Comparison of two warm-up models for obese and normal-weight adults performing supramaximal cycling exercise.

This study examines the impact of two forms of active warm-up on supramaximal cycling performance among sedentary adults. Thirty-seven adults [23.05 (6.4) years; BMI=26.05 (1.3) kg/m, FM=30.1 (4.2)%, VO=23.8 (5.8) ml/min/kg] participated in a cross-over randomized study, and all underwent a supramaximal cycling test (SCT) following 5 minutes of two models of warm-up pedalled at a constant velocity of 60 rpm. In the first experimental condition, the warm-up was set at 50% of maximal aerobic power (WU50%MAP). In the second experimental condition, the intensity was set at 50% of maximal heart rate (WU50%MHR). During both experimental conditions the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) at the end of the warm-up and the performance reduction in percentage (ΔPr%) during the SCT were recorded. During the WU50%MAP experimental condition, obese (OB) adults showed higher values of post-warm-up heart rate (~30%) than in the normal weight (NW) group (p<0.01). In addition, the RPE scores determined after the warm-up were significantly higher in OB compared to NW (~30%; p<0.01). However, after the WU50%MHR experimental condition, no significant differences remained between OB and NW. Moreover, the analyses showed a significant positive association between the elevated heart rate values observed after WU50%MAP and both RPE and ΔPr% (r= 0.71 and r =0.81, p <0.05 respectively). In contrast to NW individuals, the WU50%MHR seems to be more suitable for the OB group undergoing the SCT given that WU50%MAP affected supramaximal cycling performances

Learning Analytics Mobile Application for the Bucharest University of Economic Studies’ Students

Learning analytics refers to improving the educational process by providing feedback and in-volving all the stakeholders. It is a very useful method with positive effects on both students and teachers. In ASE, the idea of learning analytics is not very well shaped, so development is needed on this side. This article proposes a learning analytics app for better exploitation of SIMUR database content in order to improve the educational processes in the university

Profile of a Serial Killer: Cellular and Molecular Approaches to Study Individual Cytotoxic T-Cells following Therapeutic Vaccination

T-cell vaccination may prevent or treat cancer and infectious diseases, but further progress is required to increase clinical efficacy. Step-by-step improvements of T-cell vaccination in phase I/II clinical studies combined with very detailed analysis of T-cell responses at the single cell level are the strategy of choice for the identification of the most promising vaccine candidates for testing in subsequent large-scale phase III clinical trials. Major aims are to fully identify the most efficient T-cells in anticancer therapy, to characterize their TCRs, and to pinpoint the mechanisms of T-cell recruitment and function in well-defined clinical situations. Here we discuss novel strategies for the assessment of human T-cell responses, revealing in part unprecedented insight into T-cell biology and novel structural principles that govern TCR-pMHC recognition. Together, the described approaches advance our knowledge of T-cell mediated-protection from human diseases

Exploring environmental Kuznets curve. An investigation on EU economies

Designing and implementing relevant and effective environmental policies and fostering green and environmental-friendly approaches and behaviors are constant aims for policy makers all over the world. Concurrently, implementing environmental policies involves significant economic and financial efforts, in order to repair environmental damage and to prevent future negative environmental consequences. How effective are the environmental expenditures and how are they related to the economic growth, i.e. the GDP level, are issues of major concern at a governmental level. In this article we are examining the relation between GDP and environmental expenditure, by using statistical data available for EU economies, for the time period 1995-2013. We found that the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis is supported in most of the EU economies, both for government environmental protection and specialized providers, public and private environmental protection. Further and deeper analyses performed showed different situations for specific countries and even a negative relation between GDP and government environmental protection for specific cases. First published online 18 November 201

A Good Earthquake Concave Behaviour of a Seismic Isolator Which Supports a Metallic Roof

We combine some important theoretical mathematical results with practical aspects from engineering in a nice framework of K-spiders, which forms a space with global nonpositive curvature. Some concavity properties into such framework are derived. As an application, we consider a mathematical model for an engineering problem. More precisely, we are trying to model the behaviour of tension forces appearing in a metallic roof supported on seismic isolators. In fact, we are looking to find the properties of good seismic isolators in order to reduce the destructive power of an earthquake. The answer consists of a concave behaviour in terms of the displacements on the 3D axes of the Cartesian system

Three-particle correlation from glasma flux tubes

We compute three particle correlations in the Glasma flux tube model of high energy heavy ion collisions. We obtain a simple geometrical picture of these correlations; when convoluted with final state radial flow, it results in distinct predictions for the near side three particle correlation in central heavy ion collisions.Comment: fixed typos and corrected some erroneous factors of 2 and 2\p

Radiation dose reduction and image enhancement in biological imaging through equally-sloped tomography

Electron tomography is currently the highest resolution imaging modality available to study the 3D structures of pleomorphic macromolecular assemblies, viruses, organelles and cells. Unfortunately, the resolution is currently limited to 3–5 nm by several factors including the dose tolerance of biological specimens and the inaccessibility of certain tilt angles. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of equally-sloped tomography (EST) to alleviate these problems. As a proof of principle, we applied EST to reconstructing frozen-hydrated keyhole limpet hemocyanin molecules from a tilt-series taken with constant slope increments. In comparison with weighted back-projection (WBP), the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) and the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART), EST reconstructions exhibited higher contrast, less peripheral noise, more easily detectable molecular boundaries and reduced missing wedge effects. More importantly, EST reconstructions including only two-thirds the original images appeared to have the same resolution as full WBP reconstructions, suggesting that EST can either reduce the dose required to reach a given resolution or allow higher resolutions to be achieved with a given dose. EST was also applied to reconstructing a frozen-hydrated bacterial cell from a tilt-series taken with constant angular increments. The results confirmed similar benefits when standard tilts are utilized

Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of adenylosuccinate synthetase from the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

With increasingly large immunocompromised populations around the world, opportunistic fungal pathogens such as Cryptococcus neoformans are a growing cause of morbidity and mortality. To combat the paucity of antifungal compounds, new drug targets must be investigated. Adenylosuccinate synthetase is a crucial enzyme in the ATP de novo biosynthetic pathway, catalyzing the formation of adenylosuccinate from inosine monophosphate and aspartate. Although the enzyme is ubiquitous and well characterized in other kingdoms, no crystallographic studies on the fungal protein have been performed. Presented here are the expression, purification, crystallization and initial crystallographic analyses of cryptococcal adenylosuccinate synthetase. The crystals had the symmetry of space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) and diffracted to 2.2 angstrom resolution