0000000000714731
AUTHOR
H. Suominen
Enzyme activities and glycogen concentration in skeletal muscle in alcoholism. The effect of abstinence and physical conditioning.
. Muscle metabolism of chronic alcoholics has been studied using a muscle biopsy technique immediately after a drinking period, after 6–7 days' abstinence and after one month's physical conditioning. The activities of CPK, HK, LDH, MDH and SDH were significantly decreased in musculus vastus lateralis for 1–2 days after an alcoholic debauch. The enzyme activities of the alcoholics, who either had been abstinent for 6–7 days or in addition conditioned for one month, did not differ from those of the controls. The concentration of muscle glycogen was at the same level in both groups, but in bicycle ergometer work of an equal relative intensity the alcoholics used more glycogen than the control …
Ultrasonographic Measurements of the Achilles Tendon in Elderly Athletes and Sedentary Men
Ultrasonography was performed on the Achilles tendon of the dominant limb of 18 male elderly athletes and 11 sedentary men, aged 70 to 80 years. The tendons were examined with a real-time linear array scanner using a 7.5 MHz transducer. Both longitudinal and transverse images were taken. The mean width of the Achilles tendon was significantly larger in the athletes than in the control subjects. The tendon thickness and cross-sectional area did not differ significantly between the groups, but the figures may indicate a tendency for larger cross-sectional area in the athletes. The results suggest tendon hypertrophy following long-term training.
Physical and chemical properties of skin in habitually trained and sedentary men.
A number of physical and chemical properties of skin were examined in a study of 29 habitually trained and 29 sedentary men. Compared to the control group, the trained subjects had significantly higher values in the weights of skin samples of equal surface areas as well as the contents of hydroxyproline and nitrogen per skin surface area. When measured by a diaphragm method in vivo, the 'elastic stiffness' (uncorrected for thickness) and 'elastic efficiency' (the recovery of the deformation energy) of skin were significantly higher in the trained men compared to those in the untrained men. The results suggest that skin reflects the adaptation to habitual endurance training by increasing its…
Serum and urine markers of type I collagen metabolism in elderly women with high and low bone mineral density.
The serum markers of bone formation (carboxy-terminal propeptide of type I collagen, PICP) and resorption (pyridinoline cross-links containing telopeptide of type I collagen, ICTP), as well as urinary resorption markers, pyridinoline (Pyr) and deoxypyridinoline (Dpyr), were studied in 78-year-old women with high (n = 18) and low (n = 17) bone mineral density (BMD) measured from the calcaneus and tibia. The low-BMD group had higher values for PICP (P = 0 center dot 025), Pyr (P = 0 center dot 001) and Dpyr (P < 0 center dot 001) than the high-BMD group. No inverse relationship between these markers and BMD was, however, observed within the study groups. ICTP, Pyr and Dpyr correlated with eac…