The effect of icepack cooling on skin and muscle temperature at rest and after exercise

Objective. To compare cooling of skin, subcutaneous fat and muscle, produced by an icepack, at rest and after short-duration exhaustive exercise. Methods. Eight male subjects were studied. With the subject supine, hypodermic needle-tip thermistors were inserted into the subcutaneous fat and the mid-portion of the left rectus femoris, to a depth of 1 cm plus the adipose thickness at the site, and a temperature probe was placed on the skin overlying the needle tips. A pack of crushed ice was applied for 15 minutes and temperatures were recorded before, during, and for 45 minutes after icepack application. Thereafter, subjects underwent a ramped, treadmill, VO2max test, an icepack was applied after temperature probes were inserted into the right leg and measurements were made as before. Results. After the treadmill run, skin (Sk), subcutaneous (SC) and muscle (Ms) temperatures (mean ± standard deviation (SD)) were 0.9 ± 1.3, 1.0 ± 0.7 and 1.3 ± 0.8°C higher than at rest. After 15 minutes of icepack cooling, temperatures fell in the exercised limb by 22.7 ± 1.5°C (Sk), 13.5 ± 4.2°C (SC) and 9.3 ± 5.5°C (Ms) and in the control limb by 20.7 ± 2.9°C (Sk), 11.4 ± 2.0°C (SC) and 8.7 ± 2.6°C (Ms). The reductions in temperature were significant in both the control and exercised limbs. Forty-five minutes after icepack cooling, muscle temperature was still approximately 5°C lower in both the rested and exercised muscle (p < 0.001). Individual variations in response to cooling were noted. Conclusions. Cooling of superficial muscle occurs after high-intensity exercise. The degree of cooling is not uniform. This may be due to differences in the sympathetic response to cooling, influencing haemodynamic and thermoregulatory changes after exercise. This needs further investigation. South African Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 18 (3) 2006: pp. 60-6

SOLENOPSIS INVICTA VIRUS (SINV-1) INFECTION AND INSECTICIDE INTERACTIONS IN THE RED IMPORTED FIRE ANT (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)

Controlling invasive species is a growing concern; however, pesticides can be detrimental for non-target organisms. The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta Buren; Hymenoptera: Formicidae) has aggressively invaded ~138 million ha in the USA and causes over $6 billion in damage and control efforts annually (Valles 2011). Myriad research studies have been conducted to discover safe biological control agents to manage these invasive pests (Valles et al. 2004; Milks et al. 2008; Oi et al. 2009; Yang et al. 2009; Wang et al. 2010; Callcott et al. 2011; Porter et al. 2011; Tufts et al. 2011). Viruses may be lethal due to modifications of cellular processes and induction of defense responses or may produce distinct survival outcomes depending on species (i.e. ascoviruses) (Stasiak et al. 2005). The Solenopsis invicta virus (SINV-1) is a positive sense, single-stranded RNA virus, which can only infect the genus Solenopsis at all stages of development, and is verticallytransmitted within a colony (Valles et al. 2004; Valles 2012)

Statistical Communication Theory

Contains reports on four research projects

Adverse Health Effects of Spousal Violence Among Women Attending Saudi Arabian Primary Health-Care Clinics

This study aimed to investigate the frequency of spousal violence among Saudi women and document the related health effects and injuries, as well as their attitudes to gender and violence. Structured interviews were conducted with 200 ever-married women recruited from primary-care centres in Jeddah. Nearly half of the surveyed women (44.5%) reported ever experiencing physical violence from their spouse. Although 37 women (18.5%) had received violence-related injuries, only 6.5% had reported these injuries to a health-care provider. Victims of spousal violence had poor perceptions of their overall health, and reported pain or discomfort, antidepressant use and suicidal thoughts. Women mostly disagreed with the presented justifications for wife beating. However, the association between gender attitudes and spousal violence was not significant. The results of this study support calls for integration of education about partner violence into health care curricula to enhance the access and quality of services

The effect of icepack cooling on skin and muscle temperature at rest and after exercise

Objective. To compare cooling of skin, subcutaneous fat and muscle, produced by an icepack, at rest and after short-duration exhaustive exercise. Methods. Eight male subjects were studied. With the subject supine, hypodermic needle-tip thermistors were inserted into the subcutaneous fat and the mid-portion of the left rectus femoris, to a depth of 1 cm plus the adipose thickness at the site, and a temperature probe was placed on the skin overlying the needle tips. A pack of crushed ice was applied for 15 minutes and temperatures were recorded before, during, and for 45 minutes after icepack application. Thereafter, subjects underwent a ramped, treadmill, VO2max test, an icepack was applied after temperature probes were inserted into the right leg and measurements were made as before. Results. After the treadmill run, skin (Sk), subcutaneous (SC) and muscle (Ms) temperatures (mean ± standard deviation (SD)) were 0.9 ± 1.3, 1.0 ± 0.7 and 1.3 ± 0.8°C higher than at rest. After 15 minutes of icepack cooling, temperatures fell in the exercised limb by 22.7 ± 1.5°C (Sk), 13.5 ± 4.2°C (SC) and 9.3 ± 5.5°C (Ms) and in the control limb by 20.7 ± 2.9°C (Sk), 11.4 ± 2.0°C (SC) and 8.7 ± 2.6°C (Ms). The reductions in temperature were significant in both the control and exercised limbs. Forty-five minutes after icepack cooling, muscle temperature was still approximately 5°C lower in both the rested and exercised muscle (p < 0.001). Individual variations in response to cooling were noted. Conclusions. Cooling of superficial muscle occurs after high-intensity exercise. The degree of cooling is not uniform. This may be due to differences in the sympathetic response to cooling, influencing haemodynamic and thermoregulatory changes after exercise. This needs further investigation. South African Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 18 (3) 2006: pp. 60-6

Inspiral, merger and ringdown of unequal mass black hole binaries: a multipolar analysis

We study the inspiral, merger and ringdown of unequal mass black hole binaries by analyzing a catalogue of numerical simulations for seven different values of the mass ratio (from q=M2/M1=1 to q=4). We compare numerical and Post-Newtonian results by projecting the waveforms onto spin-weighted spherical harmonics, characterized by angular indices (l,m). We find that the Post-Newtonian equations predict remarkably well the relation between the wave amplitude and the orbital frequency for each (l,m), and that the convergence of the Post-Newtonian series to the numerical results is non-monotonic. To leading order the total energy emitted in the merger phase scales like eta^2 and the spin of the final black hole scales like eta, where eta=q/(1+q)^2 is the symmetric mass ratio. We study the multipolar distribution of the radiation, finding that odd-l multipoles are suppressed in the equal mass limit. Higher multipoles carry a larger fraction of the total energy as q increases. We introduce and compare three different definitions for the ringdown starting time. Applying linear estimation methods (the so-called Prony methods) to the ringdown phase, we find resolution-dependent time variations in the fitted parameters of the final black hole. By cross-correlating information from different multipoles we show that ringdown fits can be used to obtain precise estimates of the mass and spin of the final black hole, which are in remarkable agreement with energy and angular momentum balance calculations.Comment: 51 pages, 28 figures, 16 tables. Many improvements throughout the text in response to the referee report. The calculation of multipolar components in Appendix A now uses slightly different conventions. Matches version in press in PR

Social Networking and Individual Outcomes: Individual Decisions andMarket Context

This paper examines social interactions when social networking is endogenous. It employs a linear-quadratic model that accommodates contextual effects, and endogenous local interactions, that is where individuals react to the decisions of their neighbors, and endogenous global ones, where individuals react to the mean decision in the economy, both with a lag. Unlike the simple V AR(1) structural model of individual interactions, the planner's problem here involves intertemporal optimization and leads to a system of linear difference equations with expectations. It highlights an asset-like property of socially optimal outcomes in every period which helps characterize the shadow values of connections among agents. Endogenous networking is easiest to characterize when individuals choose weights of social attachment to other agents. It highlights a simultaneity between decisions and patterns of social attachment. The paper also poses the inverse social interactions problem, asking whether it is possible to design a social network whose agents' decisions will obey an arbitrarily specified variance covariance matrix

Statistical Communication Theory

Contains reports on six research projects

First hemispheric report of invasive tick species Haemaphysalis punctata, first state report of Haemaphysalis longicornis, and range expansion of native tick species in Rhode Island, USA

Background Invasive arthropod vectors and the range expansions of native vectors can lead to public and veterinary health concerns, as these vectors may introduce novel pathogens or spread endemic pathogens to new locations. Recent tick invasions and range expansion in the USA has been attributed to climate and land use change, an increase in global travel, and importations of exotic animals. Methods A 10-year surveillance study was conducted on Block Island, Rhode Island, from 2010 to 2020 including sampling ticks from small mammal and avian hosts. Results We report the discovery and establishment of the red sheep tick (Haemaphysalis punctata) for the first time in the western hemisphere and in the US. This invasive species was first collected in 2010 on Block Island, was collected continuously throughout the study, and was collected from an avian host. We document the first report of the invasive Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) in the state of Rhode Island, first observed at our sites in 2018. Finally, we present data on the range expansion and establishment of two native tick species, the lone star tick and the rabbit tick, on Block Island. Conclusion This study emphasized the importance of long-term surveillance to detect changes in tick host communities, including invasive and expanding native vectors of potential significance to humans and wildlife. Graphical abstrac