Effects of a Four-Week Stretching Program on Shoulder Range of Motion and Throwing Velocity among Collegiate Baseball Players

Chronic static stretching programs have been reported to increase shoulder range of motion (ROM), but no study has examined how this increase may affect throwing velocity in overhead athletes. It was hypothesized that a 4-week stretching program would increase the ROM of the glenohumeral joint and also increase throwing velocity among collegiate baseball players. Baseline shoulder ROM and overhand throwing velocity were assessed before participants were matched into either a control group (CON, n=7) or an experimental group (STRETCH, n=8). The STRETCH group then performed two sets of two stretches (the cross-body stretch and the sleeper stretch), 30 seconds each, four times per week for a duration of four weeks. Results revealed that horizontal adduction ROM for both active (A) and passive (P) measures increased significantly in STRETCH compared to CON over time (STRETCH: Pretest: A=39.8 ± 8.8°, P= 42.5 ± 5.2°; Posttest: A= 43.3 ± 3.5°, P= 45.4 ± 3.1°; CON: Pretest: A= 41.6 ± 10.6°, P= 45.3 ± 11.2°; Posttest: A= 36.3 ± 5.7°, p 0.018, P= 40.0 ± 6.1°, p=0.020). Passive extension ROM also had a significant interaction (p =0.023), while external rotation increased more in STRETCH than in CON, but this interaction failed to reach significance (p=0.054). There were no significant differences between internal rotation, flexion or throwing velocity over time or between treatment groups. Despite the lack of change in throwing velocity with the stretching program, the correlation between the change in horizontal adduction and the change in velocity showed a significant positive relationship (R²= 0.518 , p=0.005). More research is needed to solidify the possible relationship between range of motion and throwing velocity in collegiate baseball players

Characterizing Prostate Cancer Risk Through Multi-Ancestry Genome-Wide Discovery of 187 Novel Risk Variants

The transferability and clinical value of genetic risk scores (GRSs) across populations remain limited due to an imbalance in genetic studies across ancestrally diverse populations. Here we conducted a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of 156,319 prostate cancer cases and 788,443 controls of European, African, Asian and Hispanic men, reflecting a 57% increase in the number of non-European cases over previous prostate cancer genome-wide association studies. We identified 187 novel risk variants for prostate cancer, increasing the total number of risk variants to 451. An externally replicated multi-ancestry GRS was associated with risk that ranged from 1.8 (per standard deviation) in African ancestry men to 2.2 in European ancestry men. The GRS was associated with a greater risk of aggressive versus non-aggressive disease in men of African ancestry (P = 0.03). Our study presents novel prostate cancer susceptibility loci and a GRS with effective risk stratification across ancestry groups

Structures and Aggregation of the Methylamine−Borane Molecules, MenH3−nN·BH3 (n = 1−3), Studied by X-ray Diffraction, Gas-Phase Electron Diffraction, and Quantum Chemical Calculations

The structures of the molecules methylamine-borane, MeH(2)N.BH(3), and dimethylamine-borane, Me(2)HN.BH(3), have been investigated by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED) and quantum chemical calculations. The crystal structures have also been determined for methylamine-, dimethylamine-, and trimethylamine-borane, Me(n)H(3-n)N.BH(3) (n = 1-3); these are noteworthy for what they reveal about the intermolecular interactions and, particularly, the N-H...H-B dihydrogen bonding in the cases where n = 1 or 2. Hence, structures are now known for all the members of the ammonia- and amine-borane series Me(n)H(3-n)N.BH(3) (n = 0-3) in both the gas and solid phases. The structural variations and energetics of formation of the gaseous adducts are discussed in relation to the basicity of the Me(n)H(3-n)N fragment. The relative importance of secondary interactions in the solid adducts with n = 0-3 has been assessed by the semi-classical density sums (SCDS-PIXEL) approach

Fixed Drug Eruption in an Epileptic Patient Previously Receiving Treatment With Phenytoin for Seven Years

A 52-year-old African American female presented with severe left thigh pain of unknown etiology. She had a past medical history of generalized seizure disorder treated with phenytoin for 7 years without incident. During admission a nurse witnessed a seizure, and consequently loading and maintenance doses of phenytoin were administered to obtain a therapeutic serum concentration. The patient had a history of noncompliance with multiple subtherapeutic phenytoin levels. Subsequently, unifocal blue discolored spots appeared, progressing to a bullous component that was positive for skin sloughing. Drug-induced fixed drug eruption was diagnosed and attributed to phenytoin. Clinicians should be cognizant of drug-induced fixed drug eruption in patients just initiated and those receiving long-term treatment with phenytoin. The administration rate of phenytoin may be associated with the development of fixed drug eruption

Towards the design of novel boron- and nitrogen-substituted ammonia-borane and bifunctional arene ruthenium catalysts for hydrogen storage

Electronic-structure density functional theory calculations have been performed to construct the potential energy surface for H2 release from ammonia-borane, with a novel bifunctional cationic ruthenium catalyst based on the sterically bulky β-diketiminato ligand (Schreiber et al., ACS Catal. 2012, 2, 2505). The focus is on identifying both a suitable substitution pattern for ammonia-borane optimized for chemical hydrogen storage and allowing for low-energy dehydrogenation. The interaction of ammonia-borane, and related substituted ammonia-boranes, with a bifunctional η6-arene ruthenium catalyst and associated variants is investigated for dehydrogenation. Interestingly, in a number of cases, hydride-proton transfer from the substituted ammonia-borane to the catalyst undergoes a barrier-less process in the gas phase, with rapid formation of hydrogenated catalyst in the gas phase. Amongst the catalysts considered, N,N-difluoro ammonia-borane and N-phenyl ammonia-borane systems resulted in negative activation energy barriers. However, these types of ammonia-boranes are inherently thermodynamically unstable and undergo barrierless decay in the gas phase. Apart from N,N-difluoro ammonia-borane, the interaction between different types of catalyst and ammonia borane was modeled in the solvent phase, revealing free-energy barriers slightly higher than those in the gas phase. Amongst the various potential candidate Ru-complexes screened, few are found to differ in terms of efficiency for the dehydrogenation (rate-limiting) step. To model dehydrogenation more accurately, a selection of explicit protic solvent molecules was considered, with the goal of lowering energy barriers for H-H recombination. It was found that primary (1°), 2°, and 3° alcohols are the most suitable to enhance reaction rate. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Science Foundation IrelandAuthor has checked copyrigh