Physical activity reduces many major mortality risk factors including arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer. All-cause mortality is decreased by about 30% to 35% in physically active as compared to inactive subjects. The purpose of this paper was to synthesize the literature on life expectancy in relation to physical activity. A systematic PubMed search on life expectancy in physically active and inactive individuals was performed. In addition, articles comparing life expectancy of athletes compared to that of nonathletes were reviewed. Results of 13 studies describing eight different cohorts suggest that regular physical activity is associated with an increase of life expectancy by 0.4 to 6.9 years. Eleven studies included confounding risk factors for mortality and revealed an increase in life expectancy by 0.4 to 4.2 years with regular physical activity. Eleven case control studies on life expectancy in former athletes revealed consistently greater life expectancy in aerobic endurance athletes but inconsistent results for other athletes. None of these studies considered confounding risk factors for mortality. In conclusion, while regular physical activity increases life expectancy, it remains unclear if high-intensity sports activities further increase life expectancy.

Resting heart rate (RHR) is positively related with mortality. Regular exercise causes a reduction in RHR. The aim of the systematic review was to assess whether regular exercise or sports have an impact on the RHR in healthy subjects by taking different types of sports into account. A systematic literature research was conducted in six databases for the identification of controlled trials dealing with the effects of exercise or sports on the RHR in healthy subjects was performed. The studies were summarized by meta-analyses. The literature search analyzed 191 studies presenting 215 samples fitting the eligibility criteria. 121 trials examined the effects of endurance training, 43 strength training, 15 combined endurance and strength training, 5 additional school sport programs. 21 yoga, 5 tai chi, 3 qigong, and 2 unspecified types of sports. All types of sports decreased the RHR. However, only endurance training and yoga significantly decreased the RHR in both sexes. The exercise-induced decreases of RHR were positively related with the pre-interventional RHR and negatively with the average age of the participants. From this, we can conclude that exercise—especially endurance training and yoga—decreases RHR. This effect may contribute to a reduction in all-cause mortality due to regular exercise or sports.

Permanent neurological dysfunction is the primary medical concern of boxing. Recently it was reported that patients presenting elevated levels of the glial protein S-100B in serum after minor head injuries are more prone to develop neuropsychological deficits than patients with lower levels of S-100B protein. We assessed this protein before and after amateur boxing competitions (n = 10) and sparring bouts (n = 15). In several control groups, we investigated S-100B levels of participants before and after a 25 km race (n = 11), jogging (10 km, n = 12), short-term running (n = 12), and heading footballs (n = 12). There was an increase in S-100B protein after boxing and the running disciplines but not after ergometer cycling or soft heading of footballs. The increase in S-100B protein concentrations due to competitive boxing and after the 25 km race was significantly higher than that after performing other disciplines (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the increases caused by sparring and the running disciplines (p = 0.21). The number and severity of the strikes to the head correlated significantly with the increase in the S-100B protein levels. Levels of S-100B protein known to be associated with neuropsychological deficits were not reached in our study. In professional boxing, much higher levels are to be expected and would be worthy of investigation.

Widespread fasciculations are an important clinical sign in, for example, degenerative lower motor neuron diseases (LMND). Usually they are detected by clinical inspection and electromyography. Recently myosonography has been proposed for the detection of fasciculations. This prospective study compares the value of these three modes of examination in patients with degenerative LMND. Seventy healthy control persons and 34 patients (11 women, 23 men; aged 43-78 years; median age 60.5) with LMND were included in the study. All participants were subjected to thorough visual screening for the presence of fasciculations. Fourteen muscles were examined bilaterally by myosonography and a median of 8 muscles were screened electromyographically (only in the patients); the investigators were blinded to the other findings. Clinical inspection and ultrasonography exhibited fasciculations in up to 5 and 8 muscles, respectively, in 8 healthy persons. Ultrasonography demonstrated fasciculations in all patients, clinical inspection in all but 2, and electromyography in 26 of 33 patients (1 patient was not examined electromyographically). Comparing the three methods, clinical observation revealed fasciculations in 42%, electromyography in 39%, and ultrasonography in 67% of all muscles. Thus, ultrasonography was significantly more sensitive than the other techniques (P < 0.001). The interrater agreement (correlation coefficient) r in respect of the presence or absence of fasciculation was 0.71 for the clinical, 0.85 for the electromyographic and 0.84 for the myosonographic examinations. Ultrasonography and electromyography were more reliable than the clinical examination (P < 0.001 and P < 0.01, respectively). Our study indicates that ultrasonography is more sensitive than clinical and electromyographic examination in visualizing fasciculations in patients with LMND. Additionally, it is more reliable than clinical examination.

Summary Objective To describe changes in pelvic organ support from mid pregnancy until 1 year postpartum among nulliparous pregnant women, and to examine whether delivery route affects changes in pelvic organ support.Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Akershus University Hospital in Norway.Population A cohort of 300 nulliparous pregnant women included at mid-pregnancy.Methods Pelvic organ support assessed at 21 and 37 weeks of gestation, and again at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum, by the use of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) system. Linear mixed model was used to assess longitudinal change in pelvic organ support.Main outcome measures Prevalence of anatomic POP. Change in POP-Q variables over time and between delivery groups.Results The prevalence of anatomic POP ranged from 0 to 10%. Vaginal POP-Q points made a cranial shift from mid to late pregnancy, a caudal shift following delivery, and again a cranial shift after 6 weeks postpartum. Postpartum change was present following both vaginal and caesarean deliveries, but was more pronounced following vaginal delivery. The perineal body and genital hiatus became longer from mid to late pregnancy, and shortened after 6 weeks postpartum. At 12 months postpartum all POP-Q points, except cervix, had recovered to baseline in the vaginal delivery group.Conclusions The prevalence of anatomic POP was low in this cohort. There was change in pelvic organ support both during pregnancy and following vaginal as well as caesarean delivery. The short-term ability to recover was good after the first pregnancy and delivery.Keywords Delivery, pelvic organ support, POP, postpartum, pregnancy, primipara.Tweetable Abstract Pelvic organ support changes during pregnancy. A contribution to the risk of POP?