Factors affecting match running performance of elite soccer players: shedding some light on the complexity.

Time-motion analysis is a valuable data-collection technique used to quantify the match running performance of elite soccer players. However, interpreting the reductions in running performance in the second half or temporarily after the most intense period of games is highly complex, as it could be attributed to physical or mental fatigue, pacing strategies, contextual factors or a combination of mutually inclusive factors. Given that research in this domain typically uses a reductionist approach whereby match-running performance is examined in isolation without integrating other factors this ultimately leads to a 1-dimensional insight into match performance. Subsequently, a cohesive review of influencing factors does not yet exist. The aim of this commentary is to provide a detailed insight into the complexity of match running performance and the most influential factors

Limited response of peatland CH4 emissions to abrupt Atlantic Ocean circulation changes in glacial climates

Ice-core records show that abrupt Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) climatic warming events of the last glacial period were accompanied by large increases in the atmospheric CH4 concentration (up to 200 ppbv). These abrupt changes are generally regarded as arising from the effects of changes in the Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation and the resultant climatic impact on natural CH4 sources, in particular wetlands. We use two different ecosystem models of wetland CH4 emissions to simulate northern CH4 sources forced with coupled general circulation model simulations of five different time periods during the last glacial to investigate the potential influence of abrupt ocean circulation changes on atmospheric CH4 levels during D–O events. The simulated warming over Greenland of 7–9 °C in the different time periods is at the lower end of the range of 11–15 °C derived from ice cores, but is associated with strong impacts on the hydrological cycle, especially over the North Atlantic and Europe during winter. We find that although the sensitivity of CH4 emissions to the imposed climate varies significantly between the two ecosystem emissions models, the model simulations do not reproduce sufficient emission changes to satisfy ice-core observations of CH4 increases during abrupt events. The inclusion of permafrost physics and peatland carbon cycling in one model (LPJ-WHyMe) increases the climatic sensitivity of CH44 emissions relative to the Sheffield Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (SDGVM) model, which does not incorporate these processes. For equilibrium conditions this additional sensitivity is mostly due to differences in carbon cycle processes, whilst the increased sensitivity to the imposed abrupt warmings is also partly due to the effects of freezing on soil thermodynamics. These results suggest that alternative scenarios of climatic change could be required to explain the abrupt glacial CH4 variations, perhaps with a more dominant role for tropical wetland CH4 sources

Predicting Fluid Intelligence of Children using T1-weighted MR Images and a StackNet

In this work, we utilize T1-weighted MR images and StackNet to predict fluid intelligence in adolescents. Our framework includes feature extraction, feature normalization, feature denoising, feature selection, training a StackNet, and predicting fluid intelligence. The extracted feature is the distribution of different brain tissues in different brain parcellation regions. The proposed StackNet consists of three layers and 11 models. Each layer uses the predictions from all previous layers including the input layer. The proposed StackNet is tested on a public benchmark Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Neurocognitive Prediction Challenge 2019 and achieves a mean squared error of 82.42 on the combined training and validation set with 10-fold cross-validation. In addition, the proposed StackNet also achieves a mean squared error of 94.25 on the testing data. The source code is available on GitHub.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, Accepted by MICCAI ABCD-NP Challenge 2019; Added ND

Comparative study of annealed and high temperature grown ITO and AZO films for solar energy applications

We present the optical and electrical properties of ITO and AZO films fabricated directly on silicon substrates under several growth and annealing temperatures, as well as their potential performance when used as low emissivity coatings in hybrid photovoltaic-thermal systems. We use broadband spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements (from 300 nm to 20 μm) to obtain a consistent model for the permittivity of each of the films. The best performance is found using the properties of the ITO film grown at 250 °C, with a state of the art resistivity of 0.2 mΩ-cm and an optimized thickness of 75 nm which leads to an estimated 50% increase in the extracted power compared to a standard diffused silicon solar cell. The Hall mobility and resistivity measurements of all the films are also provided, complementing and supporting the observed optical properties

A non-canonical ESCRT pathway, including histidine domain phosphotyrosine phosphatase (HD-PTP), is used for down-regulation of virally ubiquitinated MHC class I.

The Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) K3 viral gene product effectively down-regulates cell surface MHC class I. K3 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that promotes Lys(63)-linked polyubiquitination of MHC class I, providing the signal for clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Endocytosis is followed by sorting into the intralumenal vesicles (ILVs) of multivesicular bodies (MVBs) and eventual delivery to lysosomes. The sorting of MHC class I into MVBs requires many individual proteins of the four endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs). In HeLa cells expressing the KSHV K3 ubiquitin ligase, the effect of RNAi-mediated depletion of individual proteins of the ESCRT-0 and ESCRT-I complexes and three ESCRT-III proteins showed that these are required to down-regulate MHC class I. However, depletion of proteins of the ESCRT-II complex or of the ESCRT-III protein, VPS20 (vacuolar protein sorting 20)/CHMP6 (charged MVB protein 6), failed to prevent the loss of MHC class I from the cell surface. Depletion of histidine domain phosphotyrosine phosphatase (HD-PTP) resulted in an increase in the cell surface concentration of MHC class I in HeLa cells expressing the KSHV K3 ubiquitin ligase. Rescue experiments with wild-type (WT) and mutant HD-PTP supported the conclusion that HD-PTP acts as an alternative to ESCRT-II and VPS20/CHMP6 as a link between the ESCRT-I and those ESCRT-III protein(s) necessary for ILV formation. Thus, the down-regulation of cell surface MHC class I, polyubiquitinated by the KSHV K3 ubiquitin ligase, does not employ the canonical ESCRT pathway, but instead utilizes an alternative pathway in which HD-PTP replaces ESCRT-II and VPS20/CHMP6.This work was supported by an MRC research grant to J.P.L. (G0900113). M.D.J.P. and J.L.E. were MRC research students and S.P. a Wellcome Trust research student. K.B. was a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Fellow and P.J.L. is a Wellcome Trust Principal Fellow. The CIMR is supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award 100140 and an electron microscope was purchased with Wellcome Trust grant 093026.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Portland Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/BJ2015033

An accurate test for homogeneity of odds ratios based on Cochran's Q-statistic

Background: A frequently used statistic for testing homogeneity in a meta-analysis of K independent studies is Cochran's Q. For a standard test of homogeneity the Q statistic is referred to a chi-square distribution with K - 1 degrees of freedom. For the situation in which the effects of the studies are logarithms of odds ratios, the chi-square distribution is much too conservative for moderate size studies, although it may be asymptotically correct as the individual studies become large. Methods: Using a mixture of theoretical results and simulations, we provide formulas to estimate the shape and scale parameters of a gamma distribution to t the distribution of Q. Results: Simulation studies show that the gamma distribution is a good approximation to the distribution for Q. Conclusions: : Use of the gamma distribution instead of the chi-square distribution for Q should eliminate inaccurate inferences in assessing homogeneity in a meta-analysis. (A computer program for implementing this test is provided.) This hypothesis test is competitive with the Breslow-Day test both in accuracy of level and in power

nNOS-expressing neurons in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra pars compacta

GABA neurons in the VTA and SNc play key roles in reward and aversion through their local inhibitory control of dopamine neuron activity and through long-range projections to several target regions including the nucleus accumbens. It is not clear whether some of these GABA neurons are dedicated local interneurons or if they all collateralize and send projections externally as well as making local synaptic connections. Testing between these possibilities has been challenging in the absence of interneuron-specific molecular markers. We hypothesized that one potential candidate might be neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), a common interneuronal marker in other brain regions. To test this, we used a combination of immunolabelling (including antibodies for nNOS that we validated in tissue from nNOS-deficient mice) and cell type-specific virus-based anterograde tracing in mice. We found that nNOS-expressing neurons, in the parabrachial pigmented (PBP) part of the VTA and the SNc were GABAergic and did not make detectable projections, suggesting they may be interneurons. In contrast, nNOS-expressing neurons in the rostral linear nucleus (RLi) were mostly glutamatergic and projected to a number of regions, including the lateral hypothalamus (LH), the ventral pallidum (VP), and the median raphe (MnR) nucleus. Taken together, these findings indicate that nNOS is expressed by neurochemically- and anatomically-distinct neuronal sub-groups in a sub-region-specific manner in the VTA and SNc

Trends in the Discovery of New Marine Natural Products from Invertebrates over the Last Two Decades – Where and What Are We Bioprospecting?

It is acknowledged that marine invertebrates produce bioactive natural products that may be useful for developing new drugs. By exploring untapped geographical sources and/or novel groups of organisms one can maximize the search for new marine drugs to treat human diseases. The goal of this paper is to analyse the trends associated with the discovery of new marine natural products from invertebrates (NMNPI) over the last two decades. The analysis considers different taxonomical levels and geographical approaches of bioprospected species. Additionally, this research is also directed to provide new insights into less bioprospected taxa and world regions. In order to gather the information available on NMNPI, the yearly-published reviews of Marine Natural Products covering 1990–2009 were surveyed. Information on source organisms, specifically taxonomical information and collection sites, was assembled together with additional geographical information collected from the articles originally describing the new natural product. Almost 10000 NMNPI were discovered since 1990, with a pronounced increase between decades. Porifera and Cnidaria were the two dominant sources of NMNPI worldwide. The exception was polar regions where Echinodermata dominated. The majority of species that yielded the new natural products belong to only one class of each Porifera and Cnidaria phyla (Demospongiae and Anthozoa, respectively). Increased bioprospecting efforts were observed in the Pacific Ocean, particularly in Asian countries that are associated with the Japan Biodiversity Hotspot and the Kuroshio Current. Although results show comparably less NMNPI from polar regions, the number of new natural products per species is similar to that recorded for other regions. The present study provides information to future bioprospecting efforts addressing previously unexplored taxonomic groups and/or regions. We also highlight how marine invertebrates, which in some cases have no commercial value, may become highly valuable in the ongoing search for new drugs from the sea

Whole-brain metallomic analysis of the common marmoset (: Callithrix jacchus)

© 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Despite the importance of transition metals for normal brain function, relatively little is known about the distribution of these elemental species across the different tissue compartments of the primate brain. In this study, we employed laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry on PFA-fixed brain sections obtained from two adult common marmosets. Concurrent cytoarchitectonic, myeloarchitectonic, and chemoarchitectonic measurements allowed for identification of the major neocortical, archaecortical, and subcortical divisions of the brain, and precise localisation of iron, manganese, and zinc concentrations within each division. Major findings across tissue compartments included: (1) differentiation of white matter tracts from grey matter based on manganese and zinc distribution; (2) high iron concentrations in the basal ganglia, cortex, and substantia nigra; (3) co-localization of high concentrations of iron and manganese in the primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex; and (4) high manganese in the hippocampus. The marmoset has become a model species of choice for connectomic, aging, and transgenic studies in primates, and the application of metallomics to these disciplines has the potential to yield high translational and basic science value

Optical Trapping of an Ion

For several decades, ions have been trapped by radio frequency (RF) and neutral particles by optical fields. We implement the experimental proof-of-principle for trapping an ion in an optical dipole trap. While loading, initialization and final detection are performed in a RF trap, in between, this RF trap is completely disabled and substituted by the optical trap. The measured lifetime of milliseconds allows for hundreds of oscillations within the optical potential. It is mainly limited by heating due to photon scattering. In future experiments the lifetime may be increased by further detuning the laser and cooling the ion. We demonstrate the prerequisite to merge both trapping techniques in hybrid setups to the point of trapping ions and atoms in the same optical potential.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure