The relationship between exercise-induced muscle fatigue, arterial blood flow and muscle perfusion after 56 days of muscle unloading

In the light of the dynamic nature of habitual plantar flexor activity, we utilized an incremental isokinetic exercise test (IIET) to assess the work-related power deficit (WoRPD) as a measure for exercise-induced muscle fatigue before and after prolonged calf muscle unloading and in relation to arterial blood flow and muscle perfusion. Eleven male subjects (31 ± 6 years) wore the HEPHAISTOS unloading orthosis unilaterally for 56 days. It allows habitual ambulation while greatly reducing plantar flexor activity and torque production. Endpoint measurements encompassed arterial blood flow, measured in the femoral artery using Doppler ultrasound, oxygenation of the soleus muscle assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy, lactate concentrations determined in capillary blood and muscle activity using soleus muscle surface electromyography. Furthermore, soleus muscle biopsies were taken to investigate morphological muscle changes. After the intervention, maximal isokinetic torque was reduced by 23·4 ± 8·2% (P<0·001) and soleus fibre size was reduced by 8·5 ± 13% (P = 0·016). However, WoRPD remained unaffected as indicated by an unchanged loss of relative plantar flexor power between pre- and postexperiments (P = 0·88). Blood flow, tissue oxygenation, lactate concentrations and EMG median frequency kinematics during the exercise test were comparable before and after the intervention, whereas the increase of RMS in response to IIET was less following the intervention (P = 0·03). In conclusion, following submaximal isokinetic muscle work exercise-induced muscle fatigue is unaffected after prolonged local muscle unloading. The observation that arterial blood flow was maintained may underlie the unchanged fatigability

Geographical Detector-Based Risk Assessment of the Under-Five Mortality in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, China

On 12 May, 2008, a devastating earthquake registering 8.0 on the Richter scale occurred in Sichuan Province, China, taking tens of thousands of lives and destroying the homes of millions of people. Many of the deceased were children, particular children less than five years old who were more vulnerable to such a huge disaster than the adult. In order to obtain information specifically relevant to further researches and future preventive measures, potential risk factors associated with earthquake-related child mortality need to be identified. We used four geographical detectors (risk detector, factor detector, ecological detector, and interaction detector) based on spatial variation analysis of some potential factors to assess their effects on the under-five mortality. It was found that three factors are responsible for child mortality: earthquake intensity, collapsed house, and slope. The study, despite some limitations, has important implications for both researchers and policy makers

Принципи та цілі логістичного обслуговування в контексті підвищення рівня конкурентоспроможності підприємства

In this article, we examine the digitalised emotional campaigning of one of Australia’s peak animal welfare body, Animals Australia, focusing on their most effective digital strategies associated with their campaigns against factory farming. Our broader interest lies with sounding out the affective affordances of the technologies informing such activist work; technologies of affect in a very significant sense. This discussion comprises three parts. First, we unpack the context for the problematic faced by animal and environmental activisms: neoliberalism, showing how neoliberal assumptions constrain such activisms to emotional appeals and denounce them for such strategising. Second, we sound out some of the affordances of digital media technologies for affectively oriented activisms; and finally, we delve into some of Animals Australia’s digital campaigning with regard to issues of factory farming in order to show the efficacy of such affectively oriented mediated strategising for the forming of new relations with factory farm. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

A Link between Prompt Optical and Prompt Gamma-Ray Emission in Gamma-Ray Bursts

The prompt optical emission that arrives with gamma-rays from a cosmic gamma-ray burst (GRB) is a signature of the engine powering the burst, the properties of the ultra-relativistic ejecta of the explosion, and the ejecta's interactions with the surroundings. Until now, only GRB 990123 had been detected at optical wavelengths during the burst phase. Its prompt optical emission was variable and uncorrelated with the prompt gamma-ray emission, suggesting that the optical emission was generated by a reverse shock arising from the ejecta's collision with the surrounding material. Here we report prompt optical emission from GRB 041219a. It is variable and correlated with the prompt gamma-rays, indicating a common origin for the optical light and the gamma-rays. Within the context of the standard fireball model of GRBs, we attribute this new optical component to internal shocks driven into the burst ejecta by variations of the inner engine. The correlated optical emission is a direct probe of the jet isolated from the medium. The timing of the uncorrelated optical emission is strongly dependent on the nature of the medium.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Note: This paper has been accepted for publication in Nature, but is embargoed for discussion in the popular press until formal publication in Nature. Resubmit - Added table comparing Swift and RAPTOR dat

A relocatable ocean model in support of environmental emergencies

During the Costa Concordia emergency case, regional, subregional, and relocatable ocean models have been used together with the oil spill model, MEDSLIK-II, to provide ocean currents forecasts, possible oil spill scenarios, and drifters trajectories simulations. The models results together with the evaluation of their performances are presented in this paper. In particular, we focused this work on the implementation of the Interactive Relocatable Nested Ocean Model (IRENOM), based on the Harvard Ocean Prediction System (HOPS), for the Costa Concordia emergency and on its validation using drifters released in the area of the accident. It is shown that thanks to the capability of improving easily and quickly its configuration, the IRENOM results are of greater accuracy than the results achieved using regional or subregional model products. The model topography, and to the initialization procedures, and the horizontal resolution are the key model settings to be configured. Furthermore, the IRENOM currents and the MEDSLIK-II simulated trajectories showed to be sensitive to the spatial resolution of the meteorological fields used, providing higher prediction skills with higher resolution wind forcing.MEDESS4MS Project; TESSA Project; MyOcean2 Projectinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sonic Hedgehog Is a Chemoattractant for Midbrain Dopaminergic Axons

Midbrain dopaminergic axons project from the substantia nigra (SN) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to rostral target tissues, including the striatum, pallidum, and hypothalamus. The axons from the medially located VTA project primarily to more medial target tissues in the forebrain, whereas the more lateral SN axons project to lateral targets including the dorsolateral striatum. This structural diversity underlies the distinct functions of these pathways. Although a number of guidance cues have been implicated in the formation of the distinct axonal projections of the SN and VTA, the molecular basis of their diversity remains unclear. Here we investigate the molecular basis of structural diversity in mDN axonal projections. We find that Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) is expressed at a choice point in the course of the rostral dopaminergic projections. Furthermore, in midbrain explants, dopaminergic projections are attracted to a Shh source. Finally, in mice in which Shh signaling is inactivated during late neuronal development, the most medial dopaminergic projections are deficient

Collision sellar lesions: experience with eight cases and review of the literature

The concomitant presence of a pituitary adenoma with a second sellar lesion in patients operated upon for pituitary adenoma is an uncommon entity. Although rare, quite a great variety of lesions have been indentified coexisting with pituitary adenomas. In fact, most combinations have been described before, but an overview with information on the frequency of combined pathologies in a large series has not been published. We present a series of eight collision sellar lesions indentified among 548 transsphenoidally resected pituitary adenomas in two Neurosurgical Departments. The histological studies confirmed a case of sarcoidosis within a non-functioning pituitary adenoma, a case of intrasellar schwannoma coexisting with growth hormone (GH) secreting adenoma, two Rathke’s cleft cysts combined with pituitary adenomas, three gangliocytomas associated with GH-secreting adenomas, and a case of a double pituitary adenoma. The pertinent literature is discussed with emphasis on pathogenetic theories of dual sellar lesions. Although there is no direct evidence to confirm the pathogenetic relationship of collision sellar lesions, the number of cases presented in literature makes the theory of an incidental occurrence rather doubtful. Suggested hypotheses about a common embryonic origin or a potential interaction between pituitary adenomas and the immune system are presented

Genetic and epigenetic characterization of posterior pituitary tumors

Pituicytoma (PITUI), granular cell tumor (GCT), and spindle cell oncocytoma (SCO) are rare tumors of the posterior pituitary. Histologically, they may be challenging to distinguish and have been proposed to represent a histological spectrum of a single entity. We performed targeted next-generation sequencing, DNA methylation profiling, and copy number analysis on 47 tumors (14 PITUI; 12 GCT; 21 SCO) to investigate molecular features and explore possibilities of clinically meaningful tumor subclassification. We detected two main epigenomic subgroups by unsupervised clustering of DNA methylation data, though the overall methylation differences were subtle. The largest group (n = 23) contained most PITUIs and a subset of SCOs and was enriched for pathogenic mutations within genes in the MAPK/PI3K pathways (12/17 [71%] of sequenced tumors: FGFR1 (3), HRAS (3), BRAF (2), NF1 (2), CBL (1), MAP2K2 (1), PTEN (1)) and two with accompanying TERT promoter mutation. The second group (n = 16) contained most GCTs and a subset of SCOs, all of which mostly lacked identifiable genetic drivers. Outcome analysis demonstrated that the presence of chromosomal imbalances was significantly associated with reduced progression-free survival especially within the combined PITUI and SCO group (p = 0.031). In summary, we observed only subtle DNA methylation differences between posterior pituitary tumors, indicating that these tumors may be best classified as subtypes of a single entity. Nevertheless, our data indicate differences in mutation patterns and clinical outcome. For a clinically meaningful subclassification, we propose a combined histo-molecular approach into three subtypes: one subtype is defined by granular cell histology, scarcity of identifiable oncogenic mutations, and favorable outcome. The other two subtypes have either SCO or PITUI histology but are segregated by chromosomal copy number profile into a favorable group (no copy number changes) and a less favorable group (copy number imbalances present). Both of the latter groups have recurrent MAPK/PI3K genetic alterations that represent potential therapeutic targets

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

Elliptic flow of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

We report the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region (|$\eta$|<0.8) and transverse momentum range 0.2< $p_{\rm T}$< 5.0 GeV/$c$. The elliptic flow signal v$_2$, measured using the 4-particle correlation method, averaged over transverse momentum and pseudorapidity is 0.087 $\pm$ 0.002 (stat) $\pm$ 0.004 (syst) in the 40-50% centrality class. The differential elliptic flow v$_2(p_{\rm T})$ reaches a maximum of 0.2 near $p_{\rm T}$ = 3 GeV/$c$. Compared to RHIC Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV, the elliptic flow increases by about 30%. Some hydrodynamic model predictions which include viscous corrections are in agreement with the observed increase.Comment: 10 pages, 4 captioned figures, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/389