Correlates of extracurricular sport participation among Swiss adolescents

Background: Based on a large national survey on the health of adolescents, this paper focuses on the socio-demographic and lifestyle correlates of sport practice among Swiss adolescents. The SMASH2002 database includes 7428 vocational apprentices and high school students between the ages of 16 and 20 who answered a self-administered anonymous questionnaire containing 565 items targeting perceived health, health attitudes and behaviour. Weekly episodes of extracurricular sport activity were measured by a four-category scale, and the sample was dichotomised between active (≥two episodes of sport/week) and inactive (<two episodes of sport/week) respondents. Thirty percent of female respondents and 40.2% of male respondents reported engaging in sport activity at least two to three times a week; another 9.7% of the female and 19.4% of the male respondents reported participating in least one sport activity each day (p<0.01). The percentage of active respondents was higher among students than among vocational apprentices (p<.01), and the rates of sport activity decreased more sharply over time among the apprentices than among the students (p<0.01). Most active adolescents reported having a better feeling of well-being than their inactive peers [among male students: odds ratio (OR): 3.13; 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.28-7.70]. The percentage of active females who reported being on a diet was high, and female apprentices exhibited higher involvement in dieting than their inactive peers (OR: 1.68; 95%CI: 1.32-2.14). Relative to the inactive male respondents, the proportion of active male respondents smoking was lower; however, a lower proportion of the latter group did not report drunkenness, and the percentage of those who reported lifetime cannabis consumption was higher among active than inactive students (females, OR:1.57; 95%CI:1.09-2.25; males, OR:1.80; 95%CI: 20-2.69). Conclusion: Organised sport activities should be better tailored to the work schedules of apprentices. Practitioners should be aware of the potential for problematic behaviour in the area of dieting and substance use among a subset of sport-oriented adolescent

New angles on D-branes

A low-energy background field solution is presented which describes several D-membranes oriented at angles with respect to one another. The mass and charge densities for this configuration are computed and found to saturate the BPS bound, implying the preservation of one-quarter of the supersymmetries. T-duality is exploited to construct new solutions with nontrivial angles from the basic one.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, still no figures, references update

Models of Metal Poor Stars with Gravitational Settling and Radiative Accelerations: I. Evolution and Abundance Anomalies

Evolutionary models have been calculated for Pop II stars of 0.5 to 1.0$M_\odot$ from the pre-main-sequence to the lower part of the giant branch. Rosseland opacities and radiative accelerations were calculated taking into account the concentration variations of 28 chemical species, including all species contributing to Rosseland opacities in the OPAL tables. The effects of radiative accelerations, thermal diffusion and gravitational settling are included. While models were calculated both for Z=0.00017 and 0.0017, we concentrate on models with Z=0.00017 in this paper. These are the first Pop II models calculated taking radiative acceleration into account. It is shown that, at least in a 0.8$M_\odot$ star, it is a better approximation not to let Fe diffuse than to calculate its gravitational settling without including the effects of $g_{rad}(Fe)$. In the absence of any turbulence outside of convection zones, the effects of atomic diffusion are large mainly for stars more massive than 0.7$M_\odot$. Overabundances are expected in some stars with \teff \ge 6000K. Most chemical species heavier than CNO are affected. At 12 Gyr, overabundance factors may reach 10 in some cases (e.g. for Al or Ni) while others are limited to 3 (e.g. for Fe). The calculated surface abundances are compared to recent observations of abundances in globular clusters as well as to observations of Li in halo stars. It is shown that, as in the case of Pop I stars, additional turbulence appears to be present.Comment: 40 pages, 17 color figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal, April 2002 (paper with original high resolution figures can be found at http://www.cerca.umontreal.ca/~richer/Fichiersps/popII_1.ps

Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Timothy Populations

The objective of this study was to determine the variability in N use efficiency among field-grown timothy (Phelum pratense L.) populations. Shoot biomass and N uptake were measured at the end of the spring growth cycle on six timothy populations fertilized with three N rates at two sites in Eastern Canada. The variability in shoot biomass among populations was similar under limiting and nonlimiting N conditions. The ranking of the populations, however, differed under limiting and non-limiting N conditions, and also between the two sites under limiting N conditions. The differences in shoot biomass among populations under highly N deficient conditions were more related to N conversion efficiency than N uptake efficiency. These preliminary results indicate significant interactions between the N nutrition status and timothy populations, and the importance of N conversion efficiency under highly N deficient conditions

Sublethal effects of chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam seed treatments when Lysiphlebus testaceipes feed on sunflower extrafloral nectar

Citation: Moscardini, V. F., Gontijo, P. C., Michaud, J. P., & Carvalho, G. A. (2014). Sublethal effects of chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam seed treatments when Lysiphlebus testaceipes feed on sunflower extrafloral nectar. Retrieved from http://krex.ksu.eduThe extrafloral nectar (EFN) of sunflower, Helianthus annuus L., is an important summer resource for many insects and represents a potential route of exposure to systemic insecticides applied as seed treatments to cultivated varieties. Among the many parasitoids that utilize sunflower EFN, Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is an important generalist parasitoid of cereal aphids in North America. This study evaluated the performance of adult wasps fed EFN of sunflower plants grown from seed treated with chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam. Consumption of EFN from treated sunflower seedings caused no lethal effects, but reduced the numbers of greenbug nymphs, Schizaphis graminum Rondani, attacked and parasitized when wasps foraged in Petri dish arenas. Whereas control females self-superparasitized every fourth host, those exposed to chlorantraniliprole did not. Offspring developmental time and adult emergence were unaffected by either treatment, but thiamethoxam greatly reduced the proportion of female offspring

Non-target effects of chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam on Chrysoperla carnea when employed as sunflower seed treatments

Citation: Gontijo, P. C., Moscardini, V. F., Michaud, J. P., & Carvalho, G. A. (2014). Non-target effects of chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam on Chrysoperla carnea when employed as sunflower seed treatments. Retrieved from http://krex.ksu.eduThe use of systemic insecticides as seed treatments has raised concern about the possible impacts of these products on natural enemies. This study assessed the effects of sunflower seed treatments with chlorantraniliprole and thiamethoxam on Chrysoperla carnea by exposing larvae and adults to sunflower stem segments grown from treated seeds and the nectar secreted by their extrafloral nectaries. Confinement of larvae with stem segments for their entire developmental period had no effect on their survival or any life history parameter, except that the sex ratio of resulting adults was lower in the thiamethoxam treatment than in chlorantraniliprole. However, when adult pairs of C. carnea were exposed to treated stem segments during their maturation period, their subsequent survival and fecundity was significantly reduced by both materials, with thiamethoxam reducing median survival (LT[subscript 50]) and fecundity to a greater degree than chlorantraniliprole. Insufficient offspring were obtained from adults exposed to thiamethoxam to permit assessment of their fitness, but the offspring in the chlorantraniliprole-exposed adults had reduced larval survival relative to controls. The greater impact of seed treatments on adult lacewings may be partly attributable to their greater consumption of extra-floral nectar. Our results indicate that seed treatment with systemic insecticides can cause negative effects on beneficial insects, potentially disrupting their population dynamics, and should not be assumed compatible with biological control and IPM simply because this mode of application limits direct exposure

Distribution and Abundance of Larval Burbot and Deepwater Sculpin in Lake Michigan

Samples from seven locations at depths to 21 m, collected over periods of up to 8 years, were used to describe the nearshore distribution and abundance of burbot Lota lota and deepwater sculpin Myoxocephalus thompsoni larvae in Lake Michigan. Based upon power‐plant‐entrainment samples and field collections, burbot larvae (3.0–7.5 mm) occurred from late March to mid‐June, most abundantly in April and May, and most often at water temperatures of 6–12 C. Larvae were collected from the 0.5‐ to 13.5‐m depth strata as far lakeward as the 21‐m bottom contour, the limit of offshore sampling. In eastern Lake Michigan, highest densities (up to 843 larvae/1,000 m3) were at the 1‐m contour; in Green Bay, up to 24,000 larvae/1,000 m3 were detected near the Bark River. High densities of burbot larvae at bottom depths 3 m and less indicated inshore spawning and river spawning at some sites. Deepwater sculpin larvae first occurred in early February and were common in March and April entrainment samples. Larvae (8.0–22.0 mm) were in nearshore waters usually through May at depth strata of 0.5 to 17 m as far lakeward as the 18‐m bottom contour. Most larvae occurred at water temperatures below 6 C. Field densities were low, 5 to 78 larvae/1,000 m3. Deepwater sculpin larvae were pelagic and were dispersed over great distances by currents.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141932/1/tafs0162.pd

Autopsy examination in sudden cardiac death: a current perspective on behalf of the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology.

In sudden cardiac death, an autopsy is an essential step in establishing a diagnosis of inherited cardiac disease and identifying families that require cardiac screening. To evaluate aspects of post-mortem practice in Europe, a questionnaire was designed and circulated to both clinical and forensic pathologists. There was a 48% response rate and information was obtained from 17 countries. The results showed a wide variety in the management of sudden cardiac death, with a general tendency towards a lack of thorough investigation. In up to 40% of cases, autopsies were not performed in subjects less than 50 years who may have died from cardiac disease. Reasons for this were lack of finance and lack of interest from police, legal authorities, and doctors. Only 50% of pathologists seem to follow a standard protocol for autopsy examination, apparently due to lack of expertise and/or training. When autopsies were performed, histology and toxicology were almost always taken, genetic studies were generally available and retention of the heart for specialist study was usually permitted. Our results suggest that although the standard of practice is appropriate in many centres, many more cases should have autopsies, especially in sudden deaths in subjects less than 50 years