Antioxidants: what role do they play in physical activity and health?

Antioxidants: what role do they play in physical activity and health?

Exercise appears to increase reactive oxygen species, which can result in damage to cells. Exercise results in increased amounts of malondialdehyde in blood and pentane in breath; both serve as indirect indicators of lipid peroxidation. However, not all studies report increases; these equivocal results may be due to the large intersubject variability in response or the nonspecificity of the ass...

Seminal plasma proteins: what role do they play?

PROBLEM Semen is a heterogeneous and complex cell suspension in a protein-rich fluid with different functions, some of them well known, others still obscure. METHOD OF STUDY This paper reviews, comparatively, our current knowledge on the growing field of proteomics of the SP and its relevance in relation to the in vivo situation, for the sake of reproductive biology, diagnostics and treatment...

Breastfeeding: what role do fathers play?

Staphylococcal superantigens: do they play a role in sepsis?

In Staphylococcus aureus, 19 different superantigens (SAgs) have been described. Their genes are all located on mobile genetic elements, such as pathogenicity islands, plasmids, and phages. SAgs bypass conventional antigen recognition by directly cross-linking major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) molecules on antigen-presenting cells with T cell receptors. This leads to massive T c...

Physical activity recommendations for health: what should Europe do?

BACKGROUND Accumulating scientific evidence shows physical activity to have profound health benefits amenable to substantial public health gains. Accordingly, recommendations on how much and what kind of physical activity enhances health have been issued. The 1995 recommendation from the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine has been adapted...