TY - JOUR A1 - Hortobagyi, Tibor A1 - Lesinski, Melanie A1 - Fernandez-del-Olmo, Miguel A1 - Granacher, Urs T1 - Small and inconsistent effects of whole body vibration on athletic performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis JF - European journal of applied physiology N2 - We quantified the acute and chronic effects of whole body vibration on athletic performance or its proxy measures in competitive and/or elite athletes. Systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Whole body vibration combined with exercise had an overall 0.3 % acute effect on maximal voluntary leg force (-6.4 %, effect size = -0.43, 1 study), leg power (4.7 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.30, 6 studies), flexibility (4.6 %, effect size = -0.12 to 0.22, 2 studies), and athletic performance (-1.9 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.26, 6 studies) in 191 (103 male, 88 female) athletes representing eight sports (overall effect size = 0.28). Whole body vibration combined with exercise had an overall 10.2 % chronic effect on maximal voluntary leg force (14.6 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.44, 5 studies), leg power (10.7 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.42, 9 studies), flexibility (16.5 %, effect size = 0.57 to 0.61, 2 studies), and athletic performance (-1.2 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.45, 5 studies) in 437 (169 male, 268 female) athletes (overall effect size = 0.44). Whole body vibration has small and inconsistent acute and chronic effects on athletic performance in competitive and/or elite athletes. These findings lead to the hypothesis that neuromuscular adaptive processes following whole body vibration are not specific enough to enhance athletic performance. Thus, other types of exercise programs (e.g., resistance training) are recommended if the goal is to improve athletic performance. KW - Exercise KW - Muscle KW - Force KW - Power KW - Skill KW - Reflex KW - Endocrine KW - Metabolism Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3194-9 SN - 1439-6319 SN - 1439-6327 VL - 115 IS - 8 SP - 1605 EP - 1625 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vogt, Julia H. M. A1 - Schippers, Jos H. M. T1 - Setting the PAS, the role of circadian PAS domain proteins during environmental adaptation in plants JF - Frontiers in plant science N2 - The per-ARNT-sim (PAS) domain represents an ancient protein module that can be found across all kingdoms of life. The domain functions as a sensing unit for a diverse array of signals, including molecular oxygen, small metabolites, and light. In plants, several PAS domain-containing proteins form an integral part of the circadian clock and regulate responses to environmental change. Moreover, these proteins function in pathways that control development and plant stress adaptation responses. Here, we discuss the role of PAS domain-containing proteins in anticipation, and adaptation to environmental changes in plants. KW - PAS domain KW - circadian clock KW - signal transduction KW - environmental stress response KW - growth adaptation Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2015.00513 SN - 1664-462X VL - 6 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Petrov, Veselin A1 - Hille, Jacques A1 - Müller-Röber, Bernd A1 - Gechev, Tsanko S. T1 - ROS-mediated abiotic stress-induced programmed cell death in plants JF - Frontiers in plant science N2 - During the course of their ontogenesis plants are continuously exposed to a large variety of abiotic stress factors which can damage tissues and jeopardize the survival of the organism unless properly countered. While animals can simply escape and thus evade stressors, plants as sessile organisms have developed complex strategies to withstand them. When the intensity of a detrimental factor is high, one of the defense programs employed by plants is the induction of programmed cell death (PCD). This is an active, genetically controlled process which is initiated to isolate and remove damaged tissues thereby ensuring the survival of the organism. The mechanism of PCD induction usually includes an increase in the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are utilized as mediators of the stress signal. Abiotic stress-induced PCD is not only a process of fundamental biological importance, but also of considerable interest to agricultural practice as it has the potential to significantly influence crop yield. Therefore, numerous scientific enterprises have focused on elucidating the mechanisms leading to and controlling PCD in response to adverse conditions in plants. This knowledge may help develop novel strategies to obtain more resilient crop varieties with improved tolerance and enhanced productivity. The aim of the present review is to summarize the recent advances in research on ROS-induced PCD related to abiotic stress and the role of the organelles in the process. KW - abiotic stress KW - programmed cell death KW - reactive oxygen species KW - signal transduction KW - stress adaptation Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2015.00069 SN - 1664-462X VL - 6 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Campbell, Kevin L. A1 - Hofreiter, Michael T1 - Resurrecting phenotypes from ancient DNA sequences: promises and perspectives JF - Canadian journal of zoology = Revue canadienne de zoologie N2 - Anatomical changes in extinct mammalian lineages over evolutionary time, such as the loss of fingers and teeth and the rapid increase in body size that accompanied the late Miocene dispersal of the progenitors of Steller's sea cows (Hydrodamalis gigas (Zimmermann, 1780)) into North Pacific waters and the convergent development of a thick pelage and accompanying reductions in ear and tail surface area of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1799)) and woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799)), are prime examples of adaptive evolution underlying the exploitation of new habitats. It is likely, however, that biochemical specializations adopted during these evolutionary transitions were of similar or even greater biological importance. As these "living" processes do not fossilize, direct information regarding the physiological attributes of extinct species has largely remained beyond the range of scientific inquiry. However, the ability to retrieve genomic sequences from ancient DNA samples, combined with ectopic expression systems, now permit the evolutionary origins and structural and functional properties of authentic prehistoric proteins to be examined in great detail. Exponential technical advances in ancient DNA retrieval, enrichment, and sequencing will soon permit targeted generation of complete genomes from hundreds of extinct species across the last one million years that, in combination with emerging in vitro expression, genome engineering, and cell differentiation techniques, promises to herald an exciting new trajectory of evolutionary research at the interface of biochemistry, genomics, palaeontology, and cell biology. KW - paleophysiology KW - ancient DNA KW - extinct species KW - adaptation KW - protein structure Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2014-0337 SN - 0008-4301 SN - 1480-3283 VL - 93 IS - 9 SP - 701 EP - 710 PB - NRC Research Press CY - Ottawa ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Witzel, Katja A1 - Neugart, Susanne A1 - Ruppel, Silke A1 - Schreiner, Monika A1 - Wiesner, Melanie A1 - Baldermann, Susanne T1 - Recent progress in the use of 'omics technologies in brassicaceous vegetables JF - Frontiers in plant science N2 - Continuing advances in 'omics methodologies and instrumentation is enhancing the understanding of how plants cope with the dynamic nature of their growing environment. 'Omics platforms have been only recently extended to cover horticultural crop species. Many of the most widely cultivated vegetable crops belong to the genus Brassica: these include plants grown for their root (turnip, rutabaga/swede), their swollen stem base (kohlrabi), their leaves (cabbage, kale, pak choi) and their inflorescence (cauliflower, broccoli). Characterization at the genome, transcript, protein and metabolite levels has illustrated the complexity of the cellular response to a whole series of environmental stresses, including nutrient deficiency, pathogen attack, heavy metal toxicity, cold acclimation, and excessive and sub optimal irradiation. This review covers recent applications of omics technologies to the brassicaceous vegetables, and discusses future scenarios in achieving improvements in crop end-use quality. KW - genomics KW - transcriptomics KW - metabolomics KW - proteomics KW - crop KW - microbiomics Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2015.00244 SN - 1664-462X VL - 6 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vankar, Yashwant D. A1 - Linker, Torsten T1 - Recent Developments in the Synthesis of 2-C-Branched and 1,2-Annulated Carbohydrates JF - European journal of organic chemistry N2 - The importance of carbohydrate chemistry in biological and medicinal chemistry has led to enormous developments in the synthesis of carbohydrate mimics. In this context, the synthesis of branched sugars in general and of 2-C-branched carbohydrates in particular, as well as the synthesis of 1,2-annulated sugars, have received immense attention. They serve not only as carbohydrate mimics in the form of stand-alone molecules, but also as useful intermediates in the synthesis of many natural products, their analogues, and glycosidase inhibitors. This microreview covers the recent synthetic efforts in this area and puts the subject matter into proper perspective for future developments. KW - Synthetic methods KW - Annulation KW - Carbohydrates KW - Carbohydrate mimics Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.201501176 SN - 1434-193X SN - 1099-0690 IS - 35 SP - 7633 EP - 7642 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Knapp, Michael A1 - Lalueza-Fox, Carles A1 - Hofreiter, Michael T1 - Re-inventing ancient human DNA JF - Investigative Genetics N2 - For a long time, the analysis of ancient human DNA represented one of the most controversial disciplines in an already controversial field of research. Scepticism in this field was only matched by the long-lasting controversy over the authenticity of ancient pathogen DNA. This ambiguous view on ancient human DNA had a dichotomous root. On the one hand, the interest in ancient human DNA is great because such studies touch on the history and evolution of our own species. On the other hand, because these studies are dealing with samples from our own species, results are easily compromised by contamination of the experiments with modern human DNA, which is ubiquitous in the environment. Consequently, some of the most disputed studies published - apart maybe from early reports on million year old dinosaur or amber DNA - reported DNA analyses from human subfossil remains. However, the development of so-called next-or second-generation sequencing (SGS) in 2005 and the technological advances associated with it have generated new confidence in the genetic study of ancient human remains. The ability to sequence shorter DNA fragments than with PCR amplification coupled to traditional Sanger sequencing, along with very high sequencing throughput have both reduced the risk of sequencing modern contamination and provided tools to evaluate the authenticity of DNA sequence data. The field is now rapidly developing, providing unprecedented insights into the evolution of our own species and past human population dynamics as well as the evolution and history of human pathogens and epidemics. Here, we review how recent technological improvements have rapidly transformed ancient human DNA research from a highly controversial subject to a central component of modern anthropological research. We also discuss potential future directions of ancient human DNA research. KW - Archaic humans KW - Human evolution KW - Human population genomics KW - Next/second-generation sequencing Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13323-015-0020-4 SN - 2041-2223 VL - 6 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hixson, Stefanie M. A1 - Sharma, Bhanu A1 - Kainz, Martin J. A1 - Wacker, Alexander A1 - Arts, Michael T. T1 - Production, distribution, and abundance of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: a fundamental dichotomy between freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems JF - Environmental reviews = Dossiers environnement N2 - Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) are critical for the health of aquatic and terrestrial organisms; therefore, understanding the production, distribution, and abundance of these compounds is imperative. Although the dynamics of LC-PUFA production and distribution in aquatic environments has been well documented, a systematic and comprehensive comparison to LC-PUFA in terrestrial environments has not been rigorously investigated. Here we use a data synthesis approach to compare and contrast fatty acid profiles of 369 aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Habitat and trophic level were interacting factors that determined the proportion of individual omega-3 (n-3) or omega-6 (n-6) PUFA in aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Higher total n-3 content compared with n-6 PUFA and a strong prevalence of the n-3 PUFA eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) characterized aquatic versus terrestrial organisms. Conversely, terrestrial organisms had higher linoleic acid (LNA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) contents than aquatic organisms; however, the ratio of ALA: LNA was higher in aquatic organisms. The EPA + DHA content was higher in aquatic animals than terrestrial organisms, and increased from algae to invertebrates to vertebrates in the aquatic environment. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that fatty acid composition was highly dependent on the interaction between habitat and trophic level. We conclude that freshwater ecosystems provide an essential service through the production of n-3 LC-PUFA that are required to maintain the health of terrestrial organisms including humans. KW - aquatic ecosystems KW - conservation KW - eicosapentaenoic acid KW - docosahexaenoic acid KW - food webs Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2015-0029 SN - 1208-6053 SN - 1181-8700 VL - 23 IS - 4 SP - 414 EP - 424 PB - NRC Research Press CY - Ottawa ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulz, Michael Karl T1 - Politics and Law: Perspective Series of German-Jewish History JF - German history : the journal of the German History Societ Y1 - 2015 SN - 0266-3554 SN - 1477-089X VL - 33 IS - 1 SP - 145 EP - 147 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Spahn, Hannah T1 - Poetics of character: transatlantic encounters, 1700-1900 JF - EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE Y1 - 2015 SN - 0012-8163 SN - 1534-147X VL - 50 IS - 2 SP - 616 EP - 621 PB - Univ. of North Carolina Press CY - Chapel Hill ER -