Validation of a New Assessment of Surfer’s Performance

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The Reliability and Validity of an Accelerometer to Measure the Pop-Up Phase of Surfing

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Interspecific Proteomic Comparisons Reveal Ash Phloem Genes Potentially Involved in Constitutive Resistance to the Emerald Ash Borer

The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is an invasive wood-boring beetle that has killed millions of ash trees since its accidental introduction to North America. All North American ash species (Fraxinus spp.) that emerald ash borer has encountered so far are susceptible, while an Asian species, Manchurian ash (F. mandshurica), which shares an evolutionary history with emerald ash borer, is resistant. Phylogenetic evidence places North American black ash (F. nigra) and Manchurian ash in the same clade and section, yet black ash is highly susceptible to the emerald ash borer. This contrast provides an opportunity to compare the genetic traits of the two species and identify those with a potential role in defense/resistance. We used Difference Gel Electrophoresis (DIGE) to compare the phloem proteomes of resistant Manchurian to susceptible black, green, and white ash. Differentially expressed proteins associated with the resistant Manchurian ash when compared to the susceptible ash species were identified using nano-LC-MS/MS and putative identities assigned. Proteomic differences were strongly associated with the phylogenetic relationships among the four species. Proteins identified in Manchurian ash potentially associated with its resistance to emerald ash borer include a PR-10 protein, an aspartic protease, a phenylcoumaran benzylic ether reductase (PCBER), and a thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase. Discovery of resistance-related proteins in Asian species will inform approaches in which resistance genes can be introgressed into North American ash species. The generation of resistant North American ash genotypes can be used in forest ecosystem restoration and urban plantings following the wake of the emerald ash borer invasion

Tissue-Specific Transcriptomics of the Exotic Invasive Insect Pest Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis)

BACKGROUND: The insect midgut and fat body represent major tissue interfaces that deal with several important physiological functions including digestion, detoxification and immune response. The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), is an exotic invasive insect pest that has killed millions of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) primarily in the Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada. However, despite its high impact status little knowledge exists for A. planipennis at the molecular level. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Newer-generation Roche-454 pyrosequencing was used to obtain 126,185 reads for the midgut and 240,848 reads for the fat body, which were assembled into 25,173 and 37,661 high quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for the midgut and the fat body of A. planipennis larvae, respectively. Among these ESTs, 36% of the midgut and 38% of the fat body sequences showed similarity to proteins in the GenBank nr database. A high number of the midgut sequences contained chitin-binding peritrophin (248)and trypsin (98) domains; while the fat body sequences showed high occurrence of cytochrome P450s (85) and protein kinase (123) domains. Further, the midgut transcriptome of A. planipennis revealed putative microbial transcripts encoding for cell-wall degrading enzymes such as polygalacturonases and endoglucanases. A significant number of SNPs (137 in midgut and 347 in fat body) and microsatellite loci (317 in midgut and 571 in fat body) were predicted in the A. planipennis transcripts. An initial assessment of cytochrome P450s belonging to various CYP clades revealed distinct expression patterns at the tissue level. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge this study is one of the first to illuminate tissue-specific gene expression in an invasive insect of high ecological and economic consequence. These findings will lay the foundation for future gene expression and functional studies in A. planipennis

Carbamazepine modulates the spatiotemporal activity in the dentate gyrus of rats and pharmacoresistant humans invitro

Introduction Human hippocampal tissue resected from pharmacoresistant epilepsy patients was investigated to study the effect of the antiepileptic drug CBZ (carbamazepine) and was compared to similar experiments in the hippocampus of control rats. Methods The molecular layer of the DG (dentate gyrus) of human epileptic tissue and rat nonepileptic tissue was electrically stimulated and the evoked responses were recorded with voltage‐sensitive dye imaging to characterize the spatiotemporal properties. Results Bath applied CBZ (100 μmol/L) reduced the amplitude of the evoked responses in the human DG, albeit that no clear use‐dependent effects were found at frequencies of 8 or 16 Hz. In nonepileptic control DG from rats, CBZ also reduced the amplitude of the evoked response in the molecular layer of the DG as well as the spatial extent of the response. Conclusions This study demonstrates that CBZ still reduced the activity in the DG, although the patients were clinically diagnosed as pharmacoresistant for CBZ. This suggests that in the human epileptic brain, the targets of CBZ, the voltage‐gated Na+ channels, are still sensitive to CBZ, although we used a relative high concentration and it is not possibility to assess the actual CBZ concentration that reached the target in the patient. We also concluded that the effect of CBZ was found in the activated region of the DG, quite comparable to the observations in the nonepileptic rat

Kombinirano djelovanje ototoksičnih otapala i buke na sluh radnika u tvornici automobila u Iranu

Exposure of workers to mixtures of organic solvents and to occupational noise is frequent in a number of industries. Recent studies suggest that exposure to both can cause a more severe hearing loss than exposure to noise alone. Our cross-sectional study included 411 workers of a large automobile plant divided in three groups. The fi rst group included assembly workers exposed to noise alone; the second included workers in a new paint shop, who were exposed to a mixture of organic solvents at a permissible level; and the third group included paint shop workers exposed to both noise and higher than permissible levels of organic solvents in an old paint shop. These groups were compared in terms of low-frequency hearing loss (model 1; average hearing threshold >25 dB at 0.5 kHz, 1 kHz, and 2 kHz) and high-frequency hearing loss (model 2; average hearing threshold >25 dB at 3 kHz, 4 kHz, 6 kHz, and 8 kHz). High-frequency hearing loss was more common in workers exposed to a combination of noise and mixed organic solvents even at permissible levels than in workers exposed to noise alone even after correction for confounding variables. This study shows that combined exposure to mixed organic solvents and occupational noise can exacerbate hearing loss in workers. Therefore, an appropriate hearing protection programme is recommended, that would include short-interval audiometric examinations and effi cient hearing protectors.Profesionalna izloženost radnika mješavinama organskih otapala i buci česta je u mnogim industrijskim granama. Nedavna su istraživanja pokazala da izloženost i jednom i drugomu može dovesti do većih oštećenja sluha negoli samo izloženost buci. Ovo je presječno ispitivanje obuhvatilo 411 radnika velike tvornice automobila u Iranu, koji su podijeljeni u tri skupine. Prva je skupina obuhvatila radnike na sklapanju dijelova izložene samo buci, druga radnike u novoj autolakirnici, koji su uz buku bili izloženi mješavini organskih otapala u dopuštenim razinama, a treća je skupina obuhvatila radnike u staroj autolakirnici, koji su uz buku bili izloženi prekomjernim razinama mješavine organskih otapala. Te smo skupine usporedili s obzirom na gubitak sluha za niže frekvencije (0,5 kHz, 1 kHz i 2 kHz; prosječni prag >25 dB) odnosno više frekvencije (3 kHz, 4 kHz, 6 kHz i 8 kHz; prosječni prag >25 dB). Gubitak sluha za više frekvencije bio je učestaliji u radnika izloženih kombinaciji buke i mješavini organskih otapala nego u radnika izloženih samo buci, čak i kada su razine otapala bile unutar dopuštene granice te kad su se uklonile ometajuće varijable. Ovo je ispitivanje potvrdilo da istodobna profesionalna izloženost mješavini organskih otapala i buci može pogoršati gubitak sluha. Stoga je nužno osmisliti odgovarajući program zaštite sluha koji bi obuhvatio učestalo testiranje sluha i djelotvornu zaštitnu opremu