Pink noise in rowing ergometer performance and the role of skill level

The aim of this study was to examine (1) the temporal structures of variation in rowers' (natural) ergometer strokes in order to make inferences about the underlying motor organization, and (2) the relation between these temporal structures and skill level. Four high-skilled and five lower-skilled rowers completed 550 strokes on a rowing ergometer. Detrended Fluctuation Analysis was used to quantify the temporal structure of the intervals between force peaks. Results showed that the temporal structure differed from random, and revealed prominent patterns of pink noise for each rower. Furthermore, the high-skilled rowers demonstrated more pink noise than the lower-skilled rowers. The presence of pink noise suggests that rowing performance emerges from the coordination among interacting component processes across multiple time scales. The difference in noise pattern between high-skilled and lower-skilled athletes indicates that the complexity of athletes' motor organization is a potential key characteristic of elite performance

Формування законодавчої і нормативної бази архівної справи в республіці Казахстан

Аналізується законодавство Республіки Казахстан, спрямоване на забезпечення збереження документальної спадщини, регулювання діяльності архівної системи в умовах державного суверенітету. Визначаються особливості архівного законодавства кінця 1990-х рр., прослідковуються його зміни та напрями удосконалення в 2000-х рр., процеси формування нормативної бази архівної справи.Анализируется законодательство Республики Казахстан, направленное на обеспечение сохранности документального наследия, регулирование деятельности архивной системы в условиях государственного суверенитета. Определяются особенности архивного законодательства конца 1990-х гг., прослеживаются его изменения и направления усовершенствования в 2000- х гг., процессы формирования нормативной базы архивного дела.The legislation of Republic of Kazakhstan, directed on providing of safety of documentary legacy, adjusting of activity of the archival system in the conditions of the state sovereignty is analysed in the article. The features of the archival legislation the end of 1990-th are determined, its changes and directions of improvement in the 2000-th, the processes of forming of normative base of the archival affairs are traced

Skewed X-inactivation is common in the general female population

X-inactivation is a well-established dosage compensation mechanism ensuring that X-chromosomal genes are expressed at comparable levels in males and females. Skewed X-inactivation is often explained by negative selection of one of the alleles. We demonstrate that imbalanced expression of the paternal and maternal X-chromosomes is common in the general population and that the random nature of the X-inactivation mechanism can be sufficient to explain the imbalance. To this end, we analyzed blood-derived RNA and whole-genome sequencing data from 79 female children and their parents from the Genome of the Netherlands project. We calculated the median ratio of the paternal over total counts at all X-chromosomal heterozygous single-nucleotide variants with coverage ≥10. We identified two individuals where the same X-chromosome was inactivated in all cells. Imbalanced expression of the two X-chromosomes (ratios ≤0.35 or ≥0.65) was observed in nearly 50% of the population. The empirically observed skewing is explained by a theoretical model where X-inactivation takes place in an embryonic stage in which eight cells give rise to the hematopoietic compartment. Genes escaping X-inactivation are expressed from both alleles and therefore demonstrate less skewing than inactivated genes. Using this characteristic, we identified three novel escapee genes (SSR4, REPS2, and SEPT6), but did not find support for many previously reported escapee genes in blood. Our collective data suggest that skewed X-inactivation is common in the general population. This may contribute to manifestation of symptoms in carriers of recessive X-linked disorders. We recommend that X-inactivation results should not be used lightly in the interpretation of X-linked variants

Solubilization of lipids and lipid phases by the styrene-maleic acid copolymer

A promising tool in membrane research is the use of the styrene-maleic acid (SMA) copolymer to solubilize membranes in the form of nanodiscs. Since membranes are heterogeneous in composition, it is important to know whether SMA thereby has a preference for solubilization of either specific types of lipids or specific bilayer phases. Here, we investigated this by performing partial solubilization of model membranes and analyzing the lipid composition of the solubilized fraction. We found that SMA displays no significant lipid preference in homogeneous binary lipid mixtures in the fluid phase, even when using lipids that by themselves show very different solubilization kinetics. By contrast, in heterogeneous phase-separated bilayers, SMA was found to have a strong preference for solubilization of lipids in the fluid phase as compared to those in either a gel phase or a liquid-ordered phase. Together the results suggest that (1) SMA is a reliable tool to characterize native interactions between membrane constituents, (2) any solubilization preference of SMA is not due to properties of individual lipids but rather due to properties of the membrane or membrane domains in which these lipids reside and (3) exploiting SMA resistance rather than detergent resistance may be an attractive approach for the isolation of ordered domains from biological membranes