Evaluation of Reaction Time during the One-Leg Balance Activity in Young Soccer Players: A Pilot Study.

This study's aim was two-fold: (i) to test the intra-session reliability of the one-leg balance activity test; and (ii) to assess the influence of age on reaction time (RT) and the differences between dominant and non-dominant feet. Fifty young soccer players with an average age of 12.4 ± 1.8 years were divided into two groups: younger soccer players (n = 26; 11.6 ± 0.9 years) and older soccer players (n = 24; 14.2 ± 0.8 years). Each group then completed four trials (two with each leg) of the one-leg balance activity (OLBA) to evaluate RT under a single-leg stance. Mean RT and the number of hits were calculated, and the best trial was also selected. T-tests and Pearson correlations were performed for statistical analysis. Values for RT were lower, and the number of hits was higher while standing on the non-dominant foot (p = 0.01). MANOVA revealed that the "Dominant Leg" factor did not affect the multivariate composite (Pillai Trace = 0.05; F(4, 43) = 0.565; p = 0.689; Partial ETA Squared = 0.050; Observed Power = 0.174). The "Age" factor did not present an effect on the multivariate composite (Pillai Trace = 0.104; F(4, 43) = 1.243; p = 0.307; Partial ETA Squared = 0.104; Observed Power = 0.355). The results of the present investigation demonstrate that RT may be lower while standing on the non-dominant foot.

Metabolic Conversions by Lactic Acid Bacteria during Plant Protein Fermentations.

To secure a sustainable food supply for the rapidly growing global population, great efforts towards a plant-based diet are underway. However, the use of plant proteins comes with several challenges, such as improvement or removal of undesired flavours, and generation of desired texture properties. Fermentation holds large potential to alter these properties, but compared to dairy fermentations, our knowledge on strain properties in different plant-based substrates is still limited. Here, we explored different lactic acid bacteria for their ability to grow, produce flavour compounds, or remove off-flavour compounds from different plant proteins. For this, 151 LAB strains from dairy and non-dairy origins were cultured in plant protein plus coconut oil emulsions supplemented with glucose. Pea, chickpea, mung, fava, and soybean proteins were used in the study and bacterial strains for screening included the genera Streptococcus, Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, and Leuconostoc. Efficient, high throughput, screening on plant proteins was developed and strains were assessed for their ability to (i) acidify and decrease the pH; (ii) express key enzymes involved in the formation of amino acid derived flavours, which included PepN (aminopeptidase N), PepXP (X-prolyl dipeptidyl peptidase), EstA (esterase), BcAT (branched chain aminotransferase), CBL (cystathione beta lyase), and ArAT (aromatic aminotransferase); and (iii) improve the overall aroma profile by generating dairy/cheesy notes and decreasing off flavours. Suitable screening conditions were determined, and highlighted the importance that a sufficient heat treatment must be applied to samples containing plant proteins, prior to fermentation, as an outgrowth of spore forming Bacillus cereus was observed if the material was only pasteurised. Enzyme activities for strains measured in rich broth vs. a buffered protein solution showed little-to-no correlation, which illustrated the importance of screening conditions to obtain predictive enzyme measurements. Aroma formation analysis allowed to identify strains that were able to increase key aromas such as diacetyl, acetoin, 2- and 3-methyl butanol, and 2,3-pentanedione, as well as decrease the off-flavours hexanal, pentanal, and nonanal. Our findings illustrate the importance of strain specific differences in the assessed functionalities and how a methodical approach to screening LAB can be applied to select suitable microorganisms that show promise in fermentation of plant proteins when applied in non-dairy cheese applications.