BackgroundAlfa-Hydroxy-isocaproic acid (HICA) is an end product of leucine metabolism in human tissues such as muscle and connective tissue. According to the clinical and experimental studies, HICA can be considered as an anti-catabolic substance. The present study investigated the effects of HICA supplementation on body composition, delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS) and physical performance of athletes during a training period.MethodsFifteen healthy male soccer players (age 22.1+/-3.9 yr) volunteered for the 4-week double-blind study during an intensive training period. The subjects in the group HICA (n = 8) received 583 mg of sodium salt of HICA (corresponding 500 mg of HICA) mixed with liquid three times a day for 4 weeks, and those in the group PLACEBO (n = 7) received 650 mg of maltodextrin mixed with liquid three times a day for the same period. According to a weekly training schedule, they practiced soccer 3 - 4 times a week, had strength training 1 - 2 times a week, and had one soccer game during the study. The subjects were required to keep diaries on training, nutrition, and symptoms of DOMS. Body composition was evaluated with a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) before and after the 4-week period. Muscle strength and running velocity were measured with field tests.ResultsAs compared to placebo, the HICA supplementation increased significantly body weight (p < 0.005) and whole lean body mass (p < 0.05) while fat mass remained constant. The lean body mass of lower extremities increased by 400 g in HICA but decreased by 150 g in PLACEBO during the study. This difference between the groups was significant (p < 0.01). The HICA supplementation decreased the whole body DOMS symptoms in the 4th week of the treatment (p < 0.05) when compared to placebo. Muscle strength and running velocity did not differ between the groups.ConclusionAlready a 4-week HICA supplementation of 1.5 g a day leads to small increases in muscle mass during an intensive training period in soccer athletes.

Abstract. We show that the class of quasisymmetric maps between horizontal self-affine carpets is rigid. Such maps can only exist when the dimensions of the carpets coincide, and in this case, the quasisymmetric maps are quasi-Lipschitz. We also show that horizontal self-affine carpets are minimal for the conformal Assouad dimension.

Abstract. We consider sets in uniformly perfect metric spaces which are null for every doubling measure of the space or which have positive measure for all doubling measures. These sets are called thin and fat, respectively. In our main results, we give sufficient conditions for certain cut-out sets being thin or fat.

We use analogy between the three-body scattering problem and the diffraction problem of the plane wave by a system of semi-transparent half screens, and propose a new approach to the few-body scattering problem. The numerical results have been obtained for the case of the short-range non-negative pair potentials. The developed method allows a natural generalization to the case of long-range pair potentials.

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