Prix pour les jeunes 2020

Les concurrentes et les concurrents ont présenté un « extended abstract » qui a été évalué par le jury avant le congrès. Les cinq candidat(e)s  ayant obtenu le plus grand nombre de points ont été invités à faire une présentation de 10 minutes suivie d’une discussion de 8 minutes. Une présentation en anglais a été exigée des finalistes.
Sur les dix concurrents qui se sont présentés, les personnes suivantes ont été qualifiées pour la finale :

  • Chris Donnelly: Development of a model in vitro system to study skeletal muscle adaptations to sprint interval training in normoxia and normobaric hypoxia
  • Giulia Lona: Long-term Effects of Physical Activity, Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure on Retinal Microvascular Health in School Children: The Sportcheck Follow-Up Study
  • Bastien Presset: The social meaning of steps. User reception of a mobile health intervention on physical activity
  • Christel Schäfer: Can we optimize the use of transcranial direct current stimulation to improve endurance performance?
  • Marc Yanguez Escalera: Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Executive Functions and Scholastic Performance: examining the cognitive mediation mechanisms

Nous félicitons les gagnants, dont les présentations sont brièvement présentées ci-dessous.

Première place: Chris Donnelly (Universität Lausanne)
Titel: Development of an in vitro model to study skeletal muscle adaptations to sprint interval training in normoxia and hypoxia
The application of molecular biology techniques to exercise physiology has provided novel insights into intracellular signaling networks involved in the response to exercise. Indeed, in attempt to amplify endurance training adaptations athletes use strategies to impose greater “metabolic stress” in the belief that provoking disturbances to homeostasis will maximize intracellular responses in skeletal muscle, promote superior training adaptations, and enhance endurance performance. However, the triggers of adaptation to sprint interval training, hypoxia and a combination of both remain unknown.
Given the complexity of in vivo biology and the difficulties linking a molecular mechanism to a physiological manifestation we are obliged to perform complimentary experiments in ex vivo models to decipher the mechanisms underpinning skeletal muscle responses and adaptations to sprint interval training and hypoxia. With this in mind, we developed a new in vitro model to study skeletal muscle responses and adaptations to sprint interval training in normoxia and hypoxia.
Briefly, we electrically stimulate myotubes to contract using a sprint interval training mimicking stimulation protocol in normoxia or hypoxia. Using a range of techniques our findings point to a key role of the ryanodine receptor type-1 and calcium in skeletal muscle mitochondrial adaptations to sprint interval training.

Deuxième place: Mary Yanguez Escalera (Universität Genf)
Titel: Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Executive Functions and scholastic performance: examining the cognitive mediation mechanisms 
A growing body of evidence suggests that physical activity not only has positive effects on children’s physical condition, but also on their cognitive functioning and scholastic performance Executive functions (EF) have been proposed as the cognitive mechanism that explains how fitness measures (e.g. aerobic fitness or motor ability) are positively associated with enhanced scholastic performance. The present study asked, whether EF components contribute differently to scholastic performance. 169 children 8 to 12 years (81 female) participated in this study. To evaluate EF, we used 9 classical cognitive tasks (3 tasks per cognitive construct) tapping inhibition, cognitive flexibility and working memory. To evaluate cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), children completed the 20-meter shuttle run test during the physical education course. The results of mediation analyses revealed that the different components of EF mediate the link between CRF and scholastic performance. More precisely, cognitive flexibility appears to be the main responsible mediating the effect of CRF on specific subjects like math and grammar.

Deuxième place: Bastien Presset (Universität Lausanne)
Titel: The social meaning of steps - User reception of a mobile health intervention on physical activity
Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have received increasing attention from industry and researchers. Such technologies have been the focus of criticism and high expectations.
However, little is known regarding their integration in everyday life. Insights into the actual use of such tools have empirical importance and could contribute to our theoretical understanding of mHealth technologies.
Our research is based on 23 interviews with the participants of a smartphone-based mobile health intervention aimed at increasing physical activity.
Our results reveal that the intervention design can result in the participants feeling ill-represented by the reductive nature of the data they generate. The results also reveal the inadequacy between biomedical standards and the social contexts of use. In addition, we describe how middle-class users perceive step-counting through the prism of a moralizing ethos of self-responsibility.
Our research has practical implications for the developers and participants of mHealth interventions and theoretical implications regarding mHealth as a societal practice. We also suggest that mHealth-related public policies can have negative effects on population groups who do not share the values of the interventions.