The effect of short duration resistance training on insulin sensitivity and muscle adaptations in overweight men

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of 6 weeks of resistance exercise training, composed of one set of each exercise to voluntary failure, on insulin sensitivity and the time course of adaptations in muscle strength/mass. Ten overweight men (age 36 ± 8 years; height 175 ± 9 cm; weight 89 ± 14 kg; body mass index 29 ± 3 kg m−2) were recruited to the study. Resistance exercise training involved three sessions per week for 6 weeks. Each session involved one set of nine exercises, performed at 80% of one‐repetition maximum to volitional failure. Sessions lasted 15–20 min. Oral glucose tolerance tests were performed at baseline and post‐intervention. Vastus lateralis muscle thickness, knee‐extensor maximal isometric torque and rate of torque development (measured between 0 and 50, 0 and 100, 0 and 200, and 0 and 300 ms) were measured at baseline, each week of the intervention, and after the intervention. Resistance training resulted in a 16.3 ± 18.7% (P < 0.05) increase in insulin sensitivity (Cederholm index). Muscle thickness, maximal isometric torque and one‐repetition maximum increased with training, and at the end of the intervention were 10.3 ± 2.5, 26.9 ± 8.3, 18.3 ± 4.5% higher (P < 0.05 for both) than baseline, respectively. The rate of torque development at 50 and 100 ms, but not at 200 and 300 ms, increased (P < 0.05) over the intervention period. Six weeks of single‐set resistance exercise to failure results in improvements in insulin sensitivity and increases in muscle size and strength in young overweight men

Strip Cropping: A Potential IPM Tool for Reducing Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) Infestations in Cassava

Insect pests and diseases are a major limiting factor to cassava production in Africa. The cassava mosaic virus disease (CMVD), caused by cassava mosaic geminiviruses (CMGs) (Geminiviridae: Begomovirus) and transmitted by whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius, threatens the production of the crop in Africa, causing an estimated annual yield loss of over 1.5 billion US dollars. A 6-month field experiments were conducted to explore the potential of using strip cropping to reduce whitefly infestations in cassava, Manihot esculenta Crantz (Euphorbiaceae). Five rows each of cassava, Jatropha and cotton were grown around a 10-row (1 m row width) × 25 m cassava plots in a randomized complete block design. At weekly intervals, the levels of whiteflies infestations (number of eggs, nymphs and adults) per plot were determined. A significantly lower numbers of immature (egg and nymph) and adult Bemisia tabaci were found in cassava plots surrounded on all sides by five rows of both cotton and Jatropha curcas, clearly demonstrating the potential of strip cropping as a management option for the suppression of Bemisia tabaci populations

Long-Term Outcomes of Everolimus Therapy in De Novo Liver Transplantation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

BACKGROUND: Risk of nephrotoxicity in liver transplant patients on calcineurin inhibitors (CnIs) is a concern. Several controlled trials reported benefit of everolimus (EVR) in minimizing this risk when combined with a reduced CnI dose. BACKGROUND: To systematically review the efficacy and safety of EVR, alone or with reduced CnI dose, as compared to CnI alone post-liver transplantation. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials comparing EVR- and CnI-based regimens post-liver transplantation. Assessment of studies and data extraction were undertaken independently. RESULTS: Eight studies were selected, describing 769 patients. Cockcroft-Gault GFR was higher at one (P = .05), 3, and 5 years (P = .030) in patients on EVR compared to those receiving CnI therapy. The composite endpoint of efficacy failure was similar between the 2 arms after 1, 3, and 5 years of study. More patients discontinued EVR due to adverse effects in 1 year; however, no difference was noted after 3 or 5 years. A higher rates of proteinuria, peripheral edema, and incisional hernia occurred in patients on EVR. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis confirms noninferiority of EVR and reduced CnI combination. Combination regimen resulted in better renal function compared to standard CnI therapy

Diversity study of Drumstick (Moringaoleifera Lam.) using Microsatellite markers

The study of the magnitude of genetic diversity existing within thirty one accessions of Moringaoleifera collections made within and outside Nigeria was conducted using ten Randomised Amplified Polymorphic DNA and tenMicrosattellite markers.None of the RAPD showed amplification bands. Five out of the Microsattellites markersamplified, four primers MO1, MO10, MO15 and MO41 were polymorphic in nature while the marker MO6 produced only a monomorphic band.PIC value was highest for the primer MO41 with 0.75 followed by primer MO1 with 0.68 while, the lowest PIC value was recorded by the primer MO15 with 0.11.A total of 19 alleles were produced by the four primers and the number of alleles ranged from two to nine with an average of 4.75 alleles per primer. The maximum number allele frequency was generated by primer MO15 followed by MO10.The gene diversity varied from 0.12 to 0.78 with an average of 0.52, PIC content of the SSR primers ranged from 0.11 to 0.75 with an average of 0.48 with primers MO 41 followed closely by primer MO1 having maximum numbers of allele number, PIC and gene diversity. Hence, the primer pairs MO41and MO1 can be considered in future molecular studies of Moringaoleifera.The Cluster analysis was able to group the thirty one accessions into two main clusters with four sub clusters. Six of the accessions were found to be duplicated or closely related with one or two other accessions having 0.00 genetic distances between them. The clusters were having some accessions grouped based on same area of collection, however there still existed groupings that were not having link with area of collection

Improving the minimum description length inference of phrase-based translation models

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19390-8_25We study the application of minimum description length (MDL) inference to estimate pattern recognition models for machine translation. MDL is a theoretically-sound approach whose empirical results are however below those of the state-of-the-art pipeline of training heuristics. We identify potential limitations of current MDL procedures and provide a practical approach to overcome them. Empirical results support the soundness of the proposed approach.Work supported by the EU 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under the CasMaCat project (grant agreement no 287576), by Spanish MICINN under grant TIN2012-31723, and by the Generalitat Valenciana under grant ALMPR (Prometeo/2009/014).Gonzalez Rubio, J.; Casacuberta Nolla, F. (2015). Improving the minimum description length inference of phrase-based translation models. En Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis: 7th Iberian Conference, IbPRIA 2015, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, June 17-19, 2015, Proceedings. Springer International Publishing. 219-227. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19390-8 25S21922

ANTIGENIC RELATEDNESS AMONG NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS ISOLATES FROM NIGERIAN FERAL BIRDS AND THE LA ŚOTA STRAIN

As propriedades antigênicas de treze isolados do vírus da doença de Newcastle foram comparados com amostras La Sota. Usando uma das fórmulas previamente reconhecidas, significantes diferenças antigênicas foram observadas e marcantes atividades inibitórias foram percebidas entre os isolados e seus soros hiperimunes, bem como das amostras La Sota. As implicações destas diferenças para a epidemiologia e controle da Doença de Newcastle na Nigéria são discutidos.The antigenic properties of thirteen isolates of Newcastle disease virus were assessed against La Sota strain. Using one of the previously recognized formulas significant antigenic differences were observed and marked inhibitory activities were noticed amongst the isolates and their hyper-immune sera as well as that of the La Sota strain. The implications of these differences for Newcastle disease epidemiology and control in Nigeria are discussed