Sex Differences in Change in Skin Temperature When Exercising in a Hot, Humid Environment

The risk for heat-related illness is increased when exercising in a hot, humid environment. In an effort to protect the athlete, body temperature is measured continuously while exercising in extreme environments. Currently, researchers and laboratory personnel employ the use of mean skin temperature to monitor athlete safety; however, this measurement fails to consider localized changes in temperature that may arise as a function of sex and exercise time. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine potential sex differences in the change in skin temperature at 17 different upper body locations while exercising in a hot, humid environment. Young men and women were recruited and completed a 60-min walk/jog interval protocol in a hot (34.1 ± 1 °C), humid (64 ± 8%) environment while skin temperature was continuously measured. To account for differences that may have arisen due to differing workloads between men and women, energy expenditure and metabolic heat production were calculated after the completion of exercise. Data was analyzed either a repeated-measures ANOVA (change in skin temperature) or t-test­ (energy expenditure and metabolic heat production). Location of interaction effects was determined using a Fisher’s Least Significant Difference test. Significance was set a p\u3c0.05 for all statistical testing. There was no difference between men and women in total energy expenditure; however, men were found to have a higher metabolic heat production. Women had a higher change in skin temperature at three locations on the back (left upper, right upper, and right mid-back). Conversely, there were no differences at any time point between men and women in the change in core temperature from baseline measurements. This study highlights the need to further investigate sex differences in cooling mechanisms while exercising in a hot, humid environment

Creation, Transfer, and Diffusion of Innovation in Organizations and Society: Information Systems Design Science Research for Human Benefit

International audienceDesign science research is a way of creating and studying new technological phenomena, where the understanding comes from inventing, designing, and building new forms of solutions to problems. It has been touted as a new means for the IS field to improve its relevance as the resulting design artifact(s) can directly be used to solve relevant problems. DSR is different from other types of research in its focus on building artifacts and learning from the use and application of the artifacts. It is different in that it engages reality in a way that no descriptive or observational research method can. DSR shares the iterative process with action research but can take place in a laboratory without any involvement of users as researchers (Iivari and Venable 2009)

Consumption of a high-fat meal increased monocyte adhesion molecule expression and oxLDL phagocytosis: implications for cardiovascular disease risk?

Macrophage-derived foam cells are the predominant component of arterial plaques in the early stages of atherosclerosis. The deposition of arterial plaques is effected by several factors that are influenced by a person’s daily nutritional habits. One factor that poses a major risk for plaque development is high levels of plasma LDL resulting from the consumption of a high-fat meal. In order to understand how an individuals’ diet effects arterial plaque deposition via the process of foam cell formation, we measured the acute response in circulating monocyte activity after consuming a high-fat meal. Samples were acquired on a FlowSight (EMD Millipore) equipped with 405, 488, 642, and 785 nm lasers. Samples were analyzed in IDEAS software to identify pro-inflammatory (CD14+/16+) and classic (CD14+/16-) monocytes. We measured monocyte concentration, adhesion molecule expression, scavenger R expression, and oxLDL phagocytosis for 5 h postprandial. We found that consuming a high-fat meal caused an increase in pro-inflammatory monocyte concentration, adhesion molecule expression, monocyte phagocytosis of oxLDL, and CD36 expression in pro-inflammatory monocytes. These results suggest that consuming a high-fat meal increases the potential of monocytes to become foam cells for at least 5 h postprandial

Spaceborne Photonics Institute

This report describes in chronological detail the development of the Spaceborne Photonics Institute as a sustained research effort at Hampton University in the area of optical physics. This provided the research expertise to initiate a PhD program in Physics. Research was carried out in the areas of: (1) modelling of spaceborne solid state laser systems; (2) amplified spontaneous emission in solar pumped iodine lasers; (3) closely simulated AM0 CW solar pumped iodine laser and repeatedly short pulsed iodine laser oscillator; (4) a materials spectroscopy and growth program; and (5) laser induced fluorescence and atomic and molecular spectroscopy

Can we continue research in splenectomized dogs? Mycoplasma haemocanis: Old problem - New insight

We report the appearance of a Mycoplasma haemocanis infection in laboratory dogs, which has been reported previously, yet, never before in Europe. Outbreak of the disease was triggered by a splenectomy intended to prepare the dogs for a hemorrhagic shock study. The clinical course of the dogs was dramatic including anorexia and hemolytic anemia. Treatment included allogeneic transfusion, prednisone, and oxytetracycline. Systematic follow-up (n=12, blood smears, antibody testing and specific polymerase chain reaction) gives clear evidence that persistent eradication of M. haemocanis is unlikely. We, therefore, had to abandon the intended shock study. In the absence of effective surveillance and screening for M. haemocanis, the question arises whether it is prudent to continue shock research in splenectomized dogs. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Volume-energy correlations in the slow degrees of freedom of computer-simulated phospholipid membranes

Constant-pressure molecular-dynamics simulations of phospholipid membranes in the fluid phase reveal strong correlations between equilibrium fluctuations of volume and energy on the nanosecond time-scale. The existence of strong volume-energy correlations was previously deduced indirectly by Heimburg from experiments focusing on the phase transition between the fluid and the ordered gel phases. The correlations, which are reported here for three different membranes (DMPC, DMPS-Na, and DMPSH), have volume-energy correlation coefficients ranging from 0.81 to 0.89. The DMPC membrane was studied at two temperatures showing that the correlation coefficient increases as the phase transition is approached

Reduced Inflammatory and muscle damage biomarkers following oral supplementation with bioavailable curcumin

This article seeks to determine the effects of oral curcumin supplementation on muscle and activities of daily living soreness, creatine kinase, and inflammatory cytokines following exercise-induced muscle damage

Competitive Benchmarking: An IS Research Approach to Address Wicked Problems with Big Data and Analytics

Wicked problems like sustainable energy and financial market stability are societal challenges that arise from complex socio-technical systems in which numerous social, economic, political, and technical factors interact. Understanding and mitigating them requires research methods that scale beyond the traditional areas of inquiry of Information Systems (IS) “individuals, organizations, and markets” and that deliver solutions in addition to insights. We describe an approach to address these challenges through Competitive Benchmarking (CB), a novel research method that helps interdisciplinary research communities to tackle complex challenges of societal scale by using different types of data from a variety of sources such as usage data from customers, production patterns from producers, public policy and regulatory constraints, etc. for a given instantiation. Further, the CB platform generates data that can be used to improve operational strategies and judge the effectiveness of regulatory regimes and policies. We describe our experience applying CB to the sustainable energy challenge in the Power Trading Agent Competition (Power TAC) in which more than a dozen research groups from around the world jointly devise, benchmark, and improve IS-based solutions