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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Exercise As A Treatment For Cognitive Decline In Older Adults: The Role Of Growth Factors And Inflammatory Cytokines, Joshua A. Titus Dec 2021

Exercise As A Treatment For Cognitive Decline In Older Adults: The Role Of Growth Factors And Inflammatory Cytokines, Joshua A. Titus

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the effects that exercise modalities have on neurotrophic and inflammatory blood markers and cognitive outcomes in older adults. A systematic review and meta-analysis were completed. The included studies illustrated that most of the literature evaluated the effect of aerobic exercise interventions on systemic concentrations of the blood marker brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The review found that aerobic exercise increases BDNF and resistance training increases insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Interventions with sex-specific cohorts presented advantages in males for blood marker and cognitive outcomes compared to females. One of three included interventions decreased …


Post-Activation Potentiation Induced By Concentric Contractions At Three Speeds In Humans, Alexander Zero Apr 2021

Post-Activation Potentiation Induced By Concentric Contractions At Three Speeds In Humans, Alexander Zero

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is the acute enhancement of contractile properties following a short duration (<10s) high intensity contraction. Compared with isometric contractions, little is known about the PAP response induced by concentric conditioning contractions (CCs) and the effect of contractile speeds. In the dorsiflexors of 10 participants, twitch responses were measured following 5s of maximal effort concentric CCs at each of 10, 20 and 50°/s. Concentric PAP responses were compared to a maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MVC) matched for contraction time. Additionally, concentric CCs were compared to isometric CCs matched for mean torque, contraction area and time. The principal finding was that the PAP response following maximal concentric CCs was independent of contractile speed and, there was no difference in the PAP response between concentric CCs and an isometric MVC. Maximal contractions, regardless of contraction modality, likely produce sufficient Ca2+ to induce a full PAP response, and thus there was no difference between speeds or contraction type. Concentric CCs had significantly larger peak twitch torque than their isometric torque matches (49-58%), and faster maximal rates of torque development at the three speeds (62-77%). However, these responses are likely related to greater muscle activation (EMG), and not contraction modality per se. Thus, PAP responses following maximal concentric CCs are not affected by velocity and responses are not different from an isometric MVC. This indicates maximal …


Sexual Dimorphism In Response To Repetitive Bouts Of Acute Exercise In Rodents With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Jordan C. Larocque Feb 2021

Sexual Dimorphism In Response To Repetitive Bouts Of Acute Exercise In Rodents With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Jordan C. Larocque

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to examine sex-specific differences in the blood glucose (BG) response to recurrent aerobic exercise in type 1 diabetes. Specifically, we examined the role of peak estrogen (E2) concentrations during proestrus on BG response to prolonged aerobic exercise. To do so, nineteen Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to four exercised groups: control female (CXF; n = 5), control male (CXM; n = 5), diabetic female (DXF, n = 5) and diabetic male (DXM, n = 4). Diabetes was induced in DX groups via subcutaneous injection of low dose streptozotocin. After four days of exercise, liver glycogen …