Publications by authors named "Matthew Bird"

Military training improves tibial density, structure, and estimated strength; however, men and women may adapt differently. Most work performed in military populations has assessed changes in bone health during initial entry programs, a timeframe at the beginning of a service member's career when bones may be more adaptable to a novel mechanical stimulus. The purpose of this investigation was to examine changes in tibial volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), structure, and estimated strength, and biomarkers of bone metabolism (P1NP, osteocalcin, TRAP5b, sclerostin) between male and female candidates measured at the start and end of United States Marine Corps Officer Candidates School (OCS), a 10-week military training program attended by older service members (~ 25 y/o) who may have previous military experience.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - This study investigates the factors leading to attrition in a 10-week military training program for male and female candidates, analyzing data from 1006 participants who underwent various assessments including blood draws, questionnaires, and fitness tests.
  • - Of the candidates, 260 (25.8%) left the program, with the highest dropout rate occurring in week 5, primarily due to musculoskeletal injuries (30%) and other medical or voluntary reasons.
  • - Key predictors associated with attrition include sex, body mass index (BMI), resilience, and physical fitness test scores, with the final model highlighting combat fitness test scores and resilience as significant indicators, suggesting that these factors can aid early screening processes for candidates at risk of not completing the
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ammonia synthesis from N,N,O,O-supported manganese(V) nitrides and 9,10-dihydroacridine using proton-coupled electron transfer and visible light irradiation in the absence of precious metal photocatalysts is described. While the reactivity of the nitride correlated with increased absorption of blue light, excited-state lifetimes determined by transient absorption were on the order of picoseconds. This eliminated excited-state manganese nitrides as responsible for bimolecular N-H bond formation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The nature of interchain π-system contacts, and their relationship to hole transport, are elucidated for the high-mobility, noncrystalline conjugated polymer C16-IDTBT by the application of scanning tunneling microscopy, molecular dynamics, and quantum chemical calculations. The microstructure is shown to favor an unusual packing motif in which paired chains cross-over one another at near-perpendicular angles. By linking to mesoscale microstructural features, revealed by coarse-grained molecular dynamics and previous studies, and performing simulations of charge transport, it is demonstrated that the high mobility of C16-IDTBT can be explained by the promotion of a highly interconnected transport network, stemming from the adoption of perpendicular contacts at the nanoscale, in combination with fast intrachain transport.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to explore how deficiencies in vitamin D and iron among Marine Officer Candidates could affect their skeletal health and risk of injuries during military training, assessing their micronutrient levels before and after 10 weeks of training.
  • - Results indicated that micronutrient levels decreased after training, with those having optimal vitamin D and iron status showing better bone strength and lower injury risks compared to those with deficiencies.
  • - The findings highlight the importance of maintaining adequate vitamin D and iron levels for improving readiness and reducing injury risks in military personnel during rigorous training.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Arduous military training frequently consists of prolonged physical activity, sleep disturbance, and stress that increases musculoskeletal injury risk and performance decrements. Inflammatory and oxidative stress responses have been reported in response to arduous training, but with inconsistencies across markers and with underrepresentation of women. The purpose of the current report was to measure circulating inflammation and oxidative stress responses to military training and to correlate biomarkers with subjective measures of stress and sleep quality as well as military fitness test performance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs) are common in military personnel, prompting the need for effective risk screening tools that can predict the likelihood of injuries based on self-reported questionnaires and existing health data.
  • In a study involving 4,222 U.S. Army Service members, survival machine learning models were utilized to predict MSKI risks over different time periods, with the Cox proportional hazard regression model showing the best performance for forecasting injuries over 30 to 180 days.
  • The results indicated that factors such as race, self-reported pain, gender, and previous injuries significantly influenced MSKI risk, with the highest risk group experiencing a notably higher injury incidence rate, underlining the potential of machine
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Context: Pain during movement screens is a risk factor for musculoskeletal injury (MSKI). Movement screens often require specialized/clinical expertise and large amounts of time to administer.

Objective: Evaluate if self-reported pain 1) with movement clearing screens is a risk factor for any MSKI, 2) with movement clearing screens is a risk factor for body region-specific MSKIs, and 3) with a greater number of movement clearing screens progressively increases MSKI risk.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Overuse musculoskeletal injuries (MSKI) remain a significant medical challenge in military personnel undergoing military training courses; further understanding of the biological process leading to overuse MSKI development and biological signatures for injury risk are warranted. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between overuse MSKI occurrence and physiological characteristics of allostatic load characterized as maladaptive biological responses to chronic stress measured by wearable devices in US Marine Corps officer candidates during a 10-wk training course.

Methods: Devices recorded energy expenditure (EE), daytime heart rate (HR), sleeping HR, and sleep architecture (time and percentage of deep, light, rapid eye movement sleep, awake time, total sleep).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * In a retrospective analysis of 47,784 UK isolates from 2016 to 2021, researchers found 226 positive isolates across 25 serovars, revealing that phage-plasmid elements are more prevalent than initially realized, with a strong serovar preference, particularly in Typhimurium ST34 and ST19.
  • * The study shows considerable diversity in the
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A series of steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies were performed on a set of eight carbene-metal-amide (cMa) complexes, where M = Cu and Au, that have been used as photosensitizers for photosensitized electrocatalytic reactions. Using ps-to-ns and ns-to-ms transient absorption spectroscopies (psTA and nsTA, respectively), the excited-state kinetics from light absorption, intersystem crossing (ISC), and eventually intermolecular charge transfer were thoroughly characterized. Using time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) and psTA with a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) model, the variation in intersystem crossing (ISC), ( → ) rates (∼3-120 × 10 s), and Δ values (73-115 meV) for these compounds were fully characterized, reflecting systematic changes to the carbene, carbazole, and metal.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Eupotemus tuberculatus sp. nov. is described on the basis of two specimens discovered during recent field work in South Africa.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Southern Afrotemperate Forest is concentrated in the southern Cape region of South Africa and whilst it is relatively well known botanically, the fauna, specifically the aquatic invertebrate fauna, is poorly documented. The majority of remaining intact forest habitat is contained within the Garden Route National Park (GRNP), which straddles the provincial boundary between the Western and Eastern Cape. This study undertakes a survey of the water beetle fauna inhabiting the GRNP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Determine the influence of clinically-measured maximum dorsiflexion, dynamic peak dorsiflexion and percent of clinically-measured maximum dorsiflexion used during a drop-jump task on landing biomechanics and risk of ankle injury in military personnel.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: 672 participants (122 women) enrolled.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Risk factor identification is a critical first step in informing musculoskeletal injury (MSKI) risk mitigation strategies. This investigation aimed to determine if a self-reported MSKI risk assessment can accurately identify military service members at greater MSKI risk and determine whether a traffic light model can differentiate service members' MSKI risks. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using existing self-reported MSKI risk assessment data and MSKI data from the Military Health System.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Globalization of the food supply chain has created conditions favorable for emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) foodborne pathogens. In November 2021, the UK Health Security Agency detected an outbreak of 17 cases infected with the same strain of MDR extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Shigella sonnei. Phylogenetic analysis of whole-genome sequencing data revealed the outbreak was closely related to strains of S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Spectra of the dimer cations naphthalene (Nap) and ethene (Ethene) were measured in liquid dichloromethane (DCM). The spectra peak at very different energies, 1.2 and 3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) are an important cause of morbidity in the military, especially among Special Forces. The aim of this analysis was to describe MSIs among two groups of Naval Special Warfare (NSW) personnel-Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC) Operators and Crewman Qualification Training (CQT) students.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we describe self-reported MSIs that occurred during a one-year period and the calculated financial costs of MSIs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) genes can be exchanged between bacteria through horizontal gene transfer (HGT), involving various genetic elements like plasmids and bacteriophages, but the role of bacteriophages in AMR is not yet fully understood.
  • Researchers identified a new ~98 kbp circular P1-bacteriophage-like plasmid called ph681355 from a clinical Salmonella Typhi isolate, which includes specific plasmid replicons and mobile elements, marking the first report of such a phage-plasmid in this bacteria.
  • The study indicates that long-read sequencing can reveal the complex structure of AMR genes in bacteria, suggesting that bacteriophage-mediated genetic transfer may be more common and contribute
View Article and Find Full Text PDF