A review of the potential local mechanisms by which exercise improves functional outcomes in intermittent claudication

© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Background Intermittent claudication (IC) is a common condition which is associated with significant quality of life limitation. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines recommend a group-based supervised exercise program as the primary treatment option for claudication, based on clinical and cost effectiveness. This review aims to assess the mechanisms by which exercise improves outcomes in patients with IC. Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed were searched using the search strategy "claudication" [AND] "exercise" [AND] "mechanisms." Searches were limited from 1947 to October 2014. Only full-text articles published in the English language in adults (over 18 years of age) were eligible for the review. Any trial involving a nonsupervised exercise program was excluded. Abstracts identified by the database search were interrogated for relevance and citations from the shortlisted papers were hand searched for relevant references. Results The search yielded a total of 112 studies, of which 42 were duplicates. Forty-seven of the remaining 70 were deemed appropriate for inclusion in the review. Exercise is the first-line treatment for IC. Supervised exercise programs improve walking distances, endothelial and mitochondrial function, muscle strength, and endurance. Furthermore, it leads to a generalized improvement in cardiovascular fitness and overall quality of life. Conclusions The mechanism by which exercise improves outcome in claudicants is complicated and multifactorial. Further research is required in this area to fully elucidate the precise and predominant mechanisms and to assess whether targeted exercise program modification maximizes mechanism efficacy and patient outcome

Makerspace Instruction & the ACRL Framework

In this presentation Amy Vecchione and Stephanie Milne-Lane will host a discussion about research and instruction in a makerspace setting. They will outline the process of how the maker instruction program developed iteratively at Boise State University (BSU). Additionally, they will share the final results of Stephanie’s University of Washington MLIS capstone project, the BSU MakerLab Toolkit. They will also report on their conclusions regarding how the ACRL Framework is the best lens for developing maker instruction

Living faith by seeking justice : practicing faith through activism in a faith and labor coalition

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on August 20, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. Mary Jo Neitz and Dr. Clarence Lo.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.The combination of a critique of organized faith, along with an interest in pursuing faith expressions by living a particular sense of justice, leads some religious practitioners to discover new contexts to live out their faith experiences. These new contexts may exist outside of traditional religious institutions, but in this process, not all boundary work is put aside. In this dissertation, I explore how a group of social justice activists seeks to unite issues of worker justice and faith by redefining work and the worker as belonging to the realm of the sacred. In so doing, they challenge the boundaries that delineate the sacred and the profane, the public and the private. Based on particular family and faith histories, they have cultivated an understanding that all religions believe in justice, requiring that practitioners move from acts of charity to acts of justice in order to experience a deeper, more authentic faith. In journeying with them, I discovered that organizational form and structure are important even in the new setting. Rigid hierarchies and agendas insensitive to local contexts can stand in the way of justice work based on a framework of relationship-building and consensus decision-making. Organizational form can transgress and become something that no longer reflects the ways practitioners want to live out their faiths.Includes bibliographical references

Organizing Under Austerity: How Residents’ Concerns Became the Flint Water Crisis

What might it take for politically marginalized residents to challenge cuts in public spending that threaten to harm their health and wellbeing? Specifically, how did residents of Flint, Michigan contribute to the decision of an austerity regime, which was not accountable to them, to spend millions to switch to a safe water source? Relying on evidence from key interviews and newspaper accounts, we examine the influence and limitations of residents and grassroots groups during the 18-month period between April 2014 and October 2015 when the city drew its water from the Flint River. We find that citizen complaints alone were not sufficiently able to convince city officials or national media of widespread illness caused by the water. However, their efforts resulted in partnerships with researchers whose evidence bolstered their claims, thus inspiring a large contribution from a local foundation to support the switch to a clean water source. Thus, before the crisis gained national media attention, and despite significant constraints, residents’ sustained organization—coupled with scientific evidence that credentialed local claims—motivated the return to the Detroit water system. The Flint case suggests that residents seeking redress under severe austerity conditions may require partnerships with external scientific elites

The effect of carbohydrate consumption during intensive exercise training on the free testosterone to cortisol ratio

This study examined the effect of dietary carbohydrate (CHO) consumption on the free testosterone to cortisol (fTC) ratio during an intense microcycle of exercise training. The ratio is a proposed biomarker for overreaching-overtraining in athletes. Two groups, control-CHO (~60% of daily intake, n=12) and low-CHO (~30% of daily intake, n=8), of male subjects performed three consecutive days of intensive training (~70-75% maximal capacity) with a dietary intervention (day before and days of training). The fTC ratio decreased (p<0.01) from pre-study resting measurement to the final post-study resting measurement in the low-CHO group. No significant change occurred in the control group. Findings suggest if the fTC ratio is utilized as a marker of training stress a diet of ~60% CHO needs to be consumed to maintain validity of the ratio value

Cortisol and testosterone dynamics following exhaustive endurance exercise

Cortisol (C) and testosterone (T) are impacted significantly by prolonged endurance exercise with inverse responses. Increases in C are witnessed concurrently with decrements in T, possibly impacting recovery. This study was conducted to assess the dynamics of C and free T (fT) concentration and recovery time following an exhaustive endurance exercise session (EES)

On-Road Evaluation of Driver Capability: A Medical Record Review of the Adaptive Driving Program

a) The purpose of the present study was to illustrate how driver capability could be measured based on the presence of assistance during on-road evaluation. As an objective, this study explored the potential of a new method to measure declines in driver independence (steering/braking assistance) and safety (driving cues) for driver fitness determinations. b) A study at the Adaptive Driving Program (ADP) was conducted through a medical record review of 132 clients served in 2009. Following creation of an enumerated list of unique errors committed in baseline driving sessions, follow-up analysis focused on the association between assistance during on-road evaluation and case outcomes. The analysis also involved associations between assistance and five classes of errors reported among all clients. c) Findings showed that the proposed measures of driver independence and safety were associated with 90% of clients that did not pass on-road evaluation and a majority of errors related to tracking vehicle position within a lane. Though documented assistance showed low association to four out of five classes of errors, the potential for detection of these assistedevents may be 60-80% of all errors in each class except for lane changes

Manipulation of Cellular Machinery to Produce Anti-cancer Drugs

The nocardioazine natural products are uniquely prenylated and methylated indole alkaloid diketopiperazines (DKPs) that reverse drug resistance of cancer cell lines. We unveiled the nocardioazine biosynthetic pathway from a marine actinomycete, demonstrating that a cyclodipeptide synthase catalyzes cyclo(L-Trp-L-Trp) DKP precursor formation followed by tailoring of this DKP via a novel racemase, prenyltransferase, and methyltransferase to yield nocardioazine B. These results highlight the aptitude of bacteria for chemical synthesis and offer new enzymatic tools for crafting complex organic molecules

The Earned Income Tax Credit: Lifting Working Families Out of Poverty

Includes bibliographical references.22% of Missouri's young children live under the poverty level. Research shows that a child's development is affected negatively by circumstances of poverty. Children raised in poverty are more likely to have poorer physical health and growth, poorer academic achievement, more behavior problems at home and at school, increased rates of anxiety and depression, and diminished self-esteem. Sales, excise and property taxes are more burdensome to these families than to families with higher incomes. Any increases in these taxes create additional hardships for low-income families. Missouri is among the 12 states with the greatest tax burden on working poor families. An earned income tax credit will provide substantial tax relief for these families during an economic slowdown

Regenerative Failure Following Rat Neonatal Chorda Tympani Transection is Associated with Geniculate Ganglion Cell Loss and Terminal Field Plasticity in the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract

Neural insult during development results in recovery outcomes that vary dependent upon the system under investigation. Nerve regeneration does not occur if the rat gustatory chorda tympani nerve is sectioned (CTX) during neonatal (≤P10) development. It is unclear how chorda tympani soma and terminal fields are affected after neonatal CTX. The current study determined the impact of neonatal CTX on chorda tympani neurons and brainstem gustatory terminal fields. To assess terminal field volume in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), rats received CTX at P5 or P10 followed by chorda tympani label, or glossopharyngeal (GL) and greater superficial petrosal (GSP) label as adults. In another group of animals, terminal field volumes and numbers of chorda tympani neurons in the geniculate ganglion (GG) were determined by labeling the chorda tympani with DiI at the time of CTX in neonatal (P5) and adult (P50) rats. There was a greater loss of chorda tympani neurons following P5 CTX compared to adult denervation. Chorda tympani terminal field volume was dramatically reduced 50 days after P5 or P10 CTX. Lack of nerve regeneration after neonatal CTX is not caused by ganglion cell death alone, as approximately 30% of chorda tympani neurons survived into adulthood. Although the total field volume of intact gustatory nerves was not altered, the GSP volume and GSP-GL overlap increased in the dorsal NTS after CTX at P5, but not P10, demonstrating age-dependent plasticity. Our findings indicate that the developing gustatory system is highly plastic and simultaneously vulnerable to injury