533 research outputs found
Inspiratory muscle training reduces blood lactate concentration during volitional hyperpnoea
Although reduced blood lactate concentrations ([lacâ]B) have been observed during whole-body exercise following inspiratory muscle training (IMT), it remains unknown whether the inspiratory muscles are the source of at least part of this reduction. To investigate this, we tested the hypothesis that IMT would attenuate the increase in [lacâ]B caused by mimicking, at rest, the breathing pattern observed during high-intensity exercise. Twenty-two physically active males were matched for 85% maximal exercise minute ventilation (VËEmax) and divided equally into an IMT or a control group. Prior to and following a 6 week intervention, participants performed 10 min of volitional hyperpnoea at the breathing pattern commensurate with 85% VËEmax
ICTD Work, Plus mFeel : improving communication in resource-poor settings
This issue's Works-In-Progress department has four entries related to the issue's theme, Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD). They are âSustainable ICT in Agricultural Value Chainsâ, âMeasuring Social Inclusion in Primary Schoolsâ, âAn Architecture for Green Mobile Computationâ, and âImproving Communication in Resource-Poor Settingsâ. A fifth entry, âmFeel: An Affective Mobile Systemâ, covers the mFeel mobile system, which combines context awareness with affective and cognitive techniques
Multiple populations in globular clusters. Lessons learned from the Milky Way globular clusters
Recent progress in studies of globular clusters has shown that they are not
simple stellar populations, being rather made of multiple generations. Evidence
stems both from photometry and spectroscopy. A new paradigm is then arising for
the formation of massive star clusters, which includes several episodes of star
formation. While this provides an explanation for several features of globular
clusters, including the second parameter problem, it also opens new
perspectives about the relation between globular clusters and the halo of our
Galaxy, and by extension of all populations with a high specific frequency of
globular clusters, such as, e.g., giant elliptical galaxies. We review progress
in this area, focusing on the most recent studies. Several points remain to be
properly understood, in particular those concerning the nature of the polluters
producing the abundance pattern in the clusters and the typical timescale, the
range of cluster masses where this phenomenon is active, and the relation
between globular clusters and other satellites of our Galaxy.Comment: In press (The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review
Inverse Association between Dietary Iron Intake and Gastric Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of CaseâControl Studies of the Stop Consortium
Background: Inconsistent findings have been reported regarding the relationship between dietary iron intake and the risk of gastric cancer (GC). Methods: We pooled data from 11 caseâcontrol studies from the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project. Total dietary iron intake was derived from food frequency questionnaires combined with national nutritional tables. We derived the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for quartiles of dietary iron through multivariable unconditional logistic regression models. Secondary analyses stratified by sex, smoking status, caloric intake, anatomical subsite and histological type were performed. Results: Among 4658 cases and 12247 controls, dietary iron intake was inversely associated with GC (per quartile OR 0.88; 95% CI: 0.83â0.93). Results were similar between cardia (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.77â0.94) and nonâcardia GC (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.81â0.94), and for diffuse (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.69â0.89) and intestinal type (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.79â0.98). Iron intake exerted an independent effect from that of smoking and salt intake. Additional adjustment by meat and fruit/vegetable intake did not alter the results. Conclusions: Dietary iron is inversely related to GC, with no difference by subsite or histological type. While the results should be interpreted with caution, they provide evidence against a direct effect of iron in gastric carcinogenesis. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This study was supported by the Fondazione AIRC per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Project no. 21378 (Investigator Grant). The Unidade de Investigação em EpidemiologiaâInstituto de SaĂșde PĂșblica da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit; UIDB/04750/2020) and the LaboratĂłrio para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em SaĂșde Populacional (ITR; LA/P/0064/2020) were funded by the Foundation for Science and TechnologyâFCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education). SM was supported by the project âNEONâPCâNeuroâoncological complications of prostate cancer: longitudinal study of cognitive declineâ (POCIâ01â0145âFEDERâ032358; ref. PTDC/SAUâEPI/32358/2017), which is funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme competitiveness and Internationalization, and national funding from FCT and the EPIUnitâJunior ResearchâProg Financing (UIDP/04750/2020). The authors thank the European Cancer Prevention (ECP) Organization for providing support for the StoP Project meetings and all MCCâSpain study collaborators (CIBERESP, ISCIII, ISGlobal, ICO, University of Huelva, University of Oviedo, University of Cantabria, ibs.Granada, Instituto Salud PĂșblica de Navarra, FISABIO, Murcia Regional Health Authority and cols)
Turnover rate of cerebrospinal fluid in female sheep: changes related to different light-dark cycles
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sheep are seasonal breeders. The key factor governing seasonal changes in the reproductive activity of the ewe is increased negative feedback of estradiol at the level of the hypothalamus under long-day conditions. It has previously been demonstrated that when gonadotropin secretions are inhibited during long days, there is a higher concentration of estradiol in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) than during short days. This suggests an involvement of the CSF and choroid plexus in the neuroendocrine regulatory loop, but the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unknown. One possible explanation of this difference in hormonal content is an effect of concentration or dilution caused by variations in CSF secretion rate. The aim of this study was thus to investigate changes in the CSF turnover rate related to light-dark cycles.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The turnover rate of the CSF was estimated by measuring the time taken for the recovery of intraventricular pressure (IVP) after removal of a moderate volume (0.5 to 2 ml) of CSF (slope in mmHg/min). The turnover rate was estimated three times in the same group of sheep: during a natural period of decreasing day-length corresponding to the initial period when gonadotropin activity is stimulated (SG1), during a long-day inhibitory period (IG), and finally during a short-day stimulatory period (SG2).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The time taken and the speed of recovery of initial IVP differed between groups: 8 min 30 sec, 0.63 ± 0.07 mmHg/min(SG1), 11 min 1 sec, 0.38 ± 0.06 mmHg/min (IG) and 9 min 0 sec, 0.72 ± 0.15 mmHg/min (SG2). Time changes of IVP differed between groups (ANOVA, p < 0.005, SG1 different from IG, <it>p </it>< 0.05). The turnover rate in SG2: 183.16 ± 23.82 Όl/min was not significantly different from SG1: 169. 23 ± 51.58 Όl/min (Mann-Whitney test, <it>p </it>= 0.41), but was significantly different from IG: 71.33 ± 16.59 Όl/min (<it>p </it>= 0.016).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study shows that the turnover rate of CSF in ewes changes according to the light-dark cycle; it is increased during short day periods and reduced in long day periods. This phenomenon could account for differences in hormonal concentrations in the CSF in this seasonal species.</p
Sports, morality and body. The voices of sportswomen under Franco's dictatorship
The aim of this research is to study sportswomen's perceptions and experiences of women's sport in Francoist Spain (1939-1975). The main objective is to analyse the social, moral and aesthetic elements that are present in the experience of these athletes. This study was carried out with an intentional sample of 24 women from Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Basque Country, Catalonia and Valencia. They were interviewed by a network of researchers from six universities. Outstanding results show the existence of social limitations to start sports practice (particularly in the post-war period); the importance of sport as a character-building aspect; sport's remarkable influence on their body self-concept; and the incidence on sports of the mainstream moral discourse, which created a female model that even affected sports clothing. The main conclusion is that sportswomen in that period were pioneers and had to fight against most of society in order to develop their facet as athletes, as they would not follow the established model
Natural selection on cork oak: allele frequency reveals divergent selection in cork oak populations along a temperature cline
A recent study of population divergence at neutral markers and adaptive traits in cork oak has observed an association between genetic distances at locus QpZAG46 and genetic distances for leaf size and growth. In that study it was proposed that certain loci could be linked to genes encoding for adaptive traits in cork oak and, thus, could be used in adaptation studies. In order to investigate this hypothesis, here we (1) looked for associations between molecular markers and a set of adaptive traits in cork oak, and (2) explored the effects of the climate on among-population patterns in adaptive traits and molecular markers. For this purpose, we chose 9-year-old plants originating from thirteen populations spanning a broad range of climatic conditions. Plants established in a common garden site were genotyped at six nuclear microsatellites and phenotypically characterized for six functional traits potentially related to plant performance. Our results supported the proposed linkage between locus QpZAG46 and genes encoding for leaf size and growth. Temperature caused adaptive population divergence in leaf size and growth, which was expressed as differences in the frequencies of the alleles at locus QpZAG46
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