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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONTROL AND SUPPRESSED ARM SPRINT RUNNING DURING THE MAXIMUM VELOCITY PHASE
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to clarify sprint characteristic differences between control and suppressed arm sprint running during the maximum velocity phase. Baseball players (n=15) completed a 50 m control and suppressed arm trial, and ground reaction force was measured with force platforms. Sprint characteristics were calculated during the stride that maximum velocity was reached. Cohen’s d effect size with 95% confidence intervals and paired T-tests elucidated differences between trials. The maximum velocity decreased by 7.06% during the suppressed arm trial, compared to the control, probably caused by the suppressed arm condition. There were further decreases in propulsive (12.67%), braking (7.40%), vertical (2.81%) and effective vertical (5.95%) mean forces, suggesting significant ground reaction force differences between trials during the maximum velocity phase
THE EFFECT OF ACCURACY CONSTRAINTS ON LOWER LIMB JOINT CONTRIBUTIONS DURING THE INSTEP SOCCER KICK
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to quantify the effect of accuracy constraints on the kinematics of the soccer instep kick with specific reference to the relative contributions of the segments of the kicking leg. Eight university level soccer players were recruited into the study. Targets of three sizes were positioned and upon a verbal cue the subjects kicked the ball towards the requested target. For each, successful, kick the lower limb 3-dimensional kinematics and relative joint contributions in the local flexion-extension plane immediately prior to impact were recorded. We found foot speeds decreased significantly for the smaller targets. Soccer kicks between the no target and small target significantly increased the contribution of the ankle joint by 24%. This was at the expense of decreases in both the knee (10%) and hip (14%) contributions. Incorporating targets in soccer kicking affects the proximal to distal transition and relative joint contributions of the lower limb
CHANGES IN 800 METER PERSONAL RECORDS FOR COMPETITIVE FEMALE RUNNERS FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE
Get PDFTTo advance understanding of improvements in running performance, changes in personal records (PR) from high school to college were compared. It was hypothesized that females competing in the 800m in college would improve PR times from high school to college, improvements would be different between athletic conferences, and modern statistical methods could differentiate trends in the relationship between high school and college PR. Data from female athletes competing in the 800m from three different athletic conferences (n=73) were gathered from published race results and 79.4% improved by at least 1s with no significant differences between conferences. A positive relationship exists between high school and college PRs. Knowledge of changes in running performance provides context when interpreting an individual’s improvements in running biomechanics over time
The Expression of Cannabinoid Receptors in Glioblastoma Multiforme Tumors
No full textGlioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is a common type of malignant brain tumor. It is one of the deadliest and most aggressive forms of solid cancer with over 95% of patients dying within 5 years of diagnosis. This type of tumor is incredibly difficult to treat because of its high rate of cellular proliferation and heterogeneous nature. Cannabinoid receptors are part of the endocannabinoid system and can be found throughout the body. The endocannabinoid system is involved in several physiological processes such as appetite, pain-sensation, mood, and memory. Cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2) are of a class of cell membrane receptors in the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. CB1 receptors are located predominantly throughout the central nervous system, while CB2 receptors are found mostly in the immune and gastrointestinal systems. Despite the lack of CB2 receptors in the central nervous system, literature supports that CB2 receptors are present in gliomas, and their expression increases as tumor grade increases. The literature regarding CB1 expression reports conflicting results on whether this protein increases or decreases with tumor grade. These reports lend to the importance of these receptors in regard to characterizing and treating particularly aggressive cancers. We hypothesize that both CB1 and CB2 expression will increase when tumor grade increases. Our project aims to add to the literature on CB1 and to come to a consensus on its effects as well as to replicate results with the existing literature on CB2. Having a better understanding of the receptors’ locations may allow for targeted drug therapy and extend patient survival
Calamity Sample: Stories About The Weatherman
No full textCalamity Sample is a novella written in flash fiction, micro stories, & lyrical echoes, centering on the life of a sensitive meteorologist & weather broadcaster who attempts to continue an ordinary existence in a world ravaged by climatically-based apocalypse. The Weatherman, only referred to as such, struggles to reconcile the collective grief plaguing not only his personal life, but the rest of the fleeting world as he tries to distinguish & manufacture joy from the ordinary, due to his residence in Humansville, an obscure town where every day is a recognized-and-hyper specific holiday or celebration. This collection of vignettes, generally oriented around annual holidays & our protagonist’s obsession with the mundane amidst apocalypse, questions what it means to be hopeful in the face of disaster, emphasizing themes of anxiety, a desire for human connection, obsession around the minutia, & the fleetingness of stability. Yes, the world is ending, but those details don’t matter as much as The Weatherman’s loss of intimacy, his strange collection of ties, the bizarre & ritualistic celebrations of Humansville, & the desire to catalogue objects, places, & feelings before they fall victim(s) to their own temporality. As musician & lyricist Imogen Heap once sung, “There’s beauty in the breakdown”
RESISTANCE TRAINING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CROSS COUNTRY SKIERS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Get PDFCross country skiing is an endurance sport that requires complex physiological and biomechanical capabilities. In recent years, resistance training has become an essential requirement for success in cross country skiing due to the evolution of the sport. Although important for success in skiing, resistance training recommendations are not well defined within the literature. The purpose of this study was to provide resistance training recommendations for cross country skiers by performing a systematic review on the current literature related to cross country skiing performance and resistance training. Four electronic databases were searched systematically to obtain original articles in peer-reviewed journals addressing the relationship between cross country skiing performance and resistance training through the use of an intervention. Nine articles were included following screening of each article for inclusion criteria. Studies were grouped in accordance with Synthesis Without Meta-Analysis (SWiM) reporting guidelines. The main findings were that ski-specific explosive training improves VO2max for junior females, while most forms of ski-specific resistance strength training improve time to exhaustion and ski economy for a wide range of skiers. Based on these findings, it is possible to recommend supplementing traditional endurance ski training with ski-specific explosive training for junior females, and supplementing some form of ski-specific resistance strength training to a wide range of skiers
A GUIDEWAY THROUGH THE LAND OF GHOSTS AND OTHER STORIES
No full textA Guideway through the Land of Ghosts and Other Stories is a collection about ghosts, gods, and other monsters that hide in plain sight. Inspired by Chinese mythology and folktale, this collection consists of three novella-length pieces of fiction and one flash-fiction interlude all set in the same universe. The form is largely inspired by a Chinese classic called Shan Hai Jing, or as scholar Richard E. Strassberg translates the title, Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. Shan Hai Jing is what Strassberg calls a “cosmography” and was intended to depict the world as ancient people saw it, rife with strange creatures and mythological figures that weren’t separated from human affairs by any clear boundary. Aligning with the cosmographical form and ethos, these stories take transformations, crossing boundaries, and category-defying creatures as their subjects. They each follow a character from this universe on their individual journey, traveling with these students of the strange from seaside Californian towns to the land of the dead. Within each novella, forms such as lists and folktales intervene, drawing attention to the collection as a compiled document, and the collection’s final section, the appendices, pulls back to describe the characters’ universe more broadly
USING ACOUSTIC TELEMETRY TO ANALYZE THE IMPACTS OF COMMON CARP ON WILD RICE RESTORATION
Get PDFWild rice (Zizania palustris) is an important cultural, spiritual, and dietary resource to Lake Superior Ojibwe. Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) are an introduced species that negatively impact aquatic vegetation through changes in water quality, uprooting of plants, and consumption of seed. Acoustic telemetry was used to document Common Carp movements in Waishkey Bay in the upper St. Marys River, MI where wild rice habitat is present. Exclosures were established to measure the influence of carp presence on wild rice seeding success. Common Carp were observed to spend much of their time in Waishkey Bay but also demonstrated long-distance movements at a scale which has not been previously documented. Site fidelity to the bay was strong with most carp returning to the bay during fall. The time spent in Waishkey Bay by Common Carp strongly overlapped with wild rice habitat, especially during early summer when wild rice was the most susceptible to disturbance. However, strong overlap in wild rice habitat by Common Carp did not result in observable impacts on wild rice seeding success. Wild rice grew at all sites, whether protected or unprotected from Common Carp, a result potentially related to current low carp densities in Waishkey Bay. These results show promise for the success of wild rice restoration efforts in Waishkey Bay but should target areas where Common Carp spawning aggregations do not occur. These activities should be combined with monitoring of the Common Carp population to detect rises in carp density that could affect wild rice
SENSITIVE AND SPECIFIC DETECTION OF SARS-COV-2 IN SALIVA USING REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE LOOP-MEDIATED ISOTHERMAL AMPLIFICATION
Get PDFA novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 has caused the emergency release of the most well-known molecular assay, the CDC N1 RT-PCR assay, causing reports of poor analytical performance resulting in false-negative results (20, 26), and inconsistent testing kits received (23, 32). An immediate and dire need for a rapid and reliable SARS-CoV-2 testing workflow specifically designed for a university setting is the purpose this project is aiming and intended to fulfill. The workflow design uses a less invasive saliva sample for rapid screening using colorimetric RT-LAMP detection of three SARS-CoV-2 gene regions for Orf1ab, envelope, and nucleocapsid. Purified SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA is spiked into Proteinase K and heat-treated saliva from a SARS-CoV-2 negative donor to simulate a positive donor sample used to characterize and optimize this workflow, detecting 200 copies of SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA by all three gene targets. The utility of colorimetric RT-LAMP outperformed the CDC N1 RT-PCR assay in turn-around-time and analytical performance. When applied to a small surveillance study, five out of 47 asymptomatic saliva donors had (September 2020) detectable SARS-CoV-2 genetic material, resulting in a 10% positivity rate, with the campus dashboard reportin