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Objective: To evaluate the relation between iron status and physical working capacity, and to assess the effect of oral iron treatment on these variables, in athletes with borderline iron status.Methods: Blood haemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell count (RBC), serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and ferritin determinations were compared in 71 male and 18 female athletes participating in various sports and in matched male (n = 11) and female (n = 8) controls. The first aim was to assess the relations between these variables and performance in a physical work capacity test (PWC170). Oral iron treatment (175-350 mg ferrous fumarate daily) was provided for three weeks to six male and five female athletes with borderline Hb concentrations, to determine the effects of such treatment on both iron status and performance.Results: Among females, handball players had the lowest serum ferritin concentrations (P < 0.05), the highest TIBC values, and lowest PWC170 scores (P < 0.01); runners had the highest ferritin concentrations and PWC170 scores (P < 0.01). There were significant correlations (P < 0.01) between PWC170 and PCV, serum ferritin, and transferrin saturation of female athletes. Hb, serum iron, serum ferritin, and transferrin saturation increased with iron treatment in both males (P < 0.01) and females (P < 0.05).Conclusions: Serum ferritin determination may prove a valuable addition to the screening of athletes and may indicate the need for iron treatment, even though a causal effect on improvement of work capacity may not be present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total lung capacity and its subdivisions, maximal breathing capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second expressed as a percentage of the forced vital capacity, were measured in 130 male and 130 female normal Turkish subjects 8 to 20 years old to establish normal values. The subjects were from different socio-economic communities. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the relationship of the measurements to age and the physical characteristics of the body, and the best regression equations were found for predicting lung volumes and maximal breathing capacity. It was found that all physical characteristics were highly correlated with spirometric measurements. Best prediction formulae were found to be based on body surface area and height. All volumes and maximal breathing capacity were found, in general, to be higher in males. This sex difference in measurements became significant after 16-17 years of age. The difference in height between the two sexes also became significant after 16 years of age. In the same age group and in both sexes, taller subjects had higher lung volumes and maximal breathing capacity. These findings suggest that height and respiratory muscle power are the main factors of sex difference in the measurements. Vital capacity and maximal breathing capacity related to age in both sexes were compared with those of some previous studies and it was found that all data, except a few, fell within the 95% confidence limits of the present study. Similar observations were, in general, made when height was taken into consideration for comparison. The value of FEV/FVC% was altered little for the age group studied and its mean value was about 86·6 ± 4·2% for males and 87 ± 4·2% for females. There was no significant relationship between age or sex and RV/TLC% and the mean value of this parameter was 23·6 ± 1·9 for males and 25·5 ± 1·6 for females. There was a slight but clinically unimportant difference between the values of these two measurements and the value from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Due to increasing life expectancy, women spend a significant part of their lives in menopause. Women with a history of endometriosis are more likely to become menopausal at an early age due to bilateral oophorectomy or repeated ovarian surgery. In addition, some medical therapies used for endometriosis, such as gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists or progestins reduce bone mineral density. Furthermore, women with endometriosis have a higher background risk of cardiovascular disorders and hypercholesterolemia. Hence, it is important to recommend the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to these women when they become menopausal, at least until the age of natural menopause. Although based on limited data, there is a possibility of reactivation of symptoms of endometriosis or its lesions, and a theoretical possibility of malignant transformation, although this remains unproven. Therefore, women should be advised in the light of this information before starting HRT after the age of natural menopause and are asked to seek help if they experience symptoms that may indicate these changes. Estrogen only HRT should be avoided and combined HRT preparations should be recommended, even after a hysterectomy., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest is declared by the authors., (Copyright© 2024 The Author. Published by Galenos Publishing House on behalf of Turkish-German Gynecological Association. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) International License.)

The effects of diet and nutritional habits on reproductive cells can be categorized in a variety of ways. In this review, the literature is divided, based on the dietary consumption effects on oocytes and sperm. Topics on dietary patterns and the intrauterine effect of maternal nutrition are covered. In general fruits, vegetables, whole greens, fish, legumes, and also dietary sources containing unsaturated fats can improve reproductive germ cell quality. In epidemiological studies, the food intake frequency questionnaire is one of the most common methods to assess diet. Due to methodological heterogeneity in dietary assessment and inadequacy in the measurement of dietary intake in the questionnaires used, several unreliable results may be reported. Thus, the quality of evidence needs to be improved, since nutritional diets may not be so simply objective and they are inadequate to explain obvious underlining mechanisms. In addition, various compounds that may be ingested can affect molecular mechanisms, influenced by other external factors (drugs, pesticides, smoking, alcohol) and changes in human nutritional parameters. Artificial Intelligence has recently gained widespread interest and may have a role in accurate analysis of dietary patterns for optimal nutritional benefit. Therefore, future prospective randomized studies and objective measurements, consisting of molecular level analysis of the impact on cells and clear-cut methods are needed for accurate assessment of the effect of dietary habits on reproductive treatment., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest is declared by the authors., (©Copyright 2023 by the Turkish-German Gynecological Education and Research Foundation. Journal of the Turkish-German Gynecological Association is published by Galenos Publishing House. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 International License.)

Background/aim: Although many headache patients report that the frequency and severity of attacks vary according to the season or weather in clinical practice, the relationship between the characteristics of the attacks and the weather is not very clear in episodic headaches. We aimed to compare the effects of weather variables (temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, pressure, ultraviolet index, and sunshine duration) on episodic migraine (EM) and episodic tension-type headache (ETTH) attacks (incidence, duration, and severity)., Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with EM and fifty patients with ETTH diagnosed according to International Classification of Headache Disorders-II are included in the study. Patients were given one diary for headache follow-up. The evaluation form on the relationship between the duration, frequency, and severity of the pain and the findings obtained from the headache diaries were compared with the daily weather data, and the two headache groups were compared with each other in terms of the effect of meteorological data on the pain characteristics., Results: It is determined that mean wind velocity in EM attacks is significantly higher when compared to the tension-type headache (TTH) attacks and mean UV index is significantly higher in TTH attacks (p = 0.018 and 0.039). Mean UV index in TTH attack days was reported higher in women than men (p = 0.044). Mean sunshine duration in TTH attack days was reported longer in women than men (p = 0.050). When mean age gets higher in patients with migraine, mean temperature in the days of attack gets lower (r = –0.146 and p = 0.046)., Conclusion: During the treatment of migraine and TTH patients, recommendations and warnings about weather conditions can be made. This information can guide patients to regulate their daily living activities. The importance of considering the weather-headache relationship during the review of the current treatment in cases of unresponsiveness to treatment should be kept in mind., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

The level of safety for cyclists at roundabouts may vary according to national differences not only in the design itself but also sociodemographic, cyclist and driver behaviour as well as environmental factors. This paper investigates the national influence on cyclist casualty severity at roundabouts by comparing the United Kingdom (using Northumbria as a representative sample) and Belgium. The data included speed limits, socio-demographic characteristics, environmental conditions and driver/cyclist behaviour-related contributory factors. First, a logistic regression analysis for the UK data, including 864 cyclist casualties, was carried out. Increasing the speed limit by ten units (for example 30mph to 40mph) increased the probability of a cyclist being killed or seriously injured by 10%. A cyclist casualty was more than three times more likely to be killed or seriously injured (the odds ratio is 3.02) where sudden braking was recorded as a contributory factor. Second, a separate logistic regression analysis for Belgium was conducted. Cyclists ignoring the priority at roundabouts increased the probability of a fatal or seriously injured collisions (the odds ratio is 2.71). Comparing the individual analysis for both countries, the influence of cyclist age was consistent. Each one-year increase in cyclist age increases chance of being killed or seriously injured as opposed to not being killed or seriously injured by 2 % (odds ratio is 1.02) in both UK and Belgium. A final comparative analysis was applied considering proxy variables for both countries. Three-way chi-square tests of independence showed that all non-behavioural variables (i.e. sociodemographic characteristics, speed limit, and environmental conditions) were found to be statistically different between UK and Belgium for both slight and killed and seriously injured casualties. This suggests that driver/cyclist interaction and behaviour in the two countries is generally similar whilst speed limits, the sociodemographic characteristics of cyclists and environmental conditions are specific for each country. The third part of the logistic regression analysis suggested that the country residual was highly statistically significant. This indicates that there are some statistically significant differences with respect to the characteristics of the two regional datasets used in the analysis., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: We aimed to investigate that change of IPI values after sedation of patients undergoing cataract surgery under sedation., Methods: We included 50 patients (ASA I-III) undergoing cataract surgery under sedation by phacoemulsification method in this prospective observational study. IPI, SpO 2 , ETCO 2 , respiratory rate (RR), peripheral pulse rate (PR), hemodynamic data and BIS values and perioperative complications were recorded., Results: Compared to baseline values, RR value at 5th min, RR, PR, IPI values at 10th min and RR, PR values at 15th min were significantly low and heart rate value at 15th min and arterial pressure, bispectral index (BIS) values at 5th min, 10th min, 15th min, 20th min, 25th min and 30th min were lower than baseline values., Conclusions: IPI monitoring will provide guidance during sedation of patients with comorbid diseases undergoing cataract surgery by phacoemulsification method.

Introduction: In general, priority junctions are converted into roundabouts to increase capacity and reduce vehicle accidents. However, previous research has indicated that roundabouts are dangerous for vulnerable users, especially cyclists., Method: This paper investigates which design factors influence cyclist casualty severity at give way (non-signalized) roundabouts with mixed traffic, using the UK STATS19 National dataset of cyclist casualties. First, the correlation matrix was generated to observe the relationship between variables. Second, dimension reduction was applied to geometric design variables in order to reduce the number of variables and generate the factors. Finally, the binary logistic regression method, with serious and slight casualties as dependent variables, was applied in three steps. The first Binary Logistic Regression Model (BLRM) included speed limit, sociodemographic, and meteorological conditions. The variables in the second BLRM consisted of geometric design variables. The third BLRM included the factors that were generated by dimension reduction., Results: The correlation matrix revealed that the number of lanes on approach and half width on approach were statistically significantly correlated, while the variables, such as geometric design (entry path radius, number of arms, number of flare lanes on approach, type of roundabout and number of circulating lanes), sociodemographic (casualty gender and age), speed limit and meteorologically related factors (daylight, weather and road surface condition), did not show any statistical significance. From the dimension reduction process, two main factors were identified, including Approach Capacity (Factor 1) and Size of Roundabout (Factor 2), and they were subsequently used as independent variables in the logistic regression analysis. The subsequent BLRMs showed that a higher speed limit reduces the safety for cyclists at roundabouts. The probability of a serious casualty increases by approximately five times (odds ratio 4.97) for each additional number of lanes on approach and by 4% (odds ratio 1.04) with a higher entry path radius. It was also found that Factor 2 (Approach Capacity) increases the casualty severity (odds ratio 1.86) for cyclists at roundabouts. Practical applications: While this research studied roundabouts in the UK, the methodological approach and statistical analysis techniques are applicable to other countries and the findings are likely to be of value to decision makers worldwide., (Copyright © 2018 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Recently, we found that erufosine (erucylphospho-N,N,N trimethylpropylammonium) can induce up-regulation of RhoB expression in oral squamous carcinoma (OSCC) cells, thereby hinting at a tumor suppressive role. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the role of RhoB in the tumor suppressive mode of action of erufosine on OSCC cells., Methods: Anti-proliferative effects of erufosine were determined in HN-5 and FaDu OSCC-derived cells using a MTT assay. RhoB up-regulation was detected using microarray and qRT-PCR-based expression assays at IC 25 , IC 50 and IC 75 concentrations of erufosine. The results obtained were verified by Western blotting. In addition, siRNA-mediated RhoB knockdown was carried out and combined with erufosine treatment, after which cell cycle, colony formation and migration assays were performed to evaluate its combined effects., Results: We found that after erufosine treatment of HN-5 and FaDu cells for 24, 48 and 72 h the IC 50 values ranged from 43 to 37 μM and 27- to 15 μM, respectively. Microarray and qRT-PCR-based expression analyses revealed RhoB up-regulation up to 9-fold and 20-fold, respectively. Using Western blotting, an increase in RhoB protein expression was observed, as well as a decrease in pAkt (Ser 473 and Thr 308 ) expression and an increase in PARP cleavage. Combined siRNA-mediated RhoB knockdown and erufosine treatment resulted in slightly reduced RhoB and pAkt levels compared to erufosine treatment alone. Subsequent cell cycle analyses revealed an increased apoptotic induction, but a reduced G2 cell cycle arrest, of the combination. At the functional level, synergistic effects were observed using cell migration and colony formation assays., Conclusions: Our data show that erufosine can cause up-regulation of RhoB expression in OSCC cells. Combining erufosine treatment with siRNA-mediated RhoB knockdown did, however, not reveal a role of RhoB in its tumor suppressive mode of action.

Background/aim: This study aimed to determine the incidence of pressure ulcers in patients on mechanical ventilation and selected risk factors likely to play a role in pressure ulcer development., Materials and Methods: The study included 110 patients recruited from an anesthesia critical care unit of a university hospital. Data were collected with a demographic and clinical characteristics form. The form was composed of questions about demographic characteristics and clinical features including diagnosis, duration of mechanical ventilation, general well-being, oxygenation, perfusion, and skin condition., Results: The incidence of pressure ulcer was 15.5%. Duration of mechanical ventilation was longer and the body mass index was higher in patients developing pressure ulcers than in those without pressure ulcers. Additionally, 90.11% of patients with pressure ulcers had edema and 82.35% of patients with pressure ulcers received vasopressin. The patients with pressure ulcers had higher PH levels, lower PaO2 levels, higher PCO2 levels, lower SaO2 levels, and higher urine output., Conclusion: It can be recommended that nurses and other health professionals should be aware of factors playing a role in pressure ulcer development and should be able to conduct appropriate interventions to prevent pressure ulcers.

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) Multidimensional Hand Hygiene Approach in Turkey and analyse predictors of poor hand hygiene compliance., Design: An observational, prospective, interventional, before-and-after study was conducted from August 2003 to August 2011 in 12 intensive care units (ICU) of 12 hospitals in 11 cities. The study was divided into a baseline and a follow-up period and included random 30-minute observations for hand hygiene compliance in ICU. The hand hygiene approach included administrative support, supplies availability, education and training, reminders in the workplace, process surveillance, and performance feedback., Results: We observed 21,145 opportunities for hand hygiene. Overall hand hygiene compliance increased from 28.8% to 91% (95% CI 87.6-93.0, p 0.0001). Multivariate and univariate analyses showed that several variables were significantly associated with poor hand hygiene compliance: males vs. females (39% vs. 48%; 95% CI 0.79-0.84, p 0.0001), ancillary staff vs. physicians (35% vs. 46%, 95% CI 0.73-0.78, p 0.0001), and adult vs. pediatric ICUs (42% vs. 74%, 95% CI 0.54-0.60, p 0.0001)., Conclusions: Adherence to hand hygiene was significantly increased with the INICC Hand Hygiene Approach. Specific programmes should be directed to improve hand hygiene in variables found to be predictors of poor hand hygiene compliance., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interest: All authors report no conflicts of interest related to this article. Every hospital’s Institutional Review Board agreed to the study protocol, and participants’ confidentiality was protected by codifying the recorded information, making it identifiable only to the infection control team.

Oxidative stress induced by light activation of photosensitizers is regarded to have a role in triggering cell death pathways during photodynamic therapy (PDT). Reactive oxygen species have been proposed to act as signal transduction molecules activating downstream reactions that lead to apoptosis. Mainly debated is the cooperating role of other signaling systems like calcium or pH. The present work contributes to this discussion by studying PDT effects in cell cultures of rat bladder epithelial cells for the hydrophilic tetrasulfonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlPcS4). Cells were coincubated with the photosensitizer and the calcium-sensitive probe Fluo-3. The light-induced reactions were analyzed with a confocal laser scanning microscope. The dynamics of the process during light activation was observed with subcellular resolution. A transient calcium elevation during the irradiation process was detected, especially in the cell's nuclei, followed by a more sustained increase. The evaluation of the energy-dose-dependent phototoxicity after an incubation time with the photosensitizer of 1 and 24 h, showed enhanced phototoxicity when the drug was present for 24 h. Surprisingly, stimulation of cell proliferation was observed at very low light doses (at 0.2 J/cm2) when the drug was incubated for 24 h (cell viability 160%). Induction of apoptosis could be observed after irradiation with fluences between 1 and 3 J/cm2. Apoptotic cells were identified with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled Annexin V, which binds to phosphatidylserine after its translocation to the outer plasma membrane. In the presence of the antioxidant pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate the transient calcium elevation was totally inhibited, as was the subsequent translocation of PS. In contrast, N-acetyl-L-cysteine did not suppress the transient calcium increase. Our data might be consistent with calcium regulated processes during AlPcS4-PDT and the involvement of oxygen radicals.

Pulmonary blastoma (PB) is a rare malignant pulmonary tumor composed of immature mesenchyme and/or epithelium that resembles an embryonic lung at 10-16 weeks gestation. PBs constitute only 0.25 to 0.5 percent of all primary malignant lung tumors. Approximately 20 percent of the reported cases have occurred in pediatric patients. A seven-year-old girl presented with fever, cough, respiratory distress and chest pain on the left side. An x-ray, ultrasonography and a computed tomographic scan of the chest showed a large mass consisting of solid and cystic components almost completely occupying the left hemithorax associated with pleural effusion. The diagnosis of biphasic PB was established by histological examination of thoracotomy material. The patient was considered inoperable due to tumor involvement of the mediastinum, and she died two days after the initiation of chemotherapy. We report this case of PB to raise attention to the clinical, radiological and pathological features of PB in childhood because of its rarity.

Background: Late hemorrhagic disease of the newborn (HDN) may occur without an underlying disorder or as a secondary manifestation of an underlying disorder. It may be seen in fully breast-fed infants without a routine supplementation of vitamin K. In contrast, idiopathic late HDN is defined as HDN without the presence of any risk factor, such as gastroenteritis or use of antibiotics. Severe hemorrhagic symptoms frequently occur., Methods: Between March 1987 and May 1997, we evaluated 15 infants with idiopathic late HDN, who were diagnosed by detailed history, physical examination and laboratory findings., Results: The age (mean +/- SD) at onset of symptoms was 62.4 +/- 33.9 days. All children were breast-fed infants and were born at term from healthy mothers. The delivery histories were uneventful. There was no history of vitamin K administration at birth. Signs and symptoms of the patients were convulsions (47%), feeding intolerance and poor sucking (47%), irritability (33%) and pallor (20%). In physical examination; there was bulging or full fontanel in 10 patients (67%), diminished or absent neonatal reflexes in nine patients (60%) and ecchymosis in three patients (20%). Before administration of vitamin K, prothrombin time (PT) was 76.1 +/- 43.0 s and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) was 123.4 +/- 68.8 s. Six to 12 h after administration of vitamin K, PT was 15.6 +/- 1.8 s and PTT was 33.4 +/- 1.0 s. Neurologic, gastrointestinal and skin hemorrhagic findings were found in 11 (73%), three (20%) and three patients (20%), respectively. There were both neurologic and skin bleeding symptoms in two patients. The mortality in the present study was 33%., Conclusions: Late HDN results in severe hemorrhage, especially hemorrhage in the central nervous system. Administration of vitamin K (1 mg, i.m.) at the birth can reduce these severe complications.

We studied serum leptin levels in 189 healthy children to evaluate related factors during childhood and adolescence. Leptin correlated with body mass index (BMI), triceps skinfold thickness (p<0.001) and body weight (p<0.01). Obese children and girls had higher leptin levels than non-obese children and boys, respectively (p<0.001). In girls, leptin correlated positively with age, skinfold thickness and BMI (p<0.001). In boys, leptin correlated negatively with age (p<0.001) and positively with skinfold thickness (p<0.05). Prepubertal boys had higher leptin levels than prepubertal girls and pubertal boys (p<0.05). Pubertal girls had higher leptin levels than prepubertal girls and pubertal boys (p<0.001). Leptin levels in girls were higher at Tanner stages 4 and 5 than at stage 1 (p<0.001). In conclusion, serum leptin levels are related with adiposity, have obviously age-related gender differences during childhood and adolescence, and may be involved in the maturation of reproductive capacity.

Methylene blue (MB+) is a well-known dye in medicine and has been discussed as an easily applicable drug for topical treatment in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Methylene blue can potentially be used as a redox indicator to detect the important redox reactions that are induced during PDT. The kinetics of this process was analyzed on a subcellular level with confocal laser scanning microscopy. BKEz-7 endothelial cells were incubated 4 h with 1 microM MB+. The fluorescence dynamics of MB+ during irradiation with 633 nm light was observed with subcellular resolution. Images were acquired at 0.5 s intervals (frame rate 1 image/0.5 s). Fluorescence was observed in the red channel of the laser scanning microscope. Synchronously, the phase-contrast image was visualized with the green channel. Morphological changes could therefore be correlated with the dynamics of MB+. In addition, the light-dose-dependent phototoxicity at 633 nm irradiation was determined by viable cell counting. After an induction period (phase I), fast fluorescent spikes could be observed in the whole cytoplasm, which decayed with a time constant of about 20 s (phase II), followed by a period of nearly constant fluorescence intensity (phase III) and exponential photobleaching (phase IV). Phase II exhibits highly nonlinear kinetics, which is hypothesized to correlate probably with a nonlinear quantal production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Morphological cell changes were not observed during phase II. During phase III, a pycnotic cell nucleus developed. From the determination of viable cells we can conclude that a light dose applied within phase II was only sublethal in correlation with morphological observations. Overproduction of ROS leading finally to cell killing during phases III and IV is discussed.

The fluorescence emission of hydrophilic tetrasulphonated aluminium phthalocyanine (AlPcS4) and hydrophobic zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc), bound to the membrane of liposomes, was investigated in vivo in an appropriate tumour model of the rat bladder and in RR 1022 epithelial cells of the rat. The sensitizers were administered systemically to the rats and photodynamic therapy (PDT) was performed 24 h later. During PDT treatment, the fluorescence was measured every 30 s. The fluorescence was excited with 633 nm light from an HeNe laser and the fluorescence spectra were detected with an optical multichannel analyser system. PDT was performed for both sensitizers using 672 nm light from an Ar+ dye laser. The fluorescence changes during PDT were significantly different for the two phthalocyanines. For AlPcS4, an initial fluorescence intensity increase, followed by subsequent photobleaching, was observed. In contrast, ZnPc fluorescence showed an exponential decrease and no increase at the start of treatment. Tumour necrosis 24 h after PDT was significant only for ZnPc. RR 1022 cells incubated for 24 h with AlPcS4 revealed a granular fluorescence pattern, whereas ZnPc was localized diffusely in the cytoplasm of the cells. In agreement with the in vivo measurements, subcellular relocalization and a fluorescence intensity increase were detected exclusively in the case of AlPcS4. Morphological changes at this time were significant only for ZnPc. The subcellular localization and fluorescence kinetics were obtained using a confocal laser scanning microscope.

While it is well known that prolonged intense exercise raises serum enzyme activities, the effects of short duration intense exercise on enzyme activity changes have not been clearly described. Three successive standard 30 s Wingate anaerobic cycle ergometer tests separated by 6-8 min rest intervals were performed by competitive male middle- and long-distance runners or cyclists (no. = 33), and matched healthy control subjects (no. = 30). Immediately before and 6 h after the tests, blood samples were before and 6 h after the tests, blood samples were taken to assess the effects of exercise on serum creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LD) and aldolase (ALS) enzyme activities. Serum CK activities were found to be significantly higher in athletes than in the controls, both before and 6 hours after the test (p < 0.001), as were ALS activities (p < 0.01 before and p < 0.05 after the test), whereas LD activities were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the athletes only after the test. Following the test, increases in LD activities (p < 0.01) were observed in athletes and rises in CK activities (p < 0.05) were seen in the controls. Significant correlations between pre- and post-exercise serum enzyme activities were established for both groups. In conclusion, following a supramaximal exercise test, increases in serum LD activities of athletes and in CK activities of controls appear to be more pronounced, and increases in serum CK, LD and ALS activities seem to depend more on the duration of exercise than on its intensity.