THE STUDY OF THE AREA OF FOOTPATH BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE ELITE DISTANT RUNNERS UNDER DIFFERENT RUNNING SPEEDS OF A TREADMILL

The purpose of this study was to investigate and to compare the difference of area of footpath between male and female elite distant runners under 3 m/s and 4 m/s running speeds on a treadmill. There were 9 male and 7 female subjects jointed this study. AJVC DVL-9800 digital camera was utilized to record subject's running movement, and the Ariel Performance Analysis System was used for digitizing. The t-test statistics was used to test the difference between variables. The results indicated that both male and female runners' areas of footpaths were greater when the running speed was increased, and there was no significant difference between male and female runners

PLATFORM HEIGHT FOR DROP JUMP DETERMINED BY COUNTER MOVEMENT JUMP

The purpose of the study was to apply personal counter movement jump (CMJ) ability as a standard of choosing the height of the platform and to analyze the kinematics and kinetics during DJ in order to find the appropriate height of the platform for an individual. Twenty male Division I college volleyball players were the participants. Data were collected using 11 infrared Eagle cameras and two AMTI force platforms. The major finding was that the personalized platform height designed according to personal jumping ability showed significant increase in the impulse of eccentric phase during the drop height being above 100%CMJ. The platform height chosen according to 100%CMJ would be an appropriate height for an individual

Constructing an Index for Brand Equity: A Hospital Example

If two hospitals are providing identical services in all respects, except for the brand name, why are customers willing to pay more for one hospital than the other? That is, the brand name is not just a name, but a name that contains value (brand equity). Brand equity is the value that the brand name endows to the product, such that consumers are willing to pay a premium price for products with the particular brand name. Accordingly, a company needs to manage its brand carefully so that its brand equity does not depreciate. Although measuring brand equity is important, managers have no brand equity index that is psychometrically robust and parsimonious enough for practice. Indeed, index construction is quite different from conventional scale development. Moreover, researchers might still be unaware of the potential appropriateness of formative indicators for operationalizing particular constructs. Towards this end, drawing on the brand equity literature and following the index construction procedure, this study creates a brand equity index for a hospital. The results reveal a parsimonious five-indicator brand equity index that can adequately capture the full domain of brand equity. This study also illustrates the differences between index construction and scale development

The Adaptor Protein SH2B3 (Lnk) Negatively Regulates Neurite Outgrowth of PC12 Cells and Cortical Neurons

SH2B adaptor protein family members (SH2B1-3) regulate various physiological responses through affecting signaling, gene expression, and cell adhesion. SH2B1 and SH2B2 were reported to enhance nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced neuronal differentiation in PC12 cells, a well-established neuronal model system. In contrast, SH2B3 was reported to inhibit cell proliferation during the development of immune system. No study so far addresses the role of SH2B3 in the nervous system. In this study, we provide evidence suggesting that SH2B3 is expressed in the cortex of embryonic rat brain. Overexpression of SH2B3 not only inhibits NGF-induced differentiation of PC12 cells but also reduces neurite outgrowth of primary cortical neurons. SH2B3 does so by repressing NGF-induced activation of PLCγ, MEK-ERK1/2 and PI3K-AKT pathways and the expression of Egr-1. SH2B3 is capable of binding to phosphorylated NGF receptor, TrkA, as well as SH2B1β. Our data further demonstrate that overexpression of SH2B3 reduces the interaction between SH2B1β and TrkA. Consistent with this finding, overexpressing the SH2 domain of SH2B3 is sufficient to inhibit NGF-induced neurite outgrowth. Together, our data demonstrate that SH2B3, unlike the other two family members, inhibits neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells and primary cortical neurons. Its inhibitory mechanism is likely through the competition of TrkA binding with the positive-acting SH2B1 and SH2B2