DOES STRENGTH TRAINING IMPROVE MUSCULOSKELETAL HEALTH AND BODY COMPOSITION IN BLACK MEN WITH PROSTATE CANCER ON ANDROGEN DEPRIVATION THERAPY?

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in U.S. men and disproportionately affects black men more than any other racial or ethnic group. Despite this disparity, black men have been underrepresented in previous studies. PCa is commonly treated using androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). However, ADT induces numerous adverse side effects, including loss of muscle mass, strength, power, and physical function with concomitant increases in fat mass, fatigue, and bone fractures. Because strength training (ST) can reverse these factors in healthy older adults, it was hypothesized that ST would be effective in PCa patients on ADT but with an attenuated response. Therefore, the purpose of this study was 1) to examine the effects of ST on musculoskeletal and body composition side effects in black men on ADT, 2) to compare ST responses of black PCa patients on ADT to those of black healthy reference controls, and 3) to determine if changes in musculoskeletal health and body composition with ST are associated with changes in fatigue, physical function, and quality of life (QoL). PCa patients (N=17) completed a 12 week ST program, which produced many beneficial effects on factors adversely affected by ADT, including substantial gains in muscle power, size, strength, and endurance (all P < 0.001), resulting in a more favorable body composition (P < 0.001) and increased physical function (all P < 0.05). ST also improved fatigue perception and QoL (both P < 0.05). Compared with healthy reference controls (N=20), PCa patients responded to ST with similar gains in muscle power, strength, and mass, which was contrary to expectations. However, PCa patients had higher fat mass and lower muscle power and strength than controls at baseline (all P < 0.05). Finally, the changes in physical function, fatigue perception, and QoL were associated with some of the changes in muscle function with training. The findings in this study provide support for the hypothesis that ST improves musculoskeletal health and body composition in black men with PCa on ADT by demonstrating significant improvements in muscle power, mass, strength, and endurance, which can enhance physical function and QoL

Clean, Drain and Dry! What About the Biologists?

One of the main ways invasive species are introduced to new habitats is through the movement of boats, field gear, and equipment from water body to water body. We ask the public to clean their gear and boats but are we leading by example? A field crew can enter multiple water bodies during a day without cleaning and disinfecting their gear. VHS, zebra mussels, chytrid fungus, New Zealand mudsnails, Eurasian watermilfoil and terrestrial weed seeds among others can be easily transported by field staff. How can we expect the public to be concerned about how their actions spread invasive species when natural resource agencies and workers aren’t taking preventative steps? Agencies and biologists need to develop and follow guidelines to prevent the movement of invasive species. Contracts with private companies and consultants should contain clauses that require disinfection of gear. The Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society has a role to play. As a society that represents aquatic resources and professionals, AFS can promote cleaning and disinfecting protocols and procedures and educate its members about the need. I suggest that the Montana Chapter of AFS develop a policy statement and guidelines to limit the spread of invasive species by field workers. Only by leading, will the public follow the necessary steps to prevent the introduction of new invasive species to Montana

Developing Methods for Construction of Population Pedigrees From Low Coverage Sequencing Data

A population pedigree is a graph that captures the totality of the family and genetic histories within a population. While pedigrees contain an abundance of advantageous information for genomic studies, assembling one is often tedious, time consuming, and fraught with error. A combination of highly multiplexed low-coverage sequencing, genotype imputation, and relationship inference software makes it feasible to develop a pedigree cheaply and efficiently. By applying this approach to an experimental admixed Drosophila melanogaster population we developed a dataset that contains genome-wide variants for thousands of individuals in our population. We were also able to confidently identify over one thousand parent-offspring relationships from almost four thousand sequenced samples. However, we were not able to construct a complete pedigree due to overestimates of relatedness resulting from our population’s mixed ancestry. Implementing software that account for population structure could rectify this issue and provide more accurate relationship inference within our population

Does Monetary Policy Help Least Those Who Need It Most?

We estimate the impact of U.S. monetary policy on the cross-sectional distribution of state economic activity for a 35-year panel. Our results indicate that the effects of policy have a significant history dependence, in that relatively slow growth regions contract more following contractionarymonetary shocks. Moreover, policy is asymmetric, in that expansionary shocks have less of a beneficial impact upon relatively slow growth areas. As a result, we conclude that monetary policy on average widens the dispersion of growth rates among U.S. states, and those locations initially at the low end of the cross-sectional distribution benefit least from any given change inmonetary policy.Monetary policy, asymmetric effects, state dependence, regional business cycles

Tailoring the magnetodynamic properties of nanomagnets using magnetocrystalline and shape anisotropies

Magnetodynamical properties of nanomagnets are affected by the demagnetizing fields created by the same nanoelements. In addition, magnetocrystalline anisotropy produces an effective field that also contributes to the spin dynamics. In this article we show how the dimensions of magnetic elements can be used to balance crystalline and shape anisotropies, and that this can be used to tailor the magnetodynamic properties. We study ferromagnetic ellipses patterned from a 10 nm thick epitaxial Fe film with dimensions ranging from 50 x 150 nm to 150 x 450 nm. The study combines ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectroscopy with analytical calculations and micromagnetic simulations, and proves that the dynamical properties can be effectively controlled by changing the size of the nanomagnets. We also show how edge defects in the samples influence the magnetization dynamics. Dynamical edge modes localized along the sample edges are strongly influenced by edge defects, and this needs to be taken into account in understanding the full FMR spectrumComment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Intervening on the Side Effects of Hormone-Dependent Cancer Treatment: The Role of Strength Training

While prostate and breast cancers are both highly prevalent and treatable using hormone suppression therapy, a constellation of side effects ensue, which mimic typical aging effects but at an accelerated pace. Because strength training is considered to be an intervention of choice for addressing the musculoskeletal and metabolic consequences of normal aging in older adults, it may be an effective intervention to attenuate or reverse the side effects of hormone-dependent cancer treatment. This paper provides an overview of the independent effects of strength training on common musculoskeletal and metabolic side effects of hormone-dependent therapy used for prostate and breast cancers. Strength training appears to be an effective complementary therapy for some of the adverse effects of prostate and breast treatment. Future research needs to address potential mechanisms to explain recent findings and to explore the role of strength training in addressing specific risk factors resulting from cancer treatment

Accommodation levels for ellipsoid versus cuboid defined boundary cases

The definition and use of boundary cases is a common approach when aiming to anthropometrically accommodate a desired percentage of the targeted population by a design. The cases are defined based on anthropometric data that represents the targeted population. Approaches that define cases based on the variation within just one body measurement are poor for most design problems in representing anthropometric diversity. Hence, the consideration of variation within several body measurements is preferred. However, an approach that is based on performing several separate studies of the variation within a number of measurements leads to undesired reduction of accommodation due to the lack of consideration of the effects of correlations between measurements. This paper compares theoretical accommodation levels when using an ellipsoid versus a cuboid based approach for defining boundary cases to represent anthropometric variation within three body measurements. The ellipsoid approach considers correlations between body measurements whereas the cuboid approach does not consider correlations between body measurements. The paper suggests the application of the ellipsoid method for defining boundary cases for better reaching desired accommodation levels in boundary case based design problems. These cases can be used to define computer manikins when using digital human modelling tools. The method is also applicable when wishing to select extreme but representative real people to be involved in physical fitting trials. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published Elsevier B.V