131 research outputs found
Ψυχολογία και άλλοι σημαντικοί παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν την απόδοση σε αθλητές Ταεκβοντο
Το Ταεκβοντο είναι ένα μαχητικό άθλημα που εξαπλώνεται ολοένα και περισσότερο και η ανάγκη για αναζήτηση των παραγόντων που επηρεάζουν την απόδοση είναι αναγκαία. Η μελέτη της παρούσας εργασίας εξέτασε την σχέση της καλής ψυχολογικής κατάστασης με την απόδοση σε αθλητές Ταεκβοντο. Σκοπός της εργασίας ήταν η επεξήγηση της σημαντικότητας της ψυχολογίας στην απόδοση, ποιοι παράγοντες την επηρεάζουν αρνητικά ή θετικά, τρόπους που μπορούμε να την βελτιώσουμε αλλά και άλλους επίσης σημαντικούς παράγοντες όπως είναι ο χρόνος αντίδρασης, ο ρόλος των ημισφαιρίων ή η ικανότητα προσανατολισμού. Μέσα από 50 επιστημονικά άρθρα και συναφή με το αντικείμενο βιβλία, φάνηκε ότι η ποιότητα της ψυχολογίας και των άλλων παραγόντων διαδραματίζουν σε μεγάλο ποσοστό την αγωνιστική απόδοση των αθλητών Ταεκβοντο αλλά και ότι θα έπρεπε να τους δίνεται η απαραίτητη προσοχή όπως και σε κάθε άλλο αγωνιστικό παράγοντα που επηρεάζει την απόδοση π.χ. τεχνική, φυσική κατάσταση. Το αγωνιστικό άγχος είναι ένας από τους μεγαλύτερους παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν αρνητικά την απόδοση των αθλητών. Ενω η αυξημένη αυτοπεποίθηση η νοερή απεικόνιση και ο θετικός αυτοδιάλογος είναι οι αποτελεσματικότεροι μέθοδοι βελτίωσης της ψυχολογίας.Όχ
Αντιλήψεις Γονέων ως προς το Άγχος και τον Φόβο για την Πανδημία COVID-19
Στην παρούσα μελέτη εξετάζονται οι αντιλήψεις των γονέων σε σχέση με το γενικευμένο άγχος και τον φόβο για την πανδημία COVID-19, καθώς και η σχέση τους με διάφορους δημογραφικούς παράγοντες και την προσαρμογή των παιδιών κατά τη δεύτερη φάση της πανδημίας COVID-19 στην Ελλάδα. Η παρούσα έρευνα αποτέλεσε μέρος ενός ευρύτερου προγράμματος του Εργαστηρίου Σχολικής Ψυχολογίας του Τμήματος Ψυχολογίας του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών με στόχο τη διερεύνηση των αντιλήψεων όλων των μελών της σχολικής κοινότητας για ποικίλες ψυχοκοινωνικές και μαθησιακές διαστάσεις. Το δείγμα της έρευνας αποτελούταν από 496 γονείς. Οι γονείς συμπλήρωσαν την Κλίμακα Γενικευμένης Αγχώδους Διαταραχής (GAD-7) και την Κλίμακα του Φόβου για την Πανδημία COVID-19 (FCV-19S). Τα ευρήματα έδειξαν ότι οι γονείς παρουσίασαν ήπια επίπεδα γενικευμένου άγχους και μέτριο φόβο για την πανδημία COVID-19. Ακόμη, σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, οι μητέρες και οι γονείς που ανέφεραν περισσότερες δυσκολίες μαθησιακής προσαρμογής των παιδιών τους, σημείωσαν υψηλότερα επίπεδα γενικευμένου άγχους. Τέλος σημαντικότερο εύρημα ήταν ότι ο φόβος για την πανδημία COVID-19 αποτέλεσε προβλεπτικό παράγοντα του άγχους. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας μπορούν να συμβάλλουν στη διερεύνηση και στον εντοπισμό των αναγκών και των δυσκολιών των γονέων κατά την περίοδο της πανδημίας COVID-19, προκειμένου να σχεδιαστούν μελλοντικά κατάλληλες παρεμβάσεις ψυχολογικής υποστήριξης, που θα στοχεύουν στη μείωση του άγχους.This study examines parents’ perceptions of levels of generalized anxiety and fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the relationship of generalized anxiety and fear of COVID-19 to various demographic factors and the adjustment of children during the second wave of the C0VID-19 pandemic in Greece. The present research was carried out as part of a wider research program of the Laboratory of School Psychology, Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The sample consists of 496 parents. Parents completed the Generalized Anxiety Scale (GAD-7) and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) questionnaire. The findings of the study indicate that parents reported mild anxiety symptoms and moderate fear levels of COVID-19. Moreover, the results indicate significant associations between anxiety and parent gender, educational level and children’ learning adjustment. Specifically, mothers experienced higher anxiety levels compared to fathers, parents with low educational level showed marginally higher anxiety levels than parents with a higher educational level and parents that reported more learning adjustment difficulties in their children showed higher anxiety levels. Finally, the most important finding was that fear of the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant predictor of anxiety. The aim of the present study is to investigate and identify the needs and difficulties of parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to design appropriate psychological support interventions in the future, which will aim to reduce the levels of parents’ anxiety
Nature-based solution to eliminate cyanotoxins in water using biologically enhanced biochar.
Climate change and high eutrophication levels of freshwater sources are increasing the occurrence and intensity of toxic cyanobacterial blooms in drinking water supplies. Conventional water treatment struggles to eliminate cyanobacteria/cyanotoxins and expensive tertiary treatments are needed. To address this, we have designed a sustainable, nature-based solution using biochar derived from waste coconut shells. This biochar provides a low-cost porous support for immobilising microbial communities forming biologically enhanced biochar (BEB). Highly toxic microcystin-LR (MC-LR) was used to influence microbial colonization of the biochar by natural lake water microbiome. Over 11 months, BEBs were exposed to microcystins, cyanobacterial extracts and live cyanobacterial cells, always resulting in rapid elimination of toxins and even a 1.6-1.9 log reduction in cyanobacterial cell numbers. After 48 hours incubation with our BEBs, the MC-LR concentrations dropped below the detection limit of 0.1 ng/ml. The accelerated degradation of cyanotoxins was attributed to enhanced species diversity and microcystin-degrading microbes colonising the biochar. To ensure scalability, we evaluated BEBs produced through batch-scale and continuous-scale pyrolysis, while also guaranteeing safety by maintaining toxic impurities in biochar within acceptable limits and monitoring degradation by-products. This study serves as a proof-of-concept for a sustainable, scalable and safe nature-based solution for combatting toxic algal blooms
Accramycin A, a New Aromatic Polyketide, from the Soil Bacterium, Streptomyces sp. MA37
Funding: FM thanks the University of the Philippines for the Faculty, Reps and Staff Development Program (FRAS DP) for the PhD grant fellowship. HD and KK thank the financial supports of Leverhulme Trust-Royal Society Africa award (AA090088) and MRC African Research Leaders Award (MR/S00520X/1). R.E. and S.S. are grateful to British Council/Newton Fund for financial support through the Institutional Links scheme (Project No. 261781172). QF is grateful to the University of Aberdeen Elphinstone Scholarship and Scottish Funding Council/ScotCHEM for financial support through the PEER/PERCE Funding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Sulfated Steroid–Amino Acid Conjugates from the Irish Marine Sponge Polymastia boletiformis
Antifungal bioactivity-guided fractionation of the organic extract of the sponge Polymastia boletiformis, collected from the west coast of Ireland, led to the isolation of two new sulfated steroid-amino acid conjugates (1 and 2). Extensive 1D and 2D NMR analyses in combination with quantum mechanical calculations of the electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra, optical rotation, and 13C chemical shifts were used to establish the chemical structures of 1 and 2. Both compounds exhibited moderate antifungal activity against Cladosporium cucumerinum, while compound 2 was also active against Candida albicans. Marine natural products containing steroidal and amino acid constituents are extremely rare in nature
Comparative metabologenomics analysis of polar actinomycetes.
Biosynthetic and chemical datasets are the two major pillars for microbial drug discovery in the omics era. Despite the advancement of analysis tools and platforms for multi-strain metabolomics and genomics, linking these information sources remains a considerable bottleneck in strain prioritisation and natural product discovery. In this study, molecular networking of the 100 metabolite extracts derived from applying the OSMAC approach to 25 Polar bacterial strains, showed growth media specificity and potential chemical novelty was suggested. Moreover, the metabolite extracts were screened for antibacterial activity and promising selective bioactivity against drug-persistent pathogens such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii was observed. Genome sequencing data were combined with metabolomics experiments in the recently developed computational approach, NPLinker, which was used to link BGC and molecular features to prioritise strains for further investigation based on biosynthetic and chemical information. Herein, we putatively identified the known metabolites ectoine and chrloramphenicol which, through NPLinker, were linked to their associated BGCs. The metabologenomics approach followed in this study can potentially be applied to any large microbial datasets for accelerating the discovery of new (bioactive) specialised metabolites
Degradation of multiple peptides by microcystin-degrader Paucibacter toxinivorans (2C20).
Since conventional drinking water treatments applied in different countries are inefficient at eliminating potentially toxic cyanobacterial peptides, a number of bacteria have been studied as an alternative to biological filters for the removal of microcystins (MCs). Here, we evaluated the degradation of not only MCs variants (-LR/DM-LR/-RR/-LF/-YR), but also non-MCs peptides (anabaenopeptins A/B, aerucyclamides A/D) by Paucibactertoxinivorans over 7 days. We also evaluated the degradation rate of MC-LR in a peptide mix, with all peptides tested, and in the presence of M. aeruginosa crude extract. Furthermore, biodegradation was assessed for non-cyanobacterial peptides with different chemical structures, such as cyclosporin A, (Glu1)-fibrinopeptide-B, leucine-enkephalin, and oxytocin. When cyanopeptides were individually added, P. toxinivorans degraded them (99%) over 7 days, except for MC-LR and -RR, which decreased by about 85 and 90%, respectively. The degradation rate of MC-LR decreased in the peptide mix compared to an individual compound, however, in the presence of the Microcystis extract, it was degraded considerably faster (3 days). It was noted that biodegradation rates decreased in the mix for all MCs while non-MCs peptides were immediately degraded. UPLC–QTOF–MS/MS allowed us to identify two linear biodegradation products for MC-LR and MC-YR, and one for MC-LF. Furthermore, P. toxinivorans demonstrated complete degradation of non-cyanobacterial peptides, with the exception of oxytocin, where around 50% remained after 7 days. Thus, although P. toxinivorans was previously identified as a MC-degrader, it also degrades a wide range of peptides under a range of conditions, which could be optimized as a potential biological tool for water treatment
Linking biosynthetic and chemical space to accelerate microbial secondary metabolite discovery
Secondary metabolites can be viewed as a chemical language, facilitating communication between microorganisms. From an ecological point of view, this metabolite exchange is in constant flux due to evolutionary and environmental pressures. From a biomedical perspective, the chemistry is unsurpassed for its antibiotic properties. Genome sequencing of microorganisms has revealed a large reservoir of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters (BGCs); however, linking these to the secondary metabolites they encode is currently a major bottleneck to chemical discovery. This linking of genes to metabolites with experimental validation will aid the elicitation of silent or cryptic (not expressed under normal laboratory conditions) BGCs. As a result, this will accelerate chemical dereplication, our understanding of gene transcription and provide a comprehensive resource for synthetic biology. This will ultimately provide an improved understanding of both the biosynthetic and chemical space. In recent years, integrating these complex metabolomic and genomic data sets has been achieved using a spectrum of manual and automated approaches. In this review, we cover examples of these approaches, while addressing current challenges and future directions in linking these data sets
Can Crude Oil Exploration Influence the Phytochemicals and Bioactivity of Medicinal Plants? : A Case of Nigerian Vernonia amygdalina and Ocimum gratissimum.
Acknowledgments The authors also thank Ruangelie Edrada- Ebel of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Natural Products Metabolomics Group, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde for her contribution to the methodology. Funding The authors recognise the financial support of the Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Foundation Scholarship to conduct the present study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
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