نشریه ورزش و علوم زیست حرکتی
سال دوازدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 24، پاییز و زمستان 1399)

Most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by regular exercise and the use of herbal supplements. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of six weeks of High-intensity interval training (HIIT) and fenugreek supplementation on plasma levels of C-reactive protein and cortisol in overweight and obese women.

In this quasi-experimental study, 48 obese and overweight women with a mean age of 29.79± 7.8 years and a body mass index of 29.29 ± 2.6 kg/m2 were purposefully selected to participate in this study. And were randomly divided into 4 groups of 12: exercise+placebo, exercise+supplement, supplement and placebo. The supplement groups took one 500 mg fenugreek capsule daily. Exercise groups performed intense intermittent training at maximum speed for three sessions per week for 6 weeks. Blood samples were taken before and after the training period and supplementation to measure the research variables. Statistical analysis of data was performed by analysis of covariance and Scheffe post hoc tests at a significance level of P<0.05.

CRP in exercise+supplement group (p= 0.04) and cortisol in exercise (p=0.039), supplement (p=0.033) and exercise+supplement (p=0.006) groups decreased significantly compared with control group.

Findings show that High-intensity interval training and fenugreek supplementation alone and simultaneously have a positive effect on CRP and cortisol; by minimizing the upward trends in the production of inflammatory markers, the negative effects of inflammation are minimized. Reducing these indicators is an effective step in reducing diseases related to the immune system.

Disrupted hypothalamo – pituitary - adrenal (HPA) axis, psychological impairment and depression are widespread comorbidity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Exercise training may regulate HPA axis and improve psychological status in these patients. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of 8 weeks resistance training on HPA axis, psychological status and depression level in female patients with MS.

Twenty-seven women with MS disease (32.3 ± 6.9 year of old) and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) of 2.0 ± 1.3 participated in this study. Subjects were divided into control group (n=13) or training group (n=14) randomly, according their EDSS scores. The training group performed progressive resistance training program, 45 min with 50-70% 1RM, 3 days a week for 8 weeks. Psychological status, depression level and ACTH and cortisol concentration were assessed before and after the intervention. Independent sample t-test was used for mean differences between groups.

The results demonstrated that psychological status (11.2%, P=0.04) and depression level (27.4%, P=0.01) improved and ACTH (11.6%, P=0.03) and cortisol (9.9%, P=0.04) concentration reduced significantly after 8 weeks resistance training.

In summary it seems that resistance training utilized in this study effective for psychological status and depression level improvement in female patients with MS by regulating HPA axis.

Metabolic syndrome includes a set of risk factors that increase the probability of cardiovascular diseases. Physical activity and proper nutrition are an effective way to reduce the risk factors of metabolic syndrome. The aim of the current research was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of Pilates training and jujube extract consumption on the indicators of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged women.

40 middle-aged postmenopausal women were randomly divided into Pilates exercise groups, jujube extract, Pilates exercise group with jujube extract, and control group. In the groups that consumed jujube extract, jujube powder was consumed daily at 200 mg per kilogram of body weight along with a glass of water for eight weeks. The exercise program included Pilates exercises for 8 weeks and 3 sessions per week. The intra-group difference was evaluated by dependent t method and the inter-group difference was evaluated by one-way analysis of variance. The significance level was considered to be a=0.05.

In the group of Pilates exercises and consumption of jujube extract, LDL (P=0.005), HDL (P=0.001), TG (P=0.002), diastolic blood pressure (P=0.02) and waist circumference (P=0.001) had a significant decrease, while fasting blood sugar (P=0.06), TC (P=0.08) and systolic blood pressure (P=0.1) did not change significantly.

In general, it seems that eight weeks of Pilates training with the consumption of jujube extract has a positive effect on reducing waist size, improving blood pressure and some indicators of metabolic syndrome.

Studies have shown that COVID-19 causes disruption in the immune system. Strengthening the immune system can be an important strategy in preventing this disease. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigated the physical activity and nutritional status during the COVID-19 pandemicon the other hand, it has been suggested in many studies that physical activity and proper diet can be effective in improving the immune system.

The present study is descriptive in that the method of data collection was the use of an electronic questionnaire. The questionnaire included 4 sections and each section included several questions. The responses were returned to the database designed by the researcher. Based on the questions of the questionnaire, people were classified based on the level of physical activity, sports history, eating habits and supplements they were taking and suffering from COVID-19. The research community included people active in the virtual environment and the subjects were 805 (466 women and 339 men).

In inactive women, there was an inverse relationship between physical activity with intensity and time until the threshold of fatigue and the possibility of contracting the disease of COVID-19 (p=0.0001, r=0.24). In addition, there is an inverse relationship between sports history of men (p=0.001, r=-0.28) with COVID-19 disease and the time of sports activity in each session of men (p=0.0001, r=-0.24) and women (p=0.0001, r=0.21) was observed with COVID-19 disease. A positive relationship was observed between the use of high-fat foods and COVID-19 disease in men and women (p=0.014, r=0.21); and people who used nutritional supplements had a lower rate of infection with the disease of COVID-19 (p=0.0001).

It seems that performing regular physical activity with moderate intensity and following a balanced diet and regularly receiving cereal, meat and protein food groups and fruits and receiving vitamin C and D supplements are related to reducing the severity of COVID-19 disease.

Asprosin is a counter-regulatory protein hormone of insulin and is associated with chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on the expression of the asprosin gene in the pancreatic tissue of male rats with diabetes.

32 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control (n=8), exercise (n=8), diabetes (n=8), and diabetes+exercise (n=8) after inducing diabetes with STZ. After getting familiar with the training protocol, the rats in the training group performed the aerobic training protocol 5 times a week for eight weeks. After completing the protocol, pancreatic tissue was extracted and RT-PCR method was used to measure RNA and ELISA method was used to measure asprosin protein expression. Analysis of variance test was used to analyze the data (P<0.05).

The results showed that induction of diabetes significantly increases the expression level of asprosin gene and protein in pancreatic tissue (P<0.001). Eight weeks of aerobic training significantly reduced asprosin protein expression in the exercise group (P=0.019) but the decrease in gene and protein expression of asprosin in the diabetes+exercise group was not significant compared to the diabetes group.

Aerobic exercise reduced the level of asprosin in pancreatic tissue, which was increased due to diabetes, but was not able to return it to its original level. It seems that the effect of exercise is independent of the cellular and molecular pathways in the pancreatic tissue and plays a role mostly through the cell signaling pathways in the muscle, and in the damaged cells of the pancreatic tissue due to diabetes, in relation to asprosin addition to exercise, it is necessary to other treatment methods.

Physical and behavioral activity that increases GDNF in the brain can maintain the ductility of the brain and facilitate learning. Also, decision-making processes in the learning environment, will help to learn sport skills. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of self-regulatory strategies on serum GDNF levels, cognitive function, and acquisition of three-step handball shooting skills.

42 inactive boys 18 to 24 years were randomly selected as the sample. Statistical samples were divided into three groups: self-regulation, control with practice, and control without practice. Subjects in 15 sessions to shoot handball activities according to the Zien handball test. 48 hours before and after pre-test and post-test, blood samples were taken, and cognitive function test was performed as Stroop test. Blood factor GDNF was measured by ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 22 at P≤ 0.05 level.

metacognitive strategies did not have a significant effect on serum GDNF levels (P=0.67) and also on cognitive function (P=0.07) but on the acquisition of three-step handball shooting skills Had a significant effect (P˂0.01), also according to the results of one-way analysis of variance to compare changes in three groups in the three-step handball shooting skill index after training protocol (P˂0.01) There was a significant difference between the groups that according to the results of Scheffe post hoc test, there was a significant difference between the self-regulatory group with control without practice and control with practice (P˂0.01). But the mean difference was not significant between the other groups.

These findings show that the use of self-regulatory strategies is effective in teaching handball three-step shooting skills. Recommended that coaches use metacognitive strategies during teaching sessions, and athletes, particularly beginners, should use metacognitive strategies to learn more and better skills and improve their performance.