Erratum: New insights and new hope for pulmonary arterial hypertension: natriuretic peptides clearance receptor as a novel therapeutic target for a complex disease.

[This corrects the article on p. 112 in vol. 9, PMID: 28951773.

Affordance Boundaries Are Defined by Dynamic Capabilities of Parkour Athletes in Dropping from Various Heights.

Available behaviors are determined by the fit between features of the individual and reciprocal features of the environment. Beyond some critical boundary certain behaviors become impossible causing sudden transitions from one movement pattern to another. Parkour athletes have developed multiple movement patterns to deal with their momentum during landing.

Quadriceps Muscles O Extraction and EMG Breakpoints during a Ramp Incremental Test.

Muscle deoxygenated breakpoint ([HHb]) has been found to be associated with other indices of exercise tolerance in the vastus lateralis (VL) muscle but not in the vastus medialis (VM) and rectus femoris (RF). To investigate whether the [HHb] occurs also in the VM and RF muscles and whether or not it is associated with other physiological indices of exercise tolerance, such as the EMG threshold (EMG) and the respiratory compensation point (RCP). Twelve young endurance trained participants performed maximal ramp incremental (RI) cycling tests (25-30 W·min increments).

Mechanisms of Hierarchical Cortical Maturation.

Cortical information processing is structurally and functionally organized into hierarchical pathways, with primary sensory cortical regions providing modality specific information and associative cortical regions playing a more integrative role. Historically, there has been debate as to whether primary cortical regions mature earlier than associative cortical regions, or whether both primary and associative cortical regions mature simultaneously. Identifying whether primary and associative cortical regions mature hierarchically or simultaneously will not only deepen our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate brain maturation, but it will also provide fundamental insight into aspects of adolescent behavior, learning, neurodevelopmental disorders and computational models of neural processing.

Two Strains of and the Progeny from Their Mating Display Differential Memory-Forming Ability on Associative Learning Tasks.

The pond snail learns and forms long-term memory (LTM) following both operant conditioning of aerial respiratory behavior and classical conditioning of taste aversive behavior. In the present study, we examined whether there are interstrain differences in the ability to form LTM following these two types of conditioning. A strain of (TC1) collected in Alberta, Canada exhibits superior memory-forming ability following aerial respiratory operant conditioning compared to a laboratory-reared strain of from Netherlands known as the Dutch strain.

New insights and new hope for pulmonary arterial hypertension: natriuretic peptides clearance receptor as a novel therapeutic target for a complex disease.

Background: Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a deadly and disabling disease for which there is no marketed drug that addresses the underlying disease mechanism and targets to cure patients. The lack of understanding of the disease mechanism represents the main challenges in developing curative therapies. We here report, for the first time, that mice lacking natriuretic peptides clearance receptor develop PAH.

A Meta-Analysis on Sex Differences in Resting-State Vagal Activity in Children and Adolescents.

Lower vagal activity is associated with psychopathology independent of age. Research suggests that alterations of vagal activity precede the development of psychopathology. The present review aimed to quantify sex differences in vagal activity in children and adolescents.

Fast and Simple Analysis of MiSeq Amplicon Sequencing Data with MetaAmp.

Microbial community profiling by barcoded 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing currently has many applications in microbial ecology. The low costs of the parallel sequencing of multiplexed samples, combined with the relative ease of data processing and interpretation (compared to shotgun metagenomes) have made this an entry-level approach. Here we present the MetaAmp pipeline for processing of SSU rRNA gene and other non-coding or protein-coding amplicon sequencing data by investigators that are inexperienced with bioinformatics procedures.

Adult ADHD: Risk Factor for Dementia or Phenotypic Mimic?

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has historically been considered a disorder of childhood and adolescence. However, it is now recognized that ADHD symptoms persist into adulthood in up to 60% of individuals. Some of the cognitive symptoms that characterize ADHD (inability to provide sustained attention or mental effort, difficulty organizing or multi-tasking, forgetfulness) may closely resemble symptoms of prodromal dementia, also often referred to as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), particularly in patients over age 50.

Evolution of Precision Medicine and Surgical Strategies for Bicuspid Aortic Valve-Associated Aortopathy.

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is a common congenital cardiac malformation affecting 1-2% of people. BAV results from fusion of two adjacent aortic valve cusps, and is associated with dilatation of the aorta, known as bicuspid valve associated aortopathy. Bicuspid valve aortopathy is progressive and associated with catastrophic clinical events, such as aortic dissection and rupture.

Biphenyl Modulates the Expression and Function of Respiratory Oxidases in the Polychlorinated-Biphenyls Degrader KF707.

KF707 is a soil bacterium which is known for its capacity to aerobically degrade harmful organic compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) using biphenyl as co-metabolite. Here we provide the first genetic and functional analysis of the KF707 respiratory terminal oxidases in cells grown with two different carbon sources: glucose and biphenyl. We identified five terminal oxidases in KF707: two type oxidases (Caa and Ccaa), two type oxidases (Cbb1 and Cbb2), and one type cyanide-insensitive quinol oxidase (CIO).

Running Economy from a Muscle Energetics Perspective.

The economy of running has traditionally been quantified from the mass-specific oxygen uptake; however, because fuel substrate usage varies with exercise intensity, it is more accurate to express running economy in units of metabolic energy. Fundamentally, the understanding of the major factors that influence the energy cost of running (E) can be obtained with this approach. E is determined by the energy needed for skeletal muscle contraction.

White Matter Structural Connectivity Is Not Correlated to Cortical Resting-State Functional Connectivity over the Healthy Adult Lifespan.

Structural connectivity (SC) of white matter (WM) and functional connectivity (FC) of cortical regions undergo changes in normal aging. As WM tracts form the underlying anatomical architecture that connects regions within resting state networks (RSNs), it is intuitive to expect that SC and FC changes with age are correlated. Studies that investigated the relationship between SC and FC in normal aging are rare, and have mainly compared between groups of elderly and younger subjects.

An Overview of Interrater Agreement on Likert Scales for Researchers and Practitioners.

Applications of interrater agreement (IRA) statistics for Likert scales are plentiful in research and practice. IRA may be implicated in job analysis, performance appraisal, panel interviews, and any other approach to gathering systematic observations. Any rating system involving subject-matter experts can also benefit from IRA as a measure of consensus.

Calf Compression Sleeves Change Biomechanics but Not Performance and Physiological Responses in Trail Running.

The aim of this study was to determine whether calf compression sleeves (CS) affects physiological and biomechanical parameters, exercise performance, and perceived sensations of muscle fatigue, pain and soreness during prolonged (~2 h 30 min) outdoor trail running. Fourteen healthy trained males took part in a randomized, cross-over study consisting in two identical 24-km trail running sessions (each including one bout of running at constant rate on moderately flat terrain, and one period of all-out running on hilly terrain) wearing either degressive CS (23 ± 2 mmHg) or control sleeves (CON, <4 mmHg). Running time, heart rate and muscle oxygenation of the medial muscle (measured using portable near-infrared spectroscopy) were monitored continuously.

Influence of Joint Angle on Residual Force Enhancement in Human Plantar Flexors.

Compared to pure isometric contractions, isometric muscle force at a given length is larger when the eccentric contraction is conducted before the isometric contraction. This phenomenon is widely known as residual force enhancement, and has been confirmed consistently in isolated muscle experiments. The purpose of this study was to confirm whether residual force enhancement also occurs in human plantar flexors and to examine its joint angle dependence.

Force Depression in Plantar Flexors Exists Equally in Plantar Flexed and Dorsiflexed Regions.

Isometric muscle force attained during isometric contractions decreases after active shortening compared to that attained during purely isometric contractions. This phenomenon is called residual force depression. The aim of this study was to examine whether residual force depression occurs in human plantar flexors in both plantar flexed and dorsiflexed region.