The influence of serial carbohydrate mouth rinsing on power output during a cycle sprint

The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of serial administration of a carbohydrate (CHO) mouth rinse on performance, metabolic and perceptual responses during a cycle sprint. Twelve physically active males (mean (± SD) age: 23.1 (3.0) years, height: 1.83 (0.07) m, body mass (BM): 86.3 (13.5) kg) completed the following mouth rinse trials in a randomized, counterbalanced, double-blind fashion; 1. 8 x 5 second rinses with a 25 ml CHO (6% w/v maltodextrin) solution, 2. 8 x 5 second rinses with a 25 ml placebo (PLA) solution. Following mouth rinse administration, participants completed a 30 second sprint on a cycle ergometer against a 0.075 g·kg-1 BM resistance. Eight participants achieved a greater peak power output (PPO) in the CHO trial, resulting in a significantly greater PPO compared with PLA (13.51 ± 2.19 vs. 13.20 ± 2. 14 W·kg-1, p < 0.05). Magnitude inference analysis reported a likely benefit (81% likelihood) of the CHO mouth rinse on PPO. In the CHO trial, mean power output (MPO) showed a trend for being greater in the first 5 seconds of the sprint and lower for the remainder of the sprint compared with the PLA trial (p > 0.05). No significant between-trials difference was reported for fatigue index, perceived exertion, arousal and nausea levels, or blood lactate and glucose concentrations. Serial administration of a CHO mouth rinse may significantly improve PPO during a cycle sprint. This improvement appears confined to the first 5 seconds of the sprint, and may come at a greater relative cost for the remainder of the sprint

Actually existing racial capitalism: Financialisation and bordering in UK housing associations

Abstract: This paper provides a critical intervention into recent geographical debates on racial capitalism, interrogating the role that Housing Associations (HAs), the main form of UK social housing, play in its (re)production. Housing Associations are institutional, third‐sector spaces within which novel forms of financialisation and bordering take place. Race is central to these processes, but insufficient critical attention has been afforded to the intersections of class, race, and migratory status in extant research on UK HAs. Moreover, existing research into housing and racial capitalism is provincial in its North American focus, typically examining home ownership and private renting. We argue this is a significant lacuna given that new and multiple forms of racialised exclusion, inequality, and extraction cohere in social housing. There is accordingly a pressing need for a robust interrogation of racial capitalisms through UK HAs, and of the role of HAs via the conceptual lens of racial capitalism. In concluding, the paper argues for a new focus on ‘actually existing’ racial capitalisms, and the need for detailed analyses of the logics and practices of racial capitalisms across a variety of sites and scales, helping debates move beyond their conceptual heartland in North America

Fibroblast growth factor 10 is a negative regulator of postnatal neurogenesis in the mouse hypothalamus

New neurons are generated in the postnatal rodent hypothalamus, with a subset of tanycytes in the third ventricular (3V) wall serving as neural stem/progenitor cells. However, the precise stem cell niche organization, the intermediate steps and the endogenous regulators of postnatal hypothalamic neurogenesis remain elusive. Quantitative lineage-tracing in vivo revealed that conditional deletion of fibroblast growth factor 10 (Fgf10) from Fgf10-expressing beta-tanycytes at postnatal days (P)4-5 results in the generation of significantly more parenchymal cells by P28, composed mostly of ventromedial and dorsomedial neurons and some glial cells, which persist into adulthood. A closer scrutiny in vivo and ex vivo revealed that the 3V wall is not static and is amenable to cell movements. Furthermore, normally beta-tanycytes give rise to parenchymal cells via an intermediate population of alpha-tanycytes with transient amplifying cell characteristics. Loss of Fgf10 temporarily attenuates the amplification of beta-tanycytes but also appears to delay the exit of their alpha-tanycyte descendants from the germinal 3V wall. Our findings suggest that transience of cells through the alpha-tanycyte domain is a key feature, and Fgf10 is a negative regulator of postnatal hypothalamic neurogenesis.Peer reviewe

Exploring learning goals and assessment approaches for Indigenous health education : a qualitative study in Australia and New Zealand

In higher education, assessment is key to student learning. Assessments which promote critical thinking necessary for sustained learning beyond university are highly valued. However, the design of assessment tasks to achieve these types of thinking skills and dispositions to act in professional practice has received little attention. This research examines how academics design assessment to achieve these learning goals in Indigenous health education. Indigenous health education is an important area of learning for health practitioners to help address worldwide patterns of health inequities that exist for Indigenous people. We used a constructivist qualitative methodology to (i) explore learning goals and assessment strategies used in Indigenous health tertiary education and (ii) examine how they relate to higher education assessment ideals. Forty-one academics (from nine health disciplines) involved in teaching Indigenous health content participated in a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis revealed learning goals to transform students’ perspectives and capacities to think critically and creatively about their role in Indigenous health. In contrast, assessment tasks encouraged more narrowly bounded thinking to analyse information about historical and socio-cultural factors contributing to Indigenous health. To transform students to be critical health practitioners capable of working and collaborating with Indigenous people to advance their health and well-being, the findings suggest that assessment may need to be nested across many aspects of the curriculum using a programmatic approach, and with a focus on learning to think and act for future practice. These findings accord with more recent calls for transformation of learning and assessment in health education. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Exploring learning goals and assessment approaches for Indigenous health education : a qualitative study in Australia and New Zealand

In higher education, assessment is key to student learning. Assessments which promote critical thinking necessary for sustained learning beyond university are highly valued. However, the design of assessment tasks to achieve these types of thinking skills and dispositions to act in professional practice has received little attention. This research examines how academics design assessment to achieve these learning goals in Indigenous health education. Indigenous health education is an important area of learning for health practitioners to help address worldwide patterns of health inequities that exist for Indigenous people. We used a constructivist qualitative methodology to (i) explore learning goals and assessment strategies used in Indigenous health tertiary education and (ii) examine how they relate to higher education assessment ideals. Forty-one academics (from nine health disciplines) involved in teaching Indigenous health content participated in a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis revealed learning goals to transform students’ perspectives and capacities to think critically and creatively about their role in Indigenous health. In contrast, assessment tasks encouraged more narrowly bounded thinking to analyse information about historical and socio-cultural factors contributing to Indigenous health. To transform students to be critical health practitioners capable of working and collaborating with Indigenous people to advance their health and well-being, the findings suggest that assessment may need to be nested across many aspects of the curriculum using a programmatic approach, and with a focus on learning to think and act for future practice. These findings accord with more recent calls for transformation of learning and assessment in health education. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Improved functional expression of recombinant human ether-a-go-go (hERG) K+ channels by cultivation at reduced temperature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>HERG potassium channel blockade is the major cause for drug-induced long QT syndrome, which sometimes cause cardiac disrhythmias and sudden death. There is a strong interest in the pharmaceutical industry to develop high quality medium to high-throughput assays for detecting compounds with potential cardiac liability at the earliest stages of drug development. Cultivation of cells at lower temperature has been used to improve the folding and membrane localization of trafficking defective hERG mutant proteins. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of lower temperature maintenance on wild type hERG expression and assay performance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Wild type hERG was stably expressed in CHO-K1 cells, with the majority of channel protein being located in the cytoplasm, but relatively little on the cell surface. Expression at both locations was increased several-fold by cultivation at lower growth temperatures. Intracellular hERG protein levels were highest at 27°C and this correlated with maximal ³H-dofetilide binding activity. In contrast, the expression of functionally active cell surface-associated hERG measured by patch clamp electrophysiology was optimal at 30°C. The majority of the cytoplasmic hERG protein was associated with the membranes of cytoplasmic vesicles, which markedly increased in quantity and size at lower temperatures or in the presence of the Ca²⁺-ATPase inhibitor, thapsigargin. Incubation with the endocytic trafficking blocker, nocodazole, led to an increase in hERG activity at 37°C, but not at 30°C.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results are consistent with the concept that maintenance of cells at reduced temperature can be used to boost the functional expression of difficult-to-express membrane proteins and improve the quality of assays for medium to high-throughput compound screening. In addition, these results shed some light on the trafficking of hERG protein under these growth conditions.</p

Improving the normalization of complex interventions : part 2 - validation of the NoMAD instrument for assessing implementation work based on normalization process theory (NPT)

Funding This study is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council Study [Grant Number RES-062-23-3274] which is gratefully acknowledged. This work was also partially supported by funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 733025, ImpleMentAll project. This content reflects only the author’s view and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.The Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, receives core funding from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates. CRV was funded by a Clinician Scientist award supported by the National Institute for Health Research during this independent research. Availability of data and materials The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are deposited on UK Datashare (record 852,387). Further information is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Biochar-based fertilizer: Supercharging root membrane potential and biomass yield of rice

Biochar-based compound fertilizers (BCF) and amendments have proven to enhance crop yields and modify soil properties (pH, nutrients, organic matter, structure etc.) and are now in commercial production in China. While there is a good understanding of the changes in soil properties following biochar addition, the interactions within the rhizosphere remain largely unstudied, with benefits to yield observed beyond the changes in soil properties alone. We investigated the rhizosphere interactions following the addition of an activated wheat straw BCF at an application rates of 0.25% (g·g−1 soil), which could potentially explain the increase of plant biomass (by 67%), herbage N (by 40%) and P (by 46%) uptake in the rice plants grown in the BCF-treated soil, compared to the rice plants grown in the soil with conventional fertilizer alone. Examination of the roots revealed that micron and submicron-sized biochar were embedded in the plaque layer. BCF increased soil Eh by 85 mV and increased the potential difference between the rhizosphere soil and the root membrane by 65 mV. This increased potential difference lowered the free energy required for root nutrient accumulation, potentially explaining greater plant nutrient content and biomass. We also demonstrate an increased abundance of plant-growth promoting bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere. We suggest that the redox properties of the biochar cause major changes in electron status of rhizosphere soils that drive the observed agronomic benefits