Epidemiology of training injuries in amateur taekwondo athletes: a retrospective cohort study

The objectives of this study were to estimate the incidence and describe the pattern and severity of training injuries in taekwondo, and to compare pattern and severity of training injuries with competition injuries. One hundred and fifty-two active Australian amateur taekwondo athletes, aged 12 years or over, completed an online survey comprising questions on training exposure and injury history over the preceding 12 months. The main outcome measures were: overall injury incidence rate per athlete-year; training injury incidence rate per athlete-year, per 1000 athlete-training-sessions, and per 1000 athlete-hours of training; injury severity; and injury proportions by anatomical region and by type of injury. Injury incidence rates were calculated with 95% confidence intervals using standard methods, while injury proportions were compared using Fisher''s exact test. The vast majority (81.5%) of taekwondo injuries in an average athlete-year occurred during training. The training injury incidence rate was estimated to be 1.6 (95% CI: 1.4, 1.9) per athlete-year, 11.8 (95% CI: 10.4, 13.4) per 1000 athlete-training-sessions, and 7.0 (95% CI: 6.1, 7.9) per 1000 athlete-hours of training. Among athletes with five or fewer injuries, the severity and injury pattern of training injuries were, by and large, the same as for competition injuries. Approximately sixty percent (60.3%) of training injuries required treatment by a health professional. Considering the burden of training injuries exceeds that of competition injuries, taekwondo governing bodies and stakeholders are encouraged to devote more efforts towards the identification of risk factors for, and prevention of, training injuries in the sport of taekwondo.     

Urinary protein profiling in hyperactive delirium and non-delirium cardiac surgery ICU patients

Background  

Suitable biomarkers associated with the development of delirium are still not known. Urinary proteomics has successfully been applied to identify novel biomarkers associated with various disease states, but its value has not been investigated in delirium patients.     

Peripheral natural killer cell maturation depends on the transcription factor Aiolos

Natural killer (NK) cells are an innate lymphoid cell lineage characterized by their capacity to provide rapid effector functions, including cytokine production and cytotoxicity. Here, we identify the Ikaros family member, Aiolos, as a regulator of NK-cell maturation. Aiolos expression is initiated at the point of lineage commitment and maintained throughout NK-cell ontogeny. Analysis of cell surface markers representative of distinct stages of peripheral NK-cell maturation revealed that Aiolos was required for the maturation in the spleen of CD11b^highCD27⁻ NK cells. The differentiation block was intrinsic to the NK-cell lineage and resembled that found in mice lacking either T-bet or Blimp1; however, genetic analysis revealed that Aiolos acted independently of all other known regulators of NK-cell differentiation. NK cells lacking Aiolos were strongly hyper-reactive to a variety of NK-cell-mediated tumor models, yet impaired in controlling viral infection, suggesting a regulatory function for CD27⁻ NK cells in balancing these two arms of the immune response. These data place Aiolos in the emerging gene regulatory network controlling NK-cell maturation and function.     

Effects of the number of markers per haplotype and clustering of haplotypes on the accuracy of QTL mapping and prediction of genomic breeding values

The aim of this paper was to compare the effect of haplotype definition on the precision of QTL-mapping and on the accuracy of predicted genomic breeding values. In a multiple QTL model using identity-by-descent (IBD) probabilities between haplotypes, various haplotype definitions were tested i.e. including 2, 6, 12 or 20 marker alleles and clustering base haplotypes related with an IBD probability of > 0.55, 0.75 or 0.95. Simulated data contained 1100 animals with known genotypes and phenotypes and 1000 animals with known genotypes and unknown phenotypes. Genomes comprising 3 Morgan were simulated and contained 74 polymorphic QTL and 383 polymorphic SNP markers with an average r² value of 0.14 between adjacent markers. The total number of haplotypes decreased up to 50% when the window size was increased from two to 20 markers and decreased by at least 50% when haplotypes related with an IBD probability of > 0.55 instead of > 0.95 were clustered. An intermediate window size led to more precise QTL mapping. Window size and clustering had a limited effect on the accuracy of predicted total breeding values, ranging from 0.79 to 0.81. Our conclusion is that different optimal window sizes should be used in QTL-mapping versus genome-wide breeding value prediction.     

The artiodactyl <Emphasis Type="Italic">APOBEC3</Emphasis> innate immune repertoire shows evidence for a multi-functional domain organization that existed in the ancestor of placental mammals

Background  

APOBEC3 (A3) proteins deaminate DNA cytosines and block the replication of retroviruses and retrotransposons. Each A3 gene encodes a protein with one or two conserved zinc-coordinating motifs (Z1, Z2 or Z3). The presence of one A3 gene in mice (Z2–Z3) and seven in humans, A3A-H (Z1a, Z2a-Z1b, Z2b, Z2c-Z2d, Z2e-Z2f, Z2g-Z1c, Z3), suggests extraordinary evolutionary flexibility. To gain insights into the mechanism and timing of A3 gene expansion and into the functional modularity of these genes, we analyzed the genomic sequences, expressed cDNAs and activities of the full A3 repertoire of three artiodactyl lineages: sheep, cattle and pigs.     

Ebola GP-specific monoclonal antibodies protect mice and guinea pigs from lethal Ebola virus infection

Ebola virus (EBOV) causes acute hemorrhagic fever in humans and non-human primates with mortality rates up to 90%. So far there are no effective treatments available. This study evaluates the protective efficacy of 8 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against Ebola glycoprotein in mice and guinea pigs. Immunocompetent mice or guinea pigs were given MAbs i.p. in various doses individually or as pools of 3-4 MAbs to test their protection against a lethal challenge with mouse- or guinea pig-adapted EBOV. Each of the 8 MAbs (100 μg) protected mice from a lethal EBOV challenge when administered 1 day before or after challenge. Seven MAbs were effective 2 days post-infection (dpi), with 1 MAb demonstrating partial protection 3 dpi. In the guinea pigs each MAb showed partial protection at 1 dpi, however the mean time to death was significantly prolonged compared to the control group. Moreover, treatment with pools of 3-4 MAbs completely protected the majority of animals, while administration at 2-3 dpi achieved 50-100% protection. This data suggests that the MAbs generated are capable of protecting both animal species against lethal Ebola virus challenge. These results indicate that MAbs particularly when used as an oligoclonal set are a potential therapeutic for post-exposure treatment of EBOV infection.     

Bombesin: a possible role in wound repair

During tissue regeneration and wound healing of the skin, migration, proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes are important processes. Here we assessed the effect of a neuropeptide, bombesin, on keratinocytes during regeneration from scratch wounding. Bombesin purified from amphibian skin, is homologous of mammalian gastrin-releasing peptide and is active in mammals. Its pharmacological effects mediate various physiological activities: hypertensive action, stimulating action on gastric secretion, hyperglycemic effect or increased insulin secretion. In vitro it shows a hyperproliferative effect on different experimental models and is involved in skin repair. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of Bombesin in an in vitro experimental model on a mechanically injured human keratinocyte monolayer. We evaluated different mediators involved in wound repair such as IL-8, TGFbeta, IL-1, COX-2, VEGF and Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 (TLR2 and TLR4). We also studied the effects of bombesin on cell proliferation and motility and its direct effect on wound repair by observing the wound closure after mechanical injury. The involvement of the bombesin receptors neuromedin receptor (NMBR) and gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRP-R) was also evaluated. Our data suggest that bombesin may have an important role in skin repair by regulating the expression of healing markers. It enhanced the expression of IL-8, TGFbeta, COX-2 and VEGF. It also enhanced the expression of TLR2, while TLR4 was not expressed. Bombesin also increased cell growth and migration. In addition, we showed that NMBR was more involved in our experimental model compared to GRP-R.     

Ovine reference materials and assays for prion genetic testing

Background  

Genetic predisposition to scrapie in sheep is associated with several variations in the peptide sequence of the prion protein gene (PRNP). DNA-based tests for scoring PRNP codons are essential tools for eradicating scrapie and for evaluating rare alleles for increased resistance to disease. In addition to those associated with scrapie, there are dozens more PRNP polymorphisms that may occur in various flocks. If not accounted for, these sites may cause base-pair mismatching with oligonucleotides used in DNA testing. Thus, the fidelity of scrapie genetic testing is enhanced by knowing the position and frequency of PRNP polymorphisms in targeted flocks.     

Multimodal signals in male European treefrog (Hyla arborea) and the influence of population isolation on signal expression

In nocturnal treefrogs, mate choice implies the use of acoustic and visual signals. Multimodality is suspected to have evolved for either information redundancy or information complementariness. It is essential to explore multimodality in a natural context to understand the selection pressures operating on the signals. In the present study, we investigated calling and coloration in relation to male biometry and condition in four populations of European treefrog (Hyla arborea) varying in size and genetic isolation. We compared the signal intensity between core and satellite populations to estimate the impact of genetic diversity on male secondary sexual traits. The results obtained show important regional variations in both traits, likely as a result of local adaptations. Call and coloration are weakly correlated within an individual, implying that these traits likely convey different information about the signaller's identity or quality, thus supporting the hypothesis of complementariness of multiple messages. By contrast to the experimental evidence, we find that call and coloration are not related to male condition (as estimated by the residual of mass over size), suggesting that the condition‐dependence of these traits may be mediated by complex mechanisms not accurately reflected by the chosen estimator. Finally, male call and colour phenotypes present no robust pattern of variation with isolation status, probably because of variation in local selective pressures and in history of population dynamics. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 103 , 633–647.     

A nematode demographics assay in transgenic roots reveals no significant impacts of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhg1</Emphasis>locus LRR-Kinase on soybean cyst nematode resistance

Background  

Soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines, SCN) is the most economically damaging pathogen of soybean (Glycine max) in the U.S. The Rhg1 locus is repeatedly observed as the quantitative trait locus with the greatest impact on SCN resistance. The Glyma18g02680.1 gene at the Rhg1 locus that encodes an apparent leucine-rich repeat transmembrane receptor-kinase (LRR-kinase) has been proposed to be the SCN resistance gene, but its function has not been confirmed. Generation of fertile transgenic soybean lines is difficult but methods have been published that test SCN resistance in transgenic roots generated with Agrobacterium rhizogenes.