Functional network segregation is associated with higher functional connectivity in endurance runners.

Neuroimaging studies have identified significant differences in brain structure, function, and connectivity between endurance runners and healthy controls. However, the topological organization of large-scale functional brain networks remains unexplored in endurance runners. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data, this study examined the differences in the topological organization of functional networks between endurance runners (n = 22) and healthy controls (n = 20). Endurance runners had significantly higher clustering coefficients in the whole-brain functional network than healthy controls, but the two did not differ regarding the shortest path length or small-world index. Using network-based statistics, we identified one subnetwork in endurance runners with higher functional connectivity than healthy controls, and the mean functional connectivity of the subnetwork significantly correlated with the three aforementioned small-world parameters. In this subnetwork, the mean clustering coefficient of nodes associated with short-range connections was higher in endurance runners than in healthy controls, but the mean clustering coefficient of nodes associated with long-range connections did not differ between the two groups. In conclusion, using graph theoretical approaches, we revealed significant differences in the topological organization of the whole-brain functional network and functional connectivity between endurance runners and healthy controls. The relationship between these two features suggests that a more segregated network may arise from the optimization of the identified subnetwork in endurance runners. These findings are possibly the neural basis underlying the good performance of endurance runners in endurance running.

The impact of sharing physical activity experience on social network sites on residents' social connectedness:a cross-sectional survey during COVID-19 social quarantine.

BACKGROUND: During isolation, sharing physical activity experiences on social network sites (SNS) can enhance individual social connectedness. The objective of the present study was to examine the associations between sharing physical activity experiences on SNS, positive self-presentation, positive feedback, and social connectedness during isolation. METHODS: Based on the Physical Activity Experience Sharing Scale, Social Connectedness Scale, Positive Self-Presentation Scale, and Online Positive Feedback Scale, we collected 460 questionnaires online from across 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China. We used multiple linear regression models to investigate the relationship between variables, and used bootstrapping to test for mediation.. RESULTS: During isolation, sharing physical activity experiences was positively associated with social connectedness (b = 0.308, p < 0.001), as well as with positive self-presentation(b = 0.956, p < 0.001)and positive feedback(b = 0.421, p < 0.001). In addition,we found that positive self-presentation showed a significant positive impact on positive feedback (b = 0.563, p < 0.001), and that positive self-presentation(b = 0.331, p < 0.001) and positive feedback(b = 0.311, p < 0.001) were positively associated with social connectedness. Finally, we found an effect on sharing physical activity experiences indirectly through positive self-presentation (b = 0.316, 95% CI: [0.180, 0.463]),and positive feedback (b = 0.131, 95% CI: [0.063, 0.207]) and that the mediation chain between the two also had a significant impact on social connectedness (b = 0.167, 95% CI: [0.088, 0.251]). CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, sharing physical activity experiences on SNS can create a positive, healthy, and energetic personal image, gain recognition from others, and establish new interpersonal relationships.

Structural and functional brain signatures of endurance runners.

Although endurance running (ER) seems to be a simple repetitive exercise, good ER performance also requires and relies on multiple cognitive and motor control processes. Most of previous neuroimaging studies on ER were conducted using a single MRI modality, yet no multimodal study to our knowledge has been performed in this regard. In this study, we used multimodal MRI data to investigate the brain structural and functional differences between endurance runners (n = 22; age = 26.27 ± 6.07 years; endurance training = 6.23 ± 2.41 years) and healthy controls (HCs; n = 20; age = 24.60 ± 4.14 years). Compared with the HCs, the endurance runners showed greater gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical surface area in the left precentral gyrus, which at the same time had higher functional connectivity (FC) with the right postcentral and precentral gyrus. Subcortically, the endurance runners showed greater GMV in the left hippocampus and regional inflation in the right hippocampus. Using the bilateral hippocampi as seeds, further seed-based FC analyses showed higher hippocampal FC with the supplementary motor area, middle cingulate cortex, and left posterior lobe of the cerebellum. Moreover, compared with the HCs, the endurance runners also showed higher fractional anisotropy in several white matter regions, involving the corpus callosum, left internal capsule, left corona radiata, left external capsule, left posterior lobe of cerebellum and bilateral precuneus. Taken together, our findings provide several lines of evidence for the brain structural and functional differences between endurance runners and HCs. The current data suggest that these brain characteristics may have arisen as a result of regular ER training; however, whether they represent the neural correlates underlying the good ER performances of the endurance runners requires further investigations.

Effects of Mindfulness Exercise Guided by a Smartphone App on Negative Emotions and Stress in Non-Clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Studies have acknowledged that mindfulness exercise guided by a smartphone app has a positive impact on mental health and physical health. However, mindfulness guided by a smartphone app on mental health is still in its infancy stage. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis evaluating the effect of mindfulness intervention guided by a smartphone app on negative emotions and stress in a non-clinical population with emotional symptoms. METHODS: We searched major databases, namely, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang, to identify all of the relevant studies published in English or Chinese from their inception until November 9, 2021. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed with Cochrane risk-of-bias bias assessment tool. Two researchers independently conducted document retrieval, study selection, data extraction, and methodological quality evaluation. RESULT: A total of eight studies were included in the study, with 574 subjects (experimental group: 348; control group: 226). A random effects model was selected to combine effect sizes. The results of the meta-analysis showed that mindfulness exercise guided by a smartphone app reduced negative emotions [standardized mean difference (SMD) = -0.232, 95% CI: -0.398 to -0.066, p = 0.006], depressive symptoms (SMD = -0.367, 95% CI: -0.596 to -0.137, p = 0.002), and anxiety symptoms (SMD = -0.490, 95% CI: -0.908 to -0.071, p = 0.022). CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate the potentially beneficial effect of mindfulness exercise guided by a smartphone app on symptoms of depression and anxiety among individuals in a non-clinical population with emotional symptoms. Considering the small number and overall methodological weakness of the included studies and lack of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the results should be interpreted with caution, and future rigorously designed RCTs are warranted to provide more reliable evidence.

Rehabilitative Effects of Virtual Reality Technology for Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of virtual reality (VR) technology on the cognitive functions (overall cognitive ability, executive function, short-term memory, and long-term memory) of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: All major databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Proquest, WanFang, and CNKI, were searched to identify all relevant studies published in English or Chinese since October 28th, 2019. Two researchers independently conducted document retrieval, study selection, data extraction, and methodological quality evaluation. Result: 15 randomized controlled trials were analyzed (N = 612 people with MCI), with the methodological quality evaluation score ranging from 5 to 7 points. A random effects model was selected to combine effect sizes. The result of the meta-analysis indicates that VR significantly enhanced MCI patients' overall cognitive ability (SMD = 0.869, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.330-1.407, P = 0.002, I 2 = 86.822, n = 537) and executive function (SMD = 1.083, 95%, 95%CI = 00.134-2.031, P = 0.025, I 2 = 93.748, n = 220). The meta-analysis indicated that after VR training, effects on short-term memory (SMD = 0.488, 95%CI = -0.108-1.084, P = 0.109, I 2 = 62.354, n = 131) and long-term memory (SMD = 0.335, 95%CI = -1.194-0.863, P = 0.0.214, I 2 = 58.868, n = 152) were not statistically significant. Conclusions: The present meta-analysis verifies the potential rehabilitative effects of VR technology for mild cognitive impairment.

The Natural Environmental Factors Influencing the Spatial Distribution of Marathon Event: A Case Study from China.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of natural environmental factors on the spatial distribution of marathon events in China, and to identify the suitable natural environmental factors for the marathon events. METHODS: Geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis tools were used to perform coupling analysis, e.g. overlap, neighborhood, intersection and buffer for terrain, climate, air quality, mountains and water resources with 342 marathon events held in China in 2018. RESULTS: The results indicate that the spatial distribution of marathon events in China is negatively correlated with the elevation of the terrain (plain > hill > plateau > mountain > basin); climate (subtropical monsoon climate > temperate monsoon climate > temperate continental climate > tropical monsoon climate > plateau alpine climate), air quality (level 3 > level 2 > level 4 > level 1). Results indicate that buffer zones can protect water resources: there are 24 items in the buffer zone of river 0.5 km and lake 1 km, 131 items in the buffer zone of river 3 km and lake 5 km, 191 items in the buffer zone of river 5 km and lake 10 km, 298 items in the buffer zone of river 10 km and lake 20 km. Results indicate for mountain range buffer: 13 items in the 20 km buffer and 39 items in the 50 km buffer. CONCLUSIONS: Marathon events are more likely to be held on the third rung of China's topography where a city has a typical landform (plains, basins, hills, or mountain) with good climate and air quality. Meanwhile a city with water and mountain resources for recreational events such as cross-country or obstacle course are essential. The contribution of this study is to systematically and intuitively reflect the influence of natural environment factors on the distribution of marathon events in China, and to provide evidence for the medium and long-term planning of marathon events in China, the selection of venues for different types of marathon events and how to attract participants.

The Influence of Social Support on Physical Activity in Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Exercise Self-Efficacy.

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of social support and self-efficacy with physical Activity (PA) and the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between social support and PA in Chinese adolescents. Participants included a total of 2341 Chinese adolescents (aged 12.75 ± 1.46 years). Self-reported instruments, including the physical activity questionnaire for adolescents, the social support revalued scale and the exercise self-efficacy scale, were used to measure physical activity, social support and exercise self-efficacy. Results showed that social support (r = 0.29, p < 0.05) and exercise self-efficacy (r = 0.43, p < 0.05) were significant and positive predictors of PA among Chinese adolescents, and exercise self-efficacy was a significant mediator in the relationship between social support and PA (standardized effect size = 0.15, p < 0.001). Such findings were evident with similar patterns in both male and female adolescents. The findings of this study have indicated the importance of social support and exercise self-efficacy on PA promotion in adolescents, which will aid the development of effective interventions in this population.

l-Arginine Enhances Resistance against Oxidative Stress and Heat Stress in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The antioxidant properties of l-arginine (l-Arg) in vivo, and its effect on enhancing resistance to oxidative stress and heat stress in Caenorhabditis elegans were investigated. C. elegans, a worm model popularly used in molecular and developmental biology, was used in the present study. Here, we report that l-Arg, at a concentration of 1 mM, prolonged C. elegans life by 26.98% and 37.02% under oxidative and heat stress, respectively. Further experiments indicated that the longevity-extending effects of l-Arg may be exerted by its free radical scavenging capacity and the upregulation of aging-associated gene expression in worms. This work is important in the context of numerous recent studies that concluded that environment stresses are associated with an increased population death rate.

A Novel Peptide from Soybean Protein Isolate Significantly Enhances Resistance of the Organism under Oxidative Stress.

Recent studies have indicated that protein hydrolysates have broad biological effects. In the current study we describe a novel antioxidative peptide, FDPAL, from soybean protein isolate (SPI). The aim of this study was to purify and characterize an antioxidative peptide from SPI and determine its antioxidative mechanism. LC-MS/MS was used to isolate and identify the peptide from SPI. The sequence of the peptide was determined to be Phe-Asp-Pro-Ala-Leu (FDPAL, 561 Da). FDPAL can cause significant enhancement of resistance to oxidative stress both in cells as well as simple organisms. In Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), FDPAL can up-regulate the expression of certain genes associated with resistance. The antioxidant activity of this peptide can be attributed to the presence of a specific amino acid sequence. Results from our work suggest that FDPAL can facilitate potential applications of proteins carrying this sequence in the nutraceutical, bioactive material and clinical medicine areas, as well as in cosmetics and health care products.

Poly(L-lysine)-induced aggregation of single-strand oligo-DNA-modified gold nanoparticles.

Single-strand oligo-DNA-modified Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) undergo aggregation in the presence of poly(L-lysine) (PLL), which is attributed to the interactions between the oligo-DNA and PLL. These interactions between the oligo-DNA and PLL were identified to be electrostatic when the lysine residues of PLL were positively charged and to be hydrogen bonding when the residues were deprotonated. The aggregation was promoted with an increase in the pH value at a pH level lower than the pK(a) value of PLL (pK(a) approximately 10.0) due to the gradual deprotonation of the lysine residues and thus suppressed electrostatic interactions between the positively charged lysine residues of PLL and the negatively charged backbone phosphate groups of the oligo-DNA. At pH levels higher than the pK(a) value of PLL, the aggregation was identified to be dominated by the hydrogen bonds between the bases of the oligo-DNA and the deprotonated lysine residues of PLL. This study prompts the possibility that the spectral, and thus color, change of AuNPs upon aggregation can be used as a probe to follow the interactions between oligo-DNA and polypeptides.

Conversion between two-dimensional square and hexagonal close-packed architectures in aggregates of Au nanoparticles mediated by bending DNA linkers.

DNA linkers with different bending angles were employed to mediate the conversion between the 2D hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and square architectures in the aggregates of 13 nm Au nanoparticles directed by oligo-DNA. For terminus thiol-modified (TM) oligo-DNA oriented almost perpendicularly on the particle surface, the architecture is converted from hcp to square with increased bending angle of the linker molecules as a result of increased steric effect. For phosphate backbone sulfur modified (PM) oligo-DNA loaded approximately parallel on the particle surface, the architecture is converted from square to hcp with increased bending angle of the linkers as a result of the decreased steric effect.