An Investigation into the Use of a Movement Assessment Protocol for Under-14 Rugby League Players in a Talent Development Environment

This study investigated the use of a movement assessment protocol for under-14 rugby league players by evaluating the relationships between chronological age, maturation, and anthropometry, and fitness and qualitative movement assessments (QMA) of 84 rugby league players within a talent development environment. A one-way ANOVA showed Quartile 1 players were more mature, taller (173.0±7.4 vs 165.0±8.0 cm) and heavier (72.5 vs 58.7 kg) than Quartile 4 players, with no difference evident for fitness or QMA measures. Earlier maturing players had significantly greater upper body power (5.39±0.46 vs 4.42±0.68 m), 20m speed (3.48±0.14 vs 3.65±0.19s) and power pass QMA (13.88±2.18 vs 12.00±1.98) than later maturing players. Body mass was positively related to power pass fitness (r=0.50) and QMA (r=0.22) scores, with negative relationships found for vertical jump performance (r=-0.24), sprint QMA (r=-.29) and turn off either foot QMA (r=-0.26). There is a need to educate coaches about the use of both fitness testing and qualitative movement assessments to identify talented U14 rugby league players, which potentially reduces relative age and maturational biases

Linear Estimation of Location and Scale Parameters Using Partial Maxima

Consider an i.i.d. sample X^*_1,X^*_2,...,X^*_n from a location-scale family, and assume that the only available observations consist of the partial maxima (or minima)sequence, X^*_{1:1},X^*_{2:2},...,X^*_{n:n}, where X^*_{j:j}=max{X^*_1,...,X^*_j}. This kind of truncation appears in several circumstances, including best performances in athletics events. In the case of partial maxima, the form of the BLUEs (best linear unbiased estimators) is quite similar to the form of the well-known Lloyd's (1952, Least-squares estimation of location and scale parameters using order statistics, Biometrika, vol. 39, pp. 88-95) BLUEs, based on (the sufficient sample of) order statistics, but, in contrast to the classical case, their consistency is no longer obvious. The present paper is mainly concerned with the scale parameter, showing that the variance of the partial maxima BLUE is at most of order O(1/log n), for a wide class of distributions.Comment: This article is devoted to the memory of my six-years-old, little daughter, Dionyssia, who leaved us on August 25, 2010, at Cephalonia isl. (26 pages, to appear in Metrika

Transcriptional regulation of the urokinase receptor (u-PAR) - A central molecule of invasion and metastasis

The phenomenon of tumor-associated proteolysis has been acknowledged as a decisive step in the progression of cancer. This short review focuses on the urokinase receptor (u-PAR), a central molecule involved in tumor-associated invasion and metastasis, and summarizes the transcriptional regulation of u-PAR. The urokinase receptor (u-PAR) is a heavily glycosylated cell surface protein and binds the serine protease urokinase specifically and with high affinity. It consists of three similar cysteine-rich repeats and is anchored to the cell membrane via a GPI-anchor. The u-PAR gene comprises 7 exons and is located on chromosome 19q13. Transcriptional activation of the u-PAR promoter region can be induced by binding of transcription factors (Sp1, AP-1, AP-2, NF-kappaB). One current study gives an example for transcriptional downregulation of u-PAR through a PEA3/ets transcriptional silencing element. Knowledge of the molecular regulation of this molecule in tumor cells could be very important for diagnosis and therapy in the near future

Climate change reduces extent of temperate drylands and intensifies drought in deep soils

Drylands cover 40% of the global terrestrial surface and provide important ecosystem services. While drylands as a whole are expected to increase in extent and aridity in coming decades, temperature and precipitation forecasts vary by latitude and geographic region suggesting different trajectories for tropical, subtropical, and temperate drylands. Uncertainty in the future of tropical and subtropical drylands is well constrained, whereas soil moisture and ecological droughts, which drive vegetation productivity and composition, remain poorly understood in temperate drylands. Here we show that, over the twenty first century, temperate drylands may contract by a third, primarily converting to subtropical drylands, and that deep soil layers could be increasingly dry during the growing season. These changes imply major shifts in vegetation and ecosystem service delivery. Our results illustrate the importance of appropriate drought measures and, as a global study that focuses on temperate drylands, highlight a distinct fate for these highly populated areas

Network inference analysis identifies an APRR2-like gene linked to pigment accumulation in tomato and pepper fruits

Carotenoids represent some of the most important secondary metabolites in the human diet, and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a rich source of these health-promoting compounds. In this work, a novel and fruit-related regulator of pigment accumulation in tomato has been identified by artificial neural network inference analysis and its function validated in transgenic plants. A tomato fruit gene regulatory network was generated using artificial neural network inference analysis and transcription factor gene expression profiles derived from fruits sampled at various points during development and ripening. One of the transcription factor gene expression profiles with a sequence related to an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ARABIDOPSIS PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR2-LIKE gene (APRR2-Like) was up-regulated at the breaker stage in wild-type tomato fruits and, when overexpressed in transgenic lines, increased plastid number, area, and pigment content, enhancing the levels of chlorophyll in immature unripe fruits and carotenoids in red ripe fruits. Analysis of the transcriptome of transgenic lines overexpressing the tomato APPR2-Like gene revealed up-regulation of several ripening-related genes in the overexpression lines, providing a link between the expression of this tomato gene and the ripening process. A putative ortholog of the tomato APPR2-Like gene in sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) was associated with pigment accumulation in fruit tissues. We conclude that the function of this gene is conserved across taxa and that it encodes a protein that has an important role in ripening

Acute hypoxemia and vascular function in healthy humans.

Endothelium-dependent flow mediated dilation (FMD) and endothelium-independent dilation (GTN) are impaired at high altitude (5050 m), and FMD is impaired following acute exposure (<60-minutes) to normobaric hypoxia equivalent to ∼5050 m (∼FI O2  = 0.11). Whether glyceryl trinitrate (GTN)-induced dilation is impaired acutely, and whether FMD is impaired during milder hypoxia is unknown. Therefore, we assessed brachial FMD at baseline and following 30-minutes of mild (74 ± 2 mmHg PET O₂) and moderate (50 ± 3 mmHg PET O₂) normobaric hypoxia (n = 12) or normoxia (time-control trial; n = 10). We also assessed GTN-dilaiton following the hypoxic FMD tests and in normoxia on a separate control day (n = 8). Compared to normoxic baseline, reduction during mild and moderate hypoxic exposure were evident in FMD (mild vs moderate: -1.2 ± 1.1% vs. -3.1 ± 1.7%; P = 0.01) and GTN-dilation (-2.1 ± 1.0 vs. -4.2 ± 2.0; P = 0.01); the decline in FMD and GTN-dilation were greater during moderate hypoxia (P < 0.01). When allometrically corrected for baseline diameter and FMD shear rate under the curve (SRAUC ), relative FMD was attenuated in both conditions (mild vs moderate: 0.6 ± 0.9% vs. 0.8 ± 0.7%; P ≤ 0.01). Following 30-minutes of normoxic time-control, FMD was reduced (-0.6 ± 0.3%; P = 0.02). In summary, there was a graded impairment in FMD during mild and moderate hypoxic exposure, which appears to be influenced by shear patterns and incremental declines in smooth muscle vasodilator capacity (impaired GTN-dilation). Our findings from the normoxic controls study, suggest the decline in FMD in acute hypoxia also appears to be influenced by 30-minutes of supine rest/inactivity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Long and short paths in uniform random recursive dags

In a uniform random recursive k-dag, there is a root, 0, and each node in turn, from 1 to n, chooses k uniform random parents from among the nodes of smaller index. If S_n is the shortest path distance from node n to the root, then we determine the constant \sigma such that S_n/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability as n tends to infinity. We also show that max_{1 \le i \le n} S_i/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability.Comment: 16 page

An investigation into the use of a movement assessment protocol for under 14 rugby league players in a talent development environment

This study investigated the use of a movement assessment protocol for under-14 rugby league players by evaluating the relationships between chronological age, maturation, and anthropometry, and fitness and qualitative movement assessments (QMA) of 84 rugby league players within a talent development environment. A one-way ANOVA showed Quartile 1 players were more mature, taller (173.0±7.4 vs 165.0±8.0 cm) and heavier (72.5 vs 58.7 kg) than Quartile 4 players, with no difference evident for fitness or QMA measures. Earlier maturing players had significantly greater upper body power (5.39±0.46 vs 4.42±0.68 m), 20m speed (3.48±0.14 vs 3.65±0.19s) and power pass QMA (13.88±2.18 vs 12.00±1.98) than later maturing players. Body mass was positively related to power pass fitness (r=0.50) and QMA (r=0.22) scores, with negative relationships found for vertical jump performance (r=-0.24), sprint QMA (r=-.29) and turn off either foot QMA (r=-0.26). There is a need to educate coaches about the use of both fitness testing and qualitative movement assessments to identify talented U14 rugby league players, which potentially reduces relative age and maturational biases