AN INVESTIGATION OF SCHEMA THEORY APPLIED TO THE BIOMECHANICS OF THE SPRINT START IN ATHLETICS

Schmidt’s schema theory (1975) predicts that variable practice (VP) will outperform constant practice (CP). The implications of this for the teaching of skills such as the sprint start are that VP should allow equal or better learning to CP. The aim of this study was to examine the effect on novice subjects of practicing with varying block settings on the learning of the sprint start. A deterministic model of the spint start was derived using the guidelines of Hay and Reid (1982) to identify factor likely to affect performance. Measures of the factors were obtained using video and laser analysis. The affect of VP and CP on these factors was evaluated using a pre, post retention expermental design. Performance of the sprint start was compared between VP (n=6), CP (n=5), and Control (n=5) groups. Results showed no significant difference (

AN INVESTIGATION OF SCHEMA THEORY APPLIED TO THE BIOMECHANICS OF THE SPRINT START IN ATHLETICS

Schmidt’s schema theory (1975) predicts that variable practice (VP) will outperform constant practice (CP). The implications of this for the teaching of skills such as the sprint start are that VP should allow equal or better learning to CP. The aim of this study was to examine the effect on novice subjects of practicing with varying block settings on the learning of the sprint start. A deterministic model of the spint start was derived using the guidelines of Hay and Reid (1982) to identify factor likely to affect performance. Measures of the factors were obtained using video and laser analysis. The affect of VP and CP on these factors was evaluated using a pre, post retention expermental design. Performance of the sprint start was compared between VP (n=6), CP (n=5), and Control (n=5) groups. Results showed no significant difference (

RELIABILITY OF JUMP AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES IN RUGBY UNION PLAYERS

The current study examined the reliability of countermovement (CMJ), squat (SJ), and rebound jumps (RBJ) to sprint and estimated 1RM back squat (SQ) of sub-elite Rugby Union players drawn from two teams of similar competitive level. Comparisons of mean performance on all tests were made via Student t-tests. The three trial reliability of jump height for the SJ, CMJ, RBJ, contact time (CT) and Reactive Strength Index for the RBJ, T-Test agility run (TA-Test), 30 and 36.58 m (40 yd) sprint times were estimated via ICC and ReANOVA. All variables displayed Average measures ICC ≥ .900; and except for the TA-Test, the three trials did not differ from each other. The performance of the two teams was found to be similar on all tests except the 30 m and 40 yd sprint tests. All the studied performance measures could be reliably assessed with one trial, except the TA-test

The development and validation of the Virtual Tissue Matrix, a software application that facilitates the review of tissue microarrays on line

BACKGROUND: The Tissue Microarray (TMA) facilitates high-throughput analysis of hundreds of tissue specimens simultaneously. However, bottlenecks in the storage and manipulation of the data generated from TMA reviews have become apparent. A number of software applications have been developed to assist in image and data management; however no solution currently facilitates the easy online review, scoring and subsequent storage of images and data associated with TMA experimentation. RESULTS: This paper describes the design, development and validation of the Virtual Tissue Matrix (VTM). Through an intuitive HTML driven user interface, the VTM provides digital/virtual slide based images of each TMA core and a means to record observations on each TMA spot. Data generated from a TMA review is stored in an associated relational database, which facilitates the use of flexible scoring forms. The system allows multiple users to record their interpretation of each TMA spot for any parameters assessed. Images generated for the VTM were captured using a standard background lighting intensity and corrective algorithms were applied to each image to eliminate any background lighting hue inconsistencies or vignetting. Validation of the VTM involved examination of inter-and intra-observer variability between microscope and digital TMA reviews. Six bladder TMAs were immunohistochemically stained for E-Cadherin, β-Catenin and PhosphoMet and were assessed by two reviewers for the amount of core and tumour present, the amount and intensity of membrane, cytoplasmic and nuclear staining. CONCLUSION: Results show that digital VTM images are representative of the original tissue viewed with a microscope. There were equivalent levels of inter-and intra-observer agreement for five out of the eight parameters assessed. Results also suggest that digital reviews may correct potential problems experienced when reviewing TMAs using a microscope, for example, removal of background lighting variance and tint, and potential disorientation of the reviewer, which may have resulted in the discrepancies evident in the remaining three parameters

A blood atlas of COVID-19 defines hallmarks of disease severity and specificity.

Treatment of severe COVID-19 is currently limited by clinical heterogeneity and incomplete description of specific immune biomarkers. We present here a comprehensive multi-omic blood atlas for patients with varying COVID-19 severity in an integrated comparison with influenza and sepsis patients versus healthy volunteers. We identify immune signatures and correlates of host response. Hallmarks of disease severity involved cells, their inflammatory mediators and networks, including progenitor cells and specific myeloid and lymphocyte subsets, features of the immune repertoire, acute phase response, metabolism, and coagulation. Persisting immune activation involving AP-1/p38MAPK was a specific feature of COVID-19. The plasma proteome enabled sub-phenotyping into patient clusters, predictive of severity and outcome. Systems-based integrative analyses including tensor and matrix decomposition of all modalities revealed feature groupings linked with severity and specificity compared to influenza and sepsis. Our approach and blood atlas will support future drug development, clinical trial design, and personalized medicine approaches for COVID-19

Observation of the enhancement in enantioselectivity with conversion for the aziridination of styrene using copper bis(oxazoline) complexes

During the aziridination of styrene using copper bis( oxazoline) complexes the ee increases with conversion due to further reactions of the product