Differences in game statistics between winning and losing for male wheelchair tennis players in Paralympics Games

ABSTRACT Aims The aim of the present study was to analyze the differences in wheelchair tennis game statistics between winning and losing sets. Methods Data were collected from the 139 sets of 64 matches played by 64 males' players in the 2012 Paralympics Games. The variables studied were grouped in four groups: variables related to serve, to return, to winners and errors, and to net point. Data was collected from official website of the Paralympics Games. A univariate (Wilcoxon test) and multivariate (discriminant) analysis of data was done to the study the four groups of variable in relation to the result of the set (win or lose). Results The result showed that winning players commit fewer errors and achieved more winning shots than losing players. Conclusion The values presented could be used as a reference for practice and competition in wheelchair tennis players

Aerosolized non-viral nucleic acid delivery in the vaginal tract of pigs

PURPOSE: The human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis is worldwide the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted disease. Nasal or vaginal nucleic acid vaccination is a promising strategy for controlling genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections. Since naked nucleic acids are generally not efficiently taken up by cells, they are often complexed with carriers that facilitate their intracellular delivery. METHODS: In the current study, we screened a variety of commonly used non-viral gene delivery carriers for their ability to transfect newborn pig tracheal cells. The effect of aerosolization on the physicochemical properties and transfection efficiency of the complexes was also evaluated in vitro. Subsequently, a pilot experiment was performed in which the selected complexes were aerosolized in the vaginal tract of pigs. RESULTS: Both mRNA and pDNA containing lipofectamine and ADM70 complexes showed promise for protein expression in vitro, before and after aerosolization. In vivo, only lipofectamine/pDNA complexes resulted in high protein expression levels 24 h following aerosolization. This correlates to the unexpected observation that the presence of vaginal mucus increases the efficiency of lipofectamine/pDNA complexes 3-fold, while the efficiency of lipofectamine/mRNA complexes and ADM70/mRNA and ADM70/pDNA complexes decreased. CONCLUSIONS: As aerosolization was an easy and effective method to deliver complexes to the vaginal tract of pigs, we believe this application technique has future potential for both vaginal and perhaps nasal vaccination using non-viral gene delivery vectors