Female College Athletes and Osteoporosis: Strategies for Prevention and Treatment

For some female athletes, a risk exists for the development of one or more of the medical disorders that comprise the female athlete triad: the related conditions of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis. These disorders may lead to significant morbidity and a high rate of mortality. The female college athlete, driven to excel in her sport and pressured to fit a thin athletic image, is at risk for the development of premature osteoporosis. College counselors and advisors can be instrumental in the prevention and treatment of these problems in female col­lege athletes

Physical Activity and Social Cognitive Theory Outcomes of an Internet-Enhanced Physical Activity Intervention for African American Female College Students

Background. African American women report low levels of physical activity (PA) and are disproportionately burdened by related chronic diseases. This pilot study tested a 6-month theory-based (Social Cognitive Theory, SCT) culturally-relevant website intervention to promote PA among African American female college students. Materials and Methods. A single group pre-post test design (n=34) was used. PA and associated SCT constructs (outcome expectations, enjoyment, self-regulation, social support) were assessed at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. Results. The sample was comprised of mostly obese (M BMI= 35.4, SD=6.82) young adults (M age= 21.21 years, SD=2.31). Fifty percent of the sample completed all assessments. Intent-to-treat analyses showed that participants reported a significant median improvement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from 82.5 minutes/week (M=81.76, SD=76.23) at baseline to 115.0 minutes/week (M=122.44,SD=97.93) at 3 months (Wilcoxon z=2.39, p=.02). However these gains appear to have attenuated by 6 months (Median= 82.5 minutes/week, M=96.73, SD=84.20; Wilcoxon z=1.02, p=.31). Significant increases from baseline to 6 months were found in self-regulation for PA (p=.02) and social support for PA from friends (p=.02). Changes in the SCT variables were not significantly associated with changes in PA; however, this may have been due to small sample size. Conclusions. Future studies with larger samples and more aggressive retention strategies (e.g., more frequent incentives, prompts for website use) are needed to further explore the applicability of culturally relevant web-based approaches to promote PA in this at-risk population

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Self-Organizing Map Application on Nearby Galaxies

Galaxy populations show bimodality in a variety of properties: stellar mass, colour, specific star-formation rate, size, and S\'ersic index. These parameters are our feature space. We use an existing sample of 7556 galaxies from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, represented using five features and the K-means clustering technique, showed that the bimodalities are the manifestation of a more complex population structure, represented by between 2 and 6 clusters. Here we use Self Organizing Maps (SOM), an unsupervised learning technique which can be used to visualize similarity in a higher dimensional space using a 2D representation, to map these five-dimensional clusters in the feature space onto two-dimensional projections. To further analyze these clusters, using the SOM information, we agree with previous results that the sub-populations found in the feature space can be reasonably mapped onto three or five clusters. We explore where the "green valley" galaxies are mapped onto the SOM, indicating multiple interstitial populations within the green valley population. Finally, we use the projection of the SOM to verify whether morphological information provided by GalaxyZoo users, for example, if features are visible, can be mapped onto the SOM-generated map. Voting on whether galaxies are smooth, likely ellipticals, or "featured" can reasonably be separated but smaller morphological features (bar, spiral arms) can not. SOMs promise to be a useful tool to map and identify instructive sub-populations in multidimensional galaxy survey feature space, provided they are large enough.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, accepted by MNRA

Galaxy and mass assembly (GAMA): Self-Organizing Map application on nearby galaxies

Galaxy populations show bimodality in a variety of properties: stellar mass, colour, specific star-formation rate, size, and Sérsic index. These parameters are our feature space. We use an existing sample of 7556 galaxies from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, represented using five features and the K-means clustering technique, showed that the bimodalities are the manifestation of a more complex population structure, represented by between two and six clusters. Here we use Self-Organizing Maps (SOM), an unsupervised learning technique that can be used to visualize similarity in a higher dimensional space using a 2D representation, to map these 5D clusters in the feature space on to 2D projections. To further analyse these clusters, using the SOM information, we agree with previous results that the sub-populations found in the feature space can be reasonably mapped on to three or five clusters. We explore where the ‘green valley’ galaxies are mapped on to the SOM, indicating multiple interstitial populations within the green valley population. Finally, we use the projection of the SOM to verify whether morphological information provided by GalaxyZoo users, for example, if features are visible, can be mapped on to the SOM-generated map. Voting on whether galaxies are smooth, likely ellipticals, or ‘featured’ can reasonably be separated but smaller morphological features (bar, spiral arms) can not. SOMs promise to be a useful tool to map and identify instructive sub-populations in multidimensional galaxy survey feature space, provided they are large enough

Subthalamic Nucleus and Sensorimotor Cortex Activity During Speech Production

The sensorimotor cortex is somatotopically organized to represent the vocal tract articulators such as lips, tongue, larynx, and jaw. How speech and articulatory features are encoded at the subcortical level, however, remains largely unknown. We analyzed LFP recordings from the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and simultaneous electrocorticography recordings from the sensorimotor cortex of 11 human subjects (1 female) with Parkinson´s disease during implantation of deep-brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes while they read aloud three-phoneme words. The initial phonemes involved either articulation primarily with the tongue (coronal consonants) or the lips (labial consonants). We observed significant increases in high-gamma (60?150 Hz) power in both the STN and the sensorimotor cortex that began before speech onset and persisted for the duration of speech articulation. As expected from previous reports, in the sensorimotor cortex, the primary articulators involved in the production of the initial consonants were topographically represented by high-gamma activity. We found that STN high-gamma activity also demonstrated specificity for the primary articulator, although no clear topography was observed. In general, subthalamic high-gamma activity varied along the ventral?dorsal trajectory of the electrodes, with greater high-gamma power recorded in the dorsal locations of the STN. Interestingly, the majority of significant articulator-discriminative activity in the STN occurred before that in sensorimotor cortex. These results demonstrate that articulator-specific speech information is contained within high-gamma activity of the STN, but with different spatial and temporal organization compared with similar information encoded in the sensorimotor cortex.Fil: Chrabaszcz, Anna. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Neumann, Wolf Julian. Universität zu Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Stretcu, Otilia. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Lipski, Witold J.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Dastolfo Hromack, Christina A.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Bush, Alan. University of Pittsburgh; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Wang, Dengyu. Tsinghua University; China. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Crammond, Donald J.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Shaiman, Susan. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Dickey, Michael W.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Holt, Lori L.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Turner, Robert S.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Fiez, Julie A.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Richardson, R. Mark. University of Pittsburgh; Estados Unido

Myocardial contrast echocardiography for the assessment of coronary blood flow reserve: Validation in humans

AbstractObjectives. The aim of this study was to validate the use of myocardial contrast echocardiography to determine coronary blood flow reserve in humans.Background. Although myocardial contrast echocardiogrephy has been used to accurately quantify coronary flow reserve in animals, validation for its use in humans to measure flow reserve is lacking.Methods. We analyzed the time-intensity curve from the anteroseptal region of the left ventricular short axis produced after a left main coronary artery injection of sonicated albumin before and after intracoronary administration of papaverine in 16 patients without angiographically significant coronary artery disease. The ratio of half-time of video intensity disappearance from peak intensity, variable of curve width, area under the timeintensity curve and corrected peak contrast intensity after papaverine compared with baseline were correlated with coronary flow reserve measured simultaneously with an intracoronary Doppler probe in the left anterior descending coronary artery.Results. There was a strong inverse correlation with half-time of contrast washout and coronary flow reserve (r = −0.76, p = 0.0007) and a strong positive correlation between the variable of curve width (which is inversely proportional to curve width) and coronary flow reserve (r = 0.71, p = O.002). There was a weak but significant inverse correlation between area under the timeintensity curve and coronary flow reserve (r = −0.54, p = 0.03) but no correlation between corrected peak contrast inteasity and coronary flow reserve (r = −036, p = NS), Despite the strong correlation for the ratios for half-time of contrast washout and variable of curve width and actual coronary flow reserve measured with intracoronary Doppler probe, the transit time ratios consistently underestimated coronary flow reserve.Conclusions. Myocardial contrast echocardiography performed with left main coronary artery injections of sonicated albumin can be utilized to measure coronary flow reserve in humans. Transit time variable ratios (half-time of contrast washout and variable of curve width) derived from the time-intensity curve correlate most strongly with coronary flow reserve

“At ‘Amen Meals’ It’s Me and God” Religion and Gender: A New Jewish Women’s Ritual

New ritual practices performed by Jewish women can serve as test cases for an examination of the phenomenon of the creation of religious rituals by women. These food-related rituals, which have been termed ‘‘amen meals’’ were developed in Israel beginning in the year 2000 and subsequently spread to Jewish women in Europe and the United States. This study employs a qualitative-ethnographic methodology grounded in participant-observation and in-depth interviews to describe these nonobligatory, extra-halakhic rituals. What makes these rituals stand out is the women’s sense that through these rituals they experience a direct con- nection to God and, thus, can change reality, i.e., bring about jobs, marriages, children, health, and salvation for friends and loved ones. The ‘‘amen’’ rituals also create an open, inclusive woman’s space imbued with strong spiritual–emotional energies that counter the women’s religious marginality. Finally, the purposes and functions of these rituals, including identity building and displays of cultural capital, are considered within a theoretical framework that views ‘‘doing gender’’ and ‘‘doing religion’’ as an integrated experience

Original Article

The pancreas taken from the frog (Rana nigromaculata) was fixed in 1% OsO_4 and sliced into ultrathin sections for electron microscopic studies. The following observations were made: 1. A great \u27number of minute granules found in the cytoplasm of a pancreatic cell were called the microsomes, which were divided into two types, the C-microsome and S-microsome. 2. Electron microsopic studies of the ergastoplasm showed that it is composed of the microsome granules and A-substance. The microsomes were seen embedded in the A-substance which was either filamentous or membranous. The membranous structure, which was called the Am-membrane, was seen to form a sac, with a cavity of varying sizes, or to form a lamella. 3. The Am-membrane has close similarity to α-cytomembrane of Sjostrand, except that the latter is rough-surfaced. It was deduced that the Am-membrane, which is smooth-surfaced, might turn into the rough-surfaced α-cytomembrane. 4. There was the Golgi apparatus in the supranuclear region of a pancreatic cell. It consisted of the Golgi membrane, Golgi vacuole and. Golgi vesicle. 5. The mitochondria of a pancreatic cell appeared like long filaments, and some of them were seen to ramify. 6. The membrane of mitochondria, i. e. the limiting membrane, consisted of the Ammembrane. The mitochondria contained a lot of A-substances, as well as the C-microsomes and S-microsomes. When the mitochondria came into being, there appeared inside them chains of granules, which appeared like strips of beads, as the outgrowths of the A-substance and the microsome granules attached to the Am-membrane. They are the so-called cristae mitochondriales. 7. The secretory granules originate in the microsomes. They came into being when the microsomes gradually thickened and grew in size as various substances became adhered to them. Some of the secretory granules were covered with a membrane and appeared like what they have called the intracisternal granule of Palade.It seemed that this was a phenomenon attendant upon the dissolution and liqutefaction of the secretory granule. 8. Comparative studies were made of the ergastoplasm of the pancreatic cells from the frogs in hibernation, the frogs artificially hungered, the frogs which were given food after a certain period of fasting, the frogs to which pilocarpine was given subcutaneously, and the very young, immature frogs. The studies revealed that the ergastoplasm of the pancreatic cells greatly varied in form with the difference in nutritive condition and with different developmental stages of the cell. The change in form and structure occured as a result of transformation of the microsomes and A-substance. The ergastoplasm, even after it has come into being, might easily be inactivated if nutrition is defective. The ergastoplasm is concerned in the secretory mechanism, which is different from the secretory phenomenon of the secretory granules. It would seem that structurally the mitochondria have no direct relation to this mechanism

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms