Spontaneous transitions in the coordination of a whole body task

This paper describes an example of spontaneous transitions between qualitatively different coordination patterns during a cyclic lifting and lowering task. Eleven participants performed 12 trials of repetitive lifting and lowering in a ramp protocol in which the height of the lower shelf was raised or lowered 1 cm per cycle between 10 and 50 cm. Two distinct patterns of coordination were evident: a squat technique in which moderate range of hip, knee and ankle movement was utilised and ankle plantar-flexion occurred simultaneously with knee and hip extension; and a stoop technique in which the range of knee movement was reduced and knee and hip extension was accompanied by simultaneous ankle dorsi-flexion. Abrupt transitions from stoop to squat techniques were observed during descending trials, and from squat to stoop during ascending trials. Indications of hysteresis was observed in that transitions were more frequently observed during descending trials, and the average shelf height at the transition was 5 cm higher during ascending trials. The transitions may be a consequence of a trade-off between the biomechanical advantages of each technique and the influence of the lift height on this trade-off.

Biomolecular interaction analysis of IFN gamma-induced signaling events in whole-cell lysates: Prevalence of latent STAT1 in high-molecular weight complexes

The basic framework for the JAK/STAT pathway is well documented. Recruitment of latent cytoplasmic STAT transcription factors to tyrosine phosphorylated docking sites on cytokine receptors and their JAK-mediated phosphorylation instigates their translocation to the nucleus and their ability to bind DNA, The biochemical processes underlying recruitment and activation of this pathway have commonly been studied in reconstituted in vitro systems using previously defined recombinant signaling components. We have dissected the Interferon gamma (IFN gamma) signal transduction pathway in crude extracts from wild-type and STAT1-negative mutant cell Lines by real-time BIAcore analysis, size-exclusion (SE) chromatography and immune-detection. The data indicate that in detergent-free cell extracts: (1) the phospho-tyrosine (Y440P)-containing peptide motif of the IFN gamma-receptor ct-chain interacts directly with STAT1, or STAT1 complexes, and no other protein; (2) nonactivated STAT 1 is present in a higher molecular weight complex(es) and, at least for IFN gamma-primed cells, is available for recruitment to the activated IFN gamma-receptor from only a subset of such complexes; (3) activated STAT1 is released from the receptor as a monomer.

Whole-body pre-cooling and heat storage during self-paced cycling performance in warm humid conditions

The aim of this study was to establish the effect that pre-cooling the skin without a concomitant reduction in core temperature has on subsequent self-paced cycling performance under warm humid (31 degrees C and 60% relative humidity) conditions. Seven moderately trained males performed a 30 min self-paced cycling trial on two separate occasions. The conditions were counterbalanced as control or whole-body pre-cooling by water immersion so that resting skin temperature was reduced by approximate to 5-6 degrees C. After pre-cooling, mean skin temperature was lower throughout exercise and rectal temperature was lower (P < 0.05) between 15 and 25 min of exercise. Consequently, heat storage increased (P < 0.003) from 84.0 +/- 8.8 W . m(-2) to 153 +/- 13.1 W . m(-2) (mean +/- s((x) over bar)) after pre-cooling, while total body sweat fell from 1.7 +/- 0.1 1 . h(-1) to 1.2 +/- 0.1 1 . h(-1) (P < 0.05). The distance cycled increased from 14.9 +/- 0.8 to 15.8 +/- 0.7 km (P < 0.05) after pre-cooling. The results indicate that skin pre-cooling in the absence of a reduced rectal temperature is effective in reducing thermal strain and increasing the distance cycled in 30 min under warm humid conditions.

Assessment of intracellular water by whole body bioelectrical impedance and total body potassium in HIV-positive patients

.:Abstract-Objective: Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is widely used as bedside assessment of body composition. Body cell mass (BCM) and intracellular water (ICW) are clinically important body compartments. Estimates of ICW obtained from BIA by different calculation approaches were compared to a reference method in male HIV-infected patients. Patients: Representative subsample of clinically stable HIV-infected outpatients, consisting of 42 men with a body mass index of 22.4 +/- 3.8 kg/m(2) (range, 13-31 kg/m(2)). Methods: Total body potassium was assessed in a whole body counter, and compared to 50 kHz mono-frequency BIA and multifrequency bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy. Six different prediction equations for ICW from BIA data were applied. Methods were compared by the Bland-Altman method. Results: BIA-derived ICW estimates explained 58% to 73% of the observed variance in ICW (TBK), but limits of confidence were wide (-16.6 to +18.2% for the best method). BIA overestimated low ICW (TBK) and underestimated high ICW (TBK) when normalized for weight or height. Mono- and multifrequency BIA were not different in precision but population-specific equations tended to narrower confidence limits. Conclusion: BIA is an unreliable method to estimate ICW in this population, in contrast to the better established estimation of total body water and extracellular water. Potassium depletion in severe malnutrition may contribute to this finding but a major part of the residual between methods remains unexplained. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

An economic evaluation of plasma production via erythroplasmapheresis and whole blood collection

This paper presents cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) of plasma collection via two alternative methods: whole blood collection (WBC) and erythroplasmapheresis collection (EPC). The objective of the study is to provide an answer to the question 'What is the least-cost method of plasma production'. This question is answered, both from the viewpoint of the blood collection agency (using financial CEA) and from that of 'society' as a whole (using economic CEA). We employ detailed financial data and economic survey data for collections made by a blood collection agency and to WBC and EPC donors in Brisbane, Australia. The results indicate that, despite the superior yield provided by EPC, WBC is actually more cost-effective. This result is robust to thorough sensitivity analysis and arises regardless of whether an economic or financial perspective is taken. We conclude that, ceteris paribus, the cost of recruiting new plasma donors would need to be quite substantial for marginal investments in EPC to be considered cost-effective. Crown Copyright (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A medial to lateral shift in premovement cortical activity in hemi-Parkinson's disease: Studies of event-related potentials and whole-scalp magneto encephalography

Cortical activity associated with voluntary movement is shifted from medial to lateral premotor areas in Parkinson's disease. This occurs bilaterally, even for unilateral movements. We have used both EEG and MEG to further investigate medial and lateral premotor activity in patients with hemi-Parkinson's disease, in whom basal ganglia impairment is most pronounced in one hemisphere. The CNV, recorded from 21 scalp positions in a Go/NoGo task, was maximal over central medial regions in control subjects. For hemi-Parkinson's disease subjects, activity was shifted more frontally, reduced in the midline and lateralised towards the side of greatest basal ganglia impairment. With 143 channel whole-scalp magneto encephalography (MEG) we are further examining asymmetries in supplementary motor/premotor cortical activity prior to self-paced voluntary movement. In preliminary results, one hemi-Parkinson's disease patient with predominantly left-side symptoms showed strong medial activity consistent with a dominant source in the left supplementary motor area (SMA). Three patients showed little medial activity, but early bilateral sources within lateral premotor cortex. Results suggest greater involvement of lateral premotor rather than the SMA prior to movement in Parkinson's disease and provide evidence for asymmetric function of the SMA in hemi- Parkinson's disease, with reduced activity on the side of greatest basal ganglia deficit.

Mineral chemistry, whole-rock compositions, and petrogenesis of leg 176 gabbros: Data and discussion

We report mineral chemistry, whole-rock major element compositions, and trace element analyses on Hole 735B samples drilled and selected during Leg 176. We discuss these data, together with Leg 176 shipboard data and Leg 118 sample data from the literature, in terms of primary igneous petrogenesis. Despite mineral compositional variation in a given sample, major constituent minerals in Hole 735B gabbroic rocks display good chemical equilibrium as shown by significant correlations among Mg# (= Mg/[Mg+Fe2+]) of olivine, clinopyroxene, and orthopyroxene and An (=Ca/[Ca+Na]) of plagioclase. This indicates that the mineral assemblages olivine + plagioclase in troctolite, plagioclase + clinopyroxene in gabbro, plagioclases + clinopyroxene + olivine in olivine gabbro, and plagioclase + clinopyroxene + olivine + orthopyroxene in gabbronorite, and so on, have all coprecipitated from their respective parental melts. Fe-Ti oxides (ilmenite and titanomagnetite), which are ubiquitous in most of these rocks, are not in chemical equilibrium with olivine, clinopyroxene, and plagioclase, but precipitated later at lower temperatures. Disseminated oxides in some samples may have precipitated from trapped Fe-Ti–rich melts. Oxides that concentrate along shear bands/zones may mark zones of melt coalescence/transport expelled from the cumulate sequence as a result of compaction or filter pressing. Bulk Hole 735B is of cumulate composition. The most primitive olivine, with Fo = 0.842, in Hole 735B suggests that the most primitive melt parental to Hole 735B lithologies must have Mg# ≤ 0.637, which is significantly less than Mg# = 0.714 of bulk Hole 735B.

Spoilage patterns of skim and whole milks

The reason for the reported difference in spoilage behaviour of skim and whole pasteurised milks was investigated The rates of growth of psychrotrophic bacteria were not significantly different in the two milks and the bacterial types. till pseudomonad, present at spoilage were also similar. However. when representative spoilage organisms were cultured into freshly pasteurised skim and whole milks, skim milks exhibited predominantly bitter flavours while whole milk showed mostly sour flavours. The different spoilage, behaviours can be largely explained by greater proteolysis in skim milk than in whole milk. caused by, higher production of protease and greater susceptibility of the protein to protease attack. In addition, lipolysis in whole milk, caused by the substantial quantities of lipase produced by spoilage pseudomonads in this milk. also contributes to the different flavours produced during cold storage of these milk types.

Impact numbers: measures of risk factor impact on the whole population from case-control and cohort studies

Objective: To describe new measures of risk from case-control and cohort studies, which are simple to understand and relate to numbers of the population at risk. Design: Theoretical development of new measures of risk. Setting: Review of literature and previously described measures. Main results: The new measures are: (1) the population impact number (PIN), the number of those in the whole population among whom one case is attributable to the exposure or risk factor (this is equivalent to the reciprocal of the population attributable risk),- (2) the case impact number (CIN) the number of people with the disease or outcome for whom one case will be attributable to the exposure or risk factor (this is equivalent to the reciprocal of the population attributable fraction); (3) the exposure impact number (EIN) the number of people with the exposure among whom one excess case is attributable to the exposure (this is equivalent to the reciprocal of the attributable risk); (4) the exposed cases impact number (ECIN) the number of exposed cases among whom one case is attributable to the exposure (this is equivalent to the reciprocal of the aetiological fraction). The impact number reflects the number of people in each population (the whole population, the cases, all those exposed, and the exposed cases) among whom one case is attributable to the particular risk factor. Conclusions: These new measures should help communicate the impact on a population, of estimates of risk derived from cohort or case-control studies.

The effect of water, brine and ethanol flotation on the quality and shelf life of macadamia kernels - 1. Whole kernels

Whole macadamia kernels were immersed in water (specific gravity 1.00 g/cm(3)), brine (SG 1.02 g/cm(3)) and ethanol solution (SG 0.97 g/cm(3)) for 30 or 60 s, re-dried to 1.0-1.5% moisture (wet basis) and stored under vacuum for 0, 4 and 12 months. Immersion in water had no effect on the quality or shelf life of kernels, as measured by sensory evaluation and analysis of the kernel oil. Immersion in brine and ethanol solutions changed the flavour of kernels, but had no effect on shelf life or kernel oil stability over 12 months storage. Water flotation to separate kernels based on differences in oil content is therefore feasible, but microbiological concerns need to be investigated.

Prospects for whole genome linkage disequilibrium mapping in domestic dog breeds

Linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping is commonly used as a fine mapping tool in human genome mapping and has been used with some success for initial disease gene isolation in certain isolated inbred human populations. An understanding of the population history of domestic dog breeds suggests that LID mapping could be routinely utilized in this species for initial genome-wide scans. Such an approach offers significant advantages over traditional linkage analysis. Here, we demonstrate, using canine copper toxicosis in the Bedlington terrier as the model, that LID mapping could be reasonably expected to be a useful strategy in low-resolution, genome-wide scans in pure-bred dogs. Significant LID was demonstrated over distances up to 33.3 cM. It is very unlikely, for a number of reasons discussed, that this result could be extrapolated to the rest of the genome. It is, however, consistent with the expectation given the population structure of canine breeds and, in this breed at least, with the hypothesis that it may be possible to utilize LID in a genome-wide scan. In this study, LD mapping confirmed the location of the copper toxicosis in Bedlington terrier gene (CT-BT) and was able to do so in a population that was refractory to traditional linkage analysis.

A comparison of the whole-body and segmental methodologies of bioimpedance analysis

Theory supports the use of a segmental methodology (SM) for bioimpedance analysis (BIA) of body water (BW). However, previous studies have generally failed to show a significant improvement when the SM is used in place of a whole-body methodology. A pilot study was conducted to compare the two methodologies in control and overweight subjects. BW of each subject was measured by D2O dilution and also estimated from BIA measurements. Bland and Altman analysis was used to compare the two values of BW. The SM resulted in a small but not significantly improved limits of agreement of measured and BIA estimated BW (psimilar to0.3). This and the results of previous studies suggest that improvements in prediction of BW obtained from application of the SM may be intrinsically small and may not justify the additional effort in application.

Read the whole thing: Journalism, weblogs and the re-mediation of the war in Iraq

This paper examines a particular form of online activity-weblogging, and how it has allowed for specific new forms of popular political communication in the context of the Second Gulf War. After describing the basics of weblogging, the paper discusses Western media coverage of the war and then shows how 'warbloggers' positioned themselves vis-à-vis media coverage and propaganda, creating commentaries that frequently combined media and political criticism. While bloggers of every political hue offered a range of perspectives and personal styles, some general tendencies are evident in warblogging discourse. The piece ends by questioning the significance of warblogging in terms of its potential contribution to democratic communication.