The Influence of 9-marathons completed in 9 days on injury incidence and selected musculoskeletal tests.

Multi-day running events are increasingly popular however, research in these events is lacking and fails to consider the dynamic nature of musculoskeletal physiology. Twenty-three athletes completing a ten-day marathon event participated in the study. Proprioception, dynamic balance, knee valgus and flexibility were assessed the day before the event and after one, five and nine consecutive marathons. There were significant reductions in these measurements across the event and reductions were more apparent in the non-dominant side. Each runner suffered on average 4.2 injuries. Runners performed significantly worse in musculoskeletal measurements, particularly on the non-dominant side, as the competition progresses. Therefore, athletic trainers should design appropriate between-day recovery strategies during events based on with-in event data collection

Diversity and Evolution of Inflorescences in Cuscuta

Cuscuta (dodder) includes ca. 200 species of plant obligate stem parasites with both ecological and economical significance. Inflorescences have been historically used in Cuscuta for species descriptions and identification keys, but no comprehensive study exists to date. The main objective of this study was to survey the diversity of inflorescences, and to understand their evolution and possible form-function relationships. The inflorescence architecture of 132 Cuscuta taxa was analyzed using herbarium specimens, and eight species were grown to study their inflorescence development. Inflorescence traits were mapped into a genus phylogeny obtained from a combined analysis of nuclear ITS and plastid trnL-F sequences. To test the hypothesis that inflorescence architecture is connected to sexual reproduction, correlations between inflorescence traits (using Principal Components), and sexual reproductive traits (pollen to ovule ratios, fruit diameter, and modes of dehiscence) were analyzed. Based on their development, three major types of inflorescences were observed: “Cuscuta type”, a simple, monochasial scorpioid cyme; “Monogynella type”, a compound monochasial scorpioid cymes, with the longest primary axes having prolonged vegetative growth giving the appearance of thyrses; and “Grammica type”, a compound monochasial scorpioid cymes with up to 4 orders of axes. Parsimony and maximum likelihood analyzes inferred Monogynella as the ancestral type, while Cuscuta and Grammica were derived. Overall, the total length of axes exhibited a reduction trend throughout the genus evolution. Positive significant correlations were noted between the general size of the taxon and pollen-ovule ratios, and the general size of the taxon and fruit width. This suggests that the same breeding system may have different inflorescence architectures. Several modes of dehiscence had significantly different total axes lengths, suggesting that infructescence architecture is connected to the modes of dehiscence in Cuscuta and therefore seed dispersal

Inflorescences of Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae): Diversity, evolution and relationships with breeding systems and fruit dehiscence modes.

Cuscuta (dodder) includes ca. 200 species of plant obligate stem parasites with enormous ecological and economical significance. Inflorescences have been historically used in Cuscuta for species descriptions and identification keys, but no comprehensive study exists to date. The main objectives of this study were to survey the diversity and evolution of inflorescences and to uncover their possible form-function relationships. The inflorescence architecture of 132 Cuscuta taxa was analysed using herbarium specimens and eight species were grown to study their inflorescence development. Inflorescence traits were mapped into a genus phylogeny obtained from a combined analysis of nuclear ITS and plastid trnL-F sequences. To test the hypothesis that inflorescence architecture is connected to sexual reproduction, correlations between inflorescence traits (using Principal Components), sexual reproductive traits (pollen/ovule ratios, corolla length and diameter), fruit charaters (fruit length and width), and the modes of dehiscence were analyzed. Based on their development, three major types of inflorescences were observed: "Cuscuta type", a simple, monochasial scorpioid cyme; "Monogynella type", a compound monochasial scorpioid cymes with the longest primary axes having prolonged vegetative growth and giving the appearance of thyrses; and "Grammica type", a compound monochasial scorpiod cymes with up to five orders of axes. Maximum likelihood analyses suggested Monogynella as the ancestral type, while Cuscuta and Grammica were derived. Overall, the total length of axes exhibited a reduction trend throughout the genus evolution, but it was not correlated with the pedicels length. Inflorescences with similar architectures may exhibit contrasting pollen-ovule ratios. Positive significant correlations were noted between the size of the flower traits and pollen-ovule ratios. Several modes of dehiscence had statistically significant different total axes lengths, suggesting that the infructescence architecture is connected to the modes of dehiscence in Cuscuta and therefore seed dispersal