Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a chronic liver disease that affects about a quarter of the world population. MAFLD encompasses different disease stadia ranging from isolated liver steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although MAFLD is considered as the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome, multiple concomitant disease-potentiating factors can accelerate disease progression. Among these risk factors are diet, lifestyle, genetic traits, intake of steatogenic drugs, male gender and particular infections. Although infections often outweigh the development of fatty liver disease, pre-existing MAFLD could be triggered to progress towards more severe disease stadia. These combined disease cases might be underreported because of the high prevalence of both MAFLD and infectious diseases that can promote or exacerbate fatty liver disease development. In this review, we portray the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which the most relevant viral, bacterial and parasitic infections influence the progression of fatty liver disease and steatohepatitis. We focus in particular on how infectious diseases, including coronavirus disease-19, hepatitis C, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, peptic ulcer and periodontitis, exacerbate MAFLD. We specifically underscore the synergistic effects of these infections with other MAFLD-promoting factors.

Background: COVID-19 is an emerging pathogen that has caused a global pandemic, with New York City as one of its epicenters Data are still forthcoming if pregnant women are more vulnerable to COVID-19, as they are with influenza Additionally, it is not known if infants born to COVID-19 positive women are at risk of being infected at birth Methods: In March 2020, our hospital instituted a policy of testing all pregnant women presenting for active labor and scheduled C-section or induction of labor, with a nasopharyngeal swab that was sent for RT-PCR qualitative SARSCoV- 2 assay (Roche Cobas? 6800) Upon birth, infants were also tested, unless the parent did not give consent We retrospectively reviewed the COVID-19 test results of all pregnant women and their infants, from March 23 through May 31, 2020 using our infection control surveillance system (VigiLanz?) We also reviewed the electronic medical record (EPIC?) for documentation of any symptoms consistent with COVID-19 infection either prior to hospitalization or during the hospital stay Results: A total of 415 women and 72 infants were tested for SARS-CoV-2 Of the 415 women tested, 41 (9 9%) were positive Of the 72 infants tested, 2 (2 8%) were positive and concordant with their birth parent Only 1 (2 4%) of the women who tested positive was symptomatic The remaining 40 (97 6%) women did not report any symptoms of COVID-19 during labor Neither of the two positive infants displayed any signs or symptoms of COVID-19 Of the 41 women who were positive, 5 did not consent to have their infant tested The one symptomatic woman who tested positive for COVID-19 had an infant who tested negative by PCR Conclusion: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found 9 9% (41/415) of pregnant women presenting for labor tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 Among the 41 women who tested positive, only 1 (2 4%) had symptoms on presentation and only 2 newborn infants tested positive Our data suggests that pregnant women may not be at increased risk for complications from COVID-19 disease and are not likely to transmit the disease to their infants during labor

Recently, a mini-review was published in the Medical Hypotheses journal by Usul Afsar entitled 2019-nCoV-SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection: Cruciality of Furin and relevance with cancer. Previous studies have pointed out that disruption of the proteolytic cleavage of proteins can promote infectious and non-infectious diseases. The last few weeks have been marked by an important revelation concerning the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2. This new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a highly contagious and transmissible acute respiratory infectious disorder. SARS-CoV-2 is composed of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and structural proteins including Spike protein (S protein). Interestingly, the FURIN, one of the proproteins of the convertase family, plays a crucial role in the maturation of viral glycoproteins. In addition, many viruses including coronaviruses, exploit FURIN for the activation of their glycoproteins. Recent data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 enters human cells by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Subsequently, the S protein is cleaved by transmembrane protease serine 2 with the help of FURIN which facilitates the entry of the virus into the cell after binding. Furthermore, it seems that FURIN is implicated in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and potentially in the increased rates of human-to-human transmission.

The COVID-19 outbreak began in Israel at the end of February 2020, and on March 17, 2020, a general lockdown was announced. Families were instructed to stay at home and schools and non-essential businesses were closed. Aiming to understand how families who were already living in areas of high exposure to armed conflict would be affected by another external stressful condition, data were collected before and after the outbreak. Mothers and children (aged 10C45 months) were recruited from areas with high (n = 40) and low (n = 78) exposure to armed conflict. Mothers reported on their posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and on their child's effortful control tendencies prior to the outbreak. Toward the end of the first lockdown, mothers were interviewed regarding adverse effects of the outbreak on their family. No group differences were found for maternal perceptions of adverse effects of COVID-19. However, a moderation model was revealed, indicating that maternal PTSS as well as child effortful control predicted adverse effects of COVID-19 only in the high-exposure group. Results are discussed considering cumulative stress and risk factors.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating medical and economic consequences globally. The severity of COVID-19 is related, in a large measure, to the extent of pulmonary involvement. The role of chest CT imaging in the management of patients with COVID-19 has evolved since the onset of the pandemic. Specifically, the description of CT scan findings, use of chest CT imaging in various acute and subacute settings, and its usefulness in predicting chronic disease have been defined better. We performed a review of published data on CT scans in patients with COVID-19. A summary of the range of imaging findings, from typical to less common abnormalities, is provided. Familiarity with these findings may facilitate the diagnosis and management of this disease. A comparison of sensitivity and specificity of chest CT imaging with reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing highlights the potential role of CT imaging in difficult-to-diagnose cases of COVID-19. The usefulness of CT imaging to assess prognosis, to guide management, and to identify acute pulmonary complications associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection is highlighted. Beyond the acute stage, it is important for clinicians to recognize pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities, progressive fibrotic lung disease, and vascular changes that may be responsible for persistent respiratory symptoms. A large collection of multi-institutional images were included to elucidate the CT scan findings described.

INTRODUCTION: Pro-inflammatory markers play a significant role in the disease severity of patients with COVID-19. Thus, anti-inflammatory therapies are attractive agents for potentially combating the uncontrolled inflammatory cascade in these patients. We designed a trial testing tocilizumab versus standard of care intending to improve the outcomes by inhibiting interleukin-6, an important inflammatory mediator in COVID-19. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This open-label multicentre randomized controlled trial will compare clinical outcomes of tocilizumab plus standard of care versus standard of care alone in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19. Two of the following four criteria are required for protocol enrolment: D-dimer > 1,000ng/mL; C reactive protein > 5mg/dL, ferritin > 300mg/dL, and lactate dehydrogenase > upper limit of normal. The primary objective will be to compare the clinical status on day 15, as measured by a 7-point ordinal scale applied in COVID-19 trials worldwide. The primary endpoint will be assessed by an ordinal logistic regression assuming proportional odds ratios adjusted for stratification variables (age and sex). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The TOCIBRAS protocol was approved by local and central (national) ethical committees in Brazil following current national and international guidelines/directives. Each participating center had the study protocol approved by their institutional review boards before initiating protocol enrolment. The data derived from this trial will be published regardless of the results. If proven active, this strategy could alleviate the consequences of the inflammatory response in COVID-19 patients and improve their clinical outcomes.

Background and Objectives: Controversy exists over whether myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is an organic disease or a psychosomatic illness. ME/CFS usually occurs as sporadic cases, but epidemics (outbreaks) have occurred worldwide. Myalgic encephalomyelitis was named to describe an outbreak affecting the lymphatic, muscular, and nervous systems that closed the Royal Free hospital for three months in 1955. Fifteen years later, two psychiatrists concluded that epidemic hysteria was the likely cause. ME/CFS research studies show multiple pathophysiological differences between patients and controls and a possible etiological role for infectious organisms, but the belief that ME/CFS is psychosomatic is widespread and has been specifically supported by the epidemic hysteria hypothesis for the Royal Free outbreak. Our objective was to obtain accounts from ex-Royal Free hospital staff who personally experienced the 1955 outbreak and evaluate evidence for it being an infectious illness versus epidemic hysteria. Materials and Methods: Statements in the newsletters of two organizations for staff who had worked at the Royal Free hospital invited anyone who had experienced the 1955 Royal Free outbreak to contact the authors. Accounts of the outbreak from telephone interviews and letters were evaluated against the epidemic hysteria hypothesis paper and original medical staff reports. Results: Twenty-seven ex-Royal Free hospital staff, including six who had developed ME, provided descriptions typical of an infectious illness affecting the lymphatic, muscular, and nervous systems, and were not consistent with epidemic hysteria. Conclusions: The 1955 Royal Free hospital epidemic of myalgic encephalomyelitis was an organic infectious disease, not psychogenic epidemic hysteria.

OBJECTIVES: An outbreak of the highly contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has sickened thousands of people in China. The purpose of this study was to explore the early clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of patients with COVID-19 from a single centre. All patients underwent real-time reverse transcription PCR for SARS-CoV-2 on admission. Demographic and clinical factors and laboratory data were reviewed and collected to evaluate for significant associations. RESULTS: The study included 541 patients with COVID-19. A total of 144 (26.6%) patients had a history of CVD. The mortality of patients with CVD reached 22.2%, which was higher than that of the overall population of this study (9.8%). Patients with CVD were also more likely to develop liver function abnormality, elevated blood creatinine and lactic dehydrogenase (p<0.05). Symptoms of sputum production were more common in patients with CVD (p=0.026). Lymphocytes, haemoglobin and albumin below the normal range were pervasive in the CVD group (p<0.05). The proportion of critically ill patients in the CVD group (27.8%) was significantly higher than that in the non-CVD group (8.8%). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that CVD (OR: 2.735 (95% CI 1.495 to 5.003), p=0.001) was associated with critical COVID-19 condition, while patients with coronary heart disease were less likely to reach recovery standards (OR: 0.331 (95% CI 0.125 to 0.880), p=0.027). CONCLUSIONS: Considering the high prevalence of CVD, a thorough CVD assessment at diagnosis and early intervention are recommended in COVID-19 patients with CVD. Patients with CVD are more vulnerable to deterioration.

Academic coaching has been emphasized in Korean universities as an effective measure to assist students academic achievement and success. To better assess the needs of the students, the current study investigated academic coaching intake session reports archived at a Korean university from January 2017 to August 2021 and examined students descriptions of their academic concerns and barriers. The intake session reports were categorized according to (1) students affiliated department tracks, namely Humanities and Social Science (HSS) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) tracks, and (2) the time the coaching sessions took place, i.e., before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. Text mining analysis was conducted to calculate the frequency of keywords, their degree of centrality, and the frequency of bigrams, or the sets of two adjacent words, for each category. Wordclouds and word networks were also visualized. The results indicated that the word study was dominant in both categories, reflecting the education culture in Korea. Similarities and differences between the two categories were also reported. Based on the results, practical implications for academic coaches, educators, and university administrators were proposed, and limitations were discussed.

This study aimed to characterize adolescents perspectives on cancer and cancer prevention and to explore their preferences for cancer education. A total of 188 middle and high school students participated in 25 focus groups. Focus groups were led by study team members and included five to ten participants each. Adolescents were asked to discuss their cancer and cancer prevention knowledge, sources of cancer education, and preferences for cancer prevention education. Focus groups were audio-recorded, and professionally transcribed. Transcripts were content and thematically analyzed by two study team members using NVivo qualitative data software. Six themes were identified in focus groups: knowledge about cancer, negative perceptions of cancer, awareness of cancer prevention, engagement in cancer prevention, facilitators and barriers for action, and preferences for cancer education. Adolescents described a wide range of cancer education sources, including friends, family, healthcare professionals, school, technology, and pamphlets. Participants associated cancer with negative emotions, such as sadness and fear. Participants expressed interest in learning about cancer and cancer prevention, but also identified barriers to engaging in preventative behaviors, such as discomfort, lack of knowledge, and lack of personal connection to cancer. Adolescents preferred learning through personal presentations, online videos, school, educational games, and social situations. Adolescence is a critical period for learning and developing healthy behaviors. Awareness of cancer and cancer prevention is crucial to lowering cancer risk in the future. To be effective, cancer education for adolescents should target specific areas of cancer prevention and address barriers to engagement in preventative behaviors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13187-021-02077-0.

In this survey study of 7,208 Dutch healthcare workers, we investigate whether healthcare workers dealing with COVID-19 patients experience lower general health, more physical and mental exhaustion and more sleep problems than other healthcare workers. Additionally, we study whether there are differences in well-being within the group of healthcare workers working with COVID-19 patients, based on personal and work characteristics. We find healthcare workers who are in direct contact with COVID-19 patients report more sleep problems and are more physically exhausted than those who are not in direct contact with COVID-19 patients. Mental exhaustion and general health do not significantly differ between healthcare workers who are in direct contact with COVID-19 patients and those who are not. Among healthcare workers in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, lower well-being on one or more indicators is reported by those who are female, living alone, without leadership role, or without sufficient protective equipment. Regarding age, physical exhaustion is more prevalent under healthcare workers older than 55 years, whereas mental exhaustion is more prevalent under healthcare workers younger than 36 years. These results stress the need of mental and physical support of healthcare workers during a pandemic, catered to the needs of healthcare workers themselves.

With the rapid spread of the pandemic due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the virus has already led to considerable mortality and morbidity worldwide, as well as having a severe impact on economic development. In this article, we analyze the state-level correlation between COVID-19 risk and weather/climate factors in the USA. For this purpose, we consider a spatio-temporal multivariate time series model under a hierarchical framework, which is especially suitable for envisioning the virus transmission tendency across a geographic area over time. Briefly, our model decomposes the COVID-19 risk into: (i) an autoregressive component that describes the within-state COVID-19 risk effect; (ii) a spatiotemporal component that describes the across-state COVID-19 risk effect; (iii) an exogenous component that includes other factors (e.g., weather/climate) that could envision future epidemic development risk; and (iv) an endemic component that captures the function of time and other predictors mainly for individual states. Our results indicate that maximum temperature, minimum temperature, humidity, the percentage of cloud coverage, and the columnar density of total atmospheric ozone have a strong association with the COVID-19 pandemic in many states. In particular, the maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and the columnar density of total atmospheric ozone demonstrate statistically significant associations with the tendency of COVID-19 spreading in almost all states. Furthermore, our results from transmission tendency analysis suggest that the community-level transmission has been relatively mitigated in the USA, and the daily confirmed cases within a state are predominated by the earlier daily confirmed cases within that state compared to other factors, which implies that states such as Texas, California, and Florida with a large number of confirmed cases still need strategies like stay-at-home orders to prevent another outbreak.

Background : The online teaching demand has increased tremendously to promote the implementation of online teaching-leaning system to meet the need of students during the outbreaks of emerging infectious disease. This study aims to explore whether the pandemic of COVID-19, which requires universities to rapidly offer online learning, will affect attitudes about online education for undergraduate health sciences students. Also, it investigates the barriers for using online tools. Method : A cross-sectional survey using online social media was used to recruit eligible participants. The data for this study were focused on students experiences utilizing an online education method offered by the Jordanian government universities. This study is utilizing newly developed measuring tools that are expected to enable students to evaluate online teaching in terms of their own learning progress. Results : A total of 1,210 participants agreed to complete the online survey questionnaire. The mean score preparedness and attitude toward online education was average. The majority of students agreed that online courses helped assign reading and homework time better than on-campus approach (75.0%) and felt comfortable to actively communicate with my classmates and instructors online. Zoom and eLearning were the most common online platforms utilized by students. The geographic locations, lack of past experience on using online tools, and lack of past experience on using online tools were identified by students as the main barrier to online educations. Conclusions : Although the pandemic of COVID-19 appeared as uncommon catalyst for promoting eLearning, further research is needed to assess whether learners are ready and willing to make greater use of online education to obtain high quality teaching and learning opportunities, which could totally change educators and students attitudes and impression, and subsequently the general themes of online education.

Nonspecific symptoms and decreased quality of life can persist after the illness resolves.

Background The shortage of doctors in postwar Okinawa has led to the creation of co-medicals. They were called medical service personnel and authorized to handle certain medical treatments. This included tasks such as providing injections and vaccinations under the supervision of the doctor in the health center. Issue/problem The system of co-medicals only applied in Okinawa and not in Japan. As such, when Okinawa was reverted back to Japan in 1972, it was proposed to abolish the system. In the current emergency of the new coronavirus pandemic, we are facing a similar situation in terms of the shortage of medical personnel. Description of the problem In Japan, like many countries, there is a shortage of health resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus will be on healthcare personnel, those who have taken on the role of COVID-19 vaccinators in Japan, and a comparison of the situation in other countries. Results In Japan, vaccinations are legally limited to being administered by doctors and nurses. However, pharmacists have taken on the role of administering vaccinations in the UK, US, Ireland, Canada, and Italy, thus COVID-19 vaccinations could be easily integrated into these routine procedures.Even vaccinations by medical students have been carried out. In addition, non-healthcare volunteers have been trained as vaccinators in UK and Italy. The coverage has reached 50% in the UK, 42% in the US, and 30% in Canada, whereas 1.8% in Japan in April (Our World in Data, 2021). Lessons Although the COVID-19 situation is substantially different from the case of postwar Okinawa, it will be necessary to take resilient measures to solve the medical personnel shortage. Additionally, the strict measures of limiting vaccinations by medical doctors may need to be reconsidered in Japan. Establishing a system of allowing co-medicals to have a shared role could offer innumerable benefits for all. Key messages Expanding the task of vaccinations to co-medicals has had beneficial results in several countries. Dividing roles of medical doctor need to be considered.

Background Competency frameworks serve many roles including outlining characteristics of a competent workforce, to provide clarity to complex constructs, to facilitate professional mobility, and to help structure analysis, evaluation or assessment of professional expertise. Given these roles and their relevance in the health professions, we sought to understand the methods and strategies used in the development of existing competency frameworks. Methods The Arksey and O'Malley framework was applied to undertake this scoping review. Six electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus, and ERIC) and three grey literature sources (greylit.org, Trove and Google Scholar) were searched using keywords related to competency frameworks. Studies of all types were included that described the development of a competency framework in a healthcare profession. Studies were screened for inclusion, and data were extracted independently by two reviewers. Data synthesis was both quantitative and qualitative. Results Among 5,710 citations, 190 were selected for analysis. The majority of studies were conducted in medicine and nursing professions. Group techniques were utilised in 140 studies (74%), literature reviews were conducted in 112 (59%), and 81 (43%) outlined some form of stakeholder deliberation. We found a significant degree of diversity in methodological strategies, inconsistent adherence to existing guidance on the selection of methods, who was involved, and based on the variation we observed in timeframes, form, choice, sequence, combination, function, application and reporting of methods and strategies, there is no apparent gold standard or standardised approach to competency framework development. Conclusions This review observed significant variation within the conduct and reporting of the competency framework development process. Such variation is a cause for concern, potentially resulting in the development of frameworks that may not have captured the complexities of clinical practice, which are therefore of limited value to the profession, and may unwillingly create and legitimise artificial outcomes. The results of this review suggest there is a need for improved guidance in the process for developing and reporting competency frameworks.

Increasing data indicate that bats harbor diverse viruses, some of which cause severe human diseases. In this study, sequence-independent amplification and high-throughput sequencing (Solexa) were applied to the metagenomic analysis of viruses in bat fecal samples collected from 6 locations in China. A total of 8,746,417 reads with a length of 306,124,595 bp were obtained. Among these reads, 13,541 (0.15%) had similarity to phage sequences and 9,170 (0.1%) had similarity to eukaryotic virus sequences. A total of 129 assembled contigs (>100 nucleotides) were constructed and compared with GenBank: 32 contigs were related to phages, and 97 were related to eukaryotic viruses. The most frequent reads and contigs related to eukaryotic viruses were homologous to densoviruses, dicistroviruses, coronaviruses, parvoviruses, and tobamoviruses, a range that includes viruses from invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants. Most of the contigs had low identities to known viral genomic or protein sequences, suggesting that a large number of novel and genetically diverse insect viruses as well as putative mammalian viruses are transmitted by bats in China. This study provides the first preliminary understanding of the virome of some bat populations in China, which may guide the discovery and isolation of novel viruses in the future.

Unconsciousness is a fundamental component of general anesthesia (GA), but anesthesiologists have no reliable ways to be certain that a patient is unconscious. To develop EEG signatures that track loss and recovery of consciousness under GA, we recorded high-density EEGs in humans during gradual induction of and emergence from unconsciousness with propofol. The subjects executed an auditory task at 4-s intervals consisting of interleaved verbal and click stimuli to identify loss and recovery of consciousness. During induction, subjects lost responsiveness to the less salient clicks before losing responsiveness to the more salient verbal stimuli; during emergence they recovered responsiveness to the verbal stimuli before recovering responsiveness to the clicks. The median frequency and bandwidth of the frontal EEG power tracked the probability of response to the verbal stimuli during the transitions in consciousness. Loss of consciousness was marked simultaneously by an increase in low-frequency EEG power (<1 Hz), the loss of spatially coherent occipital alpha oscillations (8-12 Hz), and the appearance of spatially coherent frontal alpha oscillations. These dynamics reversed with recovery of consciousness. The low-frequency phase modulated alpha amplitude in two distinct patterns. During profound unconsciousness, alpha amplitudes were maximal at low-frequency peaks, whereas during the transition into and out of unconsciousness, alpha amplitudes were maximal at low-frequency nadirs. This latter phase-amplitude relationship predicted recovery of consciousness. Our results provide insights into the mechanisms of propofol-induced unconsciousness, establish EEG signatures of this brain state that track transitions in consciousness precisely, and suggest strategies for monitoring the brain activity of patients receiving GA.

OBJECTIVES: Association between employment contract (temporary vs. permanent) and suicidal ideation (persistent suicidal ideation [i.e., with onset before COVID\19] or newly developed under COVID\19 pandemic) was examined using a nationally representative cross\sectional study in Japan. METHODS: An Internet survey was conducted from August to September 2020. The participants inclusion criteria for this study were as follows: (i) 20C65 years old, (ii) employees (excluding self\employed, students, retired, housewives, and unemployed). The associations of suicidal ideation with the employees factors were analyzed using the multinomial logistic regression model, adjusting for covariates (sex, age, marital status, education, company size, industries, and a history of psychiatric disease). RESULTS: Of total 12 249 participants, 72.4% were permanent and 27.6% were temporary employees. The prevalence was 8.5% for persistent suicidal ideation and 3.2% for newly developed suicidal ideation in the COVID\19 pandemic. Temporary employment was significantly associated with persistent suicidal ideation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.36 [95% confidence interval, CI: 1.16C1.59]; P < .001), but not associated with newly developed suicidal ideation (aOR = 1.10 [0.85C1.42]; P = .457) after adjusting the covariates. Sensitivity analysis showed temporary employment was significantly associated with persistent suicidal ideation only in women. Newly developed suicidal ideation was significantly higher among participants of a young age, employees in drinking/eating/hotel business industry, and those having a history of psychiatric disease than among the counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Working on a temporary employment contract was associated with persistent suicidal ideation under conditions of COVID\19 outbreaks in Japan. However, the result showed no significant difference in newly developed suicidal ideation. Further longitudinal study will be needed to examine the risk of being employed on an unstable occupational contract in the prolonged pandemic.

The present study compared a 3-second isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), concentric MVC and eccentric MVC of the elbow flexors performed daily for 5 days a week for 4 weeks for changes in muscle strength and thickness. Young sedentary individuals were assigned to one of three training groups (n=13 per group) that performed either 3-second isometric, concentric or eccentric MVC once a day for 20 days, or to a control group (n=10) that had measurements without training. The participants in the isometric group performed isometric MVC at 55 (0.96rad) elbow flexion, and those in the concentric or eccentric group performed concentric MVC or eccentric MVC between 10 (0.17rad) and 100 (1.75rad) elbow flexion at 30/s (0.52rad/s) on an isokinetic dynamometer. MVC isometric torque at 20 (0.35rad), 55 (0.96rad), and 90 (1.57 rad) elbow flexion, MVC concentric and eccentric torque at 30/s (0.52rad/s) and 180/s (3.14rad/s), and muscle thickness of biceps brachii and brachialis were measured before and several days after the 20th exercise session. The control group did not show any changes. The eccentric group showed increases (p<0.01) in isometric (three angle average: 10.26.4%), concentric (two velocity average: 12.89.6%) and eccentric MVC torque (12.27.8%). An increase (p<0.05) was limited for isometric MVC torque (6.36.0%) in the concentric group, and for eccentric MVC torque (7.24.4%) in the isometric group. No significant changes in muscle thickness were evident for all groups. Performing one 3-second MVC a day increased muscle strength, but eccentric MVC produced more potent effects than isometric or concentric MVC.