The effects of six weeks of training on physical fitness and performance in teenage and mature top-level soccer players

The main aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of soccer-specific training on physical fitness components in adolescent elite soccer players and make comparisons with older counterparts. Twenty two male soccer players from the Serbian First Division team were allocated to two assigned trials according to age – young group (YG) and mature group (MG). Players in their teenage years (19 years and younger) were assigned to YG (10 subjects) and others to MG (12 subjects). Between the first and second test session, all subjects followed six weeks of soccer-specific periodized training programme. There were no differences between groups at pre- and post-training trial for body mass, vertical jump height, average anaerobic power and VO2max (P>0.05). Body fat was significantly lower in YG before and after training program as compared to MG (P<0.05). Body mass and fat dropped significantly in both groups after training program (P<0.05). Furthermore, average anaerobic power and VO2max along with vertical jump height, were significantly improved in both groups (P<0.05) at post-training performance. Finally, the magnitude of change in VO2max was significanty superior in MG as compared to YG after training program (18.3 vs. 7.8�20P<0.05). The findings of the present study indicate that the trainability indices are not highly influenced by age in top-level soccer players

Mouse genetics identifies unique and overlapping functions of fibroblast growth factor receptors in keratinocytes

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are key regulators of tissue development, homeostasis and repair, and abnormal FGF signalling is associated with various human diseases. In human and murine epidermis, FGF receptor 3 (FGFR3) activation causes benign skin tumours, but the consequences of FGFR3 deficiency in this tissue have not been determined. Here, we show that FGFR3 in keratinocytes is dispensable for mouse skin development, homeostasis and wound repair. However, the defect in the epidermal barrier and the resulting inflammatory skin disease that develops in mice lacking FGFR1 and FGFR2 in keratinocytes were further aggravated upon additional loss of FGFR3. This caused fibroblast activation and fibrosis in the FGFR1/FGFR2 double-knockout mice and even more in mice lacking all three FGFRs, revealing functional redundancy of FGFR3 with FGFR1 and FGFR2 for maintaining the epidermal barrier. Taken together, our study demonstrates that FGFR1, FGFR2 and FGFR3 act together to maintain epidermal integrity and cutaneous homeostasis, with FGFR2 being the dominant receptor

Spatial pattern of structural ageing in eastern Croatia: evolution and explanations

The article aims to examine the ageing situation and social policy issues in the Osijek-Baranja County of Eastern Croatia. Using historical evidence from Census data, the research suggests that the evolution of the ageing pattern has been mainly determined by such factors as development of the transport system; changes in political-territorial organisation; supply of jobs in the cities; deagrarianisation and a domestic war in the 1990s. The increased importance of urban centres, through planned industrialisation and administrative centralisation, has accelerated and intensified rural-to-urban migration. Consequently, the spatial pattern of structural ageing has been substantially affected. A significant variation was found in urban and rural areas and also within sub-regional units. The findings suggest that the evolution of spatial disparities in the ageing pattern has been due to unplanned migration; also to spatial differences in the level of socio-economic development; the influence of tradition, such as higher fertility rates historically in some areas and suburbanisation, notably around the city of Osijek. The article concludes that ageing is affecting the country’s economic growth and the formal and informal social support systems including the provision of resources for older citizens in the endangered areas

Travelling waves on trees and square lattices

In this thesis we study bistable reaction-diffusion equations on lattice domains. The power of reaction-diffusion equations is that they can successfully model various natural and social phenomena with their intuitive and relatively simple (mathematical) representation. One of the main features of reaction-diffusion equations, both on discrete and continuous domains, is that they admit special solutions, so-called ‘travelling waves’, which we can describe as fixed profiles that move in a particular direction with some speed. Depending on their shape, we can roughly divide waves into three categories: pulses or solitons, periodic pulses (wave trains), and monotone wave fronts that connect two constant states. In this thesis we focus on the latter type of wave and we study their existence, propagation and long term behaviour on two type of discrete domains - infinite trees, and two-dimensional square lattices.This research was funded by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through the grant 639.032.612Analysis and Stochastic

Pediatric melanoma: Analysis of an international registry

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101810/1/cncr28289.pd

Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea

Commercial fisheries have dramatically impacted elasmobranch populations worldwide. With high capture and bycatch rates, the abundance of many species is rapidly declining and around a quarter of the world’s sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. At a regional scale this negative trend has also been evidenced in the central Mediterranean Sea, where bottom-trawl fisheries have affected the biomass of certain rays (e.g. Raja clavata) and sharks (e.g. Mustelus spp.). Detailed knowledge of elasmobranch habitat requirements is essential for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management, but this is often hampered by a poor understanding of their spatial ecology. Habitat suitability models were used to investigate the habitat preference of nine elasmobranch species and their overall diversity (number of species) in relation to five environmental predictors (i.e. depth, sea surface temperature, surface salinity, slope and rugosity) in the central Mediterranean Sea. Results showed that depth, seafloor morphology and sea surface temperature were the main drivers for elasmobranch habitat suitability. Predictive distribution maps revealed different species-specific patterns of suitable habitat while high assemblage diversity was predicted in deeper offshore waters (400–800 m depth). This study helps to identify priority conservation areas and diversity hot-spots for rare and endangered elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean Sea

Whether weather matters: Evidence of association between in utero meteorological exposures and foetal growth among Indigenous and non-Indigenous mothers in rural Uganda

Pregnancy and birth outcomes have been found to be sensitive to meteorological variation, yet few studies explore this relationship in sub-Saharan Africa where infant mortality rates are the highest in the world. We address this research gap by examining the association between meteorological factors and birth weight in a rural population in southwestern Uganda. Our study included hospital birth records (n = 3197) from 2012 to 2015, for which we extracted meteorological exposure data for the three trimesters preceding each birth. We used linear regression, controlling for key covariates, to estimate the timing, strength, and direction of meteorological effects on birth weight. Our results indicated that precipitation during the third trimester had a positive association with birth weight, with more frequent days of precipitation associated with higher birth weight: we observed a 3.1g (95% CI: 1.0–5.3g) increase in birth weight per additional day of exposure to rainfall over 5mm. Increases in average daily temperature during the third trimester were also associated with birth weight, with an increase of 41.8g (95% CI: 0.6–82.9g) per additional degree Celsius. When the sample was stratified by season of birth, only infants born between June and November experienced a significant associated between meteorological exposures and birth weight. The association of meteorological variation with foetal growth seemed to differ by ethnicity; effect sizes of meteorological were greater among an Indigenous subset of the population, in particular for variation in temperature. Effects in all populations in this study are higher than estimates of the African continental average, highlighting the heterogeneity in the vulnerability of infant health to meteorological variation in different contexts. Our results indicate that while there is an association between meteorological variation and birth weight, the magnitude of these associations may vary across ethnic groups with differential socioeconomic resources, with implications for interventions to reduce these gradients and offset the health impacts predicted under climate change

Microrna profiling analysis of differences between the melanoma of young adults and older adults

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study represents the first attempt to perform a profiling analysis of the intergenerational differences in the microRNAs (miRNAs) of primary cutaneous melanocytic neoplasms in young adult and older age groups. The data emphasize the importance of these master regulators in the transcriptional machinery of melanocytic neoplasms and suggest that differential levels of expressions of these miRs may contribute to differences in phenotypic and pathologic presentation of melanocytic neoplasms at different ages.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An exploratory miRNA analysis of 666 miRs by low density microRNA arrays was conducted on formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissues (FFPE) from 10 older adults and 10 young adults including conventional melanoma and melanocytic neoplasms of uncertain biological significance. Age-matched benign melanocytic nevi were used as controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Primary melanoma in patients greater than 60 years old was characterized by the increased expression of miRs regulating TLR-MyD88-NF-kappaB pathway (hsa-miR-199a), RAS/RAB22A pathway (hsa-miR-204); growth differentiation and migration (hsa-miR337), epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) (let-7b, hsa-miR-10b/10b*), invasion and metastasis (hsa-miR-10b/10b*), hsa-miR-30a/e*, hsa-miR-29c*; cellular matrix components (hsa-miR-29c*); invasion-cytokinesis (hsa-miR-99b*) compared to melanoma of younger patients. MiR-211 was dramatically downregulated compared to nevi controls, decreased with increasing age and was among the miRs linked to metastatic processes. Melanoma in young adult patients had increased expression of hsa-miR-449a and decreased expression of hsa-miR-146b, hsa-miR-214*. MiR-30a* in clinical stages I-II adult and pediatric melanoma could predict classification of melanoma tissue in the two extremes of age groups. Although the number of cases is small, positive lymph node status in the two age groups was characterized by the statistically significant expression of hsa-miR-30a* and hsa-miR-204 (F-test, p-value < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings, although preliminary, support the notion that the differential biology of melanoma at the extremes of age is driven, in part, by deregulation of microRNA expression and by fine tuning of miRs that are already known to regulate cell cycle, inflammation, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT)/stroma and more specifically genes known to be altered in melanoma. Our analysis reveals that miR expression differences create unique patterns of frequently affected biological processes that clearly distinguish old age from young age melanomas. This is a novel characterization of the miRnomes of melanocytic neoplasms at two extremes of age and identifies potential diagnostic and clinico-pathologic biomarkers that may serve as novel miR-based targeted modalities in melanoma diagnosis and treatment.</p