Anthropometric and Performance Parameters of Japanese High School American Football Players: A Case Study of Selection for International Matches

This study aimed to compare the anthropometric and performance parameters between American football players from different high school grades and to compare their physical characteristics to the normative values for U S and Japanese players fromprevious studies The analysis included 240 grade 10 and 11 American football players The testing included height body mass broad jump 40-yard dash and pro-agility shuttle The analysis was stratified by position linemen offensive and defensive big skill players fullbacks tight ends and linebackers and skill players wide receivers running backs and defensive backs The only between-grade difference was body mass for linemen Cohen s d 0 6 with no moderate effects for all other measured variables d 0 6 No Japanese players were better in both mass and performance measures than U S elite high school players The strength and conditioning program for long-term athlete development should be established for American football players in Japa

Effect of Stress Level on Bending Creep Behavior of Wood During Cyclic Moisture Changes

This study investigated the effect of stress level on bending creep behavior of Japanese cedar (Cryptomerica japonica D. Don) during cyclic moisture changes. Tests were made at 20° with four cyclic relative humidity changes between 65% and 95% under four stress levels: 12.6, 18.5, 24.3, and 30.2 MPa, corresponding to 17, 25, 33, and 42% of short-term breaking stress, respectively. The effect of moisture content (MC) change on elastic compliance and mechano-sorptive (MS) compliance was examined. The results indicated that the total compliance revealed different behavior under various stress levels over the history of cyclic moisture changes and appeared to be greater under higher stress. Elastic compliance increased linearly with MC and affected the behavior of total compliance during MC change. As MC change increased, the MS compliance during the first adsorption and all desorption increased linearly, while during subsequent adsorption revealed a decrease in lower stress and an increase in higher stress. At a given stress level, the first adsorption led to greater MS deformation than did desorption and subsequent adsorption. The elastic parameter KE for MC effect on elastic compliance and the MS parameter KM for relationship between MS compliance and MC increased as quadratic functions of applied stress. The rate of increase in the parameters accelerated above about 25 to 33% stress level. As a result, when MC is cycled, MS compliance increase occurs at lower stress levels relative to creep at constant MC

バックスクワット中に生じる減速局面の特徴と弾性バンドが減速局面に与える影響

早稲田大学博士(スポーツ科学)早大学位記番号:新8051doctoral thesi

Concentration and uptake of taurine in umbilical blood platelets.

The concentration and uptake of taurine in the umbilical and adult blood platelets were studied. Taurine was the most abundant free amino acid in both umbilical and adult blood platelets. The taurine concentration in umbilical blood platelets (2.30 pmoles/10(4) cells) was significantly lower than that of adult blood platelets (3.27 pmoles/10(4) cells) in contrast to the reverse relationship in taurine concentrations in umbilical and adult blood plasma. No other amino acid showed such significant difference in the concentrations between umbilical and adult blood platelets. Taurine uptake into umbilical blood platelets was temperature sensitive and sodium-dependent in a manner similar to that of adult blood platelets. The uptake conformed well to Hanes-plot. The Vmax of the uptake into adult blood platelets was about 3.6 times higher than that of umbilical blood platelets, but no significant difference was seen in the Km value between the two groups.</p

Aberrant Methylation of p21 Gene in Lung Cancer and Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Suppression of p21 has been implicated in the genesis and progression of many human malignancies. DNA methylation is an important mechanism of gene silencing in human malignancies. In this study, we examined the expression status and aberrant methylaion of p21 in lung cancers and malignant pleural mesotheliomas (MPM). We used 12 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines, 13 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines, 50 primary NSCLCs, 6 MPM cell lines and 10 primary MPMs. The expression and methylation of p21 was examined by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), Western blotting and methylation-specific PCR (MSP) assay. Loss of p21 protein expression was observed in 7 SCLC cell lines (58.3%), 5 NSCLC cell lines (38.5%) and 3 MPM cell lines (50%) while mRNA expression was lost in 2 SCLC cell lines (16.7%), 2 NSCLC cell lines (15.4%) and none of the MPM cell lines. Aberrant methylation of p21 was found in 8.3% of SCLC cell lines, 30.2% of NSCLCs and 6.3% of MPMs. Among primary NSCLCs, methylation in adenocarcinomas was significantly more frequent than in squamous cell carcinomas. Loss of p21 expression was frequently observed in lung cancers and MPMs and aberrant methylation was one of the mechanisms of suppression of p21, especially in NSCLCs

Non-BAC Component but not Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Gene Mutation is Associated with Poor Outcomes in Small Adenocarcinoma of the Lung

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for poor clinical outcome after surgical resection of small lung adenocarcinoma.Materials and MethodsClinical records of 127 patients who had pathologic stage IA lung adenocarcinoma 20 mm or less and who had undergone a lobectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection were reviewed. The percentage of non-bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (non-BAC) components quantified objectively, and epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR) mutation determined by polymerase chain reaction-based assay were retrospectively linked with clinical data.ResultsBased on the percentage of non-BAC component, 127 patients were classified as follows: 26 in group I, BAC, 46 in group II mixed subtype with ≥ 50% BAC, 18 in group III, mixed subtype with under 50% BAC, and 37 in group IV, mixed subtype with all non-BAC components or a pure pattern of one of the non-BAC components. Groups I and II were considered to be a “low non-BAC component type” and groups III and IV were considered to be a “high non-BAC component type.” EGFR mutations in exon19 and exon21 were observed in 64 patients (50.4%). In terms of recurrence, the high non-BAC component type was the only independent factor for recurrence (p = 0.029). Regarding survival, the high age (p = 0.028) and high non-BAC component type (p = 0.046) were independent risk factors for poor overall survival. They were also independent risk factors for poor disease-free survival (p = 0.025 and p = 0.027, respectively).ConclusionThe high non-BAC component but not EGFR mutation status, is an independent risk factor for both recurrence and poor prognosis in patients with stage IA lung adenocarcinoma ≤20 mm

Preclinical Evaluation of MicroRNA-34b/c Delivery for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

The microRNA-34s (miR-34s) have p53 response elements in their 5ʼ-flanking regions and demonstrate tumor-suppressive functions. In malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), we previously reported that expression of miR-34b and miR-34c (miR-34b/c) was frequently downregulated by methylation in MPM cell lines and primary tumors. The forced overexpression of miR-34b/c showed significant antitumor effects with the induction of apoptosis in MPM cells. In this study, we examined the in vivo antitumor effects of miR-34b/c using adenovirus vector on MPM. We subcutaneously transplanted NCI-H290, a human MPM cell line, into BALB/C mice and injected adenovirus vector expressing miR-34b/c, luciferase driven by the cytomegalovirus promoter (Ad-miR-34b/c or Ad-Luc), or PBS control into tumors over 5mm in diameter. A statistically significant growth inhibition of the tumor volume was observed in the Ad-miR-34b/c group from day 6 onward compared to the Ad-Luc group. The inhibition rate of Ad-miR-34b/c, compared to the tumor volume treated with Ad-Luc, was 58.6% on day 10 and 54.7% on day13. Our results indicate that adenovirus-mediated miR-34b/c gene therapy could be useful for the clinical treatment of MPM

Effects of malalignment and disease activity on osteophyte formation in knees of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

PURPOSE:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with secondary osteoarthritis (OA) in a knee joint following a total knee arthroplasty (TKA) procedure have been increasing. Here, we investigated osteophyte formation in knee joints of RA patients and associated factors.METHODS:We retrospectively examined findings of 35 knees in 30 RA patients (26 females, 4 males; mean age: 63.0 years; median disease duration: 15 years) who underwent TKA, including preoperative anteroposterior view radiographs of the knee joint. Using the ImageJ software package, osteophyte size in the medial femur (MF), medial tibia (MT), lateral femur (LF), and lateral tibia (LT) regions was also determined.RESULTS:The mean femorotibial angle was 179°, while Larsen grade was 2 in 1, 3 in 12, 4 in 18, and 5 in 2 patients. Osteophyte sizes in the MF, MT, LF, and LT regions were 37.2, 17.0, 27.2, and 4.57 mm2, respectively, and significantly greater in the medial compartment (MC; MF+MT) than the lateral compartment (LC; LF+LT) (p < 0.001). In varus cases, osteophyte size in the MC was significantly larger than normal and valgus cases (p = 0.0016). Furthermore, osteophyte size in the MC was negatively correlated with the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (r = -0.492, p = 0.0027) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = -0.529, p = 0.0016), whereas that in the LC was negatively correlated with disease activity (r = -0.589, p = 0.0023).CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that alignment and disease activity influence osteophyte formation in RA patients, with secondary OA a more prominent symptom in RA patients with controlled inflammation