Body composition in Karate: a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry study

Karate is a widely practiced combat sport. Karatekas' body composition has typically been obtained in small groups using skinfolds or bioelectric impedance. In this work, we assessed three-compartment body composition using the accurate dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry technique (QDR Horizon, Hologic) in a large sample (n = 58; 74% males) of black belt karatekas. Stature-adjusted body composition indices (fat mass index; fat-free mass index; bone mineral apparent density) were calculated. The Student's t-test was used for group-group analysis. Correlation was assessed using the Pearson's r. The ability of fat-free soft tissue mass to predict bone mineral content and areal bone mineral density was assessed with linear regression. Reference mean and quartile values for whole-body and regional body composition were obtained for the male athletes. The body composition indices were generally more favorable in the male than female karatekas. The bone mineral apparent density was similar in the males and females at all sites except the right leg. The fat-free soft tissue mass predicted the bone mineral content and areal bone mineral density with good accuracy (R-2 = 0.542-0.827; p < 0.001 for all models). The data presented in this paper are expected to be of use for karate coaches, physical trainers, and participants interested in assessing and monitoring athletes' body composition

Eficiência agronômica de tecnologias de tratamento da ureia na cultura do algodão.

A cultura do algodão utiliza grande quantidade de fertilizantes nitrogenadas no processo produtivo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar tecnologias de tratamento da ureia para aumento da sua eficiência, no algodão. Avaliou-se o efeito de cinco fertilizantes nitrogenados em três doses, sob delineamento fatorial, além de um tratamento controle sem adubação nitrogenada, em duas safras no Mato Grosso, no rendimento de algodão em caroço, no número de maças, no peso de capulhos, na altura final e população de plantas. As doses de N avaliadas foram 0, 60, 90 e 120 kg ha-1, correspondentes à 0, 50, 75 e 100% da dose recomendada, respectivamente. Os parâmetros avaliados foram alterados positivamente pelas doses, mas não pelas tecnologias de tratamento da ureia, em ambas as safras. As tecnologias de tratamento para aumento da eficiência da ureia não permitem reduzir a dose de N recomendada, mas aumenta a eficiência agronômica na dose recomendada, em comparação com a ureia comum

Families_Share: digital and social innovation for work–life balance

Purpose: The European H2020 Families_Share project aims at offering a grass-root approach and a co-designed platform supporting families for sharing time and tasks related to childcare, parenting, after-school and leisure activities and other household tasks. To achieve this objective, the Families_Share project has been built on current practices which are already leveraging on mutual help and support among families, such as Time Banks, Social Streets and self-organizing networks of parents active at the neighbourhood level and seek to harness the potential of ICT networks and mobile technologies to increase the effectiveness of participatory innovation. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss the Families_Share methodology and platform, as well as the results obtained by several partecipating communities in different European countries. Design/methodology/approach: This paper discusses how the Families Share approach (CAPS project, Horizon 2020) is bringing the sharing economy to childcare. Families Share developed a co-caring approach and a co-designed digital welfare platform to support parents with sharing time and tasks related to childcare, after-school and leisure activities. Families Share conducted two iterative pilot experiments and related socio-economic evaluations in six European cities. More than 3,000 citizens were engaged in the co-design process through their local community organizations and more than 1,700 parents and children actively experimented with the approach by organizing collaborative childcare activities. The authors discuss the challenges and solutions of co-designing a socio-technical approach aimed at facilitating socially innovative childcare models, and how the Families Share approach, based on technology-supported co-production of childcare, may provide a new sustainable welfare model for municipalities and companies with respect to life––work balance. Findings: The authors discuss the challenges and solutions of co-designing a technological tool aimed at facilitating socially innovative childcare models, and how the Families Share approach may provide a new sustainable welfare model for municipalities and companies with respect to work–life balance. Originality/value: As a main difference with state-of-the-art proposals, Families_Share is aimed to provide support to networks of parents in the organization of self-managed activities, this way being orthogonal with respect either to social-network functionalities or to supply and demand services. Furthermore, Families_Share has been based on a participative approach for both the ICT platform and the overall structure

Coordinated surveillance system under the One Health approach for cross-border pathogens that threaten the Union - options for sustainable surveillance strategies for priority pathogens

This report provides guidance for Member states who plan to submit applications under the work programme 'CP-g-22-04.01 Direct grants to Member States' authorities'. The priority pathogens on which the coordinated surveillance under the grant initiative shall focus have been identified in a prioritisation exercise with Member States and ECDC. These are Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever, echinococcosis, hepatitis E, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), influenza in swine, Lyme disease, Q-fever, Rift Valley fever, tick-borne encephalitis, West Nile fever and Disease X (Disease Y of animals). Surveillance activities (surveillance cards) have been proposed for these agents in this report. Member States should select one or more diseases from the list of priority diseases and then choose surveillance activities from the surveillance cards and modify them where needed, to reflect their national needs and situation. Member States can also design alternative surveillance activities for the priority infectious agents that may better fit the epidemiological situation in their country. Further, this report provides a section on surveillance perspectives that links infectious agents to different hosts, allowing Member States to consider the testing for multiple infectious agents in samples from a single host population, as well as sections providing guidance on surveillance in vectors and wildlife and for Disease X (Disease Y in animals). Member States are encouraged to develop cross-sectoral collaborations and the report provides guidance on cross-sectoral collaboration to help them. Finally, there is a roadmap providing an overall description of the steps in the process of developing a surveillance system in order to apply for the grant.</p

Experimental and numerical analysis of discharge coefficient in internal combustion engine

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.In order to improve the breathing capacity of the intake system, experimental and numerical investigations of discharge coefficient (CD) are performed in an internal combustion engine. For this paper an experimental test rig was developed to measure steady and transient flow. Steady experimental data was obtained for various valve lift and transient measurement with only the intake valve operating. The suction pressure was generated by a fan, and utilized as boundary condition for the numerical simulation. The air mass flow was measured with a commercial hot film anemometer sensor with appropriate time response. The angular position of the camshaft was measured with a rotary encoder with a resolution of 0.175 degree. A length gauge with an accuracy of ± 0.2 μm was used to measure valve opening. The air mass sensor and the rotary encoder were connected to a data acquisition board (National Instruments 6221) and its original LabVIEW software. The numerical simulation uses the STAR-CCM+ commercial Finite Volumes CFD code. Regarding turbulence, computations were performed with Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Realizable Two-Layer k-ɛ model with hybrid treatment near the walls. A detailed mesh independence study was performed. The steady simulations were done for the same experimental valve lift, with a good agreement among results.dc201

Pre-mRNA processing is partially impaired in satellite cell nuclei from aged muscles

Satellite cells are responsible for the capacity of mature mammalian skeletal muscles to repair and maintain mass. During aging, skeletal muscle mass as well as the muscle strength and endurance progressively decrease, leading to a condition termed sarcopenia. The causes of sarcopenia are manifold and remain to be completely elucidated. One of them could be the remarkable decline in the efficiency of muscle regeneration; this has been associated with decreasing amounts of satellite cells, but also to alterations in their activation, proliferation, and/or differentiation. In this study, we investigated the satellite cell nuclei of biceps and quadriceps muscles from adult and old rats; morphometry and immunocytochemistry at light and electron microscopy have been combined to assess the organization of the nuclear RNP structural constituents involved in different steps of mRNA formation. We demonstrated that in satellite cells the RNA pathways undergo alterations during aging, possibly hampering their responsiveness to muscle damage

Diaminobenzidine photoconversion is a suitable tool for tracking the intracellular location of fluorescently labelled nanoparticles at transmission electron microscopy.

Chitosan-based nanoparticles (NPs) deserve particular attention as suitable drug carriers in the field of pharmaceutics, since they are able to protect the encapsulated drugs and/or improve their efficacy by making them able to cross biological barriers (such as the blood-brain barrier) and reach their intracellular target sites. Understanding the intracellular location of NPs is crucial for designing drug delivery strategies. In this study, fluorescently-labelled chitosan NPs were administered in vitro to a neuronal cell line, and diaminobenzidine (DAB) photoconversion was applied to correlate fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy to precisely describe the NPs intracellular fate. This technique allowed to demonstrate that chitosan NPs easily enter neuronal cells, predominantly by endocytosis; they were found both inside membrane-bounded vesicles and free in the cytosol, and were observed to accumulate around the cell nucleus

Aged gastrocnemius muscle of mice positively responds to a late onset adapted physical training

Introduction: A regular physical training is known to contribute to preserve muscle mass and strength, maintaining structure and function of neural and vascular compartments and preventing muscle insulin resistance and inflammation. However, physical activity is progressively reduced during aging causing mobility limitations and poor quality of life. Although physical exercise for rehabilitation purposes (e.g., after fractures or cardiovascular events) or simply aiming to counteract the development of sarcopenia is frequently advised by physicians, nevertheless few data are available on the targets and the global effects on the muscle organ of adapted exercise especially if started at old age.Methods: To contribute answering this question for medical translational purposes, the proteomic profile of the gastrocnemius muscle was analyzed in 24-month-old mice undergoing adapted physical training on a treadmill for 12 weeks or kept under a sedentary lifestyle condition. Proteomic data were implemented by morphological and morphometrical ultrastructural evaluations.Results and Discussion: Data demonstrate that muscles can respond to adapted physical training started at old age, positively modulating their morphology and the proteomic profile fostering protective and saving mechanisms either involving the extracellular compartment as well as muscle cell components and pathways (i.e., mitochondrial processes, cytoplasmic translation pathways, chaperone-dependent protein refolding, regulation of skeletal muscle contraction). Therefore, this study provides important insights on the targets of adapted physical training, which can be regarded as suitable benchmarks for future in vivo studies further exploring the effects of this type of physical activity by functional/metabolic approaches