Key Performance Indicators for College American Football Starters: An Exploratory Study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to profile body composition and physical fitness characteristics of collegiate American football starters and (b) to examine differences in key performance indicators across position groups. These indicators included select measures of body composition, joint kinematics, as well as muscular strength and power.

Methods: Sixteen National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-II American football athletes (age: 22.

Psychotherapist perceptions of engagement-building behaviours with youth clients across developmental levels.

Building a positive therapeutic relationship is a challenging, yet critical, first step in conducting youth psychotherapy. A number of studies in the youth treatment literature have indicated that a positive therapeutic alliance is related to increased treatment attendance, participation, and outcome. Some research has examined therapist behaviours for engaging therapy clients; however, developmental differences in alliance formation have had limited exploration.

Description of two new species in the Ixodes ricinus complex from the New World (Acari: Ixodidae), and redescription of Ixodes affinis Neumann, 1899.

Ixodes chacoensis n. sp. is described based on males, females, nymphs and larvae collected from vegetation, ungulates and passerine birds in northeastern Argentina.

Collaboration of health and education sectors drives equity for children with complex disabilities in China.

Medical professionals often find it challenging to assess children having both complex disabilities and visual impairment, which may lead to excluding such children from educational programs and limiting their full participation in family and community activities. Identification and assessment of these children are essential to close this exclusion gap. A five-year project in Shanxi province, China, provided comprehensive training to eye health providers and educators as they learned to assess, identify, refer and serve children with visual impairments, both with and without complex disabilities.

Effects of the serotonin 5-HT receptor agonist CP 94253 on the locomotor activity and body temperature of preweanling and adult male and female rats.

Serotonin 5-HT receptor agonists increase locomotor activity of both preweanling and adult rodents. The part played by the 5-HT receptor in locomotion is less certain, with preliminary evidence suggesting that the actions of 5-HT receptor agonists are not uniform across ontogeny. To more fully examine the role of 5-HT receptors, locomotor activity and axillary temperatures of preweanling and adult male and female rats was assessed.

Methodological recommendations for assessing scleractinian and octocoral recruitment to settlement tiles.

Quantifying recruitment of corals is important for evaluating their capacity to recover after disturbances through natural processes, yet measuring recruitment rates is challenging due to the minute size of the study organism and the complexity of benthic communities. Settlement tiles are widely used in studies of coral recruitment because they can be viewed under a microscope to enhance accuracy, but methodological choices such as the rugosity of tiles used and when and how to scan tiles for recruits post-collection may cause inconsistencies in measured recruitment rates. We deployed 2,880 tiles with matching rugosity on top and bottom surfaces to 30 sites along the Florida Reef Tract for year-long saturations during a three year study.

Reciprocal cross-sensitization between cocaine and RU 24969 in male and female preweanling rats.

Neuronal adaptations involving dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and serotonergic neurotransmitter systems are responsible for behavioral sensitization. Because of common underlying mechanisms, cross-sensitization between compounds of different drug classes can be observed. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a one- or four-day pretreatment regimen of RU 24969 (a 5-HT receptor agonist) would reciprocally cross-sensitize with cocaine or methamphetamine in male and female preweanling rats.

Palliative Care for the Interstitial Lung Disease Patient a Must and Not Just a Need.

Patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) have many unmet palliative care needs. The majority of patients with chronic ILD have poor access to a specialist in palliative medicine and that is due to several barriers. The mortality for the ILD patient is high and reaches up to 80% if admitted to the ICU with respiratory failure.

Opioid Avoidance in Liver Transplant Recipients: Reduction in Postoperative Opioid Use Through a Multidisciplinary Multimodal Approach.

The prevalence of substance use disorder in the liver transplantation (LT) population makes postoperative pain management challenging. We report our initial experience with a novel, comprehensive, multidisciplinary opioid avoidance pathway in 13 LT recipients between January 2018 and September 2019. Patients received comprehensive pre-LT education on postoperative opioid avoidance by the surgeon, pharmacist, and psychologist at the time of listing.

Four-Week Unstructured Break Improved Athletic Performance in Collegiate Rugby Players.

Jensen, CD, Gleason, D, and VanNess, JM. Four-week unstructured break improved athletic performance in collegiate rugby players. J Strength Cond Res 32(6): 1671-1677, 2018-This study analyzed the changes in athletic performance and anthropometric characteristics in collegiate male club rugby athletes (n = 14) after a 4-week winter break.

CC2D1A regulates human intellectual and social function as well as NF-κB signaling homeostasis.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) are often comorbid, but the extent to which they share common genetic causes remains controversial. Here, we present two autosomal-recessive "founder" mutations in the CC2D1A gene causing fully penetrant cognitive phenotypes, including mild-to-severe ID, ASD, as well as seizures, suggesting shared developmental mechanisms. CC2D1A regulates multiple intracellular signaling pathways, and we found its strongest effect to be on the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB).

CHMP1A encodes an essential regulator of BMI1-INK4A in cerebellar development.

Charged multivesicular body protein 1A (CHMP1A; also known as chromatin-modifying protein 1A) is a member of the ESCRT-III (endosomal sorting complex required for transport-III) complex but is also suggested to localize to the nuclear matrix and regulate chromatin structure. Here, we show that loss-of-function mutations in human CHMP1A cause reduced cerebellar size (pontocerebellar hypoplasia) and reduced cerebral cortical size (microcephaly). CHMP1A-mutant cells show impaired proliferation, with increased expression of INK4A, a negative regulator of stem cell proliferation.

A homozygous mutation in the tight-junction protein JAM3 causes hemorrhagic destruction of the brain, subependymal calcification, and congenital cataracts.

The tight junction, or zonula occludens, is a specialized cell-cell junction that regulates epithelial and endothelial permeability, and it is an essential component of the blood-brain barrier in the cerebrovascular endothelium. In addition to functioning as a diffusion barrier, tight junctions are also involved in signal transduction. In this study, we identified a homozygous mutation in the tight-junction protein gene JAM3 in a large consanguineous family from the United Arab Emirates.

Candidate gene sequencing of LHX2, HESX1, and SOX2 in a large schizencephaly cohort.

Schizencephaly is a malformation of cortical development characterized by gray matter-lined clefts in the cerebral cortex and a range of neurological presentations. In some cases, there are features of septo-optic dysplasia concurrently with schizencephaly. The etiologies of both schizencephaly and septo-optic dysplasia are thought to be heterogeneous, but there is evidence that at least some cases have genetic origin.

Developmental and degenerative features in a complicated spastic paraplegia.

Objective: We sought to explore the genetic and molecular causes of Troyer syndrome, one of several complicated hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs). Troyer syndrome had been thought to be restricted to the Amish; however, we identified 2 Omani families with HSP, short stature, dysarthria and developmental delay-core features of Troyer syndrome-and a novel mutation in the SPG20 gene, which is also mutated in the Amish. In addition, we analyzed SPG20 expression throughout development to infer how disruption of this gene might generate the constellation of developmental and degenerative Troyer syndrome phenotypes.

Pharmacological inhibition of Rho-kinase signaling with Y-27632 blocks melanoma tumor growth.

Primarily through in vitro studies, the Rho-family of small GTPases and their effector proteins have been implicated in mediating oncogenic properties of cancer cells. We sought to determine if pharmacological inhibition of the RhoA effector proteins known as Rho-kinases (ROCK) with the small molecule inhibitor Y-27632 could inhibit melanoma in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrate that Y-27632 treatment of a panel of melanoma cells alters cellular morphology leading to spindly cells with decreased lamellipodia and increased filopodia formation.

Intranasal administration of PEGylated transforming growth factor-alpha improves behavioral deficits in a chronic stroke model.

We previously demonstrated that infusion of transforming growth factor (TGF)-alpha after chronic middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) stimulates stem and progenitor cell proliferation, migration, and neuronal differentiation associated with the amelioration of neurologic impairment. But the use of TGF-alpha in humans is impeded by impracticality of intracranial infusion and the inability of intravenous TGF-alpha to cross the blood-brain barrier. Here we investigated whether intranasal delivery of PEGylated TGF-alpha (PEG-TGF-alpha) is a viable alternative.

Mutations in PNKP cause microcephaly, seizures and defects in DNA repair.

Maintenance of DNA integrity is crucial for all cell types, but neurons are particularly sensitive to mutations in DNA repair genes, which lead to both abnormal development and neurodegeneration. We describe a previously unknown autosomal recessive disease characterized by microcephaly, early-onset, intractable seizures and developmental delay (denoted MCSZ). Using genome-wide linkage analysis in consanguineous families, we mapped the disease locus to chromosome 19q13.

A truncating mutation of TRAPPC9 is associated with autosomal-recessive intellectual disability and postnatal microcephaly.

Although autosomal genes are increasingly recognized as important causes of intellectual disability, very few of them are known. We identified a genetic locus for autosomal-recessive nonsyndromic intellectual disability associated with variable postnatal microcephaly through homozygosity mapping of a consanguineous Israeli Arab family. Sequence analysis of genes in the candidate interval identified a nonsense nucleotide change in the gene that encodes TRAPPC9 (trafficking protein particle complex 9, also known as NIBP), which has been implicated in NF-kappaB activation and possibly in intracellular protein trafficking.

Climate change, coral reef ecosystems, and management options for marine protected areas.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) provide place-based management of marine ecosystems through various degrees and types of protective actions. Habitats such as coral reefs are especially susceptible to degradation resulting from climate change, as evidenced by mass bleaching events over the past two decades. Marine ecosystems are being altered by direct effects of climate change including ocean warming, ocean acidification, rising sea level, changing circulation patterns, increasing severity of storms, and changing freshwater influxes.

Transforming growth factor-alpha induces neurogenesis and behavioral improvement in a chronic stroke model.

Transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFalpha) is a powerful endogenous mitogen and neurotrophic factor, which has previously been shown to induce a massive proliferative response in the brains of Parkinson's disease model rats injured by an acute neurotoxic lesion. We now show that TGFalpha can also produce a massive proliferative response in rat brains subjected to stroke caused by a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), even when the growth factor is administered as late as 4 weeks after injury. This combination of stimuli provokes DNA synthesis, shown by 5'-bromo-2-deoxyuridine incorporation, throughout the ependymal layer and subventricular zone (SVZ) of the forebrain during the 4 weeks of growth factor administration.

Ethnically diverse causes of Walker-Warburg syndrome (WWS): FCMD mutations are a more common cause of WWS outside of the Middle East.

Walker-Warburg syndrome (WWS) is a genetically heterogeneous autosomal recessive disease characterized by congenital muscular dystrophy, cobblestone lissencephaly, and ocular malformations. Mutations in six genes involved in the glycosylation of á-dystroglycan (POMT1, POMT2, POMGNT1, FCMD, FKRP and LARGE) have been identified in WWS patients, but account for only a portion of WWS cases. To better understand the genetics of WWS and establish the frequency and distribution of mutations across WWS genes, we genotyped all known loci in a cohort of 43 WWS patients of varying geographical and ethnic origin.

Disposable plastic rodent feeders for use in an automated filling system.

Rodent feeder devices are often made of reusable, sanitizable materials such as glass and stainless steel. As part of an initiative at the authors' facility to automate the feeder filling process, disposable plastic feeding cups were proposed as a preferable alternative to standard feeders for use in a filling machine. The authors tested and validated designs for rodent meal-type feeder assemblies that incorporated plastic cups.

Ependymal stem cells divide asymmetrically and transfer progeny into the subventricular zone when activated by injury.

Evidence is presented to show that cells of the ependymal layer surrounding the ventricles of the mammalian (rat) forebrain act as neural stem cells (NSCs), and that these cells can be activated to divide by a combination of injury and growth factor stimulation. Several markers of asymmetric cell division (ACD), a characteristic of true stem cells, are expressed asymmetrically in the ependymal layer but not in the underlying subventricular zone (SVZ), and when the brain is treated with a combination of local 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) with systemic delivery of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFalpha), ependymal cells divide asymmetrically and transfer progeny into the SVZ. The SVZ cells then divide as transit amplifying cells (TACs) and their progeny enter a differentiation pathway.