Final Assignment
Metabolic Fitness Variables in an Athlete Population
You have done a good job this semester. I extend my sincerest thanks to all of you. This project couldn’t have been done without your contribution. You have obtained metabolic fitness data (blood lipids, glucose, blood pressure, body composition and Balance measurements on approximately 100 individuals. However, this is a credit bearing Capstone course so we must execute one more duty. The Final assignment is meant to bring some closure and provide at least a minimum of a learning component. The assignment will be a short paper (4-8 pages) in the form of a professional journal article. Consequently it will have several features:
BEWARE: There are missing cells. Data not collected or malfunctions along the way. Just work around it.
Abstract: A 100-300 (max) word summary of your paper. It will have a Purpose, Method, Result and Conclusion statements. An example is shown after these directions.
The body of the paper will have:
Introduction: The issues addressed in an Introduction revolve around the following questions. What exactly is being studied and why? [Some of these questions have been provided below. One question should originate with you]. Thus, you will have TWO questions addressed in your paper. An introduction will briefly describe the previous research or findings that has been done on the specific topics (e.g. BMI and BP)? Obviously all the variables we assessed this semester (blood lipids, glucose, BP, body comp etc.) have been studied, so it should be easy to find a few suitable reference papers. However the population we studied has not been exhaustively examined. The Introduction should have references to any statements of fact that you make (e.g. high blood pressure is a risk factor for CHD-needs a reference). The final statement/sentence/paragraph should tell the reader exactly what your purpose(s) were. Introductions are usually not more than a couple of pages.
Methods: Who were your subjects? What equipment or apparatus did you use in the work (this is everything not just a particular station you worked. What did you do to obtain the data (i.e. the specific procedures e.g. stand with arms perpendicular to sides for arm span); what did the subjects have to do to comply with the procedures (e.g. fast)?
Results: What did you find? Present in terms of the primary questions you chose e.g. what is a better measurement for body composition (BodPod or BIA)? Use Figures and Tables to the extent they “say” something. Pictures (graphs) do speak clearly. Do not duplicate a Table and a Figure. Thus if a figure of the curves is presented, a Table with the same data is redundant. There is no minimum page requirement for this paper. You don’t have to generate “filler”.
Discussion: Often begins with a summary statement of the main points of the Results (e.g. we found that BMI and percent fat were correlated, but the relationship differed from standard population etc—). Are there any caveats or “buts” that qualify the statement? Say so and use references. Do the results and conclusions agree with what others may have published (references)? If not, do you have any possible explanation? What research or observations might be done next to further this line of inquiry? Could the addition of another dependent variable or a different manipulation yield a more clear answer to your question?
References: List papers; links used. Be consistent in the form used (APA, etc)
Materials & Data:
Posted on Canvas is the Excel data sheet without names or dates with the results you generated this semester. This will contain about 100 individuals with measurements for the variables we assessed. You will notice that sometimes data is missing (e.g. blood work). It happens, welcome to research. Work around it.
Example of an Abstract
Glucose Tolerance: A comparison of Sitting vs. 0.5 mph Walk on the Active Workstation. Authors. Miami University, Oxford OH 45056.
A growing body of literature suggests that striking differences in metabolic responses to nutritional challenge can be demonstrated when the postural condition of the individual is changed from sitting to standing. PURPOSE: To describe the possible differences in glucose clearance, in young healthy individuals, in response to a glucose tolerance test performed under standard sitting conditions or while using an Active Workstation at very low speeds. METHODS: Nine students, eight females and one male (21±1 yrs) performed a series of glucose tolerance tests. After a minimum of an 8-hour fast a baseline glucose measurement (Accu-Chek®) was obtained. Subjects then ingested 75 gm of glucose solution (Trutol®75) within a ten-minute period. In a counterbalanced manner, subjects either spent the two hours sitting or walking at 0.5 mph on an Active Workstation. During the session, a blood sample (finger stick) was obtained every 30 min for the next two hours. RESULTS: Table 1 shows the means ± SD for blood glucose for each time period under the two conditions. All subjects showed a lower blood glucose curve during walking. The levels at 90 and 120 min were significantly lower (p< 0.05) in the walking condition.
| Condition |
Baseline |
30 min |
60 min |
90 min |
120 min |
| Sitting |
85± 8 |
149± 27 |
156± 33 |
139± 22 |
124± 15 |
| Walk .5 mph |
86± 9 |
132± 23 |
116± 21 |
102± 18 |
106± 19 |
CONCLUSION: These results support the impact of even very low levels of physical activity on metabolic response to glucose ingestion compared to sitting. In fact, walking at a speed of 0.5 mph is a near proxy for standing in healthy people. This result has implications for the standardization of glucose tolerance tests and reaffirms the potentially deleterious effects of sitting while offering support for the benefits of movement in normalizing blood glucose.
Questions: Pick one Primary question and generate one question of your own using the guidelines listed under “Your Question”.
Primary question options: PICK ONE
1. What is relationship between Whole body Phase angle and % fat;
2. Is there any relationship between phase angle and gender (gender differences, total muscle mass (SMM), BMI, SBP, DBP. Pick one or two of these variables and analyze. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO THEM ALL.
2. What is relationship between blood pressure and neck circumference?
3. What is relationship between neck length and blood pressure?
4. Are there any relationships (associations, correlations) between the difference value of height and arm span, and any other variable e.g. BP, lipids etc. Same as #2 above except arm span- height difference used instead of phase angle. This is a high value question. Please note, there will be negative and positive differences. An arm span greater than height will be positive, the same = 0 and less than will be negative.
5. What is relationship between arm length and waist measurement?
Your question: [You may choose another from the primary, but more creative if you pick your own]
Generate one other question that can be addressed with the data. I have avoided some of the most obvious ones so there should be little difficulty coming up with one. Part of the grade will be based on creativity and logical thought as to the nature of the question. There is a plethora of information in the variables we have measured. You can find some question that can be addressed with it. Some of the questions posed above are referred to as “data fishing”. There may be no theoretical rationale for asking the question but just ‘looking’ to see if any associations can be detected.
Authors: One to three students may submit a single paper. NO more than 3 students per paper. You may submit alone, that is you do not have to work in a group.
Outside Help: If you use other people please give them attribution. E.g. Thanks to Clarence Pudfarker for statistical help, Appreciation is extended to Dr. Thomas Pickering for telling me what BP meant, etc. This will not negatively affect your grade. However, failure to acknowledge help or assistance will negatively affect your grade.
Page limit: Eight. I would expect 4-8 should be fine NOT counting figures and Tables. Penalties will be assessed for every page over 8. There is a real world limitation in the academic realm. I will convert the paper to Times Roman numeral, 12 font to see what the paper occupies. This will only be used if I get very short papers that appear to be manipulated to appear bigger than they really are. Really folks, 4 pages?? You can do it.
I will only clarify. Any statistics or analysis you do is up to you. I won’t be teaching statistics or Excel. A few key strokes can get you correlations and scatter plots. Anything more is all plus for you. I am easy to impress.
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