Effects of Aerobic Conditioning on Individuals Post-Stroke: What Is the Evidence?

Background: Stroke has been considered the major cause of chronic disability in the world and ranks among the leading causes of death. Despite the fact that new vascular events often happen and risk factors are the same that Cardiovascular Diseases, secondary prevention through non-pharmacological measures, are not part of the routine physical rehabilitation after stroke. Objective: The aim is to answer the following clinical question: Should aerobic fitness be part of the physical rehabilitation of individuals post-stroke? Methodological Design: The methodology used in the study was an integrative literature review. Inclusion Criteria: Articles in English are published in secondary databases: systematic reviews with or without meta-analysis, which address the question PICO: patient (post-stroke), intervention (aerobic exercise), comparison (with or without aerobic conditioning) the outcome (volume of oxygen consumed peak (VO2peak), quality of life (QoL), morbidity and mortality). Outcomes: VO2peak, QoL, complications and mortality. Analysis of Studies: The methodological quality of included studies is assessed using the tools: PRISMA and R-AMSTAR. Results: There was “good” evidence for the inclusion of aerobic exercise on physical rehabilitation of post-stroke individuals to improve their physical capacity (VO2peak), facilitating the completion of activities of daily living and gait. There was weak evidence on the association of aerobic fitness with positive results on QoL in stroke victims and insufficient results to evaluate the effect of aerobic fitness on the risk of stroke recurrence and mortality. Conclusion: The aerobic conditioning should be included in the rehabilitation of stroke victims.

Kinetics of antimony biogeochemical processes under pre-definite anaerobic and aerobic conditions in a paddy soil

While the transformation of antimony(Sb) in paddy soil has been previously investigated, the biogeochemical processes of highly chemical active Sb in the soil remain poorly understood. In addition, there is a lack of quantitative understanding of Sb transformation in soil. Therefore, in this study, the kinetics of exogenous Sb in paddy soils were investigated under anaerobic and aerobic incubation conditions. The dissolved Sb(V) and the Sb(V) extracted by diffusive gradient technique decreased under anaerobic conditions and then increased under aerobic conditions. The redox reaction of Sb occurred, and Sb bioavailability significantly decreased after 55 days of incubation. The kinetics of Fe and the scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that the Fe oxides were reduced and became dispersed under anaerobic conditions, whereas they were oxidized and re-aggregated during the aerobic stage. In addition, the redox processes of sulfur and nitrogen were detected under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Based on these observations, a simplified kinetic model was established to distinguish the relative contributions of the transformation processes. The bioavailability of Sb was controlled by immobilization as a result of S reduction and by mobilization as a result of Fe reductive dissolution and S oxidation, rather than the p H. These processes coupled with the redox reaction of Sb jointly resulted in the complex behavior of Sb transformation under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The model-based method and findings of this study provide a comprehensive understanding of the Sb transformation in a complex soil biogeochemical system under changing redox conditions.

Differences in Organic C Mineralization Between Aerobic and Submerged Conditions in Paddy Soils of Southern Jiangsu Province,China

Moisture regime plays a crucial role in the mineralization of soil organic carbon （SOC）. In this paper, the dynamics of SOC mineralization in typical paddy soils of Changshu, Jiangsu Province, China, was investigated by incubation test in laboratory. The differences in SOC mineralization under aerobic and submerged conditions of paddy soils were also studied. Results showed that the daily mineralization of SOC under different moisture regimes was significantly different in the whole incubation period, at the beginning of the incubation, it decreased quickly under aerobic condition, but increased rapidly under submerged condition, and both remained constant after 10 d of incubation. The differences in SOC mineralization were found to be mainly at the beginning period of the incubation and decreased along with the incubation time. Thus, the difference was not significantly different at the later incubation period. The respiration intensity, daily and cumulative mineralization of SOC under aerobic condition was 2.26-19.11, 0.96-2.41, and 0.96-2.41 times than those .under submerged condition, respectively. Statistic analyses showed that the higher the contents of microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, the more significant difference in respiration intensity between aerobic and submerged conditions, but the higher the contents of microbial biomass nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon, the more significant difference in daily mineralization of SOC between the two conditions. The decrease in soil microbial activity under submerged condition was the main reason leading to the decrease in respiration intensity, but the decrease in SOC mineralization was also correlated with the changes in dissolved organic carbon over the whole incubation period.

Simulation of sludge－dredging effects in controlling nutrient release of LakeKasumigaura with large－size core samples

Nutrient release from the dredged and undredged sediments in Lake Kasumigaura were simulated under the laboratory control conditions with large-size core samples. It was found that phosphate and ammonia release fluxes are less in aerobic than those in anaerobic. In different simulated dredged depth, the phosphate release showed large divergence in the anaerobic than in the aerobic. There was a larger accumulated release of phosphate and ammonia at actual dredged (St. B) than the undredged (St. A) in anaerobic condition. This showed that the sludge-dredging was effective of controlling phosphorus and nitrogen release. A preliminary assessment is drawn from the experiments that the sludge-dredging work in Tsuchiura Bay of Lake Kasumigaura can reduce about 15. 9% of phospbate and 56. 2% of anunonia release from the sediments respectively.