Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

Its never too late to make it to the top, meet the riders who did – Cycling Weekly

We all know the pathway to turning pro: sportsmen and women start their sport young, commit wholly in their mid-teens, and by the time they are in their early-20s, all theyve ever known as an adult is being a professional athlete. But that isnt the only route by which those we admire, our cycling heroes, have become so masterful that theyre paid to do what is, at its core, their passion and hobby. Whether your goal is to become an elite category rider, to win a regional championship on the track, a World Masters Championship, or even land a professional contract and win UCI races, it is almost never too late.

The performance trajectory of a cyclist is: improving up until about 30, then plateauing until about 40, Richard Davison, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of West Scotland, tells Cycling Weekly.

There are certain elements at 40 you could not achieve in your teenage years, but between 20 and 40, the changes are relatively small. It is only from about 50 that there is a significant decline in actual performance.

Alex Spratt, a former rugby union player who had trials for England, started track racing aged 27 and holds a personal best for the 200m individual pursuit of 9.987 seconds the first amateur to record a time below 10 seconds.

Physiologically, I am still increasing my power and speed and will continue to do so until I am 35 or older, says the 30-year-old. More from Spratt later.

The narrative, despite a smattering of isolated cases to the contrary, is that if youre not a professional by your early-20s, you never will be. Perhaps its time to overturn this idea. Is there a major difference in physiological potential between a 15-year-old and 25-year-old? I would say no, Davison says. In other words, starting out in your mid-20s may not place you at a significant disadvantage. In fact, it may even confer certain advantages what if late-starters hold the ace card?

We may not have been in an athletic institution, but we have more life experiences and can draw on that, says Australian pro Brodie Chapman, who started racing professionally in 2018, aged 26. I dont think, Oh s**t, Im at a disadvantage because they have 10 years more experience. I was a backpacker in my early-20s and had to navigate different cities, languages, accommodations, foods, staying with people who I didnt know.

Now 29, Chapman believes that her life experience gained before she got serious about cycling works to her advantage.

>>> Subscriptions deals forCycling Weeklymagazine

I didnt know anything about training, nutrition or physiology, but I have been to uni, and having a degree makes it easier for me to read and pick out information that will serve me as a cyclist.

The Womens WorldTour rider also thinks her years make her more resilient and mentally stronger.When youre young, it feels all very big, like time is spilling away from you and an injury would kill off all your chances. But I have been through setbacks in work and normal life. I have had these feelings before and I have the tools to deal with them. I know myself and my limits, and I can deal with loss and adversity.

Spratt talks about the mental benefit of low expectations while starting out in cycling. Id do a time and then ask if it was good or bad, because I didnt know. Those who have been in the sport a while are fighting against others and their own times.

This bright-eyed freshness, thinks Spratt, made him less prone to disappointment.

Younger people might be more advanced technically and tactically, but they can over-think things and let things get in their head too much. I have the maturity and age to cope with that. I want to better myself, not necessarily be better than everyone else. Generally, coming in later has been an advantage because of the hard shifts I have had in life and my sporting background.

Some late starters are very, very late getting serious about cyclingin their 30s, 40s, 50s or even after retiring from work. Veterans and masters competitions exist because there is a thirst for competition.

We all at some point bump down the slope of age-related decline, but boy can we mould it and give ourselves the right stimulus to slow that decline, if not improve, adds sports scientist Davison. There is no reason, physiologically, why you can cannot get back up in line with your optimal ageing profile. Your body will adapt to training. Dont be shy of high intensity exercise.

One very late starter is the reigning World Masters points and individual pursuit champion Andrew Bruce. He made his racing debut eight years ago, aged 41. Key for him was mastering technique as quickly as possible.

I got some old Tacx rollers and for three weeks they seemed ridiculous, dangerous and I couldnt ride them, recalls the Scotsman. But I eventually focused on learning how to ride them. You have 36cm to ride within, so you cant wobble, and you learn how to ride where you want to be riding. You can identify someone in the bunch who can ride on the rollers because those who cant, wobble everywhere.

Bruces headline successes have come on the track, and he believes even recreational riding on the boards can have a significant impact on a road racer.

Riding the track teaches you the ability to control your speed, because in a bunch, your brakes are your left and right legs, and you have to control your rhythm on the track and adjust accordingly to what other riders are doing, he says. Compared to road riding, youre much more aware of where your front wheel is in relation to the back end of other riders and how stable you are.

Out on the road, Bruce discovered the importance of effective cornering. You have to corner confidently, adjust your position in the saddle to get your weight set up as you go into a corner. If you cant corner in a crit race, youre spat out of the back.

Lets not be idealistic, there are major challenges for late starters: naivety, tactics, technique, time, family sacrifices and finances. And perhaps most importantly: age. The adage goes that children learn faster, and the science tends to agree. The prefrontal cortex of the brain, where working memory is stored, is less developed in children, allowing them to be more creative and flexible essentially, they have more space to learn. Adults prefrontal cortex is more developed, less well suited to invention, but thats not to say we cant learn provided we have the desire.

Gripped by the simple pleasure of being on a bike, and driven by improvement that eventually led to winning, Damien Clayton committed completely to the sport after a charity bike ride from London to Brighton in 2016, aged 23.

In my first year, I rode 1,200 hours while having a full-time job, says the 27-year-old, who won the 2019 GP des Marbriers in France his maiden UCI race and now rides for Ribble-Weldtite. That volume was crucial, as it fast-tracked my development. People asked why I was doing so much, but it was because I was bloody enjoying it.

Being able to accumulate fitness and build resistance will lead to what is commonly referred to as a cycling engine cardiovascular fitness and many late starters report success in local races simply by possessing greater raw strength than their peers. According to the research, it takes around four months to develop our cycling engine and maximise VO2 max, from then on, its a case of maintaining volume and intensity economy, resilience and endurance continue to improve over many years. Of course, once youve progressed through the categories and are facing tougher competition, the barriers are no longer solely fitness-related.

There is a huge amount of skill and technique required to race effectively and avoid wasting energy, Davison says. This is harder to pick up, but is all very coachable. I tell coaches that you will progress a greater amount in a short time by improving technique rather than physiology.

OK, but what exactly is cycling technique? Its a question that another late starter, former 800m international runner Dani Christmas, found herself asking after she switched to cycling in 2013 aged 25.

Dani Christmas (Daniel Gould)

When youre watching cycling on TV, you think it looks so easy. Theyre riding in a straight line, how hard can it be? But do it yourself and the first time you think holy moly, this is terrifying.

Daunted by bunch riding for two years, Christmas who now rides for Lotto-Soudal already knew she had potential.

I had a good engine, so I won local races without riding in the middle and just sitting at the back or at the front with a quick smash up the outside. When I actually had to force myself to ride properly within the bunch, it hit me just how much skill was required. You have to learn how to control your bike as best as you can, and working on my bike-handling skills progressed me morethan anything.

The consequences of lacking bunch skills barely need spelling out. If youre new to racing and suddenly someone leads on your shoulder, the chances are you will freak out, slam on your brakes and the person behind you wont have time to react, says Christmas. You have to learn to read peoples body language so that you can analyse what they will do, giving you that extra reaction time if they deviate from their line or they signal to you that theyre going to move.

Aware of the critical omission in her repertoire, Christmas began working on her skills, even in 2018 after she started racing for Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias, her first UCI team, aged 30.

Pick a white line on the side of the road and practise riding as slow as possible. The slower you go, the harder it is to stay on the white line, she advises. When riding in a bunch with 38cm handlebars, you have a gap either side of you of around 6cm to the next rider, so you have to be able to keep your bike still and not move around all over the place. Only when I set aside time every week even just 20 minutes to work on these skills did I make a big step forward.

The 32-year-old explains how she also had to work hard on her cornering.

On my rides, I planned routes where I used corners that I could safely take four or five times on a ride, and I worked on that until I was confident, she says. The pro road racer has since taught skill-based workshops for beginners in traffic-free, safe, closed circuit environments, something she regrets not doing during her formative years.

You will learn more in one afternoon than I did in three seasons of racing.

To learn tactical astuteness, it is necessary to race again and again. Chapman, who now rides for FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, and has eight UCI wins to her palmars, has experienced this first-hand.

Stepping up to the biggest races, I had to learn how to distribute energy more wisely. Its not a 100m sprint race, its about who can apply energy in the right moments and throughout the race. You cant do that instantly, you have to learn how to hold a good position and thats the most energy-sapping thing to do. There is no way to be good at that instantly. You do that by racing.

>>>Cycling Weeklyis available on your Smart phone, tablet and desktop

In learning from your races, your friends and coaches can help you. You cant watch yourself, so if you can get someone to watch you and maybe even film parts of the race, especially if its on a closed circuit, Christmas suggests. That way, you can receive feedback and you can analyse the race: what position was the winner in? When did I burn my matches? Write three things down to improve, and if you keep making the same mistakes, you then set process goals to improve on.

Having an expert to cast their judgement made a big difference to Clayton. One hundred per cent, having a coach has been integral to my results, the Yorkshireman says. Having trained without a coach for the first two years, he was approached by Canyon dhb Soreen rider Rory Townsend after the South East Regional Championships in 2017 a race where he finished third, joining winner Townsend and fellow late-starter Alex Richardson on the podium.

The first thing Rory did was laugh at what I was doing, Clayton says. Once you click with a coach, its the most important thing and, in my mind, the best investment you can make into your results. I dont think I would have achieved any of this without him as a coach. Hes an advisor, a good friend and you cant put a price on what he has been able to do for me within the sport.

Spratt hired a coach almost as soon as he started cycling. I didnt have a clue how to train in the sport, he admits. In rugby, I trained until the day before a match, played and then had a day off. I had no idea about peaking.

The impact of having guidance was observable within his first year. In the 2018 National Championships, I finished fourth in the individual pursuit and I had no idea what I was doing. A few months later, I became the first amateur to ride sub-10 seconds and that was only because I had a coach who understood the sport and knew what I needed to do and why I needed to do it. Without that help I wouldnt have got to where I did Without a coach youre going in blind.

Not everyone has to dream big, but they can achieve their potential. There will be doubts along the way, though. Be kind to yourself, Chapman advises. Instead of being caught up in how challenging it is or how much you have to learn, congratulate yourself on each achievement. Finishing a race is an achievement.

All of the late starters CW speaks to have hardships to share, common problems they each overcame, and they are all unanimous in their conviction that age need not be a barrier to achieving at a very high level. Chapman urges older riders not to get hung up on a sense of being disadvantaged: You may ask: should I be here? And after some success: how did I get here? But everyone has a story of why they are not as good as they could be, or why they are less experienced, and I saw a lot of other women who had entered the sport late. I soon realised my story is not unique. Lets not forget, racing is the great leveller. Once youre on the start line, everyone is equally your rival; age no longer matters.

This feature originally appeared in the print edition of Cycling Weekly, on sale in newsagents and supermarkets, priced 3.25.

The rest is here:
Its never too late to make it to the top, meet the riders who did - Cycling Weekly

Physiology

A JCC beginning and beyond | Local – Olean Times Herald

JAMESTOWN For many, a community college education often serves as the beginning of a career.

For Karin and Herb Meiselman, Jamestown Community College was just that, but it was also the start of something much greater. Although the institution has changed a lot in 60 years, the Meiselmans' memories from there have not.

We visited JCC at various times through the years when we come through Jamestown and we know its changed a lot physically, but were still fairly attached to our memories of it, Karin said. Its something that, I guess you could say, is a part of our marriage; that we both have the memories of JCC, that it was a nice, small place where you got to know other students and the faculty.

In 1960, Karin was a first-year student majoring in psychology at JCC. Herb was a sophomore, finishing his final semesters at the two-year institution focused on engineering. Though both of them were local Jamestown High School graduates Herb graduating in 1958 and Karin in 1959 they had never met.

That all changed in 1960 when both of them attended a JCC Jayhawks basketball game. There, they first noticed each other when brief small talk ensued between Karins group of friends and Herbs corresponding collective.

He got to talking to me and eventually asked for my phone number, and that was the beginning, Karin says.

Married in 1963, the couple now lives in California near Pasadena. Karin and Herb have two children, Sharon and Ben, and three grandchildren, Issac, Ilana and Theodore.

In 2016, Karin concluded a career in psychology while Herb retired as a scientist and professor at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. A professor for 45 years, Herb taught physiology and biophysics at USC. Prior to transitioning to the role of teacher, he attended Caltech in Pasadena for a post-doctoral fellowship.

Focusing his research on the physiology of red blood cells and their flow through microcirculation, Herb is credited with more than 300 scientific publications. Through National Institute of Health grant funding, he was able to travel overseas for his work, often accompanied by Karin. Herb even visited Antarctica twice, studying blood flow in seals.

I kind of hitched on to a lot of that travel, Karin says of Herbs work-related adventures, adding that the two of them were able to travel separately from work and on their own time, too.

Karins career as a private practice psychologist focused on the long-term effects of child sexual abuse. She authored two books and frequently lectured to professional groups on the topic. Karin was consulted by actress Barbra Streisand about a role in the film "Nuts," in which she portrays a sexual abuse survivor.

Though the two now reflect on a life and a career that was truly seeded in 1960 at JCC, Karin admits not knowing which career path shed pursue at the time. But she also didnt intend on meeting her husband of 57 years either. Though unexpected, she welcomed both opportunities at JCC.

I had no idea what I was going to become, Karin says. I just started taking courses that I liked.

After that night at their favorite watering hole, as Herb describes it, the two hit it off.

Herb, a year ahead of Karin, left for Michigan Technological University (MTU) in 1960 after graduating from JCC. He later earned a Ph.D. from MTU before heading to California.

Meanwhile, Karin began her second year at Jamestown that fall. Though separated, the moments they had at JCC would not soon be forgotten. They wrote to each other constantly in that year apart and the years that followed. Those letters consisted of the two professing love to each other and describing their coursework, as Karin puts it. Postage stamps only cost four cents at the time.

After graduating from JCC, Karin attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Herb graduated from MTU and was accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They returned to Jamestown to be married and shortly after moved to Boston, where Herb attended MIT.

Karin worked at various proofreading jobs but her ambition for psychology would not go unfulfilled. The Meiselmans moved to Pasadena in 1966. Karin was accepted into a graduate program for clinical psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned her Ph.D. Meanwhile, Herb continued his research and expanded his career as a scientist and a professor.

Though continuing on from Jamestown to Los Angeles and around the world, their beginnings at JCC are not lost on them and neither is the impact the college had on their lives.

My experience was small classes, getting to know faculty members, and having a good social life while saving gobs of money, Herb says of his experience. JCC means good personal memories and a good start on my career path. I would definitely recommend it to today's high school grads.

Karin adds that JCC is the place where she learned her work ethic. While maintaining solid grades in high school, she admits she was mentally tested upon entering college. But the impact of those trials was only positive on her life and career.

Were deeply indebted to JCC for giving us the motivation and interest for pursuing our studies and working and getting eventual success, she says.

Follow this link:
A JCC beginning and beyond | Local - Olean Times Herald

Physiology

Fans crowd into an indoor concert in experiment on how to return to normality – CTV News

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered clubs, bars and concert halls around the world, music fans have been dreaming of the day they can once again visit a busy, sweaty venue to enjoy a gig with friends.

With infection rates rising in many European countries, this dream could be far off for now. But some music fans in Leipzig, Germany, have been given the chance to rock for a day in the name of science -- with the help of some glowing hand sanitizer and electronic trackers.

Researchers in the German city of Leipzig staged a 1,500-person experimental indoor concert on Saturday to better understand how Covid-19 spreads at big, busy events, and how to prevent it.

At the gig, which featured a live performance from musician Tim Bendzko, fans were given respiratory face masks, fluorescent hand gel and electronic "contact trackers" -- small transmitters that determine the contact rates and contact distances of the individual experiment participants.

Using data from the contact trackers, scientists from The University of Halle will monitor the number "critical contacts" had by each participant during specific times and locations, while the residue left by fluorescent hand gel will identify frequently touched surfaces. Researchers hope to use the data to find ways to bring big events, including sports, back safely.

Professor Michael Gekle, the dean of the university's medical faculty and a professor of physiology, told CNN the experiment was being conducted to better prepare authorities on how to conduct events in the upcoming autumn and winter seasons.

"We cannot afford another lockdown," he said. "We have to gather the data now in order to be able to make valid predictions," he said.

"There is no zero risk if you want to have life. We want to give the politicians a tool in order to decide rationally whether to allow such an event or not. That means they have to have the tool to predict how many additional infected people such an event will produce," he said.

Researchers directed volunteers to run three scenarios -- one that simulated a concert pre-coronavirus, a second simulating a concert during the pandemic, with improved hygiene measures in place, and a third, with reduced participants. Scientists will gather the data, apply a mathematical model, and evaluate the hygiene interventions, with conclusions ready by the end of the year.

Researchers believe this is the first time an experiment of this scale has taken place in Europe, but say that different considerations would have to be applied depending on the type of event, the behavior of concert goers and whether patrons were allowed to consume alcohol.

"Of course, a concert with Rammstein would be different," he said.

Gekle told CNN that due to a low prevalence of the virus in the states of Saxony and Lower Saxony, participating in the study was low risk for volunteers, who underwent coronavirus testing 48 hours before participation, and were wearing masks during the show. "It's safer than flying to Majorca," he said.

The number of coronavirus infections in Germany has been climbing again since the end of July. On Saturday, the country saw its highest number of daily infections since April 26, with 2,034 new cases of Covid-19, according to Robert Koch institute, the country's center for disease and control.

The experiment may have been controlled, but for some in the crowd -- despite the lack of alcohol -- it felt like a return to normality.

"This was our first real applause from the audience in months," Bendzko told CNN. "The atmosphere is surprisingly good -- it almost felt like a real concert.

"I wish that it will be possible to play at big concerts again someday soon," he said. "But we all understand that we now have to live with the virus and we have to take a certain risk."

Elli Blesz, 20, from Leipzig told CNN: "The atmosphere was really great, we all enjoyed the music -- it was nice to listen to live music after six months."

And Kira Stuetz, a 26-year-old student who attended the concert with her husband, said: "It was a little crazy." Recalling one of the pre-coronavirus simulations, where audience members sat together, she said that "at first it almost felt wrong all people came so close together. We thought this 'is a dream' because it's not allowed to be sitting together so close! But then it was really cool. I could not believe it that we were at a real concert again!"

Organizers around the world have been dipping their toes into the water to see when and how live events can be brought back in a world still suffering from the coronavirus pandemic -- in the UK, event organizers trialled concerts at an outdoor, purpose-made socially distant concert venue, where patrons sat in small groups on distant, raised platforms.

Some venues are experimenting with virtual events, drive-through concerts, mandated personal protective equipment, or temperature checks on arrival.

See the rest here:
Fans crowd into an indoor concert in experiment on how to return to normality - CTV News

Physiology

New SUU course will explore philosophy, physiology of pro wrestling – The Spectrum

Before Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson became the biggest movie star in the world, he got his start in professional wrestling.(Photo: WWE)

Pro wrestling fans at SUU can now studywhat The Rock iscookin'.

Southern Utah University will soon be offering a six-credit general education course focused on the philosophy and physiology of professional wrestling, the school recently announced.

"Talkin' 'Bout Hard Times: The Philosophy and Physiology of Sports Entertainment" will be available starting in the spring semester of 2021. The course was developed and will be taught byKris Phillips, associate professor of philosophy, and Lindsey Roper, assistant professor of biology.

Throughout the course, students will examine professional wrestling through a philosophical and biological lens, according to the announcement. Topics will range from class struggle to complicated injuries, and the class will include field experiences, guests lectures and a final project that will involve creating a wrestling avatar.

The course came about due to a grant from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, which picked up Phillips' and Roper's course proposal.

Phillips said in the announcement that there's "surprising opportunity" in professional wrestling to explore social, biological and other topics in-depth.

With careful scrutiny, we can learn from the least likely of sources," he said.

Roper said in the announcement that general education courses aren't something to just get through; rather, they should push students outside of their comfort zones and help them see that all fields are connected.

"On the surface, biology, philosophyand professional wrestling have absolutely nothing in common, but when we take a deeper look there is a massive amount of shared interest and subject matter," she said.

Kaitlyn Bancroft reports on faith, health, education, crime and under-served communities for The Spectrum & Daily News, a USA TODAY Network newsroom in St. George, Utah. You can reach her at KBancroft@thespectrum.com, or follow her on Twitter @katbancroft.

Read or Share this story: https://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2020/08/20/new-suu-course-explore-philosophy-physiology-pro-wrestling/5609695002/

Visit link:
New SUU course will explore philosophy, physiology of pro wrestling - The Spectrum

Physiology

General health orientation based psychological motivations for masters athletes, a consideration of clustering utilizing t-distributed Stochastic…

Authors: Joe Walsh, Ian Timothy Heazlewood, Mark DeBeliso, Mike Climstein

Corresponding Author:Dr. Mike Climstein (FASMF, FACSM, FAAESS)Clinical Exercise PhysiologySouthern Cross UniversitySchool of Health and Human SciencesGold Coast, Queensland, AustraliaMichael.Climstein@scu.edu.au

Dr. Joe Walsh is with Sport Science Institute http://www.sportscienceinstitute.com

Ian Timothy Heazlewood is Associate Professor and Theme Leader Exercise and Sport Science in The School of Psychological and Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science and the Environment, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Mark DeBeliso is Professor, Department of Physical Education and Human Performance, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, USA

Dr. Mike Climstein (FASMF, FACSM, FAAESS) is with Clinical Exercise Physiology, Southern Cross University, School of Health and Human Sciences, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; Physical Activity, Lifestyle, Ageing and Wellbeing Faculty Research Group, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2006.

ABSTRACT

An exploration of clustering of general health orientation psychological motivations for participation in sport was conducted using t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE). The aim of this research was to assess the suitability of applying t-SNE to creating two-dimensional scatter plots to visualise the relationship between different general health orientation motivators. The data source used for this investigation was survey data gathered on World Masters Games competitors using the Motivations of Marathoners Scales (MOMS). Application of t-SNE plots could assist in visually mapping general health orientation psychological constructs and gaining greater understanding of the underlying patterns in the MOMS tool. Some clustering patterns were observed, with some items in the MOMS connected in a logical manner that complied with those originally proposed by the developers of the MOMS. On tuning the t-SNE model hyperparameters, it became apparent that the t-SNE graphs were able to provide an appropriate representation of clustering with learning rates outside the ranges often recommended (at the time of writing). As t-SNE is a relatively modern approach to visualizing high dimensional data, this was a finding worth reporting. Two-dimensional scatter plots produced using t-SNE may assist in creating hypotheses about the relationships present between psychological constructs in such high-dimensional data.

Key words: t-SNE, Sport Psychology, Motivations Of Marathoners Scales (MOMS), scikit-learn library, LimeSurvey

INTRODUCTION

The World Masters Games

This manuscript focuses on exploration of clustering of scores from psychometric data gathered on masters athletes. Masters athletes are defined as those systematically training for and competing in organized sporting events designed specifically for older adults (44). Competing at sport in older ages has been shown to be beneficial for a number of health indices which includes general cardiovascular health (5), blood pressure (8), improved lipids (14), reduced frailty/sarcopenia(20) and muscular strength and function (41) The biggest masters sporting event (by participant number) is the World Masters Games (WMG). Participation at the WMG is open to sports people of all abilities, limited by age. The minimum age criterion ranges between 25 and 35 years depending upon the sport. The data used in this manuscript was data gathered at the Sydney WMG, which attracted 28,089 competitors who represented 95 countries competing in 28 sports (57, 60, 63). Research on the masters athletes competing at the Sydney WMG has included investigation of smoking prevalence (53), body mass index (26, 50, 51, 52, 54, 56, 58, 63, 64), injury incidence (13, 28, 48, 49, 55) and health (9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19) of competitors. Masters athletes did not show increased incidence of injury in comparison to other active populations (49, 55), a finding which alleviates one potential concern with promoting participation in masters sport.

The Motivations of Marathoners Scales

The Motivations of Marathoners Scales (MOMS) (37) is a psychometric instrument based upon a series of 56 questions and scored on a seven-point Likert scale (35). To complete the MOMS, participants rated the 56 questions from 1-7 in terms of how important it is as a reason for their participation in sport. A score of 1 would indicate that the item is not a reason for participation, whereas a score of 7 indicates that the item is a very important reason for participation and scores in-between these extremes represented relative degrees of each reason. The following are sample questions which sought responses to word stems such as; to control my weight, to compete with others, to earn respect of peers, to improve my sporting performance, to earn respect of people in general, to socialize with other participants, to improve my health, to compete with myself, to become less anxious, to improve my self-esteem and to become less depressed. A full list of the 56 questions in the MOMS scale and summary statistics for the MOMS scale data gathered at the Sydney WMG has been previously published (40, 60).

The MOMS is a valid and reliable, quantitative instrument for gauging the importance of a range of psychological factors in determining motivations for sports participation. Participant motivation evaluates those factors that enhance or inhibit motivation to participate and are represented by factors such as health orientation, weight concern/weight loss and personal goal achievement (39, 40, 65). The questions in the scale are split into general categories and these are further subset into Scales (40). For example, for questions in the category Physical Health Motives, to improve my health, to prolong my life, to become more physically fit, to reduce my chance of having a heart attack, to stay in physical condition and to prevent illness comprise the General Health Orientation subset of Physical Health Motive questions. The other subset of Physical Health Motivation questions, Weight Concern is composed of to look leaner, to help control my weight, to reduce my weight and to stay physically attractive(40).

The MOMS scale has been adopted to investigate athletes competing in other sports (other than marathon), including at both multi-sport events (24, 32) and individual sports tournaments such as rugby (30), or triathlon (6) (with some adaption). Data collected using the MOMS scale has also been used as a convenience sample for demonstrating applications of data mining techniques that can be used in exercise science and exercise psychology (34, 35, 61, 62).

The age ranges in the research used to develop the MOMS survey instrument had significant overlap with age ranges of participants at the WMG. The questions identified in the MOMS have been demonstrated (7, 21, 42, 45) as important motivational constructs and have been used by sport psychology researchers for more than 25 years. A number of studies have been conducted on the MOMS in the context of masters athletes (1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 47, 64). Heazlewood and colleagues (29) re-evaluated the first and second order factor structure of the MOMS instrument with masters athletes, the factor structure identified in the original MOMS instrument was not reproduced with the WMG male and female cohorts.

t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding

There are a number of established techniques for visualizing high dimensional data. A relatively modern technique that has a number of advantages over many earlier approaches is t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) (38). With t-SNE, high dimensional data can be converted into a two dimensional scatter plot via a matrix of pair-wise similarities.

Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (SNE) converts Euclidean distances between data points into conditional probabilities that represent similarities (36). In t-SNE the SNE cost function is replaced with a symmetrized version with simpler gradients (38) and t-SNE uses a Cauchy Distribution (one dimensional Students-t distribution (as opposed to a Gaussian distribution)) to compute the similarity between two points in the lower-dimensional space (38). This distribution allows for more dispersion in the lower-dimensional space. Similar to SNE, the t-SNE algorithm develops a probability distribution between factor pairs in the higher-dimensional space with higher probabilities assigned to pairs with higher similarity. A similar probability distribution is then developed in a lower-dimensional map and the Kullback-Leibler divergence (37) between the two distributions is then minimized with respect to the points in the maps using gradient descent. The aim is developing a lower dimensional mapping (in our case two dimensions) where this mapping retains the similarities that were present in the higher dimensional data. The cost function for t-SNE is not convex, thus initializing scripts with different random seed values will result in differing outcomes.

AIM

Effective visualization of data plays a crucial role in knowledge discovery (16). The MOMS scale contains complex, multi-dimensional relations between 56 different questions, split into a factor structure that has not been replicated in previous research on WMG athletes (29). The aim of this research was to assess the suitability of applying t-SNE to creating two-dimensional scatter plots to visualise the relationship between different psychological motivators. If suitable plots could be constructed these could assist in visually mapping psychological constructs and gaining greater understanding of the underlying patterns in the MOMS scale. Two-dimensional scatter plots produced using t-SNE may assist in creating hypotheses about the relationships present between psychological constructs in such high-dimensional data.

METHODOLOGY

Data was collected on athletes participating in the Sydney WMG, after approval for the project was granted by a university Research Ethics Committee in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised in 2008) and the Sydney World Masters Games Organising Committee. An online survey was created using Limesurvey, an open-source, web-based application to deliver the survey. The survey consisted of several sections. A total of 3,928 masters athletes completed all 56 questions in the MOMS. This manuscript analyses psychological participation factors contained within the survey. Further details about the survey methodology and an overview of findings from the survey has been previously published (59).

The psychological participation factors included in the survey were 56 questions based on the MOMS (60). These were analysed using the t-SNE package included in the scikit-learn python machine learning library (43). Analysis was conducted using Python 3.6.5 using operating system x86_64-apple-darwin15.6.0 (64-bit). After provisional exploratory analysis of different hyper parameters, it was deemed appropriate to keep the majority of t-SNE hyper parameters fixed at their default settings (the standard settings within the scikit-learn library, with default values and a description of each hyper parameter reported in Table 1) and tune the learning rate hyper parameter. The learning rate was tuned from values of 0.0001 to 1000, which was outside the recommended range in the scikit-learn (43) package recommendations (10-1000) (46). The fixed values for the other main hyper parameters for t-SNE implemented via scikit-learn (46) are listed in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Descriptions and default values for the t-SNE hyper parameters in the scikit-learn package (46)

RESULTS

Figure 1: Learning Rate 100

Figure 2: Learning Rate 10

Figure 3: Learning Rate 0.125

DISCUSSION

The Figures 1-3 are a visual representation of the clustering of the 56 psychological motivations documented in the literature (31, 40, 42, 60). As the dimensional reduction utilized in t-SNE is non-linear the axes in the graphs in Figures 1-3 represent distances in the two-dimensional space, however relating these to equivalent distances in the initial 56 dimensions is a non-linear transformation. Thus, the figures should be used as a visualization tool; however, the interpretability in the units of the initial 56 dimensional data is not apparent or suitable from the figures. In terms of visualization of relationship between the 56 variables, there were clearly patterns of clustering which give insight into relationships within the data. This discussion section focuses upon the general health orientation questions. These questions were utilised as an example of the replication (or disparity) of clustering relationships in the original development of the MOMS instrument (40) when questions are inspected graphically utilising t-SNE.

Inspection of clustering of questions on the t-SNE scatter plots revealed many patterns that were representative of underlying relationships between the different questions. Many of the clustering relationships as proposed in the original scale (40) were evident in this data explored using t-SNE. For example in Figure 1 using a learning rate of 100, for the General Health Orientation items, the questions to stay in physical condition, to become more physically fit, to improve my health are closely clustered closely together in quadrant IV (the lower right) of Figure 1. The questions to reduce my chance of having a heart attack and to prevent illness were also very close in positioning to these other three questions on Figure 1 with no questions from other categories between them.

It was observed that the question to prolong my life, was also to the bottom right of the diagram, but offset far to the right with a significant displacement away from any of the other questions. As the Euclidean distance between points was representative of similarities between the different questions in the MOMS for these masters athletes, this would imply that there was some meaningful difference between the responses to this question and the other 56 questions.

There was some apparent clustering for the other subset of questions within the Physical Health Motives category, namely Weight Concern, comprised of to look leaner, to help control my weight, to reduce my weight and to stay physically attractive. These questions were also closely clustered together with no other questions from other categories in the intervening space. This would imply that the clustering observed for the WMG athletes for these particular questions was compatible with that established in the development of MOMS (40).

Figure 2, produced by reducing the learning rate hyper parameter to 10, displayed a different t-SNE scatter plot, with some alteration in the clustering of questions. In many cases, this figure displayed pairs of similar questions (both in terms of logical underlying meaning in the language usage and in terms of t-SNE dimensionality). Similar to Figure 1, the General Health Orientation questions to stay in physical condition, to become more physically fit, to improve my health were clustered closely together, though for this particular t-SNE scatter-plot, the clustering was in the upper centre part of the figure (Figure 2). This is due to different learning rates and initialisation with a given random seed. The Cartesian coordinates of different questions was not the focus of this manuscript as t-SNE was utilized instead to explore the data in terms of Euclidean distance between the questions (as detailed in the introduction section). Whilst the other three questions within General Health Orientation, namely to reduce my chance of having a heart attack, to prolong my life and to prevent illness are very close in positioning to each other, however situated on the right of Figure 2. They are considerably separated from the first three questions. This would imply two separate subsets of three questions within General Health Orientation. The Weight Concern scale questions in Figure 2 to look leaner, to help control my weight and to reduce my weight are clustered together, not too far from one of the apparent subsets of General Health Orientation questions also on the right hand side of the diagram, with to help control my weight and to reduce my weight more tightly clustered than to look leaner, which is offset slight to the left from the pair. This grouping is logical in terms of the rational interpretation of the language used in the questions, specifically the two more closely grouped questions contain language specific to weight control/reduction, whilst the other question was related to physical appearance.

In Figure 3, the General Health Orientation questions were split into two subgroups with to prolong my life, to reduce my chance of having a heart attack and to prevent illness clustered in the upper centre of Figure 3. The questions to stay in physical condition, to become more physically fit and to improve my health were separated from the other cluster and were located towards the lower left of the graph. There were more than ten questions located between these two clusters across the two t-SNE dimensions. This result implied two different clusterings and was contrary to the grouping of both clusters together under the same category of General Health Orientation.

All of the t-SNE plots in Figures 1-3 have different subgroupings of psychological motivations including those explicitly discussed for motivations within category of General Health Orientation. Although there were differences, the general categorization of questions in the MOMS did also have some shared and clearly visible commonalities with the groupings apparent in t-SNE graphs created across a range of learning rates. Despite differences according to random initialisation parameters and learning rates, the figures demonstrate that t-SNE can be utilised to produce two-dimensional graphs to visualize the relationship between the different psychological motivation questions comprising the MOMS tool. Visual inspection confirms viable patterns of clustering which give insight into relationships within the data, with these patterns being logical in context of the underlying meaning in the language usage and specific groupings of questions. Further review could be conducted on the differences demonstrated between the MOMS general categorization of questions and the t-SNE graphs. An example would be distinct and separate clusters of questions forming two separate clusters for General Health Orientation questions. Based solely on this cursory visual analysis via these scatter plots, it would be advisable to split the General Health Orientation questions into separate groups and similar patterns may be present for other groupings. This splitting is however not advised without further supporting evidence and it should be noted though that devising such alternative groupings is not the aim of this research, which was to assess the suitability of applying t-SNE to creating two dimensional scatter plots to visualise the relationship between different psychological motivators with specific reference to General Health orientation questions. Such graphs were successfully created. These two dimensional scatter plots produced using t-SNE may assist in creating hypotheses about the relationships present between psychological constructs in such high-dimensional data both for the WMG athletes using the MOMS, for others using the MOMS and for applications outside of MOMS using other tools.

It was interesting to note that the hyper parameter tuning was conducted beyond the recommended ranges provided in the scikit-learn package documentation for t-SNE learning rates (10-1000). This extended range was selected based on investigators extensive experience in hyper parameter tuning. The appropriate learning rates for hyper parameter tuning were found to be well below the standard range (e.g. learning rates below 0.1, such as 0.125 in Figure 3). It should be noted that all other values were set as the scikit-learn package defaults (with values used listed in the method section). As t-SNE is a relatively modern technique, findings that could be beneficial in recommendations for implementation such as this should be noted.

CONCLUSION

It was demonstrated that t-SNE could be utilised to produce two-dimensional graphs to visualize the relationship between the different psychological motivation questions comprising the MOMS tool. Visual inspection confirmed the presence of patterns of clustering which gave viable insight into clustering relationships within the data. Patterns were apparent that were logical in terms of the underlying meaning in the language usage and specific groupings of questions

The general categorization of questions in the MOMS had commonalities with the groupings apparent in t-SNE graphs created across a range of learning rates. There were also some differences demonstrated in the t-SNE graphs. An example would be distinct and separate clusters of questions forming two separate clusters for General Health Orientation questions. Based solely on this cursory visual analysis via these scatter plots, it would be advised to split the General Health Orientation questions into separate groups and similar patterns may be present for other groupings. This is however not advised and it should be noted though that devising such alternative groupings is not the aim of this research, which was to assess the suitability of applying t-SNE to creating two dimensional scatter plots to visualise the relationship between different psychological motivators. Such graphs were successfully created. The two-dimensional scatter plots produced using t-SNE may assist in creating hypotheses about the relationships present between psychological constructs in such high-dimensional data.

A secondary finding was apparent based on the learning rates used in hyper parameter tuning. On tuning the t-SNE model hyper parameters, it became apparent that the t-SNE graphs were able to provide an appropriate representation of clustering with learning rates outside the ranges often recommended. As t-SNE is a relatively modern approach to visualizing high dimensional data, this was a notable finding.

APPLICATIONS IN SPORT

The MOMS is a valid and reliable, quantitative instrument for gauging the importance of a range of psychological factors in determining motivations for sports participation. Participant motivation evaluates those factors that enhance or inhibit motivation to participate and are represented by factors such as health orientation, weight concern/weight loss and personal goal achievement. The MOMS has been used by sport psychology researchers for more than 25 years. The MOMS scale has been adopted to investigate athletes competing in marathons, multi-sport events and individual sports tournaments such as rugby or triathlon. Data collected using the MOMS scale has also been used as a convenience sample for demonstrating applications of data mining techniques that can be used in exercise science and exercise psychology. A number of studies have been conducted on the MOMS in the context of masters athletes (1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 47, 64). Heazlewood and colleagues identified the first and second order factor structure of the MOMS instrument in the context of masters athletes (29). It was demonstrated the factor structure identified in the original MOMS instrument was not reproduced within the WMG male and female cohorts (29). The data used in this manuscript was data gathered at the Sydney WMG, the biggest masters sporting event (by participant number), which attracted 28,089 competitors who represented 95 countries competing in 28 sports

Effective visualization of data plays a crucial role in knowledge discovery. The MOMS scale contains complex, multi-dimensional relations between 56 different questions, split into a factor structure that has not been replicated in previous research on masters athletes (29). The aim of this research was to assess the suitability of applying t-SNE to creating two-dimensional scatter plots to more simply visualise the relationship between different psychological motivators specifically those related to general health orientation. Suitable plots were constructed as per the aim of this experiment and these can assist in visually mapping general health orientation psychological constructs and gaining greater understanding of the underlying patterns in the MOMS scale for masters athletes and potentially in the other sports and events where motivation for participation has been examined using the MOMS, such as marathon, triathlon, rugby and other multi-sport events. The two-dimensional scatter plots produced in this paper using t-SNE may assist in creating hypotheses about the relationships present between general health orientation constructs in such high-dimensional data as the 56 questions in the MOMS instrument. This paper demonstrate that t-SNE can be utilised to produce two-dimensional graphs to visualize the relationship between the general health orientation questions comprising the MOMS tool. Some clustering patterns were observed in those motivations classified under general health orientation, with some items in the MOMS connected in a logical manner that complied with those originally proposed by the developers of the MOMS.

Masters athletes are defined as those systematically training for and competing in organized sporting events designed specifically for older adults. Competing at sport in older ages has been shown to be beneficial for a number of health indices which includes general cardiovascular health, blood pressure, improved lipids, reduced frailty/sarcopenia and muscular strength and function. Participation at the WMG is open to sports people of all abilities, limited by age. The minimum age criterion ranges between 25 and 35 years depending upon the sport. Given increased risk of injury from participation in sport at older ages has been shown in prior research to not be present for WMG competitors (49,55), it would make sense to encourage participation in masters sport (conditional on appropriate medical screening) to improve health outcomes. Visualisation of the relationship between many different general health orientation motivations in masters athletes can be accomplished using t-SNE. The clustering patterns observed in the general health orientation motivations, can be visualised in simple two dimensional plots to better understand the relationship between the different general health orientation questions comprising the MOMS tool. As a general finding related to improving understanding of the MOMS, this method may assist in progressing understanding of relationships between different general health orientation psychological constructs in high dimensional data. With better understanding of the relationship between the multi-dimensional factors involved in the motivation behind participation for masters athletes, sports marketing and strategies behind promoting participation in sports and physical exercise across the lifespan can be optimised and tailored to enhance masters sport participation and improve general health outcomes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors appreciate the time taken by the 3,298 WMG masters athletes in completing the 56 questions in the MOMS survey tool. The authors also appreciate the assistance of Evan Wills in data collection using LimeSurvey and the Sydney World Masters Games Organising Committee in approving the project.

REFERENCES

Read the original here:
General health orientation based psychological motivations for masters athletes, a consideration of clustering utilizing t-distributed Stochastic...

Physiology

I’m a lung doctor testing the blood from COVID-19 survivors as a treatment for the sick a century old idea that could be a fast track to treatment -…

Imagine going to the doctor for a cough and getting a transfusion of blood from a goat. It probably sounds strange today, but that is exactly how antibody therapy started in the late 1800s.

Researchers found that plasma, the part of blood left when you get rid of the cells, had healing properties. In fact, the first Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Emil von Behring in 1901 for his work using this approach to treat diphtheria.

Today, scientists understand healing properties of plasma come from antibodies, which are proteins in the blood that recognize and destroy foreign invaders. The goal of a vaccine is to induce the body to make more of these protective antibodies, and lessen the severity of the infection or prevent it all together. As Americans wait for a COVID-19 vaccine, antibody therapy provides a potentially effective treatment option - but one which warrants further study.

As a physician-scientist in pulmonary and critical care medicine, I take care of patients with lung diseases and those who are critically ill in the intensive care unit. I also study the role of antibodies and the cells that make them, called B cells, in lung disease. So when the worst public health crisis in a hundred years struck in my first year out of training, like many of my colleagues I saw it as a call to arms. This is why we became doctors.

Since von Behrings pioneering work, antibodies have been used to treat a variety of different infections. This approach waned with the advent of antibiotics in the 1930s.

In the case of epidemics of novel infections, antibodies have reemerged as a therapeutic partly due to one factor: time. Developing a drug in the laboratory takes a long time. In the case of antibodies, the human immune system does this for us. Our bodies are equipped with an astounding repertoire of B cells capable of making up to one quadrillion different antibodies.

Each one of these antibodies can recognize different parts of an infection. When a B-cell recognizes a virus like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, as foreign, that B cell makes antibodies which then float around in the blood, binding to the viruses and protecting us from infection.

Three to four weeks after a person recovers from the infection doctors can harvest these antibodies in what is known as convalescent plasma. If effective, this provides a fast track to treatment.

Convalescent plasma has been tried in recent epidemics such as SARS, MERS and Ebola. In each case, there has been at least some evidence that the treatment is safe and may be effective.

Fortunately for humanity, these outbreaks have been relatively limited in scope, preventing the kinds of numbers necessary in clinical trials to demonstrate that a treatment works. The COVID-19 pandemic, as devastating as it has been, provides a unique opportunity to study whether convalescent plasma is effective.

The pandemic was a chance to do important work to understand the biology of the disease and how to treat it. I am now helping to establish and lead a trial testing the effect of convalescent plasma in COVID-19 patients.

In our trial, my colleagues and I have targeted patients who are hospitalized but not yet critically ill. We hope to test whether convalescent plasma can prevent the progression of this disease to critical illness and death. Entering into the sixth month of this pandemic, we have now completed enrolling patients for the trial and our analysis is underway.

Hopefully in the coming months this trial will help determine whether convalescent plasma is an effective treatment for some patients with COVID-19. Importantly, we will not only evaluate the clinical outcomes, but we will also study the immune system responses to convalescent plasma so we can better understand the underlying mechanisms by which it impacts disease.

Several studies have already shown promise for convalescent plasma in COVID-19. A retrospective study from investigators in New York as well as a prospective study out of Houston suggest that convalescent plasma may be effective, particularly when given early before the patient is on a ventilator. Additionally, in a recent report from the Expanded Access Program for convalescent plasma, an analysis of over 35,000 transfused patients showed that earlier transfusion with higher concentrations of antibodies was associated with improved outcomes.

[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversations newsletter.]

Convalescent plasma is also the foundation upon which specific antibody therapy is based. In specific antibody therapy, the specific neutralizing antibodies present in convalescent plasma that bind to the virus are isolated and then synthesized in the lab. This has been shown to be effective in the case of Ebola. Researchers have now isolated these neutralizing antibodies for COVID-19, and clinical trials are underway to test their efficacy as well.

These studies and ours provide important steps in developing therapeutics. But even during the urgency of a pandemic it is critically important to perform large, randomized phase 3 clinical trials before changing clinical practice. In support of this the Food and Drug Administration recently halted its emergency use authorization of convalescent plasma, citing a lack of strong evidence. Only by following these rigorous standards of evidence can we finally answer the question: Does convalescent plasma work? In this case, no goats blood needed.

View original post here:
I'm a lung doctor testing the blood from COVID-19 survivors as a treatment for the sick a century old idea that could be a fast track to treatment -...

Physiology

UMass Amherst Scientists Invent New Sensing Eye Mask – UMass News and Media Relations

AMHERST, Mass. From the team that invented physiology-sensing pajamas at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, now comes a new, lightweight eye mask that can unobtrusively capture pulse, eye movement and sleep signals, for example, when worn in an everyday environment.

Senior authors writing this week in the journal Matter are materials chemist and Wearable Electronics Lab director Trisha L. Andrew, with computer scientist Deepak Ganesan and others. They point out that being able to track pulse and eye movement in a single wearable device will enable a host of sleep and psycho-social studies, in addition to improving the accuracy and usability of gaming and virtual reality headsets. First author S. Zohreh Homayounfar, will present the findings this week at the online Fall Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Recording health and behavior signals on or near the face is challenging, notes Andrew, because most people are really sensitive and reactive to objects placed on their face or head. Ganesan adds that up to now, integrating many different sensing elements in one garment seemed burdensome, especially when it comes to small eye masks.

They say their lightweight, tailorable eye mask named Chesma, is fitted with two kinds of fabric electrodes that can simply be sewn onto a variety of pre-made garments and further miniaturized, if desired. This capability allows them to integrate electrodes into a lightweight foam mask for recording electro-oculography and cardiac signals. Their design automatically positions the electrodes on the face with no need for custom fitting.

As explained in a video created by Ph.D. student and first author, S. Zohreh Homayounfar, the mask contains five silver (Ag) thread-based hydrogel electrodes dubbed tAgTrodes needed to translate ion-based biological signals into an electric current, among other goals. The researchers took advantage of a vapor-phase deposition process to create the electrodes, including what they call a first-of-its-kind reusable and washable hydrogel component that distinguishes the tAgTrode from other equivalents.

Here, Andrew says she takes pride in noting that part of the work that went into carrying out the deposition process was performed by Emerson T. Alexander, an exceptional student from Springfield Technical Community College, who took part in a paid internship in her lab and funded by the LOral USA For Women in Science program.

The mask also contains one fabric pressure sensor (PressION) positioned over an artery to monitor pulse as a proxy for cardiac function, with the whole linked to two microcontrollers with water-repellant silver threads as connectors. Another author, Ph.D. student Ali Kiaghadi, explains that the electrode and sensor data need to be communicated once they are acquired. Our design transmits raw data to the cloud for processing and data visualization, so that we can reduce the amount of instrumentation that we need to include in the mask itself.

The team tested the new eye mask on subjects while they were chewing, talking, and during various head and eye movements. They also used the same device for more than a year and after 15 washings found no degradation in performance. Homayounfar notes that the tAgTrode overcomes all the drawbacks of commercial wet electrodes such as aesthetic issues, discomfort and wash-stability, while maintaining high and constant signal-to-noise ratios during repeated, longterm applications.

Andrew expects that Chesmas unique bimodality the combination of electrode network with the pressure sensor will enable many new cutting-edge studies not possible until now, for investigating sleep quality, sleep disorders, mental health, neurodegenerative diseases and schizophrenia, for example.

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It was aided by Ganesan and Andrews affiliation with the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring at UMass Amhersts Institute of Applied Life Sciences. where life science research is translated into products to improve human health.

Read the original:
UMass Amherst Scientists Invent New Sensing Eye Mask - UMass News and Media Relations

Physiology

Badger Talks Live Creating Community – University of Wisconsin-Madison

Want to know how to grow a bumper crop of apples trees for the best fruit pies, or grapes for wine-making? Join fruit crop expert Amaya Atucha as she takes us on a tour of the West Madison Research Station vineyard, and shares tips and tricks for growing fruit in Wisconsin!

Amaya Atuchais an Assistant Professor in the department of Horticulture and the Fruit Crop Extension Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also the Gottschalk Chair for cranberry research. On campus, she teachesHort 345 Fruit Crop Production, and focuses her research onfruit crop physiology and production of deciduous fruit crops (cranberry, apple, and grapes, in particular). The goal of her extension program is to deliver up to date, research-based information to fruit growers that will lead to improve production practices of fruit crops in Wisconsin.

She earned her B.S. in horticulture from the Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Valparaso (Chile) and her Ph.D. in horticulture from Cornell University. Prior to joining the faculty at UW-Madison, she was an assistant professor at Colorado State University in the department of Horticulture.

This virtual talk will take place on the UW Connects Facebook pagehere.

Cant catch the live talks? Check out past talkshere.

Welcome and introductions by Ann Saucedo fromAltadena, CA. Arising junior, she is majoring in microbiology and life sciences communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Read this article:
Badger Talks Live Creating Community - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Physiology

People tend to lose hair more during the summer and fall, research study says – Drew Reports News

A British Journal of Dermatology study explores the relationship between seasonality and hair loss at a population level using Google Trends data. Across all 8 countries examined in the study, summer and fall were connected with higher hair loss.

The findings support previous research studies that were constrained by little sample sizes or uniform populations in restricted geographical areas. The physiology of loss of hair as related to seasonal variation is unidentified, nevertheless.

This study synthesized digital epidemiological data from both hemispheres to confirm the clinical suspicion that the summer and fall seasons are associated with greater hair loss, said senior author Dr. Shawn Kwatra, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This finding is clinically relevant for patients presenting in the summer and fall months with worsened hair loss and has implications in assessing the effectiveness of therapies. Future research will further clarify this association and examine the physiology of the hair cycle.

Visit link:
People tend to lose hair more during the summer and fall, research study says - Drew Reports News

Physiology

Scientists investigate the role of contractility and microbiota in chronic constipation – News-Medical.Net

Chronic constipation (CC) remains a serious medical and social problem because the complexity of diagnosis, the lack of a single approach to treatment, and unsatisfactory treatment results.

The causes of constipation are varied - from the abnormal anatomical structure of the large intestine and its location in the abdominal cavity to impaired neurohumoral regulation of its motility, endocrine pathology, psychogenic factors, poor nutrition, as well as a combination of these factors.

The mechanism of the formation of the constipation syndrome, while remaining largely unclear, is of great interest as an object of research. Understanding the pathophysiological processes in constipation syndrome can be the key to improving the methods of conservative and surgical treatment.

In particular, the Republican Clinical Hospital of Tatarstan has accumulated 20 years of experience in the treatment of refractory constipation.

The paper is a joint effort by Guzel Sitdikova (Chair, Department of Human and Animal Physiology, Kazan Federal University), Dina Yarullina (Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Kazan Federal University), Oleg Karpukhin (Professor, Department of Surgical Diseases, Kazan State Medical University), and Republican Clinical Hospital of Tatarstan.

The objective of this particular research was to gain an insight into the role of contractility and microbiota in the etiology of CC.

To this end, the scientists studied spontaneous and evoked contractile activity of descending colon segments from patients that had undergone surgery for refractory forms of CC.

The juxta-mucosal microbiota of these colon samples were characterized with culture-based and 16S rRNA sequencing techniques. In patients with CC, the spontaneous colonic motility remained unchanged compared to the control group without dysfunctions of intestinal motility.

Moreover, contractions induced by potassium chloride and carbachol were increased in both circular and longitudinal colonic muscle strips, thus indicating preservation of contractile apparatus and increased sensitivity to cholinergic nerve stimulation in the constipated intestine.

Based on the previous data, it can be suggested that smooth muscle cells develop a compensatory response to the abnormality in cholinergic stimulation.

In the test group, the gut microbiota composition was assessed as being typically human, with four dominant bacterial phyla, namely Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria, as well as usual representation of the most prevalent gut bacterial genera.

Yet, significant inter-individual differences were revealed. The phylogenetic diversity of gut microbiota was not affected by age, sex, or colonic anatomy (dolichocolon or megacolon).

The abundance of butyrate-producing genera Roseburia, Coprococcus, and Faecalibacterium was low, whereas conventional probiotic genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria were not decreased in the gut microbiomes of the constipated patients.

As evidenced by the study, specific microbial biomarkers for constipation state are absent. The results point to a probable role played by the overall gut microbiota at the functional level.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first comprehensive characterization of CC pathogenesis, finding lack of disruption of motor activity of colonic smooth muscle cells and insufficiency of particular members of gut microbiota usually implicated in CC.

Treatment of patients with any pathology becomes effective if it is etiopathogenetically justified, that is, it is aimed at eliminating the etiological factors of the disease and blocking the mechanisms of the development of the disease.

This pilot study of the mechanisms of the formation of CC syndrome in various anatomical anomalies of the structure and location of the colon not only expands the understanding of this complex process, but is also of clinical interest.

The obtained results can contribute to the choice of the optimal variant of drug stimulation of colon motility during constipation, substantiation of radical approaches to treatment, clarification of indications for the use of probiotics or intestinal microbiota transplantation.

However, for a better understanding of the pathophysiological and microbiological processes in the colon in CC syndrome with subsequent clinical use of the obtained results, additional studies are needed.

Due to the small number of observations, the results of physiological and microbiological studies do not allow generalized conclusions to be drawn about specific processes in the intestine in CC syndrome, but only reflect the specifics of refractory constipation in a group of patients with a mechanical obstacle to the movement of the chyme against the background of an abnormal anatomical structure or location of the intestine.

The results indicate the preservation of the molecular mechanisms of muscle tissue contraction in patients with chronic coprostasis and its increased sensitivity to cholinergic stimulation.

We consider the study of other links in the regulation of motility - the enteric and central nervous systems, Cajal cells, as well as the influence of metabolites of the intestinal microbiota on the contractile activity of smooth muscle cells - as potential directions for further research.

It is also advisable to study the contractile activity of the smooth muscle of the large intestine in different age groups of patients with constipation, with congenital anomalies of the autonomic innervation of the intestine and in patients with decompensation of the motor-evacuation function of the intestine against the background of prolonged use of laxatives.

According to the study, the structure of the microbial community of the large intestine of patients mainly corresponds to the normal microflora of the human intestine.

Individual members of the intestinal microbiota have been identified that are capable of influencing the motor-evacuation function of the intestine due to the produced metabolites, which confirms the presence of a functional relationship between chronic constipation and the composition of the intestinal microbiota.

Nevertheless, according to modern concepts, the development of coprostasis is promoted not by individual taxa, but by the entire microbial ensemble as a whole. More observations are also needed to confirm this assumption.

Source:

Journal reference:

Yarullina, D. R., et al. (2020) Characterization of gut contractility and microbiota in patients with severe chronic constipation. PLOS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235985.

Read this article:
Scientists investigate the role of contractility and microbiota in chronic constipation - News-Medical.Net