Can Trained Runners Effectively Attenuate Impact Acceleration During Repeated High-Intensity Running Bouts?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of prolonged high intensity running on impact accelerations in trained runners. Thirteen male distance runners completed two 20-minute treadmill runs at speeds corresponding to 95% of onset of blood lactate accumulation. Leg and head accelerations were collected for 20 s every 4th minute. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scores were recorded during the 3rd and last minute of each run. RPE responses increased (p < .001) from the start (11.8 ± 0.9, moderate intensity) of the first run to the end (17.7 ±1.5; very hard) of the second run. Runners maintained their leg impact acceleration, impact attenuation, stride length and stride frequency characteristics with prolonged run duration. However, a small (0.11-0.14g) but significant increase (p < .001) in head impact accelerations were observed at the end of both first and second runs. It was concluded that trained runners are able to control leg impact accelerations during sustained high-intensity running. Alongside the substantial increases in perceived exertion levels, running mechanics and frequency domain impact attenuation levels remained constant. This suggests that the present trained runners are able to cope from a mechanical perspective despite an increased physiological demand

The contribution of nature to people: applying concepts of values and properties to rate the management importance of natural elements

An important, and yet unresolved question in natural resource management is how best to manage natural elements and their associated values to ensure human wellbeing. Specifically, there is a lack of measurement tools to assess the contribution of nature to people. We present one approach to overcome this global issue and show that the preferred state of any system element, in terms of realising human values, is a function of element properties. Consequently, natural resource managers need to understand the nature of the relationships between element properties and values if they are to successfully manage for human wellbeing. In two case studies of applied planning, we demonstrate how to identify key element properties, quantify their relationships to priority human values, and combine this information to model the contribution of elements to human wellbeing. In one of the two case studies we also compared the modelling outputs with directly elicited stakeholder opinions regarding the importance of the elements for realising the given priority values. The two, largely congruent outputs provide additional support for the approach. The study shows that rating sets of elements on their relative overall value for human wellbeing, or utility, provides critical information for subsequent management decisions and a basis for productive new research. We consider that the described approach is broadly applicable within the domain of natural resource management

Impact of physiological noise correction on detecting blood oxygenation level-dependent contrast in the breast.

Physiological fluctuations are expected to be a dominant source of noise in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments to assess tumour oxygenation and angiogenesis. This work investigates the impact of various physiological noise regressors: retrospective image correction (RETROICOR), heart rate (HR) and respiratory volume per unit time (RVT), on signal variance and the detection of BOLD contrast in the breast in response to a modulated respiratory stimulus. BOLD MRI was performed at 3 T in ten volunteers at rest and during cycles of oxygen and carbogen gas breathing. RETROICOR was optimized using F-tests to determine which cardiac and respiratory phase terms accounted for a significant amount of signal variance. A nested regression analysis was performed to assess the effect of RETROICOR, HR and RVT on the model fit residuals, temporal signal-to-noise ratio, and BOLD activation parameters. The optimized RETROICOR model accounted for the largest amount of signal variance ([Formula: see text]  =  3.3  ±  2.1%) and improved the detection of BOLD activation (P  =  0.002). Inclusion of HR and RVT regressors explained additional signal variance, but had a negative impact on activation parameter estimation (P  <  0.001). Fluctuations in HR and RVT appeared to be correlated with the stimulus and may contribute to apparent BOLD signal reactivity.This work was supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the Cambridge Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and the CRUK-EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre in Cambridge and Manchester (C197/A16465 and C8742/A18097)

Analysis of defect-related inhomogeneous electroluminescence in InGaN/GaN QW LEDs

The inhomogeneous electroluminescence (EL) of InGaN/GaN quantum well light emitting diode structures was investigated in this study. Electroluminescence hyperspectral images showed that inhomogeneities in the form of bright spots exhibited spectrally blue-shifted and broadened emission. Scanning electron microscopy combined with cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL) was used to identify hexagonal pits at the centre of approximately 20% of these features. Scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDX) indicated there may be p-doped AlGaN within the active region caused by the presence of the pit. Weak beam dark-field TEM (WBDF-TEM) revealed the presence of bundles of dislocations associated with the pit, suggesting the surface features which cause the inhomogeneous EL may occur at coalescence boundaries, supported by trends in the number of features observed across the wafer.The European Research Council has provided financial support under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme/ ERC grant agreement no. 279361 (MACONS).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spmi.2016.03.03

Correlation between measures of insulin resistance in fasting and non-fasting blood

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epidemiological investigation of insulin resistance is difficult. Standard measures of insulin resistance require invasive investigations, which are impractical for large-scale studies. Surrogate measures using fasting blood samples have been developed, but even these are difficult to obtain in population-based studies. Measures of insulin resistance have not been validated in non-fasting blood samples. Our objective was to assess the correlations between fasting and non-fasting measures of insulin resistance/sensitivity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fasting and non-fasting measurements of metabolic function were compared in 30 volunteers (15 male) aged 28 to 48 years. Participants provided a morning blood sample after an overnight fast and a second sample approximately 4 hours after lunch on the same day.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Non-fasting levels of the adipokines leptin, adiponectin, and leptin:adiponectin ratios were not significantly different and highly correlated with fasting values (r values 0.95, 0.96, and 0.95 respectively, P values < 0.001). There were moderate correlations between fasting and non-fasting estimates of insulin sensitivity using the McAuley (r = 0.60, P = 0.001) and QUICKI formulae (r = 0.39, P = 0.037). The HOMA-IR estimate of insulin resistance was also moderately correlated (r = 0.45, P = 0.016).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Semi-fasting measures of leptin, adiponectin, and leptin:adiponectin ratios correlate closely with fasting values and are likely to be sufficient for population-based research. Other measures of insulin resistance or sensitivity in semi-fasted blood samples are moderately correlated with values obtained after an overnight fast. These estimates of insulin resistance/sensitivity may also be adequate for many epidemiological studies and would avoid the difficulties of obtaining fasting blood samples.</p

Evidence of a metabolic memory to early-life dietary restriction in male C57BL/6 mice

&lt;p&gt;Background: Dietary restriction (DR) extends lifespan and induces beneficial metabolic effects in many animals. What is far less clear is whether animals retain a metabolic memory to previous DR exposure, that is, can early-life DR preserve beneficial metabolic effects later in life even after the resumption of ad libitum (AL) feeding. We examined a range of metabolic parameters (body mass, body composition (lean and fat mass), glucose tolerance, fed blood glucose, fasting plasma insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), insulin sensitivity) in male C57BL/6 mice dietary switched from DR to AL (DR-AL) at 11 months of age (mid life). The converse switch (AL-DR) was also undertaken at this time. We then compared metabolic parameters of the switched mice to one another and to age-matched mice maintained exclusively on an AL or DR diet from early life (3 months of age) at 1 month, 6 months or 10 months post switch.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Results: Male mice dietary switched from AL-DR in mid life adopted the metabolic phenotype of mice exposed to DR from early life, so by the 10-month timepoint the AL-DR mice overlapped significantly with the DR mice in terms of their metabolic phenotype. Those animals switched from DR-AL in mid life showed clear evidence of a glycemic memory, with significantly improved glucose tolerance relative to mice maintained exclusively on AL feeding from early life. This difference in glucose tolerance was still apparent 10 months after the dietary switch, despite body mass, fasting insulin levels and insulin sensitivity all being similar to AL mice at this time.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Conclusions: Male C57BL/6 mice retain a long-term glycemic memory of early-life DR, in that glucose tolerance is enhanced in mice switched from DR-AL in mid life, relative to AL mice, even 10 months following the dietary switch. These data therefore indicate that the phenotypic benefits of DR are not completely dissipated following a return to AL feeding. The challenge now is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects, the time course of these effects and whether similar interventions can confer comparable benefits in humans.&lt;/p&gt

A reverse engineering approach to the suppression of citation biases reveals universal properties of citation distributions

The large amount of information contained in bibliographic databases has recently boosted the use of citations, and other indicators based on citation numbers, as tools for the quantitative assessment of scientific research. Citations counts are often interpreted as proxies for the scientific influence of papers, journals, scholars, and institutions. However, a rigorous and scientifically grounded methodology for a correct use of citation counts is still missing. In particular, cross-disciplinary comparisons in terms of raw citation counts systematically favors scientific disciplines with higher citation and publication rates. Here we perform an exhaustive study of the citation patterns of millions of papers, and derive a simple transformation of citation counts able to suppress the disproportionate citation counts among scientific domains. We find that the transformation is well described by a power-law function, and that the parameter values of the transformation are typical features of each scientific discipline. Universal properties of citation patterns descend therefore from the fact that citation distributions for papers in a specific field are all part of the same family of univariate distributions.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Supporting information files available at http://filrad.homelinux.or

Replication of LDL SWAs hits in PROSPER/PHASE as validation for future (pharmaco)genetic analyses

&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Background:&lt;/b&gt; The PHArmacogenetic study of Statins in the Elderly at risk (PHASE) is a genome wide association study in the PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at risk for vascular disease (PROSPER) that investigates the genetic variation responsible for the individual variation in drug response to pravastatin. Statins lower LDL-cholesterol in general by 30%, however not in all subjects. Moreover, clinical response is highly variable and adverse effects occur in a minority of patients. In this report we first describe the rationale of the PROSPER/PHASE project and second show that the PROSPER/PHASE study can be used to study pharmacogenetics in the elderly.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Methods:&lt;/b&gt; The genome wide association study (GWAS) was conducted using the Illumina 660K-Quad beadchips following manufacturer's instructions. After a stringent quality control 557,192 SNPs in 5,244 subjects were available for analysis. To maximize the availability of genetic data and coverage of the genome, imputation up to 2.5 million autosomal CEPH HapMap SNPs was performed with MACH imputation software. The GWAS for LDL-cholesterol is assessed with an additive linear regression model in PROBABEL software, adjusted for age, sex, and country of origin to account for population stratification.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Results:&lt;/b&gt; Forty-two SNPs reached the GWAS significant threshold of p = 5.0e-08 in 5 genomic loci (APOE/APOC1; LDLR; FADS2/FEN1; HMGCR; PSRC1/CELSR5). The top SNP (rs445925, chromosome 19) with a p-value of p = 2.8e-30 is located within the APOC1 gene and near the APOE gene. The second top SNP (rs6511720, chromosome 19) with a p-value of p = 5.22e-15 is located within the LDLR gene. All 5 genomic loci were previously associated with LDL-cholesterol levels, no novel loci were identified. Replication in WOSCOPS and CARE confirmed our results.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/b&gt; With the GWAS in the PROSPER/PHASE study we confirm the previously found genetic associations with LDL-cholesterol levels. With this proof-of-principle study we show that the PROSPER/PHASE study can be used to investigate genetic associations in a similar way to population based studies. The next step of the PROSPER/PHASE study is to identify the genetic variation responsible for the variation in LDL-cholesterol lowering in response to statin treatment in collaboration with other large trials.&lt;/p&gt

Are Essay Mills committing fraud? An analysis of their behaviours vs the 2006 Fraud Act (UK)

Many strategies have been proposed to address the use of Essay Mills and other ‘contract cheating’ services by students. These services generally offer bespoke custom-written essays or other assignments to students in exchange for a fee. There have been calls for the use of legal approaches to tackle the problem. Here we determine whether the UK Fraud Act (2006) might be used to tackle some of the activities of companies providing these services in the UK, by comparing their common practises, and their Terms and Conditions, with the Act. We found that all the sites examined have disclaimers regarding the use of their products but there are some obvious contradictions in the activities of the sites which undermine these disclaimers, for example all sites offer plagiarism-free guarantees for the work and at least eight have advertising which appears to contradict their terms and conditions. We identify possible areas in which the Act could be used to pursue a legal case but overall conclude that such an approach is unlikely to be effective. We call for a new offence to be created in UK law which specifically targets the undesirable behaviours of these companies in the UK, although the principles could be applied elsewhere. We also highlight other UK legal approaches that may be more successful