Skeletal mass in adolescent male athletes and nonathletes: relationships with high-impact sports

Dias Quiterio, AL, Canero, EA, Baptista, FM, and Sardinha, LB. Skeletal mass in adolescent male athletes and nonathletes: relationships with high-impact sports. J Strength Cond Res 25(12): 3439-3447, 2011-This study examined the relationships between the practice of different categories of sports (high-impact vs. nonimpact) and bone status in adolescent male athletes and investigated differences from an age-matched control group. A total of 54 adolescent male athletes and 26 adolescent nonathletes were evaluated. Bone mineral density, bone mineral content (BMC), and bone area at the whole-body, limbs, and lumbar spine were determined by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, along with total and regional fat-free mass and body fat. The high-impact group included 34 athletes: 9 gymnasts, 18 basketball players, and 7 handball players (age: 15.7 ± 1.6 years; weight: 72.0 ± 15.0 kg; height: 178.5 ± 12.5 cm). The nonimpact group consisted of 20 swimmers (age: 16.4 ± 2.5 years; weight: 66.9 ± 10.4 kg; height: 173.7 ± 10.9 cm). The nonathletic control group included 26 male adolescents (age: 15.9 ± 2.8 years; weight: 64.7 ± 16.3 kg; height: 168.6 ± 15.1 cm). No differences were observed between the nonimpact and the control group in all bone variables, before and after adjustments for maturation level, body weight, and height (p > 0.05). After adjustments for these variables, the high-impact group displayed greater bone mass in most of the measured sites when compared to the other 2 groups (p < 0.001). Subjects in the nonimpact group showed lower values of BMC, particularly in the lower limbs, than both the high-impact and the nonathletic control groups (p < 0.05) after adjustments for maturation, high, and fat-free mass. This study reinforces the positive associations between high-impact physical activities and skeletal health in adolescent boys.     

Analysis of Immune Response Markers in Jorge Lobo's Disease Lesions Suggests the Occurrence of Mixed T Helper Responses with the Dominance of Regulatory T Cell Activity

Jorge Lobo’s disease (JLD) is a chronic infection that affects the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Its etiologic agent is the fungus Lacazia loboi. Lesions are classified as localized, multifocal, or disseminated, depending on their location. Early diagnosis and the surgical removal of lesions are the best therapeutic options currently available for JLD. The few studies that evaluate the immunological response of JLD patients show a predominance of Th2 response, as well as a high frequency of TGF-β and IL-10 positive cells in the lesions; however, the overall immunological status of the lesions in terms of their T cell phenotype has yet to be determined. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the pattern of Th1, Th2, Th17 and regulatory T cell (Treg) markers mRNA in JLD patients by means of real-time PCR. Biopsies of JLD lesions (N = 102) were classified according to their clinical and histopathological features and then analyzed using real-time PCR in order to determine the expression levels of TGF-β1, FoxP3, CTLA4, IKZF2, IL-10, T-bet, IFN-γ, GATA3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-33, RORC, IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 and to compare these levels to those of healthy control skin (N = 12). The results showed an increased expression of FoxP3, CTLA4, TGF-β1, IL-10, T-bet, IL-17F, and IL-17A in lesions, while GATA3 and IL-4 levels were found to be lower in diseased skin than in the control group. When the clinical forms were compared, TGF-β1 was found to be highly expressed in patients with a single localized lesion while IL-5 and IL-17A levels were higher in patients with multiple/disseminated lesions. These results demonstrate the occurrence of mixed T helper responses and suggest the dominance of regulatory T cell activity, which could inhibit Th-dependent protective responses to intracellular fungi such as L. loboi. Therefore, Tregs may play a key role in JLD pathogenesis.     

Edible zombis: fresh fish and the industry of cosmetic corpses

Doing research on fishery commodities in Portugal led us to an enigma: for a dead fish to be fresco (fresh) it must be alive. This paradox manifests at a popular, commercial, and legal level. It denotes the interruption of the difference between being dead and being alive in the commodity form. In Portugal, we suggest, the commercialization of peixe fresco (fresh fish) is based on the production and consumption of edible ‘zombis’: seafood corpses technologically and symbolically crafted as undead. An open concept, ‘edible zombis’ is part of an experimental vocabulary that foregrounds the productive agency of undeadness, both biological and commercial, in the seafood economic complex. It relates to the ordinary practice of necromancy in the commodity-based world. Edible zombis are commodity fetishes that fetishize their producers and consumers, suspending them from the capitalist system in which they live.     

Development of tacrine clusters as positively cooperative systems for the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase

The synthesis of four tetra-tacrine clusters where the tacrine binding units are attached to a central scaffold via linkers of variable lengths is described. The multivalent inhibition potencies for the tacrine clusters were investigated for the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. Two of the tacrine clusters displayed a small but significant multivalent inhibition potency in which the binding affinity of each of the tacrine binding units increased up to 3.2 times when they are connected to the central scaffold.     

Simulation of multihaem cytochromes

This article presents an overview of the simulation studies of the behaviour of multihaem cytochromes using theoretical/computational methodologies, with an emphasis on cytochrome c(3). It starts with the first studies using rigid molecules and continuum electrostatic models, where protonation and redox events were treated as independent. The gradual addition of physical details is then described, from the inclusion of proton isomerism, to the proper treatment of the thermodynamics of electron-proton coupling, to the explicit inclusion of the solvent and protein structural reorganization into the models, culminating with the method for molecular dynamics simulations at constant pH and reduction potential, where the solvation, conformational, protonation and redox features are all simulated in a fully integrated and coupled way. We end with a discussion of the strategies used to study the interaction between multihaem cytochromes, taking into account the further coupling effect introduced by the molecular association.     

Structure–function relationships of the peptide Paulistine: A novel toxin from the venom of the social wasp Polybia paulista

Background

The peptide Paulistine was isolated from the venom of wasp Polybia paulista. This peptide exists under a natural equilibrium between the forms: oxidised — with an intra-molecular disulphide bridge; and reduced — in which the thiol groups of the cysteine residues do not form the disulphide bridge. The biological activities of both forms of the peptide are unknown up to now.

Methods

Both forms of Paulistine were synthesised and the thiol groups of the reduced form were protected with the acetamidemethyl group [Acm-Paulistine] to prevent re-oxidation. The structure/activity relationships of the two forms were investigated, taking into account the importance of the disulphide bridge.

Results

Paulistine has a more compact structure, while Acm-Paulistine has a more expanded conformation. Bioassays reported that Paulistine caused hyperalgesia by interacting with the receptors of lipid mediators involved in the cyclooxygenase type II pathway, while Acm-Paullistine also caused hyperalgesia, but mediated by receptors involved in the participation of prostanoids in the cyclooxygenase type II pathway.

Conclusion

The acetamidemethylation of the thiol groups of cysteine residues caused small structural changes, which in turn may have affected some physicochemical properties of the Paulistine. Thus, the dissociation of the hyperalgesy from the edematogenic effect when the actions of Paulistine and Acm-Paulistine are compared to each other may be resulting from the influence of the introduction of Acm-group in the structure of Paulistine.

General significance

The peptides Paulistine and Acm-Paulistine may be used as interesting tools to investigate the mechanisms of pain and inflammation in future studies.     

Atrioventricular and ventriculoatrial branches of the coronary arteries in human hearts

Atrioventricular (AV) and ventriculoatrial (VA) branches of the coronary arteries are vessels which supply simultaneously atrial and ventricular walls by means of recurrent rami. The terminology indicates the name of the main vessel followed by the name of the recurrent vessel both combined in an adjective. These branches establish a vascular 'suture' across the coronary sulcus in front (superficially to) or behind (deeply to) the trunks of the right coronary artery and of the left coronary artery (circumflex artery). The AV and VA branches, found in 95% of 40 human hearts, should be considered a normal characteristic of the coronary circulation and an important anatomical factor for the clinical interpretation of pathological cardiac phenomena.     

Improving protein extraction yield in reversed micellar systems through surface charge engineering

The mechanism of extraction of rat cytochrome b(5) from water into a sodium dioctylsulfosuccinate (AOT) micellar organic phase was studied using protein engineering of surface charged residues. The extraction behavior of native cytochrome b(5) and modified proteins with substitutions of the type glutamic acid --> lysine at positions 44 (E44K), 56 (E56K), and 92 (E92K), was studied as a function of pH. The results indicate that an important mechanism of extraction is an electrostatic interaction of this protein with the negatively charged surfactant. We demonstrate that it is possible to improve extraction by engineering the protein surface charge, increasing the driving force responsible for the protein transfer to the micellar phase. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Electroencephalographic Patterns in Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The main objective of this study is to review and summarize recent findings on electroencephalographic patterns in individuals with chronic pain. We also discuss recent advances in the use of quantitative Electroencephalography (qEEG) for the assessment of pathophysiology and biopsychosocial factors involved in its maintenance over time. Data collection took place from February 2014 to July 2015 in PubMed, SciELO and PEDro databases. Data from cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies, as well as clinical trials involving chronic pain participants were incorporated into the final analysis. Our primary findings related to chronic pain were an increase of theta and alpha EEG power at rest, and a decrease in the amplitude of evoked potentials after sensory stimulation and cognitive tasks. This review suggests that qEEG could be considered as a simple and objective tool for the study of brain mechanisms involved in chronic pain, as well as for identifying the specific characteristics of chronic pain condition. In addition, results show that qEEG probably is a relevant outcome measure for assessing changes in therapeutic studies.