BackgroundRamadan fasting is a major challenge for exercising Muslims especially in warm seasons. There is some evidence to indicate that Ramadan fasting causes higher subjective ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) in fasting Muslims. The mechanisms of this phenomenon are not known exactly. The role of respiratory muscle strength in this regard has not been studied yet.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was investigation of the effects of Ramadan fasting on respiratory muscle strength.Patients and MethodsIn a before-after study, from 35 fasting, apparently healthy, male adults who had fasted from the beginning of Ramadan, maximal inspiratory muscle pressure (MIP) and peak inspiratory flow (PIF) were measured in the last week of Ramadan month in summer. At the time of test, there was not any sleep problem in participants and all of them had good cooperation. Three months later, after exclusion of incompatible persons mainly because of change in their physical activity level, smoking behavior or drug consumption, the measurements were repeated in 12 individuals.ResultsWeight, MIP and PIF data had normal distribution (Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test). There was a significant increase in MIP (mean 8.3 cm H2O with 95% confidence interval of 2.2 - 14.3) and PIF (mean 0.55 lit/s with 95% confidence interval of 0.02 - 1.07) and weight (mean 3.4 Kg with 95% confidence interval of 2.2 - 4.5) after Ramadan (Paired t test with P < 0.05). When weight difference was used as a covariate in repeated measure ANOVA test, there was no further significant difference between MIP and PIF measurements.ConclusionsRamadan fasting may cause reduction of respiratory muscle strength through reduction of body weight.

Objectives. The purpose of the present study was to systematically evaluate the scientific evidence about the impact of pre-competition sexual activity on athletic performance. Methods. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement, PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, Physiotherapy Evidence Database(PEDro), and Google Scholar searches were performed with appropriate keywords without time and language restrictions for studies evaluating the impact of sexual activity on athletic performance. The titles and abstracts were reviewed by two independent reviewers. The methodological quality of the studies and the risk of bias were checked using the quality assessment tool of the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP). Results. We found that most studies on this topic had low methodological quality. Out of the456 articles retrieved in the search, only seven met the inclusion criteria of the review. In four of these studies, sexual activity10-12 hours before competition did not alter short-term physiological testing results including maximum-effort grip strength test, hamstring flexibility, reaction time, aerobic power (stair-climbing exercise), VO 2max (treadmill and cycle ergometer test), sub-maximal graded-exercise test, muscular endurance, oxygen pulse, double product, testosterone, cortisol, blood glucose concentrations, and mental concentration. In one study, significantly higher differences were reported for post-maximal stress test heart rate at 5 and 10 minutes during two hours of recovery period after sexual intercourse, which disappeared when a maximal stress test was performed 10 hours after sexual activity. In another study immediately after sexual intercourse, 40% of long-distance athletes had difficulty during intensive loading, while in 90% of the addressed athletes, sexual activity 12 hours before the endurance test did not have an influence on performance. Conclusion. Based on mainly low-quality and heterogeneously designed studies, it can be concluded that having sex at least 10-12 hours before athletic events does not negatively influence physiological test results and possibly athletic performance. However, having sex immediately or a few hours before a competition has negative psychological or physiological effects on athletic performance.

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Introduction:Arterial dissections are important causes of stroke in the young population. Dissection has been reported in association with some sports. It seems that this report is among the first ones of the cervical arterial dissection in a young swimmer.Case Presentation:A 30-year-old male professional swimmer with no history of any major disease suddenly complained of severe ataxia, moderate headache, neck pain, unilateral left facial weakness, and feelings of tingling and paresthesia on the left side of his body and face a few minutes following head and body stretching exercises in land. There was no history of major head or neck trauma, manipulation, and practicing diving skills in the past. Acute infarction of the left cerebellum was diagnosed after performing brain computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (with contrast) studies. Cervical magnetic resonance angiography confirmed left vertebral artery dissection as the cause of infarction.Conclusions:Important differential diagnoses of cervicocephalic arterial dissection include other vascular or neurological causes of head and neck pain and/or local neurological syndromes and other causes of brain ischemia such as cardiac emboli, atherosclerosis, and vasculopathy of brain vessels. It is important that sports medicine practitioners pay attention to this less-diagnosed cause of stroke in young athletes.

Sexual activity before competition has been considered as a possible cause for reduced performance since ancient Greece and Rome. Recently, the hypothesis that optimal sport performance could be influenced by a variety of factors including sexual activity before competition has been investigated. However, few scientific data are available, with the exception of anecdotal reports of individual experiences. The present systematic review focused on the current scientific evidence on the effects of sexual activity on sport performance regardless of sport type. Data were obtained following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, using PubMed/MEDLINE, ISI/Web of Science, the Cochrane Collaboration Database, Cochrane Library, Evidence Database (PEDro), Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) Search review, National Guidelines, ProQuest, and Scopus, all searched from inception Further, to broaden the search, no time filter nor language restriction have been applied. Also, the gray literature was mined using Google Scholar. Only relevant scientific articles reporting outcomes of athletic performance after sexual activity were considered. The impact of sexual activity before a sport competition is still unclear, but most studies generally seem to exclude a direct impact of sexual activity on athletic aerobic and strength performance. The most important aspect seems to be the interval from the time of the sports competition that affects negatively the performance if it is shorter than two hours. There are possible negative effects from some possible concurrent wrong behaviors such as smoking or alcohol abuse. There are no investigations about the effect of masturbation in this context. There is a need to clarify the effects of sexual activity on competition performance. The present evidence suggests that sexual activity the day before competition does not exert any negative impact on performance, even though high-quality, randomized controlled studies are urgently needed.

Background: Menopause is a natural part of women's lives and is associated with a series of complications that can impair their quality of life. This study was conducted to determine the effect of educational interventions based on the Multi-Theory Model (MTM) on the quality of life among menopausal women. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 80 menopausal women who met the inclusion criteria and were selected through the multi-stage stratified random sampling method. The participants were randomly allocated to either the control or intervention group (40 subjects per group). The intervention group participated in five 45-min educational sessions based on the MTM on the predetermined days of the week. The quality of life level scores were collected at baseline, immediately, and three months after the intervention using the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire (MENQOL). On the other hand, the control group did not receive any intervention during the study period. Results: Analysis of variance of repeated measures showed a significant interaction between time and intervention. Therefore, the independent t-test was used to compare the mean score of quality of life, before, immediately, and three months after the intervention. The results showed a significant difference between the two groups regarding the scores immediately after and three months after the intervention. Conclusion: Structured educational program based on the MTM could be used as a simple and noninvasive intervention that helps menopausal women’s general health through menopausal symptoms relief, thereby improving their quality of life. Further interventions with larger sample sizes may be required to confirm these findings.

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Maximal inspiratory mouth pressure (MIP) is a common measurement of inspiratory muscle strength, which is often used in a variety of exercises for estimation of the inspiratory muscle strength and to evaluate the effects of inspiratory muscle training. An understanding of elite athletes' MIP characteristics is necessary to guide sport-specifi c inspiratory muscle training programs. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate and better understand the MIP characteristics of well -trained Iranian male soccer players. In a cross -sectional study, from 14 well trained 19 and 20-year old Iranian male soccer players, weight, height, maximal inspiratory muscle pressure (MIP) and peak inspiratory fl ow (PIF) were measured. All subjects did not smoke, had at least 3 years competitive experience at club or provincial level, trained at least four times a week during the competitive season, and engage in fi tness sessions (e.g. gymnasium training, jogging, cross-training) at least twice a week. Maximal respiratory pressures were measured by having the subject expire completely and then perform a maximum inspiratory maneuver through mouth while the nostrils were closed (Mueller maneuver). Three measurements were done and the best score was recorded. Mean and Standard deviations of weight, height, MIP and PIF were 73.6(6.6) kg, 179.5(6.7) cm, 99.21(32.34) cmH2O and 5.57(1.46) lit/s respectively. There have not been reported any national MIP values for healthy Iranian men to compare the measured ones with them. The MIP measured values were within predicted limits for healthy men based on anthropometric data. MIP values were signifi cantly lower than those found in international studies for elite male athletes. There is necessary to conduct further researches with larger sample sizes in different sports and also in healthy sedentary Iranian people to estimate the inspiratory muscle strength in a variety of Iranian athletes.