Get strong to fight childhood cancer - an exercise intervention for children and adolescents undergoing anti-cancer treatment (FORTEe): Rationale and design of a randomized controlled exercise trial.

Background: Despite substantial advances in treatment, children and adolescents with cancer continue to face high morbidity and health issues, including cancer-related fatigue, treatment-related complications, and physical inactivity. Integrating exercise into pediatric oncology care has emerged as a promising approach to mitigate these burdens during cancer treatment. While preliminary data support its potential to reduce treatment-related side effects and enhance quality of life, robust evidence -especially from large, multicenter trials- remains limited.

Erythrocyte rheology is altered in haemophilia patients with advanced arthropathy. A case-control study.

Background: Haemophilia goes along with a lack of clotting factors, which can lead to bleedings mostly being of intraarticular nature. These patients (PwH) suffer from health implications attributed to the resulting haemophilc arthropathy. Even though the haemostatic system is widely studied in PwH, little is known about red blood cell (RBC) rheology.

Balance Training to Improve Physical Abilities in Children During and After Oncological Treatment.

Aims: To investigate the effects of a specific balance training (BT) on lower extremity functions during and after pediatric oncological therapy.

Methods: During a 6-week intervention (DRKS00031418), children with cancer during (IG1) and after (IG2) acute oncological treatment participated in a child-friendly BT up to 6×/week. Training sessions were conducted supervised or self-administered.

Maximal strength training improves muscle-tendon properties and increases tendon matrix remodulation in well-trained triathletes.

This study assessed the effects of a 12-week strength training (ST) intervention on Achilles and patellar tendon stiffness and tendon-matrix blood-borne markers in well-trained triathletes performing concomitant high-volume aerobic training. Eighteen triathletes (VOmax: 64.43 ± 4.

Factors Associated With Employment and Quality of Working Life in Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Purpose: As survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) improves, their work situation is gaining importance. The aim of the current study was to identify factors associated with work status and quality of working life (QWL) in patients with MBC. Additionally, we investigated the effects of an exercise intervention on work status.

Post-COVID-19 Condition in Track and Field Master Athletes: Severity, Symptoms, and Associations With Quality of Life and C-Reactive Protein Levels.

Here, we assessed the prevalence of post-COVID-condition (PCC, also known as long-COVID) and investigated its associations with health-related quality of life and immune-related biomarkers in track and field masters athletes (MAs). A total of 216 MAs (114 males, 102 females; age: 58.3 ± 11.

A space-gamified approach to examine muscle contraction behaviour in children and adolescents with spastic cerebral palsy: feasibility, acceptability and repeatbility.

Introduction: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common disease affecting mobility among children. However, relatively little is known about the muscle phenotype and the resulting impairments in muscle function of this population. We therefore examined feasibility and acceptability of a muscle testing protocol that is based on the muscle examinations of astronauts and in bed-rest studies in children and adolescents with CP (clinical trial registry number DRKS00031107).

microRNA-1 regulates metabolic flexibility by programming adult skeletal muscle pyruvate metabolism.

Objective: Metabolic flexibility refers to the ability of tissues to adjust cellular fuel choice in response to conditional changes in metabolic demand and activity. A loss of metabolic flexibility is a defining feature of various diseases and cellular dysfunction. This study investigated the role of microRNA-1 (miR-1), the most abundant microRNA in skeletal muscle, in maintaining whole-body metabolic flexibility.

Cross-Education Effects of Unilateral Knee-Extensor Strength Training in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Critically Appraised Topic.

Clinical Scenario: Knee-extensor strength training is commonly used in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) to improve muscle function, mobility, and quality of life. For typical complaints that result in significant movement limitation or even immobilization, unilateral knee-extensor strength training of the unaffected or less affected limb to induce a cross-education (CE) effect in the contralateral affected limb may be a possible but understudied treatment option.

Focused Clinical Question: Does unilateral knee-extensor strength training lead to CE effects in the contralateral affected limb in patients with KOA?

Summary Of Key Findings: Results from 2 randomized controlled/clinical trials (level 1b) and 1 quasi-experimental study (level 2) provided limited grade B evidence for the CE effect of unilateral knee-extensor strength training to improve maximal knee-extensor strength of the affected limb in patients with KOA.

Loss of genome maintenance is linked to mTOR complex 1 signaling and accelerates podocyte damage.

DNA repair is essential for preserving genome integrity. Podocytes, postmitotic epithelial cells of the kidney filtration unit, bear limited regenerative capacity, yet their survival is indispensable for kidney health. Podocyte loss is a hallmark of the aging process and of many diseases, but the underlying factors remain unclear.

The Influence of an Acute Endurance Intervention on Breast Cancer Cell Growth-A Pilot Study.

Exercise potentially inhibits tumor growth. It remains unclear which processes mediate these effects. Alterations of cytokine concentration in serum can influence cancer cell growth and may cause cell growth inhibition.

Plantar Sensation and Muscle Activity During a Step on Various Textured Unstable Surfaces in Patients with Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction - Comparison with Healthy Controls.

After anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), patients have been found to have reduced plantar sensation, which may result in reduced afferent input to the central nervous system and thus contribute to motor deficits. Textured surfaces are thought to have a beneficial neurosensory effect. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare plantar sensation and leg muscle activity while stepping on different textured surfaces between patients after ACLR and healthy controls.

Unaltered maximal power and submaximal performance correlates with an oxidative vastus lateralis proteome phenotype during tapering in male cyclists.

Little is known on how a short-term reduction of training volume changes muscle proteome and physiological parameters. We investigated the impact of halving training volume during regular training of cyclists on physiological parameters in relation to vastus lateralis protein profiles and fiber percentage ratios. Fifteen male cyclists (age: 30.

Impact of exercise on sexual health, body image, and therapy-related symptoms in women with metastatic breast cancer: The randomized controlled PREFERABLE-EFFECT trial.

The understanding and treatment of sexual health problems, impaired body image, and other non-life threatening but burdensome symptoms of women with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) is still insufficient. We studied the factors associated with such symptoms and investigated whether these problems could be alleviated by a structured exercise intervention. In the multinational PREFERABLE-EFFECT study, 355 women with mBC were randomly assigned to usual care (n = 178) or a 9-month supervised exercise program (n = 177).

Using Free-Living Heart Rate Data as an Objective Method to Assess Physical Activity: A Scoping Review and Recommendations by the INTERLIVE-Network Targeting Consumer Wearables.

Wearable technologies open up new avenues for the assessment of individual physical activity behaviour. Particularly, free-living heart rate (HR) data assessed by optical sensors are becoming widely available. However, while an abundancy of scientific information and guidance exists for the processing of raw acceleration data, no universal recommendations for the utilization of continuous HR recordings during free-living conditions are available.

Supervised Exercise for Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Cost-Utility Analysis Alongside the PREFERABLE-EFFECT Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the cost utility of a 9-month supervised exercise program for patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC), compared with control (usual care, supplemented with general activity advice and an activity tracker). Evidence on the cost-effectiveness of exercise for patients with mBC is essential for implementation in clinical practice and is currently lacking.

Methods: A cost-utility analysis was performed alongside the multinational PREFERABLE-EFFECT randomized controlled trial, conducted in 8 centers across Europe and Australia.

The α- and β-Subunits of Nitric Oxide-Sensitive Guanylyl Cyclase in Pericytes of Healthy Human Dental Pulp.

Nitric oxide-sensitive guanylyl cyclase (NO-GC) is a heterodimeric enzyme with an α- and a β-subunit. In its active form as an αβ-heterodimer, NO-GC produces cyclic guanosine-3',5'-monophophate (cGMP) to regulate vasodilation and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). In contrast to VSMCs, only a few studies reported on the expression of the NO-GC αβ-heterodimer in human pericytes.

Sportizumab - Multimodal progressive exercise over 10 weeks decreases Th17 frequency and CD49d expression on CD8 T cells in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) represents a neuroinflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by the predominance of circulating T cell subsets with proinflammatory characteristics and increased central nervous system (CNS)-homing potential. Substantial evidence confirms various beneficial effects of chronic exercise interventions in MS, but it is unknown how long-term multi-modal intense exercise affects MS-associated lymphocytes that are commonly targeted by medication in persons with relapsing remitting MS (pwRRMS).

Methods: A total of 45 participants with defined RRMS were randomized to either the exercise (n = 22) or passive waitlist-control group (n = 23).

Meeting Aerobic Physical Activity Guidelines and Associations With Physical Fitness in Men With Metastatic Prostate Cancer: Baseline Results of the Multicentre INTERVAL-GAP4 Trial.

Background: This study compared the physical activity level of men with metastatic prostate cancer at baseline of the multicentre INTERVAL-GAP4 trial to the American Cancer Society guidelines and examined associations with physical fitness.

Methods: A total of 140 men on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) were included in this cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the INTERVAL-GAP4 trial. Exclusion criteria included a maximum of 1 h of vigorous aerobic exercise or one structured resistance exercise session per week but no restrictions on habitual physical activity.

Red Blood Cell Morphology Is Associated with Altered Hemorheological Properties and Fatigue in Patients with Long COVID.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection adversely affects rheological parameters, particularly red blood cell (RBC) aggregation and deformability, but whether these changes persist in patients suffering from Long-COVID (LC) and whether these changes are related to RBC morphology remain unknown.

Methods: Venous blood was collected from = 30 diagnosed LC patients and = 30 non-LC controls and RBC deformability, RBC aggregation, and hematological parameters were measured. In addition, RBCs were examined microscopically for morphological abnormalities.

Dynamic interplay of cortisol and BDNF in males under acute and chronic psychosocial stress - A randomized controlled study.

The neurotrophic protein brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a pivotal role in brain function and is affected by acute and chronic stress. We here investigate the patterns of BDNF and cortisol stress reactivity and recovery under the standardized stress protocol of the TSST and the effect of perceived chronic stress on the basal BDNF levels in healthy young men. Twenty-nine lean young men underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a resting condition.