Sports nutrition plays a crucial role in providing the fuel to meet the energy demands of athletes’ training programmes, enhancing adaptations associated with training, and ensuring rapid recovery between workouts. However, evidence suggests that the dietary habits of many athletes are unsatisfactory when compared to sport-specific nutrition recommendations. This discrepancy is mainly due to a lack of up-to-date, evidence-based nutritional knowledge. Hence, this parallel-group, randomized controlled clinical trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a 16-week evidence-based, culturally appropriate, personalized sports nutrition intervention on the sports nutrition knowledge and nutritional status of track and field athletes in Sri Lanka, in comparison to a control group that does not receive this intervention. Elite and highly trained track and field athletes, competing at the national level and/or representing Sri Lanka in international competitions, will be randomly allocated to either the intervention group (IG) (n = 15) or the control group (CG) (n = 15). Participants in the IG will receive an evidence-based, culturally acceptable, personalized sports nutrition intervention from the principal investigator through one-to-one consultations at three-time points (zeroth, fourth, and eighth weeks), while participants in the CG will be followed up throughout the period without receiving the intervention. The primary outcome measure is the number of participants who achieve at least a 10% increase in mean sports nutrition knowledge (SNK) score at the end of the 16th week, compared to the CG. Secondary outcomes include nutrition status and sports performance-related measures at the beginning and end of the intervention. While the primary objective is to enhance SNK, it is anticipated that improvements in nutritional status and overall health may significantly impact sports performance and career longevity of the athletes. Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry, SLCTR/2024/013. Registered on 10th April 2024. Universal Trial Number (UTN), U1111-1304–8890.

Male fertility is a very important but often neglected area in medical practice. Compared to what is available on female subfertility, there is a dearth in research on male fertility. Fertility in male depends on the normally functioning hypothalamopituitary gonadal axis, normal testis and the environment necessary for viable, motile sperm production. The production of healthy germ cells require a temperature which is slightly below the core body temperature and there are several temperature regulatory mechanisms in humans that ensure the maintenance of the scrotal temperature several degrees lower. The aim of the present review is to synthesise and summarise the literature available on scrotal temperature regulation in the healthy male and to recapitulate the disease conditions, environmental, occupational and lifestyle factors that affects scrotal temperature and thus male fertility.

Background Even if promoting antenatal exercises is an evolving concept worldwide, there is a scarcity of qualitative exploratory studies which directly focus on pregnant mothers’ views about exercises. So, this study was designed to (1) explore pregnant women’s perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about antenatal exercises, and (2) provide significant annotations prior to constituting interventions for antenatal exercises. Methods A qualitative survey was carried out with 19 primiparous pregnant women using stratified purposive sampling at the antenatal clinic, in a tertiary care hospital, Sri Lanka. In-depth interviews were conducted through a predesigned, semistructured interview guide from January to April 2021. Data were transcribed, examined and organised, then subjected to thematic analysis using inductive approach. Results Most of the pregnant women described numerous benefits and had optimistic views on exercises. However, the absence of a comprehensive understanding on the impact of exercise on a healthy pregnancy is apparent, primarily caused by a dearth of health education and reliable information sources. Also, they were unlikely to initiate exercises in their pregnancy period due to a lack of guidance through the antenatal clinic and/or health professionals. Concerning beliefs, main stream-believed exercises provide assistance for normal labour process and exercises advantageous in both antenatal and post-partum periods. Besides, few of them restricted their conversations on the drawbacks of exercises by illuminating erroneous beliefs. Conclusions The majority of participants realised the importance of exercises and had positive attitudes while the minority presenting misconceptions. The need for healthcare providers’ support and guidance is highly anticipated by pregnant women to engage in antenatal exercises.

Athletes with strong sports nutrition knowledge are believed to have sound nutritional practices and better performance. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a dual-method personalized nutrition education program in improving sports nutrition knowledge (SNK) among Sri Lankan track and field athletes. This parallel-group, randomized controlled trial recruited national-level track and field athletes aged 18 and above. The intervention group (IG) received personalized sports nutrition consultations at 0, 4^th, and 8^th weeks, along with online educational materials via WhatsApp from weeks 10 to 16, while the control group (CG) did not receive any intervention. A per-protocol analysis was followed, and t-tests were used to compare the means. Of the 30 participants enrolled, 13 from IG and 14 from CG completed the study. Following the 16-week intervention, the IG demonstrated significant improvements in total nutrition knowledge (TNK) relative to the CG (IG: 34.41 ± 4.15 vs. CG: 20.96 ± 4.38; p = 0.01), with significant increases in general nutrition knowledge (GNK) (IG:24.54 ± 3.66 vs. CG:15.64 ± 2.33; p = 0.004) and SNK (9.87 ± 3.87 vs. 5.32 ± 4.07; p = 0.006). Changes in TNK were also significantly greater in the IG compared to the CG; (IG:9.45 ± 0.10 vs. CG: -2.63 ± 0.37; p < 0.0001), GNK (IG:4.47 ± 0.08 vs. CG: -1.28 ± 0.09; p < 0.0001), and SNK (IG:4.99 ± 0.72 vs. CG: -1.25 ± 0.74; p < 0.0001). The 16-week dual-method nutrition education intervention was effective in improving TNK, GNK, and SNK among track and field athletes in Sri Lanka. This trial is registered at the Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry (SLCTR/2024/013), Universal Trial Number (UTN): U1111-1304-8890 on 10 April 2024.