A case study of an 87-year-old male bodybuilder with complex health conditions

This exploratory clinical case report presents an 87-year-old man who began bodybuilding at the age of 76 years and was officially recognised as the world’s oldest competitive bodybuilder, competing until age 83. He has a background of complex health conditions including polio, strokes, cardiac arrest, atrial fibrillation, prostate disease, osteoarthritis, depression, bowel obstruction, reflux, and bladder cancer. Assessments of body composition, bone density, muscle performance, and diet-related practices were performed. The bodybuilder had superior fat-free mass, lower fat mass, and generally greater muscle performance compared to untrained healthy males of a similar age. Commencement of bodybuilding in older age appears to be possible, even with ongoing complex health conditions, and the potential benefits of this practice require systematic investigation in the future

Canine pseudopregnancy: an evaluation of prevalence and current treatment protocols in the UK

Background: There is a dearth of literature on pseudopregnancy in the bitch, with only a few treatment-based studies published since the 1990s. Pseudopregnancy may be under-recognised in bitches and may account for a proportion of behavioural cases seen in veterinary practices including aggression. Little is known about commonly used treatments for overtly pseudopregnant bitches and it is possible that current regimes may not be prescribed for a sufficient duration to control any clinical signs including, physical and behavioural changes. To investigate current trends in diagnosis and treatment of canine pseudopregnancy, a postal survey was sent to 2000 randomly selected veterinary surgeons in UK veterinary practices. The questionnaire queried how often vets recognise cases of pseudopregnancy in spayed and entire bitches, which physical or behavioural signs are commonly recognised for diagnosis, and which management or treatment protocols are used. Results: The response rate was 19.8% (397/2000). Ninety-six percent of veterinary surgeons reported seeing pseudopregnant bitches showing behavioural changes without any physical changes within the last 12 months. Of those behavioural changes, collecting and mothering objects was the most frequently reported behavioural sign (96%). Ninety-seven percent of vets had seen aggression in pseudopregnant bitches. Nevertheless, only 52% of vets routinely asked owners about behavioural changes during consultations. Forty-nine percent of respondents reported seeing pseudopregnancy in spayed bitches. The most commonly reported physical sign was enlarged mammary glands and/or milk production (89%). Treatment options varied (surgical, medical or none) and depended on duration and severity of physical and behavioural signs, owners’ preference, cost, concurrent disease, drug availability and previous history. Conclusions: This is the largest epidemiological study of canine pseudopregnancy in the UK. The prevalence and severity of clinical signs in dogs with pseudopregnancy are variable and possibly under-estimated. Dogs with overt pseudopregnancy experience diverse physical and behavioural changes and information on standard treatment protocols are lacking. Although, progress on our understanding of diagnosis and treatment of pseudopregnancy in spayed and entire bitches has been made, further studies are warranted

Effect of Training Phase on Physical and Physiological Parameters of Male Powerlifters

Longitudinal research on training and dietary practices of natural powerlifters is limited. This study investigated the effect of phases of training on physical and physiological parameters in male natural powerlifters. Nine participants completed testing at two time points: (i) preparatory phase (~3 months prior to a major competition) and (ii) competition phase (1–2 weeks from a major competition). No significant changes between training phases were found for muscle strength and power. A trend for significance was found for decreased muscle endurance of the lower body (−24.4%, p = 0.08). A significant increase in leg lean mass was found at the competition phase (2.3%, p = 0.04), although no changes for other body composition measures were observed. No change was observed for any health marker except a trend for increased urinary creatinine clearance at the competition phase (12.5%, p = 0.08). A significant reduction in training volume for the lower body (−75.0%, p = 0.04) and a trend for a decrease in total energy intake (−17.0%, p = 0.06) was observed during the competition phase. Despite modifications in training and dietary practices, it appears that muscle performance, body composition, and health status remain relatively stable between training phases in male natural powerlifters

Correlation Functions of Large N Chern-Simons-Matter Theories and Bosonization in Three Dimensions

We consider the conformal field theory of N complex massless scalars in 2+1 dimensions, coupled to a U(N) Chern-Simons theory at level k. This theory has a 't Hooft large N limit, keeping fixed \lambda = N/k. We compute some correlation functions in this theory exactly as a function of \lambda, in the large N (planar) limit. We show that the results match with the general predictions of Maldacena and Zhiboedov for the correlators of theories that have high-spin symmetries in the large N limit. It has been suggested in the past that this theory is dual (in the large N limit) to the Legendre transform of the theory of fermions coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field, and our results allow us to find the precise mapping between the two theories. We find that in the large N limit the theory of N scalars coupled to a U(N)_k Chern-Simons theory is equivalent to the Legendre transform of the theory of k fermions coupled to a U(k)_N Chern-Simons theory, thus providing a bosonization of the latter theory. We conjecture that perhaps this duality is valid also for finite values of N and k, where on the fermionic side we should now have (for N_f flavors) a U(k)_{N-N_f/2} theory. Similar results hold for real scalars (fermions) coupled to the O(N)_k Chern-Simons theory.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures. v2: added reference

Neuroblastoma Formation Requires Unconventional CD4 T Cells and Arginase-1-Dependent Myeloid Cells

Immune cells regulate tumor growth by mirroring their function as tissue repair organizers in normal tissues. To understand the different facets of immune-tumor collaboration through genetics, spatial transcriptomics, and immunologic manipulation with noninvasive, longitudinal imaging, we generated a penetrant double oncogene-driven autochthonous model of neuroblastoma. Spatial transcriptomic analysis showed that CD4(+) and myeloid populations colocalized within the tumor parenchyma, while CD8(+) T cells and B cells were peripherally dispersed. Depletion of CD4(+) T cells or CCR2(+) macrophages, but not B cells, CD8(+) T cells, or natural killer (NK) cells, prevented tumor formation. Tumor CD4(+) T cells displayed unconventional phenotypes and were clonotypically diverse and antigen independent. Within the myeloid fraction, tumor growth required myeloid cells expressing arginase-1. Overall, these results demonstrate how arginine-metabolizing myeloid cells conspire with pathogenic CD4(+) T cells to create permissive conditions for tumor formation, suggesting that these protumorigenic pathways could be disabled by targeting myeloid arginine metabolism. Significance: A new model of human neuroblastoma provides ways to track tumor formation and expansion in living animals, allowing identification of CD4(+) T-cell and macrophage functions required for oncogenesis. [GRAPHICS

Demonstration of two-beam acceleration in CTF II

The second phase of the Compact LInear Collider (CLIC) Test Facility (CTF II) at CERN has demon-strated the feasibility of two-beam acceleration at 30 GHz using a high-charge drive beam, running paral lel to the main beam, as the RF power source. To date accelerating gradients of 59 MV/m at 30 GHz have been achieved. In CTF II, the two beams are generated by 3 GHz RF photo-injectors and are acceler ated in 3 GHz linacs, before injection into the 30 GHz modules. The drive beam linac has to accelerate a 16 ns long train of 48 bunches, each with a nominal charge of 13.4 nC. To cope with the very su bstantial beam-loading special accelerating structures are used (running slightly off the bunch repetition frequency). A magnetic chicane compresses the bunches to less than 5 ps fwhm, this is needed for efficient 30 GHz power generation. The 30 GHz modules are fully-engineered representative sections of CLIC, they include a 30 GHz decelerator for the drive beam, a 30 GHz accelerator for the main beam, high resolution BPM's and a wire-based active align-ment system. The performance achieved so far, as well as the operational experience with the first accelerator of this type, are reported

Transport of Cosmic Rays in Chaotic Magnetic Fields

The transport of charged particles in disorganised magnetic fields is an important issue which concerns the propagation of cosmic rays of all energies in a variety of astrophysical environments, such as the interplanetary, interstellar and even extra-galactic media, as well as the efficiency of Fermi acceleration processes. We have performed detailed numerical experiments using Monte-Carlo simulations of particle propagation in stochastic magnetic fields in order to measure the parallel and transverse spatial diffusion coefficients and the pitch angle scattering time as a function of rigidity and strength of the turbulent magnetic component. We confirm the extrapolation to high turbulence levels of the scaling predicted by the quasi-linear approximation for the scattering frequency and parallel diffusion coefficient at low rigidity. We show that the widely used Bohm diffusion coefficient does not provide a satisfactory approximation to diffusion even in the extreme case where the mean field vanishes. We find that diffusion also takes place for particles with Larmor radii larger than the coherence length of the turbulence. We argue that transverse diffusion is much more effective than predicted by the quasi-linear approximation, and appears compatible with chaotic magnetic diffusion of the field lines. We provide numerical estimates of the Kolmogorov length and magnetic line diffusion coefficient as a function of the level of turbulence. Finally we comment on applications of our results to astrophysical turbulence and the acceleration of high energy cosmic rays in supernovae remnants, in super-bubbles, and in jets and hot spots of powerful radio-galaxies.Comment: To be published in Physical Review D, 20 pages 9 figure

Results from the CLIC Test Facility

In order to study the principle of the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) based on the Two Beam Acceleration (TBA) scheme at high frequency, a CLIC Test Facility (CTF) has been set-up at CERN. After four years of successful running, the experimental programme is now fully completed and all its objectives reached, particularly the generation of a high intensity drive beam with short bunches by a photo-injector, the production of 30 GHz RF power and the acceleration of a probe beam by 30 GHz structures. A summary of the CTF results and their impact on linear collider design is given. This covers 30 GHz high power testing, study of intense, short single bunches; as well as RF-Gun, photocathode and beam diagnostic developments. A second phase of the test facility (CTF2) is presently being installed to demonstrate the feasibility of the TBA scheme by constructing a fully engineered, 10 m long, test section very similar to the CLIC drive and main linacs, producing up to 480 MW of peak RF power at 30 GHz and accelerating the beam up to 320 MeV. The present status of CTF2 is reported

Testing the Wyart-Cates model for non-Brownian shear thickening using bidisperse suspensions

There is a growing consensus that shear thickening of concentrated dispersions is driven by the formation of stress-induced frictional contacts. The Wyart-Cates (WC) model of this phenomenon, in which the microphysics of the contacts enters solely via the fraction $f$ of contacts that are frictional, can successfully fit flow curves for suspensions of weakly polydisperse spheres. However, its validity for "real-life", polydisperse suspensions has yet to be seriously tested. By performing systematic simulations on bidisperse mixtures of spheres, we show that the WC model applies only in the monodisperse limit and fails when substantial bidispersity is introduced. We trace the failure of the model to its inability to distinguish large-large, large-small and small-small frictional contacts. By fitting our data using a polydisperse analogue of $f$ that depends separately on the fraction of each of these contact types, we show that the WC picture of shear thickening is incomplete. Systematic experiments on model shear-thickening suspensions corroborate our findings, but highlight important challenges in rigorously testing the WC model with real systems. Our results prompt new questions about the microphysics of thickening for both monodisperse and polydisperse systems.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, ancillary informatio