The Effects of a 6-Week Swimming Intervention on Gross Motor Development in Primary School Children

(1) Background: This study examines the effects of a 6-week swimming intervention on motor competence in children. (2) Methods: A total of 107 children (n = 52 boys, n = 55 girls) aged 7.8 ± 0.63 years that were recruited from five primary schools in central England participated in this study, undertaking either an aquatic intervention once a week for six weeks or acting as a control group completing their usual physical education program. Participants underwent pre- and post-assessments of general motor competence using the Test of Gross Motor Development, Third Edition (TGMD-3) (a process measure) and a composite of 10 m running sprint time and standing long jump distance (product measures). Aquatic motor competence was assessed via the Aquatic Movement Protocol (AMP). Fear of drowning and swimming opportunities were also assessed by implementing a questionnaire. (3) Results: Following a mixed-model ANOVA, an overall main effect was found from pre (40.05 ± 13.6) to post (48.3 ± 18.6) for TGMD-3 scores (p < 0.05) and pre (38.7 ± 31.7) to post (50.6 ± 36.8) for AMP scores (p = 0.001). A negative significant relationship was found between AMP scores with both fear of water (p = 0.01) and fear of drowning (p < 0.05). A positive significant relationship was found between swimming opportunities and AMP score (p = 0.001). (4) Conclusions: The aquatic-based intervention improves not only aquatic motor competence but also transfers improvements in dryland movement competencies. Future research should look to implement control groupings which do not participate in swimming to further investigate the difference between swimmers and non-swimmers; however, due to swimming being a part of the national curriculum in England, this may not be feasible

Intra and Inter-Rater Reliability of a Novel Isometric Test of Neck Strength

There is no single, universally accepted method of measuring isometric neck strength to inform exercise prescription and injury risk prediction. This study aimed to establish the inter- and intra-rater reliability of a commercially available fixed frame dynamometer in measuring peak isometric neck strength. A convenience sample of male (n = 16) and female (n = 20) university students performed maximal isometric contractions for flexion (Flex), extension (Ext), left- (LSF) and right-side flexion (RSF) in a quadruped position over three sessions. The intra-rater reliability results were good-to-excellent for both males (ICC = 0.83–0.90) and females (ICC = 0.86–0.94) and acceptable (CV p ≤ 0.05): males were stronger in all four directions, and a significant effect for direction (p ≤ 0.05): Ext tested stronger (193 N) than Flex (176 N), LSF (130 N) and RSF (125 N). The findings show that the VALD fixed frame dynamometer can reliably assess isometric neck strength and can provides reference values for healthy males and females

Coffee and Caffeine Ingestion Have Little Effect on Repeated Sprint Cycling in Relatively Untrained Males

The present study investigated the effect of ingesting caffeine-dose-matched anhydrous caffeine or coffee on the performance of repeated sprints. Twelve recreationally active males (mean ± SD age: 22 ± 2 years, height: 1.78 ± 0.07 m, body mass: 81 ± 16 kg) completed eighteen 4 s sprints with 116 s recovery on a cycle ergometer on four separate occasions in a double-blind, randomised, counterbalanced crossover design. Participants ingested either 3 mg·kg−1 of caffeine (CAF), 0.09 g·kg−1 coffee, which provided 3 mg·kg−1 of caffeine (COF), a taste-matched placebo beverage (PLA), or a control condition (CON) 45 min prior to commencing the exercise protocol. Peak and mean power output and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded for each sprint. There were no significant differences in peak power output (CAF: 949 ± 199 W, COF: 949 ± 174 W, PLA: 971 ± 149 W and CON: 975 ± 170 W; p = 0.872; η P 2 = 0.02) or mean power output (CAF: 873 ± 172 W, COF: 862 ± 44 W, PLA: 887 ± 119 W and CON: 892 ± 143 W; p = 0.819; η P 2 = 0.03) between experimental conditions. Mean RPE was similar for all trials (CAF: 11 ± 2, COF: 11 ± 2, PLA: 11 ± 2 and CON: 11 ± 2; p = 0.927; η P 2 = 0.01). Neither the ingestion of COF or CAF improved repeated sprint cycling performance in relatively untrained males

Advances in Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip Technologies

Advances in molecular biology are enabling rapid and efficient analyses for effective intervention in domains such as biology research, infectious disease management, food safety, and biodefense. The emergence of microfluidics and nanotechnologies has enabled both new capabilities and instrument sizes practical for point-of-care. It has also introduced new functionality, enhanced sensitivity, and reduced the time and cost involved in conventional molecular diagnostic techniques. This chapter reviews the application of microfluidics for molecular diagnostics methods such as nucleic acid amplification, next-generation sequencing, high resolution melting analysis, cytogenetics, protein detection and analysis, and cell sorting. We also review microfluidic sample preparation platforms applied to molecular diagnostics and targeted to sample-in, answer-out capabilities

Oncostatin M drives intestinal inflammation and predicts response to tumor necrosis factor–neutralizing therapy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are complex chronic inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract that are driven by perturbed cytokine pathways. Anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF) antibodies are mainstay therapies for IBD. However, up to 40% of patients are nonresponsive to anti-TNF agents, which makes the identification of alternative therapeutic targets a priority. Here we show that, relative to healthy controls, inflamed intestinal tissues from patients with IBD express high amounts of the cytokine oncostatin M (OSM) and its receptor (OSMR), which correlate closely with histopathological disease severity. The OSMR is expressed in nonhematopoietic, nonepithelial intestinal stromal cells, which respond to OSM by producing various proinflammatory molecules, including interleukin (IL)-6, the leukocyte adhesion factor ICAM1, and chemokines that attract neutrophils, monocytes, and T cells. In an animal model of anti-TNF-resistant intestinal inflammation, genetic deletion or pharmacological blockade of OSM significantly attenuates colitis. Furthermore, according to an analysis of more than 200 patients with IBD, including two cohorts from phase 3 clinical trials of infliximab and golimumab, high pretreatment expression of OSM is strongly associated with failure of anti-TNF therapy. OSM is thus a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for IBD, and has particular relevance for anti-TNF-resistant patients