Does resistance exercise lifting velocity change with different rest intervals?

BACKGROUND: In this study, we examined the sex difference of the effect of rest intervals on lifting velocity during resistance exercise. METHODS: Twenty-two trained subjects (11 men and 11 women) were included. Each protocol consisted of 3 sets of 10 repetitions at 70% of 1- repetition maximum (1RM) with rest intervals of 90 s (R90), 150 s (R150), and 240 s (R240) in a crossover design. The exercise did parallel squats with free weights. The measurement items are lifting velocity (mean velocity) in each repetition and blood lactate concentration after exercise. RESULTS: There was a significant interaction between changes in the average velocity of 10 repetition in each set (AV10rep) and sex in each protocol, indicating that AV10rep during squat exercise has decreased in men but not in women in each protocol (P=0.002-0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that short rest intervals will not recover lifting velocity between short rest intervals until the next set at men, while women will be able to recover even with short rest intervals.

Did Children in Single-Parent Households Have a Higher Probability of Emotional Instability during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Japan.

The influence of public health measures against COVID-19 in Japan on child mental health by household type is unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether COVID-19 and the declaration of a state of emergency in Japan affected children's mental health between single-parent and two-parent households disproportionately. A large cross-sectional online survey was conducted from August to September 2020. The study included 3365 parents with children aged 0-14 years old who reported their children's mental status during the declared state of emergency. Emotional instability was reported dichotomously by parents. As the primary result, the probability of emotional instability was higher in single-parent households compared with that in two-parent households after adjustments for potential covariates; the adjusted prevalence ratio (95% CI) was 1.26 (1.07-1.49). Our findings suggest a disproportionate impact on children's mental health due to the pandemic.

Colon stenosis due to acute neonatal appendicitis in a preterm baby: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Colon stenosis and acute appendicitis are rare diseases among premature babies. To the best of our knowledge, no study has identified both the conditions in preterm babies. CASE PRESENTATION: Here we report a case of a preterm Japanese male baby who developed ascending colon stenosis and appendicitis. During his neonatal intensive care unit stay, he developed increasing apnea and vomiting with rapidly worsening abdominal distention. Contrast radiographs indicated colon stenosis. Emergent exploratory laparotomy revealed ascending colon stenosis with appendix adhesion; both the lesions were surgically resected. The pathological findings suggested that he had appendicitis several weeks prior to the surgery; the onset of colon lesion seemed later than that of appendix. The perforated appendix was covered by the ascending colon, and inflammatory reactions led to the narrowing of the intestinal lumen. CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal appendicitis and colon stenosis are both challenging for the diagnosis, and early laparotomy is necessary when these conditions are suspected.

Recognition of cyclic-di-GMP by a riboswitch conducts translational repression through masking the ribosome-binding site distant from the aptamer domain.

The riboswitch is a class of RNA-based gene regulatory machinery that is dependent on recognition of its target ligand by RNA tertiary structures. Ligand recognition is achieved by the aptamer domain, and ligand-dependent structural changes of the expression platform then usually mediate termination of transcription or translational initiation. Ligand-dependent structural changes of the aptamer domain and expression platform have been reported for several riboswitches with short (<40 nucleotides) expression platforms. In this study, we characterized structural changes of the Vc2 c-di-GMP riboswitch that represses translation of downstream open reading frames in a ligand-dependent manner. The Vc2 riboswitch has a long (97 nucleotides) expression platform, but its structure and function are largely unknown. Through mutational analysis and chemical probing, we identified its secondary structures that are possibly responsible for switch-OFF and switch-ON states of translational initiation.

Human parechovirus infections and child myositis cases associated with genotype 3 in Osaka City, Japan, 2014.

Human parechovirus (HPeV) infects humans early in life and typically causes asymptomatic or mild diseases such as gastrointestinal and respiratory illness but sometimes leads to more serious consequences in neonates and young infants. In 2014, we detected HPeV from 38 patients by real-time reverse transcription-PCR in Osaka City, Japan, and 33 HPeV strains were genotyped based on their VP1 sequences. HPeV genotype 3 (HPeV-3) was the most prevalent and accounted for 22 cases (66.7%) followed by nine HPeV-1 (27.3%), one HPeV-2 (3.0%) and one HPeV-4 (3.0%). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that detected HPeV-3 strains were divided into three genetically distinct groups. One was characterized by a novel single amino acid deletion mutation at the N terminus of the 2A protein as well as the VP1 sequence, whereas the others were closely related to HPeV-3 strains detected in Japan in either 2008 or 2011. These HPeV-3 groups were detected from patients with various symptoms including three myositis cases. Recent papers have demonstrated that HPeV-3 was the aetiological agent for epidemic myalgia exclusively among adults from Yamagata Prefecture in Japan. Here, we provide clinical details and episodes of three myositis patients including an adult and two children in Osaka City, Japan. Our results suggest that HPeV-3 is a causative agent of myositis not only in adults but also in children.