Heart Rate Recovery and Cancer Risk: Prospective Cohort Study.

This study aims to determine the association between 2-minute heart rate recovery (HRR) and cancer risk. Each participant (5379 women; 8485 men) provided HRR obtained from treadmill tests. The outcome was site-specific cancer. Over 9 years of follow-up, 630 cancer events (258 women) were accrued. Slower HRR was associated with increased thyroid cancer risk in women ( P for trend = .0121) and colorectal cancer risk in men ( P for trend = .0034). The lowest HRR (<13 bpm) had higher hazards of thyroid cancer (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.20; 95% CI = 1.28-3.77) in women and colorectal cancer (HR = 3.08; 95% CI = 1.32-7.15) in men. In women, slower HRR and lower proportions of heart rate recovery (PHRR) were associated with higher hazards of thyroid cancer in women and metabolically related cancers (liver and colorectal) in men. Slower HRR and lower PHRR were independent risk factors for thyroid cancer in women and metabolically related cancers in men.

Comparison of isokinetic muscle strength and muscle power by types of warm-up.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the influence of static stretching at warm-up on the isokinetic muscle torque (at 60°/sec) and muscle power (at 180°/sec) of the flexor muscle and extensor muscle of the knee joint. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects of this study were 10 healthy students with no medically specific findings. The warm-up group and warm-up with stretching group performed their respective warm-up prior to the isokinetic muscle torque evaluation of the knee joint. One-way ANOVA was performed by randomized block design for each variable. [Results] The results were as follows: First, the flexor peak torque and extensor peak torque of the knee joint tended to decrease at 60°/sec in the warm-up with stretching group compared with the control group and warm-up group, but without statistical significance. Second, extensor power at 180°/sec was also not statistically significant. However, it was found that flexor power increased significantly in the warm-up with stretching group at 180°/sec compared with the control group and warm-up group in which stretching was not performed. [Conclusion] Therefore, it is considered that in healthy adults, warm-up including two sets of stretching for 20 seconds per muscle group does not decrease muscle strength and muscle power.

Influence of aging on visual perception and visual motor integration in Korean adults.

This study investigated age-related changes of cognitive function in Korean adults using the Korean-Developmental Test of Visual Perception-2 (K-DTVP-2) and the Visual Motor Integration-3rd Revision (VMI-3R) test, and determined the main factors influencing VP and VMI in older adults. For this research, 139 adults for the K-DTVP-2 and 192 adults for the VMI-3R, from a total of 283 participants, were randomly and separately recruited in province, Korea. The present study showed that the mean score of the K-DTVP-2 and VMI-3R in 10-yr age increments significantly decreased as age increased (K-DTVP-2, F= 41.120, P< 0.001; VMI-3R, F= 16.583, P< 0.001). The mean score of the VMI-3R and K-DTVP-2 were significantly decreased in participants in their 50s compared to those in their 20s (P< 0.05). Age (t= -9.130, P< 0.001), gender (t= 3.029, P= 0.003), and the presence of diseases (t= -2.504, P= 0.013) were the significant factors affecting K-DTVP-2 score. On the other hand, age (t= -6.300, P< 0.001) was the only significant factor affecting VMI-3R score. K-DTVP-2 score (Standardized ß= -0.611) decreased more sensitively with aging than VMI-3R (Standardized ß= -0.467). The two measurements had a significant positive correlation (r = 0.855, P< 0.001). In conclusion, it can be suggested that VP and VMI should be regularly checked from an individual's 50s, which is a critical period for detecting cognitive decline by aging. Both the K-DTVP-2 and VMI-3R could be used for determining the level of cognitive deficit by aging.