Stress and coping in elite slalom canoeists prior to major competition.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the stressor-coping associations experienced by elite slalom canoeists prior to major competition. Design: An exploratory, qualitative approach was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were deemed appropriate because they allowed the interviewer to guide the participants toward the issues being investigated whilst providing the participants with an opportunity to talk openly about their experiences. Methods: Following institutional ethical approval, ten elite slalom canoeists (Mage = 27.6 years, SD = 3.87 years) were interviewed. Succeeding transcription, the data were analysed using inductive and deductive content analyses. Results: The results reveal that the participants experienced a variety of organizational and competitive stressors in the period prior to major competition. The prominent organizational stressors were “expectations,” which was predominantly managed using problem solving, accommodation, and self-reliance coping behaviors; “maintaining relationships with significant others,” which was most often managed using problem solving coping strategies; and “unclear event timings,” which was typically managed using accommodation coping behaviors. The main competitive stressor was “highly technical moves,” which was most often managed using self-reliance coping behaviors. Conclusions: To conclude, organizational and competitive stressors placed a significant demand on the participants in the period prior to major international competition. Some coping strategies appear to be used in response to a single stressor whereas other coping strategies are consistently employed in response to a variety of stressors. Stressor-coping associations appear to be highly complex processes that can provide a guide for the development of effective stress management interventions

Multiple markers of cortical morphology reveal evidence of supragranular thinning in schizophrenia.

In vivo structural neuroimaging can reliably identify changes to cortical morphology and its regional variation but cannot yet relate these changes to specific cortical layers. We propose, however, that by synthesizing principles of cortical organization, including relative contributions of different layers to sulcal and gyral thickness, regional patterns of variation in thickness of different layers across the cortical sheet and profiles of layer variation across functional hierarchies, it is possible to develop indirect morphological measures as markers of more specific cytoarchitectural changes. We developed four indirect measures sensitive to changes specifically occurring in supragranular cortical layers, and applied these to test the hypothesis that supragranular layers are disproportionately affected in schizophrenia. Our findings from the four different measures converge to indicate a predominance of supragranular thinning in schizophrenia, independent of medication and illness duration. We propose that these indirect measures offer novel ways of identifying layer-specific cortical changes, offering complementary in vivo observations to existing post-mortem studies.KW is supported by the University of Cambridge MB/PhD Programme and, together with KJW, by the Wellcome Trust. IMG by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award (RNAG/260), and LR and PCF by the Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund and Wellcome Trust

Type-selective muscular degeneration promotes infiltrative growth of intramuscular lipoma

BACKGROUND: Intramuscular lipoma is a relatively common benign neoplasm that is occasionally described as an infiltrating lipoma. Typical benign tumors show a clear margin, however, the infiltrative growth pattern of this lipoma mimics that of a malignant tumor. Although its growth has an effect on muscle bundles and it is known to never metastasize, the mechanism of infiltrative growth is not well understood. Previously, little attention has been paid to pathogenic features of muscle fibers around an intramuscular lipoma. METHODS: In the present study, we focused on pathologic changes of the surrounding skeletal muscles especially to the degenerative features of involving muscular types, and evaluate the role of type-selective muscular degeneration for the infiltrative growth of intramuscular lipomas. Following a review of the medical records in our institute, 17 lesions containing muscle tissues in their specimens (15 infiltrating lipomas, 2 well-circumscribed lipomas) were analyzed immunohistochemically. The tumor from the most recent case was also subjected to ultrastructural analysis. Two cases of the traumatic muscle damage were also evaluated as the control experiments. RESULTS: These analyses revealed type-selective muscle involution in 11 of 17 intramuscular lipomas and in 10 of 11 of the infiltrative type, with an involving pattern that resembled that of a neurogenic or myogenic disorder. Immunoreactivity to cathepsin-D, a lysosomal catabolic enzyme, was increased in the involved muscle fibers. Subsarcolemmal vacuoles in the muscle fibers of the peripheral areas were also positive for cathepsin-D, while degenerative findings were not visually apparent in these areas. Ultrastructural analysis revealed degenerative changes in those fibers. Neither positive staining for cathepsin-D nor type-selective atrophy was detected in the sections of traumatic muscle damage. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that type-selective muscular degeneration and endomysial fatty growth as a result of atrophy may modulate the infiltrating growth characteristic of intramuscular lipoma

Ab-initio study of the stability and electronic properties of wurtzite and zinc-blende BeS nanowires

In this work we study the structural stability and electronic properties of the Beryllium sulphide nanowires (NWs) in both zinc blende (ZB) and wurtzite (WZ) phases with triangle and hexagonal cross section, using first principle calculations within plane-wave pseudopotential method. A phenomenological model is used to explain the role of dangling bonds in the stability of the NWs. In contrast to the bulk phase, ZB-NWs with diameter less than 133.3 (angstrom) are found to be less favorable over WZ-NWs, in which the surface dangling bonds (DBs) on the NW facets play an important role to stabilize the NWs. Furthermore, both ZB and WZ NWs are predicted to be semiconductor and the values of the band gaps are dependent on the surface DBs as well as the size and shape of NWs. Finally, we performed atom projected density-of states (PDOSs) analysis by calculating the localized density of states on the surface atoms, as well as on the core and edge atoms.Comment: 9 Pages, 6 Figure

So Small, So Loud: Extremely High Sound Pressure Level from a Pygmy Aquatic Insect (Corixidae, Micronectinae)

To communicate at long range, animals have to produce intense but intelligible signals. This task might be difficult to achieve due to mechanical constraints, in particular relating to body size. Whilst the acoustic behaviour of large marine and terrestrial animals has been thoroughly studied, very little is known about the sound produced by small arthropods living in freshwater habitats. Here we analyse for the first time the calling song produced by the male of a small insect, the water boatman Micronecta scholtzi. The song is made of three distinct parts differing in their temporal and amplitude parameters, but not in their frequency content. Sound is produced at 78.9 (63.6–82.2) SPL rms re 2.10−5 Pa with a peak at 99.2 (85.7–104.6) SPL re 2.10−5 Pa estimated at a distance of one metre. This energy output is significant considering the small size of the insect. When scaled to body length and compared to 227 other acoustic species, the acoustic energy produced by M. scholtzi appears as an extreme value, outperforming marine and terrestrial mammal vocalisations. Such an extreme display may be interpreted as an exaggerated secondary sexual trait resulting from a runaway sexual selection without predation pressure

Nursing clinical trial of breast self-examination education in China

LIU C.-Y., XIA H.-O., ISAMAN D.M., DENG W. & OAKLEY D. (2010) Nursing clinical trial of breast self-examination education in China. International Nursing Review 57 , 128–134The aim of this study was to test community-based nursing education about breast self-examination to see whether self-examination frequency could be increased.Breast cancer rates in China are rising rapidly, especially in cities. The majority of Chinese women does not know about breast self-examination, and the Chinese health care system cannot provide mammograms for the millions of at-risk women throughout China.This study was a randomized clinical trial of nurse-provided, community-based teaching of breast self-examination in the urban and rural areas of Tianjin and urban and suburban areas of Shanghai. Women ( n  = 1510) never diagnosed with breast cancer and 40 years and older were randomized by community and stratified by urban vs. other residences.At baseline, 9% of the intervention and 6% of the control groups did breast self-examination at least every other month. After 12 months, 34% of the intervention, but only 11% of the control, group did breast self-examination that often ( P  < 0.001). There was a significant impact in urban, suburban and rural areas, and intervention effects were stronger than any of the other influences tested.The clinical trial showed a statistically significant increase in breast self-examination after the nursing education intervention. As no other breast cancer screening method is available in most of China, this method is best suited for the masses of people currently at risk in China.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79233/1/j.1466-7657.2009.00756.x.pd

Biomass-modulated fire dynamics during the last glacial-interglacial transition at the central pyrenees (Spain)

Understanding long-term fire ecology is essential for current day interpretation of ecosystem fire responses. However palaeoecology of fire is still poorly understood, especially at high-altitude mountain environments, despite the fact that these are fire-sensitive ecosystems and their resilience might be affected by changing fire regimes. We reconstruct wildfire occurrence since the Lateglacial (14.7. cal. ka BP) to the Mid-Holocene (6. cal. ka BP) and investigate the climate-fuel-fire relationships in a sedimentary sequence located at the treeline in the Central Spanish Pyrenees. Pollen, macro- and micro-charcoal were analysed for the identification of fire events (FE) in order to detect vegetation post-fire response and to define biomass-fire interactions. mean fire intervals (mfi) reduced since the Lateglacial, peaking at 9-7.7. cal. ka BP while from 7.7 to 6. cal. ka BP no fire is recorded. We hypothesise that Early Holocene maximum summer insolation, as climate forcing, and mesophyte forest expansion, as a fuel-creating factor, were responsible for accelerating fire occurrence in the Central Pyrenees treeline. We also found that fire had long-lasting negative effects on most of the treeline plant communities and that forest contraction from 7.7. cal. ka BP is likely linked to the ecosystem's threshold response to high fire frequencies.This research has been funded by the projects DINAMO (CGL2009-07992) (funding EGPF — grant ref. BES-2010-038593 and MSC), DINAMO2 (CGL2012-33063), ARAFIRE (2012 GA LC 064), GRACCIE-CONSOLIDER (CSD2007-00067). GGR was funded by the Juan de la Cierva Program (grant ref. JCI2009-04345) and JAE-Doc CSIC Program, LLM was supported by a postdoctoral MINT fellowship funded by the Institute for the Environment (Brunel University), AMC is a Ramón y Cajal fellow (ref: RYC-2008-02431), APS holds a grant funded by the Aragon Government (ref. 17030G/5423/480072/14003) and JAE holds a grant funded by the Basque Country Government (BFI-2010-5)

What we talk about when we talk about "global mindset": managerial cognition in multinational corporations

Recent developments in the global economy and in multinational corporations have placed significant emphasis on the cognitive orientations of managers, giving rise to a number of concepts such as “global mindset” that are presumed to be associated with the effective management of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper reviews the literature on global mindset and clarifies some of the conceptual confusion surrounding the construct. We identify common themes across writers, suggesting that the majority of studies fall into one of three research perspectives: cultural, strategic, and multidimensional. We also identify two constructs from the social sciences that underlie the perspectives found in the literature: cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity and use these two constructs to develop an integrative theoretical framework of global mindset. We then provide a critical assessment of the field of global mindset and suggest directions for future theoretical and empirical research