GENDER DIFFERENCES ON LOWER LIMB COORDINATION DURING ELITEPLAYERS JUMP

The results from an experimental analysis of the jump in basketball female and male players are presented. Coordination of seventeen lower limb is analyzed in a high risk movement frequently performed by athletes during jump It is showed that on the sample studied several differences on relative phase are found entailing particularly transverse movement plane of knee. These results show that during some core moments of the jump, gender can influence the lower limb joint coordination. The comparison of relative phase shows a female propensity for moving in less synergy on jump reception. Such findings highlight the need for including on preparation program of athletes a prevention plan that is not necessarily identical on both genders

Detecting separate time scales in genetic expression data.

BACKGROUND: Biological processes occur on a vast range of time scales, and many of them occur concurrently. As a result, system-wide measurements of gene expression have the potential to capture many of these processes simultaneously. The challenge however, is to separate these processes and time scales in the data. In many cases the number of processes and their time scales is unknown. This issue is particularly relevant to developmental biologists, who are interested in processes such as growth, segmentation and differentiation, which can all take place simultaneously, but on different time scales. RESULTS: We introduce a flexible and statistically rigorous method for detecting different time scales in time-series gene expression data, by identifying expression patterns that are temporally shifted between replicate datasets. We apply our approach to a Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell-cycle dataset and an Arabidopsis thaliana root developmental dataset. In both datasets our method successfully detects processes operating on several different time scales. Furthermore we show that many of these time scales can be associated with particular biological functions. CONCLUSIONS: The spatiotemporal modules identified by our method suggest the presence of multiple biological processes, acting at distinct time scales in both the Arabidopsis root and yeast. Using similar large-scale expression datasets, the identification of biological processes acting at multiple time scales in many organisms is now possible.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

From 3-Port to New Laparoendoscopic Single-Site (LESS) Cholecystectomy : A Critical Analysis of Available Evidence.

In recent years, laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (LESS) has gained greater interest and diffusion for the treatment of gallstones. This critical review aims to evaluate the feasibility and safety of LESS cholecystectomy versus the 3-port technique (TPT) through a comparative analysis of 5 parameters: mean operative time, intraoperative and postoperative complications, conversion to open, conversion to the 4-trocar technique and postoperative hospital stay. The authors performed a systematic search of the medical literature through a search of PubMed and Ovid EMBASE. Inclusion criteria were as follows: publication date between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2010; English or Italian language; human participants and series of 20 operations or more. There were 5 manuscripts meeting the inclusion criteria for TPT and 23 for LESS. Only one prospective randomized controlled trial comparing TPT and LESS was identified. Operative time is significantly longer in the single-incision group. Complications and conversion rates to the 4-port technique are higher in LESS. Postoperative hospital stay is similar in the 2 groups. Rate of conversion to open is higher in TPT. Despite the number of publications on LESS cholecystectomy, the vast majority of data available in the literature are from small case series without any comparative data. Although LESS cholecystectomy is a fashionable technique there are few data available for an evidence-based determination as to the real benefits of this technique. Well-designed comparative studies are suggested to validate the clinical benefits and ensure that there are no new complications or added costs associated with the new technique

Indications to total thyroidectomy for multinodular goiter in old patients

Background: In Western society, the percentage of elderly people is continually growing. The prevalence of goiter increases with the age and it is estimated that 90% of women over 60 years old and 60% of men over 80 years old have a relief of thyroid nodules. This has great importance for these patients, because the incidence of malignant transformation is higher than younger ones and these are often tumor very aggressive patterns. If thyroidectomy is indicated for patients with suspected neoplasm and severe obstructive symptoms, their surgery should not be delayed since a late urgent operation could raise morbidity and mortality risk. The main indications for young patients are due to obstructive and metabolic causes over and above suspected cancer. Total thyroidectomy is considered by many authors as the treatment of choice. Materials and methods: 75 elderly patients were submitted to thyroidectomy. The indications were metabolic (42.6%), obstructive (32%) and for suspected cancer (25.4%). Results: The most frequent complications observed with respect to young patients in different series have been cardiovascular, pulmonary or urological. Regarding the complications directly related to thyroidectomy, there were no differences compared to younger groups, except transient complications (hypoparathyroidism, seroma). In our experience, the main complication was represented by hypocalcemia (30.6%), permanent in 8% of cases. Cancer was relieved in 21.3% of cases. Prognosis has been excellent in most cases, with immediate remission of symptoms related to thyrotoxicosis and to tracheal and esophageal compression in almost all symptomatic patients. Conclusions: Age is an independent prognostic factor for cancers. It has been demonstrated that elderly patients with PTC that are operated have better prognosis and quality of life due to the resolution of dyspnea and dysphagia. In our experience, we think that age is not a contraindication to thyroid surgery

Modelling the progression of treatment scenarios in the HIV/AIDS epidemic

Advances in recent treatments for HIV/AIDS patients have shown dramatic outcomes in extending the incubation period and AIDS survival time, whilst also providing significant improvements in the quality of patients' lives. This thesis establishes a model of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that incorporates the effects of treatments, in particular, the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which became widely available during 1996. The technique of compartmental modelling is employed in an attempt to reproduce observed AIDS incidence/prevalence, HIV incidence/prevalence, and deaths from AIDS data. There are movements between compartments (sub-populations affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic) each with an associated parameter. Each sub-population has a differential-difference equation associated with it. Once these equations have been solved numerically they give a set of steady-state solutions, from which it is possible to estimate HIV/AIDS incidence and prevalence. Some parameter values within the model are obtained from surveys, census results, etc., but others are derived using a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) procedure. The use of realistic values gives impressive results, creating a remarkable fit with routinely collected data relating to levels of HIV/AIDS incidence and prevalence in the UK homosexual population. Finally, the model is used to project levels of incidence and prevalence over the next few years, and to investigate several possible 'what-if' scenarios, with a brief investigation into the consequent cost implications.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

XRCC2 R188H (rs3218536), XRCC3 T241M (rs861539) and R243H (rs77381814) single nucleotide polymorphisms in cervical cancer risk

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer and its precursor lesions. Transformation may be induced by several mechanisms, including oncogene activation and genome instability. Individual differences in DNA damage recognition and repair have been hypothesized to influence cervical cancer risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the double strand break gene polymorphisms XRCC2 R188H G>A (rs3218536), XRCC3 T241M C>T (rs861539) and R243H G>A (rs77381814) are associated to cervical cancer in Argentine women. A case control study consisting of 322 samples (205 cases and 117 controls) was carried out. HPV DNA detection was performed by PCR and genotyping of positive samples by EIA (enzyme immunoassay). XRCC2 and 3 polymorphisms were determined by pyrosequencing. The HPV-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of XRCC2 188 GG/AG genotypes was OR = 2.4 (CI = 1.1-4.9, p = 0.02) for cervical cancer. In contrast, there was no increased risk for cervical cancer with XRCC3 241 TT/CC genotypes (OR = 0.48; CI = 0.2-1; p = 0.1) or XRCC3 241 CT/CC (OR = 0.87; CI = 0.52-1.4; p = 0.6). Regarding XRCC3 R243H, the G allele was almost fixed in the population studied. In conclusion, although the sample size was modest, the present data indicate a statistical association between cervical cancer and XRCC2 R188H polymorphism. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings.Fil: Perez, Luis Orlando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Crivaro, Andrea Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Barbisan, Gisela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Poleri, Lucía Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Golijow, Carlos Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentin

String theory of the Omega deformation

In this article, we construct a supersymmetric real mass deformation for the adjoint chiral multiplets in the gauge theory describing the dynamics of a stack of D2-branes in type II string theory. We do so by placing the D2-branes into the T-dual of a supersymmetric NS fluxbrane background. We furthermore note that this background is the string theoretic realization of an Omega-deformation of flat space in the directions transverse to the branes where the deformation parameters satisfy \epsilon_1 = - \epsilon_2. This \Omega-deformation therefore serves to give supersymmetric real masses to the chiral multiplets of the 3D gauge theory. To illustrate the physical effect of the real mass term, we derive BPS-saturated classical solutions for the branes rotating in this background. Finally, we reproduce all the same structure in the presence of NS fivebranes and comment on the relationship to the gauge theory/spin-chain correspondence of Nekrasov and Shatashvili.Comment: 36 pages. References added, brane construction clarified, edited for styl

Genome sequencing of the extinct Eurasian wild aurochs, Bos primigenius, illuminates the phylogeography and evolution of cattle

Background Domestication of the now-extinct wild aurochs, Bos primigenius, gave rise to the two major domestic extant cattle taxa, B. taurus and B. indicus. While previous genetic studies have shed some light on the evolutionary relationships between European aurochs and modern cattle, important questions remain unanswered, including the phylogenetic status of aurochs, whether gene flow from aurochs into early domestic populations occurred, and which genomic regions were subject to selection processes during and after domestication. Here, we address these questions using whole-genome sequencing data generated from an approximately 6,750-year-old British aurochs bone and genome sequence data from 81 additional cattle plus genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism data from a diverse panel of 1,225 modern animals. Results Phylogenomic analyses place the aurochs as a distinct outgroup to the domestic B. taurus lineage, supporting the predominant Near Eastern origin of European cattle. Conversely, traditional British and Irish breeds share more genetic variants with this aurochs specimen than other European populations, supporting localized gene flow from aurochs into the ancestors of modern British and Irish cattle, perhaps through purposeful restocking by early herders in Britain. Finally, the functions of genes showing evidence for positive selection in B. taurus are enriched for neurobiology, growth, metabolism and immunobiology, suggesting that these biological processes have been important in the domestication of cattle. Conclusions This work provides important new information regarding the origins and functional evolution of modern cattle, revealing that the interface between early European domestic populations and wild aurochs was significantly more complex than previously thought