Early Timeline of Lean Tissue Mass and Strength Improvements in Trained Men Following a High Volume/Frequency Resistance Training Program

International Journal of Exercise Science 12(4): 1094-1109, 2019. The purpose of this study was to determine the early timeline effect of a systemic high volume/frequency resistance training intervention on lean tissue mass and strength in trained men. Twenty-two healthy resistance trained men, age (32.29 ± 9.75 years), training age (9.40 ± 6.18 years) were placed on a 4-week resistance training (RT) intervention with lean mass and strength assessed pre, mid, and post intervention. RT consisted of 6 exercises: flat smith chest press, pull ups, triceps pushdowns, dumbbell bicep curls, leg press or walking lunges, and standing calf raises, completing 5 sets of 6-12 repetitions, 6 days per week. One-way repeated measure ANOVA’s were conducted to determine the impact of time on lean mass, leg press 1-RM, chest press 1-RM, and absolute/relative resistance training volume. Lean mass increased pre to mid 1.27 ± 1.18 kg, (2.03%), mid to post 1.14 ± 1.16 kg, (1.78%), and pre to post 2.41 ± 1.29 kg, (3.84%). Leg press 1-RM increased pre to mid 16.08 ± 34.90 kg, (6.09%), mid to post 27.53 ± 27.69 kg, (9.82%), and pre to post 43.61 ± 40.13 kg, (16.42%). Chest press 1-RM increased pre to mid 5.77 ± 5.51 kg, (4.45%), mid to post 6.70 ± 5.83 kg, (4.94%), and pre to post 12.47 kg ± 5.83 kg, (9.62%). High volume/frequency resistance training results in significant early improvements in lean mass and strength in trained men

Effect of combinations of passive and active warming on muscle temperature and sprint performance

Muscle temperature (Tm) has a significant effect on muscle function, force and power production [1], hence the adoption of warm up procedures before power based events. In the majority of sprint or power based events there are periods of maximal activity interspersed with periods of low or no activity, during which Tm may decline, adversely affecting subsequent performance. We have previously shown that Tm will decline during 30 minutes of inactivity following the completion of a warm up, and that the use of passive external heating between warm up completion and sprint cycling performance reduces Tm decline and improves peak power output [2]. The aim of the present study was to follow on from our first Tm study and determine whether, apart from using the electrical heating between warm up and event, there is an additional benefit of using the electrical heating during warm up completion on muscle temperature and subsequent measures of sprint cycling performance. The secondary goal was to look at the efficacy of a redesigned heating system covering a larger area of muscle than in [2]

Investigating the Contribution of Peri-domestic Transmission to Risk of Zoonotic Malaria Infection in Humans.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the primate malaria Plasmodium knowlesi has emerged in human populations throughout South East Asia, with the largest hotspot being in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Control efforts are hindered by limited knowledge of where and when people get exposed to mosquito vectors. It is assumed that exposure occurs primarily when people are working in forest areas, but the role of other potential exposure routes (including domestic or peri-domestic transmission) has not been thoroughly investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We integrated entomological surveillance within a comprehensive case-control study occurring within a large hotspot of transmission in Sabah, Malaysia. Mosquitoes were collected at 28 pairs households composed of one where an occupant had a confirmed P. knowlesi infection within the preceding 3 weeks ("case") and an associated "control" where no infection was reported. Human landing catches were conducted to measure the number and diversity of mosquitoes host seeking inside houses and in the surrounding peri-domestic (outdoors but around the household) areas. The predominant malaria vector species was Anopheles balabacensis, most of which were caught outdoors in the early evening (6pm - 9pm). It was significantly more abundant in the peri-domestic area than inside houses (5.5-fold), and also higher at case than control households (0.28±0.194 vs 0.17±0.127, p<0.001). Ten out of 641 An. balabacensis tested were positive for simian malaria parasites, but none for P. knowlesi. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study shows there is a possibility that humans can be exposed to P. knowlesi infection around their homes. The vector is highly exophagic and few were caught indoors indicating interventions using bednets inside households may have relatively little impact

Observing Galaxy Evolution in the Context of Large-Scale Structure

Galaxies form and evolve in the context of their local and large-scale environments. Their baryonic content that we observe with imaging and spectroscopy is intimately connected to the properties of their dark matter halos, and to their location in the "cosmic web" of large-scale structure. Very large spectroscopic surveys of the local universe (e.g., SDSS and GAMA) measure galaxy positions (location within large-scale structure), statistical clustering (a direct constraint on dark matter halo masses), and spectral features (measuring physical conditions of the gas and stars within the galaxies, as well as internal velocities). Deep surveys with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will revolutionize spectroscopic measurements of redshifts and spectral properties for galaxies out to the epoch of reionization, but with numerical statistics and over cosmic volumes that are too small to map large-scale structure and to constrain halo properties via clustering. Here, we consider advances in understanding galaxy evolution that would be enabled by very large spectroscopic surveys at high redshifts: very large numbers of galaxies (outstanding statistics) over large co-moving volumes (large-scale structure on all scales) over broad redshift ranges (evolution over most of cosmic history). The required observational facility can be established as part of the probe portfolio by NASA within the next decade.Comment: 8 pages (including cover page and references), 3 figures. Science white paper submitted to Astro2020. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1802.0153

Summary of 2006 to 2010 FPMU Measurements of International Space Station Frame Potential Variations

Electric potential variations on the International Space Station (ISS) structure in low Earth orbit are dominated by contributions from interactions of the United States (US) 160 volt solar arrays with the relatively high density, low temperature plasma environment and inductive potentials generated by motion of the large vehicle across the Earth?s magnetic field. The Floating Potential Measurement Unit (FPMU) instrument suite comprising two Langmuir probes, a plasma impedance probe, and a floating potential probe was deployed in August 2006 for use in characterizing variations in ISS potential, the state of the ionosphere along the ISS orbit and its effect on ISS charging, evaluating effects of payloads and visiting vehicles, and for supporting ISS plasma hazard assessments. This presentation summarizes observations of ISS frame potential variations obtained from the FPMU from deployment in 2006 through the current time. We first describe ISS potential variations due to current collection by solar arrays in the day time sector of the orbit including eclipse exit and entry charging events, potential variations due to plasma environment variations in the equatorial anomaly, and visiting vehicles docked to the ISS structure. Next, we discuss potential variations due to inductive electric fields generated by motion of the vehicle across the geomagnetic field and the effects of external electric fields in the ionosphere. Examples of night time potential variations at high latitudes and their possible relationship to auroral charging are described and, finally, we demonstrate effects on the ISS potential due to European Space Agency and US plasma contactor devices

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Locus-specific epigenetic remodeling controls addiction- and depression-related behaviors

Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse or stress regulates transcription factors, chromatin-modifying enzymes and histone post-translational modifications in discrete brain regions. Given the promiscuity of the enzymes involved, it has not yet been possible to obtain direct causal evidence to implicate the regulation of transcription and consequent behavioral plasticity by chromatin remodeling that occurs at a single gene. We investigated the mechanism linking chromatin dynamics to neurobiological phenomena by applying engineered transcription factors to selectively modify chromatin at a specific mouse gene in vivo. We found that histone methylation or acetylation at the Fosb locus in nucleus accumbens, a brain reward region, was sufficient to control drug- and stress-evoked transcriptional and behavioral responses via interactions with the endogenous transcriptional machinery. This approach allowed us to relate the epigenetic landscape at a given gene directly to regulation of its expression and to its subsequent effects on reward behavior

A history of high-power laser research and development in the United Kingdom

The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years