Control of blood pressure in the cold: differentiation of skin and skeletal muscle vascular resistance.

New Findings: What is the central question of this study? Why does blood pressure increases during cold air exposure? Specifically, what is the contribution of skin and skeletal muscle vascular resistance during whole body versus isolated face cooling? What is the main finding and its importance? Whole-body cooling caused an increase in blood pressure through an increase in skeletal muscle and cutaneous vascular resistance. However, isolated mild face cooling caused an increase in blood pressure predominately via an increase in cutaneous vasoconstriction.

Abstract: The primary aim of this investigation was to determine the individual contribution of the cutaneous and skeletal muscle circulations to the cold-induced pressor response.

Implications of Optimal Feedback Control Theory for Sport Coaching and Motor Learning: A Systematic Review.

Best practice in skill acquisition has been informed by motor control theories. The main aim of this study is to screen existing literature on a relatively novel theory, Optimal Feedback Control Theory (OFCT), and to assess how OFCT concepts can be applied in sports and motor learning research. Based on 51 included studies with on average a high methodological quality, we found that different types of training seem to appeal to different control processes within OFCT.

Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form.

Terrestrial plants and fire have interacted for at least 420 million years. Whether recurrent fire drives plants to evolve higher flammability and what the evolutionary pattern of plant flammability is remain unclear. Here, we show that phylogeny, the susceptibility of a habitat to have recurrent fires (that is, fire-proneness) and growth form are important predictors of the shoot flammability of 194 indigenous and introduced vascular plant species (Tracheophyta) from New Zealand.