Considerations for the development of agility during childhood and adolescence

Despite being recognized as an essential component of sports performance, agility development in youths is largely under-researched. this article reviews the evidence examining the effects of growth, maturation and training on both change of direction speed and cognitive processing in children and adolescents, and how combined, these factors may influence agility. training guidelines are provided to help strength and conditioning coaches prescribe agility training for youths at different stages of maturation, in a safe and effective manner

3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space

: 3D bioprinting has developed tremendously in the last couple of years and enables the fabrication of simple, as well as complex, tissue models. The international space agencies have recognized the unique opportunities of these technologies for manufacturing cell and tissue models for basic research in space, in particular for investigating the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on different types of human tissues. In addition, bioprinting is capable of producing clinically applicable tissue grafts, and its implementation in space therefore can support the autonomous medical treatment options for astronauts in future long term and far-distant space missions. The article discusses opportunities but also challenges of operating different types of bioprinters under space conditions, mainly in microgravity. While some process steps, most of which involving the handling of liquids, are challenging under microgravity, this environment can help overcome problems such as cell sedimentation in low viscous bioinks. Hopefully, this publication will motivate more researchers to engage in the topic, with publicly available bioprinting opportunities becoming available at the International Space Station (ISS) in the imminent future

3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space

3D bioprinting has developed tremendously in the last couple of years and enables the fabrication of simple, as well as complex, tissue models. The international space agencies have recognized the unique opportunities of these technologies for manufacturing cell and tissue models for basic research in space, in particular for investigating the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on different types of human tissues. In addition, bioprinting is capable of producing clinically applicable tissue grafts, and its implementation in space therefore can support the autonomous medical treatment options for astronauts in future long term and far-distant space missions. The article discusses opportunities but also challenges of operating different types of bioprinters under space conditions, mainly in microgravity. While some process steps, most of which involving the handling of liquids, are challenging under microgravity, this environment can help overcome problems such as cell sedimentation in low viscous bioinks. Hopefully, this publication will motivate more researchers to engage in the topic, with publicly available bioprinting opportunities becoming available at the International Space Station (ISS) in the imminent future

Transcriptional diversity during lineage commitment of human blood progenitors.

Blood cells derive from hematopoietic stem cells through stepwise fating events. To characterize gene expression programs driving lineage choice, we sequenced RNA from eight primary human hematopoietic progenitor populations representing the major myeloid commitment stages and the main lymphoid stage. We identified extensive cell type-specific expression changes: 6711 genes and 10,724 transcripts, enriched in non-protein-coding elements at early stages of differentiation. In addition, we found 7881 novel splice junctions and 2301 differentially used alternative splicing events, enriched in genes involved in regulatory processes. We demonstrated experimentally cell-specific isoform usage, identifying nuclear factor I/B (NFIB) as a regulator of megakaryocyte maturation-the platelet precursor. Our data highlight the complexity of fating events in closely related progenitor populations, the understanding of which is essential for the advancement of transplantation and regenerative medicine.The work described in this article was primarily supported by the European Commission Seventh Framework Program through the BLUEPRINT grant with code HEALTH-F5-2011-282510 (D.H., F.B., G.C., J.H.A.M., K.D., L.C., M.F., S.C., S.F., and S.P.G.). Research in the Ouwehand laboratory is further supported by program grants from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR, www.nihr.ac.uk; to A.A., M.K., P.P., S.B.G.J., S.N., and W.H.O.) and the British Heart Foundation under nos. RP-PG-0310-1002 and RG/09/12/28096 (www.bhf.org.uk; to A.R. and W.J.A.). K.F. and M.K. were supported by Marie Curie funding from the NETSIM FP7 program funded by the European Commission. The laboratory receives funding from the NHS Blood and Transplant for facilities. The Cambridge BioResource (www.cambridgebioresource.org.uk), the Cell Phenotyping Hub, and the Cambridge Translational GenOmics laboratory (www.catgo.org.uk) are supported by an NIHR grant to the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The BRIDGE-Bleeding and Platelet Disorders Consortium is supported by the NIHR BioResource—Rare Diseases (http://bioresource.nihr.ac.uk/; to E.T., N.F., and Whole Exome Sequencing effort). Research in the Soranzo laboratory (L.V., N.S., and S. Watt) is further supported by the Wellcome Trust (Grant Codes WT098051 and WT091310) and the EU FP7 EPIGENESYS initiative (Grant Code 257082). Research in the Cvejic laboratory (A. Cvejic and C.L.) is funded by the Cancer Research UK under grant no. C45041/A14953. S.J.S. is funded by NIHR. M.E.F. is supported by a British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Training Fellowship, no. FS/12/27/29405. E.B.-M. is supported by a Wellcome Trust grant, no. 084183/Z/07/Z. Research in the Laffan laboratory is supported by Imperial College BRC. F.A.C., C.L., and S. Westbury are supported by Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellowships, and T.B. by a British Society of Haematology/NHS Blood and Transplant grant. R.J.R. is a Principal Research Fellow of the Wellcome Trust, grant no. 082961/Z/07/Z. Research in the Flicek laboratory is also supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 095908) and EMBL. Research in the Bertone laboratory is supported by EMBL. K.F. and C.v.G. are supported by FWO-Vlaanderen through grant G.0B17.13N. P.F. is a compensated member of the Omicia Inc. Scientific Advisory Board. This study made use of data generated by the UK10K Consortium, derived from samples from the Cohorts arm of the project.This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 26/9/14 in volume 345, number 6204, DOI: 10.1126/science.1251033. This version will be under embargo until the 26th of March 2015

3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space

3D bioprinting has developed tremendously in the last couple of years and enables the fabrication of simple, as well as complex, tissue models. The international space agencies have recognized the unique opportunities of these technologies for manufacturing cell and tissue models for basic research in space, in particular for investigating the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on different types of human tissues. In addition, bioprinting is capable of producing clinically applicable tissue grafts, and its implementation in space therefore can support the autonomous medical treatment options for astronauts in future long term and far-distant space missions. The article discusses opportunities but also challenges of operating different types of bioprinters under space conditions, mainly in microgravity. While some process steps, most of which involving the handling of liquids, are challenging under microgravity, this environment can help overcome problems such as cell sedimentation in low viscous bioinks. Hopefully, this publication will motivate more researchers to engage in the topic, with publicly available bioprinting opportunities becoming available at the International Space Station (ISS) in the imminent future

Microbial fuel cells: From fundamentals to applications. A review

© 2017 The Author(s) In the past 10–15 years, the microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology has captured the attention of the scientific community for the possibility of transforming organic waste directly into electricity through microbially catalyzed anodic, and microbial/enzymatic/abiotic cathodic electrochemical reactions. In this review, several aspects of the technology are considered. Firstly, a brief history of abiotic to biological fuel cells and subsequently, microbial fuel cells is presented. Secondly, the development of the concept of microbial fuel cell into a wider range of derivative technologies, called bioelectrochemical systems, is described introducing briefly microbial electrolysis cells, microbial desalination cells and microbial electrosynthesis cells. The focus is then shifted to electroactive biofilms and electron transfer mechanisms involved with solid electrodes. Carbonaceous and metallic anode materials are then introduced, followed by an explanation of the electro catalysis of the oxygen reduction reaction and its behavior in neutral media, from recent studies. Cathode catalysts based on carbonaceous, platinum-group metal and platinum-group-metal-free materials are presented, along with membrane materials with a view to future directions. Finally, microbial fuel cell practical implementation, through the utilization of energy output for practical applications, is described

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Shining Light on Cyclopentadienone-Norbornadiene Diels-Alder Adducts to Enable Photoinduced Click Chemistry with Cyclopentadiene

A new Diels–Alder (DA)-based photopatterning platform is presented, which exploits the irreversible, light-induced decarbonylation and subsequent cleavage of cyclopentadienone–norbornadiene (CPD–NBD) adducts. A series of CPD–NBD adducts have been prepared and systematically studied toward the use in a polymeric material photopatterning platform. By incorporating an optimized CPD–NBD adduct into polymer networks, it is demonstrated that cyclopentadiene may be unveiled upon 365 nm irradiation and subsequently clicked to a variety of maleimides with spatial control under mild reaction conditions and with fast kinetics. Unlike currently available photoinduced Diels–Alder reactions that rely on trapping transient, photocaged dienes, this platform introduces a persistent, yet highly reactive diene after irradiation, enabling the use of photosensitive species such as cyanine dyes to be patterned. To highlight the potential use of this platform in a variety of material applications, we demonstrate two proof-of-concepts: patterned conjugation of multiple dyes into a polyacrylate network and preprogrammed ligation of streptavidin into poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels

Nanocrystalline Cellulose as a Versatile Engineering Material for Extrusion-Based Bioprinting

Naturally derived polysaccharide-based hydrogels, such as alginate, are frequently used in the design of bioinks for 3D bioprinting. Traditionally, the formulation of such bioinks requires the use of pre-reticulated materials with low viscosities, which favour cell viability but can negatively influence the resolution and shape fidelity of the printed constructs. In this work, we propose the use of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as a rheological modifier to improve the printability of alginate-based bioinks whilst ensuring a high viability of encapsulated cells. Through rheological analysis, we demonstrate that the addition of CNCs (1% and 2% (w/v)) to alginate hydrogels (1% (w/v)) improves shear-thinning behaviour and mechanical stability, resulting in the high-fidelity printing of constructs with superior resolution. Importantly, LIVE/DEAD results confirm that the presence of CNCs does not seem to affect the health of immortalised chondrocytes (TC28a2) that remain viable over a period of seven days post-encapsulation. Taken together, our results indicate a favourable effect of the CNCs on the rheological and biocompatibility properties of alginate hydrogels, opening up new perspectives for the application of CNCs in the formulation of bioinks for extrusion-based bioprinting

Norbornadiene Chain-End Functional Polymers as Stable, Readily Available Precursors to Cyclopentadiene Derivatives

A novel method for facile postpolymerization functionalization of synthetic polymers using terminal norbornadiene (NBD) building blocks is presented. Incorporation of the NBD functionality streamlines the synthesis of a wide array of block polymers utilizing multistep click chemistry strategies. Previously, the use of NBD-functionalized initiators produced polymers that underwent a cascade of Diels–Alder (DA) reactions to unveil a reactive cyclopentadiene (Cp) chain end. When coupled with a maleimide-bearing counterpart, a highly efficient DA cycloaddition with the terminal Cp can occur. To extend this concept to a range of polyacrylates and commercially available poly(ethylene glycol) systems, we developed a novel NBD acid building block for postpolymerization functionalization. Employing this process, we have demonstrated straightforward access to a library of block polymers that leverage this NBD click platform