Background: Ketogenic diet (KD) is a nutritional approach that restricts daily carbohydrates, replacing most of the reduced energy with fat, while maintaining an adequate quantity of protein. Despite the widespread use of KD in weight loss in athletes, there are still many concerns about its use in sports requiring muscle mass accrual. Thus, the present study sought to investigate the influence of a KD in competitive natural body builders. Methods: Nineteen volunteers (27.4 ± 10.5 years) were randomly assigned to ketogenic diet (KD) or to a western diet (WD). Body composition, muscle strength and basal metabolic rate were measured before and after two months of intervention. Standard blood biochemistry, testosterone, IGF-1, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and inflammatory cytokines (IL6, IL1β, TNFα) were also measured. Results: Body fat significantly decreased in KD (p = 0.030); whilst lean mass increased significantly only in WD (p < 0.001). Maximal strength increased similarly in both groups. KD showed a significant decrease of blood triglycerides (p < 0.001), glucose (p = 0.001), insulin (p < 0.001) and inflammatory cytokines compared to WD whilst BDNF increased in both groups with significant greater changes in KD (p < 0.001). Conclusions: KD may be used during body building preparation for health and leaning purposes but with the caution that hypertrophic muscle response could be blunted.

In the past 20 years, posturography has been widely used in the medical field. This observational study aimed to report the values derived from posturography of a wide set of healthy subjects from various European countries using a plantar pressure platform and a standardized method of measurement.A random cluster sampling of 914 healthy subjects aged between 7.0 and 85.99 years, stratified by age, was carried out. To provide percentile values of our cohort, data were processed to obtain 3 curves corresponding to the following percentiles: 25th, 50th, 75th, and the interquartile range. Distance-weighted least squares method was used to represent the percentile on appropriate graphs.In our sample, the balance to improve with age, up to approximately 45 years, but the trend to reverse with older age. The data show that the oscillations on the sagittal plane (y-mean) change with advancing age. Young people had more retro-podalic support than older people; the balance shifted forward in elderly people.As the study included a relatively large quantity of data collected using a standardized protocol, these results could be used as normative values of posturography for similar populations. On the basis of this data, correct diagnostic clues will be available to clinicians and professionals in the field. However, further studies are needed to confirm our findings.

[Purpose] The main purpose of our study was the evaluation of the effects of long-term volleyball practice on knee joint proprioception and balance of young female athletes. [Subjects and Methods] An observational case-control study was performed. The study enrolled 19 female volleyball players in the experimental group and 19 sedentary counterparts as controls. A Biodex balance system and dynamometer were used for the evaluations. The paired t-test was used to determine the significance of differences between the performance of athletes and controls. [Results] The knee proprioception analysis showed a significant difference at 60° joint position in active and passive tests. A similar trend, but without significance, was found for the 20° joint position. In the postural stability tests both groups showed similar results with no significant differences between them. [Conclusion] In conclusion, the results indicate a significant influence on joint proprioception is elicited by long-term exposure to a team sport like volleyball. However, the postural stability indexes showed similar trends in both groups, highlighting the analogous ontogenesis of the subjects investigated and the low influence of volleyball practice on postural stability.

ÖZETBu çalışma; elit seviyede takım sporları ve bireysel spor yapan seçilmiş iki grubun iletişim becerilerini karşılaştırmak amacını taşımaktadır. Çalışmaya Ankara bölgesinden 80'i takım sporu 51'i de bireysel spor yapan elit düzeyde toplam 131 sporcu gönüllü olarak katılmıştır. Bu çalışmada, veri toplama aracı olarak "İletişim Becerileri Değerlendirme Ölçeği" kullanılmıştır.Çalışmada elde edilen verilerin istatistiksel olarak değerlendirilmesi sonucu, takım sporcusu ve bireysel sporcuların iletişim beceri puanları oldukça yüksek bulunmasına karşın gruplar arasında anlamlı bir farklılığa rastlanmamıştır. Sonuç olarak; spor, sosyalleşme sürecinin etkili bir parçası olarak sporcuların iletişim becerilerini geliştirirken, takım sporcusu olmanın ya da bireysel spor yapmanın bu beceri üzerinde anlamlı bir etkiye sahip olmadığı gözlenmiştir.Anahtar Kelimeler: İletişim Becerileri, Takım Sporcusu, Bireysel Sporcu THE COMPARRISION OF COMMINICATION SKILLS OF TWO ELITE GROUPS PERFORMING TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL SPORT ABSTRACTThis study has aim to evaluate and compare the communication skills of team sport athletes and individual athletes. In this study, 80 team sport and 51 individual athletes, totally 131elite athlete, participated as voluntarily from Ankara region. Communication Skills Evaluation scale was used in this study as data collection tool.Statistical results indicated that although both team sports athletes and individual athletes has high Communication skills score there is no statistically significant differences between groups. On the other hand there is no significant difference in communication skills scores of team sport athletes according to success rank in league. In conclusion; although sport can develop communication skills of athletes as an effective part of socialization, results indicate that being a team sport athlete or individual athlete has not effect on these skills. Additionally in this study no significant relation has been found between sportive success and communication skills. Key Words: Communication Skills, Team Sports Athlete, Individual Athlete GİRİŞİletişim çağdaş yaşamın ihtiyaçlarını karşılamada tartışılmaz en temel gereçtir. Okulda, işte, sokakta, gazete okurken ya da televizyon seyrederken çevre ile sürekli iletişim halinde bulunulur. Günlük hayatta kurulan iletişimin yalnızca % 9'u yazarak, % 16'sı okuyarak, % 30'u konuşarak ve % 45'i de dinleyerek gerçekleştirilir (1). İletişim becerileri tüm bilim alanlarını, meslekleri, kurum ve kuruluşların başarısını ilgilendiren önemli bir konudur ve bu yüzden de iletişim birçok farklı şekilde tanımlanmaktadır. Tanımlarındaki farklılıkların temelinde yatan sebep yazarların ait oldukları toplumun ihtiyaçları yada bilim alanının konularının çeşitliliğidir.En geniş anlamda iletişim "bilgi üretme aktarma ve anlamlandırma sürecidir" (2). Benzer şekilde Werner (3) iletişimin başlıca amacının bilgi alışverişi olduğunu vurgulamakta, Aydın (4) ise iletişimi paylaşmak ve çok boyutlu bir kavram olarak ele almaktadır. İletişim tanımlarında yer alan sözel v...

Static and dynamic balance can be influenced by many factors. However, there is limited evidence regarding the effects that shoe sole hardness may have on balance. The aim of our study was to investigate effects of different sports shoes and bare feet on static and dynamic balance in healthy female individuals. Seventeen female participants were included in our study. All participants were assessed with bare feet, hard-support sports shoes and soft-foam sports shoes. The order of the assessment for each participant was randomly determined using an online random allocation software. The SportKAT 3000® device was used to assess dynamic double feet, static double feet, dominant foot and non-dominant foot balance. Static balance showed no significant difference between bare feet, hard-support and soft-foam sports shoes (pdouble feet=0.390, pdominant side=0.465, pnon-dominant side=0.494).Difference for dynamic balance was statistically significant between bare foot, soft-foam and hard-support sports shoes (p=0.003). When investigating this difference in dynamic balance with dual comparisons, significant differences were confirmed between hard-support and bare foot (p=0.010) and between soft-foam and bare foot (p=0.001). No difference in static balance is present between the no-shoe and both shoe conditions. Different outcomes regarding dynamic balance were observed between bare feet and both shoe conditions. However, hard surface and soft surface shoes did not differ during the dynamic task condition. Therefore, the purchase of a running shoe may be decided according to the preferred footwear.