scholarly journals Does Love Influence Athletic Performance? The Perspectives of Olympic Athletes

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Campbell ◽  
Cheyenne Hosseini ◽  
Kelly Myers ◽  
Nina Calub

In this brief report, we provide an initial account of the association between love and athletic performance from the perspective of Olympic athletes. We posit that Romantic Passionate Love (RPL) and athletic performance may both involve the reward-motivation system of the brain. Based on this premise, we explored whether activation in one domain (love) might influence the other (sport). Our investigation was framed using Sternberg’s triangular theory of love. Twenty Olympic athletes representing different sports were interviewed at the Games. Most athletes (n = 15) reported that their performance was better while in love; however, qualitative responses suggested that the benefits were correlated with rather than resulting from RPL. Although the athletes were provided with a definition of RPL and affirmed that their relationship met the criteria, interview responses reflected companionate rather than passionate love, suggesting that RPL may be differentially conceptualized across cultures. The study provides preliminary data that may be used to inform and refine future work on this topic.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silas E. Busch ◽  
Arseny S. Khakhalin

AbstractHomeostatic intrinsic plasticity is often described as an adjustment of neuronal excitability to maintain stable spiking output. Here we report that intrinsic plasticity in the tectum of Xenopus tadpoles also supports temporal tuning, wherein neurons independently adjust spiking responses to fast and slow patterns of synaptic activation. Using the dynamic clamp technique, and five different types of visual, acoustic, and multisensory conditioning, we show that in tadpoles exposed to light flashes, tectal neurons became selective for fast synaptic inputs, while neurons exposed to looming and multisensory stimuli remained responsive to longer inputs. We also report a homeostatic co-tuning between synaptic and intrinsic temporal properties in tectal cells, as neurons that naturally received fast synaptic inputs tended to be most responsive to long-lasting synaptic conductances, and the other way around. These results expand our understanding of plasticity in the brain, and inform future work on the mechanisms of sensorimotor transformation.Significance statementWith the recent explosion of work in neural connectivity reconstruction and biologically inspired deep learning, most researchers concentrate on the topology of connections between neurons, rather than on differences in neuronal tuning. Here we show that in a sensory network in Xenopus tadpoles, different neurons are tuned, and respond stronger, to either short or long synaptic inputs. This tuning tended to be opposite to the actual dynamics of synaptic inputs each cell received, such that neurons that normally receive shorter inputs generated stronger spiking in response to longer testing currents, and the other way around. This observation shows that even in networks that don’t generate oscillations, neurons reshape their temporal selectivity, to optimize their impact on distributed calculations.


Author(s):  
K. T. Tokuyasu

During the past investigations of immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in ultrathin frozen sections, we found that the degree of negative staining required to delineate u1trastructural details was often too dense for the recognition of ferritin particles. The quality of positive staining of ultrathin frozen sections, on the other hand, has generally been far inferior to that attainable in conventional plastic embedded sections, particularly in the definition of membranes. As we discussed before, a main cause of this difficulty seemed to be the vulnerability of frozen sections to the damaging effects of air-water surface tension at the time of drying of the sections.Indeed, we found that the quality of positive staining is greatly improved when positively stained frozen sections are protected against the effects of surface tension by embedding them in thin layers of mechanically stable materials at the time of drying (unpublished).


Author(s):  
J. D. Hutchison

When the transmission electron microscope was commercially introduced a few years ago, it was heralded as one of the most significant aids to medical research of the century. It continues to occupy that niche; however, the scanning electron microscope is gaining rapidly in relative importance as it fills the gap between conventional optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.IBM Boulder is conducting three major programs in cooperation with the Colorado School of Medicine. These are the study of the mechanism of failure of the prosthetic heart valve, the study of the ultrastructure of lung tissue, and the definition of the function of the cilia of the ventricular ependyma of the brain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2109-2130
Author(s):  
Lauren Bislick

Purpose This study continued Phase I investigation of a modified Phonomotor Treatment (PMT) Program on motor planning in two individuals with apraxia of speech (AOS) and aphasia and, with support from prior work, refined Phase I methodology for treatment intensity and duration, a measure of communicative participation, and the use of effect size benchmarks specific to AOS. Method A single-case experimental design with multiple baselines across behaviors and participants was used to examine acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of treatment effects 8–10 weeks posttreatment. Treatment was distributed 3 days a week, and duration of treatment was specific to each participant (criterion based). Experimental stimuli consisted of target sounds or clusters embedded nonwords and real words, specific to each participants' deficit. Results Findings show improved repetition accuracy for targets in trained nonwords, generalization to targets in untrained nonwords and real words, and maintenance of treatment effects at 10 weeks posttreatment for one participant and more variable outcomes for the other participant. Conclusions Results indicate that a modified version of PMT can promote generalization and maintenance of treatment gains for trained speech targets via a multimodal approach emphasizing repeated exposure and practice. While these results are promising, the frequent co-occurrence of AOS and aphasia warrants a treatment that addresses both motor planning and linguistic deficits. Thus, the application of traditional PMT with participant-specific modifications for AOS embedded into the treatment program may be a more effective approach. Future work will continue to examine and maximize improvements in motor planning, while also treating anomia in aphasia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (05) ◽  
pp. 371-378
Author(s):  
Alfred O. Ankrah ◽  
Ismaheel O. Lawal ◽  
Tebatso M.G. Boshomane ◽  
Hans C. Klein ◽  
Thomas Ebenhan ◽  
...  

Abstract 18F-FDG and 68Ga-citrate PET/CT have both been shown to be useful in the management of tuberculosis (TB). We compared the abnormal PET findings of 18F-FDG- and 68Ga-citrate-PET/CT in patients with TB. Methods Patients with TB on anti-TB therapy were included. Patients had a set of PET scans consisting of both 18F-FDG and 68Ga-citrate. Abnormal lesions were identified, and the two sets of scans were compared. The scan findings were correlated to the clinical data as provided by the attending physician. Results 46 PET/CT scans were performed in 18 patients, 11 (61 %) were female, and the mean age was 35.7 ± 13.5 years. Five patients also had both studies for follow-up reasons during the use of anti-TB therapy. Thirteen patients were co-infected with HIV. 18F-FDG detected more lesions than 68Ga-citrate (261 vs. 166, p < 0.0001). 68Ga-citrate showed a better definition of intracerebral lesions due to the absence of tracer uptake in the brain. The mean SUVmax was higher for 18F-FDG compared to 68Ga-citrate (5.73 vs. 3.01, p < 0.0001). We found a significant correlation between the SUVmax of lesions that were determined by both tracers (r = 0.4968, p < 0.0001). Conclusion Preliminary data shows 18F-FDG-PET detects more abnormal lesions in TB compared to 68Ga-citrate. However, 68Ga-citrate has better lesion definition in the brain and is therefore especially useful when intracranial TB is suspected.


1968 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars-Ake Idahl ◽  
Bo Hellman

ABSTRACT The combination of enzymatic cycling and fluorometry was used for measuring glucose and glucose-6-phosphate in pancreatic β-cells from obese-hyperglycaemic mice. The glucose level of the β-cells corresponded to that of serum over a wide concentration range. In the exocrine pancreas, on the other hand, a significant barrier to glucose diffusion across the cell membranes was demonstrated. During 5 min of ischaemia, the glucose level remained practically unchanged in the β-cells while it increased in the liver and decreased in the brain. The observation that the pancreatic β-cells are characterized by a relatively low ratio of glucose-6-phosphate to glucose may be attributed to the presence of a specific glucose-6-phosphatase.


Author(s):  
Olena Karpenko ◽  
Tetiana Stoianova

The article is devoted to the study of personal names from a cognitive point of view. The study is based on the cognitive concept that speech actually exists not in the speech, not in linguistic writings and dictionaries, but in consciousness, in the mental lexicon, in the language of the brain. The conditions for identifying personal names can encompass not only the context, encyclopedias, and reference books, but also the sound form of the word. In the communicative process, during a free associative experiment, which included a name and a recipient’s mental lexicon. The recipient was assigned a task to quickly give some association to the name. The aggregate of a certain number of reactions of different recipients forms the associative field of a proper name. The associative experiment creates the best conditions for identifying the lexeme. The definition of a monosemantic personal name primarily includes the search of what it denotes, while during the process of identifying a polysemantic personal name recipients tend have different reactions. Scientific value is posed by the effect of the choice of letters for the name, sound symbolism, etc. The following belong to the generalized forms of identification: usage of a hyperonym; synonyms and periphrases or simple descriptions; associations denoting the whole (name stimulus) by reference to its part (associatives); cognitive structures such as “stimulus — association” and “whole (stimulus) — part (associative)”; lack of adjacency; mysterious associations. The topicality of the study is determined by its perspective to identify the directions of associative identification of proper names, which is one of the branches of cognitive onomastics. The purpose of the study is to identify, review, and highlight the directions of associative identification of proper names; the object of the research is the names in their entirety and variety; its subject is the existence of names in the mental lexicon, which determines the need for singling out the directions for the associative identification of the personal names.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  

Moderate endurance training is known to improve cardiovascular risk factors, and prolongs life expectancy. On the other hand, there has been some discussion whether “too much” exercise might have a contrarious effect by accelerating coronary atherosclerosis. The goal of this review was to evaluate the current literature on the effects of long-term vigorous endurance training on the coronary vasculature. In summary, data point to an increased calcium score, and a higher burden of atherosclerotic plaque in male athletes compared to sedentary controls. However, the plaques found in athletes were more prone to be calcified. The pathogenesis and clinical relevance of this athlete coronary artery disease phenotype remains incompletely understood and represents an area of important future work.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  

Moderate endurance training is known to improve cardiovascular risk factors, and prolongs life expectancy. On the other hand, there has been some discussion whether “too much” exercise might have a contrarious effect by accelerating coronary atherosclerosis. The goal of this review was to evaluate the current literature on the effects of long-term vigorous endurance training on the coronary vasculature. In summary, data point to an increased calcium score, and a higher burden of atherosclerotic plaque in male athletes compared to sedentary controls. However, the plaques found in athletes were more prone to be calcified. The pathogenesis and clinical relevance of this athlete coronary artery disease phenotype remains incompletely understood and represents an area of important future work.


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