Specificity and context in post-exercise recovery:it is not a one-size-fits-all approach

The concept of specificity of exercise prescription and training is a longstanding and widely accepted foundation of the exercise sciences. Simply, the principle holds that training adaptations are achieved relative to the stimulus applied. That is, the manipulation of training variables (e.g. intensity or loading, mode, volume and frequency) directly influences the acute training stimulus, and so the long-term adaptive response (Young et al., 2001; Bird et al., 2005). Translating this concept to practice then recommends that exercise be prescribed specific to the desired outcomes, and the more closely this is achieved, the greater the performance gain is likely to be. However, the cardiovascular and metabolic adaptations traditionally associated with long, slow distance training types, similarly achieved using high-intensity training methods (for a review see Gibala et al., 2012), highlights understanding of underlying physiology as paramount for effective training program design. Various other factors including illness, sleep and psychology also impact on the training stimulus (Halson, 2014) and must be managed collectively with appropriate post-exercise recovery to continue performance improvements and reduce overtraining and injury risks (Kenttä and Hassmén, 1998)

Is -110 degrees C cold air cryotherapy effective in improving post-exercise recovery in sports people?

Whole body cryotherapy (WBC) involves repeatedly exposing an individual, dressed in minimal clothing, to extremely cold air (–100 to –130°C) for a short period. One specific claim that is often made is that WBC is effective in treating exercise-induced muscle soreness and damage. However, our results suggest that two bouts of WBC were ineffective in improving recovery from eccentric exercise when administered 24 hours after eccentric exercise

The cause and consequence of fiber cell compaction in the vertebrate lens

Fiber cells of the ocular lens are arranged in a series of concentric shells. New growth shells are added continuously to the lens surface and, as a consequence, the preexisting shells are buried. To focus light, the refractive index of the lens cytoplasm must exceed that of the surrounding aqueous and vitreous humors, and to that end, lens cells synthesize high concentrations of soluble proteins, the crystallins. To correct for spherical aberration, it is necessary that the crystallin concentration varies from shell-to-shell, such that cellular protein content is greatest in the center of the lens. The radial variation in protein content underlies the critical gradient index (GRIN) structure of the lens. Only the outermost shells of lens fibers contain the cellular machinery necessary for protein synthesis. It is likely, therefore, that the GRIN (which spans the synthetically inactive, organelle-free zone of the lens) does not result from increased levels of protein synthesis in the core of the lens but is instead generated through loss of volume by inner fiber cells. Because volume is lost primarily in the form of cell water, the residual proteins in the central lens fibers can be concentrated to levels of >500 mg/ml. In this short review, we describe the process of fiber cell compaction, its relationship to lens growth and GRIN formation, and offer some thoughts on the likely nature of the underlying mechanism

A streaming audio mosaicing vocoder implementation

This paper introduces a new extension to the concept of Audio Mosaicing, a process by which a set of unrelated sounds are blended together to form a new audio stream of shared sonic characteristics. The proposed approach is based on the algorithm that underlies the well-known channel vocoder, that is, it splits the input signals into frequency bands, which are then processed individually, and then recombined to form the output. In a similar manner, our mosaicing scheme first uses filterbanks to decompose the set of input audio segments. Then, it introduces the use of Dynamic Time Warping to perform the matching process across the filterbank outputs. Following this, the re-synthesis stage includes a bank of Phase Vocoders, one for each frequency band to facilitate targeted spectral and temporal musical effects prior to recombination. Using multiple filterbanks means that this algorithm lends itself well to parallelisation and it is also shown how computational efficiencies are achieved that permit a real-time implementation

A streaming audio mosaicing vocoder implementation

This paper introduces a new extension to the concept of Audio Mosaicing, a process by which a set of unrelated sounds are blended together to form a new audio stream of shared sonic characteristics. The proposed approach is based on the algorithm that underlies the well-known channel vocoder, that is, it splits the input signals into frequency bands, which are then processed individually, and then recombined to form the output. In a similar manner, our mosaicing scheme first uses filterbanks to decompose the set of input audio segments. Then, it introduces the use of Dynamic Time Warping to perform the matching process across the filterbank outputs. Following this, the re-synthesis stage includes a bank of Phase Vocoders, one for each frequency band to facilitate targeted spectral and temporal musical effects prior to recombination. Using multiple filterbanks means that this algorithm lends itself well to parallelisation and it is also shown how computational efficiencies are achieved that permit a real-time implementation

Do Strict Regulators Increase the Transparency of Banks?

We investigate the role that regulatory strictness plays on the enforcement of financial reporting transparency in the U.S. banking industry. Using a novel measure of regulatory strictness in the enforcement of capital adequacy, we show that strict regulators are more likely to enforce restatements of banks’ call reports. Further, we find that the effect of regulatory strictness on accounting enforcement is strongest in periods leading up to economic downturns and for banks with riskier asset portfolios. Overall, the results from our study indicate that regulatory oversight plays an important role in enforcing financial reporting transparency, particularly in periods leading up to economic crises. We interpret this evidence as inconsistent with the idea that strict bank regulators put significant weight on concerns about the potential destabilizing effects of accounting transparency.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149564/1/joar12255_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149564/2/joar12255.pd

Updating professional development for medical librarians to improve our evidence-based medicine and information literacy instruction

Medical librarians lack professional development opportunities in the critical appraisal of biomedical evidence. An update to our professional development opportunities could support our efforts to teach critical appraisal of biomedical evidence during evidence-based medicine or information literacy instruction. If we enhance our understanding of latent influences on evidence quality—such as changes to Food and Drug Administration regulations, predatory or deceptive publishing practices, and clinical trial study designs—we can improve our value to medical education and hospital systems

Relationship Between Noncognitive Skills and Mathematics Achievement

Despite ongoing efforts to improve curriculum and instruction, students at an urban high school in New Jersey score low on the mathematics achievement components of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam. Guided by Bandura\u27s social cognitive theory, the purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between students\u27 noncognitive skills and their mathematics achievement. Students who were enrolled in the local high school in the 2017-18 school year and had completed the geometry component of the PARCC exam in 2016-17 were invited to participate in this study. In this cross-sectional survey design, 97 students completed 3 self-report noncognitive skills surveys measuring their mindset, grit, and self-control. Each noncognitive skill score was correlated with the students\u27 mathematics achievement as measured by their 2016-17 geometry PARCC exam score. Pearson correlation analysis indicated no significant correlations between each of the 3 noncognitive skills and mathematics achievement. While some prior research suggested that developing noncognitive skills can be a basis for effective interventions, these results do not support that approach. Given that there was no significant relationship between noncognitive skills and mathematics achievement in this sample, a prudent next step seemed to be recommending an individualized instructional approach to working with students as a means for addressing mathematics skills. Thus, a policy recommendation was developed to promote a comprehensive and evaluative approach to instructional decision-making that can be individualized for each student. By adopting instructional practices that individualize decision-making for each student\u27s needs, positive social change is likely to occur as students\u27 mathematics achievement may increase over time