Lactate testing made easy

Link to article, you're welcome.

How Fit Are You? Lactate Test Made Easy

ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) — Performance athletes need to know their blood lactate level. It indicates how much lactic acid has collected in their blood as a result of physical exertion and enables conclusions to be drawn about their fitness. Professional athletes therefore regularly have to attend performance diagnosis sessions.

As they pedal a cycle ergometer at various levels of exertion, a doctor takes blood samples from an earlobe. A special device then measures the concentration of lactate in the blood.

Such scenarios will soon be a thing of the past. Using a miniaturized measuring system, performance and leisure athletes will in future be able to monitor their lactate readings themselves – including during training. Normally the analytical devices are quite big and cost several thousand euros. “We have found a way of miniaturizing the measurement system so that it can be accommodated in an ear clip. The results could be radioed by the ear clip to a training wristwatch or a cellphone,” says Thomas van den Boom, group manager at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg. An electrochemical method is used to measure the lactate value.

In a chemical reaction, an enzyme triggers a redox flow from the lactate which can be measured using electrodes. The measurement system, which could be installed for example in an ear clip, consists of two microchips: the innovative nanopotentiostat fits on a chip measuring just two by three millimeters and costs less than one euro. “The second chip incorporates microelectrodes which we have developed for this purpose and which we can couple with the nanopotentiostat,” explains van den Boom. One of the microelectrodes is coated with a thin layer of gel containing the enzyme. There are altogether three microelectrodes on the chip, which are activated by the nanopotentiostat. Two serve the purpose of electrochemical measurement while the third keeps the electrochemical potential constant end thus ensures a stable voltage.

The engineers can coat the electrode with different enzymes so that, apart from lactate measurement, various other analyses can be performed in the blood or other electrolytes. The advantage is that the electrodes are very small and cheap – and the analyses can be carried out in a mobile environment. A first demonstrator of the nanopotentiostat for lactate measurement (without earclip) has already been produced.


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Pearl Izumi ads

I like these, but at the same time hate these.






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Crazy 1 man band video

visitor map

Good to see some diversity on the visitor map.

Rounding into shape

After a few weeks of working out with the free weights at the gym I finally feel like my body has taken to the added tissue damage caused by working out and running. I have not been running far (a few miles, 6 max) as I have been feeling exhausted and my lower back is starting to get sore again and I dont want to end up with 3 more months of physical therapy. I need to get back out on the roads as I have a hard time running on the treadmill at the gym. The spin classes have been good as they get my heart rate right up to near 100%. Between adding strength and spin to target both slow and fast twitch muscles I think this could be my most productive training program ever and I should see some good gains as the times drop. now if I could just get that diet under control.

Good to see Ramzi's "B" sample tested positive for drugs as well. Get the cheaters out.

Former NAU alum and runner Lopez Lomong qualified for the US world team for Berlin this summer. Props to him and good luck!


Anyone else tired of the Michael Jackson news? If a president dies there is not this much hoopla.



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Deena Kastor interview

Here is a link to an interview Deena did with the NY Times regarding diet for an elite marathoner. She says that she eats a lot of calories, but does not count her calories due to her running 2 times a day 6 days a week and once on Sundays.

Linky thing





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