Comprehensive supervised heavy training program versus home training regimen in patients with subacromial impingement syndrome: a randomized trial

Background There is no consensus on the best training regimen for subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS). Several have been suggested, but never tested. The purpose of the study is to compare a comprehensive supervised training regimen (STR) based on latest evidence including heavy slow resistance training with a validated home-based regimen (HTR). We hypothesized that the STR would be superior to the HTR. Methods Randomised control trial with blinded assessor. 126 consecutive patients with SIS were recruited and equally randomised to 12 weeks of either supervised training regimen (STR), or home-based training regimen (HTR). Primary outcomes were Constant Score (CS) and Shoulder Rating Questionnaire (SRQ) from baseline and 6 months after completed training. Results were analyzed according to intention-to treat principles. The study was retrospectively registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Date of registration: 07/06/2021. Identification number: NCT04915430. Results CS improved by 22.7 points for the STR group and by 23,7 points for the HTR (p = 0.0001). The SRQ improved by 17.7 and 18.1 points for the STR and the HTR groups respectively (p = 0.0001). The inter-group changes were non-significant. All secondary outcomes (passive and active range of motion, pain on impingement test, and resisted muscle tests) improved in both groups, without significant inter-group difference. Conclusion We found no significant difference between a comprehensive supervised training regimen including heavy training principles, and a home-based training program in patients with SIS.

Pronunciation augmentation for Mandarin-English code-switching speech recognition

Code-switching (CS) refers to the phenomenon of using more than one language in an utterance, and it presents great challenge to automatic speech recognition (ASR) due to the code-switching property in one utterance, the pronunciation variation phenomenon of the embedding language words and the heavy training data sparse problem. This paper focuses on the Mandarin-English CS ASR task. We aim at dealing with the pronunciation variation and alleviating the sparse problem of code-switches by using pronunciation augmentation methods. An English-to-Mandarin mix-language phone mapping approach is first proposed to obtain a language-universal CS lexicon. Based on this lexicon, an acoustic data-driven lexicon learning framework is further proposed to learn new pronunciations to cover the accents, mis-pronunciations, or pronunciation variations of those embedding English words. Experiments are performed on real CS ASR tasks. Effectiveness of the proposed methods are examined on all of the conventional, hybrid, and the recent end-to-end speech recognition systems. Experimental results show that both the learned phone mapping and augmented pronunciations can significantly improve the performance of code-switching speech recognition.

Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Sport and the Immune System Response. A Review

Immunity is the consequence of a complex interaction between organs and the environment. It is mediated the interaction of several genes, receptors, molecules, hormones, cytokines, antibodies, antigens, and inflammatory mediators which in turn relate and influence the psychological health. The immune system response of heavily trained athletes resembles an even more complex conditions being theorized to follow a J or S shape dynamics at times. High training loads modify the immune response elevating the biological markers of immunity and the body susceptibility to infections. Heavy training and/or training in a cold environment increase the athletes’ risk to develop Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs). Therefore, athletes, who are considered healthier than the normal population, are in fact more prone to infections of the respiratory tract, due to lowering of the immune system in the time frames subsequent heavy training sessions. In this revision we will review the behavioral intervention, including nutritional approaches, useful to minimize the “open window” effect on infection and how to cope with stressors and boost the immune system in athletes.

Evaluation of the biogeometric profile of the musculoskeletal system in arm wrestlers

The required level of complexity of the arm wrestlers’ competitive activities demands high requirements for the functional state of the spine. Irrational approach to the training process without taking into account the biogeometric profile prevents the improvement of physical qualities, which leads to a violation of the training cycle, reduced athletic performance and efficiency. One of the most important conditions for postural disorders in athletes is the relative muscle weakness in some parts of the musculoskeletal system, the manifestations of which occur as a result of heavy training loads. The aim of the study was to assess the biogeometric profile of the musculoskeletal system in arm wrestlers. Posture examinations have been performed in the frontal and sagittal planes according to the REEDCO posture scale. The rounded shoulder index has been calculated as a percentage of the ratio of shoulder width to the shoulder arch. Measurement of the depth of physiological curves of the spine has been performed according to the method of Z.P. Kovalkova. Two groups of arm wrestlers have been examined: Gr. 1 comprised of 16 athletes aged 18 to 24, Gr. 2 included 14 athletes aged 25 to 32. According to the REEDCO posture scale for arm athletes, Gr. 2 revealed more significant changes in posture. When calculating the rounded shoulder index, similar changes have been observed. That is, physical activity of large amount and intensity in arm wrestling leads to existing changes in the biogeometric profile of athletes. More reduction of the curvature of the spine in the cervical and lumbar regions according to the method of Z.P. Kovalkova has been observed in a group of arm wrestlers aged 25 to 32 years. According to the data obtained, in course of time arm wrestlers have more significant changes in posture, which, in our opinion, is a consequence of physical activity of large amount and intensity without taking into account the changes in the biogeometric profile of athletes. Thus, the study confirms that it is necessary to integrate correctional and preventive program aimed at treating impaired biogeometric profile, in the training process of arm wrestlers.

Text classification by untrained sentence embeddings

Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) represent a natural paradigm for modeling sequential data like text written in natural language. In fact, RNNs and their variations have long been the architecture of choice in many applications, however in practice they require the use of labored architectures (such as gating mechanisms) and computationally heavy training processes. In this paper we address the question of whether it is possible to generate sentence embeddings via completely untrained recurrent dynamics, on top of which to apply a simple learning algorithm for text classification. This would allow to obtain extremely efficient models in terms of training time. Our work investigates the extent to which this approach can be used, by analyzing the results on different tasks. Finally, we show that, within certain limits, it is possible to build extremely efficient models for text classification that remain competitive in accuracy with reference models in the state-of-the-art.

The Impact of Functional Overreaching on Post-exercise Parasympathetic Reactivation in Runners

While post-exercise heart rate (HR) variability (HRV) has been shown to increase in response to training leading to improvements in performance, the effect of training leading to decrements in performance (i.e., overreaching) on this parameter has been largely ignored. This study evaluated the effect of heavy training leading to performance decrements on sub-maximal post-exercise HRV. Running performance [5 km treadmill time-trial (5TTT)], post-exercise HRV [root-mean-square difference of successive normal R-R intervals (RMSSD)] and measures of subjective training tolerance (Daily Analysis of Life Demands for Athletes “worse than normal” scores) were assessed in 11 male runners following 1 week of light training (LT), 2 weeks of heavy training (HT) and a 10 day taper (T). Post-exercise RMSSD was assessed following 5 min of running exercise at an individualised speed eliciting 85% of peak HR. Time to complete 5TTT likely increased following HT (ES = 0.14 ± 0.03; p < 0.001), and then almost certainly decreased following T (ES = −0.30 ± 0.07; p < 0.001). Subjective training tolerance worsened after HT (ES = −2.54 ± 0.62; p = 0.001) and improved after T (ES = 2.16 ± 0.64; p = 0.004). In comparison to LT, post-exercise RMSSD likely increased at HT (ES = 0.65 ± 0.55; p = 0.06), and likely decreased at T (ES = −0.69 ± 0.45; p = 0.02). A moderate within-subject correlation was found between 5TTT and post-exercise RMSSD (r = 0.47 ± 0.36; p = 0.03). Increased post-exercise RMSSD following HT demonstrated heightened post-exercise parasympathetic modulation in functionally overreached athletes. Heightened post-exercise RMSSD in this context appears paradoxical given this parameter also increases in response to improvements in performance. Thus, additional measures such as subjective training tolerance are required to interpret changes in post-exercise RMSSD.

Got Beer? A Systematic Review of Beer and Exercise

Beer is used to socialize postexercise, celebrate sport victory, and commiserate postdefeat. Rich in polyphenols, beer has antioxidant effects when consumed in moderation, but its alcohol content may confer some negative effects. Despite beer’s popularity, no review has explored its effects on exercise performance, recovery, and adaptation. Thus, a systematic literature search of three databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science) was conducted by two reviewers. The search resulted in 16 studies that were appraised and reviewed. The mean PEDro score was 5.1. When individuals are looking to rehydrate postexercise, a low-alcohol beer (<4%) may be more effective. If choosing a beer higher in alcoholic content (>4%), it is advised to pair this with a nonalcoholic option to limit diuresis, particularly when relatively large volumes of fluid (>700 ml) are consumed. Adding Na+ to alcoholic beer may improve rehydration by decreasing fluid losses, but palatability may decrease. These conclusions are largely based on studies that standardized beverage volume, and the results may not apply equally to situations where people ingest fluids and food ad libitum. Ingesting nonalcoholic, polyphenol-rich beer could be an effective strategy for preventing respiratory infections during heavy training. If consumed in moderation, body composition and strength qualities seem largely unaffected by beer. Mixed results that limit sweeping conclusions are owed to variations in study design (i.e., hydration and exercise protocols). Future research should incorporate exercise protocols with higher ecological validity, recruit more women, prioritize chronic study designs, and use ad libitum fluid replacement protocols for more robust conclusions.

Overtraining of aerobic physical exercise reduce rats (Rattus norvegicus) memory

Overtraining syndrome is a decrease in physical capacity, emotions and immunity due to training that is too often without adequate periods of rest. Overtraining is often experienced by athletes who daily undergo heavy training with short break periods. This research aims to look at the effect of overtraining aerobic physical exercise on memory in mice. The research method was experimental in vivo with the subject of adult male rat (Rattus Norvegicus) Winstar strain aged 8-10 weeks, body weight 200-250 gr. Divided into three groups, namely the control group, aerobic group and overtraining group. The results of memory tests with water E Maze showed an increase in the duration of travel time and the number of animal errors made by the overtraining group (p = 0.003). This study concludes that overtraining aerobic physical exercise can reduce memory in rat hippocampus.

Detection of Atrial Fibrillation Using 1D Convolutional Neural Network

The automatic detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) is crucial for its association with the risk of embolic stroke. Most of the existing AF detection methods usually convert 1D time-series electrocardiogram (ECG) signal into 2D spectrogram to train a complex AF detection system, which results in heavy training computation and high implementation cost. This paper proposes an AF detection method based on an end-to-end 1D convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to raise the detection accuracy and reduce network complexity. By investigating the impact of major components of a convolutional block on detection accuracy and using grid search to obtain optimal hyperparameters of the CNN, we develop a simple, yet effective 1D CNN. Since the dataset provided by PhysioNet Challenge 2017 contains ECG recordings with different lengths, we also propose a length normalization algorithm to generate equal-length records to meet the requirement of CNN. Experimental results and analysis indicate that our method of 1D CNN achieves an average F1 score of 78.2%, which has better detection accuracy with lower network complexity, as compared with the existing deep learning-based methods.