Molecular Big Data in Sports Sciences: State-of-Art and Future Prospects of OMICS-Based Sports Sciences

Together with environment and experience (that is to say, diet and training), the biological and genetic make-up of an athlete plays a major role in exercise physiology. Sports genomics has shown, indeed, that some DNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can be associated with athlete performance and level (such as elite/world-class athletic status), having an impact on physical activity behavior, endurance, strength, power, speed, flexibility, energetic expenditure, neuromuscular coordination, metabolic and cardio-respiratory fitness, among others, as well as with psychological traits. Athletic phenotype is complex and depends on the combination of different traits and characteristics: as such, it requires a “complex science,” like that of metadata and multi-OMICS profiles. Several projects and trials (like ELITE, GAMES, Gene SMART, GENESIS, and POWERGENE) are aimed at discovering genomics-based biomarkers with an adequate predictive power. Sports genomics could enable to optimize and maximize physical performance, as well as it could predict the risk of sports-related injuries. Exercise has a profound impact on proteome too. Proteomics can assess both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view the modifications induced by training. Recently, scholars have assessed the epigenetics changes in athletes. Summarizing, the different omics specialties seem to converge in a unique approach, termed sportomics or athlomics and defined as a “holistic and top-down,” “non-hypothesis-driven research on an individual’s metabolite changes during sports and exercise” (the Athlome Project Consortium and the Santorini Declaration) Not only sportomics includes metabonomics/metabolomics, but relying on the athlete’s biological passport or profile, it would enable the systematic study of sports-induced changes and effects at any level (genome, transcriptome, proteome, etc.). However, the wealth of data is so huge and massive and heterogenous that new computational algorithms and protocols are needed, more computational power is required as well as new strategies for properly and effectively combining and integrating data.

Comparison of the Cardiovascular Effects of Extreme Psychological and Physical Stress Tests in Male Soccer Players

Background: The purpose of our study was to compare the physiological effects of extreme physical and psychological stress tests in male soccer players, since these two types of stress apply to athletes with high performance requirements. Methods: A total of 63 healthy male soccer players participated in this study, all of whom underwent both of the tests. A physical stress test was carried out in an exercise physiology laboratory, where subjects completed an incremental treadmill running test to full exhaustion, and a psychological test was performed in a military tactical room, where subjects met a street offence situation. Heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure (BP) were recorded directly before, immediately after, and 30 min after the stress tests. Results: The majority of HRV indices changed significantly in both stress protocols. Inverse, significant changes (positive for the physical test, negative for the psychological test, p < 0.001) were found when comparing the alterations of HRV indices between the tests. Significant differences were found in the changes in systolic (p = 0.003) and diastolic (p < 0.001) BP between the test protocols, and also between the baseline and post-test measurements (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Both HRV and BP are sensitive physiological parameters to measure the impact of extreme physical and/or psychological stress

Sharper Minds 2021 Pilot Report

Sharper Minds is a stepped care package designed by the researchers in collaboration with students and UQ Health Care providers to increase awareness and use of mental health prevention strategies among first year university students. The package was 'soft launched' in 2021, and this report presents findings from the pilot evaluation. The pilot adopted a non-randomised controlled design with 266 students (33% international students). Of these, 157 were in the INTERVENTION condition (students who participated in any aspect of the Sharper Minds package: app tracker or one of the short courses) and 109 were in the CONTROL condition (students who completed pre and post surveys only). Results showed a significantly greater benefit to students in the Intervention v Control on pre to post changes in % screening positive for mental health problems, and scores on measures of depression, wellbeing, and loneliness. Students in both conditions improved across semester on measures of anxiety, somatic symptoms, number of academic stressors and number of COVID-19 related stressors. The pilot also provided practical training for 15 Masters in Psychology students and 2 Masters in Dietetics students; and research thesis projects for 1 Masters in Clinical Psychology student; 21 Psychology Honours students; and 5 Exercise Physiology Honours students.

Active learning assignment: Legos and coins to understand glucose metabolism

This article describes an assignment used in an undergraduate Advanced Exercise Physiology course for seniors. Due to the heterogeneity and several transfer students, students' backgrounds in chemistry varied from adequate to non-existent. This presented several challenges for teaching and also for students' understanding of the different metabolic pathways. This article presents an assignment for an active-learning team-based approach in the classroom and the adapted version for virtual learning. Students in active, team-based learning were asked to create a short video of glucose oxidation using Lego bricks, coins, or other toys to represent the glucose molecule, the by-products, and the enzymes involved each pathway. During virtual learning, the assignment was modified to create a video independently in both synchronous and asynchronous course sections. Based on students' responses to an instructor-developed survey on their perceptions of the assignment, 71.4% reported that the assignment was helpful to understand glucose metabolism.

Cardiorespiratory kinetics in exercise physiology: estimates and predictions using randomized changes in work rate

Purpose Kinetics of cardiorespiratory parameters (CRP) in response to work rate (WR) changes are evaluated by pseudo-random binary sequences (PRBS testing). In this study, two algorithms were applied to convert responses from PRBS testing into appropriate impulse responses to predict steady states values and responses to incremental increases in exercise intensity. Methods 13 individuals (age: 41 ± 9 years, BMI: 23.8 ± 3.7 kg m−2), completing an exercise test protocol, comprising a section of randomized changes of 30 W and 80 W (PRBS), two phases of constant WR at 30 W and 80 W and incremental WR until subjective fatigue, were included in the analysis. Ventilation ($$\dot{V}_{{\text{E}}}$$ V ˙ E ), O2 uptake ($$\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2}$$ V ˙ O 2 ), CO2 output ($$\dot{V}{\text{CO}}_{2}$$ V ˙ CO 2 ) and heart rate (HR) were monitored. Impulse responses were calculated in the time domain and in the frequency domain from the cross-correlations of WR and the respective CRP. Results The algorithm in the time domain allows better prediction for $$\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2}$$ V ˙ O 2 and $$\dot{V}{\text{CO}}_{2}$$ V ˙ CO 2 , whereas for $$\dot{V}_{{\text{E}}}$$ V ˙ E and HR the results were similar for both algorithms. Best predictions were found for $$\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2}$$ V ˙ O 2 and HR with higher (3–4%) 30 W steady states and lower (1–4%) values for 80 W. Tendencies were found in the residuals between predicted and measured data. Conclusion The CRP kinetics, resulting from PRBS testing, are qualified to assess steady states within the applied WR range. Below the ventilatory threshold, $$\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{2}$$ V ˙ O 2 and HR responses to incrementally increasing exercise intensities can be sufficiently predicted.

Metabolic Signature of Leukocyte Telomere Length in Elite Male Soccer Players

Introduction: Biological aging is associated with changes in the metabolic pathways. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a predictive marker of biological aging; however, the underlying metabolic pathways remain largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the metabolic alterations and identify the metabolic predictors of LTL in elite male soccer players.Methods: Levels of 837 blood metabolites and LTL were measured in 126 young elite male soccer players who tested negative for doping abuse at anti-doping laboratory in Italy. Multivariate analysis using orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS), univariate linear models and enrichment analyses were conducted to identify metabolites and metabolic pathways associated with LTL. Generalized linear model followed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were conducted to identify top metabolites predictive of LTL.Results: Sixty-seven metabolites and seven metabolic pathways showed significant associations with LTL. Among enriched pathways, lysophospholipids, benzoate metabolites, and glycine/serine/threonine metabolites were elevated with longer LTL. Conversely, monoacylglycerols, sphingolipid metabolites, long chain fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were enriched with shorter telomeres. ROC analysis revealed eight metabolites that best predict LTL, including glutamine, N-acetylglutamine, xanthine, beta-sitosterol, N2-acetyllysine, stearoyl-arachidonoyl-glycerol (18:0/20:4), N-acetylserine and 3-7-dimethylurate with AUC of 0.75 (0.64–0.87, p &lt; 0.0001).Conclusion: This study characterized the metabolic activity in relation to telomere length in elite soccer players. Investigating the functional relevance of these associations could provide a better understanding of exercise physiology and pathophysiology of elite athletes.

A Personal Biography of a Physiological Misnomer: The Anaerobic Threshold

In 1973 Wasserman, Whipp, Koyal, and Beaver published a groundbreaking study titled “Anaerobic threshold and respiratory gas analysis during exercise”. At that time, respiratory gas analysis and laboratory computers had evolved such that more advanced respiratory exercise physiology studies were possible. The initial publications from this group on the onset of anaerobic metabolism in cardiac patients, the first breath-by-breath VO2 system, the first description of the anaerobic threshold, and then later new methods to detect the anaerobic threshold have been and continue to be highly cited. In fact, their 1973 anaerobic threshold paper is the sixth and their 1986 paper is the second most cited paper ever published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. The anaerobic threshold concept has also generated>5500 publications with the rates increasing over time. The publication of two papers that help to refute the “anaerobic” explanation for this phenomenon had no effect on the rates of citations of the original anaerobic threshold papers or the number of anaerobic threshold papers published since. Thus, despite now substantial evidence refuting the proposed anaerobic mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, these papers continue to be highly influential in the discipline of exercise physiology and, perhaps even more explicitly, clinical exercise physiology.

Fitnome Catalog: a resource for physical exercise genetics data mining

Physical exercise (PE) in regularity is a well-characterized non-pharmaceutical intervention for good health and welfare. Molecular mechanisms regulated in response to PE can be scrutinized, with molecular biology, genomics, transcriptomics, and bioinformatics being inserted into exercise physiology studies. From a biotechnological perspective, omic datasets about physical exercise gene expression help identify phenotypic, genetic variance for different physical training phenotypes. Extensive lists of genes regulated by PE were dispersed within the literature, and the Fitnome Catalog (FitC) was created to reach some systematization of this information. Manual and online text-mining tools generated this dataset in PE human gene expression articles (2003-2014) with microarray, RNA-Seq, RT-PCR, and genotyping methods. Spreadsheets were developed with information on exercise protocol, experimental design, gender, age, number of individuals, analytical approach, gene ID, fold change and statistical data, and genetic architecture, encompassing 21 columns. The produced dataset (with 5,147 genes and 101,343 data points) provides experimental design, gene expression information, gene attributes, and references. Functional categorization of the FitC dataset and standardized information on PE-expressed genes were presented.