Breakfast Omission Reduces Subsequent Resistance Exercise Performance.

Bin Naharudin, MN, Yusof, A, Shaw, H, Stockton, M, Clayton, DJ, and James, LJ. Breakfast omission reduces subsequent resistance exercise performance. J Strength Cond Res 33(7): 1766-1772, 2019-Although much research has examined the influence of morning carbohydrate intake (i.e., breakfast) on endurance performance, little is known about its effects on performance in resistance-type exercise. Sixteen resistance-trained men (age 23 ± 4 years, body mass 77.56 ± 7.13 kg, and height 1.75 ± 0.04 m) who regularly (≥3 day/wk) consumed breakfast completed this study. After assessment of 10 repetition maximum (10RM) and familiarization process, subjects completed 2 randomized trials. After an overnight fast, subjects consumed either a typical breakfast meal (containing 1.5 g of carbohydrate/kg; breakfast consumption [BC]) or a water-only breakfast (breakfast omission [BO]). Two hours later, subjects performed 4 sets to failure of back squat and bench press at 90% of their 10RM. Sensations of hunger, fullness, desire to eat, and prospective food consumption were collected before, as well as immediately, 1 hour and 2 hours after BC/BO using 100-mm visual analogue scales. Total repetitions completed were lower during BO for both back squat (BO: 58 ± 11 repetitions; BC: 68 ± 14 repetitions; effect size [ES] = 0.98; p < 0.001) and bench press (BO: 38 ± 5 repetitions; BC: 40 ± 5 repetitions; ES = 1.06; p < 0.001). Fullness was greater, whereas hunger, desire to eat, and prospective food consumption were lower after a meal for BC compared with BO (p < 0.001). The results of this study demonstrate that omission of a pre-exercise breakfast might impair resistance exercise performance in habitual breakfast consumers. Therefore, consumption of a high-carbohydrate meal before resistance exercise might be a prudent strategy to help maximize performance.

Influence of weaning date and late gestation supplementation on beef system productivity II: economic analysis.

Cow-calf production systems were analyzed using experimental data and historical economic information to model four separate production year using the 10-yr price period from 2005 to 2014. Treatments included two weaning dates, October (OCT) and December (DEC), and four winter nutritional treatments, grazing winter range with no supplement (WR0), low supplement (WR1), high supplement (WR2); or grazing corn residue with no supplement (CR) applied in a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement. Net returns at the December weaning date were greatest (P < 0.05) for DEC systems where cows were fed the WR2 level ($151.14/cow) or CR ($140.17/cow), intermediate for cows fed the WR1 ($110.44/cow), and least for cows fed WR0 ($62.23/cow). Average net returns across winter nutrition treatments at the December weaning date were greater (P < 0.01) for DEC systems ($115.99/cow) compared with OCT systems ($110.28/cow). Marketing October weaned calves in December increased net returns on average by $47.24/cow compared with October marketing. Retained and owned (RO) slaughter steer net returns sold on a hot carcass weight (HCW) basis were greatest (P < 0.05) for CR systems ($190.62/cow) or WR2 ($188.13/cow), intermediate for WR1 ($132.67/cow) and least for the WR0 ($68.08/cow) treatment. In general, purchasing weaned calves (PC) and marketing them as finished steers either on a HCW basis or on a marketing grid were not profitable. The WR2 and the CR grazing regimes were more profitable than WR0 and WR1 regardless of market end point, primarily due to reduction in replacement and production loss costs.

Surveillance for enteric parasites among U.S. military personnel and civilian staff on Joint Task Force Base-Bravo in Soto Cano, Honduras and the local population in Comayagua and La Paz, Honduras.

A study was conducted in Honduras to address whether military personnel assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo in Soto Cano, Honduras, routinely acquire parasite infections, and the results were compared with those collected from civilian base workers and the general local population in the nearby towns of Comayagua and La Paz. Results from this study report 21 species of enteric parasites among Hondurans living in Comayagua and La Paz, 13 species among local Hondurans working as base civilian personnel, and 3 species among U.S. military servicemen and women. The most prevalent organism found was Blastocystis hominis, infecting 95 people (35.8% of 265 samples). Prevalence rates in this study are similar to documented reports on parasite transmission in Central American countries and other areas of Honduras. Although preventive protocols for U.S. military "force protection" appear to be effective in controlling transmission, continuous surveillance for enteric parasites is warranted because of the high parasite loads in the populations with which military personnel come into contact.