Comparison of Forward and Reverse Wingate Anaerobic Tests: A Brief Technical Note

BACKGROUND: The Wingate anaerobic test (WAT) is traditionally performed in the forward pedaling direction on a cycle ergometer. However, reverse (backward) pedaling during a WAT test may be a novel way to convey meaningful information related to performance and rehabilitation. This study compared peak power measurements between 30-second forward pedaling WAT (FWAT) with a 30-second reverse pedaling WAT (RWAT). METHODS: 10 male and 10 female participants (age 27.6 ± 7.31 yrs, mass 74.9 ± 21.3 kg and height 172.6 ± 10.9 cm) volunteered to participate. Participants performed one FWAT and one RWAT at 7.5% of body mass on a specially modified Monark cycle ergometer. Tests were separated 2 days of rest. Peak power output (PPO), mean power output (MPO), relative PPO (RPPO), relative MPO (RMPO), fatigue index (%FI), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured. RESULTS: The FWAT power measurements were all significantly greater (p \u3c 0.05) than RWAT power measurements except MPO (p \u3e 0.05); and that RPE was significantly greater (p \u3c 0.05) in FWAT than RWAT. Specifically, FWAT vs. RWAT (M ± SD) are as follows: PPO watts (w) = 731.7 ± 237.1 vs. 529.6 ± 192.2; RPPO w/kg = 10.2 ± 2.3 vs. 7.2 ± 1.6; MPO w = 510.2 ± 162.1 vs. 415.1 ± 146.2; RMPO w/kg = 7.3 ± 1.5 vs. 5.8 ± 1.3; %FI = 49.2 ± 8.7 vs. 37.4 ± 13.7; and RPE = 19.4 ± 1.1 vs. 15.8 ± 1.5. Gender did not impact the relative differences in these relationships. CONCLUSION: Practitioners and clinicians may use this information to begin to understand the power and perceived exertion relationships of forward versus reverse pedaling during a WAT; exercise prescription for rehabilitation and performance may benefit

COVID-19: Beyond Washing Your Hands and Social Distancing

A pandemic due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus was declared as of March 2020. The authors provide perspective towards preventing and/or mitigating the impact of contracting the virus known as COVID-19. The authors posit straightforward strategies that an individual could implement that may decrease the likelihood of developing COVID-19, help lessen the severity of the symptoms related to the COVID-19 and potentially mitigate the transmission of the virus. The authors consider their comments as food for thought and not as professional medical advice. If you believe you have contracted the COVID-19 virus seek the advice of your healthcare provider

Grip Strength and Functional Measures in the Mature Adult: Brief Report II

Grip strength has been shown to be closely linked to body strength in mature aged adults. However what may be of greater importance is the relationship between grip strength and functional movements in aging adults. Purpose: This study examined the relationship between grip strength and functional body movements in mature aged adults. Methods: Female (n=12, age=71.2±3.8 years, mass=66.3±9.2 kg) and male (n=16, age=72.9±4.7 years, mass=85.5±9.4 kg) participants completed functional body movements including: vertical jump (VJ), medicine ball (MB) throws (1.5, 3.0, & 5.0 Kgs), and a stair climb (SC) test. Likewise, all participants performed maximal hand grip (MG) with the Jamar hand grip dynamometer. Pearson correlation coefficients (PCC) were then calculated to determine the relationship between dominant hand MG and the functional body movement scores. Results: PCC’s were as follows: MG-VJ (r=0.62), MG-MB1.5 (r=0.86), MG-MB3.0 (r=0.87), MG-MB5.0 (r=0.91), and MG-SCP (r=0.79). All PCC’s were statistically significant at P\u3c0.01. Conclusions: Within the parameters of this study, MG strength is strongly reflective of functional body movements that require upper and lower body power output. In this regard, assessing grip strength may be beneficial to clinicians interested in assessing functional body movements in aging adults

Developmental changes in upper airway dynamics

Normal children have a less collapsible upper airway in response to subatmospheric pressure administration (P-NEG) during steep than normal adults do, and this upper airway response appears to be modulated by the central ventilatory drive. Children have a greater ventilatory drive than adults. We, therefore, hypothesized that children have increased neuromotor activation of their pharyngeal airway during sleep compared with adults. As infants have few obstructive apneas during steep, we hypothesized that infants would have an upper airway that was resistant to collapse. We, therefore, compared the upper airway pressure-flow (V) relationship during sleep between normal infants, prepubertal children, and adults. We evaluated the upper airway response to 1) intermittent, acute P-NEG (infants, children, and adults), and 2) hypercapnia (children and adults). We found that adults had a more collapsible upper airway during sleep than either infants or children. the children exhibited a vigorous response to both P-NEG and hypercapnia during sleep (P < 0.01), whereas adults had no significant change. Infants had an airway that was resistant to collapse and showed a very rapid response to P-NEG. We conclude that the upper airway is resistant to collapse during sleep in infants and children. Normal children have preservation of upper airway responses to P-NEG and hypercapnia during sleep, whereas responses are diminished in adults. Infants appear to have a different pattern of upper airway activation than older children. We speculate that the pharyngeal airway responses present in normal children are a compensatory response for a relatively narrow upper airway.Johns Hopkins Univ, Eudowood Div Pediat Resp Sci, Baltimore, MD 21287 USAJohns Hopkins Univ, Div Oncol Biostat, Baltimore, MD 21287 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Neurol & Internal Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Neurol & Internal Med, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Predominant expression of Alzheimer’s disease-associated BIN1 in mature oligodendrocytes and localization to white matter tracts

BIN1 is not expressed in human brain microglial cells. (A) Immunohistochemical staining of adjacent sections of normal human brain cortex with antibodies against BIN1 or Iba1 reveals that BIN1 immunoreactive cells that are morphologically distinct from microglia. The boxed region is shown at a higher magnification on the right. (B) Single and two-color immunostaining of the human brain using antibodies against BIN1 and CD45 reveals that perivenular CD45-positive cells of the hematopoietic lineage do not express BIN1. (TIFF 4392 kb

Psychological and demographic characteristics of 368 patients with dissociative seizures: data from the CODES cohort

Background We examined demographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics of a large cohort (n = 368) of adults with dissociative seizures (DS) recruited to the CODES randomised controlled trial (RCT) and explored differences associated with age at onset of DS, gender, and DS semiology. Methods Prior to randomisation within the CODES RCT, we collected demographic and clinical data on 368 participants. We assessed psychiatric comorbidity using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) and a screening measure of personality disorder and measured anxiety, depression, psychological distress, somatic symptom burden, emotional expression, functional impact of DS, avoidance behaviour, and quality of life. We undertook comparisons based on reported age at DS onset (<40 v. ⩾40), gender (male v. female), and DS semiology (predominantly hyperkinetic v. hypokinetic). Results Our cohort was predominantly female (72%) and characterised by high levels of socio-economic deprivation. Two-thirds had predominantly hyperkinetic DS. Of the total, 69% had ⩾1 comorbid M.I.N.I. diagnosis (median number = 2), with agoraphobia being the most common concurrent diagnosis. Clinical levels of distress were reported by 86% and characteristics associated with maladaptive personality traits by 60%. Moderate-to-severe functional impairment, high levels of somatic symptoms, and impaired quality of life were also reported. Women had a younger age at DS onset than men. Conclusions Our study highlights the burden of psychopathology and socio-economic deprivation in a large, heterogeneous cohort of patients with DS. The lack of clear differences based on gender, DS semiology and age at onset suggests these factors do not add substantially to the heterogeneity of the cohort

Residual OXPHOS is required to drive primary and metastatic lung tumours in an orthotopic breast cancer model

BackgroundFast adaptation of glycolytic and mitochondrial energy pathways to changes in the tumour microenvironment is a hallmark of cancer. Purely glycolytic ρ0 tumour cells do not form primary tumours unless they acquire healthy mitochondria from their micro-environment. Here we explored the effects of severely compromised respiration on the metastatic capability of 4T1 mouse breast cancer cells.Methods4T1 cell lines with different levels of respiratory capacity were generated; the Seahorse extracellular flux analyser was used to evaluate oxygen consumption rates, fluorescent confocal microscopy to assess the number of SYBR gold-stained mitochondrial DNA nucleoids, and the presence of the ATP5B protein in the cytoplasm and fluorescent in situ nuclear hybridization was used to establish ploidy. MinION nanopore RNA sequence analysis was used to compare mitochondrial DNA transcription between cell lines. Orthotopic injection was used to determine the ability of cells to metastasize to the lungs of female Balb/c mice.ResultsOXPHOS-deficient ATP5B-KO3.1 cells did not generate primary tumours. Severely OXPHOS compromised ρ0D5 cells generated both primary tumours and lung metastases. Cells generated from lung metastasis of both OXPHOS-competent and OXPHOS-compromised cells formed primary tumours but no metastases when re-injected into mice. OXPHOS-compromised cells significantly increased their mtDNA content, but this did not result in increased OXPHOS capacity, which was not due to decreased mtDNA transcription. Gene set enrichment analysis suggests that certain cells derived from lung metastases downregulate their epithelial-to-mesenchymal related pathways.ConclusionIn summary, OXPHOS is required for tumorigenesis in this orthotopic mouse breast cancer model but even very low levels of OXPHOS are sufficient to generate both primary tumours and lung metastases