FOOTBALL (SOCCER) PLAYERS KINEMATICS AT DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT LEVELS. PART ONE: ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING OF DATA

The paper presents description of different, but mostly image, technological approaches to obtain kinematic data of football players. Authors’ technology was presented for acquiring and processing data of soccer players at different development levels

FOOTBALL (SOCCER) PLAYERS KINEMATICS AT DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT LEVELS. PART TWO – RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The paper presents description of a match play of soccer players at different development levels – Junior, Olympic and Senior Teams. Also different formations were taken into account. Video analysis of the whole match using a picture of the entire pitch was utilised. Kinematics of play differed. Juniors played similar to Olympic players but less intense comparing to senior players. They covered shorter distance, at lower mean velocity. Defenders covered shorter distance with the lowest mean velocity

Performance of RTPCR kits for reproducible production of cDNA libraries

Introduction: To quantify RNA, the RNA sample must first be converted into cDNA, a form less susceptible to degradation than RNA, through the process of reverse transcription (RT). The enzyme that converts RNA to cDNA, reverse transcriptase, has many modified forms. If the RT process does not result in reproducible cDNA libraries that represent all message species in the RNA extract, trail conclusions may contain errors. Reproducible data is mandatory for accuracy in experiments relying on RNA quantification.Research Question: Which RTPCR kits produce the most cDNA?Methods: An extraction of RNA from dried blood samples was used as a template for testing the effectiveness of different RTPCR kits (Qiagen QuantiTech (Q), BioRad iScript (I), Thermo Fischer SuperScript IV (SSIV or S), and New England LunaScript (N)). Once the kits were utilized on equal amounts of RNA, the cDNA samples were put into the PCR to determine the quantity of cDNA present.Results: All kits showed high reproducibility among the triplicates. Overall, the SSIV kit gives the highest yield of cDNA, indicated by lower Ct values. The New England LunaScript kit gives the lowest yield of cDNA, indicated by higher Ct values.Conclusion: The results suggest that the SSIV RT enzyme produces the most cDNA and also occurs in a short reaction time; a fast enzyme reaction suggests high efficiency in the SSIV modification of RT. On the other hand, this experiment indicates that the least efficient RT modification is the N kit due to its low yield of cDNA

5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Is Not Present in Appreciable Quantities in Arabidopsis DNA

5-Hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) is an intermediate in active demethylation in metazoans, as well as a potentially stable epigenetic mark. Previous reports investigating 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in plants have reached conflicting conclusions. We systematically investigated whether 5-hmC is present in plant DNA using a range of methods. Using the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana, in addition to other plant species, we assayed the amount or distribution of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine by thin-layer chromatography, immunoprecipitation-chip, ELISA, enzymatic radiolabeling, and mass spectrometry. The failure to observe 5-hydroxymethylcytosine by thin-layer chromatography established an upper bound for the possible fraction of the nucleotide in plant DNA. Antibody-based methods suggested that there were low levels of 5-hmC in plant DNA, but these experiments were potentially confounded by cross-reactivity with the abundant base 5-methylcytosine. Enzymatic radiolabeling and mass spectrometry, the most sensitive methods for detection that we used, failed to detect 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in A. thaliana genomic DNA isolated from a number of different tissue types and genetic backgrounds. Taken together, our results led us to conclude that 5-hmC is not present in biologically relevant quantities within plant genomic DNA.National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Progra

Primary Dendrite Array Morphology: Observations from Ground-based and Space Station Processed Samples

Influence of natural convection on primary dendrite array morphology during directional solidification is being investigated under a collaborative European Space Agency-NASA joint research program, "Microstructure Formation in Castings of Technical Alloys under Diffusive and Magnetically Controlled Convective Conditions (MICAST)". Two Aluminum-7 wt pct Silicon alloy samples, MICAST6 and MICAST7, were directionally solidified in microgravity on the International Space Station. Terrestrially grown dendritic monocrystal cylindrical samples were remelted and directionally solidified at 18 K/cm (MICAST6) and 28 K/cm (MICAST7). Directional solidification involved a growth speed step increase (MICAST6-from 5 to 50 micron/s) and a speed decrease (MICAST7-from 20 to 10 micron/s). Distribution and morphology of primary dendrites is currently being characterized in these samples, and also in samples solidified on earth under nominally similar thermal gradients and growth speeds. Primary dendrite spacing and trunk diameter measurements from this investigation will be presented

Ethnicity, voter alignment and political party affiliation - an African case: Zambia

Conventional wisdom holds that ethnicity provides the social cleavage for voting behav-iour and party affiliation in Africa. Because this is usually inferred from aggregate data of national election results, it might prove to be an ecological fallacy. The evidence based on individual data from an opinion survey in Zambia suggests that ethnicity matters for voter alignment and even more so for party affiliation, but it is certainly not the only factor. The analysis also points to a number of qualifications which are partly methodology-related. One is that the degree of ethnic voting can differ from one ethno-political group to the other depending on various degrees of ethnic mobilisation. Another is that if smaller eth-nic groups or subgroups do not identify with one particular party, it is difficult to find a significant statistical correlation between party affiliation and ethnicity - but that does not prove that they do not affiliate along ethnic lines.Wahlverhalten und Mitgliedschaft in politischen Parteien Afrikas ist nur wenig untersucht worden. Gewöhnlich wird argumentiert, dass Ethnizität als soziale Konfliktlinie das Wahlverhalten und die Parteienmitgliedschaft strukturiert. Da dieses Argument auf hoch aggregierten Wahldaten beruht, kann hier ein ökologischer Fehlschuss vorliegen. Die vorliegende Analyse beruht deshalb auf individuellen Umfragedaten aus Sambia. Das Ergebnis ist, dass Ethnizität tatsächlich eine Rolle für das Wahlverhalten und die Parteienmitgliedschaft spielt, aber keineswegs den einzigen Erklärungsfaktor darstellt. Die Analyse offenbart zudem eine Reihe von Einschränkungen und Qualifizierungen, die teilweise methodischer Natur sind. Eine ist, dass ethnisches Wahlverhalten und Parteienmitgliedschaft von einer ethnischen Gruppe zur anderen unterschiedlich ist, dass, wenn sich kleinere ethnische Gruppen oder Untergruppen mit keiner Partei identifizieren, es schwierig wird, statistisch signifikante Korrelationen zu finden - was indessen noch nicht beweist, dass Ethnizität keine Rolle spielt

Floral homeotic C function genes repress specific B function genes in the carpel whorl of the basal eudicot California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The floral homeotic C function gene <it>AGAMOUS </it>(<it>AG</it>) confers stamen and carpel identity and is involved in the regulation of floral meristem termination in <it>Arabidopsis</it>. <it>Arabidopsis ag </it>mutants show complete homeotic conversions of stamens into petals and carpels into sepals as well as indeterminacy of the floral meristem. Gene function analysis in model core eudicots and the monocots rice and maize suggest a conserved function for <it>AG </it>homologs in angiosperms. At the same time gene phylogenies reveal a complex history of gene duplications and repeated subfunctionalization of paralogs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>EScaAG1 </it>and <it>EScaAG2</it>, duplicate <it>AG </it>homologs in the basal eudicot <it>Eschscholzia californica </it>show a high degree of similarity in sequence and expression, although <it>EScaAG2 </it>expression is lower than <it>EScaAG1 </it>expression. Functional studies employing virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) demonstrate that knock down of <it>EScaAG1 </it>and <it>2 </it>function leads to homeotic conversion of stamens into petaloid structures and defects in floral meristem termination. However, carpels are transformed into petaloid organs rather than sepaloid structures. We also show that a reduction of <it>EScaAG1 </it>and <it>EScaAG2 </it>expression leads to significantly increased expression of a subset of floral homeotic B genes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This work presents expression and functional analysis of the two basal eudicot <it>AG </it>homologs. The reduction of <it>EScaAG1 </it>and <it>2 </it>functions results in the change of stamen to petal identity and a transformation of the central whorl organ identity from carpel into petal identity. Petal identity requires the presence of the floral homeotic B function and our results show that the expression of a subset of B function genes extends into the central whorl when the C function is reduced. We propose a model for the evolution of B function regulation by C function suggesting that the mode of B function gene regulation found in <it>Eschscholzia </it>is ancestral and the C-independent regulation as found in <it>Arabidopsis </it>is evolutionarily derived.</p