Home Court Advantage and Quality of Team

Home court advantage was examined using archival data taken from the onset of NCAA Division I basketball record keeping. The effect of team quality on home court advantage was analyzed by examining games where number one ranked teams faced number two ranked teams. The purpose of only examining games between number one and number two ranked teams is an attempt to equalize team quality (team quality in this study is defined by national rank) to better examine home court advantage. My hypothesis is that if team quality is evenly matched then a home court advantage will not play a role in determining a victor. The results of my study lead me to support my hypothesis through examination of a chi square test. Even though my hypothesis is a null hypothesis there are still possible uses for this study. It is the first experiment I have found that examines team quality on a larger scale (national instead of conference) and is a possible study to build upon

Machine Learning For Designing Stretchable Carbon Nanostructures

In this research study, we employ machine learning algorithms to perform molecular dynamics simulations for graphene-like 3D carbon nanostructures. Custom MATLAB programs and Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator (LAMMPS) are used to conduct the simulations in this report. The results obtained in this research will accelerate the development of more advanced nanomaterials such as 3D carbon nanostructures by improving the accuracy of the simulations of their material properties

Long-Term Survival in a Patient With Ruptured Hepatocellular Carcinoma

A 57-yr-old woman previously diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B was admitted via the emergency room because she suddenly developed epigastric pain with abdominal distension. On computed tomography (CT), a round enhancing mass was found on the left hepatic lobe with ascites in the peritoneal space. Bloody ascites were found upon tapping the ascites, and this led to the diagnosis of ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The patient was immediately treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) including 50 mg of adriamycin and 10 mL of lipiodol, and then we performed left lateral segmentectomy 20 days later. To prevent recurrence of HCC by any micrometastasis, the patient subsequently received 8 cycles of adjuvant systemic chemotherapy (a regimen of epirubicin (50 mg/m2), cisplatin (60 mg/m2) and 5-fluorouracil (200 mg/m2)) at monthly intervals. After this, the patient has been regularly followed up and she shows no signs of tumor recurrence 7 years later. This case suggests that surgical resection and subsequent adjuvant systemic chemotherapy with using an ECF regimen may provide long-term survival for patients ruptured HCC

Immediate pre-meal water ingestion decreases voluntary food intake in lean young males

Purpose: Consuming 375-500 ml of water 30 min before a meal has been shown to reduce energy intake in older, but not younger adults. This study investigated the effects of ingesting a water preload immediately pre-meal (<1 min before eating) on within-meal ad-libitum energy intake in non-obese young males. Methods: Fourteen healthy males (mean (SD) age 27 (3) y, Height 1.83 (0.05) m, body weight 80.47 (9.89) kg, body fat 17.5 (4.0) %, body mass index 24.0 (2.5) kg/m2) completed a familiarisation trial and two experimental trials in randomised counterbalanced order. Subjects arrived at the laboratory overnight fasted and consumed an ad-libitum porridge breakfast. Immediately prior to the meal, subjects consumed either a 568 ml (1 pint) water preload (preload trial) or no preload (control trial). Visual analogue scale questionnaires to assess hunger, fullness and satisfaction were completed before and after the meal in both trials, as well as after the water preload. Results: Ad-libitum energy intake was greater (P<0.001) during control (2551 (562) kJ) than preload (1967 (454) kJ). Ad-libitum water intake was also greater (P<0.001) during control (318 (226-975) ml) than preload (116 (0-581) ml). The water preload increased fullness and satisfaction and decreased hunger compared to pre-trial (P<0.001) and the control trial (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that consumption of a 568 ml water preload immediately before a meal reduces energy intake in non-obese young males. This might therefore be an effective strategy to suppress energy intake in this population and possibly assist with weight management

Optimizing nutrition in older people

Older adults are at increased risk of malnutrition, for a variety of physiological and psychological reasons. This has implications for health, quality of life, independence and economic circumstances. Improvements in nutrition are known to bring tangible benefits to older people and many age-related diseases and conditions can be prevented, modulated or ameliorated by good nutrition. However, practical and realistic approaches are required to optimize diet and food intake in older adults. One area where improvements can be made relates to appetite. Encouraging older adults to prepare meals can increase appetite and food intake, and providing opportunities for older adults to eat a wide variety of foods, in company, is a simple strategy to increase food intake. The protein requirement of older adults is subject to controversy and although considered the most satiating macronutrient, it appears that protein does not elicit as great a satiating effect in older adults as it does in younger individuals. This indicates that there is potential to increase protein intake without impacting on overall energy intake. Other areas where simple practical improvements can be made include both packaging of foods that are easy to prepare and the education of older adults on the safe storage and preparation of food. Research into improving the diets and nutritional status of older adults has indicated that many of the strategies can be easily and cost-effectively undertaken

Lead activates protein kinase C in immature rat brain microvessels

We investigated the effects of inorganic lead upon calcium-, phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C) in brain microvessels isolated from 6-day-old rat pups. We found that (a) in broken cell preparations, lead at micromolar concentrations activates this enzyme to an extent equivalent to that of micromolar calcium (10.3 +/- 1.3 and 9.2 +/- 1.6 pmol/mg/min, respectively) and (b) preincubation ofintact microvessels with lead results in a translocation of protein kinase C from the soluble to the particulate fraction. The cytosolic kinase activity stimulated by lead has the same requirements for diacylglycerol and phospholipid as the calcium-stimulated enzyme, suggesting that lead activates the kinase by mimicking calcium. The hypothesis that lead affects protein kinase C activity through a mechanism similar to that of calcium is supported by the similar time courses of substrate phosphorylation and dephosphorylation mediated by lead and calcium. When intact microvessels are preincubated with micromolar concentrations of lead, the translocation of protein kinase C occurs in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The relocalization is virtually complete at 0.1 [mu] lead and by 30 min of exposure. We propose that the sensitivity of protein kinase C to lead, described here in immature brain microvessels, makes this regulatory enzyme a potential mediator of lead toxicity.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27099/1/0000091.pd

Environmental Barcoding Reveals Massive Dinoflagellate Diversity in Marine Environments

Rowena F. Stern is with University of British Columbia, Ales Horak is with University of British Columbia, Rose L. Andrew is with University of British Columbia, Mary-Alice Coffroth is with State University of New York at Buffalo, Robert A. Andersen is with the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Frithjof C. Küpper is with the Scottish Marine Institute, Ian Jameson is with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Mona Hoppenrath is with the German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research, Benoît Véron is with University of Caen Lower Normandy and the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Fumai Kasai is with the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Jerry Brand is with UT Austin, Erick R. James is with University of British Columbia, Patrick J. Keeling is with University of British Columbia.Background -- Dinoflagellates are an ecologically important group of protists with important functions as primary producers, coral symbionts and in toxic red tides. Although widely studied, the natural diversity of dinoflagellates is not well known. DNA barcoding has been utilized successfully for many protist groups. We used this approach to systematically sample known “species”, as a reference to measure the natural diversity in three marine environments. Methodology/Principal Findings -- In this study, we assembled a large cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) barcode database from 8 public algal culture collections plus 3 private collections worldwide resulting in 336 individual barcodes linked to specific cultures. We demonstrate that COI can identify to the species level in 15 dinoflagellate genera, generally in agreement with existing species names. Exceptions were found in species belonging to genera that were generally already known to be taxonomically challenging, such as Alexandrium or Symbiodinium. Using this barcode database as a baseline for cultured dinoflagellate diversity, we investigated the natural diversity in three diverse marine environments (Northeast Pacific, Northwest Atlantic, and Caribbean), including an evaluation of single-cell barcoding to identify uncultivated groups. From all three environments, the great majority of barcodes were not represented by any known cultured dinoflagellate, and we also observed an explosion in the diversity of genera that previously contained a modest number of known species, belonging to Kareniaceae. In total, 91.5% of non-identical environmental barcodes represent distinct species, but only 51 out of 603 unique environmental barcodes could be linked to cultured species using a conservative cut-off based on distances between cultured species. Conclusions/Significance -- COI barcoding was successful in identifying species from 70% of cultured genera. When applied to environmental samples, it revealed a massive amount of natural diversity in dinoflagellates. This highlights the extent to which we underestimate microbial diversity in the environment.This project was funded by Genome Canada and the Canadian Barcode of Life Network. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Biological Sciences, School o