Soft-Tissue Techniques in Sports Injuries Prevention and Rehabilitation

Participation in sports, in addition to its positive effects, leads to injuries caused by contact with the opponent or the high loads that develop on the musculoskeletal structures during the sports activities. Sports injuries mainly include (a) acute injuries such as muscle strains and ligament sprains, tendon injuries, dislocations and subluxations, fractures, and skin injuries but also (b) overuse injuries such as tendinopathies and painful myofascial syndromes. Many therapeutic techniques are used to treat these injuries, such as therapeutic exercise, various electrotherapy procedures and soft tissue techniques. Soft tissue techniques aim to promote health and well-being through their mechanical effects on the body’s soft tissues such as friction, compression, tissues sliding and myofascial release. Sports soft-tissue procedures are applied either directly with the hands of therapists such as classical massage or with the use of special equipment such as tools made of stainless steel (ERGON instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization), elastic ischemic bandages (Kinetic flossing technique) and cups (cupping therapy). The following chapter analyzes the therapeutic effects of the above therapeutic interventions by presenting recent scientific evidence that supports their effects on the soft tissue’s dysfunctions of the human body and various pathological conditions

Blood Flow Restriction Training in Cardiovascular Disease Patients

Over the past two decades, blood flow restriction training (BFRT) has gained popularity not only in athletic performance training, but also with many researchers and physical therapists as an innovative rehabilitation tool. Blood flow restriction (BFR) exercise is a novel exercise modality in clinical settings, which induces muscle hypertrophy and increases strength with low to moderate training intensity through increased anabolic processes mediated by BFR (usually with cuff inflation). BFR limits arterial and venous blood flow and leads to blood pooling, which could increase the effects of exercise-induced training. Strength training at lower intensities (20–40% of maximum strength) in combination with BFR showed similar effects on muscle hypertrophy as training at 70% strength level without BFR. In this context, considering that periods of immobilization (or reduced functionality) due to pathology, injury, or surgery cause harmful effects on muscle mass and strength in both young and old people, muscular adaptations of occlusion exercise could be beneficial to the elderly and post-operative patients in rehabilitation regarding muscle regeneration. Furthermore, as this type of exercise does not require high loads, it might be a feasible method in cardiac rehabilitation. Therefore, this chapter aims to review all recent literature regarding the impact of low-load BFR resistance training in patients with cardiovascular pathologies on muscle strength and hypertrophy, vascular function, safety, cardiovascular responses, and inflammatory markers

Manual therapy versus localisation (tactile, sensory training) in patients with non-specific neck pain: a randomised clinical pilot trial

Manual therapy (MT) techniques typically incorporate localised touch on the skin with the application of specific kinetic forces. The contribution of localised touch to the effectiveness of MT techniques has not been evaluated. This study investigated the immediate effects of MT versus localisation training (LT) on pain intensity and range of movement (ROM) for neck pain. In this single-blind randomised controlled trial thirty eligible neck pain volunteers (23 females and 7 males), aged 28.63 ± 12.49 years, were randomly allocated to MT or to a motionless (LT) group. A single three-minute treatment session was delivered to each group’s cervico-thoracic area. The LT involved tactile sensory stimulation applied randomly to one out of a nine-block grid. Subjects were asked to identify the number of the square being touched, reflecting a different location on the region of skin. MT involved three-minute anteroposterior (AP) glides and sustained natural apophyseal glides (SNAG) techniques. Pre- and post-intervention pain intensity were assessed using a pressure pain threshold (PPT) algometer and the numeric pain rating scale (NPRS). Neck ROM was recorded with a bubble inclinometer. Improvements in ROM and self-reported pain were recorded in both groups (p 0.05). Tactile sensory training (localisation) was as effective as MT in reducing neck pain, suggesting a component of MT’s analgesic effect to be related with the element of localised touch rather than the forces induced during passive movements

Reliability and clinical applicability of lower limp strength using an enhanced paper grip strength

The enhanced paper grip test (EGPT) quantitatively assesses lower limb strength. EGPT assesses the hallux grip force by reacting a pulling force derived from a card, being positioned underneath the participant's hallux. This study aimed to investigate the repeatability and clinical applicability of the EPGT for assessing foot muscle strength. EPGT force was measured using a dynamometer. The reliability of the measurement of EPGT force was assessed by having two examiners performing the test on the same group of healthy adults. Clinical applicability was assessed in community-dwelling adults of both genders. EPGT force was recorded for both feet using the same standardised protocol for all participants. Regarding reliability, 20 healthy adults aged 23.04±5.5 years participated in the present study. The EGPT demonstrated good to excellent test-retest (ICC1,2 0.8 to 0.86) and interrater reliability (ICC1,2 0.82 to 0.88). A convenience sample of 15 community-dwelling adults (71.6±7.8 years, 68.5% women) was recruited for clinical applicability testing. All participants performed the test with mean score 15±5.7 N. EPGT is a reliable measurement of the hallux grip force strength and can be used for clinical and research purposes

A high-resolution mRNA expression time course of embryonic development in zebrafish.

We have produced an mRNA expression time course of zebrafish development across 18 time points from 1 cell to 5 days post-fertilisation sampling individual and pools of embryos. Using poly(A) pulldown stranded RNA-seq and a 3' end transcript counting method we characterise temporal expression profiles of 23,642 genes. We identify temporal and functional transcript co-variance that associates 5024 unnamed genes with distinct developmental time points. Specifically, a class of over 100 previously uncharacterised zinc finger domain containing genes, located on the long arm of chromosome 4, is expressed in a sharp peak during zygotic genome activation. In addition, the data reveal new genes and transcripts, differential use of exons and previously unidentified 3' ends across development, new primary microRNAs and temporal divergence of gene paralogues generated in the teleost genome duplication. To make this dataset a useful baseline reference, the data can be browsed and downloaded at Expression Atlas and Ensembl

Gaur genome reveals expansion of sperm odorant receptors in domesticated cattle

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Alu insertion polymorphisms shared by Papio baboons and Theropithecus gelada reveal an intertwined common ancestry

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: Baboons (genus Papio) and geladas (Theropithecus gelada) are now generally recognized as close phylogenetic relatives, though morphologically quite distinct and generally classified in separate genera. Primate specific Alu retrotransposons are well-established genomic markers for the study of phylogenetic and population genetic relationships. We previously reported a computational reconstruction of Papio phylogeny using large-scale whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis of Alu insertion polymorphisms. Recently, high coverage WGS was generated for Theropithecus gelada. The objective of this study was to apply the high-Throughput poly-Detect method to computationally determine the number of Alu insertion polymorphisms shared by T. gelada and Papio, and vice versa, by each individual Papio species and T. gelada. Secondly, we performed locus-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays on a diverse DNA panel to complement the computational data. Results: We identified 27,700 Alu insertions from T. gelada WGS that were also present among six Papio species, with nearly half (12,956) remaining unfixed among 12 Papio individuals. Similarly, each of the six Papio species had species-indicative Alu insertions that were also present in T. gelada. In general, P. kindae shared more insertion polymorphisms with T. gelada than did any of the other five Papio species. PCR-based genotype data provided additional support for the computational findings. Conclusions: Our discovery that several thousand Alu insertion polymorphisms are shared by T. gelada and Papio baboons suggests a much more permeable reproductive barrier between the two genera then previously suspected. Their intertwined evolution likely involves a long history of admixture, gene flow and incomplete lineage sorting

An improved pig reference genome sequence to enable pig genetics and genomics research.

BACKGROUND: The domestic pig (Sus scrofa) is important both as a food source and as a biomedical model given its similarity in size, anatomy, physiology, metabolism, pathology, and pharmacology to humans. The draft reference genome (Sscrofa10.2) of a purebred Duroc female pig established using older clone-based sequencing methods was incomplete, and unresolved redundancies, short-range order and orientation errors, and associated misassembled genes limited its utility. RESULTS: We present 2 annotated highly contiguous chromosome-level genome assemblies created with more recent long-read technologies and a whole-genome shotgun strategy, 1 for the same Duroc female (Sscrofa11.1) and 1 for an outbred, composite-breed male (USMARCv1.0). Both assemblies are of substantially higher (>90-fold) continuity and accuracy than Sscrofa10.2. CONCLUSIONS: These highly contiguous assemblies plus annotation of a further 11 short-read assemblies provide an unprecedented view of the genetic make-up of this important agricultural and biomedical model species. We propose that the improved Duroc assembly (Sscrofa11.1) become the reference genome for genomic research in pigs

Common and distinct transcriptional signatures of mammalian embryonic lethality

Abstract: The Deciphering the Mechanisms of Developmental Disorders programme has analysed the morphological and molecular phenotypes of embryonic and perinatal lethal mouse mutant lines in order to investigate the causes of embryonic lethality. Here we show that individual whole-embryo RNA-seq of 73 mouse mutant lines (>1000 transcriptomes) identifies transcriptional events underlying embryonic lethality and associates previously uncharacterised genes with specific pathways and tissues. For example, our data suggest that Hmgxb3 is involved in DNA-damage repair and cell-cycle regulation. Further, we separate embryonic delay signatures from mutant line-specific transcriptional changes by developing a baseline mRNA expression catalogue of wild-type mice during early embryogenesis (4–36 somites). Analysis of transcription outside coding sequence identifies deregulation of repetitive elements in Morc2a mutants and a gene involved in gene-specific splicing. Collectively, this work provides a large scale resource to further our understanding of early embryonic developmental disorders

Research in the transcription of bacteria using RNA data

Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 and Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 are model cyanobacteria from which the metabolism and adaptive responses of other cyanobacteria are inferred. In this study, we used RNAseq to characterize the transcriptomes of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 under various stress conditions in order to reveal their transcriptional responses and acclimation mechanism to environmental stress and improve their genome annotations. The specific stresses we studied were increased salinity, increased pH, mild carbon limitation, decreased temperature, and decreased light. At first, differential gene expression analysis showed that the specific responses of the two strains were by no means identical. Transcriptome profiles also allowed us to improve the structural annotation of the genome, i.e. identify possible missed genes (including anti-sense), alter gene coordinates and determine transcriptional units (operons). In addition, we reported proteins that are important for the acclimation and we predicted associations between proteins of unknown function and biochemical pathways by revealing proteins of known functions that are co-regulated with the unknowns. In addition, we investigated in detail the transcriptome fluctuations of Synechococcus sp. and that helped us understand if/how transcriptional mutagenesis promotes the adaptation process. Two distinguished strategies were followed in order to understand the appearances of variants. The first strategy focused on individual genes that could be vital for stress acclimation due to their expression levels or prior reported findings. The second strategy was as unbiased as possible in relation to existing information, resulting in finding promising mutant hotspots for each sample without using gene annotation. Finally, a search was performed to identify elements that could pass transcription variants to DNA. Future studies of these model organisms will benefit from the categorisation of their responses to environmentally relevant stresses and the various ways that they use to cope with stresses.Τα Synechococcus και Synechocystis είναι Κυανοβακτήρια που χρησιμοποιούνται για τη συλλογή συμπερασμάτων σχετικά με τον εγκλιματισμό των μικροοργανισμών και τη διερεύνηση του μεταβολισμού τους. Χρησιμοποιώντας αξιόπιστα RNAseq δεδομένα, προσδιορίστηκε η μεταγραφική συμπεριφορά των κυττάρων που υποβλήθηκαν σε συνθήκες καταπόνησης (μειωμένου ανόργανου άνθρακα, αυξημένης αλατότητας, μειωμένης θερμοκρασίας, αυξημένου pH και μειωμένου φωτισμού) για διάρκεια μίας ώρας και για διάρκεια εικοσιτεσσάρων ωρών. Για την κατανόηση της μεταγραφικής διαδικασίας των κυττάρων εφαρμόστηκε η στατιστική μέθοδος της διαφορικής έκφρασης γονιδίων, εντοπίστηκαν νέα γονίδια και τέλος διερευνήθηκε η μεταλλαξιγένεση στα μετάγραφα καθώς και οι παραλλαγές τους. Διαπιστώθηκε ότι οι αποκρίσεις των κυττάρων ποικίλουν ανάλογα με τις συνθήκες καταπόνησης και δεν ήταν ταυτόσημες μεταξύ των κυανοβακτηρίων που μελετήθηκαν. Επίσης, βρέθηκαν μηχανισμοί που πιθανόν ενισχύουν τον εγκλιματισμό τους σε νέα περιβάλλοντα