Association of Body Weight with Athletic Success and the Occurrence of Female Athlete Triad in Cross Country Athletes

Young adult females who participate in endurance sports are at risk of developing Female Athlete Triad (FAT). The high prevalence of FAT among collegiate athletes and its potentially lifelong consequences substantiate the importance of relevant research. The objective of the present study is to identify the risk of FAT among the Western Kentucky University women’s cross country team, based on the presence or absence of the three FAT components, and to investigate the perceptions of those determined to be ‘at-risk.’ It was hypothesized that a preponderance of the WKU women’s cross country team would be considered ‘at risk’ for developing FAT, and that a relationship would be seen between the manifestation of the three FAT components and athletes’ perceptions regarding thinness and improved athletic performance. Analysis of participants’ food records and questionnaire responses supported these hypotheses. All participants displayed at least one FAT component, and a majority associated low body weight with athletic success. Outcomes suggest that manifestation of FAT correlates with athletes’ beliefs regarding thinness and performance, i.e., low body weight leads to improved performance

Gonadal hypoplasia in Swedish Mountain cattle and other native Swedish cattle breeds

The Swedish Mountain cattle and several related breeds show the phenotype of colour-sidedness. The genetic reasons for this phenotype are a translocation and duplication from chr6 to chr29 (known as Cs29) including the KIT gene and an additional translocation with part of the Cs29 translocation from chr29 back to chr6 (Cs6). Besides the colour-sidedness the Cs29 translocation is known to be responsible for gonadal hypoplasia. Gonadal hypoplasia leads to an underdevelopment of the ovaries and testicles and can cause fertility problems. Breeders of the Swedish Mountain cattle have been aware of the appearance of gonadal hypoplasia since the early 20th century and have been trying to select against it ever since. However, there are still individuals found which show gonadal hypoplasia. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate, how common the allele that is responsible for gonadal hypoplasia is in Swedish Mountain cattle and closely related breeds based on DNA samples from individuals born between 1976 and 2015. Therefore, 60 DNA samples were analysed using three primer pairs to identify the different genotypes of the Cs29 translocation and the additional Cs6 translocation. The PCR was done using a multiplex of the primer pairs and the genotypes were identified by doing an electrophoresis in TapeStation. The estimated allele frequencies for the Cs29 translocation were 0.22 for Swedish Polled, 0.27 for Fjällnära, 0.40 for Väneko, 0.56 for Bohus Polled and 0.57 for Swedish Mountain cattle. The results indicate that the Cs29 translocation, responsible for gonadal hypoplasia, is still common in Swedish Mountain cattle and can also be found in related breeds and other native Swedish cattle breeds that show the colour-sidedness phenotype. Thus, the integration of a DNA analysis to test for gonadal hypoplasia to detect the carriers of the Cs29 translocation would be favourable to increase the selection success against gonadal hypoplasia

Solution of some chemical plant problems associated with the manufacture of insecticides

This thesis describes the solutions of a variety of developmental, production, and general engineering problems encountered in a chemical plant. This plant produces resins, solvents, and insecticides. Most of the problems considered here are patented or are of a secret nature. These details are, in the main, satisfactory temperatures, molar ratios, times of reaction, and space-time data. Therefore, it is the purpose of this discussion to be general but, in the main, to give the outline of the thinking which derived these solutions. Some of these solutions were of minor economic value, some were vital to the success of the processes involved. These solutions made a very profitable operation out of the main insecticide involved, a product marketed under the trade name of Chlordane. The general flow plan of this process is as follows: Production of sodium hypochlorite from sodium hydroxide and chlorine. Preparation of cyclopentadiene. Hexachlorocyclopentadiene production from cyclopentadiene and sodium hypochlorite. Codimerization production from hexachlorocyclopentidiene and additional cyclopentadiene. Final chlorinate production from codimerization product and gaseous chlorine --Introduction, page 1

Correlation Between Female Athlete Screening Tool (FAST) Scores and Biomarkers to Identify Female Athlete Triad Among Collegiate Athletes and to Evaluate the Validity of the Instrument

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Female Athlete Screening Tool (FAST) is a valid indicator of the three physical components of Female Athlete Triad (FAT), malnutrition, amenorrhea, and low bone mineral density, and if administration of the FAST can be used as a time- and cost-effective way to identify FAT. Participants completed the FAST, the Menstrual Status Questionnaire, and had a blood sample drawn. Interpretation of the total FAST score placed participants in one of three conditions: normal, subclinical disordered eating, or clinical eating disorder. The presence of the three biomarkers of FAT was determined by participants’ responses on the Menstrual Status Questionnaire and protein analyses of their blood samples, in which plasma Prealbumin and CTx levels were tested. Results indicated that there were not significant differences between total FAST scores of participants in each of the groups for any of the three biomarkers (i.e., low versus normal Prealbumin levels; amenorrhea versus normal menstruation; high versus normal CTx levels). More research is needed before it can be determined if the FAST is an appropriate diagnostic tool for FAT. An overwhelming majority of the sample (79.5%) received total FAST scores that fell in the subclinical disordered eating or clinical eating disorder ranges, which supports previous findings that female athletes are at a high risk of developing disordered eating habits or eating disorders due to their unique characteristics and lifestyles

Consortial Purchasing of E-books

This chapter of The No Shelf Required Guide to E-book Purchasing studies how a consortium of thirty-six academic libraries in Oregon took a collaborative, consortium-wide approach to e-book purchasing.The alliance reacted to the threat of individual library e-book purchases limiting resource sharing by creating several teams to investigate and develop a shared e-book program

Subcellular localization and distribution of the reduced folate carrier in normal rat tissues

The reduced folate carrier (Rfc1; Slc19a1) mediated transport of reduced folates and antifolate drugs such as methotrexate (MTX) play an essential role in physiological folate homeostasis and MTX cancer chemotherapy. As no systematic reports are as yet available correlating Rfc1 gene expression and protein levels in all tissues crucial for folate and antifolate uptake, storage or elimination, we investigated gene and protein expression of rat Rfc1 (rRfc1) in selected tissues. This included the generation of a specific anti-rRfc1 antibody. Rabbits were immunised with isolated rRfc1 peptides producing specific anti-rRfc1 antiserum targeted to the intracellular C-terminus of the carrier. Using RT-PCR analysis, high rRfc1 transcript levels were detected in colon, kidney, brain, thymus, and spleen. Moderate rRfc1 gene expression was observed in small intestine, liver, bone marrow, lung, and testes whereas transcript levels were negligible in heart, skeletal muscle or leukocytes. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed strong carrier expression in the apical membrane of tunica mucosa epithelial cells of small intestine and colon, in the brush-border membrane of choroid plexus epithelial cells or in endothelial cells of small vessels in brain and heart. Additionally, high rRfc1 protein levels were localized in the basolateral membrane of renal tubular epithelial cells, in the plasma membrane of periportal hepatocytes, and sertoli cells of the testes. Taken together, our results demonstrated that rRfc1 is expressed almost ubiquitously but to very different levels. The predominant tissue distribution supports the essential role of Rfc1 in physiological folate homeostasis. Moreover, our results may contribute to understand antifolate pharmacokinetics and selected organ toxicity associated with MTX chemotherapy

Luminescence-based characterization of crystalline silicon solar cells

[no abstract

Ambegaokar-Baratoff relations of Josephson critical current in heterojunctions with multi-gap superconductors

An extension of the Ambegaokar-Baratoff relation to a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) Josephson junction with multiple tunneling channels is derived. Appling the resultant relation to a SIS Josephson junction formed by an iron-based (five-band) and a single-band Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) type superconductors, a theoretical bound of the Josephson critical current ($I_{\rm c}$) multiplied by the resistance of the junction ($R_{\rm n}$) is given. We reveal that such a bound is useful for identifying the pairing symmetry of iron-pnictide superconductors. One finds that if a measured value of $I_{\rm c}R_{\rm n}$ is smaller than the bound then the symmetry is $\pm s$-wave, and otherwise $s$-wave without any sign changes. In addition, we stress that temperature dependence of $I_{\rm c}R_{\rm n}$ is sensitive to the difference of the gap functions from the BCS type gap formula in the above heterojunction.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Impact of contacting geometries on measured fill factors

The fill factor determined from a measured current-voltage characteristic of a bare solar cell depends on the number and positions of the electrical contacting probes. Nine different geometries for contacting the front side busbars are used to measure the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of a 5 busbar industrial-type passivated emitter and rear totally diffused (PERT) solar cell under standard testing conditions. The fill factors of the measured I-V characteristics vary from 78.5 %abs to 80.6 %abs. We further measure the contacting resistance of 3 different contacting probes to estimate the sensitivity of measurements with different contacting geometries on random resistance variations. The contacting resistance is 60 mΩ for nine-point probes and 80 mΩ for four- and single-point probes. We determine the magnitude of contacting resistance variations from measurements at different probe positions to be ±30 mΩ. Using this variation, we perform numerical simulations and find a larger sensitivity on random resistance variations for tandem- (pairs of current- and sense probes) compared to triplet (one sense- between two current probes) configurations. The corresponding fill factor deviation is approximately 0.1%abs for tandem configurations when the contacting resistances of up to two current probes are altered. The sensitivity for triplet configurations is negligible