Fitness and game based assessment of U-18 Gaelic football players

Fitness profiling is a descriptive process that involves benchmarking the fitness characteristics of elite athletes. Three studies were undertaken to evaluate the physical and fitness characteristics, movement patterns and physiological demands during match play in U-18 Gaelic football players. Study 1 established normative centile scores for selected fitness parameters, and compared the physical and fitness characteristics relative to playing position. Midfield players and goalkeepers were taller and heavier than defenders and forwards. Goalkeepers had the highest sum of 3 skinfolds and covered less distance in the YYIRT1 than all other positions. There was no significant positional difference in the performance scores in the S&R test, CMJ, SLJ and 5 m and 20 m running speed. The results indicate that there are minimal differences in fitness characteristics between outfield playing positions. Studies 2 and 3 analysed the movement patterns and physiological demands during match play in county and club level players. County players covered a greater distance and performed a higher number of maximal sprint efforts (≥ 20 Km.h-1) per game. County players also exercised at a significantly higher %HRmax and spent a greater percentage of playing time between 91-100%HRmax than club players. There was a significant reduction in the total distance covered, frequency of high intensity activity, %HRmax and percentage of playing time between 91-100%HRmax in both club level and county level players. County level games involve a higher physical and physiological demand than club games. A greater technical ability and tactical understanding of the game is the major difference between county and club U-18 Gaelic football players. Publication of norm-referenced percentile scores will enable conditioning coaches to benchmark elite performance and design training programmes. The development of training strategies will be enhanced with an understanding of movement patterns and physiological demands of Gaelic football match play

Human APOBEC3B is a potent inhibitor of HIV-1 infectivity and is resistant to HIV-1 Vif

AbstractWhile the human antiretroviral defense factors APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G are potent inhibitors of the replication of HIV-1 mutants lacking a functional vif gene, the Vif protein expressed by wild-type HIV-1 blocks the function of both host cell proteins. Here, we report that a third human protein, APOBEC3B, is able to suppress the infectivity of both Vif-deficient and wild-type HIV-1 with equal efficiency. APOBEC3B, which shows ∼58% sequence identity to both APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G, shares the ability of these other human proteins to bind the nucleocapsid domain of HIV-1 Gag specifically and to thereby package into progeny virion particles. However, APOBEC3B differs from APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G in that it is unable to bind to HIV-1 Vif in co-expressing cells and is therefore efficiently packaged into HIV-1 virions regardless of Vif expression. Unfortunately, APOBEC3B also differs from APOBEC3F and APOBEC3G in that it is not normally expressed in the lymphoid cells that serve as targets for HIV-1 infection. These studies therefore raise the possibility that activation of the endogenous APOBEC3B gene in primary human lymphoid cells could form a novel and effective strategy for inhibition of HIV-1 replication in vivo

Alcohol and Substance Abuse in Higher Education: Suggestions for Student Affairs Professionals

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Human APOBEC3 proteins can inhibit xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus infectivity

AbstractXenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) is a novel retrovirus, related to murine leukemia virus (MLV), that has been implicated in human disease. If XMRV is indeed able to replicate in humans, then one might predict that XMRV would have developed resistance to human innate antiviral resistance factors such as APOBEC3G (hA3G). In fact, we observed that XMRV and MLV are both highly sensitive to inhibition by hA3G and equally resistant to inhibition by murine APOBEC3. While several human prostate cancer cell lines were found to lack hA3G, stable expression of physiological levels of hA3G rendered these cells refractory to XMRV replication. Few human tissues fail to express hA3G, and we therefore hypothesize that XMRV replicates in one or more hA3G-negative reservoir tissues and/or that human XMRV infections are likely to be rare and potentially of zoonotic origin

Anomaly and event detection for unsupervised athlete performance data

There are many projects today where data is collected automatically to provide input for various data mining algorithms. A problem with freshly generated datasets is their unsupervised nature, leading to difficulty in fitting predictive algorithms without substantial manual effort. One of the first steps in dataset preparation and mining is anomaly detection, where clear anomalies and outliers as well as events or changes in the pattern of the data are identified as a precursor to subsequent steps in data mining. In the research presented here, we provide a multi-step anomaly detection process which utilises different combinations of algorithms for the most accurate identification of outliers and events

Identification of microRNAs expressed in two mosquito vectors, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression in a variety of organisms, including insects, vertebrates, and plants. miRNAs play important roles in cell development and differentiation as well as in the cellular response to stress and infection. To date, there are limited reports of miRNA identification in mosquitoes, insects that act as essential vectors for the transmission of many human pathogens, including flaviviruses. West Nile virus (WNV) and dengue virus, members of the <it>Flaviviridae </it>family, are primarily transmitted by <it>Aedes </it>and <it>Culex </it>mosquitoes. Using high-throughput deep sequencing, we examined the miRNA repertoire in <it>Ae. albopictus </it>cells and <it>Cx. quinquefasciatus </it>mosquitoes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified a total of 65 miRNAs in the <it>Ae. albopictus </it>C7/10 cell line and 77 miRNAs in <it>Cx. quinquefasciatus </it>mosquitoes, the majority of which are conserved in other insects such as <it>Drosophila melanogaster </it>and <it>Anopheles gambiae</it>. The most highly expressed miRNA in both mosquito species was miR-184, a miRNA conserved from insects to vertebrates. Several previously reported <it>Anopheles </it>miRNAs, including miR-1890 and miR-1891, were also found in <it>Culex </it>and <it>Aedes</it>, and appear to be restricted to mosquitoes. We identified seven novel miRNAs, arising from nine different precursors, in C7/10 cells and <it>Cx. quinquefasciatus </it>mosquitoes, two of which have predicted orthologs in <it>An. gambiae</it>. Several of these novel miRNAs reside within a ~350 nt long cluster present in both <it>Aedes </it>and <it>Culex</it>. miRNA expression was confirmed by primer extension analysis. To determine whether flavivirus infection affects miRNA expression, we infected female <it>Culex </it>mosquitoes with WNV. Two miRNAs, miR-92 and miR-989, showed significant changes in expression levels following WNV infection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>Aedes </it>and <it>Culex </it>mosquitoes are important flavivirus vectors. Recent advances in both mosquito genomics and high-throughput sequencing technologies enabled us to interrogate the miRNA profile in these two species. Here, we provide evidence for over 60 conserved and seven novel mosquito miRNAs, expanding upon our current understanding of insect miRNAs. Undoubtedly, some of the miRNAs identified will have roles not only in mosquito development, but also in mediating viral infection in the mosquito host.</p