Author: marcocardinale

I am the Executive Director of Research and Scientific Support in Aspetar (Qatar). The aim of this blog is to present and discuss issues related to sport and sports science.
muscle physiology, science, Sports Science

>Want to know more about Near Infrared Spectroscopy?

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If you are curious about Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and happen to be in Edinburgh in the next few weeks make sure you visit the science festival.

The primary application of NIRS to the human body uses the fact that the transmission and absorption of NIR light in human body tissues contains information about hemoglobin concentration changes. When a specific area of the brain or a muscle is activated, the localized blood volume in that area changes quickly. Optical imaging can measure the location and activity of specific regions of the brain or muscles by continuously monitoring blood hemoglobin levels through the determination of optical absorption coefficients.

My PhD student Catherine Hesford has just started a blog here. Catherine will conduct an experiment with members of the public and will explain the theory behind NIRS together with my colleague Professor Chris Cooper.

The Science Festival in Edinburgh starts on the 9th of April, all details are available here.

data analysis, Sports Science

>Visualizing blood tests

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I was inspired by this blog post from DAVID MCCANDLESS & STEFANIE POSAVEC reporting their winning design for Wired US in December 2010.

Their task was to redesign a typical medical report: blood tests. All over the World blood tests are returned to a patient in the following way;

Scores are referred to normality ranges and the report is written most of the time in away that is difficult to comprehend unless you are  medical practitioner. Furthermore, abbreviations and acronyms are not explained and actions to change the results are not explained.

Then they designed a new report which looks like this:

I would like to comment that not only they have done a great job in terms of design. They have done a wonderful job in terms of how they present the information.

Reports to athletes and coaches should also be like the one above. Simple, color-coded and user friendly as well as providing suggestions for action.