An Investigation into the Use of a Movement Assessment Protocol for Under-14 Rugby League Players in a Talent Development Environment

This study investigated the use of a movement assessment protocol for under-14 rugby league players by evaluating the relationships between chronological age, maturation, and anthropometry, and fitness and qualitative movement assessments (QMA) of 84 rugby league players within a talent development environment. A one-way ANOVA showed Quartile 1 players were more mature, taller (173.0±7.4 vs 165.0±8.0 cm) and heavier (72.5 vs 58.7 kg) than Quartile 4 players, with no difference evident for fitness or QMA measures. Earlier maturing players had significantly greater upper body power (5.39±0.46 vs 4.42±0.68 m), 20m speed (3.48±0.14 vs 3.65±0.19s) and power pass QMA (13.88±2.18 vs 12.00±1.98) than later maturing players. Body mass was positively related to power pass fitness (r=0.50) and QMA (r=0.22) scores, with negative relationships found for vertical jump performance (r=-0.24), sprint QMA (r=-.29) and turn off either foot QMA (r=-0.26). There is a need to educate coaches about the use of both fitness testing and qualitative movement assessments to identify talented U14 rugby league players, which potentially reduces relative age and maturational biases

Monitoring temporal change in riparian vegetation of Great Basin National Park

Disturbance in riparian areas of semiarid ecosystems involves complex interactions of pulsed hydrologic flows, herbivory, fire, climatic effects, and anthropogenic influences. We resampled riparian vegetation within ten 10-m × 100-m plots that were initially sampled in 1992 in 4 watersheds of the Snake Range, east central Nevada. Our finding of significantly lower coverage of grasses, forbs, and shrubs within plots in 2001 compared with 1992 was not consistent with the management decision to remove livestock grazing from the watersheds in 1999. Change over time in cover of life-forms or bare ground was not predicted by scat counts within plots in 2001. Cover results were also not well explained by variability between the 2 sampling periods in either density of native herbivores or annual precipitation. In contrast, Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) exhibited reduced abundance at all but the highest-elevation plot in which it occurred in 1992, and the magnitude of change in abundance was strongly predicted by plot elevation. Abundance of white fir (Abies concolor) individuals increased while aspen (Populus tremuloides) individuals decreased at 4 of 5 sites where they were sympatric, and changes in abundance in the 2 species were negatively correlated across those sites. Utility of monitoring data to detect change over time and contribute to adaptive management will vary with sample size, observer bias, use of repeatable or published methods, and precision of measurements, among other factors

Transcriptional regulation of the urokinase receptor (u-PAR) - A central molecule of invasion and metastasis

The phenomenon of tumor-associated proteolysis has been acknowledged as a decisive step in the progression of cancer. This short review focuses on the urokinase receptor (u-PAR), a central molecule involved in tumor-associated invasion and metastasis, and summarizes the transcriptional regulation of u-PAR. The urokinase receptor (u-PAR) is a heavily glycosylated cell surface protein and binds the serine protease urokinase specifically and with high affinity. It consists of three similar cysteine-rich repeats and is anchored to the cell membrane via a GPI-anchor. The u-PAR gene comprises 7 exons and is located on chromosome 19q13. Transcriptional activation of the u-PAR promoter region can be induced by binding of transcription factors (Sp1, AP-1, AP-2, NF-kappaB). One current study gives an example for transcriptional downregulation of u-PAR through a PEA3/ets transcriptional silencing element. Knowledge of the molecular regulation of this molecule in tumor cells could be very important for diagnosis and therapy in the near future

The impact of rurality and disadvantage on the diagnostic interval for breast cancer in a large population-based study of 3202 women in Queensland, Australia

Delays in diagnosing breast cancer (BC) can lead to poorer outcomes. We investigated factors related to the diagnostic interval in a population-based cohort of 3202 women diagnosed with BC in Queensland,Australia. Interviews ascertained method of detection and dates of medical/procedural appointments,and clinical information was obtained from medical records. Time intervals were calculated from self-recognition of symptoms (symptom-detected) or mammogram (screen-detected) to diagnosis (diagnostic interval (DI)). The cohort included 1560 women with symptom-detected and 1642 with screen-detected BC. Symptom-detected women had higher odds of DI of >60 days if they were Indigenous (OR = 3.12,95% CI = 1.40,6.98); lived in outer regional (OR = 1.50,95% CI = 1.09,2.06) or remote locations (OR = 2.46,95% CI = 1.39,4.38); or presented with a “non-lump” symptom (OR = 1.84,95% CI = 1.43,2.36). For screen-detected BC,women who were Indigenous (OR = 2.36,95% CI = 1.03,5.80); lived in remote locations (OR = 2.35,95% CI = 1.24,4.44); or disadvantaged areas (OR = 1.69,95% CI = 1.17,2.43) and attended a public screening facility (OR = 2.10,95% CI = 1.40,3.17) had higher odds of DI > 30 days. Our study indicates a disadvantage in terms of DI for rural,disadvantaged and Indigenous women. Difficulties in accessing primary care and diagnostic services are evident. There is a need to identify and implement an efficient and effective model of care to minimize avoidable longer diagnostic intervals

Linear Estimation of Location and Scale Parameters Using Partial Maxima

Consider an i.i.d. sample X^*_1,X^*_2,...,X^*_n from a location-scale family, and assume that the only available observations consist of the partial maxima (or minima)sequence, X^*_{1:1},X^*_{2:2},...,X^*_{n:n}, where X^*_{j:j}=max{X^*_1,...,X^*_j}. This kind of truncation appears in several circumstances, including best performances in athletics events. In the case of partial maxima, the form of the BLUEs (best linear unbiased estimators) is quite similar to the form of the well-known Lloyd's (1952, Least-squares estimation of location and scale parameters using order statistics, Biometrika, vol. 39, pp. 88-95) BLUEs, based on (the sufficient sample of) order statistics, but, in contrast to the classical case, their consistency is no longer obvious. The present paper is mainly concerned with the scale parameter, showing that the variance of the partial maxima BLUE is at most of order O(1/log n), for a wide class of distributions.Comment: This article is devoted to the memory of my six-years-old, little daughter, Dionyssia, who leaved us on August 25, 2010, at Cephalonia isl. (26 pages, to appear in Metrika

The Development of Teaching Skills to Support Active Learning in University Science (ALIUS)

This paper describes an Australian Learning and Teaching Council funded project for which Learning Design is encompassed in the broadest sense. ALIUS (Active Learning In University Science) takes the design of learning back to the learning experiences created for students. ALIUS is not about designing a particular activity, or subject, or course, but rather the development of a method, or process, by which we have re-designed the way in which learning occurs in large university classrooms world wide

Long and short paths in uniform random recursive dags

In a uniform random recursive k-dag, there is a root, 0, and each node in turn, from 1 to n, chooses k uniform random parents from among the nodes of smaller index. If S_n is the shortest path distance from node n to the root, then we determine the constant \sigma such that S_n/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability as n tends to infinity. We also show that max_{1 \le i \le n} S_i/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability.Comment: 16 page

An investigation into the use of a movement assessment protocol for under 14 rugby league players in a talent development environment

This study investigated the use of a movement assessment protocol for under-14 rugby league players by evaluating the relationships between chronological age, maturation, and anthropometry, and fitness and qualitative movement assessments (QMA) of 84 rugby league players within a talent development environment. A one-way ANOVA showed Quartile 1 players were more mature, taller (173.0±7.4 vs 165.0±8.0 cm) and heavier (72.5 vs 58.7 kg) than Quartile 4 players, with no difference evident for fitness or QMA measures. Earlier maturing players had significantly greater upper body power (5.39±0.46 vs 4.42±0.68 m), 20m speed (3.48±0.14 vs 3.65±0.19s) and power pass QMA (13.88±2.18 vs 12.00±1.98) than later maturing players. Body mass was positively related to power pass fitness (r=0.50) and QMA (r=0.22) scores, with negative relationships found for vertical jump performance (r=-0.24), sprint QMA (r=-.29) and turn off either foot QMA (r=-0.26). There is a need to educate coaches about the use of both fitness testing and qualitative movement assessments to identify talented U14 rugby league players, which potentially reduces relative age and maturational biases

Emerging viral diseases of Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific

Over the past 6 years, a number of zoonotic and vectorborne viral diseases have emerged in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. Vectorborne disease agents discussed in this article include Japanese encephalitis, Barmah Forest, Ross River, and Chikungunya viruses. However, most emerging viruses have been zoonotic, with fruit bats, including flying fox species as the probable wildlife hosts, and these will be discussed as well. The first of these disease agents to emerge was Hendra virus, formerly called equine morbillivirus. This was followed by outbreaks caused by a rabies-related virus, Australian bat lyssavirus, and a virus associated with porcine stillbirths and malformations, Menangle virus. Nipah virus caused an outbreak of fatal pneumonia in pigs and encephalitis in humans in the Malay Peninsula. Most recently, Tioman virus has been isolated from flying foxes, but it has not yet been associated with animal or human disease. Of nonzoonotic viruses, the most important regionally have been enterovirus 71 and HIV

Acute hypoxemia and vascular function in healthy humans.

Endothelium-dependent flow mediated dilation (FMD) and endothelium-independent dilation (GTN) are impaired at high altitude (5050 m), and FMD is impaired following acute exposure (<60-minutes) to normobaric hypoxia equivalent to ∼5050 m (∼FI O2  = 0.11). Whether glyceryl trinitrate (GTN)-induced dilation is impaired acutely, and whether FMD is impaired during milder hypoxia is unknown. Therefore, we assessed brachial FMD at baseline and following 30-minutes of mild (74 ± 2 mmHg PET O₂) and moderate (50 ± 3 mmHg PET O₂) normobaric hypoxia (n = 12) or normoxia (time-control trial; n = 10). We also assessed GTN-dilaiton following the hypoxic FMD tests and in normoxia on a separate control day (n = 8). Compared to normoxic baseline, reduction during mild and moderate hypoxic exposure were evident in FMD (mild vs moderate: -1.2 ± 1.1% vs. -3.1 ± 1.7%; P = 0.01) and GTN-dilation (-2.1 ± 1.0 vs. -4.2 ± 2.0; P = 0.01); the decline in FMD and GTN-dilation were greater during moderate hypoxia (P < 0.01). When allometrically corrected for baseline diameter and FMD shear rate under the curve (SRAUC ), relative FMD was attenuated in both conditions (mild vs moderate: 0.6 ± 0.9% vs. 0.8 ± 0.7%; P ≤ 0.01). Following 30-minutes of normoxic time-control, FMD was reduced (-0.6 ± 0.3%; P = 0.02). In summary, there was a graded impairment in FMD during mild and moderate hypoxic exposure, which appears to be influenced by shear patterns and incremental declines in smooth muscle vasodilator capacity (impaired GTN-dilation). Our findings from the normoxic controls study, suggest the decline in FMD in acute hypoxia also appears to be influenced by 30-minutes of supine rest/inactivity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved