Dementia population worldwide is considerable in elderly people. Exercise regulates the brain function, but the mechanism by which it does so is unknown. The effect of regular exercise on cognitive function and exercise capacity in senile dementia patients was investigated. Thirty female patients with senile dementia who participated in the study were divided into two groups: the exercise group (EG, n = 15) and the control group (CG, n = 15). The exercise group completed a regular exercise program, and their cognitive function, activities of daily living and exercise capacity levels were evaluated at baseline, 6 months and after 12 months. Subjects exercised 30 - 60 minutes per day, 2 - 3 times per week for 12 months. Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) (pre: 14.53 +/- 5.34, post: 17.47 +/- 6.90) and ADL (pre: 14.40 +/- 5.32, post: 17.53 +/- 5.46) scores were significantly enhanced in the exercise group with senile dementia, compared to those in the control group. Exercise capacities such as cardiopulmonary function (pre: 128.47 +/- 55.43, post: 184.40 +/- 41.16), muscle strength (pre: 10.07 +/- 3.61, post: 13.7 +/- 3.90), muscular endurance (pre: 8.13 +/- 4.45, post: 12.13 +/- 5.14), flexibility (- 1.53 +/- .30, post: 2.20 +/- .70, balance (pre: 1.73 +/- .28, post: 1.20 +/- .77), and agility (pre: 21.80 +/- 3.24, post: 10.87 +/- 2.99) also increased in the exercise group. Our findings showed that regular exercise can enhance cognitive and functional activity scores in dementia patients, suggesting that senile dementia may improve by participating in a regular exercise program.

Exercise mediates an excessive free radical production leading to oxidative stress (OS). The body has natural antioxidant systems that help decrease OS, and these systems may be enhanced with exercise training. However, only a few studies have investigated the differences in resting OS and antioxidant capacity (AOC) between aerobically trained athletes (ET), anaerobically trained athletes (RT), and untrained individuals (UT). Therefore, this study sought to investigate the resting and postexercise OS and AOC in ET, RT, and UT. Sixty healthy young males (26.6±0.8 yr) participated in this study. Subjects were divided into three groups, ET, RT, and UT by distinct training background. Resting plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyls (PC) were not significantly different in ET, RT, and UT. However, MDA and PC were significantly increased following a graded exercise test (GXT) in UT but not in ET and RT. Resting total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels and TAC were not different in ET, RT, and UT. Interestingly, TAC levels significantly decreased after the GXT in all groups. Additionally, UT showed lower post-exercise TAC levels compared to ET and RT. These results showed that ET, RT, and UT have similar OS and AOC at rest. However, both ET and RT have greater AOC against exercise mediated OS compared to UT. These findings may explain, at least in part, why both aerobic and anaerobic types of exercise training improve redox balance. However, it appears there is no specific exercise type effect in terms of redox balance.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of combined exercise on health-related fitness, endotoxin concentrations, and immune functions of postmenopausal women with abdominal obesity. 20 voluntary participants were recruited and they were randomly allocated to the combined exercise group (n = 10) or the control group (n = 10). Visceral obesity was defined as a visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio ≥0.4 based on computed tomography (CT) results. Body composition, exercise stress testing, fitness measurement, CT scan, and blood variables were analyzed to elucidate the effects of combined exercise. The SPSS Statistics 18.0 program was used to calculate means and standard deviations for all variables. Significant differences between the exercise group and control group were determined with 2-way ANOVA and paired t-tests. The exercise group's abdominal obesity was mitigated due to visceral fat reduction; grip strength, push-ups, and oxygen uptake per weight improved; and HDL-C and IgA level also increased, while TNF-α, CD14, and endotoxin levels decreased. Lowered TNF-α after exercise might have an important role in the obesity reduction. Therefore, we can conclude that combined exercise is effective in mitigating abdominal obesity, preventing metabolic diseases, and enhancing immune function.

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to assess the combined exercise programs (12 weeks' physical exercise training, resistance and aerobic) and 6 weeks' detraining on the correlation of metabolic syndrome (MS) markers and plasma adiponectin level in two groups.MethodsParticipants were divided into two groups [physical exercise training group (EG, n = 8) and control group (CG, n = 7)]. The EG performed a 12-week training program (aerobic and resistance training twice/wk, more than 40 min/d). After 12 weeks' exercise training and 6 weeks' detraining, we also evaluated MS markers and plasma adiponectin at three time periods (baseline, EBP; 12 weeks' exercise program, 12 EP; 12 weeks' and 6 weeks' detraining, 12 + 6 EDP) in overweight and obese children.ResultsCompared with the CG, After the 12 weeks' exercise treatment, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist girth, percent body fat, lean body mass (LBM), percentage lean body, systolic blood pressure, and insulin and homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) indices were lowered in the EG, and plasma adiponectin levels were not altered in the EG. After 6 weeks' detraining, insulin, insulin resistance, and plasma adiponectin levels were significantly increased in the EG. In the adiponectin level, there were positive correlations with LBM and percent lean body and negative correlations with percent body fat, insulin, and insulin resistance after 12 weeks' physical exercise intervention and 6 weeks' detraining.ConclusionThese findings suggest that combined physical training is a useful tool in the management of MS markers in the training periods. Moreover, there was an additive effect even after the 6-weeks detraining period.

Regular running and strength training are the best ways to improve aerobic capacity and develop the size of skeletal muscles. However, uncontrolled physical activities can often lead to an undertraining or over-training syndrome. In particular, overtraining causes persistent fatigue and reduces physical performance due to changes in the various physiological and immunological factors. In this study, we gave an exhaustive submaximal endurance or resistance exercise to participants and investigated the relationship between physical stress (cortisol level in blood), oxidative stress (intracellular ROS accumulation), and adaptive immune response (CD4:CD8 ratio).Materials and MethodsTen male volunteers were recruited, and performed a submaximal endurance or resistance exercise with 85% of VO2max or 1-repetition maximum until exhaustion. Blood samples were collected at rest, and at 0 and 30 min after the exercise. Cortisol levels, oxidative stress, and immune cell phenotypes in peripheral blood were evaluated. Cortisol levels in the sera increased after the exhaustive endurance and resistance exercises and such increments were maintained through the recovery. Intra-cellular ROS levels also increased after the exhaustive endurance and resistance exercises. The ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells after each type of submaximal exercise decreased compared with that at the resting stage, and returned to the resting level at 30 min after the exercise. In this study, an exhaustive endurance or a resistance exercise with submaximal intensity caused excessive physical stress, intra-cellular oxidative stress, and post-exercise immunosuppression. This result suggests that excessive physical stress induced temporary immune dysfunction via physical and oxidative stress.