Athletes and Experimental Pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The evidence that athletes respond to and report indices of experimental pain differently to non-athlete populations was analysed. Databases screened were SPORTDiscus, PubMED, PsycArticles, the Cochrane Library (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews), Web of Science, Scopus and CINAHL. Studies that compared experimentally induced pain responses (threshold, tolerance, intensity, unpleasantness, bothersomeness and effect on performance) in athletes and controls were included. Meta-analyses were performed where appropriate and effects were described as standardised mean differences, pooled using random effects models. Thirty-six studies (2492 participants) met the inclusion criteria comprising 19 pain tolerance, 17 pain threshold, 21 pain intensity, five pain unpleasantness, two performance in pain and one bothersomeness study. Athletes demonstrated greater pain tolerance (g = .88 [95% confidence interval [CI] .65, .13]) and reported less pain intensity (g = −.80, [95% CI −1.13, −.47]) compared to controls; they also had higher pain threshold but with smaller effects (g = .41, [95% CI .08, .75]). Differences for unpleasantness did not reach statistical significance but the effects were large (g = −1.23 [95% CI −2.29, .18]). Two studies reported that performance in pain was better in contact athletes than non-athletes, and one concluded that athletes find pain less bothersome than controls. There were considerable inconsistencies in the methods employed that were reflected in the meta-analyses’ findings. Sub-group analyses of tolerance and intensity were conducted between endurance, contact, and other athlete groups, but were not significant. The data suggest that athletic participation is associated with altered pain responses, but mechanisms remain unclear and more transparent methods are recommended.This study was registered on the PROSPERO site in January 2019 (ref ID: CRD42019119611)

Parametric vision simulation study, part 2 Final report

Effects of landing site redesignation on visibility during manned lunar landin

Flux domes in superconducting films without edges

Domelike magnetic-flux-density distributions previously have been observed experimentally and analyzed theoretically in superconducting films with edges, such as in strips and thin plates. Such flux domes have been explained as arising from a combination of strong geometric barriers and weak bulk pinning. In this paper we predict that, even in films with bulk pinning, flux domes also occur when vortices and antivortices are produced far from the film edges underneath current-carrying wires, coils, or permanent magnets placed above the film. Vortex-antivortex pairs penetrating through the film are generated when the magnetic field parallel to the surface exceeds H_{c1}+K_c, where H_{c1} is the lower critical field and K_c = j_c d is the critical sheet-current density (the product of the bulk critical current density j_c and the film thickness d). The vortices and antivortices move in opposite directions to locations where they join others to create separated vortex and antivortex flux domes. We consider a simple arrangement of a pair of current-carrying wires carrying current I_0 in opposite directions and calculate the magnetic-field and current-density distributions as a function of I_0 both in the bulk-pinning-free case (K_c = 0) and in the presence of bulk pinning, characterized by a field-independent critical sheet-current density (K_c > 0).Comment: 15 pages, 23 figure

Self-efficacy and social support as mediators of mental health among abused women.

Supportive counseling and facilitated referrals to support organizations have shown positive effects on mental health and coping with domestic and family violence. However, the reasons why and how such effects are significant remain unknown. The current paper used data from a randomized controlled trial of a psychosocial intervention implemented in Nepal among 140 abused pregnant women. The hypothesized mediating effects of self-efficacy and social support on mental health and quality of life of abused pregnant women were tested using serial mediation analyses. Significance of parameter estimates and bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the indirect effects were generated using bootstrapping. The postintervention changes in self-efficacy and social support were found to have significant mediating effects on the relationship between the intervention and changes in both mental health and quality of life of participants post intervention. The positive effects on outcomes were seen at follow-up as well, though to a lesser extent. Further interventions should focus on enhancing abused women's self-efficacy and social support to ensure their positive mental health and better lives

Translation Regulation of the Glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA Synthetase Gene EPRS through Bypass of Upstream Open Reading Frames with Noncanonical Initiation Codons

In the integrated stress response, phosphorylation of eIF2α (eIF2α-P) reduces protein synthesis while concomitantly promoting preferential translation of specific transcripts associated with stress adaptation. Translation of the glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase gene EPRS is enhanced in response to eIF2α-P. To identify the underlying mechanism of translation control, we employed biochemical approaches to determine the regulatory features by which upstream ORFs (uORFs) direct downstream translation control and expression of the EPRS coding region. Our findings reveal that translation of two inhibitory uORFs encoded by noncanonical CUG and UUG initiation codons in the EPRS mRNA 5'-leader serve to dampen levels of translation initiation at the EPRS coding region. By a mechanism suggested to involve increased translation initiation stringency during stress-induced eIF2α-P, we observed facilitated ribosome bypass of these uORFs, allowing for increased translation of the EPRS coding region. Importantly, EPRS protein expression is enhanced through this preferential translation mechanism in response to multiple known activators of eIF2α-P and likely serves to facilitate stress adaptation in response to a variety of cellular stresses. The rules presented here for the regulated ribosome bypass of noncanonical initiation codons in the EPRS 5'-leader add complexity into the nature of uORF-mediated translation control mechanisms during eIF2α-P and additionally illustrate the roles that previously unexamined uORFs with noncanonical initiation codons can play in modulating gene expression

Syzygies in equivariant cohomology for non-abelian Lie groups

We extend the work of Allday-Franz-Puppe on syzygies in equivariant cohomology from tori to arbitrary compact connected Lie groups G. In particular, we show that for a compact orientable G-manifold X the analogue of the Chang-Skjelbred sequence is exact if and only if the equivariant cohomology of X is reflexive, if and only if the equivariant Poincare pairing for X is perfect. Along the way we establish that the equivariant cohomology modules arising from the orbit filtration of X are Cohen-Macaulay. We allow singular spaces and introduce a Cartan model for their equivariant cohomology. We also develop a criterion for the finiteness of the number of infinitesimal orbit types of a G-manifold.Comment: 28 pages; minor change

Hormonal Contraception Use is Common Among Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and an Elevated Risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis:

Persons with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). We sought to examine whether self-report of hormonal contraception (HC), as a proxy for exposure to estrogen-based contraception, was less common for women with multiple risk factors for VTE

Role of bone morphogenetic proteins in follicle development.

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