Aging is associated with metabolic alterations, and with a loss of strength, muscle and bone mass. Moderate intermittent hypoxia has been proposed as a new tool to enhance health-related function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of moderate intermittent hypoxia exposures on parameters related to cardiovascular and bone health in older adults. A total of 38 healthy older adults (aged 65–75 years) were divided into two groups: control group (C), and hypoxia group (H) that was subjected to an intermittent hypoxia exposure (at simulated altitude of 2500 m asl) during a 24-week period (3 days/week). Body composition, blood pressure, metabolic parameters (Cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose), C-reactive protein (CRP), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), interleukin 8 (IL-8), interleukin 10 (IL-10), N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP) and beta C-terminal telopeptide of collagen bone formation (b-CTX) were analyzed before and after the intervention. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to evaluate between-group differences. The results showed that the hypoxia group achieved after the intervention a decrease in fat mass, CRP (pro-inflammatory biomarker) and b-CTX (bone resorption biomarker), as well as an increase in PINP (bone formation biomarker). In conclusion, the intermittent hypoxia might be a useful therapeutic tool to deal with problems associated with aging, such as the increase in body fat, the loss of bone mass or low-grade inflammation.

Muscle oxygen consumption could provide information on oxidative metabolism in women soccer players. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze muscle oxygenation dynamics during repeated sprint ability (RSA): (8 sprint × 20 s recovery) by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The sample was made up of 38 professional women soccer players. To measure the external load, the best time, worst time, average time, individual speed, sprint decrement, and power were assessed. In connection with the internal load, the desaturation (sprint) and re-saturation (recovery) rates, as well as the oxygen extraction (∇%SmO₂) in the gastrocnemius muscle and maximum heart rate (%HRmax) were measured. A repeated measures statistic was applied based on the inter-individual response of each subject from the baseline versus the other sprints, with linear regression and nonlinear regression analyses between variables. There was an increase in the SmO₂: desaturation rate after four sprints (Δ = 32%), in the re-saturation rate after six sprints (Δ = 89%), and in ∇%SmO₂ after four sprints (Δ = 72.1%). There was a linear association between the rates of desaturation and re-saturation relationships and the worst time (r = 0.85), and a non-linear association between ∇%SmO₂ and speed (r = 0.89) and between ∇%SmO2 and the sprint decrease (r = 0.93). The progressive increase in SmO₂ during RSA is a performance limitation to maintain a high speed; it depends on the capacity of fatigue resistance. Therefore, monitoring the muscle oxygenation dynamics could be a useful tool to evaluate the performance in women soccer players.

Use of muscle oxygen saturation (SmO2) has been validated as a performance factor during incremental exercise with portable near-infrared stereoscopy (NIRS) technology. However, there is little knowledge about the use of SmO2 to identify training zones. The objective of this study was to...

Repeated sprint in hypoxia (RSH) is used to improve supramaximal cycling capacity, but little is known about the potential differences between different systems for creating normobaric hypoxia, such as a chamber, tent, or mask. This study aimed to compare the environmental (carbon dioxide (CO₂) and wet-globe bulb temperature (WGBT)), perceptual (pain, respiratory difficulty, and rate of perceived exertion (RPE)), and external (peak and mean power output) and internal (peak heart rate (HRpeak), muscle oxygen saturation (SmO₂), arterial oxygen saturation (SpO₂), blood lactate and glucose) workload acute effects of an RSH session when performed inside a tent versus using a mask. Twelve well-trained cyclists (age = 29 ± 9.8 years, VO₂max = 70.3 ± 5.9 mL/kg/min) participated in this single-blind, randomized, crossover trial. Participants completed four sessions of three sets of five repetitions × 10 s:20 s (180 s rest between series) of all-out in different conditions: normoxia in a tent (RSNTent) and mask-on (RSNMask), and normobaric hypoxia in a tent (RSHTent) and mask-on (RSHMask). CO₂ and WGBT levels increased steadily in all conditions (p < 0.01) and were lower when using a mask (RSNMask and RSHMask) than when inside a tent (RSHTent and RSNTent) (p < 0.01). RSHTent presented lower SpO₂ than the other three conditions (p < 0.05), and hypoxic conditions presented lower SpO₂ than normoxic ones (p < 0.05). HRpeak, RPE, blood lactate, and blood glucose increased throughout the training, as expected. RSH could lead to acute conditions such as hypoxemia, which may be exacerbated when using a tent to simulate hypoxia compared to a mask-based system.

Background/Objectives: Various studies have investigated the importance of perceptual–cognitive skills in decision-making and the expert performance of athletes. However, bibliometric study has yet to identify research trends on this topic. The objective of this study was to perform a bibliometric review to identify the research trends in the study of soccer decision-making. Method. A total of 172 studies were included in the databases. Results. The year 2021 was the year with the highest number of published studies (n = 23), and 2016 was the year with the highest number of citations (n = 692). The average number of citations per document was 19.79. The concepts that have the greatest occurrence in the investigations are performance (n = 68), decision-making (n = 54), expertise (n = 32), skill (n = 23), and anticipation (n = 22). The journals with the highest number of published documents are the Journal of Sport Sciences (10 documents and 437 citations) and PLoS One (11 documents and 349 citations). The countries with the highest number of published documents and citations are England (n = 46 documents and 996 citations), Germany (n = 32 documents and 749 citations), and Spain (n = 38 documents and 597 citations). German Sport University Cologne is the organization that has the most publications and citations (n = 19 and 531). Conclusions. Existing knowledge production on decision-making in soccer has a preference for the study of two major categories: one related to the analysis of the factors associated with perceptual–cognitive skills, mental fatigue, anticipation, creativity, and memory, whereas the second is more related to the study that has decision-making in the manifestations of specific game performance, between experts and novices, in the precision of technical actions, such as the pass, as well as in a methodology for the selection of athletes.