Skeletal muscle gene expression in response to resistance exercise: sex specific regulation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The molecular mechanisms underlying the sex differences in human muscle morphology and function remain to be elucidated. The sex differences in the skeletal muscle transcriptome in both the resting state and following anabolic stimuli, such as resistance exercise (RE), might provide insight to the contributors of sexual dimorphism of muscle phenotypes. We used microarrays to profile the transcriptome of the biceps brachii of young men and women who underwent an acute unilateral RE session following 12 weeks of progressive training. Bilateral muscle biopsies were obtained either at an early (4 h post-exercise) or late recovery (24 h post-exercise) time point. Muscle transcription profiles were compared in the resting state between men (n = 6) and women (n = 8), and in response to acute RE in trained exercised vs. untrained non-exercised control muscle for each sex and time point separately (4 h post-exercise, n = 3 males, n = 4 females; 24 h post-exercise, n = 3 males, n = 4 females). A logistic regression-based method (LRpath), following Bayesian moderated t-statistic (IMBT), was used to test gene functional groups and biological pathways enriched with differentially expressed genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This investigation identified extensive sex differences present in the muscle transcriptome at baseline and following acute RE. In the resting state, female muscle had a greater transcript abundance of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation and gene transcription/translation processes. After strenuous RE at the same relative intensity, the time course of the transcriptional modulation was sex-dependent. Males experienced prolonged changes while females exhibited a rapid restoration. Most of the biological processes involved in the RE-induced transcriptional regulation were observed in both males and females, but sex specificity was suggested for several signaling pathways including activation of notch signaling and TGF-beta signaling in females. Sex differences in skeletal muscle transcriptional regulation might implicate a mechanism behind disproportional muscle growth in males as compared with female counterparts after RE training at the same relative intensity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Sex differences exist in skeletal muscle gene transcription both at rest and following acute RE, suggesting that sex is a significant modifier of the transcriptional regulation in skeletal muscle. The findings from the present study provide insight into the molecular mechanisms for sex differences in muscle phenotypes and for muscle transcriptional regulation associated with training adaptations to resistance exercise.</p

Glucocorticoid Receptor (NR3C1) Variants Associate with the Muscle Strength and Size Response to Resistance Training

Glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1) polymorphisms associate with obesity, muscle strength, and cortisol sensitivity. We examined associations among four NR3C1 polymorphisms and the muscle response to resistance training (RT). European-American adults (n = 602, 23.8±0.4yr) completed a 12 week unilateral arm RT program. Maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) assessed isometric strength (kg) and MRI assessed biceps size (cm2) pre- and post-resistance training. Subjects were genotyped for NR3C1 -2722G>A, -1887G>A, -1017T>C, and +363A>G. Men carrying the -2722G allele gained less relative MVC (17.3±1.2vs33.5±6.1%) (p = 0.010) than AA homozygotes; men with -1887GG gained greater relative MVC than A allele carriers (19.6±1.4vs13.2±2.3%) (p = 0.016). Women carrying the -1017T allele gained greater relative size (18.7±0.5vs16.1±0.9%) (p = 0.016) than CC homozygotes. We found sex-specific NR3C1 associations with the muscle strength and size response to RT. Future studies should investigate whether these associations are partially explained by cortisol’s actions in muscle tissue as they interact with sex differences in cortisol production.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.014811

Genome-wide mRNA expression profiling in vastus lateralis of COPD patients with low and normal fat free mass index and healthy controls

BACKGROUND: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) has significant systemic effects beyond the lungs amongst which muscle wasting is a prominent contributor to exercise limitation and an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality. The molecular mechanisms leading to skeletal muscle dysfunction/wasting are not fully understood and are likely to be multi-factorial. The need to develop therapeutic strategies aimed at improving skeletal muscle dysfunction/wasting requires a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for these abnormalities. Microarrays are powerful tools that allow the investigation of the expression of thousands of genes, virtually the whole genome, simultaneously. We aim at identifying genes and molecular pathways involved in skeletal muscle wasting in COPD. METHODS: We assessed and compared the vastus lateralis transcriptome of COPD patients with low fat free mass index (FFMI) as a surrogate of muscle mass (COPD(L)) (FEV(1) 30 ± 3.6%pred, FFMI 15 ± 0.2 Kg.m(−2)) with patients with COPD and normal FFMI (COPD(N)) (FEV(1) 44 ± 5.8%pred, FFMI 19 ± 0.5 Kg.m(−2)) and a group of age and sex matched healthy controls (C) (FEV(1) 95 ± 3.9%pred, FFMI 20 ± 0.8 Kg.m(−2)) using Agilent Human Whole Genome 4x44K microarrays. The altered expression of several of these genes was confirmed by real time TaqMan PCR. Protein levels of P21 were assessed by immunoblotting. RESULTS: A subset of 42 genes was differentially expressed in COPD(L) in comparison to both COPD(N) and C (PFP < 0.05; −1.5 ≥ FC ≥ 1.5). The altered expression of several of these genes was confirmed by real time TaqMan PCR and correlated with different functional and structural muscle parameters. Five of these genes (CDKN1A, GADD45A, PMP22, BEX2, CGREF1, CYR61), were associated with cell cycle arrest and growth regulation and had been previously identified in studies relating muscle wasting and ageing. Protein levels of CDKN1A, a recognized marker of premature ageing/cell cycle arrest, were also found to be increased in COPD(L). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence of differentially expressed genes in peripheral muscle in COPD patients corresponding to relevant biological processes associated with skeletal muscle wasting and provides potential targets for future therapeutic interventions to prevent loss of muscle function and mass in COPD. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12931-014-0139-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Simulating Users in a Social Media Platform Using Multi-agent Systems

[EN] The massive use of social media makes it increasingly easy to find highly sensitive information about almost anyone on the Internet. Despite the efforts of social media platforms to provide their users with tools to manage their privacy, these are proving insufficient due to their complexity. For this reason, it has been considered necessary to develop a software tool based on a multi-agent system to help users to improve and correct their bad behavior by using automation mechanisms and transmitting the information in a natural way for them, replicating the behavior of a human being. The aim of our work is to implement a multi- agent system where agents interact organically with each other and with human users on the PESEDIA social network, so that they can support user in a non-intrusive manner, using paternalistic techniques through actions available on the social network.This work has been funded thanks to the Spanish Government through project TIN2017-89156-R and predoctoral contract PRE2018-084940.Pérez-García, D.; Argente, E. (2020). Simulating Users in a Social Media Platform Using Multi-agent Systems. Springer Nature. 486-498. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61705-9_40S486498Alemany, J., del Val, E., Alberola, J., García-Fornes, A.: Enhancing the privacy risk awareness of teenagers in online social networks through soft-paternalism mechanisms. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 129, 27–40 (2019)Argente, E., Vivancos, E., Alemany, J., García-Fornes, A.: Educando en privacidad en el uso de las redes sociales. Educ. Knowl. Soc. 18(2), 107–126 (2017)Bell, L., Gustafson, J.: Interaction with an animated agent in a spoken dialogue system. In: 6th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (1999)Cassell, J., Thorisson, K.R.: The power of a nod and a glance: envelope vs. emotional feedback in animated conversational agents. Appl. Artif. Intell. 13(4–5), 519–538 (1999)Cerrato, L., Ekeklint, S.: Different ways of ending human-machine dialogues. In: Proceedings of the Embodied Conversational Agents (2002)Franchi, E., Poggi, A.: Multi-agent systems and social networks. In: Handbook of Research on Business Social Networking: Organizational, Managerial, and Technological Dimensions, pp. 84–97. IGI Global (2012)Hollenbaugh, E.E., Ferris, A.L.: Facebook self-disclosure: examining the role of traits, social cohesion, and motives. Comput. Hum. Behav. 30, 50–58 (2014)Hubal, R.C., Fishbein, D.H., Sheppard, M.S., Paschall, M.J., Eldreth, D.L., Hyde, C.T.: How do varied populations interact with embodied conversational agents? Findings from inner-city adolescents and prisoners. Comput. Hum. Behav. 24(3), 1104–1138 (2008)Inc., F.: Facebook reports third quarter 2019 results (2019). https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2019/Facebook-Reports-Third-Quarter-2019-Results/default.aspx . Accessed 27 Jan 2020Inc., F.: Instagram for business (2019). https://www.facebook.com/business/marketing/instagram . Accessed 27 Jan 2020Inc., T.: Twitter q3 ’19 investor fact sheet (2019). https://s22.q4cdn.com/826641620/files/doc_financials/2019/q3/Q3_19_InvestorFactSheet.pdf . Accessed 27 Jan 2020Kökciyan, N., Yolum, P.: PriGuardTool: a tool for monitoring privacy violations in online social networks. In: AAMAS, pp. 1496–1497 (2016)Lewis, K.: The co-evolution of social network ties and online privacy behavior. In: Trepte, S., Reinecke, L. (eds.) Privacy Online, pp. 91–109. Springer, Heidelberg (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21521-6_8Madden, M., et al.: Teens, social media, and privacy. Pew Res. Cent. 21, 2–86 (2013)Patkos, T., et al.: Privacy-by-norms privacy expectations in online interactions. In: 2015 IEEE International Conference on Self-Adaptive Self-Organizing Systems, pp. 1–6 (2015)Ruiz Dolz, R.: An argumentation system for assisting users with privacy management in online social networks (2019)Spottswood, E.L., Hancock, J.T.: Should I share that? Prompting social norms that influence privacy behaviors on a social networking site. J. Comput-Mediat. Commun. 22(2), 55–70 (2017)Stutzman, F., Kramer-Duffield, J.: Friends only: examining a privacy-enhancing behavior in facebook. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1553–1562 (2010)Waters, S., Ackerman, J.: Exploring privacy management on Facebook: motivations and perceived consequences of voluntary disclosure. J. Comput-Mediat. Commun. 17(1), 101–115 (2011)Wisniewski, P.J., Knijnenburg, B.P., Lipford, H.R.: Making privacy personal: profiling social network users to inform privacy education and nudging. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 98, 95–108 (2017

Virtual Reality Interaction Techniques For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Virtual reality (VR) systems are seeing growing use for training individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although these systems indicate effective use of VR for training, there is little work in the literature evaluating different VR interaction techniques for this audience. In this paper, different VR interaction techniques are explored in the Virtual Reality for Vocational Rehabilitation (VR4VR) system and additional data analysis on top of our previously published preliminary results [1] was performed via a user study with nine individuals with ASD and ten neurotypical individuals. The participants tried six vocational training modules of the VR4VR system. In these modules, tangible object manipulation, haptic device, touch and snap and touchscreen were tested for object selection and manipulation; real walking and walk-in-place were tested for locomotion; and head mounted display and curtain screen were tested for display. Touchscreen and tangible interaction methods were preferred by the individuals with ASD. The walk-in-place locomotion technique were found frustrating and difficult to perform by the individuals with ASD. Curtain display received higher preference scores from individuals with ASD although they accepted the HMD as well. The observations and findings of the study are expected to give insight into the poorly explored area of experience of individuals with ASD with various interaction techniques in VR