Earticle

It has been known that chronic psychological or physical stress elicits depressive behaviors (learned helplessness, anhedonia, anxiety, etc.) and also activates to release proinflammatory cytokines in the brain. Especially, postmenopausal women under stress condition exacerbates neuroimmune systems and mood disorder. Repeated restraint stress in the ovariectomized female rats poses an immune challenge which was capable of inducing depressive-like behaviors, promoting exaggerated corticosterone responses and changing the proinflammatory cytokine expression such as interleukin (IL)-1β in the brain. Also, anti-inflammatory cytokines including IL-4 are known to regulate inflammation caused by immune response or stress challenge. Furthermore, some studies reported that physical activity can reduce stress hormones and improve personal immunity. Physical exercise has been shown to be associated with decreased symptoms of depression and anxiety, and with improved physical health, immunological function, and psychological well-being. This paper aims to discuss an overview of how stress shapes neuroimmune response and diverse roles of cytokines in animals models, acting on depressive-like behavioral changes; some beneficial aspects of exercise on stress-related disorders are addressed.

Polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN), which is adenosine A2A receptor ago-nist, facilitates healing and inhibits inflammation and apoptosis. The ef-fect of PDRN on alcoholic liver injury (ALI) was evaluated focusing on the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway. The mice were given daily oral administration of 50% ethanol at a dose of 4 g/kg during 8 weeks. After 4 weeks of alcohol intake, 200 μL of normal saline containing 8-mg/kg PDRN was intraperitoneally administered 3 times a week for 4 weeks. To determine whether the action of PDRN occurs through the adenosine A2A receptor, 8-mg/kg 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine (DMPX) with PDRN was treated. The concentration of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine amino-transferase (ALT) was detected. For liver histopathological score, he-matoxylin and eosin staining was conducted. Enzyme-linked immuno-assay was used to measure cyclic adenosine-3′,5′-monophosphate (cAMP) concentration. PI3K and Akt expression was determined using Western blot analysis. In the results, PDRN treatment suppressed AST and ALT level in serum and liver tissue, and improved damaged liver tis-sue and decreased histological score. PDRN application inhibited the expression of phosphorylated PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. The increas-ing effect of PDRN on cAMP level ats as a mechanism for ALI treatment. Co-treatment of DMPX with PDRN did not reduce apoptosis, causing no improvement in liver function. As a result of this experiment, PDRN has the potential to be selected as a therapeutic agent for ALI.

The purpose of this study is to analyze medical students’ satisfaction and educational effectiveness after real-time online clinical skills edu-cation using a wearable action camera. One hundred eighteen third-year medical students participated in this study. The education program consisted of clinical skills (wound management and vascular access procedures) and a medical interview with a simulated patient. The au-thor wore the head-mounted action camera throughout the class. A systematic questionnaire survey was issued to the students after the education program to analyze the educational satisfaction and effec-tiveness. This education program showed their high educational satis-faction. The online environment was also mostly positive except for some negative comments about video quality. In the educational satis-faction, though the comparative satisfaction with the face-to-face skill class was slightly lower, the rest of the questionnaire items also showed high relative satisfaction. Online video education using a wearable camera could be a good modality that can replace a face-to-face class when it is impossible to open the class.

health-promoting lifestyle and quality of life in parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Participants were 254 South Korean parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabili-ties. We assessed participants using a quality of life scale and the Kore-an version of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II). The data were analysed using Pearson and Spearman rank correlation analysis, and linear regression was conducted using SPSS ver. 25.0. The results indicated statistically significant associations between health-promot-ing lifestyles and quality of life in parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Analysis showed that the HPLP-II sub-factors of spiritual growth, health responsibility, exercise, nutrition, in-terpersonal relations, and stress management could significantly predict quality of life in parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Healthcare providers should help to improve the quality of life of parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities by facilitating health-promoting lifestyle behaviours through interven-tions designed to increase physical activity, nutrition, stress manage-ment, interpersonal relations, health responsibility, and spiritual growth.

We investigated abdominal and lower extremity muscle activity and thickness in typically developing children and children with develop-mental delays. A total of 35 children participated: typically developing peers (n=13), children with hypotonia (n=10), and children with spas-ticity (n=12). Muscle activity and thickness were measured at rest and during activity. Electromyography was used to measure abdominal and lower extremity muscle activities, and abdominal muscle thickness was measured using ultrasonography. There was a significant difference between the groups in the activity of the rectus abdominis and quadri-ceps muscles at rest and during activity (P<0.05). There was a signifi-cant difference between the groups in the thickness of the external oblique and transversus abdominis muscles during activity (P<0.05). There was a significant difference between the groups in the thickness of the external oblique and internal oblique muscles in the sitting posi-tion (P<0.05). Therefore, the characteristics of muscle tone should be considered when applying interventions to children with developmental delay.

This study assessed changes in blood muscle damage indicators and DNA damage indicators in lymph and urine after 8 weeks of high-inten-sity intermittent running and weight training in male and female college students majoring in skiing. This study aimed to find an effective training method by investigating differences in the effectiveness between men and women. A total of 20 male and female ski major college students conducted short-term high-intensity intermittent running and weight training in the morning and afternoon, respectively, 3 days a week for 8 weeks for 24 times in total. After 8 weeks of high-intensity intermittent running and weight training, changes in DNA damage indicators in the lymph and urine and muscle damage indicators in the blood were ana-lyzed. The creatine kinase level significantly differed at rest pre-graded exercise testing (GXT) and 60 min of recovery post-GXT after training from that before training between the male and female groups. Al-though lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels decreased in both groups over time, no significant differences in LDH were found between the two groups. Second, DNA 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in the lymph was significantly different between the two groups at rest pre-GXT and 60 min of recovery post-GXT. 8-OHdG in the urine was signifi-cantly lower in the female group only at 60 min of recovery post-GXT. Partial sex differences were found in the reduction of muscle damage and DNA damage after 8 weeks of high-intensity intermittent running and weight training.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of resistance cir-cuit training on health-related physical fitness, plasma lipid and adi-ponectin in obese college students. Twenty male college students par-ticipated in this study and they were randomly divided into the seden-tary group (SG, n=10) and the resistance circuit training group (RCG, n=10). The exercise group underwent the resistance circuit training program for 60 min 3 times a week for 12 weeks, while the sedentary group continued activities of daily living as usual. The levels of health- related fitness, blood lipid, and adiponectin were measured twice be-fore and after the experiment. To analyze the statistically significance of collected data, Two-way repeated measure analysis of variance was used to determine the changes in the groups over the training period. A paired t-test was used to verify the difference within each group, and an independent t-test was used to verify the difference between the groups. In this study, the body composition including body fat mass, percent body fat and body mass index were significantly decreased in RCG compared to those in SG, and the health-related fitness showed a significant difference between RCG and SG. In addition, RCG positively modulated blood concentration of total cholesterol, triglycerides, high- density and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. However, plasma adi-ponectin concentration did not show any significant differences between the two groups. Therefore, the present data suggested that resistance circuit training might be regulator to improve health-related physical fit-ness and decrease the level of plasma lipid in obese male college stu-dents.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between physical efficiency index (PEI) calculated by the Harvard step test and heart rate variation (HRV), and to identify parameters of HRV that can predict PEI in college students. Sixteen college students were partici-pated in this study and they were randomly divided into two groups; higher PEI group (HPEI, n=6) and lower PEI group (LPEI, n=10). To in-vestigate the relationship between PEI and HRV, we were measured HRV and Harvard step test. HRV test was the resting, immediately, 15 min and 30 min after the Harvard step test using electrocardiography device polyG-I. Relationship between PEI and HRV were determined Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis was performed for examining HRV parameters to predict PEI. As shown in the result, not only PEI was negatively correlated with root mean squared differences between adjacent normal RR intervals (RMSSD), but had a positive correlation with low-frequency/high-frequency, but also normalized low frequency (normLF), the ratio of LF, and RMSSD, the change in RR interval showed a significant difference at each time point of measurement according to PEI levels. But, there were no sig-nificant differences among the HRV variables except normLF and RMS-SD. Our findings suggest a critical information that PEI calculated by the Harvard step test can be used as an index to predict the autonomic nerve function, and high PEI may have a positive effect on changes in autonomic nerve activity during recovery after exercise intervention.

Prehypertensive offspring of hypertensive parents are strongly linked to pathological processes of hypertension in later life. It is observed that young adults with high blood pressure (BP) have increased arterial stiffness, which is linked to autonomic anomalies. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of combined resistance and aer-obic exercise training on BP, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baP-WV), and heart rate variability (HRV) in prehypertensive young men with hypertensive parents. Thirty prehypertensive males aged 19.6±1.2 years were randomly assigned to either a combined exercise training group (CBT, n=15) or no exercise group (CON, n=15). The CBT group performed combined exercise for 8 weeks, 3 times per week. BP, baP-WV, HRV, peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak), and muscle strength were measured before and after the exercise intervention. Systolic BP (-5.1 mmHg, 3.9% decrease, P<0.05), diastolic BP (-3.9 mmHg, 6.1% de-crease, P<0.01), mean arterial pressure (-4.2 mmHg, 4.7% decrease, P<0.05), baPWV (-0.4 m/sec, 3.5% decrease, P<0.01), standard devia-tion of all RR intervals (+58.5% increase, P<0.05) and very low frequen-cy (VLF) (+34.6% increase, P<0.01), VO2peak (+11.7% increase, P<0.01) and one-repetition maximum leg press (+30.3% increase, P<0.01) were significantly improved in the CBT group after 8 weeks of training versus the CON group. Additionally, a reduction in baPWV was associated with an increase in the VLF power of HRV (r=0.72, P<0.01). These findings indicate that the combined training improves BP, arterial stiffness, vagal activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and lower-body muscle strength in prehypertensive offspring of hypertensive parents.