1,721,051 research outputs found
Necessary Steps for the Application of an Integrative “Omics” Solution to the Detection of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin (rHuEPO)
Full text linkAbstract
Background: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) bans the use of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) in sports, challenging to detect with the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) that monitors haematological data longitudinally. Since 2009, the ABP has identified potential doping trends, but the individual variability in transcriptomic signatures related to rHuEpo, high altitude, and exercise among non-doping individuals is still uncertain. This study seeks to create a biobank of non-doping samples to improve ABP's detection capabilities and establish transcriptomic reference ranges to reduce false doping results.
Methods: Four blood and urine samples were collected from 108 university students based in Eldoret, Kenya (~2100 above sea level) and Kisumu, Kenya (~1000 m above sea level) with 4 to 6 weeks between each collection. The students included Eldoret males (21±2 years), Eldoret females (22±2 years), Kisumu males (22±2) and Kisumu females (22±2 years). Blood was collected into a K2EDTA and a Tempus™ Blood RNA Tube for haematological and transcriptomic analysis, respectively. Haematological variables used as blood doping markers in the ABP include Red Blood Cells (RBC), Haematocrit (HCT), Haemoglobin (HGB), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Number of Reticulocytes (RET#) and Reticulocytes percentage (RET%). The Off-score was calculated for each sample using the formula: Hgb x 10 - 60(√RET%). The “clean” status of athletes was assessed using an ABP style model, created in MATLAB (version 6.1.0 with Statistics Toolbox version 3.0). Cut-off was applied with an adaptive Bayesian model to calculate individualized upper and lower limits for these variables, incorporating factors such as mean subject variance, between-subject variance, sex, and baseline data. This method aimed to distinguish between drug-free samples, which stayed within these personalized limits and suspicious samples which deviated significantly. Statistical analysis of haematological variables such as HGB, RET% and OFF-score, crucial for doping detection, were performed using R (R Studio, Version 1.2.5042, ABPS package, Vienna, Austria).
Results: Males from both Eldoret and Kisumu consistently exhibited higher (p<0.05) haematological variables than their female counterparts. However, female participants from both Kisumu and Eldoret showed a significantly higher (p<0.05) RET% compared to males. None of the participants from Eldoret exceeded the Bayesian cut-off for any haematological variable. Participants from Kisumu exceeded the cut-offs at only three time points for both sexes, OFF-score values, for females HGB values. Sixty participants surpassed the ABPS cut-off. Transcriptomic analysis has not yet been conducted, but results are anticipated by July 2024.
Conclusions: The blood samples collected in this study offer invaluable insights into the haematological reference values for healthy, non-doping Kenyan student-athletes and serve as the critical establishment of a control group. This foundational step is crucial for the next phase of this research, which involves developing transcriptomic tests designed to improve the detection of rHuEpo doping
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The science of speed: Determinants of performance in the 100 m sprint: A response to commentary
No full textScience alone cannot explain all features and aspects of human exercise performance, and\ud
there is no doubt that coaches hold tremendous insight into determinants of athletic success.\ud
The challenge has and remains to be how to promote a marriage between science and\ud
coaching to stimulate improved understanding of human athletic performance. Our review,\ud
in combination with the commentary from Yannis Pitsiladis, Anthony Davis and Dennis\ud
Johnson, is a good examples of how such a marriage can occur and be fostered by pertinent\ud
academic and coaching journals..
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
East African Running: Towards a Cross-Disciplinary Perspective
No full textContents: Introduction Notes on Contributors Part 1: Socio-Economic and Cultural Perspectives 1. Kenyan Running Before the 1968 Mexico Olympics 2. The Promise and Possibilities of Running In and Out of East Africa 3. Raiders from the Rift Valley: Cattle Raiding and Distance Running in East Africa 4. The Haile Gebrselassie Story: A Biography of Difference Part 2: Physiological Perspectives 5. Outstanding Performance Despite Low Fluid Intake: The Kenyan Running Experience 6. Energy Balance and Body Composition of Elite Endurance Runners: A Hunter-Gatherer Phenotype 7. Diet and Endurance Performance of Kenyan Runners: A Physiological Perspective 8. Dominance of Kenyan Kalenjins in Middle- and Long-Distance Running 9. Understanding the Dominance of African Endurance Runners: Exercise Biology and an Integrative Model 10. Studies of Physiological and Neuromuscular Function of Black South African Distance Runners 11. Erythropoietic Indices in Elite Kenyan Runners Training at Altitude: Effects of Descent to Sea Level Part 3: Athleticogenomic Perspectives 12. Genes and Human Elite Athletic Performance 13. Genetics and Endurance Performance 14. Evidence for the 'Natural' East African Athlet
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