Summer Cook Associate Professor of Kinesiology (COLA) travels to Australia

I was partially supported by a CIE International development grant to travel to Perth, Australia for one month in 2016. Dr. Timothy Fairchild, a colleague and friend, invited me to visit the Department of Psychology and Exercise Science at Murdoch University in the hopes of establishing a research relationship with the University of New Hampshire Department of Kinesiology. Over the last several years, I have had students earn Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) from the Hamel Center and have always wanted to give students an opportunity to apply for SURF abroad grants or to study abroad while conducting research within our field. The idea of international collaboration and the opportunity to leave the New England winter to work on the coast of Western Australia made the decision to travel very simple

Demography Is Not Destiny, Revisited

Looks at the impending demographic challenges of the aging American population. Considers the impact of factors in addition to anticipated changes in the size and age distribution, particularly those related to the economy and public policies

Demography Is Not Destiny

Examines demographic and economic trends, and other challenges and opportunities associated with the aging American population. Highlights the interactions that occur among public programs, private institutions, and individuals. Discusses policy options

Boundary layer separation on a liquid sphere

Boundary layer separation on liquid spher

Strength asymmetry increases gait asymmetry and variability in older women.

Purpose—The aim of the research was to determine how knee extensor strength asymmetry influences gait asymmetry and variability since these gait parameters have been related to mobility and falls in older adults. Methods—Strength of the knee extensors was measured in 24 older women (65 – 80 yr). Subjects were separated into symmetrical strength (SS, n = 13) and asymmetrical strength (SA, n = 11) groups using an asymmetry cutoff of 20%. Subjects walked at a standard speed of 0.8 m s−1 and at maximal speed on an instrumented treadmill while kinetic and spatiotemporal gait variables were measured. Gait and strength asymmetry were calculated as the percent difference between legs and gait variability as the coefficient of variation over twenty sequential steps. Results—SA had greater strength asymmetry (27.4 ± 5.5%) than SS (11.7 ± 5.4%, P \u3c 0.001). Averaged across speeds, SA had greater single (7.1% vs. 2.5%) and double-limb support time asymmetry (7.0 vs. 4.3%) than SS and greater single-limb support time variability (9.7% vs. 6.6%, all P \u3c 0.05). Group × speed interactions occurred for weight acceptance force variability (P = 0.02) and weight acceptance force asymmetry (P = 0.017) with greater variability at the maximal speed in SA (5.0 ± 2.4% vs. 3.7 ± 1.2%) and greater asymmetry at the maximal speed in SA (6.4 ± 5.3% vs. 2.5 ± 2.3%). Conclusion—Gait variability and asymmetry are greater in older women with strength asymmetry and increase when they walk near their maximal capacities. The maintenance of strength symmetry, or development of symmetry through unilateral exercise, may be beneficial in reducing gait asymmetry, gait variability, and fall risk in older adults

Liking, Linking, and Tweeting: Mental Health, Mentoring, and Professional Responsibility in the Age of Social Media

It should come as no surprise that interaction through social media and other forms of technology mediated communications (“TMC”) has grown dramatically over the last two decades. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated this turn to technology. Communicating through some form of technology, rather than face-to-face, necessarily changes the methods we use to communicate (a smile emoji in a text replaces a smile you might give in a face-to-face discussion, for example). Studies support, however, that, in addition to changing the means by which we communicate, our increased reliance on TMC may also be changing us. Among other things, some studies show a correlation between increased reliance on TMC and increased rates of mental health challenges, such as loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Given that extensive reliance on TMC may result in negative impacts on the mental health of its users, law schools, individual lawyers, and the broader legal community should take action to monitor for and mitigate these potential harms. The need to address this problem is particularly important in the current climate, as law firms, judges, and other leaders in the profession continue to grapple with determining what work environments and communications will look like going forward in the legal profession now that Covid-19 related restrictions on in-person interactions have been lifted. This Article explores the correlation between our ever-increasing reliance on TMC and increased rates of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. It examines the problem in the context of the legal profession, focusing particularly on the resulting potential impairment of the lawyer’s ability to maintain and establish relationships. It reflects on the potential impact of that impairment on a vital component of professional development – mentorship. Then, drawing on lessons learned from Social Presence Theory, the Article offers proposals aimed at mitigating the potential negative effects of extensive reliance on TMC

Polq-Mediated End Joining Is Essential for Surviving DNA Double-Strand Breaks during Early Zebrafish Development

SummaryError-prone repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) has been postulated to occur through classical non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) in systems ranging from nematode somatic tissues to zebrafish embryos. Contrary to this model, we show that zebrafish embryos mutant for DNA polymerase theta (Polq), a critical component of alternative end joining (alt-EJ), cannot repair DSBs induced by CRISPR/Cas9 or ionizing radiation. In the absence of DSBs, polq mutants are phenotypically normal, but they do not survive mutagenesis and display dramatic differences in the mutation profiles compared with the wild-type. These results show that alt-EJ repair is essential and dominant during the early development of a vertebrate