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Background: Following the 2019 Hong Kong Para Report Card, the 2022 Hong Kong Para Report Card aimed to provide an updated and evidence-based assessment for nine indicators related to physical activity in children and adolescents with special educational needs and to assess the results using a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Methods: Using a systematic process, the best available data on nine indicators were searched from the past 10 years and were assessed by a research work group. Letter grades were assigned and considered by stakeholders and auditors. Results: Four indicators were assigned a letter grade (overall physical activity: F [mixed device-measured and self-reported data]; sedentary behaviors: D [device-measured data]; active transportation: D−; government strategies & investment: C+). SWOT analysis highlighted opportunities for facilitating children and adolescents with special educational needs to achieve health recommendations. Conclusion: There were deteriorating trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Effective, multilevel, and cross-sector interventions are recommended to promote active behavior in children and adolescents with special educational needs.

Background: Participation in physical activity among adolescents with autism is often conditional. However, there is a lack of methods for identifying these specific conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and investigate the feasibility of a Q-sort tool to map individual-specific conditions for participation in physical activity among adolescents with autism and to identify different viewpoints regarding conditions for such participation. Method: An exploratory mixed-methods design was employed to investigate the feasibility of using Q methodology and the Q-sort procedure to identify what individual-specific conditions are important for participation in physical activity for adolescents with autism. Results: The adolescents ranked the statements with varying levels of ease. Two viewpoints were identified: Autonomous participation without surprises and Enjoyment of activity in a safe social context. Conclusion: Q-sort is a feasible method for mapping conditions for participation, which can guide the development of tailored physical activity interventions.

This study compared the recommended dose of sodium citrate (SC, 500 mg/kg body mass) and sodium bicarbonate (SB, 300 mg/kg body mass) for blood alkalosis (blood [HCO₃ ⁻]) and gastrointestinal symptoms (GIS; number and severity). Sixteen healthy individuals ingested the supplements in a randomized, crossover design. Gelatin capsules were ingested over 15 min alongside a carbohydrate-rich meal, after which participants remained seated for forearm venous blood sample collection and completion of GIS questionnaires every 30 min for 300 min. Time-course and session value (i.e., peak and time to peak) comparisons of SC and SB supplementation were performed using linear mixed models. Peak blood [HCO₃ ⁻] was similar for SC (mean 34.2, 95% confidence intervals [33.4, 35.0] mmol/L) and SB (mean 33.6, 95% confidence intervals [32.8, 34.5] mmol/L, p = .308), as was delta blood [HCO₃ ⁻] (SC = 7.9 mmol/L; SB = 7.3 mmol/L, p = .478). Blood [HCO₃ ⁻] was ≥6 mmol/L above baseline from 180 to 240 min postingestion for SC, significantly later than for SB (120–180 min; p < .001). GIS were mostly minor, and peaked 80–90 min postingestion for SC, and 35–50 min postingestion for SB. There were no significant differences for the number or severity of GIS reported (p > .05 for all parameters). In summary, the recommended doses of SC and SB induce similar blood alkalosis and GIS, but with a different time course.

Purpose: To continuously measure body core temperature (T _c) throughout a mass-participation ultramarathon in subelite recreational runners to quantify T _c magnitude and the influence of aerobic fitness and body fat. Methods: Twenty-three participants (19 men and 4 women; age 45 [9] y; body mass 72.0 [9.3] kg; body fat 26% [6%]; peak oxygen uptake 50 [6] mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹) had gastrointestinal temperature measured during an 89-km ultramarathon. Prerace-to-postrace changes in body mass, plasma sodium, and fluid and food recall quantified body water balance. Results: In maximal environmental conditions of 26.3 °C and 53% humidity, 21 of the 23 participants finished in 10:28 (01:10) h:min while replacing 49% (27%) of sweat losses, maintaining plasma sodium (140 [3] mmol·L⁻¹), and dehydrating by 4.1% (1.3%). Mean maximum T _c was 39.0 (0.5) (range 38.2–40.1 °C) with 90% of race duration ≤39.0 °C. Mean maximum ΔT _c was 1.9 (0.9) (0.9–2.7 °C) with 95% of race duration ≤2.0 °C. Over 0 to 45 km, associations between ΔT _c and peak oxygen uptake (positive) and body fat (negative) were observed. Over 58 to 89 km, associations between T _c and peak oxygen uptake (negative) and body fat (positive) were observed. Conclusions: Modest T _c responses were observed in recreational ultramarathon runners. Runners with higher levels of aerobic fitness and lower levels of body fat demonstrated the greatest changes in T _c during the first half of the race. Conversely, runners with lower levels of aerobic fitness and higher levels of body fat demonstrated the greatest absolute T _c in the final third of the race.

It was previously demonstrated that postexercise ingestion of fructose–glucose mixtures can lead to superior liver and equal muscle glycogen synthesis as compared with glucose-based carbohydrates (CHOs) only. After an overnight fast, liver glycogen stores are reduced, and based on this we hypothesized that addition of fructose to a glucose-based breakfast would lead to improved subsequent endurance exercise capacity. In this double-blind cross-over randomized study (eight males, peak oxygen uptake: 62.2 ± 5.4 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹), participants completed two experimental trials consisting of two exercise bouts. In the afternoon of Day 1, they completed a cycling interval training session to normalize glycogen stores after which a standardized high-CHO diet was provided for 4 hr. On Day 2, in the morning, participants received 2 g/kg of CHOs in the form of glucose and rice or fructose and rice, both in a CHO ratio of 1:2. Two hours later they commenced cycling exercise session at the intensity of the first ventilatory threshold until task failure. Exercise capacity was higher in fructose and rice (137.0 ± 22.7 min) as compared with glucose and rice (130.06 ± 19.87 min; p = .046). Blood glucose and blood lactate did not differ between the trials (p > .05) and neither did CHO and fat oxidation rates (p > .05). However, due to the duration of exercise, total CHO oxidation was higher in fructose and rice (326 ± 60 g vs. 298 ± 61 g, p = .009). Present data demonstrate that addition of fructose to a glucose-based CHO source at breakfast improves endurance exercise capacity. Further studies are required to determine the mechanisms and optimal dose and ratio.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted in sporting event suspensions and cancellations, affecting competition calendars worldwide during 2020 and 2021. This challenged high-performance athletes’ capacity to complete physical, technical, or tactical training during restricted movement measures (lockdown). With the Football World Cup organized in the last quarter of 2022, the past period of training and match disturbances challenged footballers concerning their performance and potential higher risk of injury at official matches’ resumption. There has been considerable debate about the management of resuming professional football (soccer) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Governing bodies worldwide implemented measures to ensure a safe resumption of football. These precautionary measures aimed to protect the health of players, their support staff, and officials around the pitch and ensure the enjoyment of the event by spectators in the football stadiums. We have therefore narratively reviewed scientific papers about how football has resumed on the pitch and in the stands with special focus on the COVID-19 infection control strategies allowing footballers to perform again and supporters to enjoy the game after the 2020 global stop to sport.

When will women run a sub-4-minute mile? The answer seems to be a distant future given how women’s progress has plateaued in the mile, or its better studied metric placeholder, the 1500 m. When commonly accepted energetics principles of running, along with useful field validation equations of the same, are applied to probe the physiology underpinning the 10 all-time best women’s mile performances, insights gained may help explain the present 12.34-second shortfall. Insights also afford estimates of how realistic improvements in the metabolic cost of running could shrink the difference and bring the women’s world record closer to the fabled 4-minute mark. As with men in the early 1950s, this might stir greater interest, excitement, participation, and depth in the women’s mile, the present absence of which likely contributes to more pessimistic mathematical modeling forecasts. The purpose of this invited commentary is to provide a succinct, theoretical, but intuitive explanation for how women might get closer to their own watershed moment in the mile.

Creatine (Cr) supplementation is a well-established strategy to enhance gains in strength, lean body mass, and power from a period of resistance training. However, the effectiveness of creatyl-L-leucine (CLL), a purported Cr amide, is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the effects of CLL on muscle Cr content. Twenty-nine healthy men (n = 17) and women (n = 12) consumed 5 g/day of either Cr monohydrate (n = 8; 28.5 ± 7.3 years, 172.1 ± 11.0 cm, 76.6 ± 10.7 kg), CLL (n = 11; 29.2 ± 9.3 years, 170.3 ± 10.5 cm, 71.9 ± 14.5 kg), or placebo (n = 10; 30.3 ± 6.9 years, 167.8 ± 9.9 cm, 69.9 ± 11.1 kg) for 14 days in a randomized, double-blind design. Participants completed three bouts of supervised resistance exercise per week. Muscle biopsies were collected before and after the intervention for quantification of muscle Cr. Cr monohydrate supplementation which significantly increased muscle Cr content with 14 days of supplementation. No changes in muscle Cr were observed for the placebo or CLL groups. Cr monohydrate supplementation is an effective strategy to augment muscle Cr content while CLL is not.

Strenuous exercise is synonymous with disturbing gastrointestinal integrity and function, subsequently prompting systemic immune responses and exercise-associated gastrointestinal symptoms, a condition established as “exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome.” When exercise stress and aligned exacerbation factors (i.e., extrinsic and intrinsic) are of substantial magnitude, these exercise-associated gastrointestinal perturbations can cause performance decrements and health implications of clinical significance. This potentially explains the exponential growth in exploratory, mechanistic, and interventional research in exercise gastroenterology to understand, accurately measure and interpret, and prevent or attenuate the performance debilitating and health consequences of exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome. Considering the recent advancement in exercise gastroenterology research, it has been highlighted that published literature in the area is consistently affected by substantial experimental limitations that may affect the accuracy of translating study outcomes into practical application/s and/or design of future research. This perspective methodological review attempts to highlight these concerns and provides guidance to improve the validity, reliability, and robustness of the next generation of exercise gastroenterology research. These methodological concerns include participant screening and description, exertional and exertional heat stress load, dietary control, hydration status, food and fluid provisions, circadian variation, biological sex differences, comprehensive assessment of established markers of exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome, validity of gastrointestinal symptoms assessment tool, and data reporting and presentation. Standardized experimental procedures are needed for the accurate interpretation of research findings, avoiding misinterpreted (e.g., pathological relevance of response magnitude) and overstated conclusions (e.g., clinical and practical relevance of intervention research outcomes), which will support more accurate translation into safe practice guidelines.