Athletic Performance and Vitamin D CANNELL, John J; HOLLIS, Bruce W; SORENSON, Marc B ...
Medicine and science in sports and exercise,
05/2009, Volume:
41, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Activated vitamin D (calcitriol) is a pluripotent pleiotropic secosteroid hormone. As a steroid hormone, which regulates more than 1000 vitamin D-responsive human genes, calcitriol may influence ...athletic performance. Recent research indicates that intracellular calcitriol levels in numerous human tissues, including nerve and muscle tissue, are increased when inputs of its substrate, the prehormone vitamin D, are increased.
We reviewed the world's literature for evidence that vitamin D affects physical and athletic performance.
Numerous studies, particularly in the German literature in the 1950s, show vitamin D-producing ultraviolet light improves athletic performance. Furthermore, a consistent literature indicates physical and athletic performance is seasonal; it peaks when 25-hydroxy-vitamin D 25(OH)D levels peak, declines as they decline, and reaches its nadir when 25(OH)D levels are at their lowest. Vitamin D also increases the size and number of Type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers. Most cross-sectional studies show that 25(OH)D levels are directly associated with musculoskeletal performance in older individuals. Most randomized controlled trials, again mostly in older individuals, show that vitamin D improves physical performance.
Vitamin D may improve athletic performance in vitamin D-deficient athletes. Peak athletic performance may occur when 25(OH)D levels approach those obtained by natural, full-body, summer sun exposure, which is at least 50 ng x mL(-1). Such 25(OH)D levels may also protect the athlete from several acute and chronic medical conditions.
Modeling the Distinct Phases of Skill Acquisition Tenison, Caitlin; Anderson, John R
Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition,
05/2016, Volume:
42, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
A focus of early mathematics education is to build fluency through practice. Several models of skill acquisition have sought to explain the increase in fluency because of practice by modeling both ...the learning mechanisms driving this speedup and the changes in cognitive processes involved in executing the skill (such as transitioning from calculation to retrieval). In the current study, we use hidden Markov modeling to identify transitions in the learning process. This method accounts for the gradual speedup in problem solving and also uncovers abrupt changes in reaction time, which reflect changes in the cognitive processes that participants are using to solve math problems. We find that as participants practice solving math problems they transition through 3 distinct learning states. Each learning state shows some speedup with practice, but the major speedups are produced by transitions between learning states. In examining and comparing the behavioral and neurological profiles of each of these states, we find parallels with the 3 phases of skill acquisition proposed by Fitts and Posner (1967): a cognitive, an associative, and an autonomous phase.
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Stroke is a significant cause of mortality worldwide, and diabetes is an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke occurrence and recurrence. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) ...lower the risk of ischemic stroke through beneficial effects on traditional stroke risk factors such as hyperglycemia, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Primary care practitioners (PCPs) can play a substantial role in reducing ischemic stroke; studies have indicated that patients who have a PCP at the time of first stroke have a lower risk of stroke recurrence. Clinical practice guidelines recommend treating type 2 diabetes in patients with or at risk for cardiovascular (CV) disease with glucose-lowering agents with proven CV benefit, such as GLP-1 RAs and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. Based on meta-analyses of CV outcomes trials, GLP-1 RAs have a substantial and statistically significant benefit on ischemic stroke risk reduction, whereas SGLT2 inhibitors have a nonsignificant effect. The use of GLP-1 RAs, in addition to non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic management of traditional stroke risk factors, is a key component of complex therapy for ischemic stroke risk reduction.
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Neuroimaging studies have reported overlapping neural circuits for cognitive control when engaging in tasks that involve verbal and nonverbal stimuli in young adult bilinguals. However, no study to ...date has examined the neural basis of verbal and nonverbal task switching in both monolinguals and bilinguals due to the inherent challenge of testing verbal task switching with monolinguals. Therefore, it is not clear whether the finding for overlapping networks is unique to bilingualism or indicative of general cognitive control. To address this question, the current study compared functional neural activation for young adults who were bilingual speakers of English and French or monolingual English speakers who had limited French learning experience (“functional monolinguals”) on verbal and nonverbal task switching. Analyses showed common variance explaining general cognitive control in task switching across verbal and nonverbal domains for both groups, in line with the explanation that task switching involves general cognitive control, as well as unique brain regions recruited by monolinguals and bilinguals. Specifically, beyond the processing common to the tasks, monolinguals also recruited distinct networks for each of verbal and nonverbal switching but bilinguals used a common shared network. Thus, the domain-general aspect of switching is different for monolinguals and bilinguals.
•Monolinguals and bilinguals compared on both language switching and task switching in fMRI.•Both common and unique networks involved in both tasks.•Monolinguals used primarily distinct networks for the two tasks.•Bilinguals used primarily common networks for the two tasks.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The Ghosts of Brain States Past Danker, Jared F; Anderson, John R
Psychological bulletin,
01/2010, Volume:
136, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
There is growing evidence that the brain regions involved in encoding an episode are partially reactivated when that episode is later remembered. That is, the process of remembering an episode ...involves literally returning to the brain state that was present during that episode. This article reviews studies of episodic and associative memory that provide support for the assertion that encoding regions are reactivated during subsequent retrieval. In the first section, studies are reviewed in which neutral stimuli were associated with different modalities of sensory stimuli or different valences of emotional stimuli. When the neutral stimuli were later used as retrieval cues, relevant sensory and emotion processing regions were reactivated. In the second section, studies are reviewed in which participants used different strategies for encoding stimuli. When the stimuli were later retrieved, regions associated with the different encoding strategies were reactivated. Together, these studies demonstrate not only that the encoding experience determines which regions are activated during subsequent retrieval but also that the same regions are activated during encoding and retrieval. In the final section, relevant questions are posed and discussed regarding the reactivation of encoding regions during retrieval.
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Diet, Nutrients, and Bone Health Anderson, John J. B; Garner, Sanford C; Klemmer, Philip J
2016, 2012., 2012, 2011, 2016-04-19
eBook, Book
"Presenting recent advancements in research findings and the resulting new schools of thought on the physiology of human bone, this comprehensive reference examines information on dietary pattern and ...specific nutrients in bone health. Written by experts in the areas of nutrition, bone function, and medicine, chapters include research on a variety of bone-related topics including effects of vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants; dietary requirements; physical exercise; bone hormones; lifestyle and effects through the life cycle; race and ethnicity; and prevention of bone diseases including osteopenia and osteoporosis"--
Sharing both innate and adaptive immune properties, γδT cells are attractive candidates for cellular engineering. As the cancer immunotherapy field becomes increasingly busy, orthogonal approaches ...are required to drive advancement. Engineering of alternative effector cell types such as γδT cells represents one such approach. γδT cells can be modified using many of the techniques used in αβT cell engineering, with the added advantage of innate-like tumor recognition and killing. Progress has been made in T-cell receptor transfer to and from γδT cells as well as in a number of chimeric antigen receptor-based strategies. As the cancer immunotherapy field moves beyond repetitive iteration of established constructs to more creative solutions, γδT cells may offer an attractive chassis to drive anti-tumor responses that are not only broader, but also possess a more favorable safety profile.
Early childhood growth deficits have been shown to have lifelong health and economic impacts, yet their connection to one of their underlying causes, diarrheal diseases, has remained difficult to ...characterize. Identifying the processes and mechanisms that underlie this link has remained a challenge due to the complexity of the relationship and limitations in access to more advanced laboratory methods. In recent years, however, several large-scale, multisite studies have extensively investigated and reported the prevalence, etiology, and impacts of diarrheal diseases in children under 5 years (CU5) in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs). These studies, in combination with several single-site studies, have applied more advanced laboratory methods to uncover the etiology, true prevalence, infection mechanisms, and inflammation biomarkers of diarrheal disease. Of the multiple pathogens that have been shown to be strongly associated with diarrheal disease in CU5, Shigella is one of the more prevalent and impactful of these pathogens. In this narrative review, we highlight key insights from these studies and identify knowledge gaps and directions for future research. According to these studies, Shigella is most commonly detected in toddlers and young children; however, it can cause more severe disease and has a greater impact on linear growth for infants. Shigella often has a stronger relationship to linear growth faltering (LGF) than other enteropathogens, with higher Shigella loads resulting in greater growth deficits. Future studies should employ more Shigella-specific molecular assays and identify diarrheal etiologies using standardized diagnostics to improve child anthropometric and Shigella surveillance. Also, they should focus on uncovering the mechanisms of the relationship underlying Shigella and growth faltering to better characterize the role of asymptomatic infections and intestinal inflammation in this relationship.
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Household drinking water can be contaminated by diarrheagenic enteropathogens at numerous points between the source and actual consumption. Interventions to prevent this contamination have focused on ...preventing exposure to human waste through interventions to improve drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). In many cases though, the infectious agent may be of zoonotic rather than human origin suggesting that unsafely managed animal waste may contribute to the contamination of household drinking water and the associated diarrheal disease burden.
A cross-sectional household survey of 800 households was conducted across three informal peri-urban neighborhoods of Kisumu, Kenya, collecting stored drinking water samples, administering a household survey including water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and behaviors, and recording domestic animal presence and ownership. We used multivariate logistic regression to assess the association of traditional WASH factors and domestic animal presence and ownership on microbial contamination of household drinking water.
The majority of households sampled had fecally contaminated drinking water (67%), defined by the presence of any colony forming units of the fecal indicator bacteria enterococci. After adjustment for potential confounders, including socio-economic status and water and sanitation access, both household animal ownership (aOR 1.31; CI 1.00-1.73, p = 0.05) and the presence of animal waste in the household compound (aOR 1.38; CI 1.01, 1.89, p = 0.04) were found to be significantly associated with household drinking water contamination. None of the conventional WASH variables were found to be significantly associated with household drinking water contamination in the study population.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene strategies to reduce diarrheal disease should consider the promotion of safe animal contact alongside more traditional interventions focusing on the management of human waste. Future research on fecal contamination of unsafe household drinking water should utilize host-specific markers to determine whether the source is human or animal to prepare targeted public health messages.
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