Effects of sports drinks on the maintenance of physical performance during 3 tennis matches: A randomized controlled study

Background: Tennis tournaments often involve playing several consecutive matches interspersed with short periods of recovery. Objective: The objective of this study was firstly to assess the impact of several successive tennis matches on the physical performance of competitive players and secondly to evaluate the potential of sports drinks to minimize the fatigue induced by repeated matches. Methods: This was a crossover, randomized controlled study. Eight male regionally-ranked tennis players participated in this study. Players underwent a series of physical tests to assess their strength, speed, power and endurance following the completion of three tennis matches each of two hours duration played over three consecutive half-days (1.5 day period for each condition). In the first condition the players consumed a sports drink before, during and after each match; in the second, they drank an identical volume of placebo water. The results obtained were compared with the third 'rest' condition in which the subjects did not play any tennis. Main outcomes measured were maximal isometric strength and fatigability of knee and elbow extensors, 20-m sprint speed, jumping height, specific repeated sprint ability test and hand grip strength. Results: The physical test results for the lower limbs showed no significant differences between the three conditions. Conversely, on the upper limbs the EMG data showed greater fatigue of the triceps brachii in the placebo condition compared to the rest condition, while the ingestion of sports drinks attenuated this fatigue. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated for the first time that, when tennis players are adequately hydrated and ingest balanced meals between matches, then no large drop in physical performance is observed even during consecutive competitive matches

Multicentric validation of proteomic biomarkers in urine specific for diabetic nephropathy

Background: Urine proteome analysis is rapidly emerging as a tool for diagnosis and prognosis in disease states. For diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy (DN), urinary proteome analysis was successfully applied in a pilot study. The validity of the previously established proteomic biomarkers with respect to the diagnostic and prognostic potential was assessed on a separate set of patients recruited at three different European centers. In this case-control study of 148 Caucasian patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 and duration >= 5 years, cases of DN were defined as albuminuria >300 mg/d and diabetic retinopathy (n = 66). Controls were matched for gender and diabetes duration (n = 82). Methodology/Principal Findings: Proteome analysis was performed blinded using high-resolution capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry (CE-MS). Data were evaluated employing the previously developed model for DN. Upon unblinding, the model for DN showed 93.8% sensitivity and 91.4% specificity, with an AUC of 0.948 (95% CI 0.898-0.978). Of 65 previously identified peptides, 60 were significantly different between cases and controls of this study. In <10% of cases and controls classification by proteome analysis not entirely resulted in the expected clinical outcome. Analysis of patient's subsequent clinical course revealed later progression to DN in some of the false positive classified DN control patients. Conclusions: These data provide the first independent confirmation that profiling of the urinary proteome by CE-MS can adequately identify subjects with DN, supporting the generalizability of this approach. The data further establish urinary collagen fragments as biomarkers for diabetes-induced renal damage that may serve as earlier and more specific biomarkers than the currently used urinary albumin

COVID-19, systemic crisis, and possible implications for the wild meat trade in sub-Saharan Africa

Wild animals play an integral and complex role in the economies and ecologies of many countries across the globe, including those of West and Central Africa, the focus of this policy perspective. The trade in wild meat, and its role in diets, have been brought into focus as a consequence of discussions over the origins of COVID-19. As a result, there have been calls for the closure of China’s “wet markets”; greater scrutiny of the wildlife trade in general; and a spotlight has been placed on the potential risks posed by growing human populations and shrinking natural habitats for animal to human transmission of zoonotic diseases. However, to date there has been little attention given to what the consequences of the COVID-19 economic shock may be for the wildlife trade; the people who rely on it for their livelihoods; and the wildlife that is exploited. In this policy perspective, we argue that the links between the COVID-19 pandemic, rural livelihoods and wildlife are likely to be more complex, more nuanced, and more far-reaching, than is represented in the literature to date. We develop a causal model that tracks the likely implications for the wild meat trade of the systemic crisis triggered by COVID-19. We focus on the resulting economic shockwave, as manifested in the collapse in global demand for commodities such as oil, and international tourism services, and what this may mean for local African economies and livelihoods. We trace the shockwave through to the consequences for the use of, and demand for, wild meats as households respond to these changes. We suggest that understanding and predicting the complex dynamics of wild meat use requires increased collaboration between environmental and resource economics and the ecological and conservation sciences

Insights into household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from a population-based serological survey

Understanding the risk of infection from household- and community-exposures and the transmissibility of asymptomatic infections is critical to SARS-CoV-2 control. Limited previous evidence is based primarily on virologic testing, which disproportionately misses mild and asymptomatic infections. Serologic measures are more likely to capture all previously infected individuals. We apply household transmission models to data from a cross-sectional, household-based population serosurvey of 4,534 people ≥5 years from 2,267 households enrolled April-June 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland. We found that the risk of infection from exposure to a single infected household member aged ≥5 years (17.3%,13.7-21.7) was more than three-times that of extra-household exposures over the first pandemic wave (5.1%,4.5-5.8). Young children had a lower risk of infection from household members. Working-age adults had the highest extra-household infection risk. Seropositive asymptomatic household members had 69.4% lower odds (95%CrI,31.8-88.8%) of infecting another household member compared to those reporting symptoms, accounting for 14.5% (95%CrI, 7.2-22.7%) of all household infections

Circulating microparticles: square the circle

Background: The present review summarizes current knowledge about microparticles (MPs) and provides a systematic overview of last 20 years of research on circulating MPs, with particular focus on their clinical relevance. Results: MPs are a heterogeneous population of cell-derived vesicles, with sizes ranging between 50 and 1000 nm. MPs are capable of transferring peptides, proteins, lipid components, microRNA, mRNA, and DNA from one cell to another without direct cell-to-cell contact. Growing evidence suggests that MPs present in peripheral blood and body fluids contribute to the development and progression of cancer, and are of pathophysiological relevance for autoimmune, inflammatory, infectious, cardiovascular, hematological, and other diseases. MPs have large diagnostic potential as biomarkers; however, due to current technological limitations in purification of MPs and an absence of standardized methods of MP detection, challenges remain in validating the potential of MPs as a non-invasive and early diagnostic platform. Conclusions: Improvements in the effective deciphering of MP molecular signatures will be critical not only for diagnostics, but also for the evaluation of treatment regimens and predicting disease outcomes

"CAGE": a new uranium province, Nunavik, Quebec

The CAGE district was discovered during an exploration survey made in 2005 in Northern Québec, by Claude Caillat (AREVA) and Serge Genest (Omegalpha). The district is located in the northeastern Canadian Shield, at the eastern margin of Ungava Bay. The U showings are located in Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks (Lake Harbour Group) that were deposited on a passive margin epicontinental platform setting. High-grade metamorphism with partial melting occurred during the Torngat collision (1.86–1.74 Ga). Several pegmatoid generations were injected into the metasedimentary rocks. The strongly differing structural, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of each generation reflect derivation by partial melting from a variety of protoliths. The pegmatoid bodies are generally poorly mineralized in U, except for some located outside the CAGE district (e.g., Amaujaq). Two types of mineralization have been distinguished according to their geological setting, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics, but both give the same age on uraninite (1790 ± 10 Ma). The first type is hosted by impure dolomitic marble (with phlogopite – olivine – K-feldspar) and skarnoids (diopside – tremolite – phlogopite – K-feldspar – scapolite), resulting from nearly isochemical metamorphism of impure dolomitic limestone or marl. The ore mineral is pure uraninite with REE patterns characterized by a decreasing fractionation from the LREE to HREE, with neutral or a slightly positive Eu anomaly and a low total REE. The uraninite is consistently associated with enriched Ba (Ba-rich K-feldspar and phlogopite, celsiane, kampfite, baryte), V (coulsonite Fe++V+++2O4, V-pyroxene), Zn(sphalerite), Pb (non-radiogenic galena), S-Cu (pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, chalcosite), As (arsenopyrite), Sb (ullmannite NiSSb) and Mo (molybdenite). The scapolite composition (40 < marialite % < 60) and kampfite [Ba12(Si11Al5)O31(CO3)8Cl5] suggest the influence of evaporitic fluids. Graphite is locally observed in the marble. Organic matter and/or sulphide minerals may have represented the initial U traps. The uraninite could have been present in the marble prior to metamorphism or it may have been introduced during metamorphism. The second type of U mineralization is hosted by calc-silicate rocks (skarnoids or primary skarns) located in the vicinity of pegmatoid injections in transtensional settings. The endoskarns are dominated by scapolite and the exoskarns by Fe-rich diopside. Newly formed tremolite, scapolite (20 < Marialite % < 70), phlogopite, and calcite in veins and vugs are spatially associated. The ore minerals are Th-rich uraninite and uranothorianite, characterized by high REE contents, a weak global fractionation, and a marked Eu anomaly. These are typical of magmatic uraninite, in particular that of the Rössing alaskite. Both uranium enrichment and the late vein minerals are seemingly related to expulsion of magmatic fluid from the latest pegmatites. This event corresponds to transtension near the end of the tectonic-magmatic cycle, also typical of the Rössing setting. U-enrichment in the CAGE province is interpreted to have started with the emplacement of U-rich high-K Archean granite in the basement. During the Paleoproterozoic, U was leached from the Archean granite and trapped in the reduced epicontinental platform sedimentary rocks. Partial melting of the metasedimentary rocks and possibly of the basement gneiss led to the formation of U-rich anatectic melts and fluids which were trapped in overlying marble, forming the second type of mineralization. The first type of mineralization may be of sedimentary or diagenetic origin with local remobilization by metamorphic fluids