Performances of the Bhutan National Football Team and the National U-19 in the 2011 South Asian Football Federation Cup and the 2011 AFC U-19 Championship were examined by using an assessment scale. The scale was developed for quantifying problems in soccer games to improve team performance. The results indicated the following. Analysis of the technical aspects by using the scale indicated that the national team players and U-19 players had a lower rate of successfully passing the ball, compared to their opponents. Moreover, the ratio of their losing the ball was higher. Regarding tactical aspects such as the rate of controlling the ball and the number of kicks, the national team and U-19 players were lower than their opponents. Concerning physical strength, the number of national team and U-19 players that retired from games 15 minutes before the end due to muscular fatigue was larger than their opponents, and they often lost points in the last 15 minutes of games because of loss of physical strength. Regarding psychological aspects, both national team and U-19 players often made misjudgments due to losing their composure and were dismissed from the field. Moreover, they often lost points in the first 15 minutes of games due to excessive tension and loss of concentration. Also, when they successively lost points, they could not recognize the changes in game patterns and be more careful. These results suggest that the teams could not dominate the games because they were inferior to their opponents in all four aspects assessed by the scale: technical, tactical, physical strength, and psychological.

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PURPOSE: Accumulation of visceral adipose tissue （VAT） is closely related to metabolic syndrome, such as glucose intolerance, diabetes, abnormal lipid metabolism, and arterial sclerosis. In Japan, diagnosis criteria for metabolic syndrome has been determined by the waist circumference and VAT area at the navel level （around between Lumbar disc 4 and 5）. However, a previous study demonstrated that metabolic syndrome risk in Japanese men was associated with the VAT area at 5-7cm above L4-5, not at the L4-5 level. Since an imbalance of physical activity and caloric intake are related to accumulation of the VAT, we hypothesizes that the accumulation of VAT at the different levels are related to physical activity and caloric intake. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the VAT areas at the different levels and metabolic syndrome risks in Japanese middleaged and older women. METHODS: This study provides a cross-sectional investigation of 50 Japanese women （Obese: 32, Normal: 18）. Consecutive MRI images （from 3cm below L4-L5 to 10cm above L4-L5） were used to explore the relationship between each VAT area and metabolic syndrome risks （total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, baPWV, fasting blood suger, HbA1c, blood pressure and number of metabolic syndrome risk factor（MetSN））. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between the VAT areas at the levels 8-10cm higher than L4-L5, and HDL cholesterol, fasting blood sugar and MetSN（p＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the VAT area at the upper levels was significantly related to a metabolic syndrome risk in Japanese women.

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Purpose: Aerobic exercise training induces a reduction of arterial stiffness in obese patients. The vasodilation by nitric oxide（NO） production via phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase（eNOS）is involved in the arterial stiffness reduced by aerobic exercise training. However, the effect of apelin, identified as a regulator of NO production, on eNOS activation remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise training on arterial apelin concentration and APJ, which is apelin receptor, protein expression in obese rats. Methods: After 14 weeks of a high-sucrose diet, 24weeks aged obese male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: Obese-trained group（n= 6）, Obese-control group（n= 7）. Obese-trained group was trained on a rodent treadmill for 1 hour at 25 m/min, 5 days/week for 6 weeks. Results: Body weight was significantly decreased in the Obese-trained group as compared with the Obese-control group, and citrate synthase activity in soleus muscle was significantly increased by exercise training. Arterial eNOS phosphorylation（phospho-eNOS/total eNOS）was significantly increased in the Obese-trained group as compared with the Obese-control group. In addition, arterial apelin concentration and APJ protein expression in the Obese-trained group were increased compared with Obese-control group. Furthermore, the arterial apelin concentration was positively correlated with arterial eNOS phosphorylation in Obese-trained and -control groups（r= 0.605, p＜0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that aerobic exercise training promotes arterial apelin concentration and APJ protein expression with arterial eNOS phosphorylation in obese rats.

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