Enhancing Performance and Health Outcomes with Optimal Exercise and Nutrition Programming

Exercise and nutrition, when used as a mode to improve health outcomes is well-researched and accepted by researchers and clinicians, alike. Numerous health organizations have developed general recommendations such as physical activity and exercise to inform the public how to improve health outcomes. More often than not, these guidelines are vague and do not suggest how to achieve optimal health via exercise and nutrition. These guidelines also fail to consider physiological and psychological variability for patients and individuals aiming to follow such guidelines. For example, current recommendations include exercise intensities based on low, moderate, and vigorous activity and many people may not understand the physiological cost of such exercise intensities. Presently, accessible consumer-grade technology allows for accurate measurements of relative heart rate, exercise time, distance, and estimated caloric expenditure which is presumed easy for any person to understand. Therefore, creating guidelines that target specific and measurable variables, such as relative heart rate may be more advantageous for individualized health optimization.

Assessment of Hanging Type Grain Cleaner Drudgery Reducing Tool by Farm Women

The study was undertaken to assess ergonomically efficiency of hanging type wheat graincleaner, carried out in adopted villages under On Farm Testing (OFT) and Front LineDemonstration (FLD) program conducted by KVK, Mandsaur (M.P.). Total Fifteen farmwomen were selected to assess the physiological workload to compare the impact ofimproved technology over conventional practice for hanging type grain cleaner. Physiologicalparameters i.e. HR, energy expenditure, cardiac cost reduction and physiological costreduction etc., were measured during operations. The results revealed that hanging typegrain cleaner has proved proficient on time and output parameters. The average cardiaccost of work was decreased by 82.29 per cent while using hanging type grain cleaner forwheat. Drudgery reduction was found 83.96 per cent and it saved time by 89.10 per centwhen compared to traditional practice. The physiological cost of work and energyexpenditure in terms of heart rate were observed to be lower while performing activitieswith hanging type grain cleaner as compared to the traditional practice.

Cost analysis of manual bund shaping in paddy fields: Economical and physiological

Bund shaping is one of the essential operations in preparing a paddy transplanting field. This operation is undertaken manually by spades in a traditional way as this has not been mechanised thus far. Therefore, this study was conducted to expose this operation by evaluating the economic, as well as physiological, cost involved in the bund shaping. For the economic cost, the study was conducted in nine different districts of Assam (India). The bund length for the estimated area was measured and estimated for one ha of land. The average rate of manual bund shaping was also measured to calculate the cost involved in this operation. Moreover, for the physiological cost, ten experienced subjects were calibrated and measured for their maximum aerobic capacity by sub-maximal exercise in laboratory condition. Furthermore, the heart rate was measured during the manual bund shaping and was then correlated with the calibrated data. It was found that the average required bund shaping length per ha was 3 669 m which was associated with a cost of 2 062.8 rupees. It was found that the bund shaping consumed 76.96% of the maximum volume of the oxygen consumption capacity of the subjects; however, the energy expenditure rate with respect to time and bund length were 7.37 kcal·min^–1 and 4.33 kcal·m^–1, respectively. Hence, bund shaping in a paddy field comes under a severe workload category which emphasises the need of mechanisation for the bund shaping operation.

A Study to Compare Physiological Cost Index (PCI) of Walking on Treadmill with and without Holding the Hand Rails

Treadmill walking is commonly used for fitness testing and training. Purpose of present study was to determine whether holding the front hand rails makes any significant change in energy expenditure during treadmill walking or not. Thirty volunteers (17 male and 13 female) participated in the study. Subjects were asked to walk on treadmill at speed of 1.0 to 6.0 mph with and without holding the front hand rails for 6 minutes. Physiological cost index was measured for two different positions and compared for statistically significant difference. Results showed that there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in Physiological cost index measured for two different positions. Hence, present study concludes that, holding the front hand rails does not make any significant difference in energy expenditure while walking on treadmill. Keywords: Treadmill walking, Physiological cost index, Hand rail.

Cardiorespiratory System During Bicycle Ergometer Testing in Biathletes and Cross-Country Skiers of the Komi Republic

The purpose of this paper was to compare the physiological parameters of the cardiorespiratory system at rest and during the bicycle ergometer test to exhaustion in biathletes and cross-country skiers to identify the difference in the aerobic performance of athletes of two closely related winter sports. Materials and methods: 18 biathletes and 28 male cross-country skiers aged 17–21 years, all with the rank of the Candidate for Master of Sport, were examined. Bicycle ergometer testing to exhaustion was used (Oxycon Pro, Germany), cardiorespiratory parameters were analysed, maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) was determined, and the physiological cost of a unit of work was calculated. Results. At rest, a statistically significantly higher level of fitness was revealed in crosscountry skiers compared with biathletes according to such haemodynamic parameters as systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, and double product. At maximal load, an increased degree of fitness was found in cross-country skiers in terms of power and duration of bicycle ergometer exercise, cardiac and pulse cost per unit of work, as well as gross and specific VO2 max. The body of cross-country skiers under the test to exhaustion (according to oxygen pulse value) functions more efficiently than the body of biathletes. Thus, higher level of fitness among cross-country skiers of the Komi Republic is manifested in the economization of cardiorespiratory functions both at rest and at maximal ergometric loads, as well as in the value of specific physiological cost per unit of work. Increased functionality (or reserves) of cross-country skiers is indicated by such parameters as systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, double product, respiratory minute volume, oxygen consumption, and energy expenditure. It can be assumed that the aerobic performance of biathletes is lower than that of cross-country skiers as the former receive less training in cross-country skiing.

Peculiarities of transformation of psychophysiological characteristics of military pilots, practically healthy and patients with stage I hypertension. Message I. Restructuring of performance correlates related to the health status of military pilots

Annotation. The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the transformation of professionally important psychophysiological qualities of military pilots, practically healthy and with stage I hypertension (80 people). Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the methods of variation statistics, nonparametric statistics – correlation (Spearman’s correlation coefficient), cluster analysis (k-means method) using the software package STATISTICA 13.3. It has been established that hypertension affects the structure of correlations of psychophysiological functions of the body, which indicates a difference in the mechanisms of regulation of these functions during the development of the disease. It is shown that even healthy military pilots have different levels of mental capacity and can show their psychophysiological qualities in different ways, especially in extreme conditions. In addition, it was found that in the presence of hypertension in the body of a third of pilots show compensatory reactions to increase the activation of body functions, which, in turn, increases the physiological cost of professional activity, to reduce which must periodically apply treatment and rehabilitation measures.

Oxidative damage increases with degree of simulated bacterial infection, but not ectoparasitism, in tree swallow nestlings

ABSTRACT The purpose of mounting an immune response is to destroy pathogens, but this response comes at a physiological cost, including the generation of oxidative damage. However, many studies on the effects of immune challenges employ a single high dose of a simulated infection, meaning that the consequences of more mild immune challenges are poorly understood. We tested whether the degree of immunological challenge in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) affects oxidative physiology and body mass, and whether these metrics correlate with parasitic nest mite load. We injected 14 day old nestlings with 0, 0.01, 0.1 or 1 mg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) per kg body mass, then collected a blood sample 24 h later to quantify multiple physiological metrics, including oxidative damage (i.e. d-ROMs), circulating amounts of triglyceride and glycerol, and levels of the acute phase protein haptoglobin. After birds had fledged, we identified and counted parasitic nest mites (Dermanyssus spp. and Ornithonyssus spp.). We found that only nestlings injected with 1 mg LPS kg−1 body mass, which is a common dosage in ecoimmunological studies, lost more body mass than individuals from other treatment groups. However, every dose of LPS resulted in a commensurate increase in oxidative damage. Parasitic mite abundance had no effect on oxidative damage across treatments. The amount of oxidative damage correlated with haptoglobin levels, suggesting compensatory mechanisms to limit self-damage during an immune response. We conclude that while only the highest-intensity immune challenges resulted in costs related to body mass, even low-intensity immune challenges result in detectable increases in oxidative damage.