درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Background: Researchers have always been interested in the focus of attention and the quiet eye. However, the effect of distance of attentional strategy in different anxiety conditions has remained unclear.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of attentional strategies on gaze behavior and the performance of dart throwing in novices under anxiety conditions.Materials and Methods: The participants were 42 female, Alzahra University students, aged 18-35 years. Participants with high trait anxiety (score higher than 24) were excluded using the Sports Competition Anxiety Test through a state anxiety questionnaire. Participants were randomly divided into two groups of high and low-trait anxiety. They performed the dart-throwing task counterbalanced in four different attention strategies (distal external attention, proximal external attention, internal attention, and control). The participants in the high-anxiety group were told that if they performed each throw correctly, they would receive a cash prize, and the low-anxiety group performed the throwing without anxiety and any instruction. At the same time as dart throwing, gaze behavior data was recorded with an eye tracker device. After the anxiety manipulation, the individual's anxiety was measured with Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2.Results: The results showed that the low-anxiety group performed better than the high-anxiety group (P=0.01). Also, external attention had a lower radial error in both high and low-anxiety groups. No significant difference was found in the average duration and number of fixations between different attentional strategies and groups. The comparison of the mean showed that in the low anxiety group, the fixation duration in the external attention strategy was longer, and in the high anxiety group, the fixation duration in the external attention and control strategies was longer than other strategies.Conclusion: The present study supported the preplanning hypothesis, attentional control theory, and inhibition hypothesis, but was inconsistent with the restricted action hypothesis. These results showed the importance of the effect of anxiety on gaze behavior and performance in directing future research.

The D2 Attention Test is widely used to assess attention capacity, particularly in terms of information processing speed and concentration performance. This study aimed to establish normative data for the D2 test among athletes from both team and individual sports, considering gender, sport type, and level of expertise. The sample consisted of 177 male and female athletes aged 14 to 30 from North and Razavi Khorasan provinces. The D2 test was administered, and data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test via SPSS version 23. Percentile ranks were calculated for attention indices based on age, gender, sport experience, and sport type. No significant differences were found across age groups or levels of experience in processing speed, errors, or attention/focus indices (P > 0.05). However, a significant gender difference emerged in error rates (P = 0.008), with female athletes exhibiting fewer errors. Athletes in team sports demonstrated significantly higher processing speed than those in individual sports (P = 0.01). These findings highlight the importance of considering both gender and sport type when interpreting attentional performance. The results underscore the need for customized cognitive training programs that account for individual differences to optimize athletes’ attentional and cognitive capabilities across sport disciplines.

Background : Dysfunction of Skeletal muscle mitochondrial is often associated with some of the metabolic diseases for instance diabetes. Aim: the aim of this research was to study the effect of eight weeks of aerobic exercise training on proteins levels of MFN1, MFN2, FIS1 and Drp1 in gastrocnemius muscle of diabetic rats. Martials and Methods: In the present study, the 20 male Wistar rats (age: 8 weeks, weight: 200±20 g)  were randomly divided into four groups of Diabetic Control (DC), Diabetic Training(DT), Healthy Control (HC) and Healthy Training (HT). Induction of type-2 diabetes was done by combining of High-Fat Diet and Streptozotocin (30 mg/kg) injection . In the training groups, the aerobic exercise training program was carried out for eight weeks based on the principle of gradual overload, and the training intensity was increased from 15 m/min for 30 minutes in the first week to 25 m/min for 60 minutes in the last week. 48 hours after the last training session, the rats were unconscious, then the tissue of the gastrocnemius muscle was extracted and kept at -80 temperature. The levels of all proteins were evaluated by western blot technique. One-way ANOVA analysis with Tukey's post hoc was used for comparison of variables in between groups at a significance level of 0.05 by SPSS-23 software. Results: Induced diabetes caused by the combination of high-fat diet and streptozotocin injection led to a significant decrease in MFN1 (P=0.001) and MFN2 (P=0.019) proteins and a significant increase in FIS1(P=0.012) and Drp1(P=0.023) proteins in the gastrocnemius muscle of diabetic rats. However,  aerobic exercise training led to a significant increase in MFN1(P=0.009) and MFN2 (P=0.015) and a significant decrease in FIS1(P=0.002) and Drp1(P=0.034) proteins  in the muscle of diabetic rats (P< 0.05). Conclusion: due to the results of this study, type-2 diabetes disturbs the mitochondrial dynamics and the optimal function of skeletal muscles. On the other hand, exercise, as a beneficial and complication-free strategy has a essential role to maintenance the balance of mitochondrial dynamics and its optimal function in the diabetic skeletal muscles.