The effect of self-selected music on endurance running capacity and performance in a mentally fatigued state

We investigated the effects of listening to self-selected music on intermittent running capacity (study 1) and 5 km time-trial (TT) performance (study 2) in a mentally fatigued state. In study 1, nine physically active males performed a 30-minute incongruent Stroop test (IST) followed by the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (YYIRT1) with (MF+MUSIC) and without (MFONLY) music. They also completed a baseline trial (BL). Study 2 repeated these trials with nine recreational runners. Mental fatigue (MF) showed large increases following IST in both studies (dunb = 1.44 – 2.0). Intermittent running capacity was moderately greater in MF+MUSIC (564 ± 127 m; dunb = 0.52) and BL (551 ± 106 m; dunb = 0.51) vs. MFONLY (496 ± 112 m). Time-trial performance showed small improvements in MF+MUSIC (23.1 ± 2.4 min; dunb = 0.28) and BL (23.4 ± 3.5 min; dunb = 0.20) vs. MFONLY (24.1 ± 3.2 min). Differences in ratings of perceived exertion between trials were trivial to small in both studies (dunb = 0-0.47). Listening to self-selected music in a mentally fatigued state negates the negative impact of MF on endurance running capacity and performance, potentially due to altered perception of effort when listening to music

Human urinary mutagenicity after wood smoke exposure during traditional temazcal use.

In Central America, the traditional temazcales or wood-fired steam baths, commonly used by many Native American populations, are often heated by wood fires with little ventilation, and this use results in high wood smoke exposure. Urinary mutagenicity has been previously employed as a non-invasive biomarker of human exposure to combustion emissions. This study examined the urinary mutagenicity in 19 indigenous Mayan families from the highlands of Guatemala who regularly use temazcales (N = 32), as well as control (unexposed) individuals from the same population (N = 9). Urine samples collected before and after temazcal exposure were enzymatically deconjugated and extracted using solid-phase extraction. The creatinine-adjusted mutagenic potency of urine extracts was assessed using the plate-incorporation version of the Salmonella mutagenicity assay with strain YG1041 in the presence of exogenous metabolic activation. The post-exposure mutagenic potency of urine extracts were, on average, 1.7-fold higher than pre-exposure samples (P < 0.005) and also significantly more mutagenic than the control samples (P < 0.05). Exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) was ~10 times higher following temazcal use (P < 0.0001), and both CO level and time spent in temazcal were positively associated with urinary mutagenic potency (i.e. P < 0.0001 and P = 0.01, respectively). Thus, the wood smoke exposure associated with temazcal use contributes to increased excretion of conjugated mutagenic metabolites. Moreover, urinary mutagenic potency is correlated with other metrics of exposure (i.e. exhaled CO, duration of exposure). Since urinary mutagenicity is a biomarker associated with genetic damage, temazcal use may therefore be expected to contribute to an increased risk of DNA damage and mutation, effects associated with the initiation of cancer

Self-assembling nanoparticles containing dexamethasone as a novel therapy in allergic airways inflammation.

Nanocarriers can deliver a wide variety of drugs, target them to sites of interest, and protect them from degradation and inactivation by the body. They have the capacity to improve drug action and decrease undesirable systemic effects. We have previously developed a well-defined non-toxic PEG-dendritic block telodendrimer for successful delivery of chemotherapeutics agents and, in these studies, we apply this technology for therapeutic development in asthma. In these proof-of-concept experiments, we hypothesized that dexamethasone contained in self-assembling nanoparticles (Dex-NP) and delivered systemically would target the lung and decrease allergic lung inflammation and airways hyper-responsiveness to a greater degree than equivalent doses of dexamethasone (Dex) alone. We found that ovalbumin (Ova)-exposed mice treated with Dex-NP had significantly fewer total cells (2.78 ± 0.44 × 10(5) (n = 18) vs. 5.98 ± 1.3 × 10(5) (n = 13), P<0.05) and eosinophils (1.09 ± 0.28 × 10(5) (n = 18) vs. 2.94 ± 0.6 × 10(5) (n = 12), p<0.05) in the lung lavage than Ova-exposed mice alone. Also, lower levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-4 (3.43 ± 1.2 (n = 11) vs. 8.56 ± 2.1 (n = 8) pg/ml, p<0.05) and MCP-1 (13.1 ± 3.6 (n = 8) vs. 28.8 ± 8.7 (n = 10) pg/ml, p<0.05) were found in lungs of the Dex-NP compared to control, and they were not lower in the Dex alone group. In addition, respiratory system resistance was lower in the Dex-NP compared to the other Ova-exposed groups suggesting a better therapeutic effect on airways hyperresponsiveness. Taken together, these findings from early-stage drug development studies suggest that the encapsulation and protection of anti-inflammatory agents such as corticosteroids in nanoparticle formulations can improve efficacy. Further development of novel drugs in nanoparticles is warranted to explore potential treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma

Dispersal in the Ordovician: Speciation patterns and paleobiogeographic analyses of brachiopods and trilobites

The Middle to Late Ordovician was a time of profound biotic diversification, paleoecological change, and major climate shifts. Yet studies examining speciation mechanisms and drivers of dispersal are lacking. In this study, we use Bayesian phylogenetics and maximum likelihood analyses in the R package BioGeoBEARS to reanalyze ten published data matrices of brachiopods and trilobites and produce time-calibrated species-level phylogenetic hypotheses with estimated biogeographic histories. Recovered speciation and biogeographic patterns were examined within four time slices to test for changes in speciation type across major tectonic and paleoclimatic events. Statistical model comparison showed that biogeographic models that incorporate long-distance founder-event speciation best fit the data for most clades, which indicates that this speciation type, along with vicariance and traditional dispersal, were important for Paleozoic benthic invertebrates. Speciation by dispersal was common throughout the study interval, but notably elevated during times of climate change. Vicariance events occurred synchronously among brachiopod and trilobite lineages, indicating that tectonic, climate, and ocean processes affected benthic and planktotrophic larvae similarly. Middle Ordovician inter-oceanic dispersal in trilobite lineages was influenced by surface currents along with volcanic island arcs acting as “stepping stones” between areas, indicating most trilobite species may have had a planktic protaspid stage. These factors also influenced brachiopod dispersal across oceanic basins among Laurentia, Avalonia, and Baltica. These results indicate that gyre spin-up and intensification of surface currents were important dispersal mechanisms during this time. Within Laurentia, surface currents, hurricane tracks, and upwelling zones controlled dispersal among basins. Increased speciation during the Middle Ordovician provides support for climatic facilitators for diversification during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. Similarly, increased speciation in Laurentian brachiopod lineages during the Hirnantian indicates that some taxa experienced speciation in relation to major climate changes. Overall, this study demonstrates the substantial power and potential for likelihood-based methods for elucidating biotic patterns during the history of life.This study was supported by NSF (EF-1206750, EAR-0922067 to A.L.S.) and the Dry Dredgers Paleontological Research Award, the Paleontological Society Arthur J. Boucot Award, and an Ohio University Graduate Alumni Research Grant to A.R.L. N.J.M. was supported by Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) DE150101773, funded by the Australian Research Council, and by The Australian National University. He was also supported by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), an Institute sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture through NSF Awards #EFJ0832858 and DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In addition, a NIMBioS short-term visitor award allowed A.R.L. to visit NIMBioS to begin collaboration with N.J.M. This is a contribution to the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) Projects 591- The Early to Middle Paleozoic Revolution and 653- The Onset of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

Changes in perceived mental fatigue, physical fatigue and mood state during a 4-day national junior orienteering competition preparation camp

Mental fatigue (MF) has been shown to acutely impair the psychological responses and endurance running performance of orienteers. This study aimed to explore MF levels experienced by orienteers during a 4-day competition preparation camp that consisted of simulated sprint, middle-distance, long-distance, relay and night races. Eleven national junior orienteers participated in the study (age: 15–17 years, height: 1.69 ± 0.07 m and body mass: 59.9 ± 5.22 kg). Subjective ratings of MF, motivation, stress, physical fatigue (PF) and tiredness were measured using a 100-mm visual analogue scale. The Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) was utilized to assess the mood state of the orienteers. The self-report measures were taken within 30 min of waking, immediately after the post-training session, and after 24 and 48 h following the final training session. The pre–post orienteering training combined analysis showed that there was a moderate increase in perceived MF (ES = 1.06 [0.66, 1.45]), PF (ES = 1.07 [0.69, 1.45]) and BRUMS fatigue (ES = 0.74 [0.4, 1.1]) after orienteering training. At 48 h post the final training session, MF remained moderately elevated (ES = 0.86 [−0.07, 1.75]), while PF also remained elevated to a small extent (ES = 0.46 [−0.46, 1.39]) compared to the pre-training values. A moderate impairment was still observed in BRUMS vigor (ES = −1.02 [−1.65, −0.36]), but BRUMS confusion scores were moderately lower (ES = −0.85 [−1.71, 0.04]) than pre-training values. This study found that orienteering training induced acute MF, persisting for at least 48 h after the final session

IntoxiGait Deep Learning

Alcohol abuse has been a pervasive problem worldwide, causing 88,000 annual deaths. Recently, several projects have attempted to estimate a users level of intoxication by measuring gait using mobile sensors. The goal of this project was to compare a deep learning approach to previous methods to predict the blood alcohol concentration of a user by training a convolutional neural network and creating a mobile app which could accurately determine intoxication level. We gathered data from 38 participants over the course of 12 weeks, collecting accelerometer and gyroscope data simultaneously from both a smartwatch and smartphone. Our neural networks accuracy is roughly 64% on the test set and 69% on the training set into 5 BAC ranges for an input containing two seconds of data

Rubric-based holistic review represents a change from traditional graduate admissions approaches in physics

Rubric-based admissions are claimed to help make the graduate admissions process more equitable, possibly helping to address the historical and ongoing inequities in the U.S. physics graduate school admissions process that have often excluded applicants from minoritized races, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds. Yet, no studies have examined whether rubric-based admissions methods represent a fundamental change of the admissions process or simply represent a new tool that achieves the same outcome. To address that, we developed supervised machine learning models of graduate admissions data collected from our department over a seven-year period. During the first four years, our department used a traditional admissions process and switched to a rubric-based process for the following three years, allowing us to compare which parts of the applications were used to drive admissions decisions. We find that faculty focused on applicants' physics GRE scores and grade point averages when making admissions decisions before the implementation of the rubric. While we were able to develop a sufficiently good model whose results we could trust for the data before the implementation of the rubric, we were unable to do so for the data collected after the implementation of the rubric, despite multiple modifications to the algorithms and data such as implementing Tomek Links. Our inability to model the second data set despite being able to model the first combined with model comparison analyses suggests that rubric-based admissions does change the underlying process. These results suggest that rubric-based holistic review is a method that could make the graduate admissions process in physics more equitable.Comment: Follow up to arXiv:2110.04329; Parts of manuscript originally published as a conference paper (arXiv:1907.01570