Mechanical, hormonal, and hypertrophic adaptations to 10 weeks of eccentric and stretch-shortening cycle exercise training in old males.

The growth promoting effects of eccentric (ECC) contractions are well documented but it is unknown if the rate of stretch per se plays a role in such muscular responses in healthy aging human skeletal muscle. We tested the hypothesis that exercise training of the quadriceps muscle with low rate ECC and high rate ECC contractions in the form of stretch-shortening cycles (SSCs) but at equal total mechanical work would produce rate-specific adaptations in healthy old males age 60-70. Both training programs produced similar improvements in maximal voluntary isometric (6%) and ECC torque (23%) and stretch-shortening cycle function (reduced contraction duration [24%] and enhanced elastic energy storage [12%]) (p<0.

Why do sleeping nematodes adopt a hockey-stick-like posture?

A characteristic posture is considered one of the behavioral hallmarks of sleep, and typically includes functional features such as support for the limbs and shielding of sensory organs. The nematode C. elegans exhibits a sleep-like state during a stage termed lethargus, which precedes ecdysis at the transition between larval stages.

[Changing trends and indications for cesarean section in the last few decades].

Cesarean section rates are increasing worldwide, which has been paralelled by an increase in primary cesarean delivery and decrease in vaginal birth after cesarean section. Behind the different frequencies there is a number of interrelated factors including advanced maternal age, increasing incidence of obesity, assisted reproductive technologies, and maternal request for non-medical reasons. The sub-optimal management of labor and the concerns about medical liability claims and litigations increase the number of abdominal deliveries.

A rational approach for generating cardiac troponin I selective Spiegelmers.

We report the first protein selective Spiegelmers of diagnostic relevance by rational identification of a target epitope and reverse screening of Spiegelmer candidates following the selection procedure. Application of the presented approach resulted in isolation of cardiac troponin I selective Spiegelmers with low nanomolar dissociation constant and functionality in serum.

Are there any gender differences in the hippocampus volume after head-size correction? A volumetric and voxel-based morphometric study.

Previous findings on normal sexual dimorphism in hippocampal volume have not always been consistent. This study investigated gender differences in hippocampal volume using different head-size correction strategies. T1-weighted MR images were collected in 99 healthy, Caucasian, university students (66 female subjects; mean age: 23.

Magic square from Yang-Mills squared.

We give a unified description of D=3 super-Yang-Mills theory with N=1, 2, 4, and 8 supersymmeties in terms of the four division algebras: reals (R), complexes (C), quaternions (H) and octonions (O). Tensoring left and right super-Yang-Mills multiplets with N=1, 2, 4, 8 we obtain a magic square RR, CR, CC, HR, HC, HH, OR, OC, OH, OO description of D=3 supergravity with N=2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16.

Differentiating white matter lesions in multiple sclerosis and migraine using monoexponential and biexponential diffusion measurements.

Purpose: To compare the white matter lesions seen in multiple sclerosis and migraine using monoexponential and high b-value biexponential diffusion measurements.

Materials And Methods: Diffusion-weighted images were acquired on a 3.0-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging system.

Measurements of behavioral quiescence in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The nematode Caenorhabditis (C.) elegans, a long time work horse for behavioral genetic studies of locomotion, has recently been studied for quiescent behavior. Methods previously established for the study of C.

Alexithymia is associated with low level of vitamin D in young healthy adults.

Objective: Vitamin D plays an important role in brain development and functioning. Low levels of vitamin D have been described in several psychiatric and neurologic conditions including autism spectrum disorder. Alexithymia that shows high comorbidity with autism is also present in the general population as well as hypovitaminosis D.

Intracranial volume inversely correlates with serum 25(OH)D level in healthy young women.

Objectives: Vitamin D is important in normal brain development. In animals low vitamin D level is associated with brain morphological alterations including enlargement of the brain. Whether a similar association exists in humans is unknown.

In vitro translation-based protein kinase substrate identification.

Identification of a particular protein as a physiological substrate towards kinases of interest is an extremely complex process. Under physiological conditions kinases and their putative substrates are in low abundance, and production of active eukaryotic kinases with standard overexpressing methods is an arduous task. Herein, we describe a cell-free in vitro protein translation procedure combined with fluorescent phosphoprotein staining as a simple and rapid method for identification of putative kinase substrates.

The PAF complex and Prf1/Rtf1 delineate distinct Cdk9-dependent pathways regulating transcription elongation in fission yeast.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (Cdk9) promotes elongation by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), mRNA processing, and co-transcriptional histone modification. Cdk9 phosphorylates multiple targets, including the conserved RNAPII elongation factor Spt5 and RNAPII itself, but how these different modifications mediate Cdk9 functions is not known. Here we describe two Cdk9-dependent pathways in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe that involve distinct targets and elicit distinct biological outcomes.

Fetal Aneuploidy Detection by Cell-Free DNA Sequencing for Multiple Pregnancies and Quality Issues with Vanishing Twins.

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) by random massively parallel sequencing of maternal plasma DNA for multiple pregnancies is a promising new option for prenatal care since conventional non-invasive screening for fetal trisomies 21, 18 and 13 has limitations and invasive diagnostic methods bear a higher risk for procedure related fetal losses in the case of multiple gestations compared to singletons. In this study, in a retrospective blinded analysis of stored twin samples, all 16 samples have been determined correctly, with four trisomy 21 positive and 12 trisomy negative samples. In the prospective part of the study, 40 blood samples from women with multiple pregnancies have been analyzed (two triplets and 38 twins), with two correctly identified trisomy 21 cases, confirmed by karyotyping.

The Caenorhabditis elegans interneuron ALA is (also) a high-threshold mechanosensor.

Background: To survive dynamic environments, it is essential for all animals to appropriately modulate their behavior in response to various stimulus intensities. For instance, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans suppresses the rate of egg-laying in response to intense mechanical stimuli, in a manner dependent on the mechanosensory neurons FLP and PVD. We have found that the unilaterally placed single interneuron ALA acted as a high-threshold mechanosensor, and that it was required for this protective behavioral response.

Dysfunction of the mTOR pathway is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

Background: The development of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer's disease is hampered by our lack of understanding of the early pathogenic mechanisms and the lack of early biomarkers and risk factors.We have documented the expression pattern of mTOR regulated genes in the frontal cortex of Alzheimer's disease patients. We have also examined the functional integrity of mTOR signaling in peripheral lymphocytes in Alzheimer's disease patients relative to healthy controls.

A statistical model for intervertebral disc degeneration: determination of the optimal T2 cut-off values.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of quantitative classification in intervertebral disc degeneration using spin-spin relaxation time (T2) cut-off values with regard to morphological classifications.

Methods: Lumbar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed on 21 subjects (a total of 104 lumbar disks). The T2 relaxation time was measured in the nucleus pulposus using a sagittal multi-echo spin-echo sequence.

Comparison between theory and simulations for the magnetization and the susceptibility of polydisperse ferrofluids.

The influence of polydispersity on the magnetization of ferrofluids is studied based on a previously published magnetization equation of state (Szalai and Dietrich, 2011 J. Phys.: Condens.

A longitudinal study of Caenorhabditis elegans larvae reveals a novel locomotion switch, regulated by G(αs) signaling.

Despite their simplicity, longitudinal studies of invertebrate models are rare. We thus sought to characterize behavioral trends of Caenorhabditis elegans, from the mid fourth larval stage through the mid young adult stage. We found that, outside of lethargus, animals exhibited abrupt switching between two distinct behavioral states: active wakefulness and quiet wakefulness.

The cube pessary: an underestimated treatment option for pelvic organ prolapse? Subjective 1-year outcomes.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common condition. The use of pessaries for conservative management of POP is widespread. However, there are little data on the use of cube pessaries.

Technological and biopharmaceutical optimization of nystatin release from a multiparticulate based bioadhesive drug delivery system.

Formulation considerations of a new drug delivery system include controlling the site of release of the active ingredient, maintaining drug level for a suitable time and decreasing dosage frequency. In research and development practice, these therapeutic benefits can be attained by selecting suitable active ingredients and optimizing procedure parameters, determining the composition of the medicine, and dissolution properties. The aim of our study was to design a pharmaceutical preparation with increased local therapeutic effect in the therapy of gastrointestinal candidiasis.

Sperm chromatin structure and sperm morphology: their association with fertility in AI-dairy Ayrshire sires.

Prognostic relations between sperm variables and sire fertility are yet elusive. A retrospective analysis of sperm morphology and chromatin stability (studied using sperm chromatin structure assay [SCSA]) and their relation to fertility after AI (as proportions of 60 days of nonreturn to estrous [NRR], corrected NRR, or calving rate) was studied with preselected frozen semen doses from a group (N = 43) of AI-sires of the Finnish Ayrshire breed composed of 50% subfertile bulls (<55% NRR) and 50% fertile sires (>55% NRR). Fertility, indicated by all three parameters, correlated significantly only with the percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa, a variable which negatively correlated with the percentage of DNA fragmentation at the time of SCSA, thus confirming the value of always having high numbers of morphologically normal spermatozoa in AI-doses.

The microarchitecture of C. elegans behavior during lethargus: homeostatic bout dynamics, a typical body posture, and regulation by a central neuron.

Study Objectives: The nematode C. elegans develops through four larval stages before it reaches adulthood. At the transition between stages and before it sheds its cuticle, it exhibits a sleep-like behavior during a stage termed lethargus.

Quantitative MRI studies of chronic brain white matter hyperintensities in migraine patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine chronic brain white matter hyperintensities in migraine and to gain data on the characteristics of the lesions.

Background: Migraine associates with a higher incidence of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-visible white matter signal abnormalities. Several attack-related pathomechanisms have been proposed in the lesion development, including the effect of repeated intracerebral hemodynamic changes.