Personality traits among recruit firefighters predicts fitness

Introduction: Personality traits have been associated with physical fitness. Additionally, tolerance of exercise intensity has been related to exercise behavior. However, less is understood about these traits in firefighters (FFs), and how they impact FF fitness. Purpose: Examine how personality traits influence fitness (aerobic, muscular) among recruit FFs. Methods: Recruit FFs (N=435 males, 26.42± 4.07yrs) in a 6-week FF training academy completed a 1.5 mile run, bench press test, and individual difference measures (personality [Extraversion (E), Emotional Stability (ES), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), Openness (O)], Tolerance for Exercise Intensity (Tol), and perceived fitness (PF)). Results: C was associated with aerobic fitness (r= 0.19, P= 0.028), but not muscular endurance or PF (P> 0.05). However, PF was significantly (P< 0.001) correlated with aerobic fitness (r= -0.42) and muscular (r= -0.24) endurance. Hierarchical regression showed both PF [R2adj = 19.0 aerobic; R2adj = 10.3 muscular; Ps< 0.001] and Tol [R2adj = 11.6 aerobic; R2adj = 15.4 muscular; Ps< 0.001] explained significant variance in fitness after controlling for age and sex. Discussion: Findings support the relationship between select personality characteristics and fitness in FFs. Understanding these relationships could aid in developing a more optimal training program during a FF training academy. More, or supplemental, physical training could be given to those with lower exercise intensity tolerance and/or perceived fitness than their counterparts.Ope

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018):a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of scientific publications describing physiological and pathological functions of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a collective term covering various subtypes of cell-released, membranous structures, called exosomes, microvesicles, microparticles, ectosomes, oncosomes, apoptotic bodies, and many other names. However, specific issues arise when working with these entities, whose size and amount often make them difficult to obtain as relatively pure preparations, and to characterize properly. The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) proposed Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles (“MISEV”) guidelines for the field in 2014. We now update these “MISEV2014” guidelines based on evolution of the collective knowledge in the last four years. An important point to consider is that ascribing a specific function to EVs in general, or to subtypes of EVs, requires reporting of specific information beyond mere description of function in a crude, potentially contaminated, and heterogeneous preparation. For example, claims that exosomes are endowed with exquisite and specific activities remain difficult to support experimentally, given our still limited knowledge of their specific molecular machineries of biogenesis and release, as compared with other biophysically similar EVs. The MISEV2018 guidelines include tables and outlines of suggested protocols and steps to follow to document specific EV-associated functional activities. Finally, a checklist is provided with summaries of key points

The effects of low-to-moderate intensity aerobic exercise on cognition and affect

Acute low-to-moderate intensity aerobic exercise has been shown to have beneficial effects on cognition and result in positive affective responses. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of acute low-to-moderate intensity aerobic exercise on behavioral measures of cognition (i.e., attentional inhibition, working memory) and affective states (i.e., state anxiety, Energy, Tiredness, Tension, and Calmness). It was also of interest to determine if individual differences (i.e., trait anxiety, dispositional resilience) had any effect on the changes to cognitive and affective responses due to acute low-to-moderate intensity aerobic exercise. 24 college-aged students (n= 10 female, age = 21.4 yrs, BMI = 26.6, height = 169.8 cm, body mass= 76.6 kg) participated in the study. Individuals participated in 2 non-consecutive days of testing. Day 1 entailed the completion of informed consent, PAR-Q+, measures of attentional inhibition (i.e.,, Eriksen Flanker Task) and a working memory task (i.e., N-Back task), and an online questionnaire gathering demographic information, exercise history, and individual difference measures (i.e., Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y2, Disposition Resilience Scale-15). On Day 2, participants completed a 20-minute exercise session on a treadmill. Affective measures (i.e., State Anxiety Inventory-Y1, Activation-Deactivation Adjective Checklist) were taken before and after exercise. A Polar Heart Rate monitor was used to keep participants exercising at 50-65% of their estimated HRmax. Immediately following exercise, participants completed the same cognitive tasks as Day 1. Results showed individuals had faster reaction times on measures of attentional inhibition and working memory. Affective changes were also observed for state anxiety, Energy, Tiredness, and Calmness from Baseline to post-exercise. These results add to the literature that acute, low-to-moderate aerobic exercise has beneficial effects on cognitive and affective responses.U of I OnlyAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD syste

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018) : a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of scientific publications describing physiological and pathological functions of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a collective term covering various subtypes of cell-released, membranous structures, called exosomes, microvesicles, microparticles, ectosomes, oncosomes, apoptotic bodies, and many other names. However, specific issues arise when working with these entities, whose size and amount often make them difficult to obtain as relatively pure preparations, and to characterize properly. The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) proposed Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles ("MISEV") guidelines for the field in 2014. We now update these "MISEV2014" guidelines based on evolution of the collective knowledge in the last four years. An important point to consider is that ascribing a specific function to EVs in general, or to subtypes of EVs, requires reporting of specific information beyond mere description of function in a crude, potentially contaminated, and heterogeneous preparation. For example, claims that exosomes are endowed with exquisite and specific activities remain difficult to support experimentally, given our still limited knowledge of their specific molecular machineries of biogenesis and release, as compared with other biophysically similar EVs. The MISEV2018 guidelines include tables and outlines of suggested protocols and steps to follow to document specific EV-associated functional activities. Finally, a checklist is provided with summaries of key points

Coronal Heating as Determined by the Solar Flare Frequency Distribution Obtained by Aggregating Case Studies

Flare frequency distributions represent a key approach to addressing one of the largest problems in solar and stellar physics: determining the mechanism that counter-intuitively heats coronae to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the corresponding photospheres. It is widely accepted that the magnetic field is responsible for the heating, but there are two competing mechanisms that could explain it: nanoflares or Alfv\'en waves. To date, neither can be directly observed. Nanoflares are, by definition, extremely small, but their aggregate energy release could represent a substantial heating mechanism, presuming they are sufficiently abundant. One way to test this presumption is via the flare frequency distribution, which describes how often flares of various energies occur. If the slope of the power law fitting the flare frequency distribution is above a critical threshold, $\alpha=2$ as established in prior literature, then there should be a sufficient abundance of nanoflares to explain coronal heating. We performed $>$600 case studies of solar flares, made possible by an unprecedented number of data analysts via three semesters of an undergraduate physics laboratory course. This allowed us to include two crucial, but nontrivial, analysis methods: pre-flare baseline subtraction and computation of the flare energy, which requires determining flare start and stop times. We aggregated the results of these analyses into a statistical study to determine that $\alpha = 1.63 \pm 0.03$. This is below the critical threshold, suggesting that Alfv\'en waves are an important driver of coronal heating.Comment: 1,002 authors, 14 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, published by The Astrophysical Journal on 2023-05-09, volume 948, page 7

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018): a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of scientific publications describing physiological and pathological functions of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a collective term covering various subtypes of cell-released, membranous structures, called exosomes, microvesicles, microparticles, ectosomes, oncosomes, apoptotic bodies, and many other names. However, specific issues arise when working with these entities, whose size and amount often make them difficult to obtain as relatively pure preparations, and to characterize properly. The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) proposed Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles ("MISEV") guidelines for the field in 2014. We now update these "MISEV2014" guidelines based on evolution of the collective knowledge in the last four years. An important point to consider is that ascribing a specific function to EVs in general, or to subtypes of EVs, requires reporting of specific information beyond mere description of function in a crude, potentially contaminated, and heterogeneous preparation. For example, claims that exosomes are endowed with exquisite and specific activities remain difficult to support experimentally, given our still limited knowledge of their specific molecular machineries of biogenesis and release, as compared with other biophysically similar EVs. The MISEV2018 guidelines include tables and outlines of suggested protocols and steps to follow to document specific EV-associated functional activities. Finally, a checklist is provided with summaries of key points