Alternative Research Articles

SHOULDER INJURY PREVENTION IN VOLLEYBALL: PERFORMANCE AND KINEMATICS ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE SPIKE TECHNIQUES

BackgroundRepetitive stresses during spike movements in volleyball, make the shoulder one of the most commonly exposed body parts, bringing athletes to prematurely interrupt their career.ObjectiveDifferent spike techniques are supposed to...

능동적 참여 모의실험 학습용 ALT 보드 및 소프트웨어 모듈 설계

본 논문에서는 ALT 보드와 NetLogo 확장 모듈을 개발하여 능동적 참여 모의실험 (Active Participatory Simulation: APS) 학습이 가능하도록 한다. 기존 참여 모의실험 학습에서도 실험이 수행되는 동안 학생들은 HubNet을 통하여 클라이언트로서 실험에 참여할 수 있다. 하지만 HubNet 서버만이 하나의 외부 모듈과 연결되기 때문에 다수의 클라이언트가 참여하는 이중초점 모델링 기반 학습이 불가능하다. 따라서 클라이언트의 참여와 실험 및 측정 데이터를 수집하기 위하여 ATmega32 기반의 ALT 보드를 개발한다. 또한 이 입력된 데이터를 HubNet 서버와 교환할 수 있는 TCP/IP 소켓 기반 Java 확장 모듈을 개발한다. ALT 보드와 확장 모듈을 통하여 APS 학습 환경 구축이 가능하다. 이를 위한 NetLogo 프로그래밍 방법을 소개하고 학습 예시를 보여 과학교육에 활용될 수 있는 방안을 모색한다. In this paper, the ALT (ALTernative) board and a NetLogo extension module are developed for the active participatory simulation (APS) learning. Through the participatory simulation with HubNet each student can attend the experiment as one of clients. Only one HubNet server, however, is able to use an external device so that the bifocal modeling based learning with multiple users is impossible. In order to overcome the drawback, and enable clients participate into the experiment and collect the experimental data and the measured data, an ATmega 32 based board and its firmware are developed. In addition, Java extension module based on TCP/IP socket interfaces is developed to exchange the data with HubNet server. Finally, we show some NetLogo program examples to use the developed hardware and software for APS and seek the way to use them for science education.

Unfit for work or alternate duties: what predicts the type of medical certificate for injured workers in Victoria, Australia

Background: General Practitioners (GPs) play an important role in worker's treatment and return-to-work (RTW).Objectives: To establish what factors potentially predict the type of medical certification that GPs provide to injured workers following work-related injury.Methods: A logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the impact of a number of factors on the likelihood that an injured worker would receive an alternate (ALT) vs. Unfit for work (UFW) duties certificate from their GP. Compensation Research Database, containing claims and medical certification data of Victorian injured workers was accessed for the research purposes.Results: A total of 119,900 claims were included into this study. The majority of the injured workers were males, mostly age of 45–54 years. Nearly half of the workers with UFW and 36.9% with ALT certificates had musculoskeletal injuries. The regression analysis revealed that older males were less likely to receive ALT as opposed to the younger females (25–34 years old) in most occupations. Living in rural areas was associated with smaller odds of receiving ALT. We also found that seeing a GP who is more experienced with workers’ compensation increased the odds of ALT certificates. However, suffering from mental health issues decreased the odds of receiving the ALT in all workers.Discussion: To our knowledge this is the first study to describe factors predicting GP medical certification of injured workers. The results clearly indicate that workers with physical injuries, female workers, and workers visiting GPs with a higher injured worker case load in metropolitan area are more likely to receive an ALT certificate.Conclusions: The findings of this study help to identify groups of injured workers that are less likely to be recommended ALT certificates. It also suggests that certain health service providers and policy makers might require more education on the health benefits of RTW.

Singularity and Arrow’s paradox

In this thesis we establish a completion theory of Arrow’s work, extending it from quasi-form to absolute form and generalizing it to a degree theorem of various forms. It is proved that Arrow’s independence of irrelevant alternatives (AI ) is inconsistent with some forms of Pareto condition, e.g. with the strong Pareto condition. Based on these observations, we try to resolve Arrow’s paradox by introducing the “extent principle” and set up a weak Arrow’s framework to show the consistency of the weak AI , the weak Pareto condition, anonymity, no decisive minority group and other widely-accepted rationality principles. Singularity is the core concept of the paper.

Dynamics of decision-related activity in prospective hippocampal place cells

Event Abstract Back to Event Dynamics of decision-related activity in prospective hippocampal place cells Sidney I. Wiener1* 1 CNRS - College de France, Laboratory of Physiology of Perception and Action, France The hippocampus is involved in spatial navigation and contextual memory. Hippocampal principal cells fire when a rat is in a specific place in its environment and this “place cell” activity can be prospectively modulated by the rat’s imminent trajectory. To examine whether there is a link between prospective coding and navigational decision processing, we recorded place cells in rats performing a task involving a sudden decisional switch and assessed the latency of the prospective activity onset. Rats learned to alternate (ALT) in a continuous T-maze task. Every 5 to 7 trials, a visual cue (VC) was presented as the rat crossed a photodetector at the middle of the central arm. This instructed the rat to repeat a visit to the previous arm rather than to continue alternating. This permitted measurement of the delay required for place cell responses to started to change in accordance with the changed intention of the animal. We recorded 866 cells in 4 rats in 26 sessions and measured prospective activity onset in the VC and ALT trials employing a bootstrap method. In all prospective 19 neurons activity never appeared earlier in cued trials than in alternation trials. A linear regression (t-test for slope p=0.0128) of the onset times of activity in ALT trials plotted as a function of the time difference between the activity onsets of VC and ALT trials yielded a value of T~420 ms. This relatively long delay for prospective activity to arise (compared to on the order of 100-150 ms in other brain areas) indicates that the navigational behavioral choice signal is likely elaborated elsewhere before reaching the hippocampus, perhaps in pathways involving cortico-striatal loops and are then transmitted to the hippocampus for prospective activity. The hippocampus would then engage this for contextual processing of memories in time and space. Keywords: Decision Making, Anticipation, Genetic, planning, Learning, Memory Conference: 4th Conference of the Mediterrarnean Neuroscience Society, Istanbul, Turkey, 30 Sep - 3 Oct, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Abstracts Citation: Wiener SI (2013). Dynamics of decision-related activity in prospective hippocampal place cells. Conference Abstract: 4th Conference of the Mediterrarnean Neuroscience Society. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.210.00071 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 25 Mar 2013; Published Online: 11 Apr 2013. * Correspondence: Dr. Sidney I Wiener, CNRS - College de France, Laboratory of Physiology of Perception and Action, Paris, 75005, France, sidney.wiener@college-de-france.fr Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Sidney I Wiener Google Sidney I Wiener Google Scholar Sidney I Wiener PubMed Sidney I Wiener Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Laterality of lower limbs during V2 Al ternate in Nordic combined athletes

PurposeThe aim of this study was to analyse the foot pressure distribution by cross-country skiers during the push-off phase when using the V2 Alternate skating technique depending on lower limb preference. The study also focused on whether push-off during V2 Alternate would be performed more quickly and in a shorter time interval by the dominant leg than the non-dominant leg.MethodsData were collected using a pedographic system together with synchronised video recording. Conventional dialogistic methods used in kinanthropology were used to detect the lower-limb lateral preference.ResultsStatistically significant differences in the vertical component of force produced by the right/leg lower limbs was observed. However, no statistically significant differences were present in the duration when weight was transferred to one of the lower limbs.ConclusionsAlthough V2 Alternate is a movement task that is considered to be symmetrical (where left and right leg push-off should be practically identical), the results of the study proved otherwise. In practice, this implies that the explosive force capabilities of cross-country skiers should be trained especially for the non-dominant leg so as to ensure that a fully adequate push-off can be conducted during two-sided skating.

몬테카를로 시뮬레이션을 통한 연속 엑스선 에너지에서 납(Pb)과 텅스텐(W)의 흡수 스펙트럼 비교 연구

Abstract In 1895, the discovered X-ray is used for not only in this fiel d of medicine wide but also field. The detection of radiation after, people realized the risk of the r adiation exposured recommended the principle about the protection of radiation by the part of the effort for lowering the radiation exposure. In this recommendation, all unnecessary radiation exposure have to be prevented by All doses include the protection of radiation, general idea of applicable two kinds of that it h as to low maintain. Presently, in the General X-ray room of the clinical, the lead (Pb) was used for the shie lding, However, because it had the problem of the lead poisoning which is fatal in the human body, the altern atives was showed. and Among them, the material that it is the tungsten was presented. in this researc h, the absorbed spectrum according to the thickness in the continuous X-ray energy of the tungsten which is not harmful to the human body through the Monte Carlo simulation, tried to compare with the absorbed spec trum of the lead (Pb).The tungsten confirmed that simulation presumption than result lead in the whole domai n that absorbed probability was higher and it is considered that tungsten shows the absorbed efficiency higher t han the lead in particularly, 70 keV ～ 90 keV and the tungsten is more useful to the X-ray energy cover of th e high energy diagnostic area.

Structural mechanism of Staphylococcus aureus Hfq binding to an RNA A-tract

Hfq is a post-transcriptional regulator that plays a key role in bacterial gene expression by binding AU-rich sequences and A-tracts to facilitate the annealing of sRNAs to target mRNAs and to affect RNA stability. To understand how Hfq from the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (Sa) binds A-tract RNA, we determined the crystal structure of an Sa Hfq–adenine oligoribonucleotide complex. The structure reveals a bipartite RNA-binding motif on the distal face that is composed of a purine nucleotide-specificity site (R-site) and a non-discriminating linker site (L-site). The (R–L)-binding motif, which is also utilized by Bacillus subtilis Hfq to bind (AG)3A, differs from the (A–R–N) tripartite poly(A) RNA-binding motif of Escherichia coli Hfq whereby the Sa Hfq R-site strongly prefers adenosine, is more aromatic and permits deeper insertion of the adenine ring. R-site adenine-stacking residue Phe30, which is conserved among Gram-positive bacterial Hfqs, and an altered conformation about β3 and β4 eliminate the adenosine-specificity site (A-site) and create the L-site. Binding studies show that Sa Hfq binds (AU)3A ≈ (AG)3A ≥ (AC)3A > (AA)3A and L-site residue Lys33 plays a significant role. The (R–L) motif is likely utilized by Hfqs from most Gram-positive bacteria to bind alternating (A–N)n RNA.

360° FILM BRINGS BOMBED CHURCH TO LIFE

Abstract. This paper explores how a computer-generated reconstruction of a church can be adapted to create a panoramic film that is presented in a panoramic viewer and also on a wrap-around projection system. It focuses on the fundamental principles of creating 360º films, not only in 3D modelling software, but also presents how to record 360º video using panoramic cameras inside the heritage site. These issues are explored in a case study of Charles Church in Plymouth, UK that was bombed in 1941 and has never been rebuilt. The generation of a 3D model of the bombed church started from the creation of five spherical panoramas and through the use of Autodesk ImageModeler software. The processed files were imported and merged together in Autodesk 3ds Max where a visualisation of the ruin was produced. A number of historical images were found and this collection enabled the process of a virtual reconstruction of the site. The aspect of merging two still or two video panoramas (one from 3D modelling software, the other one recorded on the site) from the same locations or with the same trajectories is also discussed. The prototype of 360º non-linear film tells a narrative of a wartime wedding that occurred in this church. The film was presented on two 360º screens where members of the audience could make decisions on whether to continue the ceremony or whether to run away when the bombing of the church starts. 3D modelling software made this possible to render a number of different alternati ves (360º images and 360º video). Immersive environments empower the visitor to imagine the building before it was destroyed.

Cancer and Telomeres—An ALTernative to Telomerase

Finding ways to target the alternative (ALT) telomere lengthening pathway found in some cancer cells could complement telomerase inhibitors currently in clinical trials.

The Efficiency Engine – Cost-Effective Alternat ive to Downsizing

The Efficiency Engine – Cost-Effective Alternat ive to Downsizing

Describing fluctuations from ideal behavior on the basis of ideal chemical theory

Most systems (14) correspond to Fig. 1a: alternat ing fluctuations for the first component and negative deviations (with a minimum on the curve) for the sec ond component. Four systems correspond to Fig. 1b: alternating fluctuations for both components. For the first, there is a minimum in the region of negative devi ations; for the second, there is a maximum in the region of positive deviations. Three systems corre spond to Fig. 1c: alternating fluctuations for both components, but with two extrema in each curve. Spe cifically, there is a minimum in the region of negative deviations and a maximum in the region of positive deviations. The remaining systems correspond to Fig. 1d: alternating fluctuations for the first compo nent and positive deviations (with a maximum on the curve) for the second.

Un método alternativo a la autocorrelación para analizar los efectos secuenciales de los programas de reforzamiento

It is known that fixed-interval schedules generate, at certain values, alt ernat ing short and Long postreinforcetnent pauses. TEtis effect has ben analyzed through autocorrelation methods with one-lag. However, this mnethods has shortcomings since it is unable to detect regularities in sequences of pauses that are non strictly cyclic. A computerprogram designed to assess cotnplex sequences of postreinforcement pauses is proposed. 1208 sequences of four pauses each, produced by a rat exposed to a fixed interval 60 sec schedule were analysed with tEtis alternative method. In agreement with previous reports. the analysis showed that alt cornbinotions of four pauses were equally lihely to occur.Cotnparisons of actual distributions of short and long pauses with a binornial distribu¬tion showed that 100% of total variance was accounted for. It was coneluded that dura¬tion of postreinforcement pause is a truly randotn event, at least for tEte conditions described Acre.

REGENERAÇÃO NATURAL EM SUB-BOSQUE DE Corymbia citriodora NO NOROESTE DO ESTADO DO PARANÁ

O desenvolvimento de espécies nativas plantadas em consórcio com eucaliptos, ou regeneradas naturalmente em povoamentos dessas espécies, vem sendo acompanhado em propriedades rurais do noroeste do estado do Paraná. Esses sistemas se destacam por constituir uma opção para a recuperação da cobertura florestal em ambientes degradados pela pecuária e agricultura intensivas, propiciando rentabilidade econômica, com possibilidade de atender a legislação ambiental para Reserva Legal. O presente trabalho visa conhecer o potencial de recomposição da vegetação nativa em sub-bosque de Corymbia citriodora, nas condições ambientais e de uso do solo daquela região. Assim, foi avaliada a composição florística e a estrutura da vegetação formada sob a rebrota de um povoamento dessa espécie, situado em São Pedro do Paraná (PR). Foram encontradas cinquenta e três espécies oriundas de regeneração natural numa densidade de 4.725 plantas por hectare. As plantas, identificadas até o nível de espécie, foram enquadradas segundo seu grupo ecológico e/ou usos potenciais.Foram observados parâmetros estruturais que mostraram o elevado potencial de regeneração natural e crescimento da vegetação em sub-bosque de C. citriodora, indicando que, com manejo adequado, essa espécie pode ser usada como uma facilitadora para fins de recomposição de vegetação nativa.Palavras-chave: Regeneração natural; plantação florestal; composição florística. AbstractNatural regeneration in understory of Corymbia citriodora plantation, in north-west of Paraná state, Brazil. Natural regeneration in eucalyptus stands, as well as forest plantations that combine eucalyptus and native species, have been monitored in rural areas in the north-west of Paraná State, Brazil. Such forest systems involving eucalyptus represent an alternative for forest recovery and regeneration in areas degraded by livestock and intensive agriculture. Furthermore, such plantations offer new economic opportunities for landowners while providing incentives for their compliance with environmental regulations for saving a minimum amount of forested land (Reserva Legal). This study aims to understand the potential of natural vegetation recovery in the understory of Corymbia citriodora stands, due to the context of current environment and land use in the region. Thus, it evaluates floristic composition and vegetation structure in the understory re-growth within such plantation stands, in São Pedro do Paraná (Paraná State). As result, it identified 53 species from natural regeneration at a density of 4725 plants per hectare. Such plants, identified at the species level, were organized accordingly to their ecological group and/or potential uses. The observed structural parameters pointed to a high potential for natural regeneration and growth of vegetation in the understory of C. citriodora, which reveals that, with appropriated management, these species could be used to make native restoration vegetation easer in the region.Keywords: Natural regeneration; forest plantations; floristic composition.

Abstract 5495: ALT NHEJ is a therapeutic target in hormone therapy resistant ER/PR/HER+ and ER/PR/HER- breast cancers

Abstract Approximately 75% of breast cancers are estrogen and/or progesterone positive (ER/PR+) and can be treated in the clinic with anti-hormone therapy; however, resistance is an increasing problem. ER/PR negative (−) breast cancers, on the other hand, have few treatment options. Therefore, novel therapies are required for therapy resistant ER/PR+ and ER/PR- breast cancers. Breast cancers have abnormal responses to the repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) leading to the generation of structural chromosomal abnormalities and genomic instability. DSBs are repaired by at least 2 pathways: homologous recombination (HR) that performs error-free repair and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) that is error-prone. An alternative (ALT) NHEJ pathway has been identified that is associated with the generation of chromosomal translocations, deletions and genomic instability. We have recently shown that with respect to non-tumorigenic MCF10A, ER/PR+ MCF7 breast cancer cells express reduced levels of DNA ligase IV, a component of the classic (C) NHEJ pathway, whereas, expression of DNA ligase IIIα, a component of ALT NHEJ, is increased. To determine whether abnormal ALT NHEJ may be a target for therapy in hormone resistant ER/PR+ and ER/PR- patients, we examined steady state levels of C- and ALT-NHEJ proteins in tamoxifen (TAM 1,2,3) and aromatase (LTLT) resistant cell lines derived from MCF7 cells and ER/PR- cells (MDAMB231, SKBR3). Only ER/PR- cells show further reductions in DNA ligase IV and Ku70 compared with MCF10A. Both hormone resistant ER/PR+ and ER/PR- cells show further increases in ALT NHEJ proteins DNA ligase IIIα, poly- (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP1) and ALT NHEJ activity as measured by established NHEJ assays compared to controls. Since PARP1 inhibitors have been shown to specifically kill cells with defects in DSB repair and sporadic breast cancer cells have upregulated PARP1 and DNA ligase IIIα, we examined the effect of PARP1 inhibitor ABT888 in ER/PR+ and ER/PR- cells in the presence or absence of a DNA ligase I/III inhibitor. While either inhibitor alone had little effect on cell survival, both therapy resistant ER/PR+ and ER/PR- cells are highly sensitive to a combination of DNA repair inhibitors, acting synergistically. This treatment also decreases ALT NHEJ repair, demonstrating specific targeting of this pathway. Importantly, MCF10A is insensitive to these inhibitors. Finally, siRNA knockdown of C NHEJ protein Ku70 in hormone therapy sensitive ER/PR+ MCF7 increases ALT NHEJ repair activity and sensitivity to the combination of DNA repair inhibitors. Intriguingly, MCF7 cells with increased ALT NHEJ activity also acquire resistance to hormone therapy. Thus, ALT NHEJ appears to be linked to resistance to hormone therapy and is a therapeutic target. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5495. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5495

Beneficial Effects of Alternate Dietary Regimen on Liver Inflammation, Atherosclerosis and Renal Activation

BackgroundAlternate day calorie restriction (CR) has been shown to be almost as beneficial as daily CR. The question arises whether this concept is also applicable to alternating dietary composition.ObjectiveTo seek evidence that alternating high cholesterol (HC) - cholesterol-free (CON) Western diet can effectively diminish hepatic and renal inflammation and cardiovascular risk factors as compared with daily HC-supplemented Western diet.DesignFour groups of ApoE*3Leiden mice, a humanized model for atherosclerosis, were subjected to different feeding treatments for 16 weeks. Mice were fed CON diet; CON diet with 1% w/w cholesterol (HC); alternate (ALT) diet regimen of CON (4 days) and HC (3 days); or CON diet supplemented with 0.43% (w/w) cholesterol (MC), with overall dietary cholesterol intake equal to ALT. Plasma was analyzed for cardiovascular risk factors, aorta for atherosclerotic lesion formation, and liver and kidney for inflammation.ResultsALT diet but not MC was almost as effective as daily CON feeding in preventing disease development. Compared to HC, the ALT group showed 62% lower hepatic nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activity (P<0.001), a reduction of the circulating inflammatory markers E-selectin (−20%; P<0.05), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1; −15%; P<0.05) and Serum Amyloid A (SAA; −31%; P<0.05), smaller atherosclerotic lesion sizes (−51%; 46497±10791 µm2 vs. 94664±16470 µm2; P<0.05) and diminished renal expression of specific inflammation and activation markers (VCAM-1, −27%; P<0.05; monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1); −37%; P<0.01).ConclusionAlternate HC-CON feeding reproduced most of the beneficial effects of daily cholesterol-free diet, including strongly diminished hepatic, vascular and renal activation and inflammation; also atherosclerosis was reduced by half as compared to HC, albeit still higher compared to the CON group.

Model-free Gene Selection Using Genetic Algorithms

A key issue in tumor classification based on DNA microarrays is to perform gene selection due to high dim ension o f gene expression d ata. In this paper, we analyze the di sadvantages of ran k-based gene selection methods. In order to obt ain optimal gene subset for classification, a genetic algorithm based model-free gene selection method (GA-Selection) is proposed. It transforms the feature selection into a global optimal problem. Because the fitness function in genetic algorithm is defined as the ratio of bet ween-class distance to within-class dista nce, GA -Selection does not depend on a speci fic classifier. To evaluate the performance of GASelection, experiments are carried out on two binaryclass dat a s ets (leukemia and colo n) a nd one multi-class da ta set ( SRBCT). In th e experiments, the support vector machine and back propagation neural networks are used as the classifiers. The results show that GA -Selection o btains 98.61%, 91.94 % a nd 100% 4-f old cross validation a ccuracy respectively on the leu kemia, colon and SRBCT data sets res pectively, which outperforms the compared methods. GASelection ca n red uce th e number of redun dant features wi thout greatly reducing the cl assification accu racy an d it can be u sed as a n al ternative in many ot her fea ture selection problems.

An Investigation of Alternating Group Dissections in Medical Gross Anatomy

Background: Reduction in contact hours has led to the use of more efficient teaching approaches in medical education, yet the efficacy of such approaches is often not fully investigated. Purpose: This work provides a detailed analysis of alternating group dissections with peer-teaching in Medical Anatomy (MA). Methods: MA I and II percentages of the alternating (ALT) and nonalternating (NALT) groups were compared, scores of ALT subgroups (A and B) were compared, and subgroup performance on practical exam questions was compared. Results: MA I and MA II percentages indicated no significant difference in median scores (pMAI = 0.581, pMAII = 0.223) between ALT and NALT. Subgroup analysis and assessment of question types showed that student performance and ability to identify a structure were not dependent on dissection group assignment. Conclusion: Alternating dissections offered students more unscheduled time for independent learning activities, such as studying or shadowing preceptors, and reduced student-to-cadaver and student-to-faculty ratios by 50%. Alternating dissections with peer teaching were not detrimental to student performance.

Alternative rearing systems in pigs: consequences on stress indicators at slaughter and meat quality

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of three alternative (ALT) rearing systems for growing pigs (outdoor: 150 m2/pig; straw bedding: 1.30 m2/pig; and hut with access to a courtyard: 1.30 m2/pig) compared with a conventional system (fully slatted floor: 0.65 m2/pig, considered as control), on pre-slaughter stress indicators in relation with meat quality. To that end, the number of skin lesions on whole carcasses, as well as blood creatine kinase (CK) activity and urine levels in cortisol and catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) were determined at slaughter. Glycolytic potential (GP) and ultimate pH of the semimembranosus muscle were also measured. The global correlation network calculated between all these parameters shows that the indicators of pre-slaughter muscle activity (plasma CK) and/or stress indicators (e.g. adrenaline) are negatively (r = −0.26, P < 0.01; r = −0.29, P < 0.05, respectively) correlated with muscle GP and positively (r = 0.17, P < 0.05; r = 0.44, P < 0.001, respectively) with meat ultimate pH. Although some traits measured were sensitive to the degree of pre-slaughter mixing, they differed across rearing systems. The differences were most pronounced for the comparison of outdoors v. slatted floor. The lower levels of plasma CK and urinary catecholamines, and the lower number of carcass skin lesions of pigs reared outdoors, were related to a lower meat ultimate pH. Thus, ALT rearing systems influence animal welfare and meat quality, by providing enriched environmental conditions to the animals.

P53 and p21(Waf1) Are Recruited to Distinct PML‐Containing Nuclear Foci in Irradiated and Nutlin‐3a‐Treated U2OS Cells

Promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) are multiprotein complexes that include PML protein and localize in nuclear foci. PML-NBs are implicated in multiple stress responses, including apoptosis, DNA repair, and p53-dependent growth inhibition. ALT-associated PML bodies (APBs) are specialized PML-NBs that include telomere-repeat binding-factor TRF1 and are exclusively in telomerase-negative tumors where telomere length is maintained through alternative (ALT) recombination mechanisms. We compared cell-cycle and p53 responses in ALT-positive cancer cells (U2OS) exposed to ionizing radiation (IR) or the p53 stabilizer Nutlin-3a. Both IR and Nutlin-3a caused growth arrest and comparable induction of p53. However, p21, whose gene p53 activates, displayed biphasic induction following IR and monophasic induction following Nutlin-3a. p53 was recruited to PML-NBs 3-4 days after IR, approximately coincident with the secondary p21 increase. These p53/PML-NBs marked sites of apparently unrepaired DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), identified by colocalization with phosphorylated histone H2AX. Both Nutlin-3a and IR caused a large increase in APBs that was dependent on p53 and p21 expression. Moreover, p21, and to a lesser extent p53, was recruited to APBs in a fraction of Nutlin-3a-treated cells. These data indicate (1) p53 is recruited to PML-NBs after IR that likely mark unrepaired DSBs, suggesting p53 may either be further activated at these sites and/or function in their repair; (2) p53-p21 pathway activation increases the percentage of APB-positive cells, (3) p21 and p53 are recruited to ALT-associated PML-NBs after Nutlin-3a treatment, suggesting that they may play a previously unrecognized role in telomere maintenance.