EMG and Motion Analysis of Swiss Ball Abdominal Exercises and Pilates Multi-Chair Exercises

As the second most common reason for visits to primary care doctors, and a symptom that affects 80% of the general United States population, low back pain and its\u27 treatment is a burdening cost on the American economy every year. Various spinal stabilization exercises have emerged as a means to treat low back pain. One of the most recent fonns of these stabilization exercises used in the physical therapy arena is Pilates, a fonn of dynamic spinal stabilization. Although numerous electromyographic (EMG) studies have been completed on abdominal exercises for spinal stabilization, minimal scientific research can be found on the efficacy of Pilates equipment in this realm. The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the EMG activity in the rectus abdominis, external obliques, and internal obliques using four abdominal exercises: the abdominal crunch on a ball, the abdominal crunch with rotation on a ball, the abdominal crunch on the Pilates Multi-Chair, and the abdominal crunch with rotation on the Pilates Multi-Chair. Fourteen, healthy subjects between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age performed a maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and one trial of each abdominal exercise. Abdominal EMG activity was recorded through surface electrodes and then normalized to percent MVC (%MVC) by comparing the muscle activity in the trial with the muscle activity during the reference MVC. Results of this study showed a significant difference in % MVC among exercises in the left external oblique, upper rectus abdominis, and lower rectus abdominis. There was no significant difference in % MVC among exercises in the right external oblique, and the right and left internal obliques. In general, exercises on the ball produced a higher % MVC in the rectus abdominis and the exercises on the Pilates Multi-Chair produced a higher % MVC in the external obliques

Chairs Checklist for Shared Decision Making

UMass ADVANCE survey results indicate that women faculty are less clear on personnel processes than men, and women faculty members from underrepresented racial minority groups are the least clear on tenure and promotion processes. This checklist is for department chairs/heads to assess departmental shared decision-making and create equitable practices that will support the inclusion and retention of women faculty and faculty of color

Setting the Stage for Equitable Faculty Shared Decision-Making

The most consequential decisions regarding faculty careers are decided collectively by peers, including tenure, promotions, and annual merit pay raises. The shared decision making inherent in faculty governance is a type of collaboration that faculty experience in unequal ways. While most departments have formal procedures and written policies, academia remains dominated by informal ways of functioning that allow gender and racial inequalities to persist. UMass ADVANCE survey results indicate that women faculty are less clear on personnel processes than men, and women faculty members from underrepresented racial minority groups are the least clear on tenure and promotion processes. Women faculty are often uncertain about their next career steps. Creating equitable practices around shared decision-making will improve transparency and trust among colleagues, supporting the inclusion and retention of women faculty and faculty of color, especially those at junior ranks. How can governance be reinvented to be more equitable for women faculty and faculty of color

Vaccinia virus immune evasion: mechanisms, virulence and immunogenicity

Virus infection of mammalian cells is sensed by pattern recognition receptors and leads to an innate immune response that restricts virus replication and induces adaptive immunity. In response, viruses have evolved many countermeasures that enable them to replicate and be transmitted to new hosts, despite the host innate immune response. Poxviruses, such as vaccinia virus (VACV), have large DNA genomes and encode many proteins that are dedicated to host immune evasion. Some of these proteins are secreted from the infected cell, where they bind and neutralize complement factors, interferons, cytokines and chemokines. Other VACV proteins function inside cells to inhibit apoptosis or signalling pathways that lead to the production of interferons and pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. In this review, these VACV immunomodulatory proteins are described and the potential to create more immunogenic VACV strains by manipulation of the gene encoding these proteins is discussed

Mena, a new available marker in tumors of salivary glands?

Mena (mammalian Ena) is an actin regulatory protein involved in cell motility and adhesion. Based on its potential role in malignant transformation revealed in other organs, we analyzed the Mena expression in normal salivary glands (SG) and salivary tumors. Mena expression was determined in normal SG (n=10) and also benign (n=20) and malignant (n=35) lesions of SG. For the immunohistochemical staining we used the anti-Mena antibody. All normal SG and the benign lesions (10 pleomorphic adenomas, 10 Warthin's tumors) were Mena negative. Salivary duct carcinomas (n=5), carcinomas in pleomorphic adenoma (n=5), acinic cell carcinomas (n=5), squamous cell carcinomas (n=10) and high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinomas (n=2) were positive. The lymphomas (n=5) and low-grade mucoepidermoid carcinomas (n=1) were Mena negative. In one case the lymphoblastic cells stained positive for Mena. Some of the endothelial cells, in the peritumoral vessels, were Mena positive. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in the literature about Mena expression in salivary tumors. Our study suggests that Mena protein seems to play a role in malignant transformation and its intensity is correlated with the type and grade of tumor and also with vascular invasion. Its positivity in endothelial cells may suggest its potential role in tumor angiogenesis

Estimating taxon-specific population dynamics in diverse microbial communities

Understanding how population-level dynamics contribute to ecosystem-level processes is a primary focus of ecological research and has led to important breakthroughs in the ecology of macroscopic organisms. However, the inability to measure population-specific rates, such as growth, for microbial taxa within natural assemblages has limited ecologists’ understanding of how microbial populations interact to regulate ecosystem processes. Here, we use isotope incorporation within DNA molecules to model taxon- specific population growth in the presence of 18O-labeled water. By applying this model to phylogenetic marker sequencing data collected from stable-isotope probing studies, we estimate rates of growth, mortal- ity, and turnover for individual microbial populations within soil assemblages. When summed across the entire bacterial community, our taxon-specific estimates are within the range of other whole-assemblage measurements of bacterial turnover. Because it can be applied to environmental samples, the approach we present is broadly applicable to measuring population growth, mortality, and associated biogeochemical process rates of microbial taxa for a wide range of ecosystems and can help reveal how individual microbial populations drive biogeochemical fluxes

A mechanism for the inhibition of DNA-PK-mediated DNA sensing by a virus

The innate immune system is critical in the response to infection by pathogens and it is activated by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) binding to pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). During viral infection, the direct recognition of the viral nucleic acids, such as the genomes of DNA viruses, is very important for activation of innate immunity. Recently, DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), a heterotrimeric complex consisting of the Ku70/Ku80 heterodimer and the catalytic subunit DNA-PKcs was identified as a cytoplasmic PRR for DNA that is important for the innate immune response to intracellular DNA and DNA virus infection. Here we show that vaccinia virus (VACV) has evolved to inhibit this function of DNA-PK by expression of a highly conserved protein called C16, which was known to contribute to virulence but by an unknown mechanism. Data presented show that C16 binds directly to the Ku heterodimer and thereby inhibits the innate immune response to DNA in fibroblasts, characterised by the decreased production of cytokines and chemokines. Mechanistically, C16 acts by blocking DNA-PK binding to DNA, which correlates with reduced DNA-PK-dependent DNA sensing. The C-terminal region of C16 is sufficient for binding Ku and this activity is conserved in the variola virus (VARV) orthologue of C16. In contrast, deletion of 5 amino acids in this domain is enough to knockout this function from the attenuated vaccine strain modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA). In vivo a VACV mutant lacking C16 induced higher levels of cytokines and chemokines early after infection compared to control viruses, confirming the role of this virulence factor in attenuating the innate immune response. Overall this study describes the inhibition of DNA-PK-dependent DNA sensing by a poxvirus protein, adding to the evidence that DNA-PK is a critical component of innate immunity to DNA viruses

Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice

Prejudiced attitudes and political nationalism vary widely around the world, but there has been little research on what predicts this variation. Here we examine the ecological and cultural factors underlying the worldwide distribution of prejudice. We suggest that cultures grow more prejudiced when they tighten cultural norms in response to destabilizing ecological threats. A set of seven archival analyses, surveys, and experiments (∑N = 3,986,402) find that nations, American states, and pre-industrial societies with tighter cultural norms show the most prejudice based on skin color, religion, nationality, and sexuality, and that tightness predicts why prejudice is often highest in areas of the world with histories of ecological threat. People’s support for cultural tightness also mediates the link between perceived ecological threat and intentions to vote for nationalist politicians. Results replicate when controlling for economic development, inequality, conservatism, residential mobility, and shared cultural heritage. These findings offer a cultural evolutionary perspective on prejudice, with implications for immigration, intercultural conflict, and radicalization.publishedVersio