Error Rates, Decisive Outcomes and Publication Bias with Several Inferential Methods

Correction to this article published Hopkins, W.G. & Batterham, A.M. Sports Med (2016) 46: 923. doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0530-

RNA Interference Can Rebalance the Nitrogen Sink of Maize Seeds without Losing Hard Endosperm

Background: One of the goals of plant breeding is to create crops to provide better nutrition for humans and livestock. Insufficient intake of protein is one of the most severe factors affecting the growth and development of children in developing countries. More than a century ago, in 1896, Hopkins initiated the well-known Illinois long-term selection for maize seed protein concentration, yielding four protein strains. By continuously accumulating QTLs, Illinois High Protein (IHP) reached a protein level 2.5-fold higher than normal maize, with the most increased fraction being the zein protein, which was shown to contain no lysine soon after the long-term selection program initiated. Therefore, IHP is of little value for feeding humans and monogastric animals. Although high-lysine lines of non-vitreous mutants were based on reduced zeins, the kernel soft texture precluded their practical use. Kernel hardness in opaque 2 (o2) could be restored in quality protein maize (QPM) with quantitative trait loci called o2 modifiers (Mo2s), but those did not increase total protein levels. Methods: The most predominant zeins are the 22- and 19-kDa a-zeins. To achieve a combination of desired traits, we used RNA interference (RNAi) against both a-zeins in IHP and evaluated the silencing effect by SDS-PAGE. Total protein, amino acid composition and kernel texture were analyzed. Conclusions: The a-zeins were dramatically reduced, but the high total seed protein level remained unchanged by complementary increase of non-zein proteins. Moreover, the residual zein levels still allowed for a vitreous hard seed. Suc

Bovine colostrum supplementation and upper respiratory symptoms during exercise training: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract Background Bovine colostrum is proposed as a nutritional countermeasure to the risk of upper respiratory symptoms (URS) during exercise training. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the size of the effect of bovine colostrum supplementation on URS. Methods Databases (CDSR, CENTRAL, Cinahl, ClinicalTrials.gov, Current Controlled Trials, DARE, EMBASE, Medline, PROSPERO and Web of Science) of published, unpublished and ongoing studies were searched for randomised controlled trials of healthy adults (≥18 years), evaluating the effect of oral bovine colostrum supplementation compared to a concurrent control group on URS. Results Five trials (152 participants) met the inclusion criteria, all of which involved individuals involved in regular exercise training. Over an 8–12 week follow-up period, bovine colostrum supplementation when compared to placebo significantly reduced the incidence rate of URS days (rate ratio 0.56, 95 % confidence intervals 0.43 to 0.72, P value < 0.001) and URS episodes (0.62, 0.40 to 0.99, P value = 0.04) by 44 and 38 % respectively. There were limited data and considerable variation in results of included studies for duration of URS episodes hence a meta-analysis of this outcome was deemed inappropriate. The risk of bias assessment in this review was hindered by poor reporting practices of included studies. Due to incomplete reporting of study methods, four of the five studies were judged to have a moderate or high risk of overall bias. Our findings must be interpreted in relation to quantity and quality of the available evidence. Conclusions The present systematic review and meta-analysis provides evidence that bovine colostrum supplementation may be effective in preventing the incidence of URS days and episodes in adults engaged in exercise training. The fact that the majority of included studies did not report significant effects on URS outcomes mitigates concerns about publication bias. The point estimates of the random-effects meta-analyses are greater than the smallest clinically important difference, but the low precision of the individual study estimates means the evidence presented in this review needs to be followed up with an appropriately designed and adequately powered, randomised control trial

Metabolic Rift or Metabolic Shift? Dialectics, Nature, and the World-Historical Method

Abstract In the flowering of Red-Green Thought over the past two decades, metabolic rift thinking is surely one of its most colorful varieties. The metabolic rift has captured the imagination of critical environmental scholars, becoming a shorthand for capitalism’s troubled relations in the web of life. This article pursues an entwined critique and reconstruction: of metabolic rift thinking and the possibilities for a post-Cartesian perspective on historical change, the world-ecology conversation. Far from dismissing metabolic rift thinking, my intention is to affirm its dialectical core. At stake is not merely the mode of explanation within environmental sociology. The impasse of metabolic rift thinking is suggestive of wider problems across the environmental social sciences, now confronted by a double challenge. One of course is the widespread—and reasonable—sense of urgency to evolve modes of thought appropriate to an era of deepening biospheric instability. The second is the widely recognized—but inadequately internalized—understanding that humans are part of nature

Information resource preferences by general pediatricians in office settings: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Information needs and resource preferences of office-based general pediatricians have not been well characterized. METHODS: Data collected from a sample of twenty office-based urban/suburban general pediatricians consisted of: (a) a demographic survey about participants' practice and computer use, (b) semi-structured interviews on their use of different types of information resources and (c) semi-structured interviews on perceptions of information needs and resource preferences in response to clinical vignettes representing cases in Genetics and Infectious Diseases. Content analysis of interviews provided participants' perceived use of resources and their perceived questions and preferred resources in response to vignettes. RESULTS: Participants' average time in practice was 15.4 years (2–28 years). All had in-office online access. Participants identified specialist/generalist colleagues, general/specialty pediatric texts, drug formularies, federal government/professional organization Websites and medical portals (when available) as preferred information sources. They did not identify decision-making texts, evidence-based reviews, journal abstracts, medical librarians or consumer health information for routine office use. In response to clinical vignettes in Genetics and Infectious Diseases, participants identified Question Types about patient-specific (diagnosis, history and findings) and general medical (diagnostic, therapeutic and referral guidelines) information. They identified specialists and specialty textbooks, history and physical examination, colleagues and general pediatric textbooks, and federal and professional organizational Websites as information sources. Participants with access to portals identified them as information resources in lieu of texts. For Genetics vignettes, participants identified questions about prenatal history, disease etiology and treatment guidelines. For Genetics vignettes, they identified patient history, specialists, general pediatric texts, Web search engines and colleagues as information sources. For Infectious Diseases (ID) vignettes, participants identified questions about patients' clinical status at presentation and questions about disease classification, diagnosis/therapy/referral guidelines and sources of patient education. For ID vignettes, they identified history, laboratory results, colleagues, specialists and personal experience as information sources. CONCLUSION: Content analysis of office-based general pediatricians' responses to clinical vignettes provided a qualitative description of their perceptions of information needs and preferences for information resource for cases in Genetics and Infectious Diseases. This approach may provide complementary information for discovering practitioner's information needs and resource preferences in different contexts

Does Habitual Physical Activity Increase the Sensitivity of the Appetite Control System? A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that habitual physical activity improves appetite control; however, the evidence has never been systematically reviewed. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether appetite control (e.g. subjective appetite, appetite-related peptides, food intake) differs according to levels of physical activity. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase and SPORTDiscus were searched for articles published between 1996 and 2015, using keywords pertaining to physical activity, appetite, food intake and appetite-related peptides. STUDY SELECTION: Articles were included if they involved healthy non-smoking adults (aged 18-64 years) participating in cross-sectional studies examining appetite control in active and inactive individuals; or before and after exercise training in previously inactive individuals. STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS: Of 77 full-text articles assessed, 28 studies (14 cross-sectional; 14 exercise training) met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Appetite sensations and absolute energy intake did not differ consistently across studies. Active individuals had a greater ability to compensate for high-energy preloads through reductions in energy intake, in comparison with inactive controls. When physical activity level was graded across cross-sectional studies (low, medium, high, very high), a significant curvilinear effect on energy intake (z-scores) was observed. LIMITATIONS: Methodological issues existed concerning the small number of studies, lack of objective quantification of food intake, and various definitions used to define active and inactive individuals. CONCLUSION: Habitually active individuals showed improved compensation for the energy density of foods, but no consistent differences in appetite or absolute energy intake, in comparison with inactive individuals. This review supports a J-shaped relationship between physical activity level and energy intake. Further studies are required to confirm these findings. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42015019696

How Much Rugby is Too Much? A Seven-Season Prospective Cohort Study of Match Exposure and Injury Risk in Professional Rugby Union Players.

INTRODUCTION: Numerous studies have documented the incidence and nature of injuries in professional rugby union, but few have identified specific risk factors for injury in this population using appropriate statistical methods. In particular, little is known about the role of previous short-term or longer-term match exposures in current injury risk in this setting. OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to investigate the influence that match exposure has upon injury risk in rugby union. METHOD: We conducted a seven-season (2006/7-2012/13) prospective cohort study of time-loss injuries in 1253 English premiership professional players. Players' 12-month match exposure (number of matches a player was involved in for ≥20 min in the preceding 12 months) and 1-month match exposure (number of full-game equivalent [FGE] matches in preceding 30 days) were assessed as risk factors for injury using a nested frailty model and magnitude-based inferences. RESULTS: The 12-month match exposure was associated with injury risk in a non-linear fashion; players who had been involved in fewer than ≈15 or more than ≈35 matches over the preceding 12-month period were more susceptible to injury. Monthly match exposure was linearly associated with injury risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.14 per 2 standard deviation [3.2 FGE] increase, 90% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-1.20; likely harmful), although this effect was substantially attenuated for players in the upper quartile for 12-month match exposures (>28 matches). CONCLUSION: A player's accumulated (12-month) and recent (1-month) match exposure substantially influences their current injury risk. Careful attention should be paid to planning the workloads and monitoring the responses of players involved in: (1) a high (>≈35) number of matches in the previous year, (2) a low (<≈15) number of matches in the previous year, and (3) a low-moderate number of matches in previous year but who have played intensively in the recent past. These findings make a major contribution to evidence-based policy decisions regarding match workload limits in professional rugby union

HIV's evasion of the cellular immune response

Despite a strong cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response directed against viral antigens, untreated individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) develop AIDS, We have found that primary T cells infected with HIV-1 downregulate surface MHC class I antigens and are resistant to lysis by HLA-A2-restricted CTL clones. In contrast, cells infected with an HIV-1 in which the nef gene is disrupted are sensitive to CTLs in an MHC and peptide-specific manner. In primary T cells HLA-A2 antigens are downmodulated more dramatically than total MHC class I antigens, suggesting that nef selectively downmodulates certain MHC class I antigens. In support of this, studies on ceils expressing individual MHC class I alietes have revealed that nef does not downmodulate HLA-C and HLA-E antigens, This selective downmodulation allows Infected cells to maintain resistance to certain natural killer cells that lyse infected cells expressing low levels of MHC class I antigens. Downmodulation of MHC class I HLA-A2 antigens occurs not only in primary T cells, but also in B and astrocytoma cell lines. No effect of other HIV-1 accessory proteins such as vpu and vpr was observed. Thus Nef is a protein that may promote escape of HIV-1 from immune surveillance.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75570/1/j.1600-065X.1999.tb01283.x.pd