Emphasizing Task-Specific Hypertrophy to Enhance Sequential Strength and Power Performance

While strength is indeed a skill, most discussions have primarily considered structural adaptations rather than ultrastructural augmentation to improve performance. Altering the structural component of the muscle is often the aim of hypertrophic training, yet not all hypertrophy is equal; such alterations are dependent upon how the muscle adapts to the training stimuli and overall training stress. When comparing bodybuilders to strength and power athletes such as powerlifters, weightlifters, and throwers, while muscle size may be similar, the ability to produce force and power is often inequivalent. Thus, performance differences go beyond structural changes and may be due to the muscle’s ultrastructural constituents and training induced adaptations. Relative to potentiating strength and power performances, eliciting specific ultrastructural changes should be a variable of interest during hypertrophic training phases. By focusing on task-specific hypertrophy, it may be possible to achieve an optimal amount of hypertrophy while deemphasizing metabolic and aerobic components that are often associated with high-volume training. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to briefly address different types of hypertrophy and provide directions for practitioners who are aiming to achieve optimal rather than maximal hypertrophy, as it relates to altering ultrastructural muscular components, to potentiate strength and power performance

Emphasizing Task-Specific Hypertrophy to Enhance Sequential Strength and Power Performance

While strength is indeed a skill, most discussions have primarily considered structural adaptations rather than ultrastructural augmentation to improve performance. Altering the structural component of the muscle is often the aim of hypertrophic training, yet not all hypertrophy is equal; such alterations are dependent upon how the muscle adapts to the training stimuli and overall training stress. When comparing bodybuilders to strength and power athletes such as powerlifters, weightlifters, and throwers, while muscle size may be similar, the ability to produce force and power is often inequivalent. Thus, performance differences go beyond structural changes and may be due to the muscle’s ultrastructural constituents and training induced adaptations. Relative to potentiating strength and power performances, eliciting specific ultrastructural changes should be a variable of interest during hypertrophic training phases. By focusing on task-specific hypertrophy, it may be possible to achieve an optimal amount of hypertrophy while deemphasizing metabolic and aerobic components that are often associated with high-volume training. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to briefly address different types of hypertrophy and provide directions for practitioners who are aiming to achieve optimal rather than maximal hypertrophy, as it relates to altering ultrastructural muscular components, to potentiate strength and power performance

Expert range maps of global mammal distributions harmonised to three taxonomic authorities

AimComprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroecology. We provide global range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species harmonised to the taxonomy of the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) mobilised from two sources, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW).LocationGlobal.TaxonAll extant mammal species.MethodsRange maps were digitally interpreted, georeferenced, error-checked and subsequently taxonomically aligned between the HMW (6253 species), the CMW (6431 species) and the MDD taxonomies (6362 species).ResultsRange maps can be evaluated and visualised in an online map browser at Map of Life (mol.org) and accessed for individual or batch download for non-commercial use.Main conclusionExpert maps of species' global distributions are limited in their spatial detail and temporal specificity, but form a useful basis for broad-scale characterizations and model-based integration with other data. We provide georeferenced range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species as shapefiles, with species-level metadata and source information packaged together in geodatabase format. Across the three taxonomic sources our maps entail, there are 1784 taxonomic name differences compared to the maps currently available on the IUCN Red List website. The expert maps provided here are harmonised to the MDD taxonomic authority and linked to a community of online tools that will enable transparent future updates and version control

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

Environmental determinants of islet autoimmunity (ENDIA): a pregnancy to early life cohort study in children at-risk of type 1 diabetes

Members of ENDIA Study Group: Peter Baghurst, Simon Barry, Jodie Dodd, Maria Makrides for the University of Adelaide.BACKGROUND The incidence of type 1 diabetes has increased worldwide, particularly in younger children and those with lower genetic susceptibility. These observations suggest factors in the modern environment promote pancreatic islet autoimmunity and destruction of insulin-producing beta cells. The Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) Study is investigating candidate environmental exposures and gene-environment interactions that may contribute to the development of islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes. METHODS/DESIGN ENDIA is the only prospective pregnancy/birth cohort study in the Southern Hemisphere investigating the determinants of type 1 diabetes in at-risk children. The study will recruit 1,400 unborn infants or infants less than six months of age with a first-degree relative (i.e. mother, father or sibling) with type 1 diabetes, across five Australian states. Pregnant mothers/infants will be followed prospectively from early pregnancy through childhood to investigate relationships between genotype, the development of islet autoimmunity (and subsequently type 1 diabetes), and prenatal and postnatal environmental factors. ENDIA will evaluate the microbiome, nutrition, bodyweight/composition, metabolome-lipidome, insulin resistance, innate and adaptive immune function and viral infections. A systems biology approach will be used to integrate these data. Investigation will be by 3-monthly assessments of the mother during pregnancy, then 3-monthly assessments of the child until 24 months of age and 6-monthly thereafter. The primary outcome measure is persistent islet autoimmunity, defined as the presence of autoantibodies to one or more islet autoantigens on consecutive tests. DISCUSSION Defining gene-environment interactions that initiate and/or promote destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in early life will inform approaches to primary prevention of type 1 diabetes. The strength of ENDIA is the prospective, comprehensive and frequent systems-wide profiling from early pregnancy through to early childhood, to capture dynamic environmental exposures that may shape the development of islet autoimmunity. TRIAL REGISTRATION Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12613000794707.Megan AS Penno, Jennifer J Couper, Maria E Craig, Peter G Colman, William D Rawlinson, Andrew M Cotterill, Timothy W Jones, Leonard C Harrison and ENDIA Study Grou

The behavioural ecology of the Mara, Dolichotis patagonus

This thesis presents the results of a 3 year field study on the behavioural ecology of the mara on the Valdés Peninsula in Argentina. The main goal was to investigate why the mara's social system incorporates both monogamy and communal denning, a combination unknown in other mammals. The research techniques used were behavioural observations and radio-tracking. Radio-tracking of 9 maras revealed that pairs were continually moving into new areas, suggesting that their ranging behaviour is adapted to an irregular pattern of resource distribution. Two maras had prevailing ranges of 35 ha and moved yearly over about 200 ha. Ranges floated around a geographic centre. One constraint on the animals' movements may be the need to stay near a den site for pupping. Maras were diurnal, and spent on average 46% of the day grazing. Ranges may overlap up to 33%, but range use between neighbouring pairs were negatively correlated suggesting that animals were avoiding each other--pairs may be occupying floating territories. Evidence that maras are monogamous in the wild is presented. The factors leading to monogamy are argued to be: (i) females are irregularly dispersed because of the distribution of food; and (ii) the brevity of the female's oestrus (1-2 hrs). A male attempting to mate polygynously would have difficulties in finding and securing a female; thus males may do best by staying with one female to ensure a successful mating. Males may enhance their reproductive success by watching for predators so that their females can spend more time feeding to meet the energetic demands of lactation and gestation. During the pupping season, August to January, groups of 1 to 22 pairs gather at single dens. Several dens may be located near each other to form denning communities. Most pairs produce only one litter a year and there is a peak of births in September and October. Pairs visit the den once a day for a period of 5-6 weeks to nurse their young. Den sites are not limited; and the reason maras den communally appears to be the increased protection from predators accruing to pups and adults in larger groups. Two possible routes are suggested in the evolution of the mara's social system: (i) from a monogamous starting point it has become advantageous to creche pups; or (ii) ancestral maras were more colonial and probably polygynous, but have been forced to space out because of changes in the distribution of food, which has led to monogamy. Finally, maras were compared with other caviomorph rodents, lagomorphs, and monogamous ruminants and were shown to be most similar to the latter in their adaptations to the environment a remarkable example of convergent evolution.</p

The behavioural ecology of the Mara, Dolichotis patagonus

This thesis presents the results of a 3 year field study on the behavioural ecology of the mara on the Valdés Peninsula in Argentina. The main goal was to investigate why the mara's social system incorporates both monogamy and communal denning, a combination unknown in other mammals. The research techniques used were behavioural observations and radio-tracking. Radio-tracking of 9 maras revealed that pairs were continually moving into new areas, suggesting that their ranging behaviour is adapted to an irregular pattern of resource distribution. Two maras had prevailing ranges of 35 ha and moved yearly over about 200 ha. Ranges floated around a geographic centre. One constraint on the animals' movements may be the need to stay near a den site for pupping. Maras were diurnal, and spent on average 46% of the day grazing. Ranges may overlap up to 33%, but range use between neighbouring pairs were negatively correlated suggesting that animals were avoiding each other--pairs may be occupying floating territories. Evidence that maras are monogamous in the wild is presented. The factors leading to monogamy are argued to be: (i) females are irregularly dispersed because of the distribution of food; and (ii) the brevity of the female's oestrus (1-2 hrs). A male attempting to mate polygynously would have difficulties in finding and securing a female; thus males may do best by staying with one female to ensure a successful mating. Males may enhance their reproductive success by watching for predators so that their females can spend more time feeding to meet the energetic demands of lactation and gestation. During the pupping season, August to January, groups of 1 to 22 pairs gather at single dens. Several dens may be located near each other to form denning communities. Most pairs produce only one litter a year and there is a peak of births in September and October. Pairs visit the den once a day for a period of 5-6 weeks to nurse their young. Den sites are not limited; and the reason maras den communally appears to be the increased protection from predators accruing to pups and adults in larger groups. Two possible routes are suggested in the evolution of the mara's social system: (i) from a monogamous starting point it has become advantageous to creche pups; or (ii) ancestral maras were more colonial and probably polygynous, but have been forced to space out because of changes in the distribution of food, which has led to monogamy. Finally, maras were compared with other caviomorph rodents, lagomorphs, and monogamous ruminants and were shown to be most similar to the latter in their adaptations to the environment a remarkable example of convergent evolution.</p

The business of the household,

"References" at end of most of the chapters.Mode of access: Internet