Training and match load in professional rugby union: Do contextual factors influence the training week?

Background: Rugby union demands a multifaceted approach to training, given the multiple physical and technical attributes required to play the sport. Objectives: The aim of this study is to describe the distribution of training throughout the week and investigate how this may be influenced by match-related factors. Methods: Training load data (session Rating of Perceived Exertion [sRPE], total distance and high-speed running [HSR]) were collected from six professional English rugby teams during the 2017/18 season. Five contextual factors were also recorded including: standard of opposition, competition type, result of previous fixture, surface type, and match venue. Results: The day prior to matches demonstrated the lowest training load (101 AU (95% CIs: 0-216 AU) , 1 047 m (95% CIs:1 128-1 686 m) and 59 m (95% CIs: 0-343 m), respectively), while four days prior to the match demonstrated the highest training load (464 AU (95% CIs: 350-578), 2 983 m (95% CIs: 2 704-3 262m) and 234m (95% CIs: 0-477m), respectively). Of the five contextual factors, competition type was the only variable that demonstrated greater than trivial findings, with training before European fixtures the lowest stimulus across the four different competition types. Standard of opposition, previous result, surface type and venue had only trivial effects on training load (effect sizes = -0.13 to 0.15). Conclusion: Future studies should outline the distribution of other training metrics, including contact and collision training. This study provides a multi-club evaluation that demonstrates the variety of loading strategies prior to competitive match play and highlights competition type as the most influential contextual factor impacting the average training load

Regenerative peripheral nerve interfaces for real-time, proportional control of a Neuroprosthetic hand

Abstract Introduction Regenerative peripheral nerve interfaces (RPNIs) are biological constructs which amplify neural signals and have shown long-term stability in rat models. Real-time control of a neuroprosthesis in rat models has not yet been demonstrated. The purpose of this study was to: a) design and validate a system for translating electromyography (EMG) signals from an RPNI in a rat model into real-time control of a neuroprosthetic hand, and; b) use the system to demonstrate RPNI proportional neuroprosthesis control. Methods Animals were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: (1) Control; (2) Denervated, and; (3) RPNI. In the RPNI group, the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle was dissected free, denervated, transferred to the lateral thigh and neurotized with the residual end of the transected common peroneal nerve. Rats received tactile stimuli to the hind-limb via monofilaments, and electrodes were used to record EMG. Signals were filtered, rectified and integrated using a moving sample window. Processed EMG signals (iEMG) from RPNIs were validated against Control and Denervated group outputs. Results Voluntary reflexive rat movements produced signaling that activated the prosthesis in both the Control and RPNI groups, but produced no activation in the Denervated group. Signal-to-Noise ratio between hind-limb movement and resting iEMG was 3.55 for Controls and 3.81 for RPNIs. Both Control and RPNI groups exhibited a logarithmic iEMG increase with increased monofilament pressure, allowing graded prosthetic hand speed control (R2 = 0.758 and R2 = 0.802, respectively). Conclusion EMG signals were successfully acquired from RPNIs and translated into real-time neuroprosthetic control. Signal contamination from muscles adjacent to the RPNI was minimal. RPNI constructs provided reliable proportional prosthetic hand control.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146521/1/12984_2018_Article_452.pd

Cis and Trans Effects of Human Genomic Variants on Gene Expression

This work was funded by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation (http://www.jeantet.ch/), the European Research Council (Grant ID: 260927 http://erc.europa.eu/), the Swiss National Foundation (Grant ID: 130342 http://www.snf.ch), NCCR Frontiers In Genetics (http://www.frontiers-in-genetics.org), the UK Medical Research Council (http://www.mrc.ac.uk) and the Wellcome Trust (Grant ID: 092731).

NGF-TrkA signaling dictates neural ingrowth and aberrant osteochondral differentiation after soft tissue trauma

: Pain is a central feature of soft tissue trauma, which under certain contexts, results in aberrant osteochondral differentiation of tissue-specific stem cells. Here, the role of sensory nerve fibers in this abnormal cell fate decision is investigated using a severe extremity injury model in mice. Soft tissue trauma results in NGF (Nerve growth factor) expression, particularly within perivascular cell types. Consequently, NGF-responsive axonal invasion occurs which precedes osteocartilaginous differentiation. Surgical denervation impedes axonal ingrowth, with significant delays in cartilage and bone formation. Likewise, either deletion of Ngf or two complementary methods to inhibit its receptor TrkA (Tropomyosin receptor kinase A) lead to similar delays in axonal invasion and osteochondral differentiation. Mechanistically, single-cell sequencing suggests a shift from TGFβ to FGF signaling activation among pre-chondrogenic cells after denervation. Finally, analysis of human pathologic specimens and databases confirms the relevance of NGF-TrkA signaling in human disease. In sum, NGF-mediated TrkA-expressing axonal ingrowth drives abnormal osteochondral differentiation after soft tissue trauma. NGF-TrkA signaling inhibition may have dual therapeutic use in soft tissue trauma, both as an analgesic and negative regulator of aberrant stem cell differentiation

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

A Comprehensive Genetic Analysis of Candidate Genes Regulating Response to Trypanosoma congolense Infection in Mice

About one-third of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk of contracting “Nagana”—a disease caused by Trypanosoma parasites similar to those that cause human “Sleeping Sickness.” Laboratory mice can also be infected by trypanosomes, and different mouse breeds show varying levels of susceptibility to infection, similar to what is seen between different breeds of cattle. Survival time after infection is controlled by the underlying genetics of the mouse breed, and previous studies have localised three genomic regions that regulate this trait. These three “Quantitative Trait Loci” (QTL), which have been called Tir1, Tir2 and Tir3 (for Trypanosoma Infection Response 1–3) are well defined, but nevertheless still contain over one thousand genes, any number of which may be influencing survival. This study has aimed to identify the specific differences associated with genes that are controlling mouse survival after T. congolense infection. We have applied a series of analyses to existing datasets, and combined them with novel sequencing, and other genetic data to create short lists of genes that share polymorphisms across susceptible mouse breeds, including two promising “candidate genes”: Pram1 at Tir1 and Cd244 at Tir3. These genes can now be tested to confirm their effect on response to trypanosome infection

Evolution of the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) carbon-cycle and global climatic controls on local sedimentary processes (Cardigan Bay Basin, UK)

The late Early Jurassic Toarcian Stage represents the warmest interval of the Jurassic Period, with an abrupt rise in global temperatures of up to ∼7 °C in mid-latitudes at the onset of the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE; ∼183 Ma). The T-OAE, which has been extensively studied in marine and continental successions from both hemispheres, was marked by the widespread expansion of anoxic and euxinic waters, geographically extensive deposition of organic-rich black shales, and climatic and environmental perturbations. Climatic and environmental processes following the T-OAE are, however, poorly known, largely due to a lack of study of stratigraphically well-constrained and complete sedimentary archives. Here, we present integrated geochemical and physical proxy data (high-resolution carbon-isotope data (δ13C), bulk and molecular organic geochemistry, inorganic petrology, mineral characterisation, and major- and trace-element concentrations) from the biostratigraphically complete and expanded entire Toarcian succession in the Llanbedr (Mochras Farm) Borehole, Cardigan Bay Basin, Wales, UK. With these data, we (1) construct the first high-resolution biostratigraphically calibrated chemostratigraphic reference record for nearly the complete Toarcian Stage, (2) establish palaeoceanographic and depositional conditions in the Cardigan Bay Basin, (3) show that the T-OAE in the hemipelagic Cardigan Bay Basin was marked by the occurrence of gravity-flow deposits that were likely linked to globally enhanced sediment fluxes to continental margins and deeper marine (shelf) basins, and (4) explore how early Toarcian (tenuicostatum and serpentinum zones) siderite formation in the Cardigan Bay Basin may have been linked to low global oceanic sulphate concentrations and elevated supply of iron (Fe) from the hinterland, in response to climatically induced changes in hydrological cycling, global weathering rates and large-scale sulphide and evaporite deposition

Merging paleobiology with conservation biology to guide the future of terrestrial ecosystems

Conservation of species and ecosystems is increasingly difficult because anthropogenic impacts are pervasive and accelerating. Under this rapid global change, maximizing conservation success requires a paradigm shift from maintaining ecosystems in idealized past states toward facilitating their adaptive and functional capacities, even as species ebb and flow individually. Developing effective strategies under this new paradigm will require deeper understanding of the long-term dynamics that govern ecosystem persistence and reconciliation of conflicts among approaches to conserving historical versus novel ecosystems. Integrating emerging information from conservation biology, paleobiology, and the Earth sciences is an important step forward on the path to success. Maintaining nature in all its aspects will also entail immediately addressing the overarching threats of growing human population, overconsumption, pollution, and climate change.Peer reviewe

Monazite trumps zircon: applying SHRIMP U–Pb geochronology to systematically evaluate emplacement ages of leucocratic, low-temperature granites in a complex Precambrian orogen

Although zircon is the most widely used geochronometer to determine the crystallisation ages of granites, it can be unreliable for low-temperature melts because they may not crystallise new zircon. For leucocratic granites U–Pb zircon dates, therefore, may reflect the ages of the source rocks rather than the igneous crystallisation age. In the Proterozoic Capricorn Orogen of Western Australia, leucocratic granites are associated with several pulses of intracontinental magmatism spanning ~800 million years. In several instances, SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating of these leucocratic granites either yielded ages that were inconclusive (e.g., multiple concordant ages) or incompatible with other geochronological data. To overcome this we used SHRIMP U–Th–Pb monazite geochronology to obtain igneous crystallisation ages that are consistent with the geological and geochronological framework of the orogen. The U–Th–Pb monazite geochronology has resolved the time interval over which two granitic supersuites were emplaced; a Paleoproterozoic supersuite thought to span ~80 million years was emplaced in less than half that time (1688–1659 Ma) and a small Meso- to Neoproterozoic supersuite considered to have been intruded over ~70 million years was instead assembled over ~130 million years and outlasted associated regional metamorphism by ~100 million years. Both findings have consequences for the duration of associated orogenic events and any estimates for magma generation rates. The monazite geochronology has contributed to a more reliable tectonic history for a complex, long-lived orogen. Our results emphasise the benefit of monazite as a geochronometer for leucocratic granites derived by low-temperature crustal melting and are relevant to other orogens worldwide