A comparison of two anaerobic test measurement systems using an upper body Wingate test

This study aimed to compare performance measures acquired by two different Wingate Anaerobic Test systems; Cranlea and Monark. Twenty participants undertook 58 Wingate tests against a 4% body mass resistive load on a cycle ergometer adapted for arm cranking. Corrected peak power output (PP; W) was recorded using 1 rev min–1, 0.5, 1 and 5 s averages and mean power output (MP; W). The Cranlea system recorded the greatest PP (589 ± 267 W) compared with the Monark (546 ± 267 W; P < 0.001). The PP using all other methods was also greater for the Cranlea compared with the Monark system (P < 0.001) with mean differences of 55 ± 18 W for 1 s averages and 22 ± 18 W for MP. Correlations between all PPs were strong (r = 0.99 – 0.97; P < 0.001). In conclusion, although the Cranlea system provides a consistently greater corrected PP it may not be enough to substantially differentiate between systems

Localisation and Function of the Endocannabinoid System in the Human Ovary

Although anandamide (AEA) had been measured in human follicular fluid and is suggested to play a role in ovarian follicle and oocyte maturity, its exact source and role in the human ovary remains unclear.Immunohistochemical examination of normal human ovaries indicated that the endocannabinoid system was present and widely expressed in the ovarian medulla and cortex with more intense cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) than CB1 immunoreactivity in the granulosa cells of primordial, primary, secondary, tertiary follicles, corpus luteum and corpus albicans. The enzymes, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and N-acyclphosphatidylethanolamine-phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD), were only found in growing secondary and tertiary follicles and corpora lutea and albicantes. The follicular fluid (FF) AEA concentrations of 260 FF samples, taken from 37 infertile women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for in vitro fertilisation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection with embryo transfer, were correlated with ovarian follicle size (P = 0.03). Significantly higher FF AEA concentrations were also observed in mature follicles (1.43+/-0.04 nM; mean+/-SEM) compared to immature follicles (1.26+/-0.06 nM), P = 0.0142 and from follicles containing morphologically assessed mature oocytes (1.56+/-0.11 nM) compared to that containing immature oocytes (0.99+/-0.09 nM), P = 0.0011. ROC analysis indicated that a FF AEA level of 1.09 nM could discriminate between mature and immature oocytes with 72.2% sensitivity and 77.14% specificity, whilst plasma AEA levels and FF AEA levels on oocyte retrieval day were not significantly different (P = 0.23).These data suggest that AEA is produced in the ovary, is under hormonal control and plays a role in folliculogenesis, preovulatory follicle maturation, oocyte maturity and ovulation

Improving health outcomes: innovation, coverage, quality and adherence.

The Israeli health system has made considerable progress in reducing deaths amenable to medical care but has more to do. This commentary describes how progress in this area results from innovation, coverage, quality, and adherence to treatment. It describes what is being done in Israel and beyond to address each of these factors but concentrates on the often poorly recognised problem of adherence to treatment, describing the growing evidence that it is often sub-optimal and reviewing evidence on what can be done to improve it

Before the massive modern human dispersal into Eurasia: A 55,000-year-old partial cranium from Manot Cave, Israel

Genetic and archaeological models predict that African modern humans successfully colonized Eurasia between 60,000 and 40,000 years before present (ka), replacing all other forms of hominins. While there is good evidence for the first arrival in Eurasia around 50-45ka, the fossil record is extremely scarce with regard to earlier representatives. A partial calvaria discovered at Manot Cave (Western Galilee, Israel) dated to >55 ka by uranium–thorium dating was recently described. Since then, other findings indicated an early dispersal of modern humans out-of-Africa between 194 and 177ka (Misliya-1) or possibly even earlier at 210ka (Apidima 1), and a quite long existence of Homo sapiens in Africa (Jebel Irhoud, ~300ka). While the faces of these early Homo sapiens appear quite modern, the shape of the braincase seems to lack behind, reaching the modern state only around after 35ka. Here, new data and approaches were applied to the Manot 1 calvaria. The ecto- and endocranial shape analyses based on micro-computed tomography data and a landmark-semilandmark approach using multiple reconstructions of the incomplete calvaria confirm that Manot 1 is unequivocally modern human. Its endocranial shape is markedly different from the earliest known Homo sapiens and close to the Levantine Qafzeh/Skhul assemblage (120-90ka) as well as modern humans, but still shows some deviations from both groups. The absence of other Homo sapiens fossils in the Levant between the Qafzeh/Skhul and Manot populations is not supportive for the hypothesis of a continuous occupation or the local evolution of modern humans. It suggests that Manot 1 represents a population migrating out-of-Africa and reaching the Levantine corridor during warmer and wetter climatic conditions over the Northern Sahara and the Mediterranean. Manot 1 shows that both modern humans and Neanderthals (e.g. Kebara, Amud) contemporaneously inhabited the Levant during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic interface. The endocranial shape of Manot 1 might indicate that this population had not yet fully reached the brainshape of modern humans evident after 35ka