This study examined the influence of the opposing team, seasonal variations and the influence of first half activity on match performance in top-level soccer players. Physical performance measures ...were collected using the ProZone match analysis system from 20 professional soccer players from the same team and their opponents (n = 188) during a season. Match activities (standing, walking, jogging, running, high-speed running and sprinting), distances (total distance TD, high-intensity running HIR and very high-intensity running VHIR) and other measures including involvement with the ball and peak running speed were collected. The influence of opponent team, the level of opposition, first half physical activities on second half activities, and playing position were analysed. The main finding was that TD (r = 0.62, p < 0.05), HIR (r = 0.51, p < 0.05), and VHIR (r = 0.65, p < 0.05) of the reference team was influenced by the activity profile of the opponent teams. The TD and HIR was higher against Best opponent teams compared to Worst opponent teams (p < 0.05), and the TD, HIR and VHIR travelled in the first half significantly influenced the distances covered in the second half. TD, HIR and VHIR were greater at the end of the season. These results may be used to interpret meaningful changes in match performance in top level soccer.
We compared the accuracy of 2 GPS systems with different sampling rates for the determination of distances covered at high-speed and metabolic power derived from a combination of running speed and ...acceleration. 8 participants performed 56 bouts of shuttle intermittent running wearing 2 portable GPS devices (SPI-Pro, GPS-5 Hz and MinimaxX, GPS-10 Hz). The GPS systems were compared with a radar system as a criterion measure. The variables investigated were: total distance (TD), high-speed distance (HSR>4.17 m·s(-1)), very high-speed distance (VHSR>5.56 m·s(-1)), mean power (Pmean), high metabolic power (HMP>20 W·kg(-1)) and very high metabolic power (VHMP>25 W·kg(-1)). GPS-5 Hz had low error for TD (2.8%) and Pmean (4.5%), while the errors for the other variables ranged from moderate to high (7.5-23.2%). GPS-10 Hz demonstrated a low error for TD (1.9%), HSR (4.7%), Pmean (2.4%) and HMP (4.5%), whereas the errors for VHSR (10.5%) and VHMP (6.2%) were moderate. In general, GPS accuracy increased with a higher sampling rate, but decreased with increasing speed of movement. Both systems could be used for calculating TD and Pmean, but they cannot be used interchangeably. Only GPS-10 Hz demonstrated a sufficient level of accuracy for quantifying distance covered at higher speeds or time spent at very high power.
The aim of this study was to examine the construct validity of selected field tests as indicators of match-related physical performance. During the competitive season, eighteen professional soccer ...players (age 26.2 +/- 4.5 yrs, mass 80.8 +/- 7.8 kg, and height 181.9 +/- 3.7 cm) completed an incremental running field test to exhaustion, a vertical-jump and a repeated-sprint ability (RSA) test. Match physical performance was quantified during official matches using a video-computerized, semi-automatic, match analysis image recognition system, (ProZone, Leeds, UK). The selected measures of match physical performance were: total distance covered (TD), high intensity running (HIR: > 14.4 km . h (-1)), very high intensity running (VHIR:> 19.8 km . h (-1)), sprinting (> 25.2 km . h (-1)) and top running speed. Significant correlations were found between peak speed reached during the incremental field test and TD (r = 0.58, R (2) = 0.34; p < 0.05), HIR (r = 0.65, R (2) = 0.42; p < 0.01) and VHIR (r = 0.64, R (2) = 0.41; p < 0.01). Significant correlations were also found between RSA mean time and VHIR (r = - 0.60, R (2) = 0.36; p < 0.01) and sprinting distance (r = - 0.65, R (2) = 0.42; p < 0.01). Significant differences were found between the best and worst group as defined by the median split technique for peak speed (TD = 12 011 +/- 747 m vs. 10 712 +/- 669, HIR = 3192 +/- 482 m vs. 2314 +/- 347 m, and VHIR = 1014 +/- 120 vs. 779 +/- 122 m, respectively; p < 0.05) and RSA mean time (VHIR = 974 +/- 162 m vs. 819 +/- 144 m, and sprinting = 235 +/- 56 vs. 164 +/- 58 m, respectively; p < 0.05). In conclusion, this study gives empirical support to the construct validity of RSA and incremental running tests as measures of match-related physical performance in top-level professional soccer players.
Objective
We examined the relationship between biological rhythms and severity of depressive symptoms in subjects with bipolar disorder and the effects of biological rhythms alterations on functional ...impairment.
Method
Bipolar patients (n = 260) and healthy controls (n = 191) were recruited from mood disorders programs in three sites (Spain, Brazil, and Canada). Parameters of biological rhythms were measured using the Biological Rhythms Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (BRIAN), an interviewer administered questionnaire that assesses disruptions in sleep, eating patterns, social rhythms, and general activity.
Results
Multivariate analyses of covariance showed significant intergroup differences after controlling for potential confounders (Pillai's F = 49.367; df = 2, P < 0.001). Depressed patients had the greatest biological rhythms disturbance, followed by patients with subsyndromal symptoms, euthymic patients, and healthy controls. Biological rhythms and HAMD scores were independent predictors of poor functioning (F = 12.841, df = 6, P < 0.001, R2 = 0.443).
Conclusion
Our study shows a dose‐dependent association between the severity of depressive symptoms and degree of biological rhythms disturbance. Biological rhythms disturbance was also an independent predictor of functional impairment. Although the directionality of this relationship remains unknown, our results suggest that stability of biological rhythms should be an important target of acute and long‐term management of bipolar disorder and may aid in the improvement of functioning.
Due to its potential use as a carbon-free energy resource with minimal environmental and climate impacts, natural hydrogen (H2) produced by subsurface geochemical processes is today the target of ...intensive research. In H2 exploration practices, bacteria are thought to swiftly consume H2 and, therefore, small near-surface concentrations of H2, even orders of 102 ppmv in soils, are considered a signal of active migration of geological gas, potentially revealing underground resources. Here, we document an extraordinary case of a widespread occurrence of H2 (up to 1 vol%), together with elevated concentrations of CH4 and CO2 (up to 51 and 27 vol%, respectively), in aerated meadow soils along Italian Alps valleys. Based on current literature, this finding would be classified as a discovery of pervasive and massive geological H2 seepage. Nevertheless, an ensemble of gas geochemical and soil microbiological analyses, including bulk and clumped CH4 isotopes, radiocarbon of CH4 and CO2, and DNA and mcrA gene quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses, revealed that H2 was only coupled to modern microbial gas. The H2-CO2-CH4-H2S association, wet soil proximity, and the absence of other geogenic gases in soils and springs suggest that H2 derives from near-surface fermentation, rather than geological degassing. H2 concentrations up to 1 vol% in soils are not conclusive evidence of deep gas seepage. This study provides a new reference for the potential of microbial H2, CH4 and CO2 in soils, to be considered in H2 exploration guidelines and soil carbon and greenhouse-gas cycle research.
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•High concentrations of H2, CH4 and CO2 in soil resembling geological seepage•Modern microbial CH4 and CO2 origin revealed by multiple isotopic analyses•The highest concentrations of microbial CH4 and CO2 ever reported in aerated soils•H2 up to 1 vol% in aerated soil may not necessarily be related to geological degassing.•Re-evaluation of the interpretation of H2 in soils for natural hydrogen exploration
Our knowledge about the neurobiology of suicide is limited. It has been proposed that suicidal behavior generally requires biological abnormalities concomitant with the personality trait of ...impulsivity/aggression, besides an acute psychiatric illness or psychosocial stressor. We investigated fronto-limbic anatomical brain abnormalities in suicidal and non-suicidal adult female patients with unipolar depression. Our sample consisted of seven suicidal unipolar patients, 10 non-suicidal unipolar patients and 17 healthy female comparison subjects. The criterion for suicidality was one or more documented lifetime suicide attempts. A 1.5T GE Signa Imaging System running version Signa 5.4.3 software was used to acquire the magnetic resonance imaging images. All anatomical structures were measured blindly, with the subjects' identities and group assignments masked. We used analysis of covariance with age and intracranial volume as covariates and the Tukey-Kramer procedure to compare suicidal patients, non-suicidal patients and healthy comparison subjects. Suicidal patients had smaller right and left orbitofrontal cortex gray matter volumes compared with healthy comparison subjects. Suicidal patients had larger right amygdala volumes than non-suicidal patients. Abnormalities in the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala in suicidal patients may impair decision-making and predispose these patients to act more impulsively and to attempt suicide.
Ongoing studies conducted in northern polar regions reveal that permafrost stability plays a key role in the modern carbon cycle as it potentially stores considerable quantities of greenhouse gases. ...Rapid and recent warming of the Arctic permafrost is resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions, both from physical and microbial processes. The potential impact of greenhouse gas release from the Antarctic region has not, to date, been investigated. In Antarctica, the McMurdo Dry Valleys comprise 10 % of the ice-free soil surface areas in Antarctica and like the northern polar regions are also warming albeit at a slower rate.
The work presented herein examines a comprehensive sample suite of soil gas (e.g., CO2, CH4 and He) concentrations and CO2 flux measurements conducted in Taylor Valley during austral summer 2019/2020. Analytical results reveal the presence of significant concentrations of CO2, CH4 and He (up to 3.44 vol%, 18,447 ppmv and 6.49 ppmv, respectively) at the base of the active layer. When compared with the few previously obtained measurements, we observe increased CO2 flux rates (estimated CO2 emissions in the study area of 21.6 km2 ≈ 15 tons day−1). We suggest that the gas source is connected with the deep brines migrating from inland (potentially from beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet) towards the coast beneath the permafrost layer. These data provide a baseline for future investigations aimed at monitoring the changing rate of greenhouse gas emissions from Antarctic permafrost, and the potential origin of gases, as the southern polar region warms.
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•First extensive soil gas and flux survey in Antarctica•Discovered zones of multigas (CO2, CH4, He, H2) anomalies•CO2 emissions estimation in Lower Taylor Valley•Gas rising from deep brines
Background: Anatomical abnormalities in the corpus callosum have been reported in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in patients with bipolar but not unipolar disorder. MRI signal intensity can ...be used as a putative index of corpus callosum myelination. Objectives: To measure MRI signal intensity in patients with bipolar and unipolar disorder to investigate abnormalities of corpus callosum myelination. Methods: The study involved 29 DSM-IV bipolar patients (mean (SD) age, 35 (11) years; 16 male, 13 female), 23 DSM-IV unipolar patients (41 (10) years; 4 male, 19 female), and 36 healthy controls (37 (10) years; 23 male, 13 female). A 1.5T GE Signa magnet was employed, with a fast spin echo sequence. Corpus callosum signal intensity was obtained blindly using the semiautomated software NIH Image 1.62. Results: Bipolar patients had lower corpus callosum signal intensity for all callosal subregions (genu, anterior and posterior body, isthmus, splenium) than healthy controls (ANCOVA, age and sex as covariates, p<0.05). No significant differences were found between unipolar and healthy subjects (ANCOVA, age and sex as covariates, p>0.05). Conclusions: The findings suggest abnormalities in corpus callosum white matter in bipolar but not unipolar patients, possibly because of altered myelination. Such abnormalities could lead to impaired interhemispheric communication in bipolar disorder. Longitudinal MRI studies involving first episode and early onset bipolar patients will be necessary for a better understanding of the potential role of abnormalities of corpus callosum myelination in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder.
To validate accelerometer counts against oxygen uptake in 9 to 11years old children performing a number of highly variable physical activities and to determine accelerometer cut-off points for ...sedentary behavior, light, moderate, and vigorous physical activities.
Eight boys and 6 girls aged 9 to 11 years old (height: 1.40±0.06m, body mass: 33.5±5.1kg, BMI: 16.9±2.0kg/m2, body fat: 17.0±4.8%, estimated VO2max: 50.85±4.8ml.kg−1.min−1) volunteered to participate in this study. They performed eight activities of different intensity namely watching TV, arts-crafts, slow and brisk forward walking, slow backward walking, forward running, aerobics and step-ups while VO2 and counts were determined using indirect calorimetry and accelerometer, respectively.
A highly significant correlation was found between accelerometer counts and VO2 (r=0.86, P<0.01). Significant differences were observed between predicted and measured VO2 for ART, SWB and Aerobic activities (P=0.0003; P<0.0001 and P=0.0004, respectively). Bland and Altman plot revealed no significant bias for all other activities (−0.6ml.kg−1.min−1, P=0.347) with 95% limits of agreement (LoA)±9.7ml.kg−1.min−1. In addition, watching TV and participating in art activities were classified as sedentary activities (<61 counts. min−1), slow walking forward was classified as light activity (61–3435 counts. min−1), slow backward walking, brisk walking and aerobics were classified as moderate activities (3436–6100 counts. min−1) and step-ups and running were defined as vigorous activities (≥6101 counts. min−1).
Valider les données d’un accéléromètre par rapport aux valeurs de la consommation d’oxygène chez des enfants âgés entre 9 et 11 ans réalisant des activités physiques d’intensités variables et de déterminer les points de rupture de l’accéléromètre entre les activités dites sédentaires, légères, modérées et vigoureuses.
Huit garçons et 6 filles âgés entre 9 et 11 ans (taille : 1,40±0,06m, masse corporelle : 33,5±5,1kg, IMC : 16,9±2,0kg/m2, masse grasse : 17,0±4,8%, VO2max estimé : 50,85±4,8mL.kg−1.min−1) ont participé volontairement à cette étude. Ils ont réalisé 8 activités d’intensités variables : regarder la télévision, participer à des activités artistiques, marche lente et rapide, marche lente vers l’arrière, course avant, aérobic et step-ups durant lesquelles le nombre de coups et la consommation d’oxygène sont déterminés en utilisant respectivement la calorimétrie indirecte et l’accéléromètre.
Une forte corrélation est enregistrée entre le nombre de coups donné par l’accéléromètre et la consommation d’oxygène (r=0,86, p<0,01). Des différences significatives ont été observées entre les valeurs mesurées et celles prédites pour les activités artistiques, la marche en arrière et aérobie (respectivement, p=0,0003 ; p<0,0001 et p=0,0004). La figure de Bland et Altman montre des différences non significatives au niveau du biais pour toutes les autres activités (−0.6mL.kg−1.min−1p=0,347) avec 95% des limites de concordance (LoA) ±9.7mL.kg−1.min−1. En plus, regarder la télévision et participer aux activités artistiques sont classés comme comportements sédentaires (<61 coups.min−1), la marche lente vers l’avant est classée comme activité légère (61–3435 coups.min−1), la marche lente vers l’arrière, la marche rapide et l’aérobic sont classés comme intensité modérée (3436–6100 coups.min−1) et la course avant et le step-ups sont classés comme activités vigoureuses (≥6101 coups.min−1).
•We propose a semi-supervised feature selection method in bipolar disorder.•Regional brain cortical thickness was used to automatically identify the most relevant areas.•Parietal and temporal areas ...were automatically found as the most involved with BD.•We proposed a novel imaging based diagnostic metric.
Bipolar disorder (BD) broadly affects brain structure, in particular areas involved in emotion processing and cognition. In the last years, the psychiatric field's interest in machine learning approaches has been steadily growing, thanks to the potentiality of automatically discriminating patients from healthy controls.
In this work, we employed cortical thickness of 58 regions of interest obtained from magnetic resonance imaging scans of 41 BD patients and 34 healthy controls, to automatically identify the regions which are mostly involved with the disease. We used a semi-supervised method, addressing the criticisms on supervised methods, related to the fact that the diagnosis is not unaffected by uncertainty.
Our results confirm findings in previous studies, with a classification accuracy of about 75% when mean thickness and skewness of up to five regions are considered. We obtained that the parietal lobe and some areas in the temporal sulcus were the regions which were the most involved with BD.
The major limitation of our work is the limited size or our dataset, but in line with other recent machine learning works in the field. Moreover, we considered chronic patients, whose brain characteristics may thus be affected.
The automatic selection of the brain regions most involved in BD may be of great importance when dealing with the pathogenesis of the disorder. Our method selected regions which are known to be involved with BD, indicating that damage to the identified areas can be considered as a marker of disease.
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