A synthetic poly(amino acid), poly(aspartic acid) modified with thioethyl side groups, was studied as an in situ gelling and mucoadhesive dosage form. The chemical structure and the controllable, large thiol content of the polymer were confirmed using 1 H NMR spectroscopy and Ellman's assay. In situ gelation of aqueous polymer solutions was induced by oxidation and monitored using oscillation rheometry. The strength of mucoadhesion towards excised mucosa was characterised by tensile tests in ex vivo experiments. Release kinetics of ophthalmic antibiotic ofloxacin was studied from an in situ crosslinked hydrogel and a liquid formulation to prove the sustained release of the former.

The affective experience during and after exercise helps determine motivation, commitment, and adherence to sports. Choice reaction time (RT) is critical in decision-making and sports performance. In this within-subjects laboratory experiment, we scrutinized core affect and choice RT in 18 male adolescent basketball players during exercise sessions performed to voluntary exhaustion and during a control condition. The adolescents performed choice RT tasks in one of two exercise conditions and in the control session. Participants’ feeling states differed between exercise and control sessions and decreased slightly even after moderate exercise intensity. Core affect also declined as the workload increased, but it remained pleasant-activated in all conditions. The RT errors increased at the peak exercise intensity. These results suggest that while high-intensity training might negatively affect young athletes’ feeling states and impair their decision-making, their core affect remained positive, with large inter-individual variability. We discuss the practical implications of these results in adolescents’ sports.

Background. Evolution prepared humans to deal with physical challenges. Today, people encounter psychosocial stress more than physical stress. However, the physiological response to the contemporary forms of stress is still preserved as the biological evolution’s vestigial heritage. This laboratory investigation aimed to determine whether brief mental stress triggers greater innate (instinctual) effort to ‘let off steam’ than a non-challenging control condition. Method. Using a counterbalanced within-participants laboratory design, 29 young men walked/jogged at voluntary (self-paced) effort after two conditions: a) artificially-induced mental stress comprised by the Stroop Color-Word Task, which lasted for five minutes, and b) a control session, also lasting for five minutes, in which the participants watched a video depicting the world’s ten tallest buildings. Results. The increased arousal after mental stress was carried over into the walk or jog period, and participants worked harder, but they did not perceive exerting greater effort in contrast to the control condition. Conclusions. These results suggest that a ‘flight or fight’ response to psychosocial stress is manifested in the form of subliminal catharsis. While larger-scale studies with more impactful stressors are needed, these preliminary results support the catharsis theory. They might open new research avenues to provide people more physical opportunities for letting off steam before the necessity of treatment with chemical substances or other behavioral therapies. Keywords: cognitive stress, exercise, mental stress, flight or fight, physical activity, psychosocial stress.

Los beneficios a nivel emocional de un solo período de entrenamiento han sido ampliamente estudiados, pero su efecto medido después del entrenamiento está influenciado por varios factores. Uno de ellos es la última experiencia vinculada a la sesión de entrenamiento. En este estudio de laboratorio se manipula, mediante el empleo de tareas cognitivas, el ejercicio progresivo en cinta de correr hasta alcanzar el umbral ventilatorio. Tanto durante como inmediatamente después del ejercicio se evalúa la respuesta afectiva y se compara con la línea basal previa al ejercicio. Se espera que las respuestas emocionales después del ejercicio reflejarán los estados afectivos asociados con la última experiencia (es decir, la tarea cognitiva), en lugar de con el ejercicio. Se evaluaron 53 atletas asignados al grupo experimental de ejercicio o al control sin ejercicio. Se midieron el estado afectivo positivo y negativo y la excitación percibida, tanto antes como después de la intervención. Los resultados revelaron mejoras sustanciales en el estado afectivo en ambos grupos, mostrando grandes tamaños del efecto. La falta de diferencia en las variables dependientes entre el grupo experimental  y el control sugiere que ambos grupos respondieron de manera similar a la última experiencia, es decir a la tarea cognitiva, eliminando los efectos del ejercicio realizado. Las implicaciones de estos hallazgos son muy relevantes puesto que prueban que los resultados de los estudios realizados hasta el momento sobre los beneficios psicológicos de un solo período de ejercicio pueden no medir lo que pretenden, sino simplemente las respuestas afectivas y emocionales a la última experiencia o evento antes de responder el cuestionario que se suele aplicar. En resumen, la confiabilidad interna de estudios que emplean los protocolos pre- post en el análisis de la respuesta afectiva en condiciones de entrenamiento pueden ser cuestionable. The affective benefits of a single bout of exercise are widely reported, but the affect measured after exercise is influenced by several factors. One is the last experience linked to the exercise session. In this laboratory study we manipulated progressive treadmill exercise to ventilatory threshold by using cognitive tasks during and immediately after the exercise when we gauged affect and compared it to pre-exercise baseline. We assumed that the affective responses after exercise will mirror feeling states associated with the last experience (i.e., the cognitive task), rather than with exercise. We examined 53 athletes assigned to exercise or no-exercise control group. Positive and negative affect, feeling state, and perceived arousal were measured before and after intervention. The results revealed substantial improvements in affect in both groups, as based on large effects sizes. The lack of difference in the dependent measures between the exercise and no-exercise control group suggests that both groups responded to the same last experience (i.e. cognitive task) and the effects of exercise and/or sitting were wiped-out. The implication of these findings is that pre- to post-intervention exercise investigations testing the psychological benefits of a single bout of exercise may not measure what they intend to measure, but merely the affective responses to the last experience, or event before answering the questionnaire(s). In brief, the internal reliability of several studies employing the pre/post protocols may be questionable.

A nyújtási technikák vizsgálata, folyamatosan kutatott területe a sporttudománynak, időről időre változik a nyújtás aktuális trendje, mely épp teret hódít az élsportban. Ezeket az irányzatokat előszeretettel alkalmazzák a rekreációs sporttevékenység területén is. Az élsport és a rekreációs sport célrendszere alapvetően különbözik, így érdemes megvizsgálni, hogy mely nyújtási technikák a legalkalmasabbak a rekreációs sporttevékenység területén, annak érdekében, hogy az egészség megőrzését tartsuk szem előtt. A két fő nyújtási technika (statikus-dinamikus nyújtás), az edzés két különböző részében alkalmazható (bemelegítés, levezetés), és néhány esetben ezek felhasználása ellentétesek az élsportban és a rekreációban. A jövőben érdemes az elérni kívánt cél szerint választani a nyújtási technikák közül, és ennek megfelelően differenciálni a széles körű tudományos eredmények között.