Annals of Applied Sport Science
Volume:2 Issue: 2, Summer 2014

Hematological profiles of cyclists fluctuates are based on the volume/frequency/intensity of training. The present study examined the effects of training load on the cyclist’s biochemical profile which may be associated with over training. Twelve male cyclists volunteered to participate in this study. The participants completed a systematic training program which was divided into four phases i.e. phase I (560 km, continuous aerobic training), II (680 km, continuous aerobic training), III (720 km, aerobic and anaerobic interval training) and IV (560 km, continuous aerobic training). Blood samples were collected at the end of each phase. The hemoglobin level of the cyclists increased throughout the training cycle whereas iron level increased till the third phase and decreased in the fourth phase due to alteration in training. Hemoglobin level was high during the IV phase and this was due to the lowest volume/frequency of training given to the cyclists in final phase. Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) level was elevated during the competitive phase, due to the high volume / intensity during III phase. The depletion of ferritin was high during phase II which was associated with a 21% increase in training volume after the first phase. The highest intensity, volume and frequency of E2S training (phase III) were associated with a large increase in Creatine Phosphokinase (CPK), Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) and cortisol levels, demonstrating a significant decrease in testosterone that showed the over-trained state. Hence, these biochemical markers are important in monitoring athlete’s training load as these parameters are altered with the training intensity, frequency and volume of training given to the cyclist.

Exercise training causes increased oxidative stress. Pistacia Atlantica Extract (Mastic) is known to have a protective effect against oxidative stress and inflammation. We examined the effects of exercise training with and without Pistacia Atlantica extract administration on antioxidant markers in vistar rats. Twenty-eight Vistar female rats (six to eight weeks old, 150-200 g weight) allocated into training (n = 14) and control (n = 14) groups and further divided into saline + control (n = 7), saline + training (n = 7), mastic +control (n = 7), and mastic + raining (n = 7). The training groups were given exercise on a treadmill at 25 m/min (0% grade) for 60 min/day, 5 days/week for eight weeks. Mastic groups were administered at a dose 100 mg/kg (7.5 μL/g of body weight), orally. Seventy-two hours after the last training session, the rats were sacrificed and their liver tissues were excised for tissue oxidative stress markers which were detected by ELISA method. Mastic, Exercise, and Exercise+ Mastic attenuated MDA compared to control (p<0.01). Exercise + Mastic showed a stronger suppressive effect than Mastic and exercise. Mastic and Exercise significantly the increase in SOD compared with control (p<0.05). Exercise + Mastic showed further additive effects on increasing SOD (p<0.001). These results suggest that Mastic supplementation and exercise alone induced positive adaptations in modulating oxidant and antioxidant levels without causing the reduced/oxidized glutathione ratio (GSH/GSSG) in liver of vistar rats, but the combined intervention is more effective than either intervention alone.

Report keratoconus in two patients with a long history of wrestling without any risk factor for corneal ectasia and reviewing the possible pathogenesis. To confirm suspicion of keratoconus, corneal topography was performed using scanning slit topography system and Orbscan. In two wrestlers with the complaint of visual loss in their eyes and IOP raising, corneal topography was performed and development of keratoconus (KCN) was detected. Athletes involved in sports with high strenuous exercises might need routine eye examination and also a baseline corneal topography. This may provide an earlier detection of KCN in this group of athletics.

Clinical experiences indicate that aquatic exercises may have advantages for osteoarthritis patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of aquatic exercise training on the knee pain and its symptoms as well as on the motor performance associated with daily living activities (ADL), sport-recreational activities, and the quality of life in men over 50. 30 men over 50 years old who suffered from knee osteoarthritis were selected voluntarily and were randomly assigned to aquatic exercise therapy and control groups. The means and standard deviations of age, height and weight of participants in each group were 54.26 ± 3.08 and 57.6 ± 5.76 yr 169 ± 4.99 and 168.13 ± 4.76 cm and 76.33 ± 8.11 and 71.53 ± 8.09 kg, respectively. Aquatic exercise training was carried out 3 times per week for 6 weeks. Knee pain, symptoms, motor function in daily activities and sport- recreation and quality of life were measured before and after exercise training. Results showed that the knee pain, symptoms, motor function in daily and sports – recreational activities and quality of life after the exercise protocol significantly improved in the aquatic exercise group (P < 0.05) however, there was no significant change in control groups from pre to post-test (p> 0.05). The results showed that aquatic exercises, as a safe and effective exercise method, could be incorporated to improve the pain, motor functions and quality of life in over-50-year-old males with knee osteoarthritis.

The purpose of this study was to describe biomechanical parameters of head, upper and lower body extremities during a straight right punch throw related to performance and injury mechanism. Subjects were eight elite right-handed male (age 20.4 ± 2.1yrs height 177.4 ± 8.5 cm mass 70.4 ± 16.8 kg) amateur boxers. 3D motion analysis was used to assess the kinematics of the right side extremities and head. Ensemble averaging of time normalized kinematic parameters was used to have better visual inspection. Results showed a similar pattern between subjects with some considerable variation in some parameters that pointed out to individualized pattern in elite boxers. Investigation of lower body joints kinematics explained boxers throw punch using leg drive. Stretch-shortening cycle detected in the technique implies potential for performance enhancing using plyometrics. Head velocity measured in anterior-posterior and medial-lateral direction would intensify potential head injuries.

Motor skills are always considered as one of the effective factors on human activities. The purpose of this research is to study the role of birth order and birth weight in the static and dynamic balance of boys aged 9-11 years old. 94 male students have been evaluated in this research. The personal information questionnaire and medical records were used to acquire data pertaining to birth order and birth weight. Also, parts of Lincoln-Oseretsky test pertaining to balance were used to evaluate static and dynamic balance. The results indicated that second children and children with normal weight had higher average scores rather than first children, only children, and children with low and high weight in most items of static and dynamic balance (p < 0.01). The superiority of second children over other children is probably because of the existence of older siblings which younger ones follow as models in families.

Nowadays, ailments which are known as specific diseases make the society we live in suffer, and scientific researches pay much attention to the effect of sport and physical activity on these diseases and introduce sports as treatment for them. The purpose of this study was to check the effect of an aerobic training course on social-physical anxiety in women with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The study population consisted of all inactive women reported by MS community of Tehran in 2012. Of them, 24 ones have been chosen at random (age 32±11 years old) and selected in two groups of control and experimental at random. The social-physical anxiety scale (SPAS) was used to measure the social-physical anxiety in these patients. The findings indicated a noticeable decrease in the amount of social-physical anxiety in women with MS after 8 weeks of aerobic training (P<0.001). Eventually, we can conclude that aerobic training are effective on decreasing the social-physical anxiety of patients suffering from MS, and it can, by its nature, decrease the social-physical anxiety in these people and promote health and participation in sports activities.

The aim of this study was investigation of green marketing and its impacts on consumer behavior in sports shops in East Azerbaijan province of Iran. The present study is functionalized by objectives and done by field. The study statistical society was sports shops in East Azerbaijan and 210 samples were chosen randomly according to Morgan sampling method and 196 questionnaires were collected finally. The author-prepared questionnaire’s validity was approved by some experts in sport management and marketing. Field and the reliability were assessed by pilot study using Chronbach’s Alpha (α= 819%) which showed that the tool was reliable. The questionnaire had 30 items rated by Lakers scale. Questionnaire introduction contained demographic pieces information of age, income and education degree. Results shows that a significant relationship between green products features, green promotion, green pricing and green distributing with consumer green behavior and education, income, and age, but not marital status, gender had a moderating effect on consumer green sports behavior.

This research aims to validate and factor-analyze the Fan Based Brand Equity (FBBE) questionnaire of football in Iranian supreme league clubs. The present research is of descriptive-analysis type and has been done by survey method. The statistic population included football clubs fans of the Iran’s 13th supreme football league, and the sample society was 880 people chosen from seven clubs fans present at stadiums by using Cochrane’s formula based on available samples using random category and clustering methods. The research instrument was an author-made questionnaire. The whole content reliability of questionnaire was CVI=0.91 and its validity was calculated through two validity methods of test and retest (ICC) was 0.89. The internal reliability was calculated greater than 0.8 for 52 items through Cronbach’s Alpha. Software SPSS 20 was used to perform the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. According to the results of factor analysis of 52 items on FBBE questionnaire, 7 items were deleted in the exploratory analysis and 45 items were placed in 5 factors. Finally, FBBE questionnaire has been confirmed with 12 items brand association attribution, 7 items for brand association benefits, 6 items for brand association attitude, 12 items for brand identity, 6 items for tangible identity, 6 items for intangible identity, 8 items for brand loyalty, 4 items for behavioral loyalty, and 4 items for attitudinal loyalty in confirmatory factor analysis.

This research has been designed and conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of organizational citizenship behavior questionnaire as an instrument in sports environment to assess the status of organizational citizenship behavior dimensions among the athletes of clubs. A 20-question questionnaire has been designed to measure the dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior by studying the background of existing researches and questionnaires. The statistical sample included all of male athletes working in Iran’s Futsal premier league, and 144 questionnaires returned at last. In this research, the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the validity of structure after assessing the validity of content and convergent validity (average variance extracted). And, to evaluate the combinational reliability, Cronbach’s Alpha was used. Moreover, the applications SPSS and PLS-Graph were used to analyze data. The results of exploratory factor analysis indicated that five factors were explained by 69.10% of variance, and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin was measured 85.5%. The reliability of the questionnaire was reported to be 91% and 93% based on Cronbach’s Alpha and combinational reliability, respectively. Given the fact that the validity and reliability indexes of questionnaire have all been reported to be in a satisfactory condition, this questionnaire can be used as a valid and reliable questionnaire to measure organizational citizenship behavior and its dimensions.