Global sleep quality as a moderator of alcohol consumption and consequences in college students

The authors examined the relationship between global sleep quality and alcohol risk, including the extent to which global sleep quality moderated the relationship between alcohol use and drinking-related consequences. Global sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and alcohol-related consequences were assessed using the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI). The sample consisted of 261 college students (61.3% female, 58.2% Caucasian) who completed online surveys. Using a four-step hierarchical multiple regression model, global sleep quality was found to predict alcohol consequences, over and above assessed covariates (demographics and weekly drinking). Further, global sleep quality emerged as a strong moderator in the drinking-consequences relationship such that among heavier drinkers, those with poorer global sleep quality experienced significantly greater alcohol-related harm. Campus health education and alcohol interventions may be adapted to address the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, both in terms of healthful sleeping and drinking behaviors, which appear to play a strong synergistic role in alcohol-related risk

The Effects of Acute Beetroot Juice Ingestion on Exercise and Cognitive Performance in Female Athletes

Nitrate-rich beetroot juice can enhance intense exercise performance which is attributed to enhanced skeletal muscle contractility. However, limited data exist in females and it is unknown whether dietary nitrate has an ergogenic effect in this population. PURPOSE: To investigate the potential effects of acute nitrate ingestion on a battery of exercise performance and cognitive tests before and after fatiguing intermittent running exercise. METHODS: Fifteen female team-sport athletes were assigned in a randomized, double-blind, crossover design to consume nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BR; 12 mmol of nitrate) and nitrate-depleted beetroot juice (PL; 0.10 mmol of nitrate) 2.5 h prior to performing the exercise protocol, with a washout period of 7 days between trials. Running 10 m and 20 m sprint split times, sprint reaction time, upper- and lower-body power, handgrip strength, and cognitive flexibility were measured before and after the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1) test, during which performance and rate of perceived exertion were recorded. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in any performance outcome or cognitive flexibility (P \u3e 0.05). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that acute nitrate ingestion does not influence performance in sprints, intermittent running, power, strength, or cognitive function in young adult female team-sport athletes

The Central Region of Barred Galaxies: Molecular Environment, Starbursts, and Secular Evolution

Despite compelling evidence that stellar bars drive gas into the inner 1--2 kpc or circumnuclear (CN) region of galaxies, there are few large, high resolution studies of the CN molecular gas and star formation (SF). We study a sample of local barred non-starbursts and starbursts with high-resolution CO, optical, Ha, RC, Br-gamma, and HST data, and find the following. (1) The inner kpc of bars differs markedly the outer disk and hosts molecular gas surface densities Sigma-gas-m of 500-3500 Msun pc-2, gas mass fractions of 10--30 %, and epicyclic frequencies of several 100--1000 km s-1 kpc-1.Consequently, gravitational instabilities can only set in at high gas densities and grow on a short timescale (few Myr). This high density, short timescale, `burst' mode may explain why powerful starbursts tend to be in the CN region of galaxies. (2) We suggest that the variety in CO morphologies is due to different stages of bar-driven inflow. At late stages, most of the CN gas is inside the outer inner Lindblad resonance (OILR), and has predominantly circular motions. Across the sample, we find bar pattern speeds with upper limits of 43 to 115 km s-1 kpc-1 and OILR radii of > 500 pc. (3) Barred starbursts and non-starbursts have CN SFRs of 3--11 and 0.1--2 Msun yr-1, despite similar CN gas mass. Sigma-gas-m in the starbursts is larger (1000--3500 Msun pc-2) and close to the Toomre critical density over a large region. (4) Molecular gas makes up 10%--30% of the CN dynamical mass (6--30 x 10^9 Msun).In the starbursts, it fuels CN SFRs of 3--11 Msun yr-1, building young, massive, high V/sigma components. We present evidence for such a pseudo-bulge in NGC 3351. Implications for secular evolution along the Hubble sequence are discussed.Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. Paper length reduced to fit within APJ page limits. Version of paper with high resolution figures is at http://www.as.utexas.edu/~sj/papers/ms-hires-sj05a.ps.g

Members of the fatty acid binding protein family are differentiation factors for the mammary gland

Mammary gland development is controlled by systemic hormones and by growth factors that might complement or mediate hormonal action. Peptides that locally signal growth cessation and stimulate differentiation of the developing epithelium have not been described. Here, we report that recombinant and wild-type forms of mammary-derived growth inhibitor (MDGI) and heart-fatty acid binding protein (FABP), which belong to the FABP family, specifically inhibit growth of normal mouse mammary epithelial cells (MEC), while growth of stromal cells is not suppressed. In mammary gland organ culture, inhibition of ductal growth is associated with the appearance of bulbous alveolar end buds and formation of fully developed lobuloalveolar structures. In parallel, MDGI stimulates its own expression and promotes milk protein synthesis. Selective inhibition of endogenous MDGI expression in MEC by antisense phosphorothioate oligonucleotides suppresses appearance of alveolar end buds and lowers the beta-casein level in organ cultures. Furthermore, MDGI suppresses the mitogenic effects of epidermal growth factor, and epidermal growth factor antagonizes the activities of MDGI. Finally, the regulatory properties of MDGI can be fully mimicked by an 11-amino acid sequence, represented in the COOH terminus of MDGI and a subfamily of structurally related FABPs. This peptide does not bind fatty acids. To our knowledge, this is the first report about a growth inhibitor promoting mammary gland differentiation

Simple incentives and group dependence for successful payments for ecosystem services programs: evidence from an experimental game in rural Lao PDR

In this paper, we use a new game-based tool to evaluate the immediate and longer-term behavioral change potential of three different payment for environmental services (PES) delivery mechanisms: direct payments for individual performance, direct payments for group performance and insurance. Results from four rural shifting-cultivation dependent communities in Lao PDR suggest that easily understood group-oriented incentives yield the greatest immediate resource-use reduction and experience less free-riding. Group-based incentives may succeed because they motivate participants to communicate about strategies and coordinate their actions and are perceived as fair. No incentive had a lasting effect after it ceased, but neither did any crowd out the participants’ baseline behavior. Temporary reductions in resource dependence may provide a buffer for development of new livelihoods and longer-term change. Games like the one developed here can help policymakers appropriately target environmental incentive programs to local contexts and teach program participants how incentive schemes work

Biomarker Discovery in Serum from Patients with Carotid Atherosclerosis

www.karger.com/cee This is an Open Access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License (www.karger.com/OA-license), applicable to the online version of the article only. Distribution for non-commercial purposes only

Growth, profits and technological choice: The case of the Lancashire cotton textile industry

Using Lancashire textile industry company case studies and financial records, mainly from the period just before the First World War, the processes of growth and decline are re-examined. These are considered by reference to the nature of Lancashire entrepreneurship and the impact on technological choice. Capital accumulation, associated wealth distributions and the character of Lancashire business organisation were sybiotically linked to the success of the industry before 1914. However, the legacy of that accumulation in later decades, chronic overcapacity, formed a barrier to reconstruction and enhanced the preciptious decline of a once great industry

NGC 4314. IV. Photometry of Star Clusters with Hubble Space Telescope - History of Star Formation in the Vicinity of a Nuclear Ring

Using HST WFPC2 images, we have obtained U, B, V, I, and H-alpha photometry for 76 star clusters in the nuclear star-forming ring of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4314. These clusters are likely associated with an inner Inner Lindblad Resonance, or IILR. The blue colors and H-alpha emission for most of these clusters imply very young ages of 1-15 Myr. Age estimates based on several reddening-free parameters indicate that the present epoch of star formation has lasted at least 30 Myr. By estimating the masses of stars in the clusters and comparing with the H-alpha luminosity, we conclude that a significant fraction of ongoing star formation in the nuclear ring of NGC 4314 occurs in clusters. The cluster masses identify these as young open clusters, not young globular clusters. Further out in the galaxy, just exterior to the ring of young stars, previous ground-based observations revealed two symmetric stellar spiral arms which may be associated with an outer Inner Lindblad Resonance, or OILR. With our HST data, we have revealed part of this structure and its colors in more detail. The spiral arm colors are consistent with stellar ages between 40 and 200 Myr. The age difference between the inner ring of young stars (IILR) and the larger oval-like feature containing the blue arms (OILR) supports an interpretation of the morphology of the nuclear region of NGC 4314 that requires a reservoir of gas that becomes more compact over time. We speculate that as the gas distribution becomes more centrally concentrated, it interacts with these two resonances. Each resonance triggers star formation, resulting in two distinct epochs of star formation.Comment: To appear in The Astronomical Journal, March 2002. For a version with higher quality figures, see http://clyde.as.utexas.edu/pub/galaxy/N4314NEW/AJPAPER/BenedictR7.ps.g