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Single bouts of aerobic exercise can modulate cortical excitability and executive cognitive function, but less is known about the effect of light-intensity exercise, an intensity of exercise more achievable for certain clinical populations. Fourteen healthy adults (aged 22 to 30) completed the following study procedures twice (≥7 days apart) before and after 30 min of either light aerobic exercise (cycling) or seated rest: neurocognitive battery (multitasking performance, inhibitory control and spatial working memory), paired-pulse TMS measures of cortical excitability. Significant improvements in response times during multitasking performance and increases in intracortical facilitation (ICF) were seen following light aerobic exercise. Light aerobic exercise can modulate cortical excitability and some executive function tasks.Populations with deficits in multitasking ability may benefit from this intervention. K E Y W O R D S cortical excitability, executive function, exercise, neuroplasticity How to cite this article: Morris TP, Fried PJ, Macone J, et al. Light aerobic exercise modulates executive function and cortical excitability. Eur J Neurosci.

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The biochemical and cellular events that lead to secondary neural damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI) contribute to long-term disabilities, including memory deficits. There is a need to search for single and/or combined treatments aimed at reducing these TBI-related dysfunctions. The effects of citicoline and of voluntary physical exercise in a running wheel (3 weeks), alone or in combination, on TBI-related short-term (3 h) and long-term (24 h) object recognition memory (ORM) deficits, and on neurogenesis and neuroprotection were examined using a rodent model of TBI (controlled cortical impact injury). Citicoline improved memory deficits at the two times tested, while physical exercise only in the long-term test. Physical exercise had a clear neuroprotective effect as indicated by reduced interhemispheric differences in hippocampal formation and lateral ventricle volumes and in density of mature neurons in the hilus of the dentate gyrus and the perirhinal cortex. Physical exercise also increased cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the granular cell layer of the dentate gyrus. Some degree of neuroprotection of citicoline was suggested by reduced interhemispheric differences in the volume of the hippocampal formation. Contrary to what was expected, the effects of citicoline and physical exercise did not sum up.Furthermore, a negative interference between both treatments was found in several behavioral and histological variables. The promising profiles of both treatments as therapeutic tools in TBI when applied singly, underscore the need to carry out further works looking for other combined treatment regimens that increase the benefit of each treatment alone.4

The present experiment investigated the effects of aging on emotional behavior, without concomitant influences from any previous behavioral manipulation apart from weighing the rats. Anxiety-related behaviors were measured in the elevated plus-maze (EPM). Performance in the open field (OF) was also assessed to control for any effect of aging on exploratory behavior that could account for changes in emotional behavior. Fifty-two naïve male Wistar rats of 3 (3MO), 17 (17MO), or 24 (24MO) months, were submitted to two sessions (5 min each) of EPM, followed by two sessions (2 min each) of OF, on 4 consecutive days. The main emotional indices (open arm entries, ratio of open arm entries to total entries, time spent in open arms, ratio of time in open arms to time in four arms, open arm ends, and head dips) measured in the EPM indicated a lower level of anxiety in aged (24MO) than in young (3MO) rats, whereas middle-aged (17MO) rats showed intermediate values between those of 3MO and 24MO rats; 3MO rats showed higher general motor activity (number of rearings in closed arms of EPM and in OF, and higher number of areas crossed in OF) than 17MO and 24MO rats. We conclude that aging is associated with a decrease in anxiety and in general motor activity.

The goal of this article is to propose practical and scientific explanations about the mechanics of compression by the medical compression stocking (MCS) to the phlebologist and angiologist societies. The first part presents the principle of pressure generated by the MCS. We explain how the surface of MCS fabric is structured from the yarn scale and how each component of the yarn contributes to generate the desired compression. The second part is dedicated to the mechanical behavior modeling of the covered yarn, which is the main yarn component of the elastic knitted fabric of the MCS. The structure analysis shows that the properties of the inlaid yarns reflect significantly the global behavior of the fabric. Therefore, by characterizing the elastic properties of the inlaid yarn, it is possible to predict the mechanical behavior of the entire MCS fabric. We suggest a few approaches to model the covered elastic yarns used in different types of products. The third part describes an identification procedure aiming to calculate the unknown parameters of the mathematical models with the yarn elongation curves. The principle is to divide the general model into several sub-models in order to avoid considering simultaneously a great number of parameters in the identification procedure. The last part presents a set of identification results that compare measured values with simulated data. With a reliable model of the elastic yarns, an efficient strategy can be conducted to define the proper inlaid yarn (for the MCS construction), aiming to treat efficiently vein diseases at different stages according to medical prescription and the patient’s need.

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