The athlete gut microbiota: state of the art and practical guidance.

The gut microbiota has been proposed to grant the athlete a metabolic advantage that might be key when optimising performance. While a taxonomic core set of microorganisms characterising the athlete's gut microbiota has not been delineated, some compositional features might be associated with improved metabolic efficiency, which appears to be driven by the production of bacterial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids. Not only long-term exercise but also dietary patterns associated with high-level sports practice contribute to this microbial environment, yet isolating the impact of individual dietary components is challenging. The present review synthetises the available evidence on the compositional aspects of the athlete's gut microbiota, discusses mechanisms involved in the bidirectional association between exercise and the gut environment, and evaluates the role of athletes' diet in this interplay. Additionally, a practical approach to indicators commonly reported in metagenomic and metabolomic analyses is provided to explore how these insights can translate to support dietary protocols.

Impact and control of the COVID pandemic in an elite sports club: Real Madrid.

The incidence and risk factors for poor outcome in patients with COVID are well known, as are the protective measures in high-risk populations. In contrast, the epidemiological and clinical behavior of this disease in the population of elite athletes who are the paradigm of good health is poorly understood. Data on COVID in athletes are scarce and have focused preferentially on the consequences on sports performance of confinement measures and on the pathophysiological risks of infected athletes. Real Madrid is a large elite sports institution with facilities in the City of Madrid where 600 athletes train daily. The incidence of COVID during a study period of 671 days of observation in athletes, professional or amateur, working in the institution has been 0,74 per 1,000 days of exposure. The disease has been asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic in all athletes and did not require any hospital admissions. The different teams did not have to suspend any of its sportive commitments for COVID during the study period and there was no evidence of outbreaks of internal transmission between members of the different teams.

Intensidad del ejercicio en ciclismo indoor / Exercise intensity during indoor cycling

El objetivo de este estudio fue cuantificar la intensidad de una sesión de ciclismo indoor. 300 sujetos experimentados realizaron una sesión en la que se registró la FC media entre el minuto 1-15 (FCmedia1), minuto 16-30 (FCmedia2), y minuto 31-intensidad pico de la sesión (FCmedia3). Se obtuvieron valores de RPE en el minuto 15 (RPE15), 30 (RPE30), y 45 (RPE45). La FC media de la sesión fue 144.84 ± 15.59 lpm. La FCmedia1, FCmedia2 y FCmedia3 fue 135.37 ± 16.50 lpm, 148.84 ± 15.85 lpm, y 153.79 ± 16.66 lpm, respectivamente. La RPE15, RPE30 y RPE45 fue 5.39 ± 1.72, 7.14 ± 1.34 y 7.14 ± 2.44, respectivamente. Las correlaciones bivariadas entre la FC y la RPE mostraron correlación significativa en el minuto 15 (r=0.336; p<0.01), 30 (r=0.291; p<0.01), y 45 (r=0.459; p<0.01). Estos datos sugieren que el ciclismo indoor puede ser una actividad de alta intensidad (AU)

The aim of this study was to quantify the intensity linked to an indoor cycling session. 300 healthy experienced subjects performed an indoor cycling session while HR was recorded between minute 1-15 (HRmean1), 16-30 min (HRmean2) and 31 min to the peak intensity of the session (HRmean3). RPE values were obtained at 15 min (RPE15), 30 min (RPE30) and 45 min (RPE45). Mean HR of the session was 144.84 ± 15.59 bpm. HRmean1, HRmean2 and HRmean3 were 135.37 ± 16.50 bpm, 148.84 ± 15.85 bpm, and 153.79 ± 16.66 bpm, respectively. RPE15, RPE30 and RPE45 values were 5.39 ± 1.72, 7.14 ± 1.34 and 7.14 ± 2.44, respectively. Bivariate correlations made between HR and RPE values showed significant correlation at 15 (r=0.336; p<0.01), 30 (r=0.291; p<0.01), and 45 (r=0.459; p<0.01) min. These data suggest that indoor cycling can be a vigorous intensity activity (AU)

Patterns of physical activity in Spanish children: a descriptive pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The majority of Spanish adults and children do not engage in enough physical activity to be beneficial for health. There is a need for objective and accurate assessment of the proportion of children meeting the physical activity recommendation for health. Assessing patterns of physical activity both between days (during weekdays and weekend days) and within days is of interest to improve our understanding of the variation in Spanish children's physical activity and to provide efficient intervention programmes. METHODS: A sample of 221 children: 136 9-year-old children (68 boys and 68 girls) and 85 15-year-old children (36 girls and 49 boys) from 12 urban public schools in Madrid, Spain entered the study. The variables measured were anthropometric characteristics (height, weight, body mass index) and physical activity measured during four consecutive days using the GT1M accelerometer. RESULTS: Younger children were more active and less sedentary than older ones during week and weekend days. Nine-year-old boys and girls achieved significantly (P < 0.05) more moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and significantly (P < 0.01) less sedentary time than older 15-year-old children. During weekdays more children achieved physical activity recommendations versus weekend days. Physical activity patterns analyses indicated that boys achieved relatively high values of MVPA from 1100 till 1300 h (school break) and from 1800 till 2000 h in comparison with the rest of the day. Girls were substantially different, with the 9-year-old girls having only two obvious peaks of weekday MVPA at lunch (1300) and after school (1900 h) while the adolescent girls had no clear peak of MVPA. CONCLUSIONS: Few children achieved the level of MVPA recommended for health; at particular risk were adolescent girls. More effort needs to be devoted to promoting appropriate opportunities for Spanish girls across the day and to promoting physical activity during weekends for all children.

[The importance of determining oxygen consumption in the indications for a heart transplant]. / Importancia de la determinación del consumo de oxígeno en las indicaciones del trasplante cardíaco.

Maximal exercise performance in patients with chronic heart failure, as determined by peak oxygen consumption (VO2max.) during exercise testing has been shown to correlate well with mortality and its use as primary determining factor in the selection of patients for heart transplant has been advocated. Patients with a VO2max of less than 14 ml/kg/min appear at particularly high risk for mortality. Exercise performance can be influenced by a number of independent factors including subject motivation, peripheral deconditioning or other intrinsic abnormalities of skeletal muscle, and primary respiratory disease. It appears to be a precise gauge of functional impairment. VO2max can be used to accurately and reproducibly place an individual in a predefined functional class.