of these restrictions on health behaviours and lifestyles at home is undefined. Therefore, an international online survey was launched in April 2020, in seven languages, to elucidate the behavioural and lifestyle consequences of COVID-19 restrictions. This report presents the results from the first thousand responders on physical activity (PA) and nutrition behaviours., Methods: Following a structured review of the literature, the "Effects of home Confinement on multiple Lifestyle Behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak (ECLB-COVID19)" Electronic survey was designed by a steering group of multidisciplinary scientists and academics. The survey was uploaded and shared on the Google online survey platform. Thirty-five research organisations from Europe, North-Africa, Western Asia and the Americas promoted the survey in English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and Slovenian languages. Questions were presented in a differential format, with questions related to responses "before" and "during" confinement conditions., Results: 1047 replies (54% women) from Asia (36%), Africa (40%), Europe (21%) and other (3%) were included in the analysis. The COVID-19 home confinement had a negative effect on all PA intensity levels (vigorous, moderate, walking and overall). Additionally, daily sitting time increased from 5 to 8 h per day. Food consumption and meal patterns (the type of food, eating out of control, snacks between meals, number of main meals) were more unhealthy during confinement, with only alcohol binge drinking decreasing significantly., Conclusion: While isolation is a necessary measure to protect public health, results indicate that it alters physical activity and eating behaviours in a health compromising direction. A more detailed analysis of survey data will allow for a segregation of these responses in different age groups, countries and other subgroups, which will help develop interventions to mitigate the negative lifestyle behaviours that have manifested during the COVID-19 confinement., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest

Background: Pomegranate juice (POMj) contains abundant soluble polyphenolic antioxidant compounds and is recommended for its cardioprotective/atheroprotective properties. However, very few studies have investigated the efficacy of POMj supplementation to alter physiological responses during intensive physical exercise. This placebo-controlled study aimed to examine whether supplementation with natural polyphenol-rich-POMj could influence the ionic or lipid responses to an intensive resistance training session in elite athletes., Methods: Nine elite weightlifters (21 ± 1 years) performed two Olympic-weightlifting sessions after ingesting placebo and POMj supplements. Venous blood samples were collected at rest and 3 min after each session for assessment of plasma sodium ([Na + ]), potassium ([K + ]), chloride ([Cl - ]), calcium ([Ca 2+ ]), triglyceride ([TG]) and high-density lipoprotein ([HDL-C]), low-density lipoprotein ([HDL-C]) and total ([TC]) cholesterol concentrations., Results: Plasma [K + ] and [TG] were lowered post-exercise compared to resting values in the PLA condition ( p  = 0.03 for K + and p  = 0.02 for TG) with no pre-to-post exercise differences in the other plasma ion and lipid markers ( p  > 0.05). Compared to rest, plasma [Na + ] and [Cl - ] were increased ( p  = 0.04, %change = 4.10% for Na + and p = 0.02, %change = 4.44% for Cl - ), but there were no differences in the other plasma ion or lipid markers post-exercise after POMj supplementation ( p  > 0.05). Post-exercise plasma [Na + ], [Cl - ], and [HDL-C] were greater following POMj supplementation compared to PLA ( p  = 0.01 for Cl- and HDL-C, p  = 0.02 for Na+, and p  = 0.04 for TC), with no between-supplement post-exercise differences in the other ion and lipid markers ( p  > 0.05)., Conclusion: In conclusion, supplementation with POMj has the potential to attenuate the acute imbalance of plasma [K + ] and to improve blood lipid responses (i.e., HDL-C) following resistance exercises in elite weightlifters. However, further large research in both athletic and non-athletic populations is needed to corroborate these preliminary observations and to elucidate the potential underlying mechanisms and translational potential of our novel observations., Trial Registration: Name of the registry: ClinicalTrials.gov PRS The registration number: NCT02697903. Date of Registry : 03/03/2016 'Retrospectively registered'. The registration title: Pomegranate Improve Biological Recovery Kinetics in Elite Weightlifter., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Background: Maximal strength-speed exercise is a powerful stimulus to acutely increase concentrations of circulating steroid hormones and homocysteine [Hcy]. There is some evidence that antioxidant beverages rich in polyphenols can attenuate [Hcy] levels and modulate endocrine responses in favor of an anabolic environment. Polyphenols-rich pomegranate (POM) have been reported to possess one of the highest antioxidant capacities compared to other purported nutraceuticals and other food stuffs. Studies focused on proving the beneficial effect of POM consumption during maximal strength exercises have only measured physical performance, muscle damage, oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, while POM effects on [Hcy] and hormonal adaptations are lacking. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of consuming natural polyphenol-rich pomegranate juice (POMj) on the acute and delayed [Hcy] and steroidal hormonal responses to a weightlifting exercises session., Methods: Nine elite weightlifters (21.0 ± 1 years) performed two Olympic-weightlifting sessions after ingesting either the placebo (PLA) or POMj supplements. Venous blood samples were collected at rest and 3 min and 48 h after each session., Results: Compared to baseline values, circulating cortisol [C] decreased (p < 0.01) and testosterone/cortisol [T/C] ratio increased immediately following the training session in both PLA and POMj conditions (p = 0.003 for PLA and p = 0.02 for POM). During the 48 h recovery period, all tested parameters were shown to recover to baseline values in both conditions with significant increases in [C] and decreases in [T/C] (p < 0.01 for PLA and p < 0.05 for POMj) from 3 min to 48 h post-exercises. Compared to PLA, a lower level of plasma testosterone [T] was registered 3 min post exercise using POMj supplementation (p = 0.012) and a significant decrease (p = 0.04, %change = - 14%) in plasma [Hcy] was registered during the 48 h recovery period only using POMj. A moderate correlation was observed between [Hcy] and [T] responses (p = 0.002, r = - 0.50)., Conclusion: In conclusion, supplementation with POMj has the potential to attenuate the acute plasma [T] response, but did not effect 48 h recovery kinetics of [Hcy] following weightlifting exercise. Further studies investigating androgen levels in both plasma and muscular tissue are needed to resolve the functional consequences of the observed acute POMj effect on plasma [T]., Trial Registration: Clinical Trials.gov, ID: NCT02697903. Registered 03 March 2016.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of napping after partial sleep deprivation (PSD) on reaction time, mood, and biochemical response to repeated-sprint exercise in athletes., Methods: Nine male judokas performed 4 test sessions in a counterbalanced and randomized order. Participants accomplished 1 control session after a normal sleep night (NSN) and 3 after PSD with (1) no nap, (2) ∼20-min nap (N20), and (3) ∼90-min nap (N90) opportunities. Test sessions included the running-based anaerobic sprint test, reaction time, Hooper index, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Muscle-damage biomarkers and antioxidant status were evaluated before and after exercise., Results: PSD decreased maximum (P < .001, d = 1.12), mean (P < .001, d = 1.33), and minimum (P < .001, d = 1.15) powers compared with NSN. However, N20 and N90 enhanced maximum power compared with PSD (P < .05, d = 0.54; P < .001, d = 1.06, respectively). Minimum power and mean power increased only after N90 (P < .001, d = 1.63; P < .001, d = 1.16, respectively). Epworth Sleepiness Scale increased after PSD (P < .001, d = 0.86) and decreased after N20 (P < .001, d = 1.36) and N90 (P < .001, d = 2.07). N20 reduced multiple-choice reaction time (P < .001, d = 0.61). Despite performance decrement, PSD increased postexercise aspartate aminotransferase (P < .001, d = 4.16) and decreased glutathione peroxidase (P < .001, d = 4.02) compared with NSN. However, the highest performances after N90 were accompanied with lesser aspartate aminotransferase (P < .001, d = 1.74) and higher glutathione peroxidase (P < .001, d = 0.86) compared with PSD., Conclusions: Napping could be preventive against performance degradation caused by sleep loss. A short nap opportunity could be more beneficial when the subsequent effort is brief and requires frequent decision making. However, a longer nap opportunity could be preventive against muscle and oxidative damage, even for higher performances.

Purpose : The aim of this study was to examine the effect of 3- vs. 2-minute inter maximal-repetition rest period (IMRRP) on maintaining jerk technical efficiency and power production during two successive maximal repetitions of Clean & Jerk (C&J). Methods : In a randomized, within subject, repeated measures design, nine elite-weightlifters (age: 24.4 ± 3.6 years, body mass: 77.2 ± 7.1 kg, height 176.0 ± 6.4 cm and 1RM C&J: 170.0 ± 5.0 kg) performed 2-separate testing sessions using 2 (IMRRP-2) and 3 (IMRRP-3) -minute IMRRP, while barbell kinematics and kinetics and joint kinematics were recorded. Results : Statistical analysis showed that one minute longer IMRRP enhanced the maintenance of optimal jerk technique evidenced by reducing declines in peak vertical barbell displacement (2.74%; p = .03), peak barbell velocity (2.89%; p = .03), and peak knee (1.61%; p = .03) and hip extensions (1.59%; p = .03) during the drive phase of the jerk. Additionally, IMRRP-3 led to maintaining optimal lifting strategy by reducing the increase in horizontal displacement during the descending (3.85%; p = .04) and ascending (5.42%; p = .02) phases. Increasing IMRRP from 2min to 3min was also shown to enhance kinetic variables evidenced by prompting higher peak vGRF (2.01%; p = .04) and power (2.55%; p = .04). Conclusion : To better identify an athlete's maximal jerk technique and power maintenance, the results of this study suggest 3min as more appropriate IMRRP during successive C&J at 100% 1RM.

In this study, we used fMRI to identify brain regions associated with concentration (sustained attention) during a motor preparation task. In comparison with a non-concentration task, increased activities were observed (P < 0.05, FWE-corrected P values) in cerebellar lobules VI and VII, motor cortex, pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), thalamus, red nucleus (RN), and caudate nucleus (CN). Moreover, analysis of effective connectivity inter-areal (psychophysiological interactions) showed that during preparation, concentration-related brain activity increase was dependent on Cerebello-thalamo-pre-SMA-RN and Pre-SMA-CN-thalamo-M1 loops. We postulate that, while pre-SMA common to both loops is specifically involved in the movement preparation and readiness for voluntary movement through the striatum, the cerebellar lobule VI in conjunction with RN, likely through a cerebellar-rubro-olivary-cerebellar loop, might be implicated in concentration-related optimization of upcoming motor performances.

The cerebellum is involved not only in motor coordination, training, and memory, but also in cognition and emotion. Lobule VI in particular belongs to sensorimotor, salience, and executive cerebellar networks. This study aims to determine whether lobule VI would constitute an integrative interface between motor and cognitive/emotional circuits during a motor task with verbal encouragement, likely in conjunction with the basal ganglia (reward and motivational system). We used fMRI to identify specific recruitment of cerebellar and striatal systems during physical performance using two motor tasks with and without encouragement. We found that: (i) Force results were higher during verbal encouragement than during basal condition in all participants. (ii) The anterior part of the right lobule VI was activated by motor execution in both tasks, while its posterior part was specifically activated by verbal encouragement. (iii) The closed-connectivity loop maintained motivation induced by verbal encouragement between cerebral and cerebellar through the red nucleus and striatal network. Therefore, right lobule VI is a hub-controlling sensorimotor and motivates aspects of motor performance in relation with the red nucleus and the ventral striatum. These results could have important implications for extrapyramidal and multisystem degenerative diseases.

Functional imaging allowed the knowledge of the brain to progress significantly. Recent findings about modeling of the activity and the interactivity measured by functional imaging are presented, they allow to apprehend brain functioning and brain plasticity both in normal and pathophysiological conditions. The study of specific circuits in networks should make it possible to define more realistically the dynamic functioning of the central nervous system which underlies numerous brain functions., (© Société de Biologie, 2011.)