A reactive nitrone-based organogel that self-assembles from its constituents in chloroform

The authors thank the EPSRC for funding (DTA studentship to JER, EP/K503162/1)The reversible reaction of an aldehyde with a hydroxylamine affords a nitrone which is capable of forming a stiff gel with chloroform at concentrations as low as 0.20 wt% (6 mM). The gelator forms dynamically from its constituents and the gel assembly can be degraded in a controlled manner through a recognition-mediated reaction that targets the nitrone component of the gel network.PostprintPeer reviewe

Measuring Brachial Artery Occlusion Pressure Using a Hand-held Doppler and Pulse Oximeter

The measurement of arterial occlusion pressure (AOP) is recommended for the safe and effective use of blood flow restriction (BFR) during training. PURPOSE: This study compared measurements of brachial artery AOP using Doppler ultrasound (US), a hand-held Doppler (HHDOP) and a pulse oximeter (PO). METHODS: The AOP of the brachial artery was measured simultaneously using US, HHDOP, and a PO in the dominant arm of males (n=36) and females (n=49). The blood flow restriction cuff was inflated using a continuous cuff inflation protocol. RESULTS: A mixed model ANOVA revealed small but significant (p \u3c 0.05) overall main effects (combined males and females) between AOP measured using US (119.8 ± 13.2 mmHg), HHDOP (119.1 ± 13.1 mmHg) and PO (118.0 ±13.2 mmHg), and between males (125.3 ± 13.1 mmHg) and females (114.3 ± 11.1 mmHg). The differences in AOP between males and females was consistent across all three methods of measuring AOP (US, HHDP, PO) and may be attributed to sex differences in limb circumference and systolic blood pressure. The small overall difference between US and HHDOP (0.74 ± 2.7 mmHg) was not significant but the difference between US and PO (1.81 ± 3.3 mmHg) measures of AOP was significant (

Measurements of Arterial Occlusion Pressure Using Hand-held Devices

Use of blood flow restriction (BFR) during training has become increasingly popular due to the benefits over a wide range of applications. An essential component to the safe and effective use of BFR is the measurement of arterial occlusion pressure (AOP). PURPOSE: This study compared measures of AOP of the brachial artery using three devices and two cuff inflation methods. METHODS: Brachial artery AOP was measured in 20 males and 21 females simultaneously using Doppler ultrasound (US), a handheld Doppler (HHDOP) and a pulse oximeter (PO) once when inflating the cuff with a clinical grade Hokanson (HOK) rapid cuff inflation system and twice manually (MAN) with a sphygmomanometer. RESULTS: A mixed model ANOVA revealed small but significant (p \u3c 0.05) overall main effects between AOP measured using the HOK (120.4 ± 1.98) and MAN (122.2 ± 2.0) cuff inflation methods, between US (122.0 ± 1.97), HHDOP (121.6 ± 2.0) and PO (120.5 ± 2.0) measurements of AOP, and between males (127.6 ± 2.83) and females (115.2 ± 2.7). Further analyses indicated that the small overall difference between US and PO (1.56 ± 0.52) measures of AOP was significant (pp\u3e0.05). Trial-to-trial variance in measures of AOP using US, HHDOP and PO were negligible. Bland-Altman plots revealed reasonable limits of agreement for both HHDOP (±4.46 mmHg) and PO (±5.47 mmHg) measures of AOP. CONCLUSIONS: The small differences in US, HHDOP and PO measures of AOP measurements using HOK and MAN cuff inflation methods are of little practical significance. Manual inflation of the pressure cuff provides comparable AOP values compared to when using a clinical grade cuff inflation system. Practitioners can be confident in measures of AOP using a quality hand-held doppler or pulse oximeter prior to blood flow restriction training

A Pilot Study on the Effects of Exercise on Depression Symptoms Using Levels of Neurotransmitters and EEG as Markers

Context: The prescribing of exercise by physicians has become a popular practice, yet the effectiveness of exercise on symptoms of depression is difficult to determine due to a lack of randomized controlled trials with clinical populations. Reports also indicate that only a small percentage of physicians advise their patients regarding exercise and confusion still exists as to how much and what types are best. Aims: To understand the mechanisms that make exercise a viable treatment in depression. Settings and Design: This study employed a six‑week, two group, single‑level trial, pre‑ and posttest design using self‑report of symptoms, blood levels of serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, and frontal slow wave EEG activity as markers. This study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov. ID# NCT02023281. Subjects and Methods: Eleven participants with a diagnosis of depression between the ages of 18 and 65 were enrolled from March 2013 through May 2013. Baseline and post‑intervention measures consisted of the Beck Depression Inventory‑II, blood serum levels of serotonin, catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine), and mean alpha frequency. Statistical Analysis Used: A series of independent t‑tests for each dependent variable was conducted. Results: Independent t‑tests reveal significant between‑group differences in depression scores (P = 0.005, d = 2.23); F7 activity (P = 0.012, d = 1.92); and F8 activity (P = 0.04, d = 1.52). Conclusions: The results of this pilot study show that even mild to very moderate levels of exercise 2‑3 times per week consisting of alternating days of aerobic and strength resistance training can be effective in reducing symptoms of depression giving physicians concrete information for their patients on the prescription of exercise

Durrington Walls to West Amesbury by way of Stonehenge: a major transformation of the Holocene landscape

A new sequence of Holocene landscape change has been discovered through an investigation of sediment sequences, palaeosols, pollen and molluscan data discovered during the Stonehenge Riverside Project. The early post-glacial vegetational succession in the Avon valley at Durrington Walls was apparently slow and partial, with intermittent woodland modification and the opening-up of this landscape in the later Mesolithic and earlier Neolithic, though a strong element of pine lingered into the third millennium BC. There appears to have been a major hiatus around 2900 cal BC, coincident with the beginnings of demonstrable human activities at Durrington Walls, but slightly after activity started at Stonehenge. This was reflected in episodic increases in channel sedimentation and tree and shrub clearance, leading to a more open downland, with greater indications of anthropogenic activity, and an increasingly wet floodplain with sedges and alder along the river’s edge. Nonetheless, a localized woodland cover remained in the vicinity of DurringtonWalls throughout the third and second millennia BC, perhaps on the higher parts of the downs, while stable grassland, with rendzina soils, predominated on the downland slopes, and alder–hazel carr woodland and sedges continued to fringe the wet floodplain. This evidence is strongly indicative of a stable and managed landscape in Neolithic and Bronze Age times. It is not until c 800–500 cal BC that this landscape was completely cleared, except for the marshy-sedge fringe of the floodplain, and that colluvial sedimentation began in earnest associated with increased arable agriculture, a situation that continued through Roman and historic times

Intra-Rater and Inter-Rater Reliability of Pressure Pain Algometry of the Sural and Tibial Nerves in Asymptomatic Elite Youth Footballers

Ankle injuries are highly prevalent in elite youth footballers and increase the mechanosensitivity of the local neural tissue, which may predispose athletes to re-injury and prolong rehabilitation periods. Increased neural mechanosensitivity presents clinically as altered pain pressure thresholds (PPTs) which are measured with pressure algometry. The purpose of this study was to determine the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of PPTs of the ankle neural tissue in asymptomatic elite youth football players. Three raters utilised a digital algometer to evaluate the PPTs of the Sural and Tibial nervous tissue at the ankle of elite youth male footballers. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to assess intra-rater and inter-rater reliability and Bland–Altman figures were plotted to enable visual evaluation of measurement error with a significance level of p < 0.05. Thirty-four players (16–18 years old) were assessed. Excellent intra-rater (Tibial ICC 0.88 (0.76–0.94); Sural ICC 0.89 (0.79–0.95)) and good inter-rater reliability (Tibial ICC 0.66 (0.40–0.82); Sural 0.71 (0.50–0.85)) was demonstrated. Bland–Altman plots demonstrated low levels of measurement error. Pressure algometry can be utilised clinically to accurately evaluate the PPTs of the Tibial and Sural nervous tissue at the ankle in asymptomatic elite male youth footballers

Relation between body composition, systemic inflammatory response, and clinical outcomes in patients admitted to an urban teaching hospital with COVID-19

Background: COVID-19 has been associated with cases of severe respiratory illness, admissions to intensive therapy units (ITUs), and high mortality rates. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between computed tomography- body composition (CT-BC) measurements, systemic inflammation, and clinical outcomes in those with COVID-19. Methods: Patients who presented to our institution between March 17 and May 1, 2020, with a positive PCR test for COVID-19 or characteristic radiological changes, were assessed for inclusion. Data collected included general demographic details, clinicopathological variables, poGPS, NLR , CT-BC measurements, and clinical outcomes including ITU admission and 30-d mortality, of those admitted. Results: Sixty-three patients met the study inclusion criteria. Forty-two patients (67%) were aged ≥70 y, 30 (47.6%) were male and 34.9% ( n = 22) had a poGPS ≥1. ITU admission was significantly associated with a high VFA ( P &lt; 0.05). Thirty-day mortality was associated with high VFA (P &lt; 0.05) and low SMI (P &lt; 0.05). Conclusions: Sarcopenia in the presence of obesity was associated with clinical outcomes including greater 30-d mortality

Inserting “OFF-to-ON” BODIPY Tags into Cytokines: A Fluorogenic Interleukin IL-33 for Real-Time Imaging of Immune Cells

The essential functions that cytokine/immune cell interactions play in tissue homeostasis and during disease have prompted the molecular design of targeted fluorophores to monitor their activity in real time. Whereas activatable probes for imaging immune-related enzymes are common, many immunological functions are mediated by binding events between cytokines and their cognate receptors that are hard to monitor by live-cell imaging. A prime example is interleukin-33 (IL-33), a key cytokine in innate and adaptive immunity, whose interaction with the ST2 cell-surface receptor results in downstream signaling and activation of NF-κB and AP-1 pathways. In the present work, we have designed a chemical platform to site-specifically introduce OFF-to-ON BODIPY fluorophores into full cytokine proteins and generate the first native-like fluorescent analogues of IL-33. Among different incorporation strategies, chemical aminoacylation followed by bioorthogonal derivatization led to the best labeling results.Importantly, the BODIPY-labeled IL-33 derivatives -unlike IL-33-GFP constructs- exhibited ST2-specific binding and downstream bioactivity profiles comparable to those of the wild-type interleukin. Real-time fluorescence microscopy assays under no wash conditions confirmed the internalization of IL-33 through ST2 receptors and its intracellular trafficking through the endosomal pathway. We envision that the modularity and versatility of our BODIPY labeling platform will facilitate the synthesis of minimally tagged fluorogenic cytokines as the next generation of imaging reagents for real-time visualization of signaling events in live immune cells