Monitoring Drop Jump Height and Psychological Measures throughout Competitive in-Conference Division 1 Collegiate Basketball Season An Exploratory Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the physiological and perceived stress and recovery response in Division 1 women basketball players across a competitive in-conference basketball season. Methods: 9 female Division 1 female collegiate basketball players volunteered and completed 5 testing sessions throughout in-conference play. The team was separated into starters (S) (n= 5;mean ± SD;19.4±1.5 y) and non-starters(NS)(n= 4;mean ± SD;19.2±0.5 y) Testing began during conference play and consisted of two drop jump trials and completion of the Recovery-Cue seven (RC7). Subjects also completed the Recovery-Stress questionnaire (REST-Q) on weeks 1 and 5. Results: A significant increase (P \u3c.05) was observed in team mean RC7 scores from week 4 to week 5. No significant differences were found in jump height; however, there was a trend (p =.058) for starters\u27 jump height to decrease from week 1 to week 5.No significant differences were found in global stress, global recovery or recovery-stress scores in S or NS. Starters\u27 had higher scores on all scores throughout the season when compared with NS. Conclusion: Although no statistical differences were found, a performance decrease of 14.5% may have practical importance when dealing with collegiate athletes. Future research may need to consider analyzing individual player\u27s results as opposed to the team as a whole in order to find significant differences. The use of a simple performance test and the use of a psychological assessment are very practical tools that can be used on a continuous basis to monitor athletes

Monitoring External Workloads and Countermovement Jump Performance Throughout a Preseason in Division 1 Collegiate Women’s Basketball Players

Monitoring external workloads and countermovement jump performance may be useful for coaches. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of external load on player performance as measured by a CMJ and specific blood biomarkers throughout the preseason. METHODS:10 female division 1 basketball athletes had PlayerLoadTM (PL) monitored for all mandatory basketball training during six weeks of the preseason and CMJs were performed weekly. Blood biomarkers were collected before preseason and at the end of preseason. Data were analyzed via the Catapult Sport software (Openfield, Catapult, Innovations, Melbourne, VIC, Australia) to quantify all participant movement. Data from CMJs were analyzed via Sparta Science technology (SpartaTrac; SPARTA Performance Science, v1.2.4). Cumulative effect of physical activity (CTPL) was estimated as a sum of total PL up to each jump testing session divided by the number of days. Linear mixed-effects models were used to model data related to the efficacy of PL and CTPL. Athletes (id) and their positions were examined as potential random effects. RESULTS: The best fit model suggested a high-order polynomial pattern between PL and the number of days since the first jump testing session with a random effect for the intercept (marginal R2 = 0.290; conditional R2 = 0.471). The fixed effect for the slope of the first order term was found to be positive. There was a significant negative effect of CTPL on JH (p = 0.0037). The boot strapped model showed a marginal R2 of 0.0183 (95% CI [0.000952, 0.0744]) and a conditional R2 of 0.884 (95% CI [0.762, 0.956]). For RSImod, a significant negative association between RSImod and CTPL (p = 0.0039, 95% CI [-0.0002214, -4.597081e-05]). CONCLUSION: Workloads increase during preseason. CMJ height and RSImod may have limited utility in displaying the effects cumulative workloads. Position played did not impact workload or the impact of that workload on the player. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Cumulative effect of physical activity may be tracked using CTPL derived from PL. Practitioners may be encouraged to monitor alternative countermovement variables to better understand performance response to the cumulative effect of physical activity

Mars Aerocapture Systems Study

Mars Aerocapture Systems Study (MASS) is a detailed study of the application of aerocapture to a large Mars robotic orbiter to assess and identify key technology gaps. This study addressed use of an Opposition class return segment for use in the Mars Sample Return architecture. Study addressed mission architecture issues as well as system design. Key trade studies focused on design of aerocapture aeroshell, spacecraft design and packaging, guidance, navigation and control with simulation, computational fluid dynamics, and thermal protection system sizing. Detailed master equipment lists are included as well as a cursory cost assessment

Development and characterization of a high-throughput in vitro cord formation model insensitive to VEGF inhibition

BACKGROUND: Anti-VEGF therapy reduces tumor blood vessels, however, some vessels always remain. These VEGF insensitive vessels may help support continued tumor growth and metastases. Many in vitro assays examining multiple steps of the angiogenic process have been described, but the majority of these assays are sensitive to VEGF inhibition. There has been little focus on the development of high-throughput, in vitro assays to model the vessels that are insensitive to VEGF inhibition. METHODS: Here, we describe a fixed end-point and kinetic, high-throughput stem cell co-culture model of cord formation. RESULTS: In this system, cords develop within 24 hours, at which point they begin to lose sensitivity to VEGF inhibitors, bevacizumab, and ramucirumab. Consistent with the hypothesis that other angiogenic factors maintain VEGF-independent vessels, pharmacologic intervention with a broad spectrum anti-angiogenic antagonist (suramin), a vascular disrupting agent (combretastatin), or a combination of VEGF and Notch pathway inhibitors reduced the established networks. In addition, we used our in vitro approach to develop an in vivo co-implant vasculogenesis model that connects with the endogenous vasculature to form functional blood vessels. Similar to the in vitro system, over time these vessels become insensitive to VEGF inhibition. CONCLUSION: Together, these models may be used to identify novel drugs targeting tumor vessels that are not sensitive to VEGF inhibition

Decision-Directed Entropy-Based Adaptive Filtering

A recurring problem in adaptive filtering is selection of control measures for parameter modification. A number of methods reported thus far have used localized order statistics to adaptively adjust filter parameters. The most effective techniques are based on edge detection as a decision mechanism to allow the preservation of edge information while noise is filtered. In general, decision-directed adaptive filters operate on a localized area within an image by using statistics of the area as a discrimination parameter. Typically, adaptive filters are based on pixel to pixel variations within a localized area that are due to either edges or additive noise. In homogeneous areas within the image where variances are due to additive noise, the filter should operate to reduce the noise. Using an edge detection technique, a decision directed adaptive filter can vary the filtering proportional to the amount of edge information detected. We show an approach using an entropy measure on edges to differentiate between variations in the image due to edge information as compared against noise. The method uses entropy calculated against the spatial contour variations of edges in the window

Interspecific differences in egg production affect egg trace element concentrations after a coal fly ash spill

In oviparous vertebrates, trace elements transfer from mother to offspring during egg production. For animals that produce eggs slowly, like turtles, the trace element concentration of each egg reflects an integration of dietary and stored accumulation over the duration of vitellogenesis. Because turtles also produce eggs synchronously, all eggs within a clutch should exhibit uniform trace element concentrations. In contrast, for animals that produce eggs in sequence and primarily from current dietary resources, like many birds, the trace element concentrations of eggs should be less uniform within a clutch, and likely reflect short-term changes in dietary exposure. We tested the hypothesis that stinkpot turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) clutches exhibit lower variability and higher repeatability in barium, selenium, strontium, and thallium concentrations than those of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) from a site impacted by a recent coal ash spill. All four trace elements exhibited significantly lower variability and significantly higher repeatability in stinkpot clutches than in swallow clutches. Mean trace element concentrations of stinkpot eggs were also significantly higher than those of swallow eggs although both species feed primarily on aquatic invertebrates. Variability in swallow egg trace element concentrations was partially due to significant laying order effects. Our results support the hypothesis that interspecific variation in the source of resources and in the synchronicity and rate of egg production can lead to interspecific differences in the variability of egg trace element concentrations

Molecular biological detection of anaerobic gut fungi (Neocallimastigales) from landfill sites

Oligonucleotide primers were designed for the 18S rRNA genes of members of the Neocallimastigales and used in a nested PCR protocol to amplify 787-bp fragments of DNA from landfill site samples. The specificities of the primers were confirmed by phylogenetic analysis of the environmental clone sequences, and this method can therefore now be used to investigate the ecology of the obligately anaerobic fungi. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the occurrence of members of the Neocallimastigales outside the mammalian gut, and their distribution across the landfill samples examined here suggests that they are actively involved in cellulose degradation