Faik Vural

The Physiological Responses to 5000 m Open Water Swimming Exercise in Children

Objective: Open water swimming (OWS) is an endurance sport. Nitric oxide (NO) is a vasodilator gas, therefore it is related to endurance. Physiological stress levels of OWS on children are unknown. The purposes of this study were to investigate the physiological responses to 5000 m OWS and its relation with serum NOx (nitrite plus nitrate) levels in children. Material and Methods: Trained OWS athletes (9 males and 5 females; age=13.8±1.12 years) participated in the study. Serum NOx, oxidative stress index (OSI): total antioxidant status (TAS)/total oxidant stress status (TOS) ratio, muscle damage markers (MDM): serum creatine kinase (CK), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity, leucocyte counts and serum glucose (GLU) levels were determined before and after the OWS. Lactate (La), whole blood glucose (WGLU) analyses were done from the fingertip blood samples and heart rate (HR) was measured after every 1000 m. Results: After 5000 m OWS, HR and La levels were recorded as 166 beat/min and 2.95 mM. The results indicated that MDM significantly increased (p<0.01), and OSI significantly decreased however there were no significantly changes in TAS, NOx and serum glucose (GLU) values. Basal NOx levels was only related to CK (r=-0.529, p=0.052), but not other parameters. Conclusion: 5000 m OWS exercise induced a moderate physiological stress without any oxidative stress, hypoglycemia and health risk for the investigated parameters risk. Although this exercise did not increase blood NOx levels, the negative relationship between basal NOx and CK parameters may show the anti-inflammatory role of NO during OWS exercises in the children.

O-41 Determination of maximal oxygen uptake through a new basketball-specific field test

Objectives The aim of this study was to develop a new “basketball specific field test” that determines the maximal oxygen uptake indirectly and to determine reliability and validity of the test for measuring aerobic power. Methods A total of 1.5 mile (2240 m) -aerobic endurance test on a basketball court including the side steps on the three-point line and running on the side-line was designed to be completed as soon as possible. Healthy, 15 years old, 11 male basketball players’ (training background is 5.18 years, body mass 84.4 kg, height 190.3 cm) participated. Results Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) levels measured directly in the laboratory as gold standard test showed a significant negative correlation with the duration of basketball-specific field test (r = −0.705, p = 0.015). The regression analysis through a new “basketball-specific field test” proved moderate validity (r = 0.390), then regression formula was developed to estimate VO2max level: VO2max = 122.617 – 5.461 x [basketball-specific field test duration (min)]. Reliability was evaluated by test-retest method, there was no difference between duration of a new “basketball specific field test” (p > 0.05) repeated at intervals and it showed high reliability (% CV: 8.81 and ICC: 0.90). Conclusions A new “basketball specific field test”, which proved reliability and validity to measure aerobic power indirectly, may be considered to help coaches and athletes by means of its properties which ensure easy and practical application by using simple basketball-specific movements in basketball courts, not to require expensive equipment and specialist staff, and not to have any health risks.