Objective. To determine the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial of a 12-week exercise intervention in children with fibromyalgia (FM) and to explore the effectiveness of aerobic exercise on physical fitness, function, pain, FM symptoms, and quality of life (QOL). Methods. FM patients ages 8 -18 years were randomized to a 12-week exercise intervention of either aerobics or qigong. Both groups participated in 3 weekly training sessions. Program adherence and safety were monitored at each session. Data were collected at 3 testing sessions, 2 prior to and 1 after the intervention, and included FM symptoms, function, pain, QOL, and fitness measures. Results. Thirty patients participated in the trial. Twenty-four patients completed the program; 4 patients dropped out prior to training and 2 dropped out of the aerobics program. Better adherence was reported in the aerobics group than in the qigong group (67% versus 61%). Significant improvements in physical function, functional capacity, QOL, and fatigue were observed in the aerobics group. Anaerobic function, tender point count, pain, and symptom severity improved similarly in both groups. Conclusion. It is feasible to conduct an exercise intervention trial in children with FM. Children with FM tolerate moderate-intensity exercise without exacerbation of their disease. Significant improvements in physical function, FM symptoms, QOL, and pain were demonstrated in both exercise groups; the aerobics group performed better in several measures compared with the qigong group. Future studies may need larger sample sizes to confirm clinical improvement and to detect differences in fitness in childhood FM.

Bradley NS, Snook LA, Jain SS, Heigenhauser GJ, Bonen A, Spriet LL. Acute endurance exercise increases plasma membrane fatty acid transport proteins in rat and human skeletal muscle. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 302: E183-E189, 2012. First published October 25, 2011; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00254.2011.-Fatty acid transport proteins are present on the plasma membrane and are involved in the uptake of long-chain fatty acids into skeletal muscle. The present study determined whether acute endurance exercise increased the plasma membrane content of fatty acid transport proteins in rat and human skeletal muscle and whether the increase was accompanied by an increase in long-chain fatty acid transport in rat skeletal muscle. Sixteen subjects cycled for 120 min at ϳ60 Ϯ 2% V O2 peak. Two skeletal muscle biopsies were taken at rest and again following cycling. In a parallel study, eight Sprague-Dawley rats ran for 120 min at 20 m/min, whereas eight rats acted as nonrunning controls. Giant sarcolemmal vesicles were prepared, and protein content of FAT/CD36 and FABPpm was measured in human and rat vesicles and whole muscle homogenate. Palmitate uptake was measured in the rat vesicles. In human muscle, plasma membrane FAT/ CD36 and FABPpm protein contents increased 75 and 20%, respectively, following 120 min of exercise. In rat muscle, plasma membrane FAT/CD36 and FABPpm increased 20 and 30%, respectively, and correlated with a 30% increase in palmitate transport following 120 min of running. These data suggest that the translocation of FAT/CD36 and FABPpm to the plasma membrane in rat skeletal muscle is related to the increase in fatty acid transport and oxidation that occurs with endurance running. This study is also the first to demonstrate that endurance cycling induces an increase in plasma membrane FAT/CD36 and FABPpm content in human skeletal muscle, which is predicted to increase fatty acid transport.

Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) is an important regulator of carbohydrate oxidation during exercise, and its activity can be downregulated by an increase in dietary fat. The purpose of this study was to determine the acute metabolic effects of differential dietary fatty acids on the activation of the PDH complex (PDHa activity) at rest and at the onset of moderate-intensity exercise. University-aged male subjects (n = 7) underwent two fat-loading trials spaced at least 2 wk apart. Subjects consumed approximately 300 g saturated (SFA) or n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) fat over the course of 5 h. Following this, participants cycled at 65% of their maximum oxygen uptake for 15 min. Muscle biopsies were taken before and following fat loading and at 1 min exercise. Plasma free fatty acids increased from 0.15 +/- 0.07 to 0.54 +/- 0.19 mM over 5 h with SFA and from 0.11 +/- 0.04 to 0.35 +/- 0.13 mM with n-6 PUFA and were significantly lower throughout the n-6 PUFA trial. PDHa activity was unchanged following fat loading but increased at the onset of exercise in the SFA trial, from 1.18 +/- 0.27 to 2.16 +/- 0.37 mmol x min(-1) x kg wet wt(-1). This effect was negated in the n-6 PUFA trial (1.04 +/- 0.20 to 1.28 +/- 0.36 mmol x min(-1) x kg wet wt(-1)). PDH kinase was unchanged in both trials, suggesting that the attenuation of PDHa activity with n-6 PUFA was a result of changes in the concentrations of intramitochondrial effectors, potentially intramitochondrial NADH or Ca(2+). Our findings suggest that attenuated PDHa activity contributes to the preferential oxidation of n-6 PUFA during moderate-intensity exercise.

Love LK, LeBlanc PJ, Inglis JG, Bradley NS, Choptiany J, Heigenhauser GJ, Peters SJ. The relationship between human skeletal muscle pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphatase activity and muscle aerobic capacity. J Appl Physiol 111: 427-434, 2011. First published May 19, 2011 doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00672.2010.-Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) is a mitochondrial enzyme responsible for regulating the conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA for use in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. PDH is regulated through phosphorylation and inactivation by PDH kinase (PDK) and dephosphorylation and activation by PDH phosphatase (PDP). The effect of endurance training on PDK in humans has been investigated; however, to date no study has examined the effect of endurance training on PDP in humans. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine differences in PDP activity and PDP1 protein content in human skeletal muscle across a range of muscle aerobic capacities. This association is important as higher PDP activity and protein content will allow for increased activation of PDH, and carbohydrate oxidation. The main findings of this study were that 1) PDP activity (r 2 ϭ 0.399, P ϭ 0.001) and PDP1 protein expression (r 2 ϭ 0.153, P ϭ 0.039) were positively correlated with citrate synthase (CS) activity as a marker for muscle aerobic capacity; 2) E1␣ (r 2 ϭ 0.310, P ϭ 0.002) and PDK2 protein (r 2 ϭ 0.229, P ϭ0.012) are positively correlated with muscle CS activity; and 3) although it is the most abundant isoform, PDP1 protein content only explained ϳ18% of the variance in PDP activity (r 2 ϭ 0.184, P ϭ 0.033). In addition, PDP1 in combination with E1␣ explained ϳ38% of the variance in PDP activity (r 2 ϭ 0.383, P ϭ 0.005), suggesting that there may be alternative regulatory mechanisms of this enzyme other than protein content. These data suggest that with higher muscle aerobic capacity (CS activity) there is a greater capacity for carbohydrate oxidation (E1␣), in concert with higher potential for PDH activation (PDP activity). carbohydrate oxidation; PDH; PDP1; E1␣; E2; PDK2 PYRUVATE DEHYDROGENASE (PDH) is a multienzyme complex consisting of multiple copies of E1 (␣ and ␤), E2 (the core of the PDH complex), and E3 subunits, along with an E3 binding protein (E3BP), which serves to bind E3 to the complex (as reviewed by 1, 39). Each of these subunits (with the exception of E3BP) is involved in the conversion of pyruvate to acetylCoA in a stepwise manner. The complex is regulated largely via covalent modification by the addition of a phosphate group to at least one of its three serine residues located on the E1␣ subunit of the complex (15,31,33,34,37). Phosphorylation and inactivation are accomplished by a group of specific PDH kinases (PDK1-4), while dephosphorylation and activation are accomplished by a pair of PDH phosphatases (PDP1 and -2; Refs. 21, 34, 37). Each of these regulatory enzyme isoforms has different specificities and tissue expressions, with PDK2 and PDP1 being the most abundant isoforms in skeletal muscle (3, 11). Both isoforms...

Traditionally, undergraduate curriculum committees, consisting of appointed faculty and student representatives, have served as the sole departmental vehicle for investigating, discussing and promoting the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) within an academic department. However, with the universal demand for greater accountability on all aspects of evidence-based teaching and on the totality of student learning and career outcomes, some academic departments have encouraged the formation of additional organizations to support their SoTL mandate. In the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, the approach taken was to combine the interests of the faculty who had a sustained interest in the "scholarship of knowledge translation and transfer" in the health sciences with those who had a developing interest in SoTL. These faculty members would then form the foundation of a "network" which has been called the K*T3net. The virtual common space of the network is on a Learning Management System OPEN ACCESSEduc. Sci. 2013, 3 137(LMS) site which is accessed by all faculty members in the network and by a growing number of staff and senior PhD students in the department. The features and potential uses of the K*T3net website will be discussed. The development of the K*T3net has already supported the proposal for a new undergraduate course on SoTL and is opening the possibility for graduate students to add a SoTL component to their thesis research.

No abstract

No abstract