Liang Wang

Background: Higher blood pressure (BP) in childhood is an important predictor of cardiovascular disease later in life, and adiposity is an important modifiable factor associated with BP. However, updated national evidence on the associations of general and central adiposity indicators with BP outcomes among Chinese children and adolescents remains limited. Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on physical health data collected from 146,399 children and adolescents across 30 provinces in China between October and November 2019. Height, weight, waist circumference, and BP were measured using standardized procedures, and adiposity was assessed using body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate associations of BMI and WHtR with continuous BP outcomes, and generalized linear mixed-effects models were used for screening-defined hypertension (SDH), adjusting for sociodemographic, dietary, and physical activity variables. Results: Mean systolic BP and diastolic BP were 107.40 (SD 12.65) mmHg and 67.78 (SD 9.66) mmHg, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, each 1-unit increase in BMI was associated with increased odds of SDH (OR = 1.131, 95% CI: 1.123, 1.139), and each 0.1-unit increase in WHtR was associated with increased odds of SDH (OR = 1.798, 95% CI: 1.732, 1.866). Conclusions: Higher BMI and WHtR were associated with higher BP levels and greater odds of SDH among Chinese children and adolescents. These findings highlight the importance of early identification and prevention of adiposity-related BP abnormalities in youth.

Yan, J, García-Ramos, A, Courel-Ibáñez, J, Chen, W, Rui, J, Wang, L, Chen, Z, Sun, Y, and Zhu, W. Comparing neuromuscular tests to discriminate striking performance in elite mixed martial arts athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000–000, 2026—General upper-body strength and power tests may have limited value for profiling striking-specific performance because they do not replicate the standing, rotation-assisted kinetic chain of punching. We examined whether a standing landmine punch throw (LPT) could better discriminate striking performance in elite mixed martial arts athletes than conventional ballistic and strength tests. Thirty-six elite male athletes (age: 20.0 ± 1.9 years, height: 1.72 ± 0.07 m, body mass: 68.3 ± 8.5 kg) participated in this cross-sectional study and were stratified into higher-impact, middle-impact, and lower-impact groups according to tertiles of relative striking force. Four assessments were evaluated: clap push-up, isometric bench press, bench press throw (BPT), and LPT. Load-velocity profiles were modeled for the ballistic exercises to derive theoretical maximal force ( L ₀ ), theoretical maximal velocity ( v ₀ ), and the area under the load-velocity relationship line (A _line ). Relative impact force was significantly correlated with LPT A _line ( r = 0.64), BPT A _line ( r = 0.44), BPT L ₀ ( r = 0.42), LPT L ₀ ( r = 0.40), isometric peak force ( r = 0.39), and isometric 0–250-millisecond impulse ( r = 0.35) and LPT v ₀ ( r = 0.33) ( p ≤ 0.05). However, only LPT A _line showed a significant main effect across the 3 performance tertiles. Exploratory receiver operating characteristic analysis identified a preliminary cutoff of ≤2.12 W·kg ⁻¹ for LPT A _line to classify lower-impact strikers (AUC = 0.851). These findings indicate that although some general neuromuscular variables were associated with relative striking force, the LPT load-velocity profile showed the greatest discriminative validity, likely because of its greater task specificity. Practitioners may therefore consider LPT profiling to complement traditional upper-body testing when evaluating striking-specific capability in elite fighters.