https://hdl.handle.net/11000/412 2026-09-14T23:44:55Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40662 Título : The Effects of Nicotine on Cortical Excitability After Exercise: A Double-Blind Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Crossover Study. Autor : Zandonai, Thomas; Pizzolato, Fabio; TAM, Enrico; BRUSEGHINI, Paolo; Chiamulera, Cristiano; Cesari, Paola Resumen : Purpose: The use of smokeless tobacco/nicotine products is common among athletes, but clear evidence for their positive or negative effect on sports performance is lacking. Nicotine is a psychoactive substance involved in numerous neuronal processes including cortical excitability. The aim of this study was to evaluate its effect on cortical excitability associated with aerobic exercise in nicotine-naive healthy volunteers. Methods: Ten nicotine-naive healthy volunteers were recruited for this double-blind, randomized, crossover study to compare the effect of snus (8 mg nicotine), an oral, smokeless tobacco product, to placebo on cortical excitability before and after aerobic exercise. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to measure changes in corticomotor excitability (motor-evoked potentials, MEPs) and electromyography of leg muscles duringmaximal voluntary contractions (MVC) to assess changes inmuscle contractions. Before and after aerobic exercise and with or without nicotine treatment, MEPs and MVCs were measured. Results: Analysis of TMS data showed lower motor cortex activation (lower MEP amplitude) after snus administration compared with placebo, whereas electromyography data showed no difference in muscle contraction between snus and placebo treatment. Conclusions: These findings suggest a general reduction in cortical excitability, without no relevant effect on physical performance. 2026-09-14T08:52:40Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40661 Título : Smoker and smokeless tobacco user athletes: dual users? Autor : Zandonai, Thomas; Chiamulera, Cristiano 2026-09-14T08:51:48Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40660 Título : Novel evidence on the effect of tramadol on self-paced high-intensity cycling. Autor : Zandonai, Thomas; Holgado, Darías; Ciria, Luis; Zabala, Mikel; Hopker, James; Bekinschtein, Tristan; Sanabria, Daniel Resumen : The use of tramadol is a controversial topic in cycling. In order to provide novel evidence on this issue, we tested 29 participants in a pre-loaded cycling time trial (TT; a 20-min TT preceded by 40-min of constant work-rate at 60% of the VO2max) after ingesting 100 mg of tramadol (vs placebo and paracetamol (1.5 g)). Participants performed the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) at rest and a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) during the 60 min of exercise. Oscillatory electroencephalography (EEG) activity was measured throughout the exercise. The results showed higher mean power output during the 20- min TT in the tramadol vs. paracetamol condition, but no reliable difference was reported between tramadol and placebo (nor paracetamol vs. placebo). Tramadol resulted in faster responses in the PVT and higher heart rate during exercise. The main effect of substance was reliable in the SART during the 40-min constant workload (no during the 20-min TT), with slower reaction time, but better accuracy for tramadol and paracetamol than for placebo. This study supports the increased behavioural and neural efficiency at rest for tramadol but not the proposed ergogenic or cognitive (harmful) effect of tramadol (vs. placebo) during self-paced high-intensity cycling. 2026-09-14T08:50:11Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40659 Título : Tramadol effects on physical performance and sustained attention during a 20-min indoor cycling time-trial: A randomised controlled trial Autor : Holgado, Darías; Zandonai, Thomas; Zabala, Mikel; Hopker, James; Perakakis, Pandelis; Luque-Casado, Antonio; Ciria, Luis; Guerra-Hernandez, Eduardo; Sanabria, Daniel Resumen : Objectives: To investigate the effect of tramadol on performance during a 20-min cycling time-trial (Experiment 1), and to test whether sustained attention would be impaired during cycling after tramadol intake (Experiment 2). Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial. Methods: In Experiment 1, participants completed a cycling time-trial, 120-min after they ingested either tramadol or placebo. In Experiment 2, participants performed a visual oddball task during the time-trial. Electroencephalography measures (EEG) were recorded throughout the session. Results: In Experiment 1, average time-trial power output was higher in the tramadol vs. placebo condition (tramadol: 220 W vs. placebo: 209 W; p < 0.01). In Experiment 2, no differences between conditions were observed in the average power output (tramadol: 234 W vs. placebo: 230 W; p > 0.05). No behavioural differences were found between conditions in the oddball task. Crucially, the time frequency analysis in Experiment 2 revealed an overall lower target-locked power in the beta-band (p < 0.01), and higher alpha suppression (p < 0.01) in the tramadol vs. placebo condition. At baseline, EEG power spectrum was higher under tramadol than under placebo in Experiment 1 while the reverse was true for Experiment 2. Conclusions: Tramadol improved cycling power output in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2, which may be due to the simultaneous performance of a cognitive task. Interestingly enough, the EEG data in Experiment 2 pointed to an impact of tramadol on stimulus processing related to sustained attention. 2026-09-14T08:49:19Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40658 Título : Exercise performance increase in smokeless tobacco‐user athletes after overnight nicotine abstinence. Autor : Zandonai, Thomas; TAM, Enrico; BRUSEGHINI, Paolo; Capelli, Carlo; Baraldo, Massimo; Chiamulera, Cristiano Resumen : The use of nicotine administered through smokeless tobacco (snus) has increased among athletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ergogenic effects of snus on aerobic performance during exercise until exhaustion in athletes after abstinence or satiety nicotine conditions. The study utilized a randomized, controlled, within‐subject design experiment. Sixteen male snus‐user athletes completed an exercise until exhaustion at a constant load of their 80% of ̇V O 2 max (calculated by a maximal incremental test) in two separate sessions, corresponding to nicotine conditions: 12‐hour overnight abstinence and satiety. A portion of 1 g of snus (~8 mg/g of nicotine) was administered 25 minutes before each experimental test. In each session, time to exhaustion (TTE), global rating of perceived exertion, cardiovascular and metabolic responses, and muscle and cerebral oxygenation were measured. Nicotine and cotinine analysis confirmed session conditions (abstinence or satiety). Snus induced a significant increase (+13.1%) of TTE following abstinence (24.1 ± 10.7 minutes) compared to satiety condition (20.9 ± 8.0 minutes; P = 0.0131). The baseline values revealed that abstinence of snus induced significant increase in the oxygenation of the muscular tissues (+4%), in metabolic values and in cardiovascular parameters, when compared to satiety condition. Our results indicate an increase of exercise performance (+13.1% TTE) due to snus administration in an abstinence condition. Considering that twelve hours of abstinence from snuscontained nicotine affected metabolic, cardiovascular and muscular tissue oxygenation, we suggest that snus administration at test time might relieve these withdrawal changes and yield an increase in time to exhaustion. 2026-09-14T08:48:26Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40657 Título : Effects of nicotine on microvascular responsiveness after nicotine satiety versus overnight nicotine abstinence. Autor : TAM, Enrico; BRUSEGHINI, Paolo; Capelli, Carlo; Baraldo, Massimo; Chiamulera, Cristiano; Zandonai, Thomas 2026-09-14T08:47:37Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40656 Título : Use of analgesics in professional soccer players: A systematic review Autor : Zandonai, Thomas; Lozano, Juan José; Escorial, Mónica; Peiro, Ana Resumen : Objective: Use of painkillers appears to have become a widespread issue in the sporting environment as athletes pursue successful pain relief during competitions. We conducted a systematic review on the prevalence of analgesics use in soccer, using literature from January 1980 to July 2021. Methods: The systematic review followed PRISMA guidelines. Studies were obtained from the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (WOS) databases. In total, 213 articles were found where 14 were selected. The risk of bias was assessed using the NIH scale for preva-lence studies and the PEDro quality scale for randomized control trials (RCTs). Results: Less than 3% of the literature were randomized studies (n=10 observational; n=4 double-blind trials) and only 2 studies included females. At least 54% of the research subjects consumed analgesic drugs during the course of their tournaments, and nearly half of them (39-67%) did so before each match, mostly in the form of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (15% of daily use). Conclusion: Given that short-term observational studies indicated high consumption of analgesics despite limited evidence of their pain control effectiveness, the question is raised whether this potential drug abuse affects the sexes at the same rates and in the same ways. Further investigation into these specific cohorts is needed. 2026-09-14T08:46:45Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40655 Título : The importance of nicotine use among winter sports athletes especially in skiers. Autor : Zandonai, Thomas; Chiamulera, Cristiano 2026-09-14T08:45:59Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40654 Título : The Expanded Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI‑3): Towards Reliable and International Screening of Exercise‑Related Dysfunction Autor : GRANZIOL, UMBERTO; Griffiths, Mark ; Zou, Liye; Yang, Peiying; Herschel, Hannah Katharina; Junker, Annika; Akimoto, Takayuki; Stoll, Oliver; alpay, merve; Aydın, Zeynep; Zandonai, Thomas; Di Lodovico, Laura; Lichtenstein, Mia Beck; Trott, Mike; Portman, Robert Resumen : Exercise addiction (EA) refers to excessive exercise, lack of control, and health risks. The Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI) is one of the most widely used tools in its assess-ment. However, the cross-cultural psychometric properties of the EAI could be improved because it misses three pathological patterns, including guilt, exercise despite injury, and experienced harm. Therefore, the present study tested the psychometric properties of the expanded EAI (EAI-3) in a large international sample. The EAI-3 was administered to 1931 physically active adult exercisers speaking five languages (Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, and Turkish) and other measures for obsessive–compulsive behavior, eating dis-orders, and personality traits. The assessment structure and reliability of the EAI-3 were tested with factorial analyses and through measurement invariance across languages and sex. Finally, a cutoff point for dysfunction-proneness was calculated. The EAI-3 comprised two factors, reflecting the positive and pathological sides of exercise. The structure had excellent reliability and goodness-of-fit indices and configural and metric invariances of the scale were supported. However, three items caused violations in scalar invariance. The results of partial measurement invariance testing suggested an adequate fit for the data. Following sensitivity and specificity analysis, the EAI-3’s cutoff score was 34 out of a maximum score of 48. This preliminary study suggests that the EAI-3 is a promising tool for screening EA in an international sample, with a robust and reliable structure compara-ble across languages and sex. In addition, the proposed cutoff could pave the way toward a consensus on a threshold to screen for EA. 2026-09-14T08:45:06Z https://hdl.handle.net/11000/40653 Título : Doping in tennis, where we are and where we should be going? Autor : Zandonai, Thomas; Holgado, Darías 2026-09-14T08:44:11Z