Real Artificial: Tissue-cultured Meat, Genetically Modified Farm Animals, And Fictions

Although touted by promoters as the cutting edge of food science, meat produced in vitro (rather than from a whole animal) is emerging more directly from developments in fine art—more specifically, from the aesthetic experiments of Australian-based artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr, who ask: What language do we have to describe the agency of tissue-cultured life? This essay begins to answer this question by tracing a tradition whereby bioengineered meat mediates complex environmental critiques in literary fiction over the past century, including Margaret Atwood’s exemplary novel Oryx and Crake (2003), which depicts biotech industries producing three distinct kinds of “real artificial meat,” all sourced in genetically modified animals

The efficacy of cooling with phase change material for the treatment of exercise-induced muscle damage: pilot study

Post-exercise cryotherapy treatments are typically short duration interventions. This study examined the efficacy of prolonged cooling using phase change material (PCM) on strength loss and pain after eccentric exercise. Eight adults performed 120 bilateral eccentric quadriceps contractions (90% MVC). Immediately afterwards, frozen PCM packs (15°C) were placed over the quadriceps, with room temperature PCM packs on the contralateral quadriceps. Skin temperature was recorded continually (6 h PCM application). Isometric quadriceps strength and soreness were assessed before, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post-exercise. The protocol was repeated 5 months later, with room temperature PCM applied to both legs. There were three treatments: legs treated with 15°C PCM packs (direct cooling), legs treated with room temperature PCM packs contralateral to the 15°C PCM packs (systemic cooling), and legs tested 5 months later both treated with room temperature PCM packs (control). Skin temperature was 9°C–10°C lower with direct cooling versus systemic cooling and control (P < 0.01). Strength loss and soreness were less (P < 0.05) with direct cooling versus systemic cooling and control (strength 101%, 94%, 93%, respectively; pain 1.0, 2.3, 2.7, respectively). Six hours of PCM cooling was well tolerated and reduced strength loss and pain after damaging exercise

Don't Lose Your Cool with Cryotherapy: the application of phase change material for prolonged cooling in athletic recovery and beyond

Strenuous exercise can result in muscle damage in both recreational and elite athletes, and is accompanied by strength loss, and increases in soreness, oxidative stress, and inflammation. If the aforementioned signs and symptoms associated with exercise-induced muscle damage are excessive or unabated, the recovery process becomes prolonged and can result in performance decrements; consequently, there has been a great deal of research focussing on accelerating recovery following exercise. A popular recovery modality is cryotherapy which results in a reduction of tissue temperature by the withdrawal of heat from the body. Cryotherapy is advantageous because of its ability to reduce tissue temperature at the site of muscle damage. However, there are logistical limitations to traditional cryotherapy modalities, such as cold-water immersion or whole-body cryotherapy, because they are limited by the duration for which they can be administered in a single dose. Phase change material (PCM) at a temperature of 15°C can deliver a single dose of cooling for a prolonged duration in a practical, efficacious, and safe way; hence overcoming the limitations of traditional cryotherapy modalities. Recently, 15°C PCM has been locally administered following isolated eccentric exercise, a soccer match, and baseball pitching, for durations of three to six hours with no adverse effects. These data showed that using 15°C PCM to prolong the duration of cooling successfully reduced strength loss and soreness following exercise. Extending the positive effects associated with cryotherapy by prolonging the duration of cooling can enhance recovery following exercise and give athletes a competitive advantage

Countermovement Jump Recovery in Professional Soccer Players Using an Inertial Sensor

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of an inertial sensor for assessing recovery in professional soccer players. Methods In a randomized, crossover design, 11 professional soccer players wore shorts fitted with phase change material (PCM) cooling packs or uncooled packs (control) for 3 h after a 90 minute match. Countermovement jump (CMJ) performance was assessed simultaneously with an inertial sensor and an optoelectric system, pre match, and 12, 36 and 60 h post match. Inertial sensor metrics were flight height, jump height, low force, countermovement distance, force at low point, rate of eccentric force development, peak propulsive force, maximum power, and peak landing force. The only optoelectric metric was flight height. CMJ decrements, and effect of PCM cooling were assessed with repeated measures ANOVA. Jump heights were also compared between devices. Results For the inertial sensor data there were decrements in CMJ height on the days after matches (88±10% of baseline at 36 h P=0.012, effect size 1.2, for control condition) and accelerated recovery with PCM cooling (105±15% of baseline at 36 h, P=0.018 vs. control, effect size 1.1). Flight heights were strongly correlated between devices (r=0.905, P<0.001) but inertial sensor values were 1.8±1.8 cm lower (P=0.008). Low force during countermovement was increased (P=0.031) and landing force was decreased (P=0.043) after matches, but neither were affected by the PCM cooling intervention. Other CMJ metrics were unchanged after matches. Conclusions This small portable inertial sensor provides a practical means of assessing recovery in soccer players

Endemic Sexual Violence and Abuse: Contexts and Dispositions

Endemic sexual violence and abuse has been observed in a number of specific circumstances, most notably conflict zones, remote and marginalised communities, and religious and state institutions. In this article we examine several documented examples and argue that a similar set of causal processes are at work in all of these otherwise apparently disparate circumstances. Rather than construing the problem as ‘organised’ sexual abuse, we present the problem in terms of the breakdown (or disorganisation) of usual individual, situational and ecological constraints