Strength and Conditioning in the Young Athlete for Long-Term Athletic Development.

The safety and efficacy of youth strength and conditioning programs depend on proper instruction, coaching, and supervision. Types of training include bodyweight strengthening, resistance bands, medicine balls and weights, agility, plyometrics, and cardiovascular exercise. These should be preceded by a proper warm up using a combination of static stretching, self-myofascial release, dynamic warm-ups, and sport-specific warm-ups.

Aberrant expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A (ALDH1A) subfamily genes in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a common feature of T-lineage tumours.

The class 1A aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH1A) subfamily of genes encode enzymes that function at the apex of the retinoic acid (RA) signalling pathway. We detected aberrant expression of ALDH1A genes, particularly ALDH1A2, in a majority (72%) of primary paediatric T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) specimens. ALDH1A expression was almost exclusive to T-lineage, but not B-lineage, ALL.

Hypomethylation of the CTGF gene locus is a common feature of paediatric pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

The connective tissue growth factor gene (CTGF) is aberrantly expressed in 75% of precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemias (pre-B ALL) and is associated with poor outcome. We identified consistent hypomethylation of the CTGF locus in primary pre-B ALL specimens regardless of CTGF expression. By contrast, primary T-cell ALL specimens, which do not express CTGF, exhibited distinctive patterns of hypermethylation.

Receptor mutation is not a common mechanism of naturally occurring glucocorticoid resistance in leukaemia cell lines.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are among the most important drugs for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Cell lines cultured in high GC concentrations typically contain mutated glucocorticoid receptor (GR), something that is rarely found in primary ALL specimens. We studied naturally occurring mechanisms of GC resistance and examined sensitivity to GC in 15 T-ALL cell lines grown without prior exposure to drugs.