University and stakeholder partnerships to innovate in sport – the development of the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) career transition screening tool

In sports, the value and mutual benefit of university–stakeholder partnerships have been well-recognised. It has been argued that cricket has a unique set of challenges compared to other team sports. In 2016, the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) and the University of Cape Town established a partnership to (i) conduct novel research on professional cricketers and (ii) ensure SACA programmes and initiatives are informed by said research and/or the currently available literature. As the demand on professional cricketers has increased, so has the interest in their career transitioning. That is, how do professional cricketers manage stressors created by changes (or non-changes) throughout their playing careers? To help identify gaps for intervention as a cricketer transitions through their professional career, the purpose of this short report is to describe how a university–stakeholder partnership developed a career transitioning screening tool for professional cricketers in South Africa

Anxiety and depression in athletes assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) - a systematic scoping review

Introduction: Poor mental health of athletes is major concern in sport. Typically, incidence/prevalence of mental health symptoms in athletes is studied using symptom-specific questionnaires. For symptoms of depression/anxiety, one such self-reporting questionnaire is the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Objective: The aim of this review was to synthesise and compare studies using the GHQ-12 in athletes to inform future research by identifying trends and gaps in the literature. Methods: A systematic search of five electronic databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, PsychINFO, Scopus and Web of Science) was conducted on all published studies up to 1 January 2019. 1) participants were able-bodied athletes; 2) studies measured anxiety/depression using the GHQ-12; 3) studies were full original articles from peer-reviewed journals; 4) studies were published in English. Results: 32 studies were included in the review. Prevalence and incidence of symptoms of anxiety/depression ranged from 21-48% and 17-57% respectively. The majority of studies screening anxiety/depression using the GHQ-12 were cross-sectional. Almost 70% of studies used the traditional scoring method. The majority of study populations sampled all-male cohorts comprising football (soccer) players. Conclusion: The traditional scoring of 0-0-1-1 should be used with the cut-off set at ≥3. Also, the mean GHQ-12 score should be reported. Potential risk factors for symptoms of anxiety/depression (i.e. recent adverse life events, injury and illness, social support, pressure to perform and career transitioning) and a lack of prospective studies were identified. Future research should also broaden the spectrum of athlete populations used and try to improve response rates

Divergent Roles of Clock Genes in Retinal and Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Circadian Oscillators

The retina is both a sensory organ and a self-sustained circadian clock. Gene targeting studies have revealed that mammalian circadian clocks generate molecular circadian rhythms through coupled transcription/translation feedback loops which involve 6 core clock genes, namely Period (Per) 1 and 2, Cryptochrome (Cry) 1 and 2, Clock, and Bmal1 and that the roles of individual clock genes in rhythms generation are tissue-specific. However, the mechanisms of molecular circadian rhythms in the mammalian retina are incompletely understood and the extent to which retinal neural clocks share mechanisms with the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the central neural clock, is unclear. In the present study, we examined the rhythmic amplitude and period of real-time bioluminescence rhythms in explants of retina from Per1-, Per2-, Per3-, Cry1-, Cry2-, and Clock-deficient mice that carried transgenic PERIOD2::LUCIFERASE (PER2::LUC) or Period1::luciferase (Per1::luc) circadian reporters. Per1-, Cry1- and Clock-deficient retinal and SCN explants showed weakened or disrupted rhythms, with stronger effects in retina compared to SCN. Per2, Per3, and Cry2 were individually dispensable for sustained rhythms in both tissues. Retinal and SCN explants from double knockouts of Cry1 and Cry2 were arrhythmic. Gene effects on period were divergent with reduction in the number of Per1 alleles shortening circadian period in retina, but lengthening it in SCN, and knockout of Per3 substantially shortening retinal clock period, but leaving SCN unaffected. Thus, the retinal neural clock has a unique pattern of clock gene dependence at the tissue level that it is similar in pattern, but more severe in degree, than the SCN neural clock, with divergent clock gene regulation of rhythmic period

Maximum likelihood models and algorithms for gene tree evolution with duplications and losses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The abundance of new genomic data provides the opportunity to map the location of gene duplication and loss events on a species phylogeny. The first methods for mapping gene duplications and losses were based on a parsimony criterion, finding the mapping that minimizes the number of duplication and loss events. Probabilistic modeling of gene duplication and loss is relatively new and has largely focused on birth-death processes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We introduce a new maximum likelihood model that estimates the speciation and gene duplication and loss events in a gene tree within a species tree with branch lengths. We also provide an, in practice, efficient algorithm that computes optimal evolutionary scenarios for this model. We implemented the algorithm in the program DrML and verified its performance with empirical and simulated data.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In test data sets, DrML finds optimal gene duplication and loss scenarios within minutes, even when the gene trees contain sequences from several hundred species. In many cases, these optimal scenarios differ from the lca-mapping that results from a parsimony gene tree reconciliation. Thus, DrML provides a new, practical statistical framework on which to study gene duplication.</p

Hypoxia-specific targets in cancer therapy: role of splice variants

Tumour hypoxia is a well known adverse prognostic factor in the treatment of solid tumours. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), a transcription factor subunit regulating a large number of hypoxia-responsive genes, is considered an attractive target for novel treatment approaches, due to a frequently reported association between HIF-1α overexpression and poor outcome in clinical series. This month in BMC Medicine, Dales et al. report on splice variants of HIF-1α in fresh frozen tissue samples of early human breast cancer, finding an association of mRNA levels of the variant HIF-1αTAG with adverse clinical factors (lymph node status, hormone receptor status) and poor metastasis-free survival. This preliminary study addresses the possibility that specific targeting of individual isoforms resulting from alternative splicing may play a role in HIF-1-directed treatment approaches

Regulation of mammary gland branching morphogenesis by the extracellular matrix and its remodeling enzymes.

A considerable body of research indicates that mammary gland branching morphogenesis is dependent, in part, on the extracellular matrix (ECM), ECM-receptors, such as integrins and other ECM receptors, and ECM-degrading enzymes, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). There is some evidence that these ECM cues affect one or more of the following processes: cell survival, polarity, proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, and migration. Both three-dimensional culture models and genetic manipulations of the mouse mammary gland have been used to study the signaling pathways that affect these processes. However, the precise mechanisms of ECM-directed mammary morphogenesis are not well understood. Mammary morphogenesis involves epithelial 'invasion' of adipose tissue, a process akin to invasion by breast cancer cells, although the former is a highly regulated developmental process. How these morphogenic pathways are integrated in the normal gland and how they become dysregulated and subverted in the progression of breast cancer also remain largely unanswered questions

A novel class of microRNA-recognition elements that function only within open reading frames.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are well known to target 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs) in mRNAs, thereby silencing gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Multiple reports have also indicated the ability of miRNAs to target protein-coding sequences (CDS); however, miRNAs have been generally believed to function through similar mechanisms regardless of the locations of their sites of action. Here, we report a class of miRNA-recognition elements (MREs) that function exclusively in CDS regions. Through functional and mechanistic characterization of these 'unusual' MREs, we demonstrate that CDS-targeted miRNAs require extensive base-pairing at the 3' side rather than the 5' seed; cause gene silencing in an Argonaute-dependent but GW182-independent manner; and repress translation by inducing transient ribosome stalling instead of mRNA destabilization. These findings reveal distinct mechanisms and functional consequences of miRNAs that target CDS versus the 3' UTR and suggest that CDS-targeted miRNAs may use a translational quality-control-related mechanism to regulate translation in mammalian cells

Disparities and risks of sexually transmissible infections among men who have sex with men in China: a meta-analysis and data synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including Hepatitis B and C virus, are emerging public health risks in China, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). This study aims to assess the magnitude and risks of STIs among Chinese MSM. METHODS: Chinese and English peer-reviewed articles were searched in five electronic databases from January 2000 to February 2013. Pooled prevalence estimates for each STI infection were calculated using meta-analysis. Infection risks of STIs in MSM, HIV-positive MSM and male sex workers (MSW) were obtained. This review followed the PRISMA guidelines and was registered in PROSPERO. RESULTS: Eighty-eight articles (11 in English and 77 in Chinese) investigating 35,203 MSM in 28 provinces were included in this review. The prevalence levels of STIs among MSM were 6.3% (95% CI: 3.5-11.0%) for chlamydia, 1.5% (0.7-2.9%) for genital wart, 1.9% (1.3-2.7%) for gonorrhoea, 8.9% (7.8-10.2%) for hepatitis B (HBV), 1.2% (1.0-1.6%) for hepatitis C (HCV), 66.3% (57.4-74.1%) for human papillomavirus (HPV), 10.6% (6.2-17.6%) for herpes simplex virus (HSV-2) and 4.3% (3.2-5.8%) for Ureaplasma urealyticum. HIV-positive MSM have consistently higher odds of all these infections than the broader MSM population. As a subgroup of MSM, MSW were 2.5 (1.4-4.7), 5.7 (2.7-12.3), and 2.2 (1.4-3.7) times more likely to be infected with chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HCV than the broader MSM population, respectively. CONCLUSION: Prevalence levels of STIs among MSW were significantly higher than the broader MSM population. Co-infection of HIV and STIs were prevalent among Chinese MSM. Integration of HIV and STIs healthcare and surveillance systems is essential in providing effective HIV/STIs preventive measures and treatments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO NO: CRD42013003721

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics