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.

Prediction of the failure of a human supraspinatus tendon using a NARX network

The modelling of tendon behaviour during failure stages is nonlinear and heavily random. However, the understanding of its behavior during such stages, and development of models that can give an accurate prediction of its behavior during failure can provide a means for developing effective tendon therapies. This study is aimed at demonstrating the capability of an artificial neural network in the modelling of failure phases in tendons. A nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous inputs network is applied to three different tensile test data of the human supraspinatus tendons. Owing to data scarcity, the network was trained using two different test data which were randomly sampled and divided into 50%, 25% and 25% proportions for training, validation and preliminary testing. The third test data were used for the final testing phase. The procedure was cyclically performed for each of the results that have been presented in this study. The neural network predictions are presented as curves fitted over actual test results with corresponding error plots. The results indicate that the network is able to accurately predict the failure behaviour of these tendons with correlations of above 99 % for all tests. This is an excellent and very promising result in the light of the difficulties that most deterministic mechanistic models encounter in the modelling of soft tissue failure behaviour. With further development of this technique, sports and exercise physicians would enhance knowledge in mechanisms of tendon failure and be able to devise more injury preventive strategies.

Diabetes

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of diabetes care and management. It starts with a classification and diagnosis of diabetes, followed by sections on expert management of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Living with diabetes is then explored, from sports and exercise, travel, alcohol and recreational drug use, and special considerations such as Ramadan. Hospital inpatient management and diabetes-related emergencies are covered in detail. Diabetes and pregnancy, and paediatric and transition diabetes both have sections explaining common and rare presentations. Finally there are sections on discrete diabetic conditions, such as diabetic eye disease, nephropathy and chronic kidney disease, neuropathy, the diabetic foot, and macrovascular disease.

Investigation of Motivated Consumer Innovativeness in the Context of Sports Industry in Terms of Gender, Age, Sports and Exercise Variables

Aim: The research was carried out in order to investigate of motivated consumer innovativeness of the students of the coaching education department in the context of sports industry in terms of gender, age, actively doing sports and participation in exercise variables. Study design: In this quantitative study was conducted according to a general survey model. Methods: The universe of the research consisted of a total of 418 students (128 females and 290 males) in Bartın University Faculty of Sports Sciences, Department of Coaching Education, and the sample consisted of a total of 236 students (82 females and 154 males). Convenience sampling method, which is one of the non-probabilistic sampling approaches, was used in the selection of the sample, and the data were collected on a voluntary basis. Questionnaire form was used as data collection tool and this form consisted of two parts. The questionnaire form were located that “Personal Information Form” in the first part and “Motivated Consumer Innovativeness Scale” in the second part. Results: It was determined that there was no significant difference between the scores of the subscales within the scope of the gender variable of the participants. Also, there was no significant correlation between the age of the participants and the scores of the subscales. However, there were significant differences between the functional innovativeness and cognitive innovativeness scores of the participants in the context of the variable of actively doing sports status. In addition, there were significant differences between the functional innovativeness, hedonic innovativeness and cognitive innovativeness scores of the participants in the context of the variable of doing exercise status. Conclusion: In the research, motivated consumer innovations of the research group in the context of the sports industry were examined within the framework of gender, age, sports and exercise variables, and this situation was described as it exists. Research findings provide basic information for businesses operating in the sports industry to develop various strategies. In this context, new information has been obtained that will contribute to the literature with the research findings. Keywords: Consumer Innovativeness, Department of Coaching Education, Sports Industry

Mobile fitness application for beginners

<p>The present project is motivated by the recognition that the use of mobile fitness application is increasingly popular among sports and exercise participants in recent years. However, an extensive research on mobile fitness application indicates that most of them are not suitable for beginners. Thus, this project paper describes the development process of a mobile fitness application for beginners, who are looking at enhancing their physical fitness level. This mobile fitness application is developed using android studio and java language. Upon the development of this mobile fitness application, a user testing was conducted and analyzed. The result shows that users were satisfied with the applications as most test scores were above average. Based on these results, the usage of this newly developed mobile fitness application can be suggested to be used by beginner exercisers.</p>

Editorial - Volition in Sports

Of the many people who make New Year’s resolutions, only very few achieve them persistently (Statistic Brain, 2017). This so-called intention-behavior gap extends well beyond the realm of New Year’s resolutions (Sheeran &amp; Webb, 2016) and exemplifies the necessity to not only focus on the processes of goal setting (i.e., motivation) but also on the factors related to goal striving (i.e., volition) (Achtziger &amp; Gollwitzer, 2018; Lewin, 1926). While a large body of research has addressed the motivational processes that enable effective goal setting, the volitional processes that govern the translation of these goals into actual behavior had long been neglected (Gollwitzer, 2012). However, the crucial relevance of volition in sports is intuitively clear: Motivating oneself to sign up for a marathon is considerably easier than actually training for and completing a marathon. In turn, research on volition in sports and exercise has received increased attention since the early 1990s (e.g., Beckmann &amp; Strang, 1991) and this has greatly advanced the field. This Special Issue highlights some of these advancements and explicates promising avenues for further advancing volition research in sports and exercise.