Letter R

Research Overview

BIOLAD’s research is focused in sport sciences, both at the biological and behavioral levels of adaptation to sport and exercise environments.

BIOLAD’s objectives are grouped under sub-headings that correspond to each of three foci of investigation, namely “Exercise effects on body morphology, biological maturation, and fatigue” (1), “Neuromuscular control and motor adaptation to exercise” (2), and “Expertise in physical activity and sport” (3).

1. “Exercise effects on body morphology, biological maturation, and fatigue”

  1. The acute and chronic effects of swimming training sessions and training cycles, respectively, on immunological and endocrine parameters in competitive swimmers;
  2. The impact of magnesium intake on strength related parameters in elite athletes;
  3. Biomarkers of training-induced fatigue in sports training, with special reference to hormonal regulation and immune status;
  4. The effect of natural normobaric hypoxia on autonomic regulation of cardiac function, via spectral analysis of heart rate variability;
  5. The technical factors influencing competitive swimming performance, via 3D-CFD analysis;
  6. The impact of morphology and maturity variables on lean body mass, bone development and on cognitive and physical performance;
  7. Anthropometric and physical fitness characteristics of young soccer athletes grouped by playing position and level of physical maturity;
  8. The morphological and biosocial variables that discriminate between levels of, and predict, skill in junior handball players;
  9. The suitability of dynamic factor analysis for the analysis of time series data from pediatric supramaximal exercise testing;
  10. Development of the requisite syntaxes to run bi-exponential models, to fit oxygen uptake kinetics data in swimming, in SPSS.

2. “Neuromuscular control and motor adaptation to exercise”

  1. Analysis of time series in repetitive motor tasks and in interpersonal motor coordination tasks;
  2. Clinical trials for motor evaluation of, and specific rehabilitation programmes for balance in Parkinson’s and Stroke patients;
  3. Parameters associated with non-nutritive sucking in premature babies, using a new pressure device;
  4. The development of lateral motor asymmetry during infancy;
  5. Neuromuscular coordination patterns in the karate punch and the golf swing as well as in strength and flexibility training exercise;
  6. Isokinetic muscle balance in athletes;
  7. The recovery of neuromuscular coordination patterns related to knee function after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction;
  8. Interpersonal motor coordination in team sports;
  9. Effects of a motor-sensory exercise re-education programme on the postural control of competitive gymnasts with chronic ankle joint instability;
  10. Contralateral effects of low intensity resistance training combined with blood flow restriction;
  11. Child safety behaviours (related to risk affordance, reaching and climbing) in specific environments;
  12. Adults’ perception of children’s affordances within reaching tasks.

3. “Expertise in physical activity and sport”

  1. The effect of contextual variables (quality of opposition, match status, pace of the match, game period, and home-advantage) on the dynamics of team performance in team ball sports;
  2. The influence of small-sided games and modification of playing rules on the offensive performance of youth players in team ball sports;
  3. Coaching expertise regarding the dynamics of the basketball game;
  4. Ecological dynamics under specific performance constraints in ball sports;
  5. Performance analysis in sport;
  6. Embodied decision-making in sport;
  7. The development of expertise;
  8. The functional correspondence between experimental, practice, and evaluation tasks and performance settings;
  9. The parameters for modelling the probability of winning a match;
  10. The reliability and validity of sport specific laboratory and field tests.

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