Since Mr. Borowsky would collaborate with us, we did further research on the what methodologies other studies used. We have most of the equipment for the research, including several bikes, a cycle ergometer, a metabolic cart, and other minor tools. The goal for today is to look up how other research determine the fatigue time for subjects.
Most of the published studies indicate that the subject will do an incremental cycling test, measured by a cycle ergometer. The incremental exercise will eventually (some have 4 stages of increase from the warm-up pace to VO2 power pace, some have 6) lead up to the subject's VO2 pace rate, and the fatigue time is determined when the subject can no longer continue at the VO2 power pace. Our agenda for the rest of the semester is drafted as below; 1. Measure the subject's VO2 max, power, warm-up pace. 2. Do two familiar trials with cycling test. 3. Do two Control Tea test. 4. Do two TruGrit Tea test. 5. Analyze the results and conclude. Thus, our protocol will be 1. Run few control tests with metabolic cart. 2. Measure the subject's VO2 max, power, threshold pace, warm-up pace. 3. Have the subject drink either the control tea or the TruGrit tea depending on if it is a control tea trial or TruGrit tea trial. 4. Do familiar trials with cycling incremental test of 4 paces. 5. Determine the fatigue time. Some details that we have to decide on are: 1. Whether or not we should control the subject's diet. We have discussed that we may have the subject eat and drink the same food within the 2 hours before coming to the experiment. 2. The amount of tea we give to the subject. We think that 2 cups of tea may cause the subjects to urinate, so 1 cup of tea may be a better choice.
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The white cylinder under the computer is the flowmeter used to detect O2 consumption and CO2 release. The computer shows how the data file looks like. Before actual operation to test the oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of the subject, calibration test and gas test is required. The gas cylinder contains O2 and CO2 with labelled concentration on the cylinder. The controlled test results will show the concentration the metabolic cart detects. (Remember to switch on the cylinder when in usage, and switch off when done.) My mentor first introduced me with the metabolic cart and the instructions to use it. Procedure: 1. Turn on the metabolic cart to warm up for 15 minutes 2. Put on flowmeter turbine and mask for the subject. (28 mm or 18 mm for the flowmeter) 3. Run a calibration test. 4. Turn on the gas cylinder, run a gas test. 5. Measure the subject's heigh and weight. Get the basic information of age, gender, etc. 6. Attach the flowmeter to the flowmeter cylinder (transparent, plastic) and screw the other side of the flowmeter to the subject's mask (where the mouth is). Double check if the flowmeter stays stable. 7. Have the subject go on bike/ run/ exercise and start testing for a time range. 8. Go to "edit test" to see the results and compare the VO2 and VCO2 with intensity. The metabolic cart was a big progress in my internship today, but another surprising news is that we might change our research from finding the correlation between VO2 max and LT to studying the "TruGrit Tea" that The Whistling Kettle just launched. The TruGrit Tea is examined to provide more energy with less caffeine and more nutrients it contains. Because the examination only includes "energy effects" vs time graph and experiments, my mentor and I proposed the idea to study the "fatigue time" that the TruGrit Tea has in comparison to other ordinary tea. The "fatigue time' is the duration that an athlete or subject starts exercising to feeling tired and fatigues. We thought that it would be wonderful to support the TruGrit tea if its energy provided is better to sustain the duration than other tea. Thus, we contacted the owner of The Whistling Kettle, Mr. Borowsky, for further information. Mr. Borowsky generously supported our idea and would provide us the TruGrit tea and a controlled tea (tastes similar but without all the ingredients that TruGrit tea contains) for our study. The internship today was unexpectedly progressive. Our initial plan for the TruGrit tea research is listed as below: 1. Let the subject be warmed up and ready to workouts. 2. Let the subject has a cup of TruGrit tea and continues working out, with the metabolic cart testing. 3. Measure the fatigue time. 4. Let the subject rest and has a cup of the controlled tea and continues working out, same with the metabolic cart testing. 5. Measure the fatigue time. 6. Graph the data to compare the fatigue time with the TruGrit tea and the controlled tea to check if the TruGrit tea increases the fatigue time. Analysers we found today:
Analox GL5 (costly) Lactate Pro (available outside of US) Super GL Ambulance (costly) Photometer Analyzer (available outside of US) The internship today was mostly researching and finding other analyzers that are affordable and more accurate. We contacted the company of analox distributor and learned that the analyzer costs around $10,000, which is more than what our budget can afford, and that the company had also gotten many comments about the inaccuracy of Lactate Plus meter and other portable analyzers. We were quite disappointed that there is not other accurate and affordable analyzer we can purchase. Hence, we decided to test the lactate plus meter again with controlled solution and fingertips. Nevertheless, nothing much had changed. The controlled solution test was within the range of 1.0 mmol to 1.6 mmol, but the fingertips test was way off from 1.4 mmol to 2.3 mmol. My mentor and I discussed the possibility of changing the direction of our study, since both of us did not want to abide by the great variability. Going along with the obstacle of accuracy we were facing, we decided to try earlobe testing instead of fingertip testing, hoping that it would improve the accuracy.
We basically did the same preparation and followed the same protocol as the fingertip testing, except for changing the depth and intensity of lancets since earlobes were much thiner than fingertips. The earlobe testing was, in a way, scary because my blood would not stop bleeding, and I could not see the process of poking and collecting samples. The wounds for earlobes were surprisingly more visible and bigger than the fingertip wounds even though we decreased the depth and intensity. As expected, it was easier to collect blood samples of earlobes because the skin was thin, which helps to poke the capillaries. Both Andrew and I were tested; nevertheless, the results still had 30% of variability that we were not satisfied of. Further research on previous articles were done, and we found that Dmax method and BSX Insight calf sleeve were both methodologies that other studies used. However, Dmax method is used to calculate lactate threshold, so lactate concentration measurement is still needed. BSX Insight is a recent technique that is primarily used in athletes, rather than studies. Thus, we decided to stay with the Lactate Plus meter we have now and see if there is other analyzers we can afford and get as soon as possible. |
AuthorClass of 2019 at Emma Willard School. Archives
May 2018
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