Browsing by Author "Baranauskas, Marissa N."
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Item ARTE index revisited: linking biomarkers of cardiometabolic health with free-living physical activity in postmenopausal women(American Physiological Society, 2022-04-01) Carter, Stephen J.; Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Singh,, Harshvardhan; Martins, Catia; Hunter, Gary R.; Exercise & Kinesiology, School of Health and Human SciencesActivity-related energy expenditure (AEE) correlates with physical activity volume; however, between-person differences in body size and walking economy (net V̇o2) can influence AEE. The ratio of total energy expenditure (TEE) and resting energy expenditure (REE) estimates physical activity level (PAL) relative to body mass, yet does not account for variance in walking economy. The activity-related time equivalent (ARTEwalk) circumvents such constraints by adjusting for individual-specific walking economy. Herein, we compared AEE, PAL, and ARTEwalk index in a cohort (n = 81) of postmenopausal women while examining possible associations with biomarkers of cardiometabolic health. Secondary analyses were performed on postmenopausal women dichotomized above/below age group 50th percentile for body fat percent. TEE was reduced by 10% for the thermogenesis of digestion wherein AEE was calculated by subtracting REE from adjusted TEE. PAL was calculated as the ratio of TEE/REE. AEE was divided by the mean net energy expenditure of nongraded walking to calculate the ARTEwalk index. Between-group differences were not detected for AEE or PAL. However, the ARTEwalk index revealed that participants with less adiposity were more physically active (258 ± 149 vs. 198 ± 115 min·day−1; P = 0.046; g = 0.46). AEE and PAL did not correlate with cardiorespiratory fitness or biomarkers of cardiometabolic health. Cardiorespiratory fitness (r = 0.32), arterial elasticity (r = 0.24), total cholesterol/HDL-c ratio (r = −0.22), and body fat% (r = −0.24) were correlated with ARTEwalk. The ARTEwalk index may offer utility in detecting possible differences in physical activity volume among postmenopausal women and appears better associated with cardiometabolic biomarkers compared with AEE or PAL.Item Beetroot supplementation in women enjoying exercise together (BEE SWEET): Rationale, design and methods(Elsevier, 2020-03-21) Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Altherr, Cody A.; Gruber, Allison H.; Coggan, Andrew R.; Raglin, John S.; Gupta, Samir K.; Carter, Stephen J.; Kinesiology, School of Health and Human SciencesBackground: Postmenopausal women exhibit higher rates of disability and cardiovascular disease (CVD) with aging compared to men. Whereas habitual exercise training is a known strategy to enhance physiologic function in men and premenopausal women, exercise-related adaptations are often modest in postmenopausal women. We propose dietary nitrate (beetroot juice) administered prior to exercise training may be a feasible approach to improve mobility and cardio-metabolic health outcomes in postmenopausal women. Methods: Our randomized, placebo-controlled study aims to determine preliminary effects sizes for changes in functional mobility and endothelium-dependent vasodilation across three study arms: exercise only (EX), exercise + placebo (EX + PL), and exercise + beetroot (EX + BR). Thirty-six postmenopausal women are recruited in small cohorts wherein group exercise is implemented to facilitate social support and adherence to an 8-week training progression. Participants are randomized to one of three study arms (n = 12 per group) following baseline assessments. Post-intervention assessments are used to determine pre-post changes in outcome measures including distance covered during a 6 min walk test, walking economy, muscle speed and power, and endothelial-dependent vasodilation as determined by flow-mediated dilation. Measures of feasibility include recruitment, retention, adherence to exercise prescription, perceived exercise session difficulty, and adverse event rates. Discussion: Evidence-based, translational strategies are needed to optimize exercise training-related adaptations in postmenopausal women. Findings will inform larger randomized clinical trials to determine if pre-exercise consumption of beetroot juice is an efficacious strategy to promote mobility and attenuate CVD disease risk.Item Effect of dietary nitrate on human muscle power: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis(Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2021) Coggan, Andrew R.; Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Hinrichs, Rachel J.; Liu, Ziyue; Carter, Stephen J.Background: Previous narrative reviews have concluded that dietary nitrate (NO3−) improves maximal neuromuscular power in humans. This conclusion, however, was based on a limited number of studies, and no attempt has been made to quantify the exact magnitude of this beneficial effect. Such information would help ensure adequate statistical power in future studies and could help place the effects of dietary NO3− on various aspects of exercise performance (i.e., endurance vs. strength vs. power) in better context. We therefore undertook a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis to quantify the effects of NO3− supplementation on human muscle power. Methods: The literature was searched using a strategy developed by a health sciences librarian. Data sources included Medline Ovid, Embase, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, Clinicaltrials.gov, and Google Scholar. Studies were included if they used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover experimental design to measure the effects of dietary NO3− on maximal power during exercise in the non-fatigued state and the within-subject correlation could be determined from data in the published manuscript or obtained from the authors. Results: Nineteen studies of a total of 268 participants (218 men, 50 women) met the criteria for inclusion. The overall effect size (ES; Hedge’s g) calculated using a fixed effects model was 0.42 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.29, 0.56; p = 6.310 × 10− 11). There was limited heterogeneity between studies (i.e., I2 = 22.79%, H2 = 1.30, p = 0.3460). The ES estimated using a random effects model was therefore similar (i.e., 0.45, 95% CI 0.30, 0.61; p = 1.064 × 10− 9). Subgroup analyses revealed no significant differences due to subject age, sex, or test modality (i.e., small vs. large muscle mass exercise). However, the ES in studies using an acute dose (i.e., 0.54, 95% CI 0.37, 0.71; p = 6.774 × 10− 12) was greater (p = 0.0211) than in studies using a multiple dose regimen (i.e., 0.22, 95% CI 0.01, 0.43; p =0.003630). Conclusions: Acute or chronic dietary NO3− intake significantly increases maximal muscle power in humans. The magnitude of this effect–on average, ~ 5%–is likely to be of considerable practical and clinical importance.Item Evidence for impaired chronotropic responses to and recovery from 6‐minute walk test in women with post‐acute COVID‐19 syndrome(Wiley, 2021) Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Carter, Stephen J.; Kinesiology, School of Health and Human SciencesThe short-term cardiopulmonary manifestations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are well defined. However, the implications of cardiopulmonary sequelae, persisting beyond acute illness, on physical function are largely unknown. Herein, we characterized heart rate responses to and recovery from a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) in women ∼3 months after mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with non-infected control subjects. Forty-five women (n = 29 SARS-CoV-2; n = 16 controls; age = 56 ± 11 years; body mass index = 25.8 ± 6.0 kg/m2) completed pulmonary function testing and a 6MWT. The SARS-CoV-2 participants demonstrated reduced total lung capacity (84 ± 8 vs. 93 ± 13%; P = 0.006), vital capacity (87 ± 10 vs. 93 ± 10%; P = 0.040), functional residual capacity (75 ± 16 vs. 88 ± 16%; P = 0.006) and residual volume (76 ± 18 vs. 93 ± 22%; P = 0.001) compared with control subjects. No between-group differences were observed in 6MWT distance (P = 0.194); however, the increase in heart rate with exertion was attenuated among SARS-CoV-2 participants compared with control subjects (+52 ± 20 vs. +65 ± 18 beats/min; P = 0.029). The decrease in heart rate was also delayed for minutes 1–5 of recovery among SARS-CoV-2 participants (all P < 0.05). Women reporting specific symptoms at the time of testing had greater impairments compared with control subjects and SARS-CoV-2 participants not actively experiencing these symptoms. Our findings provide evidence for marked differences in chronotropic responses to and recovery from a 6MWT in women several months after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.Item Exercise load monitoring: integrated approaches to advance the individualisation of exercise oncology(BMJ, 2021-08-30) Carter, Stephen J.; Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Ballinger, Tarah J.; Rogers, Laura Q.; Miller, Kathy D.; Nabhan, Dustin C.; Medicine, School of MedicineWhether slowing disease progression or combatting the ills of advancing age, the extensive utility of exercise training has contributed to the outright declaration by the American College of Sports Medicine that ‘exercise is medicine’. Consistent with general framework of adaptation, the advantages of exercise training are indiscriminate—benefitting even the most susceptible clinical populations. Still, the benefit of exercise training presupposes healthy adaptation wherein progressive overload matches sufficient recovery. Indeed, a difference exists between healthy adaptation and non-functional over-reaching (ie, when internal/external load exceeds recovery capacity)—a difference that may be blurred by cancer treatment and/or comorbidity. Recent advances in smartwatches make them ideally suited to non-invasively monitor the physiological stresses to exercise training. Resolving whether individuals are successfully adapting to exercise training via load monitoring bears clinical and practical relevance. While behaviour-change research aims to identify positive constructs of exercise adherence, further attention is needed to uncover how to optimise exercise prescription among cancer populations. Herein, we briefly discuss the constituents of exercise load monitoring, present examples of internal and external load and consider how such practices can be applied to cancer populations.Item Potential health effects of dietary nitrate supplementation in aging and chronic degenerative disease(Elsevier, 2020-08) Carter, Stephen J.; Gruber, Allison H.; Raglin, John S.; Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Coggan, Andrew R.; Kinesiology, School of Health and Human SciencesIn the United States, latest projections indicate the number of adults 65 years of age and older is expected to double by 2050. Given that increased oxidative stress is a hallmark of aging, it is understandable that waning nitric oxide and chronic degenerative disease arise in tandem. To this end, translational evidence-based strategies are needed to mitigate the impending toll on personal and public health. Dietary nitrate supplementation, particularly in the form of beetroot juice, is an active area of inquiry that has gained considerable attention in recent years. Compelling evidence has revealed beetroot juice can elicit potent physiological responses that may offer associated health benefits for multiple clinical disorders including hypertension, dementia, and sarcopenia. Even in the absence of overt disease, age-related impairments in cardiovascular and skeletal muscle function may uniquely benefit from beetroot juice supplementation as evidence has shown blood pressure lowering effects and improved muscle function/contractility – presumably from increased nitric oxide bioavailability. This, in turn, presents a practical opportunity for susceptible populations to support ease of movement and exercise tolerance, both of which may promote free-living physical activity. A theoretical rationale details the potential health effects of dietary nitrate supplementation, wherein a working framework hypothesizes beetroot juice consumption prior to structured exercise training may offer synergistic benefits to aid healthy aging and independent-living among older adults.Item Pulmonary V̇O2 on-kinetics and walking net V̇O2 associate with fatigue and mood disturbance in postmenopausal women(Elsevier, 2025) Carter, Stephen J.; Blechschmid, Tyler H.; Long, Emily B.; Yangchen, Tenzin; Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Wiggins, Chad C.; Raglin, John S.; Coggan, Andrew R.; Exercise & Kinesiology, School of Health and Human SciencesPostmenopausal women often experience fatigue and mood disturbance both of which interfere with quality-of-life. Since greater physical function aids psychosocial well-being, we hypothesized the acute cardiopulmonary responses during walking may reveal important factors linked to fatigue and mood disturbance. In this cross-sectional study, women of similar body mass index (BMI) aged 55-75 y were dichotomized to mid-life (55-65 y; 83.4 ± 8.4 kg/m2; n = 14) or older (≥65 y; 81.8 ± 10.4 kg/m2; n = 11) groups. A 6-minute walk test was used to estimate peak aerobic capacity (V̇O2peak). A treadmill task coupled with indirect calorimetry measured mean response time (MRT) - representing the duration to reach 63 % of steady-state net oxygen uptake (V̇O2). Average daily fatigue and fatigue interference were measured with the Fatigue Symptom Inventory. General mood disturbance was measured with the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire. Age-group differences were not detected in fatigue ratings, MRT, or walking net V̇O2. However, older women had lower aerobic capacity (p = 0.002, ES = 1.39) and greater disturbance in the POMS Depression-Dejection subscale (p = 0.042, ES = 0.41). Among all participants, and independent of V̇O2peak, MRT correlated with average daily fatigue (r = 0.500, p = 0.015), fatigue interference (r = 0.421, p = 0.046), and POMS total mood disturbance (rs = 0.437, p = 0.037). Regression modeling revealed MRT and walking net V̇O2 jointly explained 55 % (R = 0.744, p < 0.001) of the variance in average daily fatigue. In conclusion, MRT and walking net V̇O2 may serve as important points of intervention to alleviate fatigue and mood disturbance in postmenopausal women.Item Why obesity and psychological stress matter in recovery of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2(Wiley, 2022) Carter, Stephen J.; Baranauskas, Marissa N.; Medicine, School of MedicineNumerous elements of the COVID‐19 pandemic have proven challenging to overcome. We now recognize a perplexing characteristic of SARS‐CoV‐2 features mixed, unresolving symptoms that can last 4 weeks or longer after initial diagnosis, termed post‐acute sequelae of SARS‐CoV‐2 (PASC). Full recovery can thus become a protracted ordeal as conservative estimates indicate 20% of SARS‐CoV‐2 cases will develop PASC, with women at increased risk. Emerging evidence suggests latent virus reactivation including cytomegalovirus, Epstein‐Barr virus, and/or varicella zoster virus may perpetuate the burden of PASC. This is problematic because immune dysfunction is linked to obesity and psychological stress, both of which disproportionately affect socioeconomically disadvantaged people and racial/ethnic minorities. Applying a patient‐centered approach in which the principal factors guiding decision‐making are based on the needs and abilities of the individual is essential. Still, the independent and combined influence of obesity and psychological stress on immune function necessitates due consideration in the context of PASC recovery.