Match running performance and physical fitness in youth soccer players : a longitudinal study

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Health.This study examined whether substantial changes in either maximal sprinting speed (MSS) or maximal aerobic speed (Vvam-Eval) are related to changes in match running performance activity during match play in highly-trained young soccer players. A retrospective longitudinal research design was used where physical fitness and match analysis data were collected. Data from 44 players (U13-U18; fullbacks [FB, n=12], centre-backs [CB, n=12], mid-fielders [MD, n=11], wide-midfielders [WM, n=5], strikers [S, n=4]) who had substantial changes in either MSS or Vvam-Eval throughout 2 consecutive testing periods (~3 months) were included in the final analysis. For each player, time-motion analyses were performed using a global positioning system (1-Hz) during 2-10 international level games played within 1-2 months from/to each testing period of interest. Match activity profiles were described using both absolute and relative zones. Absolute match running activities were defined as meters per min (m·min-1), low-intensity activities (LIA), high-intensity running (HIR), very high-intensity running (VHIR) and sprint activities (SPRT), where relative match activities were categorized into 5 intensity zones in relation to individual MSS and MAS. Improvements in both MSS and Vvam-Eval were likely associated with either non-substantial or lower magnitude changes in match running performance variables and between playing positions. While in response to using relative thresholds, measures were either unchanged or decreased substantially in response to an increase in MSS and/or MAS. Collectively, the results demonstrate that in match running activities during games do not necessarily match those in physical fitness in highly trained young soccer players. Game tactical and strategic requirements are likely to modulate on-field players’ activity patterns independently of players’ physical capacities

The Fourth-Century AD Expansion of the Graeco-Roman Settlement of Karanis (Kom Aushim) in the Northern Fayum*

The Graeco-Roman town of Karanis, founded during the Ptolemaic Period in the north-eastern Fayum in the third century bc and long thought to have been abandoned in the third century ad actually saw a substantial expansion during the fourth century AD. With the creation of an 3 extension towards the west and the expansion of the eastern part, the town grew in both directions. We argue that this expansion may be related to a sudden rise of the water level in Lake Moeris (Lake Qarun), perhaps linked to a catastrophic dam breach in the eastern part of the Fayum, and the subsequent relocation of the inhabitants of the low-lying settlements north and east of the lake

The Application of CRISPR Technology to High Content Screening in Primary Neurons

Axon growth is coordinated by multiple interacting proteins that remain incompletely characterized. High content screening (HCS), in which manipulation of candidate genes is combined with rapid image analysis of phenotypic effects, has emerged as a powerful technique to identify key regulators of axon outgrowth. Here we explore the utility of a genome editingapproach referred to as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspersed Palindromic Repeats) for knockout screening in primary neurons. In the CRISPR approach a DNA-cleaving Cas enzyme is guided to genomic target sequences by user-created guide RNA (sgRNA), where it initiates a double-stranded break that ultimately results in frameshift mutation and loss of protein production. Using electroporation of plasmid DNA that co-expresses Cas9enzyme and sgRNA, we first verified the ability of CRISPR targeting to achieve protein-level knockdown in cultured postnatal cortical neurons. Targeted proteins included NeuN (RbFox3) and PTEN, a well-studied regulator of axon growth. Effective knockdown lagged at least four days behind transfection, but targeted proteins were eventually undetectable by immunohistochemistry in \u3e 80% of transfected cells. Consistent with this, anti-PTEN sgRNA produced no changes in neurite outgrowth when assessed three days post-transfection. When week-long cultures were replated, however, PTEN knockdown consistently increased neurite lengths. These CRISPR-mediated PTEN effects were achieved using multi-well transfection and automated phenotypic analysis, indicating the suitability of PTEN as a positive control for future CRISPR-based screening efforts. Combined, these data establish an example of CRISPR-mediated protein knockdown in primary cortical neurons and its compatibility with HCS workflows

The Tumor Suppressor HHEX Inhibits Axon Growth when Prematurely Expressed in Developing Central Nervous System Neurons

Neurons in the embryonic and peripheral nervoussystem respond to injury by activating transcriptional programs supportive of axon growth, ultimately resulting in functional recovery. In contrast, neurons in the adult central nervous system (CNS) possess a limited capacity to regenerate axons after injury, fundamentally constraining repair. Activating pro-regenerative gene expression in CNS neurons is a promising therapeutic approach, but progress is hampered by incomplete knowledge of the relevant transcription factors. An emerging hypothesis is that factors implicated in cellular growth and motility outside the nervous system may also control axon growth in neurons. We therefore tested sixty-nine transcription factors, previously identified as possessing tumor suppressive or oncogenic properties in non-neuronal cells, in assays of neurite outgrowth. This screen identified YAP1 and E2F1 as enhancers of neurite outgrowth, and PITX1, RBM14, ZBTB16, and HHEX as inhibitors. Follow-up experiments are focused on the tumor suppressor HHEX, one of the strongest growth inhibitors. HHEX is widely expressed in adult CNS neurons, including corticospinal tract neurons after spinal injury, but is present only in trace amounts in immature cortical neurons and adult peripheral neurons. HHEX overexpression in early postnatal cortical neurons reduced both initial axonogenesis and the rate of axon elongation, and domain deletion analysis strongly implicated transcriptional repression as the underlying mechanism. These findings suggest a role for HHEX in restricting axon growth in the developing CNS, and substantiate the hypothesis that previously identified oncogenes and tumor suppressors can play conserved roles in axon extension

Stellar intensity interferometry: Experimental steps toward long-baseline observations

Experiments are in progress to prepare for intensity interferometry with arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes. At the Bonneville Seabase site, near Salt Lake City, a testbed observatory has been set up with two 3-m air Cherenkov telescopes on a 23-m baseline. Cameras are being constructed, with control electronics for either off- or online analysis of the data. At the Lund Observatory (Sweden), in Technion (Israel) and at the University of Utah (USA), laboratory intensity interferometers simulating stellar observations have been set up and experiments are in progress, using various analog and digital correlators, reaching 1.4 ns time resolution, to analyze signals from pairs of laboratory telescopes.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figur

Cross-national comparative mixed-methods case study of recovery-focused mental health care planning and co-ordination:Collaborative Care Planning Project (COCAPP)

BackgroundConcerns about fragmented community mental health care have led to the development of the care programme approach in England and care and treatment planning in Wales. These systems require those people receiving mental health services to have a care co-ordinator, a written care plan and regular reviews of their care. Care planning and co-ordination should be recovery-focused and personalised, with people taking more control over their own support and treatment.Objective(s)We aimed to obtain the views and experiences of various stakeholders involved in community mental health care; to identify factors that facilitated, or acted as barriers to, personalised, collaborative and recovery-focused care planning and co-ordination; and to make suggestions for future research.DesignA cross-national comparative mixed-methods study involving six NHS sites in England and Wales, including a meta-narrative synthesis of relevant policies and literature; a survey of recovery, empowerment and therapeutic relationships in service users (n = 449) and recovery in care co-ordinators (n = 201); embedded case studies involving interviews with service providers, service users and carers (n = 117); and a review of care plans (n = 33).Review methodsA meta-narrative mapping method.ResultsQuantitative and qualitative data were analysed within and across sites using inferential statistics, correlations and the framework method. Our study found significant differences for scores on therapeutic relationships related to positive collaboration and clinician input. We also found significant differences between sites on recovery scores for care co-ordinators related to diversity of treatment options and life goals. This suggests that perceptions relating to how recovery-focused care planning works in practice are variable across sites. Interviews found great variance in the experiences of care planning and the understanding of recovery and personalisation within and across sites, with some differences between England and Wales. Care plans were seen as largely irrelevant by service users, who rarely consulted them. Care co-ordinators saw them as both useful records and also an inflexible administrative burden that restricted time with service users. Service users valued their relationships with care co-ordinators and saw this as being central to their recovery. Carers reported varying levels of involvement in care planning. Risk was a significant concern for workers but this appeared to be rarely discussed with service users, who were often unaware of the content of risk assessments.LimitationsLimitations include a relatively low response rate of between 9% and 19% for the survey and a moderate level of missing data on one measure. For the interviews, there may have been an element of self-selection or inherent biases that were not immediately apparent to the researchers.ConclusionsThe administrative elements of care co-ordination reduce opportunities for recovery-focused and personalised work. There were few shared understandings of recovery, which may limit shared goals. Conversations on risk appeared to be neglected and assessments kept from service users. A reluctance to engage in dialogue about risk management may work against opportunities for positive risk-taking as part of recovery-focused work.Future workResearch should be commissioned to investigate innovative approaches to maximising staff contact time with service users and carers; enabling shared decision-making in risk assessments; and promoting training designed to enable personalised, recovery-focused care co-ordination.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme

Dissipation and mixing during the onset of stratification in a temperate lake, Windermere

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers and chains of temperature sensors were used to observe the spring transition to stable stratification over a 55 day period in a temperate lake. Observations of the flow structure were complemented by measurements of dissipation, based on the Structure Function method, near the lake bed and in the upper part of the water column. During complete vertical mixing, wind-driven motions had horizontally isotropic velocities with roughly equal barotropic and baroclinic kinetic energy. Dissipation was closely correlated with the wind-speed cubed, indicating law of the wall scaling, and had peak values of ~1 x 10-5.5 W kg-1 at 10 m depth during maximum wind forcing (W~ 15 m s-1). As stratification developed, the flow evolved into a predominantly baroclinic regime dominated by the first mode internal seiche, with root mean square (rms) axial flow speeds of ~2-3 cm-1; ~ 2.5-times the transverse component. At 2.8 m above the bed, most of the dissipation occurred in a number of strong maxima coinciding with peaks of near-bed flow. In the pycnocline, dissipation was low most of the time, but with pronounced maxima (reaching ~1 x 10-5 W kg-1) closely related to the local velocity shear. The downward diffusive heat flux across the pycnocline over 27.5 days accounted for ~ 70% of the temperature rise in the water column below. Total lake kinetic energy increased by a factor of 3 between mixed and stratified regimes, in spite of reduced wind forcing, indicating less efficient damping in stable conditions