Where do you go when your periods go?: A case-study examining secondary amenorrhea in a professional internationally-capped female soccer player through the lens of the sport nutritionist

This case study follows a professional internationally capped female soccer player's two-year journey from eumenorrhea, through injury, to amenorrhea, and the challenges faced by the player and nutritionist. The two years are split into three sections: (1) longitudinal profiling of the player, (2) nutrition to support her return from injury, and (3) investigation into the observed secondary amenorrhea. The cause of amenorrhea was investigated through the assessment of energy availability via doubly labelled water, remote food photography, blood biomarkers and resting metabolic rate. Despite having secondary amenorrhea and anovulatory cycles, the player did not have low energy availability. This study shows the importance for practitioner's, particularly nutritionists, to not assume that all menstrual irregularities are caused by low energy availability and could be caused by a combination of factors (e.g. clinical, physiological, and psychological), which requires a multi-disciplinary investigation and intervention team. This study also showed that education needs to be provided about menstrual health to elite female soccer players as the player (i) believed that not having a period was beneficial for performance and unsure of possible health implications; (ii) was convinced that a one-day bleed indicated a regular menstrual cycle; and (iii) was reluctant to waste the practitioners time discussing menstrual issues and was nervous of finding out if she had an actual health issue. It is therefore crucial that players feel comfortable in discussing their menstrual status with practitioners to support their performance and long-term health

5-HTR3 and 5-HTR4 located on the mitochondrial membrane and functionally regulated mitochondrial functions

5-HT has been reported to possess significant effects on cardiac activities, but activation of 5-HTR on the cell membrane failed to illustrate the controversial cardiac reaction. Because 5-HT constantly comes across the cell membrane via 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) into the cytoplasm, whether 5-HTR is functional present on the cellular organelles is unknown. Here we show 5-HTR3 and 5-HTR4 were located in cardiac mitochondria, and regulated mitochondrial activities and cellular functions. Knock down 5-HTR3 and 5-HTR4 in neonatal cardiomyocytes resulted in significant increase of cell damage in response to hypoxia, and also led to alternation in heart beating. Activation of 5-HTR4 attenuated mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake under the both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, whereas 5-HTR3 augmented Ca2+ uptake only under hypoxia. 5-HTR3 and 5-HTR4 exerted the opposite effects on the mitochondrial respiration: 5-HTR3 increased RCR (respiration control ratio), but 5-HTR4 reduced RCR. Moreover, activation of 5-HTR3 and 5-HTR4 both significantly inhibited the opening of mPTP. Our results provided the first evidence that 5-HTR as a GPCR and an ion channel, functionally expressed in mitochondria and participated in the mitochondria function and regulation to maintain homeostasis of mitochondrial [Ca2+], ROS, and ATP generation efficiency in cardiomyocytes in response to stress and O2 tension

Pregnant Behind Bars: Meeting the Nutrition Needs of Incarcerated Pregnant Women

The number of women involved in the criminal justice system has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. Due to their marginalized background, incarcerated women have a complex set of health-related needs. This is especially true of those who are pregnant, a particularly vulnerable, high-risk group. Although guidelines have been developed that recommend pregnancy screening, provision of dietary supplements, regular nutritious meals, and nutritional counseling for incarcerated pregnant women, jail policies and health care protocols often fail to heed these recommendations. In this chapter, we discuss the nutritional needs of pregnant incarcerated women as well as breastfeeding in the context of the criminal justice system and consider some of the challenges in developing programming and policies to address these health-related needs. We also present findings from the William & Mary Healthy Beginnings Project, a nutrition intervention program developed for pregnant incarcerated women in Southeastern Virginia. Assessment of this program suggests that through the development of protocols and polices that consider the health-related needs of pregnant women, correctional facilities could play a pivotal role in helping incarcerated women develop healthier habits to better care for themselves and their newborns.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/asbookchapters/1106/thumbnail.jp

Effect of methylene blue on the genomic response to reperfusion injury induced by cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation in porcine brain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury is a common secondary effect of cardiac arrest which is largely responsible for postresuscitative mortality. Therefore development of therapies which restore and protect the brain function after cardiac arrest is essential. Methylene blue (MB) has been experimentally proven neuroprotective in a porcine model of global ischemia-reperfusion in experimental cardiac arrest. However, no comprehensive analyses have been conducted at gene expression level.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pigs underwent either untreated cardiac arrest (CA) or CA with subsequent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) accompanied with an infusion of saline or an infusion of saline with MB. Genome-wide transcriptional profiling using the Affymetrix porcine microarray was performed to 1) gain understanding of delayed neuronal death initiation in porcine brain during ischemia and after 30, 60 and 180 min following reperfusion, and 2) identify the mechanisms behind the neuroprotective effect of MB after ischemic injury (at 30, 60 and 180 min).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results show that restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) induces major transcriptional changes related to stress response, inflammation, apoptosis and even cytoprotection. In contrast, the untreated ischemic and anoxic insult affected only few genes mainly involved in intra-/extracellular ionic balance. Furthermore, our data show that the neuroprotective role of MB is diverse and fulfilled by regulation of the expression of soluble guanylate cyclase and biological processes accountable for inhibition of apoptosis, modulation of stress response, neurogenesis and neuroprotection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results support that MB could be a valuable intervention and should be investigated as a therapeutic agent against neural damage associated with I/R injury induced by cardiac arrest.</p

A participatory parent-focused intervention promoting physical activity in preschools: design of a cluster-randomized trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With rates of childhood obesity increasing, physical activity (PA) promotion especially in young children has assumed greater importance. Given the limited effectiveness of most interventions to date, new approaches are needed. The General Systems theory suggests that involving parents as intervention targets may be effective in fostering healthier life styles in children. We describe the development of a parent-focused participatory intervention and the procedures used to evaluate its effectiveness in increasing daily PA in preschoolers.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>Thirty-seven South German preschools were identified for this study and agreed to participate. Using a two-armed, controlled cluster-randomized trial design we test a participatory intervention with parents as the primary target group and potential agents of behavioural change. Specifically, the intervention is designed to engage parents in the development, refinement and selection of project ideas to promote PA and in incorporating these ideas into daily routines within the preschool community, consisting of children, teachers and parents. Our study is embedded within an existing state-sponsored programme providing structured gym lessons to preschool children. Thus, child-based PA outcomes from the study arm with the parent-focused intervention and the state-sponsored programme are compared with those from the study arm with the state-sponsored programme alone. The evaluation entails baseline measurements of study outcomes as well as follow-up measurements at 6 and 12 months. Accelerometry measures PA intensity over a period of six days, with the mean over six days used as the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes include childrens' BMI, a sum of averaged skin fold thickness measurements across multiple sites, and PA behaviour. Longitudinal multilevel models are used to assess within-subject change and between-group differences in study outcomes, adjusted for covariates at the preschool and individual levels. Teacher qualitative interviews monitor the intervention implementation process.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Participatory approaches that actively involve parents have the potential to promote PA in ways that might be better tailored to local needs and more sustainable. Our mixed methods approach to assess the intervention efficacy and implementation employing both quantitative and qualitative measures within a cluster-randomized controlled trial may serve as a framework for evaluating public health interventions in preschool settings.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><b>clinicaltrials.gov No: NCT00987532</b></p

Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference

Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, and infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges related to replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult to conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, and different labs have access to different infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) assessing the overall replicability of a single theoretically important phenomenon and (b) examining methodological, cultural, and developmental moderators. We focus on infants’ preference for infant-directed speech (IDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS). Stimuli of mothers speaking to their infants and to an adult in North American English were created using seminaturalistic laboratory-based audio recordings. Infants’ relative preference for IDS and ADS was assessed across 67 laboratories in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia using the three common methods for measuring infants’ discrimination (head-turn preference, central fixation, and eye tracking). The overall meta-analytic effect size (Cohen’s d) was 0.35, 95% confidence interval = [0.29, 0.42], which was reliably above zero but smaller than the meta-analytic mean computed from previous literature (0.67). The IDS preference was significantly stronger in older children, in those children for whom the stimuli matched their native language and dialect, and in data from labs using the head-turn preference procedure. Together, these findings replicate the IDS preference but suggest that its magnitude is modulated by development, native-language experience, and testing procedure

Meta-analysis of individual-patient data from EVAR-1, DREAM, OVER and ACE trials comparing outcomes of endovascular or open repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm over 5 years

Background: The erosion of the early mortality advantage of elective endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) compared with open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm remains without a satisfactory explanation. Methods: An individual-patient data meta-analysis of four multicentre randomized trials of EVAR versus open repair was conducted to a prespecified analysis plan, reporting on mortality, aneurysm-related mortality and reintervention. Results: The analysis included 2783 patients, with 14 245 person-years of follow-up (median 5·5 years). Early (0–6 months after randomization) mortality was lower in the EVAR groups (46 of 1393 versus 73 of 1390 deaths; pooled hazard ratio 0·61, 95 per cent c.i. 0·42 to 0·89; P = 0·010), primarily because 30-day operative mortality was lower in the EVAR groups (16 deaths versus 40 for open repair; pooled odds ratio 0·40, 95 per cent c.i. 0·22 to 0·74). Later (within 3 years) the survival curves converged, remaining converged to 8 years. Beyond 3 years, aneurysm-related mortality was significantly higher in the EVAR groups (19 deaths versus 3 for open repair; pooled hazard ratio 5·16, 1·49 to 17·89; P = 0·010). Patients with moderate renal dysfunction or previous coronary artery disease had no early survival advantage under EVAR. Those with peripheral artery disease had lower mortality under open repair (39 deaths versus 62 for EVAR; P = 0·022) in the period from 6 months to 4 years after randomization. Conclusion: The early survival advantage in the EVAR group, and its subsequent erosion, were confirmed. Over 5 years, patients of marginal fitness had no early survival advantage from EVAR compared with open repair. Aneurysm-related mortality and patients with low ankle : brachial pressure index contributed to the erosion of the early survival advantage for the EVAR group. Trial registration numbers: EVAR-1, ISRCTN55703451; DREAM (Dutch Randomized Endovascular Aneurysm Management), NCT00421330; ACE (Anévrysme de l'aorte abdominale, Chirurgie versus Endoprothèse), NCT00224718; OVER (Open Versus Endovascular Repair Trial for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms), NCT00094575

Silent chromatin at the middle and ends: lessons from yeasts

Eukaryotic centromeres and telomeres are specialized chromosomal regions that share one common characteristic: their underlying DNA sequences are assembled into heritably repressed chromatin. Silent chromatin in budding and fission yeast is composed of fundamentally divergent proteins tat assemble very different chromatin structures. However, the ultimate behaviour of silent chromatin and the pathways that assemble it seem strikingly similar among Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe) and other eukaryotes. Thus, studies in both yeasts have been instrumental in dissecting the mechanisms that establish and maintain silent chromatin in eukaryotes, contributing substantially to our understanding of epigenetic processes. In this review, we discuss current models for the generation of heterochromatic domains at centromeres and telomeres in the two yeast species

Nicotinic receptors

Regulation of normal or abnormal behaviour is critically controlled by the central serotonergic systems. Recent evidence has suggested that serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission dysfunction contributes to a variety of pathological conditions, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disorders. There is also a great amount of evidence indicating that 5-HT signalling may affect the reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse by the interaction and modulation of dopamine (DA) function. This chapter is focused on one of the more addictive drugs, nicotine. It is widely recognised that the effects of nicotine are strongly associated with the stimulatory action it exhibits on mesolimbic DAergic function. We outline the role of 5-HT and its plethora of receptors, focusing on 5-HT2 subtypes with relation to their involvement in the neurobiology of nicotine addiction. We also explore the novel pharmacological approaches using 5-HT agents for the treatment of nicotine dependence. Compelling evidence shows that 5-HT2C receptor agonists may be possible therapeutic targets for smoking cessation, although further investigation is required.peer-reviewe