Research of peculiarities of development of time perception function in 13-15 year-old athletes with different blood groups

The aim of the work is to investigate the influence of serological markers of blood groups on the development of the time perception function in adolescent athletes taking into account sexual dimorphism. The study involved girls (n=178) and boys (n=139) from a specialized sports institution, who according to the classification of sports by A.G. Dembo were divided into two groups: group A - speed and power sports, group B - endurance sports. The control group consisted of pupils [girls (n=117), boys (n=106)] aged 13–15 years and students [girls (n=115), boys (n=150)] aged 17–20 years, who did not play sports. The research of the time perception function was carried out according to the method of V.L. Maryshuk et al., the prototype of which is the method of D.Zakay, R.A. Block. The fact of possible use of blood groups in genetic prediction of development of time perception was established. Individuals of male and female sex with blood group B (III) have been found to have the best associative relation with the properties of this function, while the worst relation remains unclear. The properties of time perception are more expressively manifested in students in late adolescence than in pupils in early adolescence. It was found that sexual dimorphism does not make significant adjustments in the specifics of changes in the time perception function, but genetic markers of blood groups are more informative in predicting the development of the abovementioned mental quality in boys with B (III) blood group than in girls with the same blood group

Enhanced Locomotion Caused by Loss of the Drosophila DEG/ENaC Protein Pickpocket1

AbstractCoordination of rhythmic locomotion depends upon a precisely balanced interplay between central and peripheral control mechanisms [1]. Although poorly understood, peripheral proprioceptive mechanosensory input is thought to provide information about body position for moment-to-moment modifications of central mechanisms mediating rhythmic motor output [2]. Pickpocket1 (PPK1) is a Drosophila subunit of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) family displaying limited expression in multiple dendritic (md) sensory neurons tiling the larval body wall and a small number of bipolar neurons in the upper brain [3]. ppk1 null mutant larvae had normal external touch sensation and md neuron morphology but displayed striking alterations in crawling behavior. Loss of PPK1 function caused an increase in crawling speed and an unusual straight path with decreased stops and turns relative to wild-type. This enhanced locomotion resulted from sustained peristaltic contraction wave cycling at higher frequency with a significant decrease in pause period between contraction cycles. The mutant phenotype was rescued by a wild-type PPK1 transgene and duplicated by expressing a ppk1RNAi transgene or a dominant-negative PPK1 isoform. These results demonstrate that the PPK1 channel plays an essential role in controlling rhythmic locomotion and provide a powerful genetic model system for further analysis of central and peripheral control mechanisms and their role in movement disorders

Drug intelligence based on MDMA tablets data : (2) Physical characteristics profiling

One of the tasks of the project entitled "Collaborative Harmonisation of Methods for Profiling of Amphetamine Type Stimulants" (CHAMP) was to develop a methodology to highlight links between MDMA samples coming from different countries and to detect traffic tendencies, based on physical characteristics of the MDMA tablets. Diameter, thickness, weight and score were demonstrated to be reliable and relevant features in this drug intelligence perspective. Distributions of linked samples (i.e. coming from the same tabletting batch) and unlinked samples (i.e. coming from different tabletting batches) were very well discriminated by using the squared Euclidean or the Manhattan distance on standardised data. Our findings confirmed the hypothesis of the possibility to discriminate between MDMA samples issued form different tabletting batches. Furthermore, as no pattern was found between countries, the hypothesis that most of the MDMA samples found on the international market come from the same countries is supported

Drug intelligence based on MDMA tablets data : (1) Organic impurities profiling.

One major objective of the European project "Collaborative Harmonisation of Methods for Profiling of Amphetamine Type Stimulants" (CHAMP) funded by the sixth framework programme of the European Commission consisted in the harmonisation of a Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) method for the analysis of organic impurities found in 3,4-MethyleneDioxyMethAmphetamine (MDMA) samples in a drug intelligence perspective. Statistical analysis provided a selection of pertinent variables among the 46 organic impurities identified in the chromatograms. Correlation coefficients were used to yield separation between populations of linked samples (from the same seizure) and unlinked samples (from different seizures). It was shown that correlation measurements based on Pearson and cosine functions applied to the data pre-treated by the square root provided an excellent discrimination between the two populations. The organic impurities profiling method was proved to be an excellent technique to differentiate samples from different seizures and to highlight operational links between samples