Comparison of a Continuous and Discontinuous GXT on VO2 in Resistance-Trained and Endurance-Trained Males

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(4): 414-422, 2022. Traditional graded exercise testing to assess maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) may not well represent resistance-trained athletes due to their unfamiliarity with continuous exercise. For this reason, it is possible discontinuous exercise protocols may better represent the maximum capacity for aerobic metabolism in resistance-trained athletes, in order to provide a more valid assessment of VO2max and risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Purpose: The purpose of this experiment was to compare VO2peak during a continuous and discontinuous modified Bruce protocol in both highly resistance-trained and endurance-trained males. Methods: 19 college-aged males (age: 20.6 ± 1.9 yr, height: 176.5 ± 7.6 cm, weight: 85.0 ± 25.6 kg) of intermediate resistance- or endurance-trained status were recruited for this study. Participants completed a continuous and discontinuous modified Bruce protocol on two visits separated by seven days. Results: A 2x2 one-way ANOVA revealed a significant group main effect for VO2peak (p = 0.004) in which endurance athletes achieved significantly higher VO2peak values compared to resistance-trained athletes. A significant group main effect for RPE was found (p = 0.045) in which endurance-trained reported significantly higher RPE values than the resistance-trained. A significant main effect for protocol for heart rate (p = 0.033) was found in which individuals achieved higher heart rates during the continuous protocol compared to the discontinuous. Conclusion: Although a discontinuous protocol with rest periods between stages is comparable to the exercise mode familiar to resistance-trained athletes, it did not provide any additional benefit to VO2peak values

BioAcoustica : a free and open repository and analysis platform for bioacoustics

We describe an online open repository and analysis platform, BioAcoustica (http://bio. acousti.ca), for recordings of wildlife sounds. Recordings can be annotated using a crowdsourced approach, allowing voice introductions and sections with extraneous noise to be removed from analyses. This system is based on the Scratchpads virtual research environment, the BioVeL portal and the Taverna workflow management tool, which allows for analysis of recordings using a grid computing service. At present the analyses include spectrograms, oscillograms and dominant frequency analysis. Further analyses can be integrated to meet the needs of specific researchers or projects. Researchers can upload and annotate their recordings to supplement traditional publication

Association between surgical volume and failure of primary total hip replacement in England and Wales: findings from a prospective national joint replacement register

Objective To investigate the association of volume of total hip arthroplasty (THA) between consultants and within the same consultant in the previous year and the hazard of revision using multilevel survival models. Design Prospective cohort study using data from a national joint replacement register. Setting Elective THA across all private and public centres in England and Wales between April 2003 and February 2017. Participants Patients aged 50 years or more undergoing THA for osteoarthritis. Intervention The volume of THA conducted in the preceding 365 days to the index procedure. Main outcome and measure Revision surgery (excision, addition or replacement) of a primary THA. Results Of the 579 858 patients undergoing primary THA (mean baseline age 69.8 years (SD 10.2)), 61.1% were women. Multilevel survival found differing results for between and within-consultant effects. There was a strong volume–revision association between consultants, with a near-linear 43.3% (95% CI 29.1% to 57.4%) reduction of the risk of revision comparing consultants with volumes between 1 and 200 procedures annually. Changes in individual surgeons (within-consultant) case volume showed no evidence of an association with revision. Conclusion Separation of between-consultant and within- consultant effects of surgical volume reveals how volume contributes to the risk of revision after THA. The lack of association within-consultants suggests that individual changes to consultant volume alone will have little effect on outcomes following THA. These novel findings provide strong evidence supporting the practice of specialisation of hip arthroplasty. It does not support the practice of low-volume consultants increasing their personal volume as it is unlikely their results would improve if this is the only change. Limiting the exposure of patients to consultants with low volumes of THA and greater utilisation of centres with higher volume surgeons with better outcomes may be beneficial to patients

The effectiveness of manual stretching in the treatment of plantar heel pain: a systematic review

Background: Plantar heel pain is a commonly occurring foot complaint. Stretching is frequently utilised as a treatment, yet a systematic review focusing only on its effectiveness has not been published. This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of stretching on pain and function in people with plantar heel pain. Methods: Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, and The Cochrane Library were searched from inception to July 2010. Studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were independently assessed, and their quality evaluated using the modified PEDro scale. Results: Six studies including 365 symptomatic participants were included. Two compared stretching with a control, one study compared stretching to an alternative intervention, one study compared stretching to both alternative and control interventions, and two compared different stretching techniques and durations. Quality rating on the modified Pedro scale varied from two to eight out of a maximum of ten points. The methodologies and interventions varied significantly between studies, making meta-analysis inappropriate. Most participants improved over the course of the studies, but when stretching was compared to alternative or control interventions, the changes only reached statistical significance in one study that used a combination of calf muscle stretches and plantar fascia stretches in their stretching programme. Another study comparing different stretching techniques, showed a statistically significant reduction in some aspects of pain in favour of plantar fascia stretching over calf stretches in the short term. Conclusions: There were too few studies to assess whether stretching is effective compared to control or other interventions, for either pain or function. However, there is some evidence that plantar fascia stretching may be more effective than Achilles tendon stretching alone in the short-term. Appropriately powered randomised controlled trials, utilizing validated outcome measures, blinded assessors and long-term follow up are needed to assess the efficacy of stretching

I'll take that to go:Big data bags and minimal identifiers for exchange of large, complex datasets

Big data workflows often require the assembly and exchange of complex, multi-element datasets. For example, in biomedical applications, the input to an analytic pipeline can be a dataset consisting thousands of images and genome sequences assembled from diverse repositories, requiring a description of the contents of the dataset in a concise and unambiguous form. Typical approaches to creating datasets for big data workflows assume that all data reside in a single location, requiring costly data marshaling and permitting errors of omission and commission because dataset members are not explicitly specified. We address these issues by proposing simple methods and tools for assembling, sharing, and analyzing large and complex datasets that scientists can easily integrate into their daily workflows. These tools combine a simple and robust method for describing data collections (BDBags), data descriptions (Research Objects), and simple persistent identifiers (Minids) to create a powerful ecosystem of tools and services for big data analysis and sharing. We present these tools and use biomedical case studies to illustrate their use for the rapid assembly, sharing, and analysis of large datasets

Reproducible big data science: A case study in continuous FAIRness.

Big biomedical data create exciting opportunities for discovery, but make it difficult to capture analyses and outputs in forms that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). In response, we describe tools that make it easy to capture, and assign identifiers to, data and code throughout the data lifecycle. We illustrate the use of these tools via a case study involving a multi-step analysis that creates an atlas of putative transcription factor binding sites from terabytes of ENCODE DNase I hypersensitive sites sequencing data. We show how the tools automate routine but complex tasks, capture analysis algorithms in understandable and reusable forms, and harness fast networks and powerful cloud computers to process data rapidly, all without sacrificing usability or reproducibility-thus ensuring that big data are not hard-to-(re)use data. We evaluate our approach via a user study, and show that 91% of participants were able to replicate a complex analysis involving considerable data volumes

Frictional Coulomb drag in strong magnetic fields

A treatment of frictional Coulomb drag between two 2-dimensional electron layers in a strong perpendicular magnetic field, within the independent electron picture, is presented. Assuming fully resolved Landau levels, the linear response theory expression for the transresistivity $\rho_{21}$ is evaluated using diagrammatic techniques. The transresistivity is given by an integral over energy and momentum transfer weighted by the product of the screened interlayer interaction and the phase-space for scattering events. We demonstrate, by a numerical analysis of the transresistivity, that for well-resolved Landau levels the interplay between these two factors leads to characteristic features in both the magnetic field- and the temperature dependence of $\rho_{21}$. Numerical results are compared with recent experiments.Comment: RevTeX, 34 pages, 8 figures included in tex

Massive stars in the giant molecular cloud G23.3−0.3 and W41

Context. Young massive stars and stellar clusters continuously form in the Galactic disk, generating new Hii regions within their natal giant molecular clouds and subsequently enriching the interstellar medium via their winds and supernovae.Aims. Massive stars are among the brightest infrared stars in such regions; their identification permits the characterisation of the star formation history of the associated cloud as well as constraining the location of stellar aggregates and hence their occurrence as a function of global environment.Methods. We present a stellar spectroscopic survey in the direction of the giant molecular cloud G23.3−0.3. This complex is located at a distance of ~4–5 kpc, and consists of several Hii regions and supernova remnants.Results. We discovered 11 OfK+ stars, one candidate luminous blue variable, several OB stars, and candidate red supergiants. Stars with K-band extinction from ~1.3–1.9 mag appear to be associated with the GMC G23.3−0.3; O and B-types satisfying this criterion have spectrophotometric distances consistent with that of the giant molecular cloud. Combining near-IR spectroscopic and photometric data allowed us to characterize the multiple sites of star formation within it. The O-type stars have masses from ~25–45 M⊙, and ages of 5–8 Myr. Two new red supergiants were detected with interstellar extinction typical of the cloud; along with the two RSGs within the cluster GLIMPSE9, they trace an older burst with an age of 20–30 Myr. Massive stars were also detected in the core of three supernova remnants – W41, G22.7−0.2, and G22.7583−0.4917.Conclusions. A large population of massive stars appears associated with the GMC G23.3−0.3, with the properties inferred for them indicative of an extended history of stars formation

SEXTANT X-Ray Pulsar Navigation Demonstration: Additional On-Orbit Results

The Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) is a technology demonstration enhancement to the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission, a NASA Astrophysics Explorer Mission of Opportunity to the International Space Station, launched in June of 2017. In late 2017, SEXTANT successfully completed a first demonstration of in-space and autonomous X-ray pulsar navigation (XNAV). This form of navigation relies on processing faint signals from millisecond pulsars-rapidly rotating neutron stars that appear to pulsate in the X-ray band-and could potentially provide a GPS-like navigation capability applicable throughout the solar-system and beyond. In this work, we briefly review prior SEXTANT results and then present new results focusing on: making use of the high- flux but rotationally unstable Crab pulsar, and using XNAV to estimate position, velocity, and time in the presence of an imperfect local clock