Regulatory Fit: Impact on Anxiety, Arousal, and Performance in College-Level Soccer Players

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(5): 1430-1447, 2020. Sport performance may be facilitated using regulatory fit, which is a match between individuals’ situational strategy and their chronic self-regulatory strategy. However, researchers have not examined the impact of regulatory fit on psychological and physiological components of sport performance, such as anxiety and arousal. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychophysiological reactions to regulatory fit by examining anxiety, arousal, and sport performance. Female college-level soccer players (n = 25) were randomly assigned to the regulatory match or regulatory mismatch conditions and completed anxiety (Competitive Sport Anxiety Inventory- 2R, CSAI-2R) and underwent arousal (heart rate variability, HRV; pre-ejection period, PEP) measures pre- and post-regulatory focus manipulation. Subsequently, participants completed a sport performance task (10 penalty kicks). The impact of regulatory fit on the dependent variables was explored through repeated measures ANOVAs. Results revealed a significant time effect for cognitive anxiety and self-confidence subscales of the CSAI-2R, suggesting the penalty kicking task increased cognitive anxiety and reduced self-confidence in all participants. In addition, there was a significant interaction effect of condition on pre-ejection period (PEP), with a greater increase in PEP for those experiencing regulatory fit compared to those who were not. There were non-significant interaction and main effects for all other variables. Since PEP is an inverse measure of sympathetic (SNS) modulation, experiencing regulatory fit may reduce SNS involvement in the heartbeat. Thus, the current results indicate experiencing regulatory fit may influence arousal prior to athletic competition

Evaluation of a Simplified Measurement for Low Glomerular Filtration Rates With lndium-111 DTPA

A rapid new method for measuring glomerular filtration rates using 111In diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (111In- DTPA) was evaluated with 39 patients who showed marked impairment of renal function (creatinine clearance less than 20 ml/min). A simple, single compartment system was assumed. For comparison, parallel inulin and creatinine clearances were performed. High linear correlations (r = 0.96-0.97) were demonstrated when 111In- DTPA clearances were compared with the standard nonisotopic tests. Initial data indicate that reliable isotopic clearance values could be obtained for low clearances by withdrawing only two blood samples for assay at 6 and 48 hours after isotope injection (without urine assay)

HDX-guided EPR spectroscopy to interrogate membrane protein dynamics

This project was supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant (BB/S018069/1) to C.P., who also acknowledges support from the Wellcome Trust (WT) (219999/Z/19/Z) and the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) in the form of studentships for B.J.L. and B.W., respectively. A.N.C. is a Sir Henry Dale Fellow jointly funded by the WT and the Royal Society (220628/Z/20/Z). Funding from the BBSRC (BB/M012573/1) enabled the purchase of mass spectrometry equipment.Solvent accessibilities of and distances between protein residues measured by pulsed-EPR approaches provide high-resolution information on dynamic protein motions. We describe protocols for the purification and site-directed spin labeling of integral membrane proteins. In our protocol, peptide-level HDX-MS is used as a precursor to guide single-residue resolution ESEEM accessibility measurements and spin labeling strategies for EPR applications. Exploiting the pentameric MscL channel as a model, we discuss the use of cwEPR, DEER/PELDOR, and ESEEM spectroscopies to interrogate membrane protein dynamics. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Wang et al. (2022).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Challenges Associated with Multi-institutional Multi-site Clinical Trial Collaborations: Lessons from a Diabetes Self-Management Interventions Study in Primary Care

Purpose: Project management for multi-institutional, multi-site clinical trials poses significant challenges. We describe the response to challenges encountered in a 5-year National Institutes of Health multi-institutional 7-site randomized controlled trial of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) self-management interventions study. Methods: The collaborating institutions consisted of a large 220,000-member integrated healthcare system and a university academic health science center partner. The clinical team comprised the principal investigator and research coordinators covering 6 of the 7 clinical sites, while the academic team comprised the co-principal investigator, coinvestigators, and other research and clinical coordination staff. Subjects recruited for the study had a glycosylated hemoglobin ≥ 7.5 within the last 6 months and received primary care at the participating clinics. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were consented at private orientation meetings, randomized into one of 4 study arms, and followed every 6 months over a 24-month period for data collection. Results: The encountered challenges concerned: 1) communication across the multiple clinic sites; 2) multiinstitutional coordinator training; 3) multiple record-keeping methods; 4) clinical access for academic personnel; 5) unanticipated clinical coordinator turnover; 6) subject recruitment and retention; and 7) multiple Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). Solutions included conducting full team weekly or bimonthly research meetings, coordinator crosstraining, adding study-specific templates with downloadable fields, developing a protocol for working with single point of contact in each clinic, securing commitment from the centralized clinical system to dedicate coordinator(s) to the project for the duration of the study period, setting explicit monthly recruitment goals for each clinic, and establishing a lead IRB up-front. Conclusion: Our challenges reflect the complexity of clinical trial collaborations across clinical and academic partners. Of critical importance to the success of clinical/academic collaborations is the commitment by all institutions for advance determination of communication strategies, IRB processes, records access and storage systems, and online training needs. Trial Registration Number/Site: NCT01221090, https://clinicaltrials.govThe open access fee for this work was funded through the Texas A&M University Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Fund

A Human Development Framework for CO2 Reductions

Although developing countries are called to participate in CO2 emission reduction efforts to avoid dangerous climate change, the implications of proposed reduction schemes in human development standards of developing countries remain a matter of debate. We show the existence of a positive and time-dependent correlation between the Human Development Index (HDI) and per capita CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion. Employing this empirical relation, extrapolating the HDI, and using three population scenarios, the cumulative CO2 emissions necessary for developing countries to achieve particular HDI thresholds are assessed following a Development As Usual approach (DAU). If current demographic and development trends are maintained, we estimate that by 2050 around 85% of the world's population will live in countries with high HDI (above 0.8). In particular, 300Gt of cumulative CO2 emissions between 2000 and 2050 are estimated to be necessary for the development of 104 developing countries in the year 2000. This value represents between 20% to 30% of previously calculated CO2 budgets limiting global warming to 2{\deg}C. These constraints and results are incorporated into a CO2 reduction framework involving four domains of climate action for individual countries. The framework reserves a fair emission path for developing countries to proceed with their development by indexing country-dependent reduction rates proportional to the HDI in order to preserve the 2{\deg}C target after a particular development threshold is reached. Under this approach, global cumulative emissions by 2050 are estimated to range from 850 up to 1100Gt of CO2. These values are within the uncertainty range of emissions to limit global temperatures to 2{\deg}C.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Structural Characterization of Pandoraea pnomenusa B-356 Biphenyl Dioxygenase Reveals Features of Potent Polychlorinated Biphenyl-Degrading Enzymes

The oxidative degradation of biphenyl and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is initiated in Pandoraea pnomenusa B-356 by biphenyl dioxygenase $(BPDO_{B356})$. $BPDO_{B356}$, a heterohexameric $(αβ)_3$ Rieske oxygenase (RO), catalyzes the insertion of dioxygen with stereo- and regioselectivity at the 2,3-carbons of biphenyl, and can transform a broad spectrum of PCB congeners. Here we present the X-ray crystal structures of $BPDO_{B356}$ with and without its substrate biphenyl 1.6-Å resolution for both structures. In both cases, the Fe(II) has five ligands in a square pyramidal configuration: H233 Nε2, H239 Nε2, D386 Oδ1 and Oδ2, and a single water molecule. Analysis of the active sites of $BPDO_{B356}$ and related ROs revealed structural features that likely contribute to the superior PCB-degrading ability of certain BPDOs. First, the active site cavity readily accommodates biphenyl with minimal conformational rearrangement. Second, M231 was predicted to sterically interfere with binding of some PCBs, and substitution of this residue yielded variants that transform 2,2′-dichlorobiphenyl more effectively. Third, in addition to the volume and shape of the active site, residues at the active site entrance also apparently influence substrate preference. Finally, comparison of the conformation of the active site entrance loop among ROs provides a basis for a structure-based classification consistent with a phylogeny derived from amino acid sequence alignments

SALVAGING VALUE FROM PROJECT FAILURE

PERFORMANCE CONSULTANTS SHOULD expect many of their improvement projects to fail. No one knows how many performance improvement projects fail, but DEFINING FAILURE Project failure is somewhat subjectively defined by the project manager and the project sponsor, but a strict definition of project failure would allow no deviations in the project schedule, budget, or scope

Spin states of asteroids in the Eos collisional family

Eos family was created during a catastrophic impact about 1.3 Gyr ago. Rotation states of individual family members contain information about the history of the whole population. We aim to increase the number of asteroid shape models and rotation states within the Eos collision family, as well as to revise previously published shape models from the literature. Such results can be used to constrain theoretical collisional and evolution models of the family, or to estimate other physical parameters by a thermophysical modeling of the thermal infrared data. We use all available disk-integrated optical data (i.e., classical dense-in-time photometry obtained from public databases and through a large collaboration network as well as sparse-in-time individual measurements from a few sky surveys) as input for the convex inversion method, and derive 3D shape models of asteroids together with their rotation periods and orientations of rotation axes. We present updated shape models for 15 asteroids and new shape model determinations for 16 asteroids. Together with the already published models from the publicly available DAMIT database, we compiled a sample of 56 Eos family members with known shape models that we used in our analysis of physical properties within the family. Rotation states of asteroids smaller than ~20 km are heavily influenced by the YORP effect, whilst the large objects more or less retained their rotation state properties since the family creation. Moreover, we also present a shape model and bulk density of asteroid (423) Diotima, an interloper in the Eos family, based on the disk-resolved data obtained by the Near InfraRed Camera (Nirc2) mounted on the W.M. Keck II telescope.Comment: Accepted for publication in ICARUS Special Issue - Asteroids: Origin, Evolution & Characterizatio