Reliability and validity of the running anaerobic sprint test (RAST) in soccer players.

To investigate the validity and relative and absolute reliability of the Running Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST) in ama teur soccer players. Cross-sectional experimental design with an element of repeated measures. Twenty three males completed the RAST on two occasions and a Wingate test (WAnT) as criterion measure of anaero bic power. Criterion validity for the RAST was strong for peak power (r = 0.70, p < 0.001) and average power (r = 0.60, p = 0.002); however, the RAST significantly underestimated peak power compared to WAnT. The RAST showed very good relative reli ability for average power, ICC = 0.88 and good relative reliability for peak power, ICC = 0.72. Assessment of absolute reliability highlighted that although when averaged across a group, test and re-test scores will be similar, when monitoring individuals an individual's retest score may range between 0.81 and 1.2 times the original value for peak power and between 0.9 and 1.16 for average power. The RAST is a practicable field test to estimate levels of average anaerobic power. However, the results show that the RAST is not sensitive enough to detect strongly individual changes below 20 % and is therefore not recommended to continually monitor an individual's anaerobic power. Also, if true measures of peak power are required the RAST test is limited

Identification of Factors Associated with Subsequent Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis Using Machine Learning Over Complex Large-scale Longitudinal Health Data

We seek a Pitt Momentum Teaming Grant to support the data extraction, analysis, and planning needed to secure large-scale research funding for a new Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research initiative among faculty and trainees who have never worked together, most of whom have never worked on AD but whose skill set will support a novel approach to understanding this intractable disease. Because AD pathogenesis begins a decade or more before the onset of clinical symptoms, we seek to identify in electronic health records (EHRs) antecedents of disease that warrant additional scrutiny as possible contributors to or protectors against disease onset. We have identified over 37,000 unique patients in the UPMC EHR with a diagnosis of AD or dementia since 2016, almost 15,000 of whom have EHR data from visits 10 or more years before this diagnosis. With IRB approval, we will apply both case-control and machine learning approaches to the EHR datasets extracted (diagnoses, medications, test results). The results of these initial analyses will be used to plan larger scale studies that incorporate neuroimaging, genetics, neuropathology, lifestyle, and other types of data (including longitudinal causal time series modeling) combined with natural language processing and literature-based discovery to develop causal models of disease predictors, onset, and progression. We will seek funding from the National Institute on Aging to conduct these follow-on larger scale analyses with the guidance of an AD program officer, Suzana Petanceska, who has indicated her enthusiasm for helping us plan projects focused on secondary data analyses and causal discovery. Toward this goal, in October, our team of faculty and trainees from the Schools of Medicine (Boyce, Silverstein, Aizenstein, Malec, Karim, Ly), Public Health (Albert, Shaaban), and Computing and Information (Munro, Taneja) began weekly meetings to work on IRB protocols, analysis strategies, data interpretation, and manuscript and grant preparation

A Cultural Comparison of the ''Dark Constellations'' in the Milky Way

Cultures around the world find meaning in the groupings of stars and features in the Milky Way. The striking appearance of our Galaxy in the night sky serves as a reference to traditional knowledge, encoding science and culture to a memory space, becoming part of their overarching cosmologies. This paper examines traditional views of the Milky Way from cultures around the world, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. These views comprise dark constellations: familiar shapes made up of the dark dust lanes in the Milky Way, rather than the bright stars. Some of the better-known examples include the celestial emu from Aboriginal traditions of Australia, and the llama in Inca traditions of the Andes. We conduct a comparative analysis of cultural perceptions of ‘dark constellations’ in the Milky Way, examining common cultural themes and meanings at the crossroads of Indigenous Knowledge and Western science with applications to topics ranging from Indigenous Studies to psychology.Fil: Gullberg, Steven R.. Oklahoma State University; Estados UnidosFil: Hamacher, Duane. University of Melbourne; AustraliaFil: Lopez, Alejandro Martin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas. Sección de Etnología y Etnografía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Mejuto, Javier. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras; HondurasFil: Munro, Andrew M.. University of Oklahoma; Estados UnidosFil: Orchiston, Wayne. University of Southern Queensland; Australia. National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand; Tailandi

A new platform for validating real-time, large-scale WAMPAC systems

A platform for emulating 64 Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs), with data from a real-time simulation, has been developed. An RTDS simulator has been used to provide IEC 61850-9-2 Sampled Value data, representing three-phase voltage and current measurements from up to 64 power system locations, and the platform efficiently processes the data using cost-effective ARM-based devices, which output synchrophasor data according to the IEEE C37.118.2 protocol. The platform provides flexibility to configure the PMU class and reporting rate at run-time. The paper analyses the measured report latency of the PMUs under a variety of configurations. This development provides a cost-effective system for demonstrating wide-area visualisation, control, and protection schemes

Immune sensing of Candida albicans requires cooperative recognition of mannans and glucans by lectin and Toll-like receptors

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Phylogeography and population genetics of the endemic Malagasy bat, Macronycteris commersoni s.s. (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae)

Macronycteris commersoni (Hipposideridae), a bat species endemic to Madagascar, is widespread across the island and utilizes a range of habitat types including open woodland, degraded habitats, and forested areas from sea level to 1,325 m. Despite being widely distributed, there is evidence that M. commersoni exhibits morphological and bioacoustic variation across its geographical range. We investigated the fine-scale phylogeographic structure of populations in the western half of the island using extensive spatial sampling and sequence data from two mitochondrial DNA regions. Our results indicated several lineages within M. commersoni. Individuals collected from northern Madagascar formed a single monophyletic clade (clade C). A second clade (clade B) included individuals collected from the south-western portion of the island. This second clade displayed more phylogeographical partitioning with differences in mtDNA haplotypes frequency detected between populations collected in different bioclimatic regions. Lineage dispersal, genetic divergence, and timing of expansion events of M. commersoni were probably associated with Pleistocene climate fluctuations. Our data suggest that the northern and the central western regions of Madagascar may have acted as refugia for this species during periods of cooler and drier climate conditions associated with the Pleistocene

Lessons Learned from Testing the Quality Cost Model of Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) Transitional Care

Purpose To describe the development, testing, modification, and results of the Quality Cost Model of Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) Transitional Care on patient outcomes and health care costs in the United States over 22 years, and to delineate what has been learned for nursing education, practice, and further research. Organizing Construct The Quality Cost Model of APN Transitional Care. Methods Review of published results of seven randomized clinical trials with very low birth-weight (VLBW) infants; women with unplanned cesarean births, high risk pregnancies, and hysterectomy surgery; elders with cardiac medical and surgical diagnoses and common diagnostic related groups (DRGs); and women with high risk pregnancies in which half of physician prenatal care was substituted with APN care. Ongoing work with the model is linking the process of APN care with the outcomes and costs of care. Findings APN intervention has consistently resulted in improved patient outcomes and reduced health care costs across groups. Groups with APN providers were rehospitalized for less time at less cost, reflecting early detection and intervention. Optimal number and timing of postdischarge home visits and telephone contacts by the APNs and patterns of rehospitalizations and acute care visits varied by group. Conclusions To keep people well over time, APNs must have depth of knowledge and excellent clinical and interpersonal skills that are the hallmark of specialist practice, an in-depth understanding of systems and how to work within them, and sufficient patient contact to effect positive outcomes at low cost

Acute Haemodynamic Changes During Haemodialysis Do Not Exacerbate Gut Hyperpermeability

© 2019 The Author(s)Introduction: The gastrointestinal tract is a potential source of inflammation in dialysis patients. In-vitro studies suggest breakdown of the gut barrier in uraemia leading to increased intestinal permeability and it is hypothesised that haemodialysis exacerbates this problem due to mesenteric ischemia induced by blood volume changes during treatment. Method: The effect of haemodialysis on intestinal permeability was studied in ten haemodialysis patients and compared with five controls. Intestinal permeability was assessed by measuring the differential absorption of four orally administered sugar probes which provides an index of small and whole bowel permeability. A multi-sugar solution (containing lactulose, rhamnose, sucralose and erythritol) was orally administered after an overnight fast. Plasma levels of all sugar probes were measured hourly for 10hrs post-administration. In haemodialysis patients, the procedure was carried out twice – once on a non-dialysis day and once immediately after haemodialysis. Results: Area under curve (AUC) for lactulose: rhamnose (L:R) ratio and sucralose: erythritol (S:E) ratio was similar post-dialysis and on non-dialysis days. AUC for L:R was higher in haemodialysis patients compared to controls (0.071 vs. 0.034,p=0.001), AUC for S:E ratio was not significantly different. Levels of lactulose, sucralose and erythritol were elevated and retained for longer in haemodialysis patients compared to controls due to dependence of sugars on kidney function for clearance. Conclusion: We found no significant acute changes in intestinal permeability in relation to the haemodialysis procedure. Valid comparison of intestinal permeability between controls and haemodialysis patients was not possible due to the strong influence of kidney function on sugar levels.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy: in vivo application to diagnosis of oral carcinoma

A compact clinically compatible fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) system was designed and built for intraoperative disease diagnosis and validated in vivo in a hamster oral carcinogenesis model. This apparatus allows for the remote image collection via a flexible imaging probe consisting of a gradient index objective lens and a fiber bundle. Tissue autofluorescence (337 nm excitation) was imaged using an intensified CCD with a gate width down to 0.2 ns. We demonstrate a significant contrast in fluorescence lifetime between tumor (1.77±0.26 ns) and normal (2.50±0.36 ns) tissues at 450 nm and an over 80% intensity decrease at 390 nm emission in tumor versus normal areas. The time-resolved images were minimally affected by tissue morphology, endogenous absorbers, and illumination. These results demonstrate the potential of FLIM as an intraoperative diagnostic technique

Salmo salar and Esox lucius full-length cDNA sequences reveal changes in evolutionary pressures on a post-tetraploidization genome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Salmonids are one of the most intensely studied fish, in part due to their economic and environmental importance, and in part due to a recent whole genome duplication in the common ancestor of salmonids. This duplication greatly impacts species diversification, functional specialization, and adaptation. Extensive new genomic resources have recently become available for Atlantic salmon (<it>Salmo salar</it>), but documentation of allelic versus duplicate reference genes remains a major uncertainty in the complete characterization of its genome and its evolution.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From existing expressed sequence tag (EST) resources and three new full-length cDNA libraries, 9,057 reference quality full-length gene insert clones were identified for Atlantic salmon. A further 1,365 reference full-length clones were annotated from 29,221 northern pike (<it>Esox lucius</it>) ESTs. Pairwise d_N/d_Scomparisons within each of 408 sets of duplicated salmon genes using northern pike as a diploid out-group show asymmetric relaxation of selection on salmon duplicates.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>9,057 full-length reference genes were characterized in <it>S. salar </it>and can be used to identify alleles and gene family members. Comparisons of duplicated genes show that while purifying selection is the predominant force acting on both duplicates, consistent with retention of functionality in both copies, some relaxation of pressure on gene duplicates can be identified. In addition, there is evidence that evolution has acted asymmetrically on paralogs, allowing one of the pair to diverge at a faster rate.</p