UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    Development and Testing of a Metabolic Workload Measurement System for Space Suits
    (2007-06-05) Koscielniak, Agnieszka; Akin, David L; Aerospace Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Real time knowledge of the metabolic workload of an astronaut during an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) can be instrumental for space suit research, design, and operation. Three indirect calorimetry approaches were developed to determine the metabolic workload of a subject in an open-loop space suit analogue. A study was conducted to compare the data obtained from three sensors: oxygen, carbon dioxide, and heart rate. Subjects performed treadmill exercise in an enclosed helmet assembly, which simulated the contained environment of a space suit while retaining arm and leg mobility. These results were validated against a standard system used by exercise physiologists. The carbon dioxide sensor method was shown to be the most reliable and a calibrated version of it is recommended for implementation into the MX-2 neutral buoyancy space suit analogue.
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    EFFECT OF ENDURANCE EXERCISE TRAINING ON FASTING AND POSTPRANDIAL PLASMA ADIPONECTIN LEVELS
    (2005-07-12) Brandauer, Josef; Hagberg, James M; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the postprandial response of plasma adiponectin (AN) levels to a high-calorie, high-fat meal, in relatively healthy (free of diabetes, overt heart disease) sedentary 50- to 75-year-old men and women before and after a six-month endurance exercise training program (approximately 70% of VO2 max, three times per week). AN is an adipocyte-released polypeptide ("adipokine") whose physiological significance in insulin sensitivity and other health risk factors is well documented. VO2 max was significantly increased with training in both men and women (men, 27.0 ± 0.9 vs. 32.2 ± 1.2 mL/kg/min, p < 0.0001; women, 23.3 ± 1.0 vs. 27.1 ± 1.4 mL/kg/min, p = 0.0002), while % body fat was decreased (men, 29.9 ± 1.2 vs. 26.0 ± 1.3 %, p = 0.0010 ; women, 42.3 ± 1.5 vs. 39.5 ± 1.8 %, p < 0.0001). Fasting AN levels were higher in women than in men (gender main effect, p = 0.0138), and fasting as well as postprandial adiponectin levels decreased significantly with training in men (p = 0.014) but not in women. No postprandial changes in plasma AN levels were observed in either gender. Stepwise regression analysis showed insulin sensitivity to be the strongest predictor of fasting AN levels. Postprandial AN levels were mainly dependent on fasting AN concentrations. In conclusion, fasting plasma adiponectin levels decreased with exercise training in men in the present study, whereas they remained unchanged in women. Postprandial adiponectin levels did not change following consumption of a high-fat meal either before or after exercise training.