We aimed to conduct a scoping review by reviewing studies that investigated the influence of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene on the effect of physical activity (PA) on risk of obesity. The research questions of this review were: (1) “What is known from existing literature about the influence of the FTO gene on the effect of physical activity on obesity?” (2) “What are the gaps in existing literature in that area?”
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist and the five-stage methodological framework outlined by Arksey and O’Malley were utilized to conduct this scoping review. Four online databases were searched for articles between July 2021 and August 2021. The articles were chosen to be included if they were: published in English; included male and/or female adult participants (ages 18–65); looked at the effect of FTO on overweight/obesity; and included PA/exercise/physical fitness intervention or examination. Excluded studies were studies with a population that had a diagnosis of any disorder or condition other than obesity.
Nine articles were selected for this scoping review, one of which is a conference abstract. Based on the type, the articles were categorized into intervention (n = 3), observational (n = 5), and review article (n = 1). All articles were summarized in terms of questions and main findings.
This scoping review presented evidence that the FTO gene could influence the effect of PA on obesity. The gaps in knowledge were evident in the limited number of intervention studies.
The purpose of this study was to examine the response of myokines to blood-flow restricted resistance-exercise (BFR-RE) in younger and older males before and after completing a 12-week resistance-training program.
There were 8 younger (24.8 ± 3.9 yrs) and 7 older (68.3 ± 5.0 yrs) untrained male participants completed this study. Anthropometric and maximal strength (1RM) measurements were collected before and after a 12-week, supervised, progressive full-body resistance-training program. As well, an acute bout of full-body BFR-RE was performed with venipuncture blood samples collected before and immediately following the BFR-RE, followed by sampling at 3, 6, 24 and 48 h.
The 12-week training program stimulated a 32.2% increase in average strength and 30% increase in strength per kg of fat free mass. The response of particular myokines to the acute bout of BFR-RE was influenced training status (IL-4, untrained = 78.1 ± 133.2 pg/mL vs. trained = 59.8 ± 121.6 pg/mL, P = 0.019; IL-7, untrained = 3.46 ± 1.8 pg/mL vs. trained = 2.66 ± 1.3 pg/mL, P = 0.047) or both training and age (irisin, P = 0.04; leukemia inhibitory factor, P < 0.001). As well, changes in strength per kg of fat free mass were correlated with area under the curve for IL-4 (r = 0.537; P = 0.039), IL-6 (r = 0. 525; P = 0.044) and LIF (r = − 0.548; P = 0.035) in the untrained condition.
This study identified that both age and training status influence the myokine response to an acute bout of BFR-RE with the release of IL-4, IL-6 and LIF in the untrained state being associated with changes in strength per kg of fat free mass.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the chronic effects of a 12-week recreational soccer program (RSP) on resting metabolic rate (RMR) in adolescents with obesity.
Eighteen adolescents with obesity were assigned to RSP [n = 10, age = 13.8 ± 1.5 years, body mass index (BMI) = 30.7 ± 5 kg/m2] and control (n = 8, age = 14.9 ± 1.4 years, BMI = 32.5 ± 4.1 kg/m2) groups. Participants underwent anthropometric, body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness and RMR assessments at baseline and post-intervention. The 12-week RSP consisted of small-sided games with 60-min performed 3 times per week.
Post-intervention, between-group differences due to RSP emerged for body mass (Δ: − 15.1 kg, P = 0.043), BMI (Δ: − 4.7 kg, P = 0.05), waist and hip circumferences (Δ: − 14.6 and − 16.6 cm, P = 0.015 and P = 0.017, respectively), fat mass (Δ: − 8.7 kg, P = 0.049) and VO2max (Δ: 5.5 mL/kg/min, P = 0.013). No significant differences were detected for the absolute and adjusted RMR for fat mass and fat-free mass at baseline and after 12 weeks for both RSP and control groups, although a marked downward trend of 27.6% for adjusted RMR was observed post-control (1915 vs. 1386 kcal/day; Δ: − 529 kcal/day).
A 12-week RSP was effective for improving anthropometric, body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness health markers in adolescents with obesity, but not for RMR.
The purpose of this study was to examine peak torque (PT), mean power (MP), electromyographic (EMG) amplitude, mechanomyographic (MMG) amplitude, and neuromuscular efficiency from EMG and MMG amplitude (NMEEMG and NMEMMG, respectively) across the velocity spectrum in children versus adolescents.
Seventeen children (n = 8 males, n = 9 females) and 22 adolescents (n = 11 males, n = 11 females) participated. Participants completed maximal concentric isokinetic leg extensions at 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300°/s. PT, MP, EMG amplitude, and MMG amplitude were quantified during all muscle actions. NMEEMG and NMEMMG were quantified by expressing PT relative to EMG and MMG amplitude, respectively, for each muscle action.
PT, MP, NMEEMG, and NMEMMG were greater for the adolescents than the children collapsed across sex and velocity (P ≤ 0.021). There were no significant differences for EMG amplitude (P ≥ 0.051), while MMG amplitude increased significantly from 60 to 240°/s (P < 0.001) then decreased significantly from 240 to 300°/s (P < 0.001) for all groups.
Overall, regardless of velocity, the expression of PT relative to EMG and MMG amplitude (NMEEMG and NMEMMG, respectively), in conjunction with measurements of torque and power production, may provide practitioners a unique method of examining growth and development-related augmentations in neuromuscular function during dynamic movements.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of countries represented in the TOP20 long-distance elite runners ranking during 1997–2020, taking into account the countries’ Human Development Index (HDI), and to verify if the Matthew effect can be observed regarding countries’ representativeness in the raking alongside the years.
The sample comprised 1852 professional runner athletes, ranked in the Senior World TOP20 half-marathon (403 female and 487 male) and marathon (480 female and 482 male) races, between the years 1997–2020. Information about the countries’ HDI was included, and categorized as “low HDI”, “medium HDI”, “high HDI”, and “very-high HDI”. Athletes were categorized according to their ranking positions (1st–3rd; 4th–10th; > 10th), and the number of athletes per country/year was summed and categorized as “total number of athletes 1997–2000”; “total number of athletes 2001–2010”; and “total number of athletes 2011–2020”. The Chi-square test and Spearman correlation were used to verify potential associations and relationships between variables.
Most of the athletes were from countries with medium HDI, followed by low HDI and very-high HDI. Chi-square test results showed significant differences among females (χ 2 = 15.52; P = 0.017) and males (χ 2 = 9.03; P = 0.014), in half-marathon and marathon, respectively. No significant association was verified between HDI and the total number of athletes, but the association was found for the number of athletes alongside the years (1997–2000 to 2001–2010: r = 0.60; P < 0.001; 2001–2010 to –2011–2020: r = 0.29; P < 0.001).
Most of the athletes were from countries with medium HDI, followed by those with low HDI and very-high HDI. The Matthew effect was observed, but a generalization of the results should not be done.
The aims of the present study were two-fold: (i) to investigate the relationship between physical characteristics and the game statistics associated with ball-carrying capability amongst sub-elite rugby union players, and (ii) to predict the level of change in these physical characteristics required to improve the associated game statistic via regression analysis.
Thirty-eight senior professional players (forwards, n = 22; backs, n = 16) were assessed for body mass (BM), back squat (BS) single-repetition maximum (1RM) normalised to BM (1RM/BM), 10 m sprint velocity (S10), 10 m sprint momentum (SM10), and the game statistics from 22 games within the 2019/20 RFU Championship season. The relationship between these measures and the predicted level of change in a physical measure required to improve the total number of the associated game statistic by one were assessed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient and simple regression analyses.
In forwards, an ~ 11.5% reduction in BM, an ~ 11.8% improvement in BS 1RM/BM, or an ~ 11.5% increase in S10 was required to improve the game statistics associated with ball-carrying capability. In backs, a ~ 19.3% increase in BM or a ~ 15.6% improvement in SM10 was required.
These findings demonstrate that improvements in lower-body relative strength, acceleration performance, and position-specific alterations in body mass are required to maximise the ball-carrying capability and therefore match outcome of sub-elite rugby union players.
Whether elite athletes, who have been exposed to vigorous-intensity exercise combined with other stressors, have elevated systemic low-grade inflammation, remains largely unclear. To address this question, we studied the levels of six inflammatory cytokines as potential biomarkers of a low-grade inflammatory state in elite athletes after an 11-month training and competition season.
We collected sera from 27 Finnish elite cross-country skiers and 27 gender- and age-matched, moderately-exercising controls. The serum concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), interleukin 10 (IL-10), and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) cytokines were quantified as surrogate markers of low-grade inflammation.
The athletes were found to have significantly lower concentrations of CRP (P = 0.0232) and higher concentrations of IL-10, TNF-α, and IFN-γ (P = 0.0097, P = 0.0256, and P = 0.0185, respectively) than the controls. No significant differences between athletes and controls were detected in the concentrations of IL-6 and GlycA. The inflammatory score (IS) did not differ significantly between athletes and controls.
The results of this study argued against the hypothesis of a significant chronic low-grade inflammation in response to prolonged high-performance exercise among elite endurance athletes.
In judo, athletes compete based on weight categories, which are required to adapt the training process accordingly, but not enough research is present to understand their particularities. The present study aimed to verify the differences in judo attack systems performed between the seven male weight categories in world-class athletes.
A cohort of 5847 attack systems from 1106 international judo matches was analyzed. The Chi-square automatic interaction detector was used to identify the association between the variables tori approach (attacker), uke approach (defender), tori’s grip, stance and direction of attack.
The main results showed that: (1) the grip is the main predictor of attack systems; (2) laterality exerts a strong influence on attack systems; (3) the ≤ 81 kg and > 100 kg categories were differentiated by the use of unconventional grips; (4) the ≤ 60 kg used more kenka-yotsu (opposite sides) right stance with the Only Right Hand grip; (5) the ≤ 81 kg category used more the ai-yotsu (same side) left stance with the Only Left Hand grip.
The results reported from this study can help coaches and athletes in choosing the best technical–tactical actions when developing combat strategies.
A 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is a screening tool to detect abnormalities that may predispose athletes to sudden cardiac death. Newer standardized criteria have been introduced to better interpret ECG data, however this research has predominantly focused on male athletes. It is important to include female athletes in research to better define ECG characteristics in this population. The purpose of this study was to compare the Seattle and International Criteria ECG abnormalities in Division II female collegiate athletes of various ethnicities.
Fifty-six females (age 20.2 ± 1.4 years; height 1.70 ± 0.7 m; weight 69.5 ± 8.9 kg) completed a resting 12-lead ECG protocol. ECG data was classified as ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ according to the parameters of each criterion and abnormal conditions were noted. Chi-square analysis was used to assess statistical comparisons between criteria.
There was a significant difference in abnormal classifications as the total number of ECGs identified as abnormal using the Seattle Criteria decreased from 12 (21.4%) to 2 (3.6%) when using the International Criteria (P < 0.05). African American athletes had a higher number of abnormal ECG’s compared to White and Latina athletes using the Seattle Criteria (P = 0.03).
The International Criteria significantly reduces the total number of abnormal ECG readings in female collegiate athletes compared to the Seattle Criteria and did not overly identify African American athletes with abnormalities. Further research is necessary to expand on this study and clearly define criteria for female athletes of various ethnicities.
High mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1) is an evolutionarily ancient protein, which, as an important non-histone chromosome-binding protein in organism cells, is involved in a variety of important biological processes, including DNA repair, gene transcription, cellular inflammatory response, and autophagy. In this study, we established an eccentric exercise model to observe the effect of HMGB1 on skeletal muscle autophagy and to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms. Forty-eight male 8-week-old SD rats were randomly divided into control group (C) and exercise group (E). Group E was subjected to a bout of eccentric exercise on a treadmill and sampled soleus at 0 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h post-exercise. The speed of the exercise protocol in this study was 16 m/min, the slope was −16°, and the time was 90 min. The ultrastructural changes of skeletal muscle were observed by transmission electron microscopy. The protein expressions of HMGB1, Beclin1, and LC3 were detected by Western Blot. The co-localizations of Beclin1/Bcl-2, Beclin1/HMGB1, and Beclin1/Vps34 were measured by immunofluorescence. The results show that eccentric exercise leads to abnormal changes in the ultrastructure of skeletal muscle, and the protein levels of Beclin1, LC3-II/LC3-I, and the content of HMGB1 in nuclear and cytoplasm were significantly increased at 24 h post-exercise (P < 0.05). The co-localization of Beclin1/Bcl-2 and Beclin1/HMGB1 were increased significantly at 0 h post-exercise and then decreased, while the co-localization of Beclin1/Vps34 showed the highest level at 24 h post-exercise. In conclusion, HMGB1 facilitates the separation of Beclin1 from Bcl-2 and promotes Beclin1 binding to Vps34, which may play an important role in eccentric exercise-induced skeletal muscle autophagy.