Contributing Factors to Low Energy Availability in Female Athletes: A Narrative Review of Energy Availability, Training Demands, Nutrition Barriers, Body Image, and Disordered Eating

Relative Energy Deficiency in sport is experiencing remarkable popularity of late, particularly among female athletes. This condition is underpinned by low energy availability, which is a byproduct of high energy expenditure, inadequate energy intake, or a combination of the two. Several contributing factors exist that may predispose an athlete to low energy availability, and therefore a holistic and comprehensive assessment may be required to identify the root causes. The focus of the current narrative review is to discuss the primary contributing factors as well as known risk factors for low energy availability among female athletes to help practitioners increase awareness on the topic and identify future areas of focus

Social Factors Affecting Treatment of Cervical Cancer: Ethical Issues and Policy Implications

Health care in the United States has become a privilege rather than a right. Patients who have the greatest need are the ones most likely to be denied this privilege. Despite recent advances in disease detection and treatment, many patients do not receive even the bare minimum of care. The high complexity of the health care system in the setting of patients with low levels of health literacy significantly affects the ability to seek and receive treatment in a timely fashion. In addition, lack of insurance, transportation, and social support further complicate access to care. To truly provide a standard of care to all patients, regardless of resources, our health care system must evolve to address the needs of the population. In this paper, we report a tragic case where social factors affected the outcome of a single mother with advanced cervical cancer

Cytokine Response to Traditional and Cluster Sets in Resistance-trained Women

Resistance exercise that incorporates intra-set rest between repetition blocks (i.e., cluster sets [CS]) can produce a smaller metabolic stress and endocrine response than traditional sets (TS). PURPOSE: To examine the effect of CS on the acute cytokine response in resistance trained women. METHODS: 12 resistance-trained women (mean ± SE; 23.7 ± 1.1 years; 160.1 ± 1.5 cm; 62.5 ± 1.7 kg; 5 ± 1 years training) completed 3 sessions in the follicular phase. One-repetition maximum (1RM) back squat (BS) (98.7 ± 4.1 kg), and BS:body mass (1.6 ± 0.1) were determined in Session 1. For Session 2 (3 days post Session 1) and Session 3 (7 days post Session 2), subjects were randomly assigned to either 4 sets of 10 reps with 120 seconds (s) inter-set rest (TS) or 4 x (2 x 5 reps) with 30s intra-set rest and 90s inter-set rest (CS). All performed both protocols at 70% 1RM BS. Instructions were to perform every rep “as explosively as possible”. Blood was collected pre-exercise (PRE), immediately after sets 1, 2, 3, 4 (IP), and at 5 (+5), 15 (+15), 30 (+30), and 60 (+60) min post-exercise and analyzed for interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL 10, and IL-15. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVAs (2 × 9). RESULTS: A significant main effect of time (p\u3c0.05) was found for IL-1β, IL-2, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-15. Concentration of IL-1β was smaller at +5 (3.9 ± 0.4 ng/mL), +15 (3.6 ± 0.4) +30 (3.5 ± 0.3), and +60 (3.7 ± 0.4) compared to IP (4.1 ± 0.4). IL-2 was greater after set 1 (10.8 ± 1.0 ng/mL), and set 2 (11.0 ± 1.2) compared to PRE (10.2 ± 1.0), and smaller at +30 (9.9 ± 1.0) compared to IP (11.0 ± 1.0). IL-8 was greater after set 1 (8.4 ± 0.6 ng/mL), set 2 (8.6 ± 0.7), and set 3 (8.5 ± 0.7) compared to PRE (8.0 ± 0.6). IL-10 was smaller at +30 (31.3 ± 7.4 ng/mL) compared to PRE (34.0 ± 7.4), and also smaller at +15 (32.6 ± 7.9) +30 (31.3 ± 7.4), and +60 (33.4 ± 8.6) compared to IP (38.0 ± 8.6). IL-15 was greater at IP (15.5 ± 4.0 ng/mL) compared to PRE (13.4 ± 3.5), and smaller at PRE (13.4 ± 3.5), +30 (11.9 ± 3.3), and +60 (11.6 ± 3.2) compared to IP (15.5 ± 4.0). No condition × time point effects were observed. CONCLUSION: Both TS and CS induced an acute cytokine response in resistance-trained women; incorporating intra-set rest (CS) did not appear to affect this cytokine response

Cultural Resources Investigations Along Whiteoak Bayou, Harris County, Texas

In 1986, cultural resources investigations were carried out to prepare a synthesis of the archeology of the Whiteoak Bayou area in western Harris County, Texas, and to conduct subsurface testing at prehistoric sites that may be affected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Upper Whiteoak Bayou Flood Damage Reduction Project. The tasks undertaken during these investigations are: (1) background research into the environment and archeology of the area; (2) historic/archival research and reconnaissance survey to summarize the historical development of Whiteoak Bayou and to identify any important sites in the project area; (3) intensive survey of Vogel Creek, a tributary to Whiteoak Bayou, to assess the potential for intact cultural remains; (4) National Register testing and assessment of nine aboriginal sites; (5) geoarcheological investigations to establish the geological context of the archeological remains, to identify the depositional environments represented, and to establish an alluvial sequence for the project area; and (6) analysis of a large collection of artifacts from 46 Whiteoak Bayou sites made prior to 1986 by members of the Houston Archeological Society, as well as the materials recovered during 1986. The nine archeological sites tesLed during this project are 41HR241, 4lHR259, 41HR273, 41HR278, 41HR279, 41HR283, 41HR290, 41HR298, and 41HR541. The testing showed that only three -- 41HR259, 41HR273, and 41HR541 -- have substantial, intact cultural deposits. Two of these -- 41HR273 and 41HR541 -- are judged to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and for designation as State Archeological Landmarks. One site, 4lHR259, is currently listed on the National Register, although the remaining part of this site is judged to have a limited potential to yield additi0nal information. The other seven sites are judged to be ineligible for listing

Immediate Reward Bias in Humans: Fronto-Parietal Networks and a Role for the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase 158Val/Val Genotype

The tendency to choose lesser immediate benefits over greater long-term benefits characterizes alcoholism and other addictive disorders. However, despite its medical and socioeconomic importance, little is known about its neurobiological mechanisms. Brain regions that are activated when deciding between immediate or delayed rewards have been identified

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Involvement of the Melanocortin-1 Receptor in Acute Pain and Pain of Inflammatory but Not Neuropathic Origin

Response to painful stimuli is susceptible to genetic variation. Numerous loci have been identified which contribute to this variation, one of which, MC1R, is better known as a gene involved in mammalian hair colour. MC1R is a G protein-coupled receptor expressed in melanocytes and elsewhere and mice lacking MC1R have yellow hair, whilst humans with variant MC1R protein have red hair. Previous work has found differences in acute pain perception, and response to analgesia in mice and humans with mutations or variants in MC1R.We have tested responses to noxious and non-noxious stimuli in mutant mice which lack MC1R, or which overexpress an endogenous antagonist of the receptor, as well as controls. We have also examined the response of these mice to inflammatory pain, assessing the hyperalgesia and allodynia associated with persistent inflammation, and their response to neuropathic pain. Finally we tested by a paired preference paradigm their aversion to oral administration of capsaicin, which activates the noxious heat receptor TRPV1. Female mice lacking MC1R showed increased tolerance to noxious heat and no alteration in their response to non-noxious mechanical stimuli. MC1R mutant females, and females overexpressing the endogenous MC1R antagonist, agouti signalling protein, had a reduced formalin-induced inflammatory pain response, and a delayed development of inflammation-induced hyperalgesia and allodynia. In addition they had a decreased aversion to capsaicin at moderate concentrations. Male mutant mice showed no difference from their respective controls. Mice of either sex did not show any effect of mutant genotype on neuropathic pain.We demonstrate a sex-specific role for MC1R in acute noxious thermal responses and pain of inflammatory origin