Combined Driving: Task-Specific Position Impacts Grip Strength of Equestrian Athletes

BACKGROUND: Loss of hand strength is a predictor of mortality in aging populations. Despite reliance on the hands to participate in equestrian driving activity, no existing studies focus on associations of hand strength to athletic performance. Therefore, this study 1) established baseline handgrip of equestrian combined drivers in standing and task-specific positions, 2) determined endurance of task-specific handgrip, 3) compared handgrip strength to normative data, and 4) evaluated associations of handgrip and equestrian-specific variables. METHODS: There were 51 combined drivers (9 males, 42 females) ages 21-78 who completed a survey, standing handgrip, and grip strength and endurance in a task-specific position. Sixty-three percent of participants were 50 years or older. The dynamometer grip bar was normalized by hand size for standing tests; to duplicate sport-specific tasks, the bar was set to the closest setting. Significances were determined at p \u3c 0.05. RESULTS: Drivers with more than 30 years of experience demonstrated highest summed standing (73.1 ± 5.2 kg) and summed sitting (59.9 ± 6.3 kg) grip strength. Females 60-years and older had greater handgrip endurance (Χ2 = 8.323, df = 2, p = .0156) in non-dominant (left) hands. Males (60%) reported more cold weather fatigue than females. Glove wearing was associated with bilateral endurance balance; a higher proportion of endurance balance between dominant and non-dominant (49% high-high and 29% low-low; Χ2 = 11.047, df = 1, p = .0009) was realized. There were no associations of handgrip and prior injury. CONCLUSIONS: Our results have implications in understanding task-specific and normative grip strengths in aging equestrian populations. Bilateral balance in handgrip strength and endurance is important particularly in maintaining strength in non-dominant hands over time. Equestrian driving sport promotes greater endurance in older females. Strength can be improved by participating in combined driving, and engagement in this sport over several years\u27 benefits hand strength over time. This cohort of equestrian participants provides evidence that participating in hand-specific activities promotes greater strength, which has been previously shown to improve aging outcomes

The effect of rate of nitrogen ferlilizalion and date of harvest on yield, persistency and nutritive value of Bromegrass hay, Station Bulletin, no.472

The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Staphylococcus aureus Protein A Disrupts Immunity Mediated by Long-Lived Plasma Cells

Infection with Staphylococcus aureus does not induce long-lived protective immunity for reasons that are not completely understood. Human and murine vaccine studies support a role for antibodies in protecting against recurring infections, but S. aureus modulates the B cell response through expression of Staphylococcal Protein A (SpA), a surface protein that drives polyclonal B cell expansion and induces cell death in the absence of co-stimulation. In this murine study, we show that SpA altered the fate of plasmablasts and plasma cells (PCs) by enhancing the short-lived extrafollicular response and reducing the pool of bone marrow (BM)-resident long-lived PCs (LLPCs). The absence of LLPCs was associated with a rapid decline in antigen-specific, class-switched antibody. In contrast, when previously inoculated mice were challenged with isogenic Δspa S. aureus, cells proliferated in the BM survival niches and sustained long-term antibody titers. The effects of SpA on PC fate were limited to the secondary response, as antibody levels and the formation of B cell memory occurred normally during the primary response in mice inoculated with either WT or Δspa S. aureus. Thus, failure to establish long-term protective antibody titers against S. aureus was not a consequence of diminished formation of B cell memory; instead, SpA reduced the proliferative capacity of PCs that entered the BM, diminishing the number of cells in the long-lived pool

Associations of intimate partner violence and maternal comorbidities: a cross-sectional analysis

Background: Intimate-partner violence (IPV) is the act of inflicting physical, sexual, and/or emotional assault with coercive control and is a traumatic experience, the repercussions from which can be exacerbated in pregnant women. While screening for IPV during pregnancy is recommended regardless of risk, identifying clinical factors commonly associated with IPV during pregnancy may improve screening rates. Thus, our primary objective was to examine associations between IPV and maternal comorbidities.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Phase 8 spanning 2016 through 2019. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (AORs) to determine associations between IPV and diabetes, hypertension, depression, asthma, PCOS, anxiety, and thyroid disease. Confidence intervals were reported at 95%.Results: Over 40% of women experiencing IPV reported a history of depression or anxiety. The odds of experiencing IPV were higher among women with depression (AOR: 3.27; CI: 2.88 - 3.71), hypertension (AOR: 1.49; CI: 1.26 - 1.77), asthma (AOR: 1.22; CI: 1.03 - 1.46), or anxiety (OR: 3.85; CI: 3.43 - 4.33), but were lower in women with thyroid disorders (AOR: 0.49; CI: 0.28-0.84).Conclusion: Our study identified an increased likelihood of IPV among pregnant women with certain comorbidities. Knowing clinically relevant associations of IPV in pregnant women may increase screening sensitivity among clinicians and in turn, increase the likelihood of receiving supportive care among individuals experiencing IPV

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure

Real-Time Cytotoxicity Assay for Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Ricin from Complex Matrices

BACKGROUND: In the context of a potential bioterrorist attack sensitive and fast detection of functionally active toxins such as ricin from complex matrices is necessary to be able to start timely countermeasures. One of the functional detection methods currently available for ricin is the endpoint cytotoxicity assay, which suffers from a number of technical deficits. METHODOLOGY/FINDINGS: This work describes a novel online cytotoxicity assay for the detection of active ricin and Ricinus communis agglutinin, that is based on a real-time cell electronic sensing system and impedance measurement. Characteristic growth parameters of Vero cells were monitored online and used as standardized viability control. Upon incubation with toxin the cell status and the cytotoxic effect were visualized using a characteristic cell index-time profile. For ricin, tested in concentrations of 0.06 ng/mL or above, a concentration-dependent decrease of cell index correlating with cytotoxicity was recorded between 3.5 h and 60 h. For ricin, sensitive detection was determined after 24 h, with an IC50 of 0.4 ng/mL (for agglutinin, an IC50 of 30 ng/mL was observed). Using functionally blocking antibodies, the specificity for ricin and agglutinin was shown. For detection from complex matrices, ricin was spiked into several food matrices, and an IC50 ranging from 5.6 to 200 ng/mL was observed. Additionally, the assay proved to be useful in detecting active ricin in environmental sample materials, as shown for organic fertilizer containing R. communis material. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The cell-electrode impedance measurement provides a sensitive online detection method for biologically active cytotoxins such as ricin. As the cell status is monitored online, the assay can be standardized more efficiently than previous approaches based on endpoint measurement. More importantly, the real-time cytotoxicity assay provides a fast and easy tool to detect active ricin in complex sample matrices

Genetic determinants of telomere length from 109,122 ancestrally diverse whole-genome sequences in TOPMed

Genetic studies on telomere length are important for understanding age-related diseases. Prior GWAS for leukocyte TL have been limited to European and Asian populations. Here, we report the first sequencing-based association study for TL across ancestrally-diverse individuals (European, African, Asian and Hispanic/Latino) from the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. We used whole genome sequencing (WGS) of whole blood for variant genotype calling and the bioinformatic estimation of telomere length in n=109,122 individuals. We identified 59 sentinel variants (p-value OBFC1indicated the independent signals colocalized with cell-type specific eQTLs for OBFC1 (STN1). Using a multi-variant gene-based approach, we identified two genes newly implicated in telomere length, DCLRE1B (SNM1B) and PARN. In PheWAS, we demonstrated our TL polygenic trait scores (PTS) were associated with increased risk of cancer-related phenotypes

A unified pipeline for FISH spatial transcriptomics.

High-throughput spatial transcriptomics has emerged as a powerful tool for investigating the spatial distribution of mRNA expression and its effects on cellular function. There is a lack of standardized tools for analyzing spatial transcriptomics data, leading many groups to write their own in-house tools that are often poorly documented and not generalizable. To address this, we have expanded and improved the starfish library and used those tools to create PIPEFISH, a semi-automated and generalizable pipeline that performs transcript annotation for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)-based spatial transcriptomics. We used this pipeline to annotate transcript locations from three real datasets from three different common types of FISH image-based experiments, MERFISH, seqFISH, and targeted in situ sequencing (ISS), and verified that the results were high quality using the internal quality metrics of the pipeline and also a comparison with an orthogonal method of measuring RNA expression. PIPEFISH is a publicly available and open-source tool