COVID‐19 pandemic led many countries to implement lockdown measures. Italy declared lockdown from 9th March to 3rd May 2020, and universities shifted to online classes. Home confinement could prevent students from achieving the physical activity and sleep levels recommended for their psychophysical health, and medicine students are already known to be at risk of inactivity and reduced sleep due to their time‐consuming curricula. This study aimed at describing medicine students’ behaviours during lockdown and comparing them with pre‐lockdown data and current recommendations. A cross‐sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 6th‐year Italian medicine students (n = 714; age=25 ± 2 y; female: 62%; male: 38%) in October–November 2019. The same survey was repeated in 6th‐year students during lockdown (n = 394; age=25 ± 2 y; female: 73%; male: 27%), and extended to 1st–5th year (total 1st–6th‐year sample during lockdown: n = 1471; age=23 ± 2 y; female: 70%; male: 30%). International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ) and selected questions from Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were administered to evaluate physical activity, sitting and sleep time. Decreased physical activity, and increased sitting and sleep time were observed from pre‐ to during lockdown in 6th‐year students (p<0.01). 1st–6th‐year students featured 10 [8–12] hours sitting (median [Q1–Q3]) and an IPAQ score of 1170 [400–2348] MET‐min/week. Even participants with higher physical activity featured high sitting time. Sleeping less than recommended (<7 h/night) was associated with more sitting time and less energies to perform daily activities. Strategies fostering compliance with current guidelines for physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep should be implemented, especially in case of a repeated or intermittent lockdown.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the metabolic cost (C), mechanical work, and kinematics of walking on a multidirectional treadmill designed for locomotion in virtual reality. Methods: Ten participants (5 females, body mass 67.2 ± 8.1 kg, height 1.71 ± 0.07 m, age 23.6 ± 1.9 years, mean ± SD) walked on a Virtuix Omni multidirectional treadmill at four imposed stride frequencies: 0.70, 0.85, 1.00, and 1.15 Hz. A portable metabolic system measured oxygen uptake, enabling calculation of C and the metabolic equivalent of task (MET). Gait kinematics and external, internal, and total mechanical work (W_TOT) were calculated by an optoelectronic system. Efficiency was calculated either as W_TOT/C or by summing W_TOT to the work against sliding frictions. Results were compared with normal walking, running, and skipping. Results: C was higher for walking on the multidirectional treadmill than for normal walking, running, and skipping, and decreased with speed (best-fit equation: C = 20.2–27.5·speed + 15.8·speed²); the average MET was 4.6 ± 1.4. Mechanical work was higher at lower speeds, but similar to that of normal walking at higher speeds, with lower pendular energy recovery and efficiency; differences in efficiency were explained by the additional work against sliding frictions. At paired speeds, participants showed a more forward-leaned trunk and higher ankle dorsiflexion, stride frequency, and duty factor than normal walking. Conclusion: Walking on a multidirectional treadmill requires a higher metabolic cost and different mechanical work and kinematics than normal walking. This raises questions on its use for gait rehabilitation but highlights its potential for high-intensity exercise and physical activity promotion.

This is the first study to assess the biomechanical adaptations to a wide range of wind speeds inside a wind tunnel. Humans increase their mechanical work and alter their drag area ( C_d A) by adapting their posture when walking and running against increasing head and tailwinds. The observed drag force applied to the subject is different between walking and running at similar headwind speeds.

The metabolic cost of steady-state walking is well known; however, across legged animals, most walking bouts are too short to reach steady state. Here, we investigate how bout duration affects the metabolic cost of human walking with varying mechanical power, metabolic intensity and duration. Ten participants walked for 10- to 240-s bouts on a stair climber at 0.20, 0.25 and 0.36 m s ⁻¹ and on a treadmill at 1.39 m s ⁻¹ . Oxygen uptake was time-integrated and divided by bout duration to get bout average uptake (V̇O _2(b) ). Fitting of oxygen uptake kinetics allowed calculating non-metabolic oxygen exchange during phase-I transient and, hence, non-steady-state metabolic cost ( C _met(b) ) and efficiency. For 240-s bouts, such variables were also calculated at steady state. Across all conditions, shorter bouts had higher V̇O _2(b) and C _met(b) , with proportionally greater non-metabolic oxygen exchange. As the bout duration increased, V̇O _2(b) , C _met(b) and efficiency approached steady-state values. Our findings show that the time-averaged oxygen uptake and metabolic cost are greater for shorter than longer bouts: 30-s bouts consume 20–60% more oxygen than steady-state extrapolations. This is partially explained by the proportionally greater non-metabolic oxygen uptake and leads to lower efficiency for shorter bouts. Inferring metabolic cost from steady state substantially underestimates energy expenditure for short bouts.

Electrical stimulation (ES) of the eye represents a therapeutic approach in various clinical applications ranging from retinal dystrophies, age-related macular degeneration, retinal artery occlusion and nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. In clinical practice, ES of the eye is mainly performed with a transcorneal or transpalpebral approach. These procedures are non-invasive and well-tolerated by the patients, reporting only minimal and transient adverse events, while serious adverse effects were not observed. Despite the growing literature on animal models, only clinical parameters have been investigated in humans and few data are available about biochemical changes induced by ES of the eye. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible mechanism that regulates the beneficial effects of ES on retinal cells function and survival in humans. 28 patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM) were randomly divided in two groups: 13 patients were treated with transpalpebral ES before surgery and 15 underwent surgery with no prior treatment. Vitreous samples were collected for biochemical analysis during PPV. ES treatment leads to a reduction in the vitreous expression of both proinflammatory cytokines, namely IL-6 and IL-8, and proinflammatory lipid mediators, such as lysophosphatidylcholine. Indeed, we observed a 70% decrease of lysophosphatidylcholine 18:0, which has been proven to exert the greatest proinflammatory activities among the lysophosphatidylcholine class. The content of triglycerides is also affected and significantly decreased following ES application. The vitreous composition of patients undergoing PPV for iERM displays significant changes following ES treatment. Proinflammatory cytokines and bioactive lipid mediators expression decreases, suggesting an overall anti-inflammatory potential of ES. The investigation of the mechanism by which this treatment alters the retinal neurons leading to good outcomes is essential for supporting ES therapeutic application in various types of retinal diseases.