Assessment by a microprocessor of adherence to home-based moderate-intensity exercise training in healthy, sedentary middle-aged men and women

Abstract Paired associative stimulation (PAS) can induce plasticity in the motor cortex, as measured by changes in corticospinal excitability (CSE). This effect is attenuated in older and less active individuals. Although a single bout of exercise enhances PAS-induced plasticity in young, physically inactive adults, it is not yet known if physical activity interventions affect PAS-induced neuroplasticity in middle-aged inactive individuals. Sixteen inactive middle-aged office workers participated in a randomized cross-over design investigating how CSE and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) were affected by PAS preceded by 3 h of sitting (SIT), 3 h of sitting interrupted every 30 min by 3 min of frequent short bouts of physical activity (FPA) and 2.5 h of sitting followed by 25 min of moderate-intensity exercise (EXE). Transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) of the dominant abductor pollicis brevis to induce recruitment curves before and 5 min and 30 min post-PAS. Linear mixed models were used to compare changes in CSE using time and condition as fixed effects and subjects as random effects. There was a main effect of time on CSE and planned within-condition comparisons showed that CSE was significantly increased from baseline to 5 min and 30 min post-PAS, in the FPA condition, with no significant changes in the SIT or EXE conditions. SICI decreased from baseline to 5 min post-PAS, but this was not related to changes in CSE. Our findings suggest that in middle-aged inactive adults, FPAs may promote corticospinal neuroplasticity. Possible mechanisms are discussed.

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The Preventive Role of Regular Physical Training in Ventricular Remodeling, Serum Cardiac Markers, and Exercise Performance Changes in Breast Cancer in Women Undergoing Trastuzumab Therapy—An REH-HER Study

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm9051379 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 1379

Author(s):

Katarzyna Hojan ◽

Danuta Procyk ◽

Dorota Horyńska-Kęstowicz ◽

Ewa Leporowska ◽

Maria Litwiniuk

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Exercise Training ◽

Exercise Performance ◽

Physical Training ◽

Ventricular Remodeling ◽

Protective Measure ◽

Moderate Intensity ◽

Cardiac Markers ◽

Moderate Intensity Exercise ◽

Trastuzumab Therapy

Cardiotoxicity is known as a severe clinical problem in oncological practice that reduces the options for cancer therapy. Physical exercise is recognized as a well-established protective measure for many heart and cancer diseases. In our study, we hypothesized that supervised and moderate-intensity exercise training would prevent heart failure and its consequences induced by trastuzumab therapy. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of physical training on ventricular remodeling, serum cardiac markers, and exercise performance in women with human epidermal growth receptor 2 (HER2+) breast cancer (BC) undergoing trastuzumab therapy. This was a prospective, randomized, clinical controlled trial. Forty-six BC women were randomized into either an intervention group (IG) or a control group (CG). An exercise program (IG) was performed after 3–6 months of trastuzumab therapy at 5 d/week (to 80% maximum heart rate (HRmax)) for 9 weeks. We then evaluated their cardiac function using echocardiography, a 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), and plasma parameters (C-reactive protein (CRP), myoglobin (MYO), interleukin-6 (IL-6), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and creatine kinase (CK)). After the physical training program, we did not observe any significant changes in the left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (LVEF) and 6MWT (p > 0.05) in the IG compared to the CG (decrease p < 0.05). The differences in the blood parameters were not significant (p < 0.05). To conclude, moderate-intensity exercise training prevented a decrease in the LVEF and physical capacity during trastuzumab therapy in HER2+ BC. Further research is needed to validate our results.

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