The Effect of a Commercially Available Pre-Workout Supplement (The Bracket™) on Wingate Anaerobic Cycle Test Performance in Athletic Females

The Bracket™ is a proprietary blend, pre-workout supplement whose primary active ingredients consists mostly of a mixture of creatine, B-complex vitamins, and a glycerol/taurine combination. It has been third party tested for ingredient accuracy, and is also certified by NSF, meaning that it is certified for sports consumption. Previous research has been done on the ingredients within the supplement utilizing male demographics. However, there is limited research done on the pre-workout supplement as a whole. The little research done has showed no increases in any variables such as power output (relative/absolute) and/or rate of fatigue. Very little research has been done utilizing a female population, let alone athletic females. PURPOSE: To examine the effect of a commercially available pre-workout supplement (The Bracket™), in athletic females, on absolute peak power (APP), absolute mean power (AMP), relative peak power (RPP), relative mean power (RMP), rate of fatigue (FTR), absolute total work (ATW), and relative total work (RTW) utilizing the Wingate Anaerobic Cycle Test (WACT), a 30-s supra maximal exercise protocol. METHODS: Thirteen athletic females, ages 18-30, with no prior hamstrings or quadriceps injuries within the last years were recruited. All subjects underwent three experimental trials [treatment (TRT, supplement with Gatorade®), placebo (PLC, Gatorade®), and a control (CON, water)] in a single blind balanced crossover design. During the trials the subjects had to ingest one of the three liquids in an 8 ounce serving thirty minutes prior to engaging in the WACT. Each trial was performed approximately one week apart. The differences in the dependent variables between treatments were analyzed using an ANOVA (0 between, 1 within), α=0.05. RESULTS: No significant difference between trials were seen for APP (TRT=715 ± 126 W; PLC=71 6± 125 W; CON=696 ± 147 W) (p=0.2940), AMP (TRT=446 ± 94 W; PLC=436 ± 85 W; CON=441 ± 91 W)(p=0.3930), RPP (TRT=11.6 ±. 1.4 W·kg-1; PLC=11.6 ±. 1.5 W·kg-1; CON=11.3 ±. 1.5 W·kg-1)(p=0.2280), RMP (TRT=7.3 ±. 1.4 W·kg-1; PLC=7.1 ± 1.1 W·kg-1; CON=7.2 ±. 1.3 W·kg-1)(p=0.3920), FTR (TRT=62 ± 13%; PLC=61 ± 11%; CON=59 ± 11%) (p=0.1920), ATW (TRT=13368 ± 2798 J; PLC=13066 ± 2550 J; CON=13246 ± 2749 J)(p=0.4100), or RTW (TRT=218 ± 42 J·kg-1; PLC=212 ± 33 J·kg-1; CON= 215 ± 38 J·kg-1)(p=0.4080). CONCLUSION: Ingestion of (The Bracket™) prior to exercise does not affect performance on the WACT in athletic females

Spitzer Mission Operation System Planning for IRAC Warm-Instrument Characterization (IWIC)

This paper will describe how the Spitzer Mission Operations System planned and executed the characterization phase between Spitzer’s cryogenic mission and its warm mission. To the largest extend possible, the execution of this phase was done with existing processing and procedures. The modifications that were made were in response to the differences of the characterization phase compared to normal phases before and after. The primary two categories of difference are: unknown date of execution due to uncertainty of knowledge of the date of helium depletion, and the short cycle time for data analysis and re-planning during execution. In addition, all of the planning and design had to be done in parallel with normal operations, and we had to transition smoothly back to normal operations following the transition. This paper will also describe the re-planning we had to do following an anomaly discovered in the first days after helium depletion

Accuracy and Precision of Tidal Wetland Soil Carbon Mapping in the Conterminous United States

Tidal wetlands produce long-term soil organic carbon (C) stocks. Thus for carbon accounting purposes, we need accurate and precise information on the magnitude and spatial distribution of those stocks. We assembled and analyzed an unprecedented soil core dataset, and tested three strategies for mapping carbon stocks: applying the average value from the synthesis to mapped tidal wetlands, applying models fit using empirical data and applied using soil, vegetation and salinity maps, and relying on independently generated soil carbon maps. Soil carbon stocks were far lower on average and varied less spatially and with depth than stocks calculated from available soils maps. Further, variation in carbon density was not well-predicted based on climate, salinity, vegetation, or soil classes. Instead, the assembled dataset showed that carbon density across the conterminous united states (CONUS) was normally distributed, with a predictable range of observations. We identified the simplest strategy, applying mean carbon density (27.0 kg C m−3), as the best performing strategy, and conservatively estimated that the top meter of CONUS tidal wetland soil contains 0.72 petagrams C. This strategy could provide standardization in CONUS tidal carbon accounting until such a time as modeling and mapping advancements can quantitatively improve accuracy and precision

Spitzer Mission Operation System Planning for IRAC Warm-Instrument Characterization (IWIC)

This paper will describe how the Spitzer Mission Operations System planned and executed the characterization phase between Spitzer’s cryogenic mission and its warm mission. To the largest extend possible, the execution of this phase was done with existing processing and procedures. The modifications that were made were in response to the differences of the characterization phase compared to normal phases before and after. The primary two categories of difference are: unknown date of execution due to uncertainty of knowledge of the date of helium depletion, and the short cycle time for data analysis and re-planning during execution. In addition, all of the planning and design had to be done in parallel with normal operations, and we had to transition smoothly back to normal operations following the transition. This paper will also describe the re-planning we had to do following an anomaly discovered in the first days after helium depletion

The use of an intermediate wavelength laser for alignment to inertial confinement fusion targets

The conceptual design of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) 192 beam laser incorporates a low-power alignment beam injected in the pinhole plane of the final spatial filter with a wave length intermediate between the 1053 mn laser output and the 351 mn frequency-converted beam that illuminates the target Choosing the specific wavelength for which the spatial filter plane is reimaged in the same target chamber plane as the frequency-converted main laser pulse, achieves optimum accuracy without the need for additional means to insure precise overlap between the two beams. Insertion of the alignment beam after the last laser amplifier also allows alignment to the target while the amplifiers are still cooling from a previous shot

Adenosine A2A receptor modulation of hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapse plasticity during associative learning in behaving mice

© 2009 Nature Publishing Group All rights reservedPrevious in vitro studies have characterized the electrophysiological and molecular signaling pathways of adenosine tonic modulation on long-lasting synaptic plasticity events, particularly for hippocampal long-term potentiation(LTP). However, it remains to be elucidated whether the long-term changes produced by endogenous adenosine in the efficiency of synapses are related to those required for learning and memory formation. Our goal was to understand how endogenous activation of adenosine excitatory A2A receptors modulates the associative learning evolution in conscious behaving mice. We have studied here the effects of the application of a highly selective A2A receptor antagonist, SCH58261, upon a well-known associative learning paradigm - classical eyeblink conditioning. We used a trace paradigm, with a tone as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and an electric shock presented to the supraorbital nerve as the unconditioned stimulus(US). A single electrical pulse was presented to the Schaffer collateral–commissural pathway to evoke field EPSPs (fEPSPs) in the pyramidal CA1 area during the CS–US interval. In vehicle-injected animals, there was a progressive increase in the percentage of conditioning responses (CRs) and in the slope of fEPSPs through conditioning sessions, an effect that was completely prevented (and lost) in SCH58261 (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.)-injected animals. Moreover, experimentally evoked LTP was impaired in SCH58261- injected mice. In conclusion, the endogenous activation of adenosine A2A receptors plays a pivotal effect on the associative learning process and its relevant hippocampal circuits, including activity-dependent changes at the CA3-CA1 synapse.This study was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Research (BFU2005-01024 and BFU2005-02512), Spanish Junta de Andalucía (BIO-122 and CVI-02487), and the Fundación Conocimiento y Cultura of the Pablo de Olavide University (Seville, Spain).B. Fontinha was in receipt of a studentship from a project grant (POCI/SAU-NEU/56332/2004) supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), and of an STSM from Cost B30 concerted action of the EU