During the lockdown for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), entire populations were instructed to live in home confinement. We investigated the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on the physical activity (PA) and mental health of students and employees in a Colombian University. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey during the first isolation. A total of 431 respondents (192 males) aged 18–60 years old (28.1 ± 11.1 years) participated. The international Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the short version of the Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI-S) were used. The lockdown had a negative effect on PA levels, with students exhibiting the greatest decrease (~34%; p ˂ 0.001) compared to employees (~24%; p ˂ 0.01). The analysis showed a greater change in PA behavior before and during the lockdown in highly active student participants (5750 vs. 5141 MET min/week; p < 0.05). Additionally, the psychological assessment revealed a lower score in students compared to employees in the male (70.1 vs. 82.6) and female groups (60.2 vs. 79.6). Moreover, the results revealed an influence of sex, with only the female students exhibiting a state of distress. Self-reported PA and psychological well-being were compromised during the COVID-19 lockdown in the academic community, with students and females being more affected.

Demographic aging is one of the most serious challenges facing our society. Although we live longer, we do not live better because it is considered that approximately 16–20% of our life is spent in late-life morbidity. Older people have the greatest risk of developing frailty increasing the risk of presenting various adverse health events such as low quality of life, disability, hospitalization and even death. Frail men and women over 65 years old have lower muscle quality and muscle mass and higher percentage of body fat than non-frail people of the same age. In this review we will address the main physiological changes in the muscular and nervous system associated to aging. More specifically we will review the changes in muscle mass, quality, and strength relating them with the decrease in capillarization and muscular oxidative capacity as well as with the alterations in protein synthesis in the muscle with aging. The last section of the manuscript will be devoted to the animal models of frailty and the indexes developed to measure frailty in these models. We will finally address the importance of exercise training as an intervention to delay or even reverse frailty.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of daily whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) sessions during 5 consecutive days on wellness and sleep parameters in healthy young men and women. Twenty healthy subjects (9 women; 11 men) aged 23.1 ± 2.6 years old participated in this randomized protocol, with 5 consecutive days with (CRYO) or without WBC (CONT) exposure. Sleep was analyzed over the 5 nights in each condition. Sleep quality and quantity were assessed via actimetry, cerebral activity and questionnaires. Nocturnal heart rate variability (HRV) was also recorded and questionnaires were given to assess wellness and mood. Repeated WBC exposures had a beneficial impact on mood and anxiety. It also improved subjective sleep quality (scored from 3.6 ± 0.5 pre to 3.9 ± 0.3), especially in women. Also, repeated WBC sessions modulated sleep architecture by increasing slow wave sleep duration (+7.3 ± 16.8 min) during the nights without impacting other sleep parameters, nor nocturnal HRV. In conclusion, repeated WBC seems to be an effective strategy to improve slow wave sleep duration in healthy young subjects. The reported psychological improvements may better benefit women than men.

The increase of vascular arginase activity during aging causes endothelial dysfunction. This enzyme competes with the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) for L-arginine substrate. Our hypothesis is that glucose 6-P dehydrogenase (G6PD) overexpression could improve the endothelial function modulating the arginase pathway in aorta from mice. For this study, three groups of male mice were used: young wild type (WT) (6–9 months), old WT (21–22 months) and old G6PD-Tg (21–22 months) mice. Vascular reactivity results showed a reduced acetylcholine-dependent relaxation in the old WT but not old G6PD-Tg group. Endothelial dysfunction was reverted by nor-NOHA, an arginase inhibitor. Mice overexpressing G6PD underexpressed arginase II and also displayed a lower activity of this enzyme. Moreover, histological analyses demonstrated that age causes a thickness of aortic walls, but this did not occur in G6PD-Tg mice. We conclude that the overexpressing G6PD mouse is a model to improve vascular health via the arginase pathway.

Régulation des défenses antioxydantes dans la prévention du déconditionnement musculaire: Le système musculaire joue un rôle primordial dans l’homéostasie de l’organisme. Il est impliqué dans différentes fonctions indispensables aux activités de la vie quotidienne telles que la production de mouvement, la locomotion, le maintien postural et l’équilibre. La qualité du tissu musculaire est donc primordiale dans le maintien de la qualité de vie et, à long terme, à la longévité. L'hypoactivité et le vieillissement sont deux situations qui entraînent le déconditionnement musculaire, et qui partagent une caractéristique commune: une perte de force musculaire, une atrophie et la modification du typage musculaire, ainsi que l'accumulation de tissu adipeux intramusculaire. Aujourd'hui, il existe de nombreuses données dans la littérature indiquant un lien entre le stress oxydant et le déconditionnement musculaire. Le but de cette thèse était d'évaluer l'impact de la modulation des défenses antioxydantes sur la prévention du déconditionnement musculaire. Cela a été étudié sous deux angles, l'un dans le contexte du vieillissement, et le second dans un contexte d'hypoactivité. La première étude avait pour but d'évaluer la fragilité chez un modèle souris âgées, utilisant un groupe de souris WT et un groupe de souris transgéniques sur-exprimant l'enzyme G6PD. Nous avons évalué des paramètres de qualité musculaire et de stress oxydant et avons réalisé une analyse transcriptomique à partir d'échantillons musculaires des souris de chacun des deux groupes. La seconde étude a été conduite dans le but d'évaluer les effets d'un cocktail enrichi en composés anti-oxydants et anti-inflammatoires, durant deux mois d'hypoactivité (modèle Bedrest). Nos résultats ont démontré l’inefficacité de cette supplémentation sur la prévention de la perte de masse et de force musculaire. De plus, les données concernant les mécanismes moléculaires ont démontré une altération des processus de récupération chez les sujets supplémentés.Les conclusions de nos études donnent des pistes sur les stratégies anti-oxydantes les plus appropriées contre le déconditionnement musculaire. Il semble préférable de intéresser à la stimulation des systèmes de défenses endogènes, plutôt que de se centrer sur une supplémentation nutritionnelle exogène. Néanmoins, la complexité des voies de signalisation redox requièrent une meilleure compréhension pour optimiser les mesures de prévention afin de limiter la perte de fonction musculaire.

Introduction: Menstrual-related pain and sleep disturbances are widespread in women experiencing premenstrual syndrome and primary dysmenorrhea. Such disturbances could be alleviated through repeated whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) sessions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effect of menstrual-related pain on sleep parameters, and the impact of WBC exposures on pain and sleep.Materials and methods: Pain and sleep were evaluated for two 5-day periods under different conditions (control vs. WBC), randomly assigned across two consecutive menstrual cycles. Measurements began when the first pain/symptom indicating the onset of the menstrual phase was experienced. Pain was rated using a scale, while sleep was assessed using accelerometers and questionnaires. Throughout the 5-day WBC exposure, women underwent 3-min exposure to intense ventilated cold air each evening. After data collection, participants were categorized into high (HP) or low/no pain (LP) groups based on control pain scores.Results: Twenty-nine naturally menstruating women were assessed. Perceived sleep quality was lower in the HP group compared to the LP group during the control condition (Spiegel score: 20.1 ± 2.3 vs. 22.3 ± 1.9, respectively; Cohen's d = 1.1). Across both groups, perceived sleep quality improved with the number of WBC exposures (night1: 19.5 ± 3.2 vs. night5: 23.5 ± 3.8; Hedge's g = 1.10). In the HP group, pain was reduced in the WBC condition compared to the control condition. Changes in pain and perceived sleep quality following WBC were correlated (r = −0.86).Discussion: Women experiencing higher menstrual-related pain reported poorer perceived sleep quality. Their pain was reduced by WBC exposures. This improvement was highly associated with the enhancement in sleep quality.