Purpose: High cardiorespiratory capacity is a key determinant of human performance and life expectancy; however, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. The objective of this pilot study was to investigate biochemical signatures of endurance-performance athletes using high-resolution nontargeted metabolomics. Methods: Elite long-distance runners with similar training and anthropometrical records were studied. After athletes’ maximal oxygen consumption () was measured, they were divided into 2 groups: low (<65 mL·kg−1·min−1, n = 7) and high (>75 mL·kg−1·min−1, n = 7). Plasma was collected under basal conditions after 12 hours of fasting and after a maximal exercise test (nonfasted) and analyzed by high-resolution LC–MS. Multivariate and univariate statistics were applied. Results: A total of 167 compounds were putatively identified with an LC–MS-based metabolomics pipeline. Partial least-squares discriminant analysis showed a clear separation between groups. Significant variations in metabolites highlighted group differences in diverse metabolic pathways, including lipids, vitamins, amino acids, purine, histidine, xenobiotics, and others, either under basal condition or after the maximal exercise test. Conclusions: Taken together, the metabolic alterations revealed in the study affect cellular energy use and availability, oxidative stress management, muscle damage, central nervous system signaling metabolites, nutrients, and compound bioavailability, providing new insights into metabolic alterations associated with exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness levels in trained athletes.

The Achilles tendon stores and releases strain energy, influencing running economy. The present study aims to verify the influence of the Achilles tendon tangent modulus, as a material property, on running economy by comparing two groups of elite endurance-performance athletes undergoing different running training volumes. Twelve athletes, six long-distance runners and six pentathletes, were studied. Long-distance runners had a higher weekly running training volume (116.7±13.7 vs. 58.3±20.4 km, p<0.05) and a better running economy (204.3±12.0 vs. 222.0±8.7 O2 mL ∙ kg−1 ∙ km−1, p<0.05) evaluated in a treadmill at 16 km·h–1, 1% inclination. Both groups presented similar VO2max (68.5±3.8 vs. 65.7±5.0 mL ∙ min−1 ∙ kg−1, p>0.05). Achilles tendon tangent modulus was estimated from ultrasound-measured deformations, with the ankle passively mobilized by a dynamometer. True stress was calculated from the measured torque. The long-distance runners had a higher maximum tangent modulus (380.6±92.2 vs. 236.2±82.6 MPa, p<0.05) and maximum true stress than pentathletes (24.2±5.1 vs. 16.0±3.5 MPa, p<0.05). The correlation coefficient between tangent modulus at larger deformations was R=–0.7447 (p<0.05). Quantifying tendon tissue adaptations associated with different running training volumes will support subject and modality-specific workouts prescription of elite endurance athletes.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Background:The proposal and the initiative to conduct the Prevalence of Severe Asthma in Hospital Units in Spain (PAGE) study arises from the perspective of widespread implementation of electronic medical records and the limited data available on the prevalence of severe asthma in hospitals in our setting.Objectives: The primary objective is to determine the prevalence of severe asthma in the outpatient departments of allergy and pneumology services in Spain. Secondary objectives include describing the most prevalent characteristics and phenotypes of severe asthma, evaluating the selection criteria for receiving approved biological treatments for this disease, and estimating resource consumption. Furthermore, taking advantage of the incorporation of digital technology and new data collection sources, which allow the reuse of information stored in electronic medical records (Big Data), the use of one of these tools (Savana) has been integrated into the study. Methods:The PAGE study is designed as a multicenter, non-experimental, observational, cross-sectional study in a first phase, and prospective in a second phase, controlled, population-based, with a two-stage selection of subjects by random sampling. The research will be carried out in 40 hospitals, following a criterion of convenience, which assumes the geographical representativeness of Spain.Results: This manuscript describes the study design and protocol. Conclusions:Our study design is robust to avoid bias and to allow establishing the prevalence of patients with severe asthma in Spanish hospitals. It is the first to incorporate new tools that can help in routine clinical practice and research, such as big data analysis software, and to evaluate its reliability and efficiency. ResumenAntecedentes: La propuesta y la iniciativa de realizar el estudio Prevalencia del Asma Grave en las Unidades Hospitalarias de España (PAGE) surge desde la perspectiva de una implantación generalizada de la historia clínica electrónica y de los escasos datos disponibles sobre la prevalencia del asma grave en los hospitales de nuestro entorno.Objetivos: el objetivo principal es determinar la prevalencia de asma grave en las consultas externas de los servicios de alergia y neumología en España.Como objetivos secundarios, se incluyen describir las características y fenotipos más prevalentes del asma grave, evaluar los criterios de selección para recibir los tratamientos biológicos aprobados para esta enfermedad y estimar el consumo de recursos. Además, aprovechando la incorporación de la tecnología digital y las nuevas fuentes de recogida de datos, que permiten la reutilización de la información almacenada en las historias clínicas electrónicas (Big Data), se ha integrado en el estudio la utilización de una de estas herramientas (Savana). Métodos:El estudio PAGE está diseñado como un estudio multicéntrico, no experimental, observacional, transversal en una primera fase, y prospectivo en una segunda fase, controlado, basado en la población, con una selección de sujetos en dos etap...

The variables included in the analysis were selected as per clinical criteria and statistical criteria (variables with many missing values were excluded). There was no control group. Therefore, it is a descriptive analysis in which no comparison between the different patient groups will be presented as per their treatment response but based on their pre-treatment baseline characteristics.Of the 345 evaluable patients from the FENOMA study, 89 were not included in the cluster analysis due to missing data. Thus, 256 patients (74%) served for cluster analysis.Descriptive statistics were calculated for demographic and clinical characteristics. Continuous variables are presented as median and quartile 1 (Q1) and quartile 3 (Q3). Categorical variables are reported by using frequency and percentage.For statistical comparisons, the following tests were used, as applicable: Kruskal-Wallis test, Chisquare test, Fisher's exact test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and t-test. A 2-tailed P value of less than 0.05 was used to denote statistically significant differences. All statistical analyses were performed with SAS ® version 9.4 and SAS ® Enterprise Guide V7.15 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Variable correlation analysisIn the case of highly correlated variable groups, a representative of each group is selected, as the information that these variables would provide to the analysis would be redundant, and it may