Yoga\u27s Impact on Collegiate Male Soccer Player\u27s Flexibility and Balance

As injuries increase in sports due to flexibility and balance issues, coaches and trainers strive to develop new techniques that can decrease the risk of injuries and improve overall performance of their athletes. The practice of yoga and its techniques have been associated with positive results in various aspects for decades. Most literature states that yoga does have a positive impact on flexibility and balance but lacks research on which type has the greatest impact (Polsgrove et al. 2016).https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/exercise-science-research-proposal-posters/1099/thumbnail.jp

Exercise Prescription for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is characterized as a chronic metabolic disorder resulting in hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and relative insulin deficiency (Olokoba, et al. 2012). The process of developing Type 2 diabetes mellitus is caused by a series of complications known as defective insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity (Galicia-Garcia, et al. 2020). Defective insulin secretion is the process in which adequate insulin secretion is not met after food consumption. This alone can lead to other issues such as increases levels of glucose. As insulin resistance progresses, pancreatic insulin-producing cells produce less insulin and eventually resulting in Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The second complication, insulin sensitivity, is the process in which insulin-sensitive tissues respond to the release of insulin into the body (Jacobs, 2017). Type 2 diabetes mellitus is also diagnosed when an individual’s blood glucose levels exceed the normal range of 126mg/dL or their random blood glucose level exceeds 200mg/dL on two occasions. Exceeding a HbAlc of 6.5% can also pose a danger to individuals with this chronic disease (Smushkin & Vella, 2010). Approximately 29.1 million individuals in the United States alone have Type 2 diabetes mellitus with a prevalence of this chronic disease being greatest among African Americans and Hispanic Americans (Jacobs, 2017). Initial treatment for these 29.1 million Americans starts with focusing on lifestyle changes like nutritional habits and exercise interventions. Exercise interventions are extremely important in preventing the desensitization of skeletal muscle to insulin released by the pancreas. Skeletal muscle is essential for glucose uptake so when insulin resistance occurs and skeletal muscle becomes desensitized this process is disrupts the uptake of glucose along with the timing of the uptake (Merz & Thurmond, 2021). However, these lifestyle changes do not always help therefore pharmaceutical interventions are needed. An example of a pharmaceutical intervention can be seen using metformin. This drug stimulates the release of insulin by preventing the breakdown of GLP-1, while also inhibiting the release of glucose from the liver. This medication has also been known to improve insulin receptor sensitivity in muscle, liver, and adipocytes (Jacobs, 2017).https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/exercise-science-research-proposal-posters/1141/thumbnail.jp

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of RealConsent2.0: a web‑based intervention to promote prosocial alcohol‑involved bystander behavior in young men

Background Sexual violence (SV) is a significant, global public health problem, particularly among young adults. Promising interventions exist, including prosocial bystander intervention programs that train bystanders to intervene in situations at-risk for SV. However, these programs suffer from critical weaknesses: (1) they do not address the proximal effect of alcohol use on bystander decision-making and (2) they rely on self-report measures to evaluate outcomes. To overcome these limitations, we integrate new content specific to alcohol use within the context of prosocial bystander intervention into an existing, evidence-based program, RealConsent1.0. The resulting program, RealConsent2.0, aims to facilitate bystander behavior among sober and intoxicated bystanders and uses a virtual reality (VR) environment to assess bystander behavior in the context of acute alcohol use. Methods This protocol paper presents the design of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which we evaluate RealConsent2.0 for efficacy in increasing alcohol- and non-alcohol-involved bystander behavior compared to RealConsent1.0 or to an attention-control program (“Taking Charge”). The RCT is being implemented in Atlanta, GA, and Lincoln, NE. Participants will be 605, healthy men aged 21–25 years recruited through social media, community-based flyers, and university email lists. Eligible participants who provide informed consent and complete the baseline survey, which includes self-reported bystander behavior, are then randomized to one of six conditions: RealConsent2.0/alcohol, RealConsent2.0/ placebo, RealConsent1.0/alcohol, RealConsent1.0/placebo, Taking Charge/alcohol, or Taking Charge/placebo. After completing their assigned program, participants complete a laboratory session in which they consume an alcohol (target BrAC: .08%) or placebo beverage and then engage in the Bystanders in Sexual Assault Virtual Environments (BSAVE), a virtual house party comprising situations in which participants have opportunities to intervene. Self-reported bystander behavior across alcohol and non-alcohol contexts is also assessed at 6- and 12-months post-intervention. Secondary outcomes include attitudes toward, outcome expectancies for, and self-efficacy for bystander behavior via self-report. Discussion RealConsent2.0 is the first web-based intervention for young men that encourages and teaches skills to engage in prosocial bystander behavior to prevent SV while intoxicated. This is also the first study to assess the proximal effect of alcohol on bystander behavior via a VR environment

Selection of Shine-Dalgarno sequences in plastids

Like bacterial genes, most plastid (chloroplast) genes are arranged in operons and transcribed as polycistronic mRNAs. Plastid protein biosynthesis occurs on bacterial-type 70S ribosomes and translation initiation of many (but not all) mRNAs is mediated by Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequences. To study the mechanisms of SD sequence recognition, we have analyzed translation initiation from mRNAs containing multiple SD sequences. Comparing translational efficiencies of identical transgenic mRNAs in Escherichia coli and plastids, we find surprising differences between the two systems. Most importantly, while internal SD sequences are efficiently recognized in E. coli, plastids exhibit a bias toward utilizing predominantly the 5′-most SD sequence. We propose that inefficient recognition of internal SD sequences provides the raison d'être for most plastid polycistronic transcripts undergoing post-transcriptional cleavage into monocistronic mRNAs

A search for quantitative trait loci controlling within-individual variation of physical activity traits in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that physical inactivity can predispose individuals to a host of health problems. While many studies have analyzed the effect of various environmental factors on activity, we know much less about the genetic control of physical activity. Some studies in mice have discovered quantitative trait loci (QTL) influencing various physical activity traits, but mostly have analyzed inter-individual variation rather than variation in activity within individuals over time. We conducted a genome scan to identify QTLs controlling the distance, duration, and time run by mice over seven consecutive three-day intervals in an F₂population created by crossing two inbred strains (C57L/J and C3H/HeJ) that differed widely (average of nearly 300%) in their activity levels. Our objectives were (a) to see if we would find QTLs not originally discovered in a previous investigation that assessed these traits over the entire 21-day period and (b) to see if some of these QTLs discovered might affect the activity traits only in the early or in the late time intervals.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This analysis uncovered 39 different QTLs, over half of which were new. Some QTLs affected the activity traits only in the early time intervals and typically exhibited significant dominance effects whereas others affected activity only in the later age intervals and exhibited less dominance. We also analyzed the regression slopes of the activity traits over the intervals, and found several QTLs affecting these traits that generally mapped to unique genomic locations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>It was concluded that the genetic architecture of physical activity in mice is much more complicated than has previously been recognized, and may change considerably depending on the age at which various activity measures are assessed.</p

Robots As Intentional Agents: Using Neuroscientific Methods to Make Robots Appear More Social

Robots are increasingly envisaged as our future cohabitants. However, while considerable progress has been made in recent years in terms of their technological realization, the ability of robots to interact with humans in an intuitive and social way is still quite limited. An important challenge for social robotics is to determine how to design robots that can perceive the user’s needs, feelings, and intentions, and adapt to users over a broad range of cognitive abilities. It is conceivable that if robots were able to adequately demonstrate these skills, humans would eventually accept them as social companions. We argue that the best way to achieve this is using a systematic experimental approach based on behavioral and physiological neuroscience methods such as motion/eye-tracking, electroencephalography, or functional near-infrared spectroscopy embedded in interactive human–robot paradigms. This approach requires understanding how humans interact with each other, how they perform tasks together and how they develop feelings of social connection over time, and using these insights to formulate design principles that make social robots attuned to the workings of the human brain. In this review, we put forward the argument that the likelihood of artificial agents being perceived as social companions can be increased by designing them in a way that they are perceived as intentional agents that activate areas in the human brain involved in social-cognitive processing. We first review literature related to social-cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in human–human interactions, and highlight the importance of perceiving others as intentional agents to activate these social brain areas. We then discuss how attribution of intentionality can positively affect human–robot interaction by (a) fostering feelings of social connection, empathy and prosociality, and by (b) enhancing performance on joint human–robot tasks. Lastly, we describe circumstances under which attribution of intentionality to robot agents might be disadvantageous, and discuss challenges associated with designing social robots that are inspired by neuroscientific principles

LEED-ND and Livability Revisited

This study examines LEED-ND’s criteria for Neighborhood Pattern and Design (NPD). LEED-ND was developed as a system for rating new neighborhoods on the sustainability of their planning. However, it has increasingly been adopted by cities as a de facto measure of “livable” neighborhood design and used to accelerate development processes. We hypothesize that these criteria do not area is Temescal, a gentrifying neighborhood in Oakland, CA. livability very highly. Furthermore, residents consistently rated and ranked NPD characteristics quite differently than did LEED-ND, system. We propose that a single set of weighted, prescriptive desired amenities of different communities

LEED-ND and Livability Revisited

This study examines LEED-ND’s criteria for Neighborhood Pattern and Design (NPD). LEED-ND was developed as a system for rating new neighborhoods on the sustainability of their planning. However, it has increasingly been adopted by cities as a de facto measure of “livable” neighborhood design and used to accelerate development processes. We hypothesize that these criteria do not area is Temescal, a gentrifying neighborhood in Oakland, CA. livability very highly. Furthermore, residents consistently rated and ranked NPD characteristics quite differently than did LEED-ND, system. We propose that a single set of weighted, prescriptive desired amenities of different communities