This episode does a deep dive into an article titled "Relationship Between Tendon Tissue and Shoulder Disability Change During an 8-Week Exercise Intervention for Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy: An Observational Study," which was published in the PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal. This prospective longitudinal study sought to understand how changes in the supraspinatus tendon's thickness and internal architecture relate to patient-reported shoulder disability improvement during an eight-week progressive resistive exercise program for individuals with rotator cuff tendinopathy.

Vila-Dieguez O, Heindel MD, Zipser MC, Mortazavi K, Kulig K, Bashford G, et al. Relationship between tendon tissue and shoulder disability change during an 8-week exercise intervention for rotator cuff tendinopathy: an observational study. Phys Ther. 2025;105:pzaf107. doi:10.1093/ptj/pzaf107.

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This episode details experimental evidence demonstrating that paternal exercise in mice, either via treadmill training or muscle-specific genetic overexpression of PGC-1α, transmits enhanced endurance capacity and metabolic health to offspring.

Yin X, Anwar A, Yan L, Yu R, Luo Y, Shi L, et al. Paternal exercise confers endurance capacity to offspring through sperm microRNAs. Cell Metab. 2025;37:1-18. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2025.09.003.

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This episode does a deep dive on a systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability. This extensive scholarly work synthesizes existing evidence to determine if voluntary slow breathing (VSB) influences the parasympathetic nervous system, specifically focusing on changes in vagally-mediated heart rate variability (HRV). The authors conducted a quantitative review of 223 studies, analyzing HRV parameters at three time points: DURING a breathing session, IM-AFTER1 immediately following a session, and AFTER-INT after a multi-session intervention.

Laborde S, Allen MS, Borges U, et al. Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022;138:104711. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104711

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This episode examines the rapidly growing field of using Large Language Models (LLMs) for automatic disease diagnosis in clinical practice. The review comprehensively maps the existing literature, clarifying which diseases and clinical data types have been addressed, the specific LLM techniques employed (such as prompting, fine-tuning, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation or RAG), and the evaluation methods used to assess performance.

Zhou, S., Xu, Z., Zhang, M. et al. Large language models for disease diagnosis: a scoping review. npj Artif. Intell. 1, 9 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44387-025-00011-z

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This episode does a deep dive into an article that argues that the current Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of 0.8 g protein per kg of body weight for adults is insufficient for older individuals, particularly for maintaining skeletal muscle mass and mitigating sarcopenia. Furthermore, the article dismisses common concerns that higher protein intake negatively affects renal and bone health, citing a lack of scientific foundation for these claims in healthy individuals. The authors also suggest that a more even distribution of protein intake across daily meals could be an optimal strategy for muscle maintenance in the elderly.

Traylor DA, Gorissen SHM, Phillips SM. Perspective: Protein Requirements and Optimal Intakes in Aging: Are We Ready to Recommend More Than the Recommended Daily Allowance?. Adv Nutr. 2018;9(3):171-182. doi:10.1093/advances/nmy003

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This episode does a deep dive into a multi-center randomized clinical trial published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, focusing on the effect of dose interval for periosteal and intraarticular electrical dry needling (PIEDN) on patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). The study compared the long-term efficacy (30 weeks) of three groups: one receiving PIEDN booster sessions every four weeks, a second receiving them every eight weeks, and a control group receiving no further treatment after an initial six-week course.

Dunning J, Young I, Taylor N, Mourad F, Bliton P, Butts R, et al. Effect of dose interval of periosteal and intraarticular electrical dry needling boosters on pain and disability in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a multi-center randomized clinical trial. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. Published online October 17, 2025. doi:10.1080/09593985.2025.2575837.

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This episode does a deep dive into the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) position stand regarding the consumption of energy drinks (ED) and energy shots (ES), based on a critical review of scientific literature. It outlines the common ingredients found in these products, such as caffeine, taurine, and B vitamins, and evaluates their purported effects on acute exercise performance, metabolism, and cognitive function.

Jagim AR, Harty PS, Tinsley GM, et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: energy drinks and energy shots. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2023;20(1):2171314. doi:10.1080/15502783.2023.2171314

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This episode dissects a systematic review with meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of exercise therapy for treating temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Researchers analyzed sixteen randomized controlled trials to determine if therapeutic exercise could reduce pain and increase both active and passive maximum mouth opening in TMD patients.

Idáñez-Robles AM, Obrero-Gaitán E, Lomas-Vega R, Osuna-Pérez MC, Cortés-Pérez I, Zagalaz-Anula N. Exercise therapy improves pain and mouth opening in temporomandibular disorders: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Clin Rehabil. 2023;37(4):443-461. doi:10.1177/02692155221133523

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