The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between the energy expenditure and the level of physical performance in preschool-age children. Seventy-six boys (5-6 years of age) had motor performance tests (25 m run, soft-ball throw, standing-long-jump, Zig-Zag run, upright handstand jog time, sit-and-reach, one-leg-balance) . Twenty boys were divided into two groups. One consisted of ten boys as the superior group and the other ten boys as the inferior group in results of the motor performance tests.
Energy expenditure was calculated from oxygen intake measured by each child's HR-VO₂ regression equation in a treadmill running test and 24-hour heart rate measurement by monitoring recorder. Daily energy uptake was estimated from the weight and kind of food recorded by their parents.
Energy expenditure in kindergarten, at home and in one day for the superior group were found to be higher than those for the inferior group. Energy uptake in the superior group showed a significant-ly higher value than that in the inferior group. It can be concluded that the children of the superior group appeared to be more active, since test and monitoring measurements showed they had more energy expenditure and energy uptake.

View full abstract

A motor performance test was administered to elderly adults in Koganei City and Nangai Village of Japan as the baseline study of Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Study on Aging (TMIG-LISA) . The participants in this study totaled 405 (183 males and 222 females) aged 65 to 84 from Koganei City, and 734 (295 males and 439 females) aged 65 and over from Nangai Village. The test consisted of measurement of grip strength, one-leg stand-ing, walking at preferred and maximum speeds, and finger-tapping. All motor performances examined were higher among males than females, and they all deteriorated with aging. A regional difference was found in terms of motion speed abilities: finger-tapping rate and walking speed were higher among urban residents than rural residents. Individual differences (coefficient of variation) in the motor ability increased with aging, and reached 106% (maximum tapping rate in female) to 290% (maximum walking speed in female) of those in the twenties. Significant correlations between motor abilities were detected indicating that the specificity of the motor ability found in the young may not account for older adults.

View full abstract

Effects of drinking on body temperature during exercise and recovery in heat were studied in the field. Five healthy baseball players participated in baseball training with and without fluid re-placement on summer days, and rectal temperature, body weight loss, rating of thirst and the amount of water consumption were measured.
The rectal temperature was significantly lower throughout exercise when fluid replacements were allowed. The normalization of rectal temperature during rest periods was also significantly accelerated by fluid replacement. The rating of thirst was significantly correlated with the increase in rectal temperature and sweat loss, and also with the volume of fluid intake. Although full rehydration was not observed, body fluid replacement by drinking is suggested to be advantageous for body temperature regulation during exercise in heat.

View full abstract

In this study, the effect of moderate endurance training on muscle morphological properties of human thigh muscles and isokinetic strength was examined. Five sedentary females carried out a training program of 30 min./day, 3 times a week for a ten-week period. The load requirement was set to 60% of maximal aerobic capacity (Vo₂max) of the subjects. In the determination of muscle cross-sectional areas (CSAs) by MRI, longitudinal sections were first imaged, and ten axial images along the length of femur were taken before and after the endurance training. Muscle CSA and mus-cle volume of knee extensors (KE), flexors (KF), and adductors (AD) were calculated, using the ten axial images. Vo₂max was significantly increased after endurance training (14.6%, p<0.01) . Muscle CSA in KE was significantly increased at the ten levels of femur length. There were also significant increases at seven levels of femur length after endurance training in KF (p<0.05, and 0.01) . Percentage increase of msucle CSA in KE and KF were 10.9 to 16.5% and 7.7 to 15.8%, respectively. Although the muscle volume of KE, KF, and AD was significantly increased, no change in fat volume was observed after endurance training. Isokinetic knee extension and flexion peak torque and peak torque per unit of muscle CSA at three angular velocities (30, 180, and 300 deg/sec) didn't show significant changes. These results suggest that muscle hypertrophy induced by moderate endurance training has no effect on muscle strength.

View full abstract

A study was performed to investigate the effect of ingestion of two different carbohydrates immediately after exhaustive exercise on muscle glycogen restoration in rats. The carbohydrate solu-tions used were 20% maltodextrin (osmolality: 270 mOsm/kg⋅H₂O) and 20% glucose (osmolality: 1370mOsm/kg·H₂O) . At both 30 and 60 min after oral ingestion, the osmolality in the gastric residue was significantly higher in the group given the glucose solution than in the group given the maltodextrin solution. The concentration of serum glucose at both 30 and 60 min after oral ingestion was significantly higher in the group given maltodextrin than in the group given glucose. Compared to the group given glucose, the group given maltodextrin had significantly higher muscle glycogen contents in M. plantaris and M. gastrocnemius at both 30 and 60 min after oral ingestion. Furthermore, the muscle glycogen contents in the group given maltodextrin returned to the levels in resting control rats 60 min after oral ingestion. Thus it is concluded that ingestion of maltodextrin solution immediately after exhaustive exercise might be effective for rapid restoration of muscle glycogen.

View full abstract