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Exercises for better balance : the stand strong workout for fall prevention and longevity
Good balance is essential. Recent scientific studies point to good balance as an indicator for longevity. As we age, our balance and coordination begin to diminish, leading to a higher risk of falls. In fact, falls are the leading cause of injury among Americans over age 65. The Stand Strong workout presented in this handbook will guide you to improved balance through simple, easy to follow exercises. Now you can reclaim your independence and restore your confidence by improving your coordination and regaining your sense of balance by using Exercises for Better Balance as your guide to freedom and mobility, while helping you to lessen the risks of falls, improve your posture, and restore motor control, all while increasing your strength and energy.
Book
Bacterial defences: mechanisms, evolution and antimicrobial resistance
Throughout their evolutionary history, bacteria have faced diverse threats from other microorganisms, including competing bacteria, bacteriophages and predators. In response to these threats, they have evolved sophisticated defence mechanisms that today also protect bacteria against antibiotics and other therapies. In this Review, we explore the protective strategies of bacteria, including the mechanisms, evolution and clinical implications of these ancient defences. We also review the countermeasures that attackers have evolved to overcome bacterial defences. We argue that understanding how bacteria defend themselves in nature is important for the development of new therapies and for minimizing resistance evolution.In this Review, Smith, Foster and colleagues explore the protective strategies of bacteria, including the mechanisms, evolution and clinical implications of these ancient defences. They discuss new therapies for treating disease and how to minimize resistance evolution.
Journal Article
The evolution of the type VI secretion system as a disintegration weapon
The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a nanomachine used by many bacteria to drive a toxin-laden needle into other bacterial cells. Although the potential to influence bacterial competition is clear, the fitness impacts of wielding a T6SS are not well understood. Here we present a new agent-based model that enables detailed study of the evolutionary costs and benefits of T6SS weaponry during competition with other bacteria. Our model identifies a key problem with the T6SS. Because of its short range, T6SS activity becomes self-limiting, as dead cells accumulate in its way, forming \"corpse barriers\" that block further attacks. However, further exploration with the model presented a solution to this problem: if injected toxins can quickly lyse target cells in addition to killing them, the T6SS becomes a more effective weapon. We tested this prediction with single-cell analysis of combat between T6SS-wielding Acinetobacter baylyi and T6SS-sensitive Escherichia coli. As predicted, delivery of lytic toxins is highly effective, whereas nonlytic toxins leave large patches of E. coli alive. We then analyzed hundreds of bacterial species using published genomic data, which suggest that the great majority of T6SS-wielding species do indeed use lytic toxins, indicative of a general principle underlying weapon evolution. Our work suggests that, in the T6SS, bacteria have evolved a disintegration weapon whose effectiveness often rests upon the ability to break up competitors. Understanding the evolutionary function of bacterial weapons can help in the design of probiotics that can both establish well and eliminate problem species.
Journal Article
Strength training Bible : the complete guide to lifting weights for power, strength & performance
The all-in-one guide to building strength and power! Experts agree the fastest and most effective way to build strength and increase muscle mass is to lift weights. Written by top strength training professionals, 'Strength training bible' is the comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide to mastering the basics of weight lifting and barbell training. Divided by fitness levels, 'Strength training bible' shows you how to craft powerful workouts that are tailored to your unique goals. Designed to minimize risk and maximize results, the 'Strength training bible' programme combines the best elements of strength training and weight lifting in a programme you can do at home or in the gym.
Book
What Does 2D Geometric Information Really Tell Us About 3D Face Shape?
A face image contains geometric cues in the form of configurational information and contours that can be used to estimate 3D face shape. While it is clear that 3D reconstruction from 2D points is highly ambiguous if no further constraints are enforced, one might expect that the face-space constraint solves this problem. We show that this is not the case and that geometric information is an ambiguous cue. There are two sources for this ambiguity. The first is that, within the space of 3D face shapes, there are flexibility modes that remain when some parts of the face are fixed. The second occurs only under perspective projection and is a result of perspective transformation as camera distance varies. Two different faces, when viewed at different distances, can give rise to the same 2D geometry. To demonstrate these ambiguities, we develop new algorithms for fitting a 3D morphable model to 2D landmarks or contours under either orthographic or perspective projection and show how to compute flexibility modes for both cases. We show that both fitting problems can be posed as a separable nonlinear least squares problem and solved efficiently. We demonstrate both quantitatively and qualitatively that the ambiguity is present in reconstructions from geometric information alone but also in reconstructions from a state-of-the-art CNN-based method.
Journal Article
Observed increasing water constraint on vegetation growth over the last three decades
Despite the growing interest in predicting global and regional trends in vegetation productivity in response to a changing climate, changes in water constraint on vegetation productivity (i.e., water limitations on vegetation growth) remain poorly understood. Here we conduct a comprehensive evaluation of changes in water constraint on vegetation growth in the extratropical Northern Hemisphere between 1982 and 2015. We document a significant increase in vegetation water constraint over this period. Remarkably divergent trends were found with vegetation water deficit areas significantly expanding, and water surplus areas significantly shrinking. The increase in water constraints associated with water deficit was also consistent with a decreasing response time to water scarcity, suggesting a stronger susceptibility of vegetation to drought. We also observed shortened water surplus period for water surplus areas, suggesting a shortened exposure to water surplus associated with humid conditions. These observed changes were found to be attributable to trends in temperature, solar radiation, precipitation, and atmospheric CO
2
. Our findings highlight the need for a more explicit consideration of the influence of water constraints on regional and global vegetation under a warming climate.
Jiao et al. conducted a comprehensive evaluation of changes in water constraint on vegetation growth in the extratropical Northern Hemisphere between 1982 and 2015. They document a significant increase in vegetation water constraint over the last three decades.
Journal Article
الوجه الحجري : رواية
تحكي\" الوجه الحجري\" قصة سميان براون، وهو صحفي أفريقي أمريكي شاب، فقد عينا في حادث عنصري أثناء مراهقته. ينتقل سميان إلى باريس، منضما إلى \"جيل ضائع جديد\" من الأمريكيين السود الذين غادروا الولايات المتحدة، بسبب النظام العنصري، واستقروا في باريس، وغيرها من مدن أوروبا. على خلفية حرب استقلال الجزائر، تقدم الرواية رحلة رسميين من براءة اللقاء الأول مع مدينة لا يتعرض فيها للتمييز بسبب لون بشرته، إلى إدراك أن وجه العنصرية يتخذ هيئة مختلفة في العاصمة الفرنسية. لنحو ثلاثة عقود، وفي ظل تعتيم رسمي، كانت\" الوجه الحجري \"هي الشهادة المنشورة الوحيدة على مذبحة باريس التي ارتكبتها الشرطة الفرنسية ضد متظاهرين جزائريين في 17 أكتوبر 1961.
Book
Aposematic color polymorphism is a poor indicator of species boundaries in North American Paranthrene (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) as evidenced by a multi-gene phylogeny
Color polymorphism among animal species can influence speciation. Factors such as natural and sexual selection, genetic drift and gene flow contribute to the maintenance of color polymorphism within the species or spur speciation. The evolutionary and ecological mechanisms for color polymorphism are taxon specific and only a few species have been studied. A phylogeny provides an evolutionary framework to understanding the association between color polymorphism and species. Paranthrene species are day flying aposematic moths that mimic wasps in both appearance and behavior. The genus has several polymorphic species and some color forms were originally described as species. Paranthrene presents the opportunity to test for an association between color polymorphism and species boundaries. We reconstructed a phylogeny using DNA sequence from COI , EF-1alpha , and Wingless genes from 67 specimens representing all North American Paranthrene species, nine color variants, and two outgroups. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses generally agreed in topology and support values. Paranthrene simulans (Grote, 1881) was polyphyletic, and monophyly of P . pellucida Greenfield and Karandinos, 1979 was not recovered. Paranthrene robiniae Hy. Edwards, 1880 was polyphyletic and genitalic and genetic differences among the three clades supported the recognition of two new pseudocryptic species, Paranthrene oasis Smith, Taft and, Cognato, new species and Paranthrene gilaensis Smith, Taft and, Cognato, new species . Paranthrene color variants did not overwhelming associate with species boundaries. Of the nine color forms we examined, only two were monophyletic, had DNA sequence divergence comparable to other species, and associated with species diagnostic morphology. It is likely that genetic drift and allopatric isolation explains the fixation of color variants with species. The mechanisms maintaining color polymorphisms within Paranthrene species will remain unknown until experimentation concerning the degree of aposematic protection in reference to wasp models is conducted.
Journal Article