Telephone number (44) 75 5132 1637 Co-author email addressesHannah J. Moir, E-mail: h.moir@kingston.ac.uk; Elizabeth Pummell, E-mail: e.pummell@kingston.ac.uk; Allan Knox, E-mail: allan.knox@uws.ac.uk; Chris Easton, E-mail: chris.easton@uws.ac.uk Acknowledgement and disclosure statementThe authors wish to thank all the participants who volunteered their time for this project and in doing so made the completion of this research possible. No financial support was sought. No conflicts of interest are declared. TitleThe health-enhancing efficacy of Zumba ® fitness: An 8 wk randomised controlled study AbstractThe purpose of this study was to gain a holistic understanding of the efficacy of Zumba ® fitness in a community-recruited cohort of overweight and physically inactive women by evaluating i) its physiological effects on cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers and ii) its mental health-enhancing effects on factors of health-related quality of life. Participants were randomly assigned to either engagement in one to two 1 h classes of Zumba ® fitness weekly (intervention group; n = 10) or maintenance of habitual activity (control group; n = 10).Laboratory assessments were conducted pre-(wk 0) and post-intervention (wk 8) with anthropometric, physiological, inflammatory, and health-related quality of life data collected. In the intervention group, maximal oxygen uptake significantly increased (p < 0.05; partial η 2 = 0.56) by 3.1 mL·kg, percent body fat significantly decreased (p < 0.05; partial η 2 = 0.42)by -1.2%, and interleukin-6 and white blood cell count both significantly decreased (p < 0.01) by -0.4 pg·mL -1 (partial η 2 = 0.96) and -2.1 10 9 cell·L -1 (partial η 2 = 0.87), respectively. Large magnitude enhancements were observed in the health-related quality of life factors of physical functioning, general health, energy/fatigue, and emotional well-being. When interpreted in a community-based physical activity and psychosocial health promotion context, our data suggest that Zumba ® fitness is indeed an efficacious health-enhancing activity for adults.

Background: This study examined the impact of a 4-week school-based sprint interval training program on cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), daily physical activity (PA) behavior, and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) outcomes in adolescents. Methods: A total of 56 adolescents (22 females) were allocated to either an intervention (n = 22; 17.0 [0.3] y) or control group (n = 30; 16.8 [0.5] y). Intervention group performed 5 to 6, 30 second “all out” running sprints, interspersed with 30-second rest intervals, 3 times per week, for 4 consecutive weeks, whereas control group performed their normal physical education lessons. CRF was estimated from the 20-m multistage fitness test and PA behavior was determined using accelerometry. Fasting blood samples were obtained to measure biochemical markers of CMR. Results: Significant group × time interactions were observed for CRF (5.03 [1.66 to 8.40]; P < .001; d = 0.95), sedentary time (136.15 [91.91 to 180.39]; P = .004; d = 1.8), moderate PA (57.20 [32.17 to 82.23]; P < .001; d = 1.5), vigorous PA (5.40 [4.22 to 6.57]; P < .001; d = 1.2), fasting insulin (0.37 [−0.48 to 1.21]; P = .01; d = 1.0), homeostasis model of assessment-insulin resistance (0.26 [0.15 to 0.42]; P < .001; d = 0.9), and clustered CMR score (0.22 [−0.05 to 0.68]; P < .001; d = 10.63). Conclusion: Findings of this study indicate that 4 weeks of school-based sprint interval training improves CRF, improves PA profiles, and maintains CMR in adolescents during the school term.

Male rats were kept for 14 days with alternating 12h periods of light and darkness. The hepatic activity of soluble phosphatidate phosphohydrolase and the concentration of serum insulin were maximum at about 2h after dark. The peak concentration of serum corticosterone occurred 2h before the dark period. It is proposed that corticosterone is partly responsible for the increased phosphohydrolase activity, and that this enables the liver to increase its capacity to synthesize triacylglycerols during the period of maximum feeding.

This study compared the progression of muscular strength (MS) adaptation between age-matched Caucasian (CAUC) and South Asian (SOU) men during 6 weeks (3× week) of resistance training. MS was determined pre and post intervention by 3-repetition maximum (3RM) strength tests, and data were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA. Pre-intervention upper and lower body 3RM were similar between groups and both upper and lower body 3RM increased in CAUCs (P < .001) and SOUs (P < .001) following resistance training. However, lower body strength adaptation (3RM) was higher in CAUCs compared with SOUs (P = .002). There was a significant group × time interaction in strength progression of the squat exercise (P = 0.03) from session 7 through to 18 (completion). The present study offers novel but provisional data that lower body strength adaptation is slower in SOU than CAUC men despite comparable adaptation to upper body strength.

Objective: To determine whether the acute cerebral hemodynamic responses to oxygen inhalation are impacted by race or acclimation to high altitude.Methods: Three groups of young healthy males, who were Tibetans (highlanders, n = 15) with lifelong exposure to high altitude, and Han Chinese (lowlanders) with five-year (Han-5 yr, n = 15) and three-day (Han-3 d, n = 16) exposures, participated in the study at an altitude of 3658 m. Cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) was recorded for three minutes prior to and during pure oxygen inhalation (2 L/min), respectively, using a transcranial color-coded duplex (TCCD) sonography at the middle cerebral artery (MCA). The blood draw and simultaneous monitoring of blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and finger arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) were also performed.Results: Values are Mean ± SEM. The three groups had similar demographic characteristics and HR responses, with the group differences (P < 0.05) found in hemoglobin concentration (16.9 ± 0.9, 18.4 ± 1.3, and 15.5 ± 1.0 gm/dL), baseline BPs and HR as expected. Both the Tibetans and Han-5yr groups presented blunted BP responses to O2-inhalation when compared to the Han-3d group; more interestingly, the Tibetans showed significantly reduced responses compared with Han-5yr and Han-3d in CBFV, cerebral oxygen delivery (COD), and pulsatility index (PI) as assessed by Δ%CBFV/ΔSaO2 (-1.50 ± 0.25 vs. -2.24 ± 0.25 and -2.23 ± 0.27, P = 0.049 and 0.048), Δ%COD/ΔSaO2 (-0.52 ± 0.27 vs. -1.33 ± 0.26 and -1.38 ± 0.28, P = 0.044 and 0.031), and Δ%PI (7 ± 2 vs. 16 ± 3 and 16 ± 3 %, P = 0.036 and 0.023), respectively.Conclusion: These findings provide evidence on the Tibetans trait of a distinct cerebral hemodynamic regulatory pattern to keep more stable cerebral blood flow (CBF), oxygen delivery, and pulsatility in response to oxygen inhalation as compared with Han Chinese, which is likely due to a genetic adaptation to altitude.