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Physical Hazards of Space Exploration and the Biological Bases of Behavioral Health and Performance in Extreme Environments
Published in Lauren Blackwell Landon, Kelley J. Slack, Eduardo Salas, Psychology and Human Performance in Space Programs, 2020
Julia M. Schorn, Peter G. Roma
Microgravity also affects bones and muscles, both of which atrophy from disuse in microgravity environments. This characteristic bone loss is referred to as spaceflight osteopenia. On Earth, the elderly lose on average 1% of bone mass per year. In space, astronauts lose on average 1% of bone mass per month. Some astronauts have lost as much as 20% of bone density, while others are less affected. Bone and muscle atrophy are mitigated by exercise and physical activity (Sibonga et al., 2017). In space, exercise is essential—indeed prescribed as a mission-critical activity—to mitigate bone and muscle degradation caused by microgravity. Fortunately, this countermeasure to microgravity effects also provides neurobehavioral benefits, with evidence showing that physical activity can alleviate depression, enhance memory performance and motor acquisition, and improve sleep quality (Chang, Labban, Gapin, & Etnier, 2012; Cooney, Dwan, & Mead, 2014; Reid et al., 2010; Roig, Skriver, Lundbye-Jensen, Kiens, & Nielsen, 2012). Exercise also directly improves brain function by regulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor, insulin-like growth factor 1, and vascular endothelial-derived growth factor (Cotman, Berchtold, & Christie, 2007). These growth factors have been shown to lessen depression, increase learning, and enhance the growth and repair of blood vessels and brain tissues (Silverman & Deuster, 2014).
Thermal Comfort and Gender, Age, Geographical Location and for People with Disabilities
Published in Ken Parsons, Human Thermal Comfort, 2019
Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is a serious viral infection that used to be common in the UK and worldwide. It’s rare nowadays because it can be prevented with vaccination. In some cases, there is muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move. This can occur over a few hours to a few days. The weakness most often involves the legs but may less commonly involve the muscles of the head, neck and diaphragm. Complications after recovery include skeletal deformations and hence difficulty in movement often requiring supports to the limbs. Although polio often passes quickly without causing any other problems, it can sometimes lead to persistent or lifelong difficulties. A few people with the infection will have some degree of permanent paralysis, and others may be left with problems that require long-term treatment and support. These can include: muscle weakness; shrinking of the muscles (atrophy); tight joints (contractures); and deformities, such as twisted feet or legs.
Pathology
Published in John A Plumb, Health Maintenance Of Cultured Fishes, 1994
Atrophy refers to a decrease in size of a mature body part or organ due to a decrease in size or number of cells present. Atrophy is a slow process and can result from starvation or malnutrition (most common cause), lack of adequate blood supply, or chronic infection.
Characteristics of effective home-based resistance training in patients with noncommunicable chronic diseases: a systematic scoping review of randomised controlled trials
Published in Journal of Sports Sciences, 2021
Roseanne E Billany, Noemi Vadaszy, Courtney J Lightfoot, Matthew Pm Graham-Brown, Alice C Smith, Thomas J Wilkinson
Noncommunicable, often termed “chronic”, diseases (NCDs) are the most common causes of death and morbidity. Accountable for 71% of worldwide deaths, they have a significant socioeconomic burden. (WHO, 2014) Four NCDs (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease) are prioritized in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) ‘Global Action Plan (GAP) For Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013–2020ʹ (WHO, 2013) because together with chronic kidney disease (CKD) they share key behavioural risk factors amenable to public health action and contribute to a major portion of global NCD burden. (Couser et al., 2011) Furthermore, skeletal muscle atrophy, dysfunction, and weakness are well-documented consequences of these conditions which result in exercise and functional limitations, and contribute to poor quality of life (QoL). (Powers et al., 2016) Driven by a complex torrent of factors such as inflammation, disuse, ageing and malnutrition, loss of skeletal muscle has been observed in multiple chronic conditions including heart failure, (Springer et al., 2017) cancer, (Powers et al., 2016) diabetes, (Perry et al., 2016) chronic respiratory diseases (Barreiro & Jaitovich, 2018) and CKD. (Wang & Mitch, 2014) Studies have shown that skeletal muscle atrophy is independently associated with increased mortality of patients with chronic disease. (Powers et al., 2016)
The effect of sitting position changes from pedaling rehabilitation on muscle activity
Published in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2021
Lu Zongxing, Wei Xiangwen, You Shengxian
With the improvement of living standards, people are more enthusiastic about sports, but injuries are inevitable during these activities. At the same time, car ownership and traffic accidents are increasing, leading to an increase in the number of people with lower limb injuries. Generally, these injured patients need long-term bed rehabilitation, which may lead to muscle disuse atrophy (Dirks et al. 2016). Muscle disuse atrophy is defined as the most direct change in muscle morphology and structure when it is in the state of disuse. The main features of disuse atrophy are muscle volume reduction, muscle weight loss, muscle fiber thinning or even disappearance, and muscle strength decline. The atrophy state of different muscle groups is different in the same patient (Psatha et al. 2012). For the recovery of muscle function, exercise rehabilitation measures are also important, in addition to surgical treatment and medical treatment.
Impact of sedentarism due to the COVID-19 home confinement on neuromuscular, cardiovascular and metabolic health: Physiological and pathophysiological implications and recommendations for physical and nutritional countermeasures
Published in European Journal of Sport Science, 2021
Marco Narici, Giuseppe De Vito, Martino Franchi, Antonio Paoli, Tatiana Moro, Giuseppe Marcolin, Bruno Grassi, Giovanni Baldassarre, Lucrezia Zuccarelli, Gianni Biolo, Filippo Giorgio di Girolamo, Nicola Fiotti, Flemming Dela, Paul Greenhaff, Constantinos Maganaris
On a positive note, interventional research trials have indicated that intermittent walking breaks during prolonged periods of sitting can improve indices of metabolic health (Dunstan et al., 2012; Healy et al., 2008), and that reducing sedentary behaviour has measurable positive effect on cardio-metabolic health that can be differentiated from exercise training (Macfarlane, Taylor, & Cuddihy, 2006). From the perspective of the maintenance of muscle mass, we do not yet know the precise relationship between exercise dose (daily frequency and intensity) and muscle mass retention during prolonged periods of immobilisation or inactivity. However, it is known that resistance exercise will be an effective intervention. For example, it has been shown that undertaking resistance exercise during 60 days bed rest maintained, and increased, the cross-sectional area of the soleus and vastus lateralis leg muscles, respectively (Trappe, Creer, Slivka, Minchev, & Trappe, 2007). It also prevented decrements in type I and IIa fibre diameters, maintained the proportion of hybrid fibres (Trappe et al., 2007), and prevented increases in markers of muscle protein breakdown (Salanova, Schiffl, Püttmann, Schoser, & Blottner, 2008). Such findings highlight the effectiveness of resistance exercise countermeasures to prevent muscle atrophy. Furthermore, observations of greater calf muscle cross sectional area compared to baseline in subjects 3, 6 and 12 months after 90 days bedrest (Rittweger & Felsenberg, 2009) highlights the enormous plasticity of the muscle to exercise intervention following prolonged immobilisation, at least in young people. Indeed, most of the exercise induced restoration of calf muscle volume occurred in the first phase of recovery in this study (Rittweger & Felsenberg, 2009), pointing to growth rates not being directly proportional to the magnitude of the exercise stimulus, i.e. muscle is more sensitised to grow in the early period following immobilisation induced atrophy (although it is not clear why). These studies highlight the effectiveness of muscle contraction as a countermeasure to prevent muscle loss during immobilisation and inactivity in young volunteers, and also to increase muscle mass restoration following prolonged periods of inactivity or immobilisation (but maybe less so in older people; Suetta et al., 2009). Importantly, the molecular mechanisms by which exercise exerts such positive effect(s) remain unknown, but such insight would greatly help our understanding of how to maintain muscle mass and metabolic health in any future public health crisis requiring social distancing and isolation.