it’s no surprise that management will be looking to rebuild parts of the squad this summer In addition to finding another defender to cover for the injured Nico Schlotterbeck Borussia Dortmund will need to recruit some new midfielders Given the context of Borussia Dortmund’s current season One prospective player is Alvaro Montoro, a 17-year-old attacking midfielder from Argentina. Renowned sports journalists Florian Plettenberg and Patrick Berger are both reporting that the player is being closely monitored by Dortmund has already watched Montoro on several occasions There are many questions regarding the state of Borussia Dortmund’s midfield Julian Brandt has been consistently underperforming and Carney Chukwuemeka’s buy-option seems higher that Dortmund is likely willing to pay Marcel Sabitzer and Salih Özcan are also players who could see exits this summer Montoro would likely be seen as an inexpensive prospect with hopes of breaking into the first team Alvaro Montoro currently plays for CA Valez Sarsfield Though he’s only made 20 senior appearances for his club the youngster has attracted interest from Argentina’s national team having been called up to Argentina’s U17 squad © 2025 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER ","https://fansided.com/",{"alt":"5z","src":"60","url":"61"},{"type":"5y","value":"62"},"link","Minute Media","https://www.minutemedia.com/",{"text":"65","url":"66"},{"type":"64","value":"67"},"All Rights Reserved Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Minute Media or its affiliates and related brands Joey has written about Borussia Dortmund for several years and has been a fan of the German club much longer His work has previously appeared on SB Nation's Fear The Wall and his creative work has been published internationally Joey's stories and essays can be found across the internet and in print from Half and One Journal Joey holds a BA in Creative Writing from Susquehanna University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Alma College Joey enjoys writing fiction and playing Disc Golf One prospective player is Alvaro Montoro, a 17-year-old attacking midfielder from Argentina. Renowned sports journalists Florian Plettenberg and Patrick Berger are both reporting that the player is being closely monitored by Dortmund BVB need to rebuild their midfield this summer and they might turn to South America for some fresh talent The Broncos had three runners qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary in 2022 putting the them in the postseason for the fourth year in a row and fifth time in the last six seasons It was the second year in a row for Zach Litoff and Alex Scales and the first for Nicholas Russell Zach Litoff finished in 12 of 48 runners to punch his ticket to nationals in the 3,000m steeplechase becoming the first Bronco to make it to nationals He finished 20th overall and 12th in his heat Litoff was named honorable mention All-America for his performance Jack Davidson had one of the best debut seasons in program history as part of the 2016-17 campaign He cracked Santa Clara's Top 10 list at 8 kilometers (24:36 at the Bronco Invitational) and 10 kilometers (31:46 at the NCAA West Regional Meet) Davidson set a program record with a 5,000-meter 14:23.35 at the Mt He also posted the second-best 1,500-meter time and third-fastest 3,000-meter time by a Bronco the men combined to log eight new times across their respective Top 10 lists on the track Cross country its strong academic performance by earning 16 spots on the 2016 West Coast Conference All-Academic Teams Santa Clara had five more runners recognized for their work in the classroom than any other conference program The men had at least three more runners and the women had at least two more runners honored than any other team Mary Kriege and Grayson Murphy each had outstanding seasons in the fall and spring Kriege took 14th place and Murphy finished 15th at the West Coast Conference Championships in Spokane Washington; eached earned Second Team All-WCC honors They were the first Bronco female runners since Stephanie Wilson in 2010 to receive all-conference recognition Murphy's 20:46 and Kriege's 20:50 in the Bronco Invitational 6-kilometer race were good for the second-fastest and third-fastest Bronco all-time marks the pair became Santa Clara's first female runners — and just the third and fourth runners in program history — to qualify for the NCAA West Region Preliminary Meet (Kriege at 5,000m and 10,000m/Murhpy in the 3000m steeplechase and at 5,000m) Santa Clara set a pair of school records and nine PRs between the men's and women's teams at the 2014 West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships Harvard graduate Kurt Ruegg set a school record by running 23:53 at Baylands Park Joey Berriatua and Ryan Greenough) set a school record with an average time of 24:30 in the 8k race Four of the men set personal best 8k marks and all of Santa Clara's top five finishers in the women's 6k — Murphy Kaitlyn Kuehn and Amia Nash — set personal best marks as well Ruegg built off a strong performance earlier in the year at Baylands when he took second place at the Bronco Invitational Ruegg and Mary Kriege combine to set six school records between the fall cross country and spring track & field seasons In 2013 the men's and women's cross country teams both finished sixth at the West Coast Conference Championships Ben Demaree was named the WCC Post-Graduate Scholarship winner and Allie Sibole won the 2014 St the men's cross country team had the highest term GPA after the Spring 2014 quarter The men's cross country team posted a 3.443 GPA in the Spring quarter and they also have the highest cumulative GPA among men's teams at 3.405 Women's cross country has the highest cumulative GPA on the women's side at 3.386 Led by Summa Cum Laude graduate Kevin Oliver's selection to the national individual Academic Award list the Bronco track programs were honored among all Division I teams in July 2013 as the Bronco men posted a 3.506 GPA — the second-highest in the country — and were named as a U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) All-Academic team the sixth-best nationally and tops in the West Coast Conference Santa Clara's women's track was named an All-Academic team as well Oliver was just the second Bronco in school history to receive USTFCCCA Academic individual honors.  The Tualatin, Ore. native finished his senior year with a 3.98 GPA in Political Science and Economics to earn the award, the program's fourth in a seven-year span.  Oliver was also named to the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team in late June He was the only student-athlete from the West Coast Conference selected for the national academic honor and the only male in the state of California named to the team Working primarily with the men's distance runners Montoro coached Mike Delaurenti to the 2008 NCAA Division I Regional Track and Field Championships in the steeplechase Montoro saw Robbie Reid finish as the runner-up at the West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships — the best finish for a Santa Clara runner at the event Reid was also the Bronco Invitational champion had the highest finish ever for a Bronco male at the NCAA West Region Championship and finished 10th at the Stanford Invitational while setting the school record in the 8k Chris Sampson finished in the top 10 to receive all-conference honors Montoro was an assistant coach for Cal State Fullerton's men's and women's cross country programs for two seasons along with the track and field programs for three seasons Montoro headed the recruiting efforts for the Titan men's distance runners and helped to lead two Titans to NCAA Regional qualifying times Montoro was an assistant with the combined cross country program at UC Santa Barbara during the 2001 campaign Montoro assisted head coach Pete Dolan in recruiting and traveled with the B squad Montoro began his collegiate career at the University of Oregon before transferring to UC Santa Barbara in 1998 He competed under Dolan for three seasons and earned his bachelor's degree in History and Spanish While assisting at Cal State Fullerton for head coach John Elders Montoro earned his master's degree in Kinesiology and Health Promotion He and his wife Amanda live in Willow Glen; and welcomed their first child Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here © 2025 West Virginia University Athletics Thanks for visiting OneFootball's home page Search Settings Sign In Sign InJoinProfiling Álvaro Montoro: Who is the Argentinian that has got BVB's attention the prodigy has caught some eyes at Signal Iduna Park despite only 20 senior appearances The Vélez Sarsfield number 10 has been a subject of interest to relevant figures in the club's hierarchy, like chief scout Sebastian Krug, who has reportedly watched the Argentinian talent many times, according to Florian Plettenberg and Patrick Berger With Julian Brandt and Gio Reyna's futures at stake, BVB could be looking at a rejuvenated rebuild of that midfield, with players like Rayan Cherki also vigorously pursued by the Black-and-Yellows in the winter transfer window. Here is a quick profile on Álvaro Montoro: Boca Juniors v Velez - Copa Argentina 2024 | Hernan Cortez/GettyImages Álvaro Montoro (2007) was born in the city of Concepción, Tucumán. The youngster played for some minor clubs before joining Vélez in 2017 While developing his talents in one of the most traditional academy systems in Argentina Montoro plays mainly as an attacking midfielder Montoro made his professional debut for Vélez in November 2022 The kid was also part of the squad that won the Argentinian league title last year which hadn't happened since the 2012/2013 season He was not a starter and was used most of the time as a sub with the departure of important players like Aquino In 2025, Montoro gained more volume as a starter in the number 10 role, with 13 matches in all competitions and 791 minutes accumulated. With only two goal contributions, the young Argentine showed his star by scoring his first Copa Libertadores goal, giving Vélez the win against Peñarol late in added time The 17-year-old was also called up to Argentina's under-20 team last year despite his younger age In terms of characteristics his passing and dribbling abilities stand out the most His ball control and technique allow him to carry the ball forward in dangerous areas excel in progressive passes in different ranges Montoro could develop a few aspects of his game long-range shooting and physical composure Overall, Montoro is a raw but exciting talent. He would probably require some more time to develop in South America, as he is just starting his career as a regular in the demanding Argentinian football. At the same time, he has shown some promising signs, and it could be a low-risk and high-reward kind of deal for Borussia Dortmund Related NewsReport: Guirassy committed to Dortmund despite €70m release clause BVB wants Soumaïla Coulibaly back for the Club World Cup Nico Schlotterbeck reinforces his commitment to BVB Daniel Svensson nominated for April "Rookie of the Month" 4️⃣ things to look out for in the Champions League this week The Champions League returns with a bang this week as the finalists will be determined following some tense first leg action.Here is what to look out for...⚔️ Match of the... Man United hold talks in “recent hours” with Victor Osimhen’s agents over sensational summer deal The three players Xabi Alonso has requested Real Madrid to sign – report This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Shining with Vélez in the Copa Libertadores and Now is Being Followed by Borussia DortmundBorussia Dortmund has set its sights on Álvaro Montoro after his standout performances in the Copa Libertadores with Vélez SarsfieldThe Copa Libertadores has always been the biggest breeding ground for talent in South America Few players have made the leap to Europe without first leaving their mark on the continent’s most prestigious tournament The next one to do so might be Álvaro Montoro who is making waves in the current edition of the Copa Libertadores wearing the Vélez Sarsfield jersey and has already caught the eye of a German football giant like Borussia Dortmund The news was revealed exclusively by Sky Sports Germany who reported that Borussia Dortmund has already sent several scouting department members to closely monitor Álvaro Montoro’s development they’re not the only club in Germany interested in signing this talented 17-year-old attacking midfielder which is preparing for a possible departure of Florian Wirtz Álvaro Montoro boasts exquisite technical skill excelling in tight spaces and linking up with teammates seamlessly he became the third-youngest debutant in Vélez’s history and has already played 31 matches before even turning 18 on April 17 when he’ll no longer face restrictions to move to Europe — especially since he holds an Italian passport Montoro has earned the trust of Schelotto and has started in nine of the 13 matches he’s played this season with Vélez where he scored his first goal for Vélez in the opening match against Peñarol and provided an assist in the rout over Olimpia No one doubts that Boca Juniors and River Plate are the biggest clubs in Argentina and therefore the leading exporters of talent to Europe Vélez’s academy has been doing remarkable work in recent years It has produced talents like Thiago Almada (Lyon) Álvaro Montoro will likely be the next to join them Thanks for visiting ! The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Volume 2 - 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00004 Partial cutting has been recommended as an alternative harvesting method to ensure the sustainable management of boreal forests The success of this approach is closely linked to the survival of residual trees as additional losses through mortality could affect post-cutting timber production at harvest To better quantify post-cutting mortality in previously unmanaged boreal forests we addressed two main questions: (1) what is the level of mortality 10 years after cutting and (2) what ecological factors are involved in this phenomenon Even-aged black spruce [Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.] stands in the Canadian boreal forest were subjected to three experimental shelterwood treatments a seed-tree treatment and an untreated control Tree status (live/dead) was recorded prior to cutting and 10 years after cutting Dead trees were classified as standing dead Ten years after experimental seed-tree treatment compared to 30% for the shelterwood cuttings Windthrow (overturned and broken trees) represented 80% of residual tree mortality; only the amount of overturning was influenced by treatment Broken trees were associated with small-diameter trunks stands having high growth prior to cutting younger stands or forest plots located near to adjacent cuts (<200 m) Overturning was associated with a high harvesting intensity and large-diameter trees Standing dead mortality was the most difficult to explain: it was related to untreated plots having suppressed and small-diameter trees applying intermediate levels of harvest intensity could reduce post-cutting damage Understanding tree mortality after cutting is essential to reduce economic losses improve silvicultural planning and stand selection and ensure ultimately the sustainable harvest of North American boreal forests Sustainable management of the boreal forest and viable yields of timber from partial cutting require that most retained trees survive and grow rather than being lost to windthrow shortly after harvest The remaining trees are chosen to provide sufficient seed sources after harvesting; the remaining cover is low thus enabling light to reach the soil surface The shelterwood and seed-tree systems could offer potentially sustainable silvicultural practices stand growth and mortality needs to be assessed to confirm this silvicultural option for boreal forests but the importance and the processes behind this type of mortality remain to be determined This study examines the amount and nature of post-cutting mortality 10 years after various experimental shelterwood and seed-tree cuttings in unmanaged even-aged black spruce stands Our aim is to (i) quantify post-cutting mortality across a gradient of silvicultural treatments ranging from 0 to 75% harvest intensity and (ii) determine the factors influencing the different types of mortality in the residual stands Study area location (a) in the boreal zone of North America and (b) the location of study blocks by stand type in the Monts-Valin and North Shore regions of Quebec Tree characteristics and species composition by silvicultural treatment for each stand type before cutting (mean ± standard error) Stand characteristics by silvicultural treatment for each stand type before and 1 year after cutting (mean ± standard error) Tree selection was performed by the harvesting operators sequentially counting trees in groups of three and removing the largest one Seed-trees had wider 15 m cut strips with 5 m wide intact residual strips Harvest operations were performed with a cut-to-length system using a harvester and a forwarder skid trails were set in the direction of the slope Spatial patterns of studied treatments in hemispheric photographs and diagrams at the ground level Open bands represent total harvested surface or skidding trails and dark bands indicate the residual strips Double arrows indicate the width of the skidding trails and residual strips Main characteristics of experimental treatments Rectangular permanent sampling plots (10 × 60 m) were established in the center of each experimental unit Post-cutting mortality was measured 1 year before cutting and then 1 and 10 years after cutting on trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥9 cm (minimal DBH for merchantable stems in boreal forest) Each dead merchantable stem located in the sampling plot was noted and classified into three possible types of mortality: broken where broken and overturned trees were considered as windthrow The current study focuses only on black spruce which composed 93% of the sampled trees of the first inventory two inventories were conducted in the 30 experimental units that made up this experiment (2 stand types × 3 blocks × 5 treatments) The first was general for all trees (n = 3,739 and 2,243 respectively) and included species identification wound severity (five levels from intact to major damage) and tree status (live/dead) The second inventory involved a subsample of randomly selected trees and included tree height and crown length (n = 201 and 143 Both inventories were conducted 1 year before cutting (2002) and 10 years after silvicultural intervention (2013) Grouping and description of the variables examined Growth before cutting (GBC) and stand age were used to provide information about the status of trees and forest structure (Thorpe et al., 2008; Montoro Girona et al., 2016). Based on dendroecological approaches, we measured GBC and tree age using tree-ring series (Baral et al., 2016; Khakimulina et al., 2016) increment cores were extracted at breast height using an increment borer from 34 to 38 randomly selected trees per plot Tree-ring width was measured using WinDendro™(version 2009 Quebec) or a manual Henson micrometer (LINTAB™ The individual tree-ring series were cross-dated using TSAP-Win™ (Rinntech GBC was established as the mean growth over 20 years for each tree An average of GBC was estimated at the stand level for each experimental unit (n = 30) wood discs (n = 349) were collected at the root collar of trees located in square 400 m2 (20 × 20 m) plots in a cutting area within each block (n = 6) Tree age was determined using a binocular microscope to count the tree rings Competition between black spruce was estimated 10 years after cutting for a random sub-sample of 240 trees in each experimental unit. Hegyi's competition index (CIi) was selected as it is strongly correlated with basal area growth in black spruce stands (Mailly et al., 2003) The distance (Distij) and DBH of each neighboring tree (j) within a 4 m radius of the subject tree (i) were measured (n = 240) to calculate the CIi: Data were calculated for a 100 × 100 m grid having a limiting distance of 500 m before cutting The width radius of forest patches was quantified using the mean distance extending from the center of the experimental unit to the edge of open areas (harvested areas The distance to adjacent cuts was estimated to evaluate the effect of cutover size and it corresponds to the distance between the edge of the study forest patch (experimental unit) and the nearest forest area for a distance up to 600 m the simple fetch index is equal to the ratio between the forest patch radius and the mean distance to adjacent cuts These variables were estimated in each experimental unit for the 8 main cardinal directions using measurements derived from aerial photographs 10 years after cutting The adjacent cuts were performed the same year as the experimental silvicultural treatments (2003) (a) Representation of 3-ha experimental units (red squares) and location of permanent plots (yellow rectangle) for a study block (b) Method based on aerial photographs for estimating the mean radius of a forest patch and the mean distance to adjacent cuts in an experimental unit following the eight main cardinal directions A second-degree polynomial regression was fitted between the percentage of removed trees and post-cutting frequency of dead trees in each experimental unit at the stand level The second objective of the study was addressed with two analyses. First, an exploratory analysis was conducted to identify the most influential factors on the relative probability of trees for the mortality types (broken, standing dead, and overturned) and also living trees (n = 2,051), using the RandomForest (RF) method (Liaw and Wiener, 2002) within the caret package in R (Kuhn and Johnson, 2013) To estimate the confusion matrix and the accuracy and Kappa indices 20% of the observations were set aside for validation The remaining observations (80%) were used for model calibration to analyse the effects of the most important variables after the RF classification single nominal logistic regressions were conducted at the tree scale with each factor (realized harvest intensity using the relative probability of dead trees for each mortality type as a predicted variable (living trees not included) Analyses were conducted using JMP Pro 12 software (SAS Institute Inc. Living and dead tree densities by silvicultural treatment for each stand type before and after cutting (mean ± standard error) Bootstrapped likelihood ratio test of fixed effects from the Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) for the probability of post-cutting mortality and mortality types (overturned and standing dead) in black spruce residual stands Marginal mean probabilities for post-cutting mortality and overturned trees for each treatment level with their corresponding 95% confidence interval Letters represent significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) for the treatment effect estimated by post-hoc Tukey analyses Means and standard errors were obtained by the fitted model The post-cutting mortality showed a polynomial relationship with the percentage of removed trees (R2 = 39.9%, P = 0.0003). Three groupings of plots were identified, separating into control, shelterwood and seed-trees plots (Figure 5) Post-cutting mortality was lowest in the control plots although two plots were separated slightly from the main group were highly variable relative to seed-trees in terms of percentage of removed trees the lowest variation for the frequency of dead trees was identified in control plots (8–27%) while shelterwood and seed-trees had a similar variability Quadratic relationship between tree frequency of post-cutting mortality and percentage of removed trees Filled circles correspond to the study treatment plots Post-cutting mortality represents the percentage of dead trees within each experimental unit In terms of the proportion of standing dead trees neither of the two random effects was significant a generalized linear model analysis was performed for this mortality type the random effect of experimental units nested into the blocks was significant; however the random effect of blocks was not significant (α = 0.05) Probability of post-cutting mortality as represented by stand type Most of these tree variables were strongly related: a tree having a short crown will likely have a smaller DBH A second set of important variables related to openings within and around the treated plots (harvest intensity other variables such as age and wind speed had the lowest importance in the RF analyse Importance index of the 12 most important predictors according to the RandomForest multinomial model of tree distribution by mortality type and living trees Complementing the previous analyses, simple nominal logistic regressions described how the relative probability of the mortality types varied according to the stand, geographical and tree variables (Figure 8 and Figure S3) Trees with a high slenderness (height/DBH ratio) were more vulnerable to breakage while more tapered stems were more likely to be overturned Similar trends were observed for DBH and estimated height higher predictor values were associated with a lower proportion of broken trees and a higher proportion of overturned trees DBH was important in explaining standing dead mortality; standing dead trees made up 30% of the mortality for trees having a diameter <10 cm a percentage 10× greater than for trees having a DBH >26 cm Standing dead trees made up 30% of slow growing trees (GBC = 0.2 cm year−1) but represented <5% of trees having a GBC = 0.7 cm year−1 50% of trees having low GBC values were overturned and almost 90% of trees having high GBC values were classified as broken trees Wound severity also influenced mortality type although this had a lower importance in the RF analyses Sixty percent of post-cutting mortality for undamaged trees with a DBH <12 cm were broken trees while 80% of the mortality for severely damaged trees with larger DBH values corresponded to overturned trees Variation in the probability of mortality types at the tree level (n = 672) according to different stand and tree variables as obtained through nominal logistic regression This reduced variability could be explained by our study area having more uniform climatic Our study provides a rigorous assessment of post-cutting mortality within previously unmanaged black spruce forests for several partial cutting treatments and coupled with replicated experiments over comparable conditions but similar models are lacking for standing dead trees the higher wind speed would normally also lead to increased stem breakage but the trend for this type of damage was the opposite an assessment of wind damage was presented without specifying the type of damage Since no solid explanation about these opposite responses can be suggested additional studies separately considering these two types of mortality remain relevant more work is needed to better understand this phenomenon after silvicultural treatments Their study was conducted in old irregular stands where self-thinning and senescence could act at the same time in different parts of the stand our results indicate that post-harvest losses were largely dependent on preharvest stand conditions tree characteristics and harvest intensity Most topographical and geographical characteristics had a minimal effect with only the nature of adjacent stands being important Given the observed differences between breakage we suggest that future research must account for these differences in mortality to improve our understanding of post-partial cutting mortality As mechanistic models already exist for stem breakage and overturning emphasis should be placed on understanding standing mortality more studies should be conducted to evaluate the economic cost and the effect on biodiversity and wildlife and to define the conditions of applications of these silvicultural treatments in a global change context MMG and J-CR: conceived and designed the study; MMG: carried out lab and fieldwork; MMG and J-ML: analyzed the data; MMG and HM: provided interpretation; MMG: project administration; HM: supervision; J-ML and HM: established the long-term experiment and provided substantial input to the design; HM and MMG: contributed to funding; MMG: wrote the draft version of the manuscript All authors contributed to the writing and revision of the manuscript This project was supported by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec–Nature et Technologies (FQRNT) the Programme de mise en valeur des ressources forestières (MFFPQ) the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre of the Canadian Forest Service (Natural Resources Canada) and the Forest Complexity Modeling program of the Centre for Forest Research The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00004/full#supplementary-material Trees dying standing in the northeastern boreal old-growth forests of Quebec: spatial patterns Modelling the vulnerability of balsam fir forests to wind damage CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Windthrow modelling in old-growth and multi-layered boreal forests CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A multiscale analysis of the effects of alternative silvicultural treatments on windthrow within balsam fir dominated stands CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Banghart, M. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Miguel Montoro Girona, bWlndWVsLm1vbnRvcm8uZ2lyb25hQHNsdS5zZQ== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Open menuHomeNewsCongratulations to Peter MontoroITSEE doctoral researcher Peter Montoro IV has qualified for the award of his PhD. Congratulations to Peter Montoro IV on the successful examination of his doctoral thesis on the text of Romans in the writings of John Chrysostom Entitled "Revision and Reference: The Transformations of the Biblical Text of Chrysostom’s Homilies on Romans and their Significance for the Transmission of the New Testament" the thesis is a detailed examination of the ways in which Chrysostom's biblical text has been transmitted in the manuscript tradition.  a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne University who developed tools to enable Peter to collect and analyse vast quantities of data Peter is presenting his research at the International Patristics Conference in Oxford for which he was awarded a scholarship by the Association Internationale des Études Patristiques (AIEP) Peter and his supervisor Hugh Houghton in Oxford this week The abstract of Peter's thesis is as follows: The significance of Chrysostom’s Homilies on Romans (RHom) for the history of exegesis and the transmission of the biblical text has long been recognized but thus far an appropriate methodology for dealing with such a massive and complex manuscript tradition has been lacking This thesis uses new digital tools and introduces multiple methodological innovations to provide a new paradigm it provides a detailed overview of the thirty-nine primary witnesses of the direct tradition of the RHom locating the lacunae and textual dislocations in each The phylogenetic analysis of extensive test passages is used to group the manuscript tradition into textual clusters and sixteen representative witnesses are selected Further test passages and additional analysis (using both phylogenetic and common-error approaches) demonstrate several forms of textual mixture and establish an initial stemma of the direct tradition the first dealing with citations from Romans the second with citations from other biblical books offer a full collation of each of the 1962 sentences in the RHom that contain biblical citations The first apparatus also includes a critical reconstruction of the Romans text of the RHom and of each of the sixteen selected witnesses as well as a thorough correlation with 164 transcriptions of Romans at all points of textual interest The creation of a dataset of “high entropy” variations in the transmission of Romans allows for direct stemmatic comparisons between the biblical texts of RHom witnesses and New Testament manuscripts enabling the evidence of the RHom to be located in the broader transmission of Romans the many layers of textual revision in manuscripts of the RHom are investigated A recension is identified that clearly revises the Romans text of the RHom towards a text of Romans that is earlier than Chrysostom’s own Examples of textual influence from manuscripts of the RHom are also analyzed Theophylact’s commentary on Romans is shown to differ from the Majority Text because of influence from a specific recension of the RHom This demonstration that the biblical text of the RHom is inextricably intertwined with the broader transmission of Romans leads to the suggestion of an improved methodology for the use of commentary witnesses in New Testament textual studies The full thesis will in due course be available on the University of Birmingham eTheses portal. Peter has since taken up a postdoctoral position as an associate research fellow with Tyndale House in Cambridge contributing to the next edition of the Tyndale House Greek New Testament and helping to develop a large-scale research project on the textual history of the New Testament Professor of New Testament Textual Scholarship Biographical and contact details for Professor Hugh Houghton Professor of New Testament Textual Scholarship at the University of Birmingham Phone: +44 (0)121 41 58341Email: h.a.g.houghton@bham.ac.ukDr Catherine SmithResearch Fellow and Technical Officer Biographical and contact information for Dr Catherine Smith Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing Phone: +44 (0)121 414 5965Email: c.j.smith@bham.ac.ukGo to previous itemGo to next itemLatest newsRelated CoursesTheology and Religion PhD/MA by Research (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)Postgraduate Tel:Global Footprint© University of Birmingham 2025 Volume 10 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.1015526 This article is part of the Research TopicCurrent Development on Wearable Biosensors towards Biomedical ApplicationsView all 7 articles The devices for measuring plyometric exercise in field conditions are becoming increasingly prevalent in applied research and practice before the use of a device in an applied setting the validity and reliability of such an instrument must be determined The study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Output Sport through comparisons with a force plate for research purposes A repeated measure test-retest study was performed Reliability was assessed during single-session trials (i.e. A total of 34 national/university level athletes (13 females 21 males) performed three drop jumps with a fall from 30 cm while both devices recorded ground contact time (GCT) T-tests demonstrated that data collected from the IMU device were significantly different to the force platform for all reported variables (all p < 0.01) The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) demonstrated good-to-excellent reliability but with a large range of confidence intervals (CI 95%) for GCT (0.825 The Bland-Altman test showed that the device overestimated contact times and underestimated the other variables ≥0.355ms) were associated with higher reliability These results suggest that a single IMU can be used to track changes somewhat accurately and reliably in jump metrics especially when the GCT is greater than 0.355ms It is recommended that before practitioners and trainers use the device as a cost-effective solution in the field further research should be carried out to evaluate a range of data on the type of exercise to be performed there are no reports of the validation for measuring a single RSI effort (i.e. providing an opportunity for monitoring athletes while away from their usual training facilities The study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Output Sport during a drop jump This study represents an initial crucial step toward using the Output Sport measurement device before its integration within the training environment The study followed the same procedures outlined in previous research related to the validation and intra-session reliability of jumps assessment equipment (Montoro-Bombú et al., 2022) All participants performed three DJ (for RSI assessment) with jump parameters recorded simultaneously with an FP and the IMU measurement device The same evaluator conducted all experimental evaluations It was approved by the Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education at the University of Coimbra ethics committee (code: CE/FCDEF-UC/00802021) Anthropometric characteristics of the subjects Each trial comprised three drop jump efforts performed by each athlete Each jump was interspersed with 2 min of passive recovery Each athlete performed three jump attempts with both devices synchronized. The FP was placed on a flat, compact surface level placed 10 cm adjacent to the side of the box for the DJ. (Figures 1–3) The IMU measurement device was carefully placed on the front left shoe (according to the manufacturer’s instructions) of each participant preventing the effect of movement during each attempt the device was manually readjusted as per the manufacturer’s’ recommendations The synchronization strategy allowed simultaneous data recordings for each jump attempt on both the FP and the IMU measurement device Separation of the mobile inertial unit OUTPUT at 10 cm from the force plate Placement of the OUTPUT mobile inertial unit on the left leg OUTPUT mobile inertial unit and the positioning strap Following established standards, a 30 cm high platform was used for each DJ trial (Jarvis et al., 2016; Ramirez-Campillo et al., 2018) The DJ performed with the hands placed at the waist to avoid the influence of the arm swing on HJ the first leg that initiate the fall was strictly the right leg; the attempt was invalidated if the left leg started the fall or if the landing occurred visually with a single leg The RSI was calculated from the DJ with rebound with participants asked to maximize HJ while minimizing GCT Data were collected using an FP (Kisler Instrument AG Switzerland) and displayed in real-time at a sampling rate of 1,000 Hz using an interface box (Kistler,Model 9260AA6 Data were analyzed using Bioware 5.3.2.9 software following the manufacturer’s’ instructions The IMU measurement device sensor (sensor dimensions: 51 × 34 × 14 mm mass: 24 g) was used in conjunction with the FP to record jump efforts The IMU device contained two integrated accelerometers (one ± 2 G 16 bit and the other ± 16 G a gyroscope (± 250–2000 DPS 16-bit) and a magnetometer (± 49 GAUSS sampling rate: 50–1,000 Hz) An Android 7.0 device displayed the data and was exported as a The IMU device calculated HJ using the following Eqn. 1: The RSI is calculated using Eqn. 2 expressed in meters per second [16]: Data analysis was performed with the statistical program SPSS V.27.0 and the graphs were produced with the statistical software GraphPad Prism Version.9.4.0 Table 2 shows the means ± SD of the variables registered by both devices The means differences (MD) of measures (GCT and RSI) obtained by the IMU device and the PF were statistically different from zero (p ≤ 0.05) This result could be considered the first step in demonstrating the lack of validity of IMU Means ± SD of the kinematic variables registered by both devices The Bland Altman (BA) analysis between the IMU and FP showed that 96.4% of the data were found to be within the limits of agreement (LOA) (Figure 4), with slight overestimation of GCT (Figure 1) and underestimation of FT and HJ (Figures 4B,C). The RSI showed a marked underestimation of the values compared to the force plate (Figure 4D) The LOA compromises the validity of the IMU measurements Where GCT (MD = 0.041 m s; SD = 0.044 m s LB = 0.127 m s -UL = −0.044 m s); FT (MD = −0.020 m s; SD = 0.027 m s; LB = 0.033 m s–UL = -0.074 m s); HJ (MD = −0.025 m; SD = 0.034 m; LB = 0.0421 m–UL = −0.092 m) and RSI (MD = 0.246 m/s; SD = 0.251 m/s; LB = 0.245 m/s–UB =–0.739 m/s) Measurements are obtained from the plate force and the OUTPUT sport Representation (A) difference of Ground Contact Times (GCT) v/s mean GCT Representation (B) difference of Flight Time (FT) v/s mean FT Representation (C) difference of Jump Height (HJ) v/s mean of HJ Representation (D) difference of Strength Reaction Index (SRI) v/s mean of RSI The measurements are obtained from the difference of means vs The (A) RL representation of GCT between IMU vs FP; the (B) RL representation of FT between IMU vs FP; the (C) RL representation of HJ between IMU vs FP and the (D) RL representation of RSI between IMU vs Intraclass correlation coefficients and 95% confidence intervals for measures reported by the Output Sport device This study aimed to test the concurrent validity and reliability of the Output Sport measurement device against a traditional research-grade force platform approach this is the first validation study of this device for ground contact time jump height and RSI during a drop jump protocol Given the multitude of sporting devices on the market measuring aspects of performance it is critical to assess the validity and reliability of such tools before transferring these instruments into practice It is also crucial that researchers quantify the measurement error to ensure inferences can be interpreted within the confines of the equipment used The findings demonstrate that although the IMU is somewhat valid and reliable further research would need to be carried out before the Output Sport device can be incorporated into applied RSI research The limits are also far from the mean of the differences which could indicate that the device can show an RSI with values of 0.24 above and 0.74 below the mean It was found that the UMI device tends to improve data reliability with increasing GCT times although it may not be helpful for practitioners intending to use the device to assess reactive jumping metrics and valid assessments can be made for populations interested in jump height to evaluate changes in falls strictly with height-focused jumps rather than the reactive component as the primary target given conflicting results in the literature and the present investigation further research supporting or opposing the use of the Output Sports device is required These data suggest that the Output Sport device may represent acceptable validity demonstrating a GCT above 0.355m s during drop jumps or plyometric exercise especially when considering the possibility of using these exercises for jumps involving high altitudes where contact time is longer or for jumps with a drop not seeking a reactive component as their primary objective The results of this study demonstrate that the Output Sport device could be used in practice to provide valid and reliable jump measurements but further work may be needed to verify the current findings This instrument could be implemented within the applied setting as a cost-effective and valid tool for assessing plyometric capabilities it is recommended that the Output Sport team should continue to work on application adjustments or improved versions of the device to enhance validity and reliability further The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors The studies involving human participants were conducted following the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) It was reviewed and approved by the Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education at the University of Coimbra ethics committee (code: CE/FCDEF-UC/00802021) The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study LR and AF were involved in the supervision and translation of the paper LR supervised the validity of the statistical results Rm and LR participated in the writing of the original draft All authors were involved in reviewing and editing the draft All authors read and approved the final version The researchers are grateful for the athlete’s' voluntary participation in the data collection All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher “Tradeoffs between horizontal and vertical velocity during triple jumping,” in Pre-Olympic Congress on Sports Science and Computer Science in Sport (IACSS 2012) Google Scholar Influence of leg stiffness and 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use *Correspondence: Raynier Montoro-Bombú, cmF5bmllcm1iQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ== †These authors have contributed equally to this work Thanks for visiting Sign in Join now, it's FREE! Ariel Montoro heard what sounded like a baby crying outside his East Gwillimbury home Montoro searched for the source of the sound When the sound was heard again the next day but still could not find what was making the noise Montoro eventually found what was making the crying noise Montoro called Aurora Animal Services to come catch the animals He said a fox he’d seen hanging around his deck “and making his dogs go crazy” earlier that month had been killed by a car only a few days prior to Montoro hearing the kits’ crying this modern day re-telling of The Fox and Hound had a happy ending the Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge and Montoro came to the rescue Aurora animal services supervisor, said the other fox parent had been injured and taken to Shades of Hope for treatment earlier that year The Town of Aurora’s animal services department set up humane tramps to safely contain them all the kits were contained and safely transported to Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge “I kind of wanted to keep a couple of them at least because they were so cute,” said Montoro “And we wanted to find out they were being taken care of properly and they weren’t just going to get rid of them.” After three months of care, medical assessments, and treatment at the Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge in Pefferlaw, the kits were ready to be released safely back into the wild.  The good news story comes at a busy time for Aurora’s Animal Services Department which provides domestic and wildlife animal services for Aurora and Georgina as well as wildlife assistance to the Town of East Gwillimbury since May 2022 “Summer is our busiest season of the year,” said Clarke we typically receive between 200 and 400 calls for assistance each month from each municipality and a higher number of baby animals needing help.” Clarke added another “ongoing concern is the rising number of surrender requests and abandoned animals within Aurora and Georgina.”  “Officers are responding to calls for kittens being dumped in boxes and puppies being left at the side of the road,” she added “We suspect that the housing and affordability crisis is forcing some individuals to choose between their homes and their pets.” “The Town of Aurora urges any residents facing challenges to care for their animals to reach out to Aurora’s Animal Services or the Georgina Animal Shelter to discuss options We are committed to offering support and exploring solutions to help keep pets in their homes whenever possible.” More Spotlight > “I don't like to push the other players you need to use this opportunity… Like our team you get good players like Jihan [Chuatico] and the other ones [who] can play,” he said Veloso added that the team will depend more heavily on balancing the rotation highlighting Blue Eagles rookie Alex Montoro as one of the key replacements Also mentioned was veteran spiker Sophie Buena who is ramping up for a return from injury as well so sometimes it's normal she feels a little pressure Montoro scored nine points and seven receptions, mirroring Ateneo captain Lyann de Guzman and middle blocker AC Miner in scoring in their second defeat at the hands of defending champion National U the lead tactician for Katipunan also provided a short update on the status of Tsunashima and delos Santos “She (Tsunashima) did surgery on monday and J.Lo stopped [by] yesterday to do physical therapy she cannot play the season because she needs the time to recover," he said With the Blue Eagles down to 12 players and dropped to 0-2 Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph Spin.ph has been granted the NPC Seal of Registration in recognition of the successful registration of its DPO and DPS We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on Spin.ph. 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Find out more here MANILA – Four Western Visayas-based volleybelles have committed to join Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles women’s volleyball team ahead of UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament Bacolodnons Jihan Isabelle Chuatico and Alexia Marie Montoro and Ilonggas Fiona Marie Arroyo and Robielle Silla have all decided to join the squad of head coach Sergio Veloso Chuatico and Montoro were former standouts of Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts and were part of the school’s championship runs in the 2023 Palarong Pambansa and 2024 Rebisco Volleyball League (RVL) National Finals Chuatico was awarded Finals Most Valuable Player and Best Middle Blocker while Montoro took home the Best Outside Hitter citation Chuatico and Montoro will join fellow former Thunderbolt and Bacolodnon Katherine Shaine Cortez who was recruited to join the Blue Eagles squad prior to UAAP Season 86 were former members of the Central Philippine University Golden Lions’ secondary girls volleyball team before they moved to Manila for senior high school Arroyo was recruited to play for Far Eastern University-Diliman Lady Baby Tamaraws while Silla suited up for National University Nazareth School Lady Baby Bulldogs in UAAP juniors in their first year under the guidance of Veloso came off a fifth place finish (5-9 win-loss slate) during the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament earlier this year./PN and website in this browser for the next time I comment Metrics details The airways of the lung are the primary sites of disease in asthma and cystic fibrosis Here we study the cellular composition and hierarchy of the mouse tracheal epithelium by single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and in vivo lineage tracing the Foxi1+ pulmonary ionocyte; functional variations in club cells based on their location; a distinct cell type in high turnover squamous epithelial structures that we term ‘hillocks’; and disease-relevant subsets of tuft and goblet cells neuroendocrine and ionocyte cells are continually and directly replenished by basal progenitor cells Ionocytes are the major source of transcripts of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator in both mouse (Cftr) and human (CFTR) Knockout of Foxi1 in mouse ionocytes causes loss of Cftr expression and disrupts airway fluid and mucus physiology phenotypes that are characteristic of cystic fibrosis By associating cell-type-specific expression programs with key disease genes we establish a new cellular narrative for airways disease Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout Basal cells as stem cells of the mouse trachea and human airway epithelium LungMAP: The Molecular Atlas of Lung Development Program Reconstructing lineage hierarchies of the distal lung epithelium using single-cell RNA-seq Single-cell Wnt signaling niches maintain stemness of alveolar type 2 cells Distinct mesenchymal lineages and niches promote epithelial self-renewal and myofibrogenesis in the lung Plasschaert, L. 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become mucous cells after ovalbumin challenge Notch2 is required for inflammatory cytokine-driven goblet cell metaplasia in the lung Distinct roles for IL-13 and IL-4 via IL-13 receptor α1 and the type II IL-4 receptor in asthma pathogenesis Clonal dynamics reveal two distinct populations of basal cells in slow-turnover airway epithelium Annexin-1-deficient mice exhibit spontaneous airway hyperresponsiveness and exacerbated allergen-specific antibody responses in a mouse model of asthma A single-cell survey of the small intestinal epithelium Requirement of a 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein for leukotriene synthesis Uptake through glycoprotein 2 of FimH+ bacteria by M cells initiates mucosal immune response A new role for P2X4 receptors as modulators of lung surfactant secretion Gram-positive bacteria are held at a distance in the colon mucus by the lectin-like protein ZG16 The forkhead transcription factor Foxi1 is a master regulator of vacuolar H-ATPase proton pump subunits in the 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The sva package for removing batch effects and other unwanted variation in high-throughput experiments Ultrafast and memory-efficient alignment of short DNA sequences to the human genome RSEM: accurate transcript quantification from RNA-seq data with or without a reference genome Accelerating t-SNE using tree-based algorithms Maps of random walks on complex networks reveal community structure Data-driven phenotypic dissection of AML reveals progenitor-like cells that correlate with prognosis Comprehensive classification of retinal bipolar neurons by single-cell transcriptomics Geometric diffusions as a tool for harmonic analysis and structure definition of data: multiscale methods AnimalTFDB: a comprehensive animal transcription factor database Gene ontology analysis for RNA-seq: accounting for selection bias Molecular signatures database (MSigDB) 3.0 Diffusion maps for high-dimensional single-cell analysis of differentiation data Computational analysis of cell-to-cell heterogeneity in single-cell RNA-sequencing data reveals hidden subpopulations of cells Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/hierarchical Models (Cambridge Univ A density-based algorithm for discovering clusters in large spatial databases with noise of the 2nd International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (Simoudis E MAST: a flexible statistical framework for assessing transcriptional changes and characterizing heterogeneity in single-cell RNA sequencing data Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing Download references Oyem for assistance with electrophysiological assays the New England Organ Bank for facilitating the acquisition of donor lungs and the HSCI Flow Cytometry Core and CNY Flow Cytometry Core facilities This work was supported by the Klarman Cell Observatory at the Broad Institute (A.R the Ludwig Cancer Institute at Harvard (J.R.) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (J.R.) was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Human Frontiers Science Program was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from NIH-NHLBI 1F31HL136128-01 is a Whitehead Scholar and was supported by a career development award from NHLBI/NIH (4R00HL127181) and funds from Regeneration NeXT Initiative at Duke University was supported by NIH P30 DK072482 and R35 HL135816 a Harrington Investigator of the NYSCF and HHMI Faculty Scholar Amit and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work These authors contributed equally: Daniel T Manjunatha Shivaraju & Jayaraj Rajagopal Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research designed and performed computational analysis; D.T.M carried out and analysed experiments with V.V. advised on experimental design and performed mouse single-cell experiments with N.R. provided mouse electrophysiology data; S.B. performed and interpreted μOCT experiments; S.B performed and interpreted ferret expression and electrophysiology data; A.T. contributed human single-cell data and analysis; H.M previously observed Krt13+ cells arranged as hillocks wrote the manuscript with input from all authors is a member of the SAB for Thermo Fisher Scientific are co-inventors on PCT/US2018/027337 filed by the Broad Institute relating to innovative advances in epithelial hierarchy and ionocytes described in this manuscript Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations colour bar) between every pair of 7,193 cells (rows and columns) ordered by cluster assignment Relative expression level (row-wise Z score of log2(TPM+1) expression values) of cell-type-specific genes (rows) in each epithelial cell (columns) Distributions of the number of reads per cell (left) the number of the genes detected with non-zero transcript counts per cell (centre) and the fraction of reads mapping to the mm10 transcriptome per cell (right) High reproducibility between plate-based scRNA-seq data from biological replicates of tracheal epithelial cells Average expression values (log2(TPM+1)) in two representative full-length scRNA-seq replicate experiments (left) and in the average of a full-length scRNA-seq dataset (right) and a population control (right) for cells extracted from proximal (b) and distal (c) mouse trachea Blue shading: density of genes (points); r = Pearson correlation coefficient Post hoc cluster annotation by the expression of known cell-type markers t-SNE of 301 scRNA-seq profiles (points) coloured by region of origin (top left) the expression level (log2(TPM+1)) of single marker genes or the mean expression of several marker genes for a particular cell type All clusters are populated by cells from both proximal and distal epithelium except rare neuroendocrine cells which were only detected in proximal experiments (top left) Distribution of expression levels (log2(TPM+1)) in the cells in each cluster (x axis colour legend) for two asthma GWAS genes: Cdhr3 (top; specific to ciliated cells) and Rgs13 (bottom; specific to tuft cells) FDRs or by expression (log2(TPM+1)) of specific genes (all other panels) Left: Krt13+ (green) and Trp63+ (magenta) basal (solid outline) and suprabasal (dashed outline) cells Right: Krt13+ (green) and Scgb1a1+ (magenta Krt13+ hillock cells are highly proliferative Co-stain of EdU (magenta) and Krt13 (green) Fraction of EdU+ epithelial cells in hillock (mean Fraction of Krt13+ hillock cells that are club cell lineage labelled (%) decreases from day 5 (10.2% Differential expression (log2(fold-change)) and associated significance (log10(FDR)) for each gene (dot) that is differentially expressed in Krt13+ cells (identified using clustering in diffusion map space) compared to all cells (FDR <0.05 cell type with highest expression (for example green shows genes that are most highly expressed in Krt13+ hillock cells) Dots show all the genes differentially expressed (FDR <0.05) between Krt13+ hillock cells and other cells Genes with log2 fold-change >1 are marked with large points whereas others are identified as small points (grey) Representative MSigDB gene sets (rows) that are significantly enriched (colour bar hypergeometric test) in Krt13+ hillock cells Each cell was assigned to a cell fate transition if it was within d <0.1 of an edge of the convex hull of all points (in which d is the Euclidean distance in diffusion space) assigned to that edge Labelled fraction of basal cells is unchanged during pulse-seq time course Estimated fraction (%) of cells of each type that are positive for the fluorescent lineage label (by FACS) in each of n = 3 mice (points) per time point Proportion of basal cell lineage-labelled tuft cells at day 0 (0%; n = 2 mice Conventional Scgb1a1 (CC10) lineage trace of rare epithelial types shows minimal contribution to rare cell lineages Fraction of Scb1a1 labelled (club cell trace) cells (%) of Gnat3+ tuft cells (f) at day 0 (n = 3 mice; 0.6% EGFP(Foxi1)+ ionocytes at day 30 (n = 2 mice; 2.9% and Chga+ neuroendocrine cells at day 0 (n = 2 mice; 2.5% 0.08]) (h) after club cell lineage labelling Heat maps show the relative expression level (row-wise Z score of log2(TPM+1) expression values colour bar) of the 20 genes with the highest and lowest loadings on PC-1 (left) and PC-2 (right) in each club cell (columns down-sampled to 1,000 cells for visualization only) Pulse-seq lineage tracing of hillock-associated cells Estimated fraction (%) of cells of each type that are positive for the fluorescent lineage label (by FACS) from n = 3 mice (points) per time point Hillock-associated club cells are produced at a higher rate than all club cells Estimated rate (%) based on the slope of quantile regression fits to the fraction of lineage-labelled cells of each type Club cells initially labelled by pulse-seq are associated with basal to club cell differentiation Distribution of basal signature scores for individual club cells (points) from each pulse-seq time point and lineage label status Violin plots show the Gaussian kernel probability densities of the data PC-1 versus PC-2 for a PCA of 17,700 scRNA-seq profiles of club cells (points) highlighting club cells that are lineage-labelled at the initial time point (legend) Schematic of the more rapid turnover of basal to club cells inside (top) and outside (bottom) hillocks basal and club cells (label on top) in each cell subset (basal and club cells down-sampled to 1,000 cells) Gene signatures for goblet-1 and goblet-2 subsets The distribution (k) and relative expression level (l) of marker genes that distinguish (log2 fold-change >0.1 LRT) cells in the goblet-1 and goblet-2 sub-clusters (colour bar top and left) from the combined 3′ scRNA-seq datasets Immunofluorescence staining of the goblet-1 marker Tff2 (magenta) the known goblet cell marker Muc5ac (green) and DAPI (blue) Solid white line: boundary of a goblet-1 cell full-length scRNA-seq dataset) in each airway epithelial cell type EGFP(Foxi1)+ ionocytes extend cytoplasmic appendages (arrows) Immunofluorescence labelling of EGFP(Foxi1)+ cells in airway regions nasal respiratory epithelium (f) and olfactory neuroepithelium (g) Dotted line separates surface epithelium (SA) from SMG Ascl3(KO) moderately decreases ionocyte transcription factors and Cftr in ALI-cultured epithelia Quantification (ΔΔCT) of expression in ionocyte (Cftr: −0.82 ΔΔCT club (Scgb1a1) or ciliated (Foxj1) markers in hetero- and homozygous Ascl3 KO (colour legend) are normalized to wild-type littermates The mean of independent probes (p1 and p2) was used for Cftr Altered ASL reflectance intensity in Foxi1(KO) ALI culture compared to wild type airway surface liquid depth (including the periciliary and mucus layers) Ionocyte depletion or disruption does not affect ASL depth (c) as determined by μOCT nor pH (d) in cultured epithelia derived from homozygous Foxi1(KO) (n = 9) versus wild type littermates (n = 9 mice) ΔIeq (y axis) in ALI cultures of wild type (WT) heterozygous (HET) and Foxi1(KO) mice (n = 5 (WT) n = 6 (KO)) that were characterized for their forskolin-inducible equivalent currents (e; Ieq) and for currents sensitive to CFTRinh-172 (f) The inhibitor-sensitive ΔIeq values reported may underestimate the true inhibitor-sensitive current as the inhibitor response failed to reach a steady plateau for some samples during the time scale of the experiment Foxi1 transcriptional activation (Foxi1-TA) in ferret increases Cftr expression and chloride transport qRT–PCR expression quantification (ΔΔCT) of ionocyte markers in ferret Foxi1-TA ALI (n = 4 ferrets) normalized to mock transfection (Cftr: −1.39 ΔΔCT Foxi1 activation in ferret cell cultures results in a CFTR inhibitor-sensitive short-circuit current (ΔIsc) Representative trace (h) and quantification (i) of short-circuit current (Isc) tracings from Foxi1-TA ferret ALI after sgRNA reverse transfection (n = 6 light blue) versus mock transfection (n = 5 Evolutionarily conserved ionocyte signatures Difference in fraction of cells in which transcript is detected and log2 fold-change between human ionocytes and all other bronchial epithelial cells Labelled genes are differentially expressed (log2 fold-change >0.25 and FDR <10−10 consensus ionocyte markers between mouse and human (log2 fold-change >0.25 This file contains Supplementary Figure 1: Representative FACS plot of primary mouse tracheal epithelial cells Number of cells captured in each gate indicated as well as the percentage of the parent population (schematic This file contains Supplementary Tables 1-12 and a Supplementary Guide providing the table legends Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0393-7 Anyone you share the following link 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Log in with Social Login Project financed and implemented with funds from the Province of Avellino You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience. Published 7:00 am Thursday, November 23, 2023 Velvet Montoro of Miss Madilyn’s Macarons showcases her Euro-inspired baked creations. The Holiday Market coordinator, Amy Hallford (right), displays her Scentsy products beside twin sister, Ashley Adams’s (left) sticker and sweets booth. Greenville’s sixth annual Holiday Market was a festive success with nearly doubled vendor participation compared to last year and an abundance of local visitors. The exquisite fall day on Nov. 18 was a perfect backdrop for the affair, with local and non-local vendors on hand to share their crafts and livelihood with hopeful spirits. Amy Hallford, a Greenville local, and her sister Brandi Peavy, began the Holiday Market six years ago at Beeland Park. Hallford said that she was very happy for this year’s turnout, and explained that the first year of the event hosted less than 10 local vendors. Last year it grew with close to 30 participants.  “The local vendors really show up for the market,” Hallford said. “To have the community come out and support them means a lot to me, as the organizer, and to the vendors. They might work from home, or be trying to raise money for something or be trying to save money, and it means a lot for the community to show up like that.” Hallford said that she is shooting big for next year’s Holiday Market, and is hoping to double its size again. One of the first-time vendors who traveled to Greenville on Saturday was Velvet Montoro, the pastry chef and owner of Miss Madilyn’s Macarons. She wore a charming cook’s hat and displayed her baked creations on a table which mimicked the feel of a Paris pastry cafe. Montoro has been making international cookies since she was a child, baking bread for close to 16 years and creating macarons for five. “When I married my husband, I was given his grandma’s cookbook,” Montoro said. “His grandparents came over from Sicily, so the pastries are as authentic as they come. We spent some time in Germany, and I got addicted to macarons and decided to learn how to make them.” Montoro is an Alaskan resident who grew up in Colorado, and currently resides with her husband in Prattville.  A local vendor, Mary Kay representative Reneasha Gardner Hasley, said being a part of the Holiday Market has been fun.  “The community has been so great to come out and support these small businesses,” Hasley said. “I’m just honored that they even thought about me being a part of it.” Another local vendor Tina Blackmon, also expressed excitement and gratitude in witnessing the community come together for the event. She said she loves the opportunity for her and the other vendors to display their merchandise and information all in one place communally.  For inquiries about Greenville’s next Holiday Market email Hallford at amyhallford@yahoo.com. There are four games on the college basketball schedule on Monday that feature SWAC teams. That includes the… On Sunday, March 16, 2025, the Brooklyn Nets (21-39) take on the Atlanta Hawks (27-33) at 6 p.m.… The Kansas Jayhawks versus the Houston Cougars is one of two games on Monday’s college basketball slate that… There are several strong matchups on today’s NHL schedule, including the Tampa Bay Lightning playing the Florida Panthers.… There is no shortage of excitement on Monday in SWAC action, including a Southern Jaguars squaring off against… Like reading The GUIDON? Subscribe to our newsletter FUELED BY rookie Alexia Montoro’s stunning debut, the Ateneo Women’s Volleyball Team claimed a decisive victory against the Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) Lady Generals in a set sweep romp, 25-12, 25-21, 25-12. The Blue Eagles’ fourth Shakey’s Super League (SSL) game was held yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in the City of Manila. With the win, Ateneo ends the first round with a 3-1 win-loss record—currently good for second in the SSL’s Pool A standings. Montoro was hailed as the Player of the Game for her seven-point outing and significant contributions to the team’s floor defense. Meanwhile, veteran outside hitter Jennifer Delos Santos led the Blue Eagles’ scoring with 10 points. Looking to make a statement, the Blue Eagles hounded the Generals with forceful and calculated attacks to open the contest, with a monster AC Miner block giving Ateneo the early momentum. Team Captain Lyann De Guzman and opposite hitter Geezel Tsunashima further bolstered the Blue and White’s opening surge on offense, as both spikers consistently unleashed aggressive hits to hand them a 4-1 advantage. Further exploiting the Lady Generals’ defensive lapses, setter KC Cortez’s seamless passes to Miner delivered productive kills to keep Ateneo comfortably ahead, 9-5. However, the Blue Eagles fell to defensive miscues midway through the set, as EAC strengthened their synergy on both ends. Despite facing a scare, the Blue and White remained composed as they rediscovered their offensive synergy to take the first set in authoritative fashion, 25-12. After falling 0-3 due to consecutive hitting errors to kickstart the second set, the Blue Eagles fiercely responded by mounting a six-point run. Ateneo maintained this momentum, stretching their advantage to 14-8 after big plays by rookies Montoro and Jihan Chuatico. While the Generals made quick adjustments to cut Ateneo’s lead to 16-13, Delos Santos stopped the bleeding after unleashing a powerful kill. With Montoro’s standout defensive efforts and Chuatico’s lethal offensive firepower, the Blue Eagles ultimately took the second set, 25-21, courtesy of a hitting error by the Generals. Looking to seal a sweep, Ateneo started out the third set stronger with a pair of attacks from Montoro and Delos Santos, 3-1. Despite the game’s offensive tempo being grinded to a halt due to error-laden plays from both squads, the Blue Eagles embraced the change of pace as they captured a 9-6 advantage. Following a hit from Delos Santos, the Blue and White broke the game wide open with their red-hot offense as they rode several unanswered scoring runs, 18-8. After briefly trading points with the Generals at the tail end of the set, Cortez finally clinched the win for the Blue Eagles with three spectacular service aces, 25-12. With their 3-1 record, Ateneo now awaits the result of the match between Arellano University and National University to finalize their bid to qualify for the next round. ADDENDUM: The league announced via a press release that the Ateneo Blue Eagles will face University of Santo Tomas in the second round on Sunday, October 20, at 11:00 AM in the same venue. Ateneo (3): Delos Santos – 10, Chuatico – 7, Montoro – 7, Njigha – 5, Tsunashima – 5, Cortez – 4, Miner – 4, Silla – 4, Buena – 3, De Guzman – 2, Sulit – 1 EAC (0): Razonable – 7, Alimen – 4, Domo – 4, Bodonal – 2, Ramos – 2, Dayanan – 1, Formento – 1, Sayago – 1 Leave a comment below about the article. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Have any questions, clarifications, or comments? Send us a message through the form below. Fill out our form in the Contribute page and write for The GUIDON! Click the button below to view our Take the Lede Crowdsourcing Form. © 2022 The GUIDON All Rights ReservedDesigned and developed by Digital Development 2019–2020 and 2022–2023 This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Urine samples were collected from 24 patients with chronic low back pain and TNF-α levels were analyzed by ELISA before and after 4–6 weeks of care compared to a reference value obtained from 5 healthy control subjects, by means of a Welch’s t-test. Simultaneously, pain intensity and disability were also evaluated before and after care. Paired t-tests were used to compare mean pre and post urinary concentrations of TNF-α and clinical outcomes. Significantly higher baseline levels of urinary TNF-α were observed in chronic low back pain patients when compared to our reference value (p < 0.001), which were significantly lower after the period of chiropractic treatment (p = 0.03). Moreover, these changes were accompanied by a significant reduction in pain and disability (both p < 0.001). However, levels of urinary TNF-α were not correlated with pain intensity nor disability. These results suggest that urine could be a good milieu to assess TNF-α changes, with potential clinical implications for the management of chronic low back pain. Volume 16 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.879083 This article is part of the Research TopicMechanisms and Models of Musculoskeletal Pain and Nonpharmacological TreatmentView all 9 articles Background and aims: Low back pain is the leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide Chiropractors employ different interventions to treat low back pain although the mechanisms through which chiropractic care improves low back pain are still unclear Clinical research and animal models suggest that spinal manipulation might modulate plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines which have been involved in different stages of low back pain serum levels of Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) have been found to be elevated in patients with chronic low back pain We aimed to investigate whether urine from chronic low back pain patients could be an appropriate medium to measure concentrations of TNF-α and to examine possible changes in its levels associated to chiropractic care Methods: Urine samples were collected from 24 patients with chronic low back pain and TNF-α levels were analyzed by ELISA before and after 4–6 weeks of care compared to a reference value obtained from 5 healthy control subjects pain intensity and disability were also evaluated before and after care Paired t-tests were used to compare mean pre and post urinary concentrations of TNF-α and clinical outcomes Results: Significantly higher baseline levels of urinary TNF-α were observed in chronic low back pain patients when compared to our reference value (p < 0.001) which were significantly lower after the period of chiropractic treatment (p = 0.03) these changes were accompanied by a significant reduction in pain and disability (both p < 0.001) levels of urinary TNF-α were not correlated with pain intensity nor disability Conclusion: These results suggest that urine could be a good milieu to assess TNF-α changes with potential clinical implications for the management of chronic low back pain more feasible alternative to blood samples that is much easier to collect in a private or smaller clinical setting our objectives were to examine the possible presence of TNF-α in urine samples of CLBP patients and to assess whether levels in this cytokine would vary significantly after a period of multimodal chiropractic care mainly based in SMT in parallel to pain intensity and disability We hypothesized that the urinary levels of TNF-α would be elevated in patients with CLBP compared to healthy participants we posited that urinary levels of this cytokine would change following a period of chiropractic care This study was conducted as a prospective cohort study conducted at the Madrid College of Chiropractic Outpatient Clinic (will be referred to as “the Clinic” from here on) in San Lorenzo de El Escorial All experimental procedures conformed to the standards set by the latest revision of the Declaration of Helsinki and ethical approval was granted by the Madrid College of Chiropractic Research Ethics subcommittee before starting recruitment These criteria were assessed during the case history and physical examination following routine procedures of the Clinic a sample of healthy volunteer participants without LBP or any other health concern was recruited the only inclusion criterion was to be between 18 and 75 years of age and the main exclusion criteria were the existence of any acute or chronic health condition particularly if it could influence or modify inflammatory status This included having experienced or having sought medical care for LBP in the last year and having received SMT in the previous 6 months Participants included in the control group signed an informed consent before urine sample collection no reference values for urinary levels of TNF-α have been published to date the control group served as a comparison group providing a reference value which would be used to test the hypothesis of abnormally high levels of TNF-α in the CLBP groups when compared to a healthy population including outcomes measures collected in relationship to treatment period The ODI questionnaire consists of 10 multiple-choice questions rated from 0 to 5 with a total possible score of 50 (maximal disability) In order to detect possible differences in normalized TNF-α (TNF-α to creatinine ratio) urinary concentrations between patients with CLBP and healthy controls, the mean value was calculated from the latter and used as a reference value. Further, Welch’s t-tests were used to compare the mean of the CLBP group to this reference value, both pre- and post-treatment. This adaptation of the t-test is known to be robust against type I errors (Derrick et al., 2016) Urinary TNF-α concentrations before and after chiropractic treatment were later compared by using a paired t-test paired t-tests were used to ascertain differences in PROMs (NRS-11 and ODI scores) before and after exposure to chiropractic treatment In order to assess for correlations between concentrations of TNF-α Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was calculated by using before and after treatment values and percent changes the potential interaction of treatment variables other than SMT (exercise and medication use) was analyzed by comparing the mean variations in TNF-α levels (ΔTNF–α) NRS-11 (ΔNRS–11) and ODI scores (ΔODI) in participants following a home exercise program or using pain medication Differences in these variables were based on pragmatic differences in the treatment approach Welch’s t-test were used for these comparisons Values presented in the results section represent mean ± standard deviation effects sizes were computed and reported by means of Cohen’s d A p value threshold of 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all analyses The mean concentration of TNF-α in urinary samples of healthy participants was found to be 0.4 ± 0.9 pg/ml, and when corrected for urinary volume, the ratio to creatinine was 0.4 ± 0.8 pg/mg (see Table 2) Before initiating care, mean urinary TNF-α concentration was 7.9 ± 11.3 pg/ml and the mean ratio to creatinine was 6.0 ± 7.0 pg/mg (see Table 2) These levels were significantly higher when compared to the reference value obtained from healthy controls (p = 0.0006) After completing the period of chiropractic care the mean concentration of TNF-α in urine was 3.6 ± 5.5 pg/ml and the ratio to creatinine was 2.8 ± 4.5 pg/mg These levels were still significantly elevated when compared to our reference value (p = 0.015) Urinary concentration of TNF-α corrected for volume was significantly lower after the period of chiropractic care compared to baseline (p = 0.03), Cohen’s d = 0.55. These results are illustrated in Figure 2 Urinary TNF-α levels in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients the urinary concentrations of TNF-α (pg/ml) and creatinine (mg/dl) were assessed The ratio of urinary TNF-α to urinary creatinine in pg/mg was calculated to correct changes in urine volume The middle line represents the median and the x represents the mean The upper and the lower lines of the box represent the first and third quartile respectively and the whiskers include all individual data points within 1.5 times the interquartile range Clinical variables measured in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients (A) Pain intensity scores reported in a Numerical Rating Scale pre- and post- treatment ***p < 0.001 (B) Disability scores reported in the Oswestry Disability Index questionnaire Spearman’s rank coefficient highlighted a moderate significant correlation between NRS-11 and ODI scores before (ρ = 0.46 p = 0.01) and after treatment (ρ = 0.52 The percentages of change in NRS-11 and ODI scores were also positively correlated (ρ = 0.55 there was also a moderate significant correlation between the number of visits and the change in NRS-11 (ρ = 0.49 no other variable was correlated to the number of visits (change in ODI ρ = 0.27 p = 0.1; ODI post-treatment ρ = 0.33 p = 0.056; NRS-11 post-treatment ρ = 0.32 No significant correlations were observed between TNF-α urinary levels at any stage or percent changes before and after treatment with any other variables analyzed (all p’s > 0.2) Out of 24 patients, seven received recommendations for a home exercise program apart from SMT. Patients following and not following a home exercise program showed similar reductions in TNF-α levels (p = 0.9), pain intensity (p = 0.3) and disability (p = 0.8). Table 3 provides the details of these comparisons Before and after treatment variations in TNF-α concentrations pain intensity and disability in patients following or not following a home exercise program and using or not using pain medication during the study Seven patients were taking non-opioid analgesics, muscle relaxants or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), one of them was also taking Pregabalin and another one Tramadol. No significant differences were observed between patients using pain medication and those who were not, for variations before and after treatment in TNF-α levels (p = 0.4), pain intensity (p = 0.8) and disability (p = 0.1) (Table 3) this is the first study to measure TNF-α levels in urine samples of CLBP patients urinary concentrations of this cytokine were significantly elevated when compared to a reference value from healthy controls Urinary TNF-α levels were lower after chiropractic care compared with the baseline values This was accompanied by lower levels of pain and disability after chiropractic care compared with the levels before clinical variables and TNF-α levels were not correlated While this study cannot make any causal connection between changes in TNF-α and treatment future studies with a control group should be able to determine whether chiropractic care may relieve pain and decrease disability in patients with CLBP through modulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine network IL-1β and IL-10 plasma levels of rats with experimental neuropathic and postoperative pain receiving SMT sessions elevated levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 were observed locally in the spinal cord Further research is needed in this area to clarify the link between SMT and concentrations of both serum and urinary inflammatory markers The present study identified moderate significant correlations between pain intensity levels and disability scores percentage of change which is consistent with the ODI being an adequate tool to measure LBP-related disability The observations drawn from this type of studies generally provide guidance for the design of future clinical trials Another important limitation of the study lies in the method of urine sample collection and processing. In urine, factors such as timing of voids, and time spent at room temperature may affect the quality of recovered protein data (Siddiqui et al., 2015) Despite having informed participants on the proper method for urine sample collection whether all participants followed the recommended steps cannot be guaranteed which may introduce variability and affect the reproducibility of the data The common denominator in the study was always SMT, which was used in every patient for every visit. However, as beforementioned, exercise therapy exerts a beneficial influence over CLBP, partially based on modulating inflammatory cytokine profiles including TNF-α (Cheng et al., 2015; Leung et al., 2016; James et al., 2018a) The introduction of exercise therapy did not seem to provide additional benefit in our sample although the sample size is too small to draw any conclusion it is noteworthy to consider that future research should look at SMT and exercise independently from each other preferably To confirm our preliminary findings would require conducting further research It is not possible to conclude that any of the measured effects are the direct consequence of the care received unless a second CLBP group is included that will be randomly assigned to receive a different intervention a sham intervention or no intervention at all our control group for urinary TNF-α levels was small when compared to the CLBP group and only one measure was taken at the beginning of the protocol A second measure at the end of the protocol would allow to measure and control for non-specific changes in TNF-α levels More data is needed in order to explore the potential for urinary TNF-α and other cytokines to become biomarkers for CLBP that could be quantified in clinical practice this is the first study to suggest that urinary levels of TNF-α can be found elevated in patients with CLBP when compared to healthy individuals The results obtained in this preliminary study suggest that a non-standardized period of chiropractic care could have a significant impact on pain and disability levels as well as on urinary concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α in CLBP patients These potential benefits should be further investigated in a proper randomized controlled trial design with at least one control group that will not receive chiropractic care results from the current study should be interpreted with caution Further research to elucidate the mechanisms and role of different conservative interventions for CLBP is an essential upcoming step The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Madrid College of Chiropractic Research Ethics Real Centro Universitario Escorial María Cristina and writing – original draft preparation DN: conceptualization and writing- review and editing All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version AO-DM was supported by grants from the Spanish Chiropractic Association (AEQ) The contribution of CG-M was supported by Doctorate Grants from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec Nature et Technologies and the AEQ We thank Carolina Roza (Departamento de Biología de Sistemas, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain) for editing and proofreading this article. We further thank Justine Lena Portelas and Andrea Fois (Real Centro Universitario Escorial María Cristina) for providing support during the process of data collection. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Arantxa Ortega-De Mues, YW9ydGVnYUByY3VtYXJpYWNyaXN0aW5hLmNvbQ== « Back Volume 6 - 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00002 Natural disturbance is one of the major topics in forest ecology most paleoecological studies have only considered the influence of wildfire as an agent of disturbance with fire history based primarily on the use of charcoal as a proxy for fire events The frequency and intensity of insect outbreaks and their effect on the forest landscape have been neglected due to the absence of an effective proxy tool Finding indicators able to provide insight into the impacts of past insect outbreaks is therefore essential Fossil moth (Lepidoptera) scales offer a new approach for interpreting past insect-related disturbances and assessing the interactions between climate Paleoindicators must respond to three main criteria: (1) be in high abundance (2) allow for easy identification and (3) remain well-preserved in sediment records We demonstrate that wing scales are abundant in the boreal forest during insect outbreak periods We also show that due to their chitin composition these scales remain well-preserved throughout a 10,000-year sediment record they are relatively easy to identify after being recovered from lake sediments potential and applications of this paleoindicator in forest ecology and the main directions for the future research This new approach offers an important scientific advance in ecology through a much improved higher resolution reconstruction of an important natural disturbance: insect outbreaks Images from spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana - SBW) outbreaks (a) Millions of dead moths in a forest camp after a massive flight of SBW in 2014 (b) Dead moths floating on the surface of a boreal lake north of Lake Saint-Jean (c) Scale belts and other components separated from moths lying on the water surface feces are essentially constituted of organic matter and as such are easily degradable while cephalic head capsules are difficult to identify and are produced in very small quantities In addition to the thousands of scales present on each wing of each individual moth certain scale shapes can be associated to specific taxa allowing for specific taxonomic identification of moth species these scales seem to match a priori all criteria for being an effective paleoindicator although previous studies had never reported them from the sediment record The procedure involves the sieving of sediment with an appropriate mesh size followed by multiple centrifugations of the rinsed sediment to precipitate the higher density organic matter and to cause lower density particles such as some pollen and most of the scales These insect remains then form a concentrated subsample that can then be mounted onto microscope slides for analysis It must be noted that with the scales being very thin and delicate a significant portion of the extracted scales were broken folded or covered by other material resulting in a relatively low rate of scale identification we could still confirm that peaks of identified fossil scales corresponded to periods of insect outbreak considering the wide range of SBW outbreaks on affected areas we confirm that lepidopteran scales are an excellent indicator of SBW abundance Raw number of lepidopteran scales extracted for the last 10,000 years from a sediment core recovered from Lake Flévy Examples of well-preserved scales extracted from a lake sediment core showing the correspondence with spruce budworm (SBW) morphotypes generated from the shape measurements of thousands of SBW specimen scales Analyses of wing scales could improve our knowledge of the abundance and distribution (e.g. and provide an understanding of how moths reacted to past environmental change to better discern their future vulnerability to extinction The use of lepidopteran scales from the past will provide insight into present-day ecosystems and produce a more accurate projection of insect outbreaks that will occur in the future MM conceptualized the paper; LN and HM designed the paleoecological study and contributed to its realization; LN carried out lab work and paleoecological analyses; MM wrote the first draft of the manuscript; LN contributed to the writing of the manuscript; HM supervised the investigation and provided substantial input to the interpretation of results; HM also secured funding for the project All authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript Funding was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada the Canada Research Industrial Chairs Program Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Fonds de Recherche de Québec-Nature et Technologies obtained by the last author On the taxonomic value of the morphology of wing scales in some Heliconiinae (Lepidoptera Will climate change drive 21st century burn rates in Canadian boreal forest outside of its natural variability: collating global climate model experiments with sedimentary charcoal data Diatoms as indicators of climatic and limnological change in Swedish Lapland: a 100-lake calibration set and its validation for paleoecological reconstructions CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Influence of environmental factors and spatio-temporal covariates during the initial development of a spruce budworm outbreak CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Forest dynamics after successive spruce budworm outbreaks in mixedwood forests doi: 10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[2319:FDASSB]2.0.CO;2 Spruce budworm outbreaks in eastern Quebec over the last 450 years CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The use of weather surveillance radar and high-resolution three dimensional weather data to monitor a spruce budworm mass exodus flight doi: 10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0723:CCAFD]2.0.CO;2 Google Scholar Future fire in Canada's boreal forest: paleoecology results and general circulation model-regional climate model simulations QC: Presses de l'Université de Québec Google Scholar and scales,” in Microscopic Anatomy of Invertebrates Analysis and use of historical patterns of spruce budworm defoliation to forecast outbreak patterns in Quebec CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Climate change mitigation through adaptation: the effectiveness of forest diversification by novel tree planting regimes CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Adaptation and Vulnerability: Regional Aspects Forest insects and climate change: long-term trends in herbivore damage Lepidoptera phylogeny and systematics: the state of inventorying moth and butterfly diversity Google Scholar Handbuch Der Zoologie/Handbook of Zoology 4:9 Google Scholar Natural variability of forests as a reference for restoring and managing biological diversity in boreal Fennoscandia CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar “Plant macrofossil methods and studies: mire and peat macros,” in Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science Google Scholar Fire and insects in northern and boreal forest ecosystems of North America Montoro Girona Montoro Girona “Spruce budworm outbreak regimes in eastern North America,” Ecosystem Management in the Boreal Forest QC: Presse de l'Université du Québec) Google Scholar Lepidoptera wing scales: a new paleoecological indicator for reconstructing spruce budworm abundance CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Are Lepidoptera an effective ‘umbrella group' for biodiversity conservation CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Population dynamics of the spruce budworm Choristoneura fumiferana CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Variability and dynamics of old-growth forests in the circumbolear zone: implications for conservation A millennial-scale reconstruction of spruce budworm abundance in Saguenay CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar regional-scale patterns of western spruce budworm outbreaks CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Climate change and impacts of boreal forest insects CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar in Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar Navarro L and Morin H (2018) A Secret Hidden in the Sediments: Lepidoptera Scales Received: 27 October 2017; Accepted: 09 January 2018; Published: 26 January 2018 Copyright © 2018 Montoro Girona, Navarro and Morin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the somatosensory cortex causes cerebral hyperexcitability and a significant enhancement in pain thresholds and tactile spatial acuity. Sensory gating is a brain mechanism to suppress irrelevant incoming inputs, which is elicited by presenting pairs of identical stimuli (S1 and S2) within short time intervals between stimuli (e.g., 500 ms). The present study addressed the question of whether tDCS could modulate the brain correlates of this inhibitory mechanism. Forty-one healthy individuals aged 18–26 years participated in the study and were randomly assigned to tDCS (n = 21) or SHAM (n = 20). Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) elicited by S1 and S2 pneumatic stimuli (duration of 100 ms, ISI 550 ± 50 ms) and applied to the index finger of the dominant hand were recorded before and after tDCS. All these findings suggested that anodal tDCS might modulate brain excitability leading to an enhancement of inhibitory mechanisms elicited in response to repetitive somatosensory stimuli during late stages of information processing. Volume 15 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.651253 Background: Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the somatosensory cortex causes cerebral hyperexcitability and a significant enhancement in pain thresholds and tactile spatial acuity Sensory gating is a brain mechanism to suppress irrelevant incoming inputs which is elicited by presenting pairs of identical stimuli (S1 and S2) within short time intervals between stimuli (e.g. Objectives/Hypothesis: The present study addressed the question of whether tDCS could modulate the brain correlates of this inhibitory mechanism Methods: Forty-one healthy individuals aged 18–26 years participated in the study and were randomly assigned to tDCS (n = 21) or SHAM (n = 20) Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) elicited by S1 and S2 pneumatic stimuli (duration of 100 ms ISI 550 ± 50 ms) and applied to the index finger of the dominant hand were recorded before and after tDCS the second tactile stimuli significantly attenuated the amplitudes of P50 mean amplitude in the time window 150–350) compared to the first stimuli This confirmed that sensory gating is a widespread brain inhibitory mechanism that can affect early- and middle-latency components of SEPs our data revealed that this response attenuation or sensory gating (computed as S1 minus S2) was improved after tDCS for LPC while no changes were found in participants who received SHAM Conclusion: All these findings suggested that anodal tDCS might modulate brain excitability leading to an enhancement of inhibitory mechanisms elicited in response to repetitive somatosensory stimuli during late stages of information processing we addressed the question of whether anodal tDCS could also influence amplitudes of early and late SEP components elicited by non-painful tactile stimulation Consistent with previous findings showing that anodal tDCS causes brain hyperexcitability and significant changes in pain sensitivity and somatosensory processing we hypothesize here that anodal tDCS of the somatosensory cortex would also result in increased sensory gating due to enhancement of cortical excitability All individuals were naive to the experiment and received course credits for their participation The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (1991) and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Balearic Islands (protocol IB3681/18PI) The TAS-20 is a self-report scale that is comprised of 20 items grouped into three subscales: difficulty identifying feelings (seven items) difficulty describing feelings (five items) and externally oriented thinking (eight items) Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale (whereby 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree) The total alexithymia score was also obtained Participants were randomly assigned to either a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) (A) or a SHAM group (B) Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded with a commercial amplifier (QuickAmp Germany) with 62 Ag/AgCl electrodes placed according to the 10–10 International System with common average reference A ground electrode was located at position AFz An electroculogram (EOG) was also recorded by placing one electrode above and one below the left eye All electrode impedances were kept lower than 10 kΩ EEG signals were segmented offline in epochs of 600 ms (–100 to 500 ms relative to the stimulus onset), digitally filtered (high-pass at 0.10 Hz, low-pass at 30 Hz), and baseline corrected (from –100 to 0 ms). Eye movement artifacts were corrected by using the Gratton and Coles algorithm (Gratton et al., 1983) An artifact rejection protocol with the following criteria was applied: maximal allowed voltage step/sampling point = 75 μV minimal allowed amplitude = –75 μV and maximal allowed absolute difference in the epoch = 75 μV All participants fulfilled the further analyses inclusion criteria of keeping at least 75% of the epochs free of artifacts for each stimulus EEG epochs were separately averaged for S1 and S2 The amplitudes of the following components of these SEPs were determined: P50 The peak amplitude of P50 and N100 was calculated by searching the global maxima at Cz within two time windows after stimulus onset: 20–80 ms for P50 The area under the curve for the time window 150–350 ms was computed for LPC amplitudes All the reported data pre-processing was done by the software Brain Vision Analyzer version 1.05 (Brain Products GmbH The EEG recording session ended with a 5-min rest eyes open baseline and a repetition of the paired pulse stimulation task as described above All EEG recording sessions started at 9:00 a.m. Participants were instructed to refrain from caffeine and vigorous exercise at least 2 h before arriving at the laboratory they were told to have their breakfast (for morning participants) or lunch (for afternoon participants) as soon as possible and refrain from eating immediately before the experiment Group differences in sociodemographic data and self-report questionnaires were analyzed with non-parametric tests (Chi-Square For statistical analyses of SEP amplitudes The first analysis aimed to examine the effects of the tDCS intervention on the SEP amplitudes of the components (P50 multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) for repeated-measures with the factors “group” (tDCS vs and “stimulus” (S1 and S2) were computed on a subset of 12 electrodes (F1 the electrodes were grouped according to within-subject factors “Region of Interest (ROI)” (frontal and parietal) and “hemisphere” (left vs The second analysis was aimed to examine the effects of the tDCS intervention on the sensory gating scores obtained for the P50 the sensory gating scores for each SEP component was computed as the difference between the amplitudes elicited by the first and the second stimuli (S1–S2) at nine electrode locations grouped into three ROIs: frontal (F3 these MANOVAs were computed with the factors “group” (tDCS vs Post hoc mean comparisons were used to further explore significant effects The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05 (2-tailed) Greenhouse-Geisser adjustments and Bonferroni corrections were applied if necessary No significant group differences on the intensity of perceived sensations were observed Table 2. Group comparisons on intensity of perceived sensations from the Questionnaire of sensations related to transcranial electrical stimulation (Antal et al., 2017) Figure 2 displays the grand averages of the SEP elicited by the first (S1) and the second stimuli (S2) before the brain stimulation condition at the three ROIs (frontal Grand averages of the somatosensory ERPs elicited by the first (S1) and the second stimuli (S2) of all the participants before the brain stimulation (pre) at the three regions of interest (ROI) Topographical maps of the P50 and N100 amplitudes at specific latencies and late positive complex (LPC) mean amplitude were also included the first MANOVA revealed that overall P50 amplitudes elicited by S1 (0.29 ± 0.08 μV) were greater than those elicited by S2 (−0.04 ± 0.03 μV) [F(1,39) = 17.57 significant effects due to hemisphere [F(1,39) = 8.28 η2 = 0.175] and hemisphere × stimulus [F(1,39) = 9.33 η2 = 0.193] indicated that greater P50 amplitudes were elicited by S1 over the right (0.44 ± 0.09 μV) than over the left hemisphere (0.14 ± 0.09 μV; p = 0.002) while no hemispheric differences were observed on P50 amplitudes elicited by S2 (p = 0.374) a significant effect due to ROI × stimulus [F(2,38) = 3.73 η2 = 0.087] indicated that greater P50 amplitudes were elicited by S1 than by S2 at frontal (0.38 ± 0.13 μV for S1 vs −0.01 ± 0.05 μV for S2; p = 0.001) and central regions (0.39 ± 0.09 μV for S1 vs −0.06 ± 0.05 μV for S2; p ≤ 0.001) while no differences were observed at parietal ones (p = 0.09) No effects due to time or to group were found at any of the three ROIs A significant effect due to stimulus was found [F(1,39) = 9.05 indicating that S1 elicited greater N100 amplitudes (−0.31 ± 0.06 μV) than S2 (−0.14 ± 0.04 μV) significant effects due to hemisphere × time [F(1,39) = 5.29 and η2 = 0.120] and ROI × hemisphere × stimulus [F(2,38) = 3.97 post hoc mean comparisons revealed that there were no hemispheric differences in N100 amplitudes elicited by either S1 or S2 and that there were no differences between N100 amplitudes elicited by S1 and S2 over either the right or left hemisphere at any ROI group or time × group were found at any of the three ROIs A significant effect due to stimulus was found [F(1,39) = 32.62 indicating that S1 elicited overall greater LPC amplitudes (167.04 ± 25.32 μV × ms) than S2 (10.63 ± 6.55 μV × ms) Significant effects due hemisphere × stimulus [F(1,39) = 4.35 and η2 = 0.100] further indicated that S2 elicited higher LPC amplitudes over the left (26.50 ± 8.06 μV × ms) than over the right hemisphere (−5.24 ± 11.66 μV × ms; p = 0.043) whereas no hemispheric differences were observed on LPC amplitudes elicited by S1 (p = 0.277) significant effects due to ROI [F(2,38) = 7.63 and η2 = 0.106] revealed that LPC amplitudes elicited by S1 were higher than those elicited by S2 at frontal (S1: 176.83 ± 31.51 μV × ms; S2: 30.18 ± 10.10 μV × ms; p ≤ 0.001) central (S1: 245.84 ± 50.65 μV × ms; S2: 9.30 ± 10.30 μV × ms; and p ≤ 0.001) and parietal electrode locations (S1: 78.45 ± 25.01 μV × ms; S2: −7.59 ± 9.67 μV × ms; and p = 0.002) significant differences due to ROI × time [F(2,38) = 5.38 and η2 = 0.127] and stimulus × time × group [F(1,39) = 4.82 and η2 = 0.110] indicated that LPC amplitudes elicited by S1 were higher after (181.41 ± 37.09 μV × ms) than before tDCS (135.60 ± 35.34 μV × ms; and p = 0.006) while no pre-post differences were observed in SHAM (p = 0.993) No pre-post differences were observed on LPC amplitudes elicited by S2 in tDCS or SHAM groups (all ps ≥ 0.196) The additional MANOVAs on LPC amplitudes for each ROI yielded significant effects only at frontal and/or central electrode locations significant effects were observed due to time [frontal: F(1,39) = 11.82 stimulus × time [frontal: F(1,39) = 5.74 and η2 = 0.128; central: F(1,39) = 7.12 hemisphere × group [central: F(1,39) = 4.56 and η2 = 0.105] and stimulus × time × group [frontal: F(1,39) = 10.64 and η2 = 0.214; central: F(1,39) = 5.10 Post hoc mean comparisons further revealed that LPC amplitudes elicited by S1 were higher after than before tDCS at frontal (p ≤ 0.001) and central (p = 0.009) Figure 3 displays the difference waveforms elicited by S1 minus S2, before and after intervention for both groups (tDCS vs. SHAM) at the three ROIs (frontal, central, and parietal). Table 3 displays mean and standard deviations of the sensory gating scores for all SEP components Difference waveforms (S1 minus S2) before and after the intervention in both groups (tDCS vs SHAM) at three regions of interest (ROI) (frontal: Fz P4) representing the sensory gating of the somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) Mean (±SD) of the sensory gating scores (S1 minus S2) in the tDCS and SHAM group The ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of ROI [F(2 post hoc mean comparison analyses did not reveal significant differences between ROIs on sensory gating scores regarding the P50 amplitudes (all ps ≥ 0.079) group or time × group were observed on P50 amplitudes at any of the three ROIs No significant effects were observed on sensory gating of N100 amplitudes Post hoc mean comparisons of the time × group effect indicated that sensory gating was more increased after (186.13 ± 41.16 μV × ms) than before tDCS (127.48 ± 36.28 μV × ms; p = 0.003) whereas no significant difference was observed in the SHAM group (p = 0.997) separate MANOVAs at each ROI revealed that the significant effects due to time group and time × group appeared only over frontal and/or central regions: time [central: F(1,39) = 6.50 and η2 = 0.146] and time × group were found [frontal: F(1,39) = 5.59 and η2 = 0.125; central: F(1,39) = 5.22 post hoc mean comparisons indicated that sensory gating was significantly augmented after than before tDCS at frontal (p = 0.009) and central electrode locations (p = 0.006) we found that anodal tDCS was able to modulate brain excitability by enhancing SEP amplitudes to non-painful tactile stimuli anodal tDCS led to increased sensory gating of the late positive complex (LPC; 150–350 ms after stimulus onset) at frontal and central regions whereas sham stimulation did not produce any changes in sensory gating Our results further suggested that this sensory gating enhancement could be due to augmented LPC amplitudes in response to S1 elicited by tDCS intervention this is the first study demonstrating tDCS modulation effects in both early and late SEP components compared with previous studies only observing modulatory effects restricted to early components it could be that anodal tDCS was specifically activating some neural mechanism to improve cognitive factors involved in such inhibitory processes Further research examining the modulatory effects of tDCS on sensory gating should address the question whether tDCS can differentially affect sensory/perceptual and cognitive aspects of information brain processing during sensory gating The authors suggested that cathodal tDCS might have weakened the habitual inhibitory effect of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on sensory gating contributing to the reduction of the P50 amplitude elicited by S1 and therefore leading to a deficit in sensory gating the anodal tDCS of the somatosensory cortex in the present study could have strengthened the cortical excitability and led to an enhancement of P50 amplitudes elicited by both S1 and S2 which in turn would have produced no change in sensory gating Further research on the differential modulatory effects of cathodal and anodal tDCS of the dorsolateral prefrontal and somatosensory cortices and its effects on somatosensory processing and somatosensory gating would be an intriguing proposition a closer presentation of transcranial electrical stimulation and tactile stimuli as it occurs during the application of tACS would help for a better understanding of the neurophysiological effects of neuromodulation on somatosensory processing the inclusion of an additional control condition using a different stimulation site and a more detailed analysis of changes in somatosensory processing during the application of tDCS would be useful in future research such analysis could not be carried out due to the large number of artifacts that were observed during the simultaneous recording of the EEG and the application of tDCS the fact that changes on sensory gating may be due to S1 enhancement should not be disregard our discussion about brain structures that could be affected by tDCS was based on previous research and a combined EEG recording with functional magnetic resonance imaging would have shed more light on the neurophysiological changes associated with tDCS during somatosensory processing our results suggest that somatosensory gating elicited by the paired-pulse presentation of non-painful tactile stimuli could be modulated by anodal tDCS over the somatosensory cortex A greater suppression of LPC amplitudes (time window 150–350 ms after stimulus onset) of the SEPs was observed at frontal and central regions after anodal tDCS whereas no effects were observed in the attenuation of P50 and N100 amplitudes Results suggest that anodal tDCS may influence the inhibitory brain mechanism involved in the processing of bodily information by enhancing cortical excitability and strengthening the cognitive and neurophysiological 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Casandra I. Montoro, Y2FzYW5kcmFpc2FiZWwubW9udG9yb0B1aWIuY2F0; aW1vbnRvcm9AdWphZW4uZXM=; orcid.org/0000-0003-4145-8600; Pedro Montoya, cGVkcm8ubW9udG95YUB1aWIuZXM=; orcid.org/0000-0001-8652-948X leaving behind a standing graveyard of the iconic trees “They take hundreds of years to get to the size that they are,” says Bri Montoro a project manager with the Nevada Conservation Corps “Seeing them burnt is beautiful and devastating.” a botanist with the Mojave National Preserve watched the habitat burn in real time and thought to himself largest Joshua tree forests in the world.” He and others eventually found the answer in a volunteer effort that planned to plant a total of 4,000 Joshua trees over four years to bring the forest back “I really just want to be able to look the younger generation in the eyes While 90 percent of Joshua trees will die following a fire a new growth sprouts up from the roots beside the old trunk Watch this video to learn more about Montoro's and Kaiser's efforts This video originally appeared in Knowable Magazine, an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews. You can view the original here Register or Log In Want more?Keep reading for as low as $1.99 Subscribe Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine Josh Montoro reached for 5-year-old Bri'ya Williams as she got off the department van with her 6-year-old brother and seven other siblings outside the Walmart on Normandy Boulevard “Do you remember me,” Montoro asked as other firefighters and police officers guided her brothers and sisters to a fire truck nearby for a huge group photo he and Engineer Phillip Holden were part of the police and fire team who found the two in a dilapidated pump house in swampy woods about 1,300 feet from their West Beaver Street mobile home They were one of many teams who had searched three days for the missing children Now donations from the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, Fraternal Order of Police, Walmart and others gave the Williams family a holiday to remember after many said it was a Christmas gift come true when they were rescued Tuesday. Braxton and Bri'ya were too busy to talk while looking for toys. But 9-year-old brother Anderson was happy his younger siblings had been rescued “because I love them.” And 13-year-old brother Joshua said it “feels cool” to get the shopping spree from first responders. “I am so happy they came back,” he said of Braxton and Bri'ya being found. “I don’t know what I would have done if they didn’t come back.” It was a great way to end the week after wending their way through very thick woods to stumble on the almost hidden pump house, Montoro confirmed. “We are really excited for the family and the kids,” he said. “We were 72 hours [into the search] and we barely came across it. You couldn’t see a guy two feet from you. Actually, Phillip is the one who heard him first. Then we stopped, I heard him and we ran over and there was Braxton poking his head out.” Family said the two children had been playing in their Paradise Village mobile home park yard Sunday before a barbecue when they were last seen, prompting calls to police that they had gone missing. Officers and firefighters searched Sunday night, Monday and into Tuesday, upward of 150 personnel with search dogs, drones, helicopters and other gear. By Tuesday they had gone over about 130 acres, including 20 bodies of water, the Sheriff’s Office said. Then about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, a police and fire crew found them, giving them water and snacks before they asked for a cheese pizza. After the children came home Thursday from a hospital check-up, City Councilman Randy White, fire union chief Randy Wyse and police union head Steve Zona spoke to father Brian Williams to see what they might need for Christmas. The result was $600 shopping sprees each to Braxton and Bri'ya from the unions, with more from Walmart. Each of their other siblings also got shopping sprees for a total $2,700. “It does your heart good to see a great outcome,” Wyse said as he watched. “It was phenomenal several days ago to find them, then to be able to carry this on and show them that we aren’t done. These police officers and firefighters really care about the citizens.” “As it was going on, every police officer, firefighter and everybody in the community would go home and pray the kids would be found,” Zona said. “After they were, Randy and I talked and wanted to do something special for the family for Christmas.” Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ashley Home Store also helped, White said. As the children shopped, the furniture store delivered bunk beds to the family’s home, while Lowe’s donated a Christmas tree and decorations. “It could have turned out to be a tragedy, yet had such a great ending,” the district councilman said. “It s the time of year to give, and it makes the firefighters and officers feel just as good. A lot of folks wanted to reach out, and Lowe’s, Ashley and Walmart did, plus many, many people including our great firefighter and police unions.” Elisa Montoro Canoso, a Cuban immigrant who celebrated her 100th birthday with her family present, shared her joy at science reuniting her family Volume 13 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2022.869951 This article is part of the Research TopicLook who's Talking: Dialogues with Beta CellsView all 5 articles obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide Obesity is a chronic disease associated with a wide range of comorbidities including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) which results in significant burden of disease and major consequences on health care systems are necessary for the establishment and progression of these two closely related conditions Altered cell-to-cell communication among the different players implicated in this equation leads to the perpetuation of a vicious circle associated with an increased risk for the development of obesity-related complications which in turn contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease the dialogue between the adipocyte and pancreatic beta cells has been extensively studied although some connections are yet to be fully elucidated we explore the potential pathological mechanisms linking adipocyte dysfunction and pancreatic beta cell impairment/insulin resistance some of the intricate connections and metabolic pathways involved in the crosstalk between adipose tissue and pancreatic beta cells remain poorly understood disturbed homeostasis between adipose tissue and pancreatic beta cells may be driven by pathological shifts in the gut microbiome and derived metabolites we discuss the main mechanisms involved in the interplay between adipose tissue and pancreatic beta cells with special attention to the bidirectional influences leading to beta cell dysfunction/insulin resistance and adipocyte dysfunction we summarize the novel insights into the role of the gut microbiome and related metabolites in the mediation of this complex crosstalk including an integrative view of the relationship between adipose tissue-derived bacteria and beta cell/adipose tissue dysfunction Figure 1 Potential adipose tissue-related mechanisms leading to beta cell dysfunction chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand; CXCL-5/LIX chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand-5/lipopolysaccharide-induced CXC chemokine; ROS Specific adipose tissue proteomic and transcriptomic profiles associated with inflammatory pathways may also be involved in beta cell dysfunction (51). Recently, the transcriptional coregulator GPS2 in white adipose tissue has been associated with beta cell insulin secretion (52) Finally, adipocyte mitochondrial dysfunction and reactive oxygen species (ROS) overload may contribute to beta cell impairment. Thus, mitochondrial ROS pathway and NF-κB signaling have been associated with mitophagy-mediated adipose inflammation that promotes pancreatic beta cell damage (53) Figure 2 The potential role of gut microbiota-derived metabolites in beta cell and adipocyte function The gut microbiome secretes several signaling molecules with direct effects on beta cell and adipocyte function exert different effects on beta cells via binding short-chain fatty acid receptor-2 (FFA2) and FFA3 it has been reported that some SCFAs (i.e. acetate and propionate) could also inhibit insulin secretion Bile acids may stimulate insulin secretion and improve glucose homeostasis through Takeda G-protein coupled receptor 5 (TGR5) SCFAs also have a role in adipocyte function via FFA2 and FFA3 and propionate regulate adipocyte metabolism and adipokine balance These effects may result in reciprocal influences between beta cells and the adipocyte gut dysbiosis and impaired metabolite secretion appear to drive an altered adipokine balance and induce adipose tissue inflammation a fact that ultimately results in insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction which can also aggravate adipocyte inflammation via the gut microbiota such as the direct bacterial presence in adipose tissue have been postulated in this intricate relationship devoted clinical studies are needed to confirm these results Table 1 Animal models and clinical studies assessing the potential association between adipose tissue-derived bacteria and adipose tissue function/glucose homeostasis further research is needed to confirm these results Obesity and T2D are increasing in prevalence resulting in major health and socioeconomic consequences The relationships between these two disorders are well established; however some of the underlying mechanisms involved in their pathophysiology and bidirectional links are not fully understood Pancreatic beta cells and adipose tissue are closely interconnected through the presence of a number of bioactive hormones and intricate signaling pathways the gut microbiome may play a key role in the mediation of the complex dialogue between the adipocyte and beta cell with derived potential therapeutic strategies in this field and multiple interactions are expected to occur beyond the dialogue among the gut microbiome may be included in this metabolic crosstalk Future perspectives in this area should also focus on the development of therapeutic approaches (e.g. nutritional therapy) targeting the gut microbiota and the distinct dysfunctional metabolic pathways dedicated clinical studies are warranted to fully unravel the role of the gut microbiome and related metabolites in the crosstalk between pancreatic beta cells and adipose tissue MD-F was supported by Rio Hortega from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ISCIII) and co-funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional-FEDER (CM20/00183) JF-G was supported by an intensification research program (INT21/00078 Spain; 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Identification of Diet-Derived Postbiotics for Improving Intestinal Microbiota Function Curr Opin Biotechnol (2014) 26:85–90 Prevent Diet-Induced Obesity and Insulin Resistance Through Differential Mechanisms in Mice The Natural Metabolite 4-Cresol Improves Glucose Homeostasis and Enhances β-Cell Function Improvement of Insulin Sensitivity After Lean Donor Feces in Metabolic Syndrome Is Driven by Baseline Intestinal Microbiota Composition Promising Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes: Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Reverses Insulin Resistance and Impaired Islets Fernández-García JC and Tinahones FJ (2022) Role of the Gut Microbiome in Beta Cell and Adipose Tissue Crosstalk: A Review Received: 05 February 2022; Accepted: 08 March 2022;Published: 12 May 2022 Copyright © 2022 Martínez-Montoro, Damas-Fuentes, Fernández-García and Tinahones. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: José Ignacio Martínez-Montoro, am9zZWltYXJ0aW5lem1vbnRvcm9AZ21haWwuY29t; Francisco J. Tinahones, Zmp0aW5haG9uZXNAdW1hLmVz I spent all day in Morgantown, W.Va., on Monday, talking West Virginia athletics, and had a great time. WVU has been a great addition to the Big 12, and a big chunk of that is because of the people. The Mountaineers have a good product – big-time basketball, good football, solid all-around athletic department. WVU’s fan base is outstanding. Its marketable is good. A quality addition to a conference in desperate need of quality. But the best part of West Virginia’s addition has been the people. The Mountaineers’ athletic media relations staff, led by Michael Fragale, has been great to work with in WVU’s five years in the league. And Michael served as a gracious host as I toured the athletic department Monday and chatted with a variety of Mountaineer personnel. Coaches Dana Holgorsen, Bob Huggins and Nikki Izzo-Brown. Historian John Antonik. Athletic director Shane Lyons. But the best part of the day was just hanging out with Fragale and his crew. Getting to know West Virginians is the best way to feel the most connected to our relatively new and most-distant Big 12 brothers. I know more about West Virginia today than I did yesterday. When WVU entered the conference, I planned to come out to Morgantown in summer 2012 and get to know the Mountaineers. Then the Thunder made the NBA Finals, half the summer was burned up and the trip never materialized. But now I’m making up for it with the five-year anniversary of WVU joining the league. I think back to July 2012, when Big 12 Media Days kicked off at the Westin Galleria. That Sunday night, I took my granddaughter swimming and met Jonathan Kimble there. Nice fellow. Had a beard. The West Virginia mascot. The next morning, we go downstairs to kick off the festivities, and there was Jonathan, in full costume, with his musket, charming everyone on the premises. The Mountaineer immediately impacted everyone’s impression of West Virginia, in a positive manner. Been a big fan of WVU ever since. I’ll write later about West Virginia athletics and its five years in the Big 12. But Monday was excellent. I went to lunch with Mike Montoro, who handles football, and Russell Luna, who handles women’s basketball. They took me to the Boston Beanery, where I had a cup of clam chowder and a fish sandwich. Very good. Russell is from Tennessee and attended Middle Tennessee. Mike is from just north of Baltimore and attended Liberty University. For dinner, Fragale and Montoro took me to Oliverio’s Ristorante on the Wharf, hard by the river. There we met Tony Caridi, voice of the Mountaineers and a great guy I’ve gotten to know during the WVU/Big 12 marriage. Oliverio’s is a great Italian place. I’ll have to come back and bring Trish the Dish. I had a stuffed shrimp over risotto dish that was superb. We had an appetizer of stuffed banana peppers that was really hot and really good – sort of an Italian chile relleno. While we were in, Mike Florio came in with a group for dinner. Florio operates profootballtalk.com and has risen to fame by being part of NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew. Florio was born and raised in Wheeling, W.Va. He has two engineering degrees from Carnegie-Mellon and a law degree from West Virginia. He practices law in Bridgeport, W.Va. I was going to do Caridi’s show on Monday night, but he canceled on me because Florio agreed to come on after several weeks of trying to work out a booking. Which was fine. I can do Caridi’s show Tuesday. The dinner was a great way to end a great day. I toured much of the WVU basketball and football facilities. The Mountaineers’ basketball facilities are pristine. Better than even OU’s, I’d say, and OU has great facilities, with the duel men/women offices and courts. West Virginia has a similar makeup, only the facility seemed to be a little more plush. I got to meet Jake Spavital, the Tulsa kid who now is Holgorsen's offensive coordinator, and I got to chat with the always-personable Joe Wickline, Holgorsen's offensive line coach who spent so many years at OSU. This study aimed to investigate the potential of urinary TNF-α levels for predicting outcomes and characterizing clinical features of CPLBP patients. Twenty-four patients with CPLBP and 24 sex- and age-matched asymptomatic controls were recruited. Urinary TNF-α concentrations were measured at baseline and after 4 weeks, during which CPLBP patients underwent spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). Concentrations of TNF-α were found to be elevated in baseline urine samples of CPLBP patients compared to asymptomatic controls. Moreover, these values differed among patients depending on their pain trajectory. Patients with persistent pain showed higher levels of TNF-α, when compared to those with episodic CPLBP. Furthermore, baseline TNF-α concentrations and their changes after 4 weeks predicted alterations in pain intensity and disability following SMT in patients with CPLBP. These findings warrant further research on the potential use of urinary TNF-α concentrations as a prognostic biomarker for CPLBP. Volume 17 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2023.1207666 Introduction: Over two thirds of individuals with low back pain (LBP) may experience recurrent or persistent symptoms in the long term current data do not allow to predict who will develop chronic low back pain and who will recover from an acute episode Elevated serum levels of the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) have been associated with poor recovery and persistent pain following an acute episode of LBP Inflammatory cytokines may also mediate mechanisms involved in nociplastic pain have significant implications in chronic primary low back pain (CPLBP) Methods: This study aimed to investigate the potential of urinary TNF-α levels for predicting outcomes and characterizing clinical features of CPLBP patients Twenty-four patients with CPLBP and 24 sex- and age-matched asymptomatic controls were recruited Urinary TNF-α concentrations were measured at baseline and after 4 weeks during which CPLBP patients underwent spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) Results: Concentrations of TNF-α were found to be elevated in baseline urine samples of CPLBP patients compared to asymptomatic controls these values differed among patients depending on their pain trajectory Patients with persistent pain showed higher levels of TNF-α when compared to those with episodic CPLBP baseline TNF-α concentrations and their changes after 4 weeks predicted alterations in pain intensity and disability following SMT in patients with CPLBP Discussion: These findings warrant further research on the potential use of urinary TNF-α concentrations as a prognostic biomarker for CPLBP suggesting that TNF-α levels may reflect clinical outcomes or mechanisms relevant to their prognosis A better understanding of the role TNF-α plays in persons with CPLBP could have the potential to inform mechanisms involved in the course and recovery from CPLBP the aim of this study was to assess the predictive value of urinary concentrations of TNF-α for outcomes and clinical characteristics in patients with CPLBP we aimed to confirm that baseline urinary concentrations of TNF-α were elevated in patients with CPLBP compared with age-sex matched pain-free controls we compared changes in urinary concentrations of TNF-α over 4 weeks during which patients received standardized SMT and controls received no intervention We hypothesized that TNF-α concentrations would decrease in patients with CPLBP we examined the predictive value of urinary TNF-α concentrations for clinical characteristics and outcomes in patents with CPLBP that received SMT We hypothesized that urinary TNF-α concentrations may be used as a biomarker to discriminate patients with CPLBP according to their pain trajectory and to predict clinical recovery This was a prospective case-control study with longitudinal follow-up assessing the predictive value of urinary TNF-α concentrations for baseline characteristics and clinical evolution of CPLBP patients undergoing chiropractic instrument-assisted SMT The study protocol was approved by the Madrid College of Chiropractic Research subcommittee (San Lorenzo de El Escorial Spain) and the Fundación Jiménez Díaz Hospital Clinical Research Ethics Committee (Madrid The study was conducted between January 2018 and December 2022 at the Madrid College of Chiropractic Outpatient Clinic All experimental procedures conformed to the standards set by the latest revision of the Declaration of Helsinki patients deemed eligible were informed about the study and were offered to participate Patients accepting to participate read and signed an informed consent form before initiating treatment and collecting samples Patients declining participation continued their regular course of care at the clinic without prejudice A cohort of pain-free controls matched by sex and age to the patient cohort was enrolled to serve as a reference for the levels in inflammatory cytokines that were collected and assessed from the patient cohort Individuals eligible for the pain-free cohort were to meet the following criteria: aged between 18 and 80 years old without acute or chronic pain symptoms or diagnoses and without a current or prior diagnosis of any systemic Pain-free individuals accepting to participate read and signed an informed consent form before urine sample collection Informed consent was also obtained from all subjects for publication of identifying information/images in an online open-access publication 24 patients with CPLBP and an identical number of pain-free controls matched for sex and age Upon completing the last treatment session a physical re-evaluation of the patient was performed including evaluation of the outcome measures A chiropractor applying a spinal manipulation to the lumbar spine using the Activator IV® instrument (B) Patients and controls provided a baseline urine sample of the first morning micturition on the day they received their first SMT session (patients) or on the day after being recruited (controls) All participants were instructed to store their urine samples in the refrigerator (∼ 4°C) immediately after collection and until visiting the clinic they were immediately aliquoted and stored in a container at −20°C The procedure was identical for the follow-up sample which was collected 4 weeks after the baseline sample collection this corresponded to the day after the eighth and final SMT session All participants were requested to refrain from taking any anti-inflammatory medication within 24 h of the dates when both samples were collected All statistical analyses and figures used and display the corrected values in pg/mg These variables were used to identify potential patient subgroups with different levels in urinary TNF-α Flowchart representation of the study protocol with time (repeated measures; follow-up–baseline) and the time × group interaction as fixed effects and participants as random effects (intercept modeled) Pain intensity ratings and disability scores at baseline and after eight sessions of SMT were compared using paired t-tests for exploratory purposes To identify potential differences in urinary concentrations of TNF-α at baseline pain trajectories and the presence of comorbidities Mann–Whitney tests or Kruskal–Wallis analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted using these categorical variables as grouping variables Significant ANOVA effects were decomposed using Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner pairwise comparisons Spearman rank correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the associations between baseline values of TNF-α To explore the predictive value of urinary TNF-α and percent-changes in TNF-α values were assessed as predictors in simple regression models with follow-up and percent change values in pain intensity and disability as dependent outcomes for which estimates were obtained using 5000 bootstrap replications A supplementary exploratory analysis was conducted to identify associations with SM dosage and target site Spearman correlations were assessed between changes and follow-up values of TNF-α and the total number of SM applied to low back segments (sacroiliac joints to the lumbopelvic area and to the whole body Baseline demographic and clinical data of participants in the study As some patients (n = 14) were taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs this variable was introduced as a categorical covariate in the mixed model to examine the potential confound The results remained unchanged (interaction: p = 0.003) Figure 3. Raincloud plots (Allen et al., 2019) combining a cloud of points with a box plot and a one-sided violin plot of the distribution of urinary concentrations of TNF-α corrected for volume (using urine creatinine) at baseline and follow-up for the control (A) and patient (B) groups Individual dots represent individual participant values and the lines within the box plot represent the median Descriptive plot of the mean urinary concentrations of TNF-α corrected for volume at baseline and follow-up for the control and patient groups Bars represent 95% confidence intervals (C) **p < 0.01 (significance level for the time × group interaction) Significant reductions were observed in clinical outcomes following the eight sessions of SMT in the patient group. Pain intensity was reduced in 4.6 ± 2.1 points in the 0−10 NRS scale, p < 0.001, d = 2.2 (Figure 4A; Table 1). Furthermore, the degree of disability caused by CPLBP was also reduced by 6.9 ± 5.5 points in the ODI 0−50 scale, p < 0.001, d = 1.24 (Figure 4B; Table 1) Violin plot of the distribution of (A) Pain intensity ratings in the numerical rating scale (NRS) from 0 to 10 and (B) disability scores measured with the Oswestry Disability Index Individual dots represent individual patient values The continuous line represents the median and dotted lines represent 25th and 75th quartiles Comorbidities were cardiovascular disease (n = 3) carpal tunnel syndrome (n = 1) and plantar fasciitis (n = 1) There were no differences in TNF-α levels based on the presence of comorbidities (Mann–Whitney U = 69.0 Spearman rank correlation coefficients revealed only one significant (negative) association between the number of years with CPLBP and baseline TNF-α (ρ = −0.42, p = 0.04, Figure 5) was not significant when correcting for the number of comparisons Heatmap of Spearman rank correlations between all variables of interest Values in the boxes represent Spearman coefficient ρ “TNFpre”: Baseline levels of TNF-α; “Age”: Age in years; “Years LBP”: years since onset of low back pain; “NRSpre”: Baseline pain intensity ratings; “ODIpre”: Baseline disability scores; “ODIpost”: Follow-up disability scores; “%ODI”: Percent changes disability scores Simple regression analyses revealed that baseline TNF-α values explained 20.7% of the variance in changes in pain intensity (F = 5.8 baseline TNF-α only marginally predicted percent changes in pain intensity (β = −0.45; p = 0.05) Follow-up pain intensity ratings were not predicted by baseline urinary TNF-α (β = 0.24; p = 0.4) Percent changes in disability could not be predicted by baseline TNF-α (β = −0.25; p = 0.1) but follow-up values in disability could (β = 0.64; p = 0.002) The latter model was significant as well (F = 15.2 38.1% of the variance in follow-up ODI scores were explained by baseline TNF-α Regression analyses with the percent change in TNF-α as a predictor showed that 65% and 33% of the variance in pain intensity and disability percent changes could be explained by fluctuations in TNF-α (β = 0.81; p < 0.001 and β = 0.58; p = 0.003 Both models were also significant: F = 41.1 p < 0.001 for pain intensity and F = 11.0 changes in TNF-α did not predict follow-up values in pain intensity (β = −0.02; p = 0.8) nor disability (β = −0.27; p = 0.1) Associations between follow-up values and percent changes in TNF-α with the number of SM received were examined with exploratory purposes. However, no strong or significant associations were detected, with the exception of a marginal association between the total number of lumbopelvic manipulations and changes in TNF-α (ρ = −0.40, p = 0.049). See Supplementary Figure 1 for the correlation heatmap The present study corroborates previous reports of elevated levels of TNF-α in both serum and urine samples of patients with CPLBP (Teodorczyk-Injeyan et al., 2019; Morris et al., 2020; Gevers-Montoro et al., 2022) urinary concentrations of this pro-inflammatory cytokine were reduced after SMT compared to values in matched pain-free controls Baseline levels in urinary TNF-α discriminated patients according to their CPLBP trajectory the highest levels being measured in patients with unremitting pain baseline TNF-α concentrations and their fluctuations predicted changes in both pain intensity and disability scores which is consistent with data from the current study urinary TNF-α may serve to discriminate between responders and non-responders in future clinical studies It could be argued that patients with persistent pain have higher levels of TNF-α consistent with no recovery while patients with episodic CPLBP display the lowest levels reflecting their capacity to recover from an episode no causal relationship can be inferred from the data and caution is advised when interpretating them an association between the total number of SM applied to the low back cannot be confirmed or excluded longer follow-up periods may help determine whether changes in cytokines and clinical variables variables such as diet or exercise that were not accounted for Future research should take these and other potential confounders into consideration Urine samples were collected during different seasons for the CPLBP (January to April) and control (September to January) groups. Seasonal variations of serum TNF-α were reported in conditions with seasonal variability, though not for healthy individuals. The highest TNF-α values were observed during summer-fall, and the lowest from January to spring (Spath et al., 2017; Weckmann et al., 2021) suggesting that seasonal variations may not have influenced the results a strength of this study lies in the advantages of urine sampling compared to the traditional serum sampling It is plausible that using urine samples provides similar results with much greater accessibility fewer logistic challenges and at a lower cost This exploratory study presents evidence suggesting that urinary levels of TNF-α may serve as a potential biomarker for patients with CPLBP urinary TNF-α levels discriminated patients with CPLBP from pain-free controls in our sample These results warrant further study to assess urinary TNF-α levels among patients with different pain trajectories our findings indicated that baseline values and fluctuations in TNF-α could predict pain intensity and disability outcomes urinary TNF-α levels may potentially reflect the involvement of inflammatory mechanisms in CPLBP evolution preferably in the form of a randomized controlled trial is needed to better ascertain the utility of this potential biomarker for CPLBP The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available upon reasonable request The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Madrid College of Chiropractic Research subcommittee (San Lorenzo de El Escorial Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article and writing—original draft preparation This work was supported by the European Centre for Chiropractic Research Excellence AO-D and CG-M were supported by grants from the Spanish Chiropractic Association and by a doctorate grant from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec Nature et Technologies for CG-M MP’s contribution was supported by the Fondation Chiropratique du Québec (Departamento de Biología de Sistemas The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnint.2023.1207666/full#supplementary-material Google Scholar Raincloud plots: a multi-platform tool for robust data visualization Role of TNF-alpha during central sensitization in preclinical studies PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Perspectives in pain research 2014: neuroinflammation and glial cell activation: the cause of transition from acute to chronic pain Peripheral and central sensitization in remote spinal cord regions contribute to central neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury Comparison of mechanical force of manually assisted chiropractic adjusting instruments Risk of recurrence of low back pain: a systematic review Discovery and validation of biomarkers to aid the development of safe and effective pain therapeutics: challenges and opportunities Standardization of spinal manipulation therapy in humans: development of a novel device designed to measure dose-response Effects of distinct force magnitude of spinal manipulative therapy on blood biomarkers of inflammation: a proof of principle study in healthy young adults PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social Google Scholar Presence of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in urine samples of patients with chronic low back pain undergoing chiropractic care: preliminary findings from a prospective cohort study Goncalves Dos Santos Contrasting real time quantitative measures (weekly SMS) to patients’ retrospective appraisal of their one-year’s course of low back pain; a probing mixed-methods study A systematic review of the global prevalence of low back pain Clinical course of non-specific low back pain: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies set in primary care JASP Team (2022). 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Arantxa Ortega-De Mues, cmVzZWFyY2hAZnVqaXRlZ2EuY29t Pulmonary ionocytes (orange) extend through neighboring epithelial cells in the upper respiratory tract of a mouse In separate studies published online in Nature on Aug two independent research teams report the discovery of a new These cells appear to be the primary source of activity of the CFTR gene a multiorgan disease that affects more than 70,000 people worldwide Despite decades of study on CFTR and progress in treating the disease The new findings show that CFTR activity is concentrated in a small which serve as promising targets for future therapeutic strategies against cystic fibrosis The researchers named the cells “pulmonary ionocytes” due to similarities with ionocytes a type of cell found in the gills of freshwater fish and frog skin Get more HMS news here One group was led by scientists from Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) The other group was led by HMS researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital and scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard “As researchers work toward cures for cystic fibrosis, knowing you are looking at 1 percent of the cell population seems essential for any type of trouble shooting to improve a therapy or develop new therapies,” said Allon Klein, co-corresponding author of one of the Nature studies and assistant professor of systems biology at HMS The studies also revealed the characteristics of other new which expands the current understanding of lung biology and disease “Cystic fibrosis is an amazingly well-studied disease, and we’re still discovering completely new biology that may alter the way we approach it,” said Jayaraj Rajagopal, co-corresponding author of the second study and HMS professor of medicine at Mass General “We have the framework now for a new cellular narrative of lung disease.” Both teams set out to build an atlas of the cells that make up the airway they analyzed gene expression in tens of thousands of individual cells isolated from human and mouse airways—one cell at a time Comparing patterns of gene expression and using previously described cells as references the teams created comprehensive catalogues of different cell types and states as well as their abundance and distribution The teams’ analyses mapped out the genetic identities of both known and previously undescribed cell types was particularly striking as these cells expressed higher levels of CFTR than any other cell CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) codes for a protein that transports chloride ions across cell membranes Mutations to CFTR can lead to the buildup of thick mucus in the lung which in turn leads to frequent respiratory infections and other symptoms that characterize cystic fibrosis Scientists have long assumed that CFTR is expressed at low levels in ciliated cells The new studies, however, suggest that the majority of CFTR expression occurs in pulmonary ionocytes, which make up only around 1 percent of airway cells. Klein, along with Aron Jaffe a co-leader of respiratory disease research at NIBR and colleagues additionally showed that the activity of CFTR relates to the number of pulmonary ionocytes in the tissue “With single-cell sequencing technology, and dedicated efforts to map cell types in different tissues, we’re making new discoveries—new cells that we didn’t know existed, cell subtypes that are rare or haven’t been noticed before, even in systems that have been studied for decades,” said Broad core institute member and MIT professor of biology Aviv Regev co-corresponding author of the study with Rajagopal Rajagopal and colleagues disrupted a critical molecular process in pulmonary ionocytes in mice they observed the onset of key features associated with cystic fibrosis This finding underscores how important these cells are to airway-surface regulation the teams’ discoveries point to new strategies for treating cystic fibrosis such as increasing the amount of pulmonary ionocytes to increase the amount of CFTR activity who is co-corresponding author of the study with Klein The identification of these cells can also help guide teams trying to use gene therapy to correct CFTR mutations “We can use this information to be a bit more clever when we devise therapeutic approaches to cystic fibrosis,” Jaffe said The teams’ analyses also shed light on new rare or poorly described cell states and subtypes and characterized changes to certain cells after injury or during development Klein, Jaffe and colleagues, for example, identified cell states that emerge or expand following damage or injury by studying regenerating tracheas. Using InDrops a single-cell sequencing technology developed at HMS by Klein and colleagues the team could track how cell states specific to the injury response transitioned over time Regev and colleagues developed a new method called Pulse-Seq to monitor development of cell types from their progenitors in the mouse airway they showed that mature cells in the airway arise from a common progenitor known as basal cells A comprehensive atlas of cell types and their genetic fingerprints both in normal conditions and in development and regeneration serves as potential baseline data for future studies of diseases and other health-related conditions found that a gene linked to asthma development is specifically expressed by ciliated cells Another gene linked with asthma is expressed in tuft cells which separated into at least two groups—one that senses chemicals in the airway and another that produces inflammation These findings may inform understanding and treatment of the disease “We’ve uncovered a whole distribution of cell types that seem to be functionally relevant,” Rajagopal said genes associated with complex lung diseases can now be linked to specific cells that we’ve characterized The data are starting to change the way we think about lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis and asthma.” Lindsey Plasschaert, postdoctoral researcher at NIBR, and Rapolas Žilionis, graduate student at Vilnius University, Lithuania and visiting scholar at HMS, are co-first authors, and Klein and Jaffe are co-corresponding authors of the study “A single-cell atlas of the airway epithelium reveals the CFTR-rich pulmonary ionocyte.” Additional authors include Rayman Choo-Wing The study was supported by an award by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund the Lithuanian Education Exchanges Support Foundation and the National Cancer Institute (R33CA212697-01) Daniel Montoro, graduate student at HMS, and Adam Haber and Moshe Biton, both postdoctoral fellows at the Broad, are co-first authors, and Rajagopal and Regev are co-corresponding authors of the study “A revised airway epithelial hierarchy includes CFTR-expressing ionocytes.” Additional authors include Vladimir Vinarsky The study was supported in part by the Klarman Cell Observatory at the Broad the Human Frontier Science Program and the National Institutes of Health Author disclosures are listed in the respective studies Adapted from NIBR and Mass General/Broad Institute news releases Study takes a step toward cell or gene therapy for cystic fibrosis Researchers find heart failure arises from mutations in numerous distinct genes International team creates first complete fruit fly cell atlas Studies detailing brain-immune crosstalk could inform treatments for autism Scientists weigh in on the spread of H5N1 and highlight clues that portend what might come next Researchers recognized for accomplishments in biological sciences © 2025 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College Dennis Montoro, 32, from New York, went all-in in the last race with a $7,000 win bet on #2, 5-1 Raven Creek, to finish with $42,000. Montoro qualified to the Del Mar Challenge from a $400 feeder contest on HorseTourneys.com essentially turning a $400 investment into more than $135,000 in prizes CA both cashed in the last race to finish second and third to round out the top three an analytics player with years of experience in online contests was playing his first “live money” contest $10,000 entry in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) and entry in the $2.5 million National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) Montoro is also eligible for a $1-million bonus if he wins the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge at Churchill Downs The top eight finishers receive BCBC entries and the top ten receive entries in the $2.5 million National Horseplayers Championship or the Del Mar $4,500 Fall Challenge November 10 & 11 and the debates surrounding trainer Bob Baffert Receive daily headlines, breaking news alerts, promotions, and much more! “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” Most kids come to the first day of school feeling nervous because they have to meet a new teacher or take on harder material in class. I, myself, was nervous for a whole different reason, and it wasn’t even close to the new school year yet. I was approaching North Pocono Middle School as an interviewer, not as a student. I had to take more than a few deep breaths on the walk in. I was going to interview my new principal, Mr. Matt Montoro. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “But Francesca! Why are nervous?! It’s the middle of the summer! You shouldn’t be nervous at all!” I’ve interviewed a principal before, but one I knew. Yes, sir, this was our new principal, and I wanted to make a good impression. As soon as I started the interview, I felt a whole lot better for some reason. I think it was either the fact that Mr. Montoro’s office was messy because of the move from the vice-principal’s office to the principal’s office, or how everything in the main office looked exactly the same as it did in the school year. He has a calmness and strength about him and it put me at ease. I entered Mr. Montoro’s office and sat down. I started the interview with, “Are you excited to be interviewed?” “The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best you can become.” Mr. Montoro grew up in Minooka, Scranton, PA. He says his parents were always supportive and never really pressured him or his siblings. “… I mean, they would warn us that if we didn’t do something there would be consequences, but never tell you that you had to go do something,” he said. Sounds like a cool way to teach accountability. He originally wanted to be a doctor and was doing well majoring in biology, but Mr. Montoro states, “I didn’t have the passion that I thought I would, so I did a major flop in the middle of college and switched to an English major.” Coming from a long line of teachers, this was the perfect fit for Mr. Montoro. As he proceeded in his journey, Mr. Montoro worked at West Scranton High School for six years. Then, he went on to work at North Pocono High School as a Guidance Counselor. “…I truly enjoyed my time as a Guidance Counselor, but when I was a counselor, I didn’t get to interact with students as much as I would’ve liked to… When I was a vice principal, although the students I dealt with weren’t on their best behavior, I still liked meeting with them and working with them. My philosophy wasn’t always to punish or be mean, which I think is sometimes how people think of principals, as strict and mean. I think my goal was to change their behavior. “‘How can I help them not make that same mistake again, and look at the whole picture.’ I think especially at the middle school level, I can make a bigger difference in that age group,” he says. Mr. Montoro looks forward to being able to work with the school’s existing teachers. He says that the middle school is already pretty great with a “fantastic foundation set by Mr. Bugno and the staff here.” Mr. Montoro has some ideas to keep that environment going and moving forward. He wants the school to utilize technology a little more. Mr. Montoro wants to make sure the students are always ready for the next level and are good critical thinkers. “I look forward to working as a team with the staff,” he continued. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” Although challenging yourself at work is great, you need to make time for fun! Mr. Montoro enjoys traveling a whole lot! This writer can’t argue with that! I love to travel. One of his favorite places to be is Boston, Massachusetts. I was extremely happy to hear this because Boston is one of my favorite places to visit. He describes Boston as a “little big city”. “I like that it has the right amount of city and history all mixed together and of course, the food.” If you have never been to Boston, I’m just telling you now that you need to go. It is a really cool city with really cool history and things to do. The ‘food’ he mentions is fantastic. My favorite place to eat in Boston is The North End. I was also really happy to hear his next answer…He loves Barcelona! Barcelona is in Spain, and it is also a really cool place to be. My family goes to Europe every two years, and last time we went to Europe, we went to Barcelona. It is awesome! Mr. Montoro says that he loves the culture, food, and art there. He also likes La Sagrada Familia, which is a Basilica designed by an architect, named, Antoni Gaudi. They have been trying to build it since 1882 and they think it will be finished in about 2030. It can take a really long time to build something of that magnitude! It’s so beautiful and it’s something I will always remember seeing. Mr. Montoro also likes to be outside in the summertime. He likes to swim, run, and garden. He runs a half marathon in the fall (I could never do that because I would be dead halfway through), and he is part of a community garden in Scranton. The garden he participates in is a group of people with different ethnic backgrounds and he learns quite a bit from them. He really enjoys it. And if you can tell from his answers he loves to eat new foods. In my family we have really great food to eat. Whether it’s Italian or Dominican cuisine, it’s always yummy. I realized my nerves were unnecessary. We had a few things in common and I think he will be a wonderful principal. Mr. Montoro is determined to keep the tradition of excellence going at NPMS through hard work, collaboration, fairness and patience. What more could we ask for. “Life is a journey, with problems to solve, lessons to learn, but most of all experiences to enjoy.” So Mr. Montoro, your family and students are rooting for you! Here’s what your sister, Maria Montoro Edwards, said about your becoming a new principal, “I am so proud of him being appointed principal. He is very much a model of our father, as a person and principal. He has a peace and a centeredness that I envy.” Mr. Montoro has a quiet strength, kind smile and a great laugh. I think my next two years will be fine. Okay, you have one month to prepare for when school starts! We all wish you luck! Who knows, maybe I’ll be a principal or a marathon runner or a gardener someday, too! Volume 6 - 2015 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01205 previous studies have reported evidence of metaphorical mapping of emotion concepts onto a vertical spatial axis Most of the work on this topic has used visual words as the typical experimental stimuli no previous study has examined the association between affect and vertical space using a cross-modal procedure The current research is a first step toward the study of the metaphorical mapping of emotions onto vertical space by means of an auditory to visual cross-modal paradigm we examined whether auditory words with an emotional valence can interact with the vertical visual space according to a ‘positive-up/negative-down’ embodied metaphor The general method consisted in the presentation of a spoken word denoting a positive/negative emotion prior to the spatial localization of a visual target in an upper or lower position the spoken words were passively heard by the participants and no reliable interaction between emotion concepts and bodily simulated space was found Experiment 2 required more active listening of the auditory stimuli A metaphorical mapping of affect and space was evident but limited to the participants engaged in an emotion-focused task Our results suggest that the association of affective valence and vertical space is not activated automatically during speech processing since an explicit semantic and/or emotional evaluation of the emotionally valenced stimuli was necessary to obtain an embodied effect The results are discussed within the framework of the embodiment hypothesis This study aims to investigate the association between emotional auditory stimuli and vertical visual space an auditory to visual cross-modal paradigm task is used to explore the limits of the metaphorical mapping between concepts and bodily simulated space we studied whether auditory words with an affective valence can influence the spatial localization of visual stimuli in line with the ‘positive-up/negative-down’ vertical spatial metaphor we included different intervals between the auditory word and visual cue in order to explore the automaticity (or lack thereof) of this audiovisual emotional processing The introduction in this article is divided as follows some examples of research in the embodiment of emotions are presented to outline the overarching topic of the studies reported in this article the specific case of conceptual metaphors and emotions is considered research on the valence-space metaphor is discussed since it constitutes the exact scope of this article research relating to the timing of the valence-space metaphor is examined whereas finger touch was better at conveying pleasant and relaxed emotional intentions These studies suggest that emotional stimuli can indeed influence the body’s somatosensory and sensorimotor systems and emotions can indeed be conveyed through these systems it would be important to investigate what emotions are more or less easily transferred across somatosensory and sensorimotor systems and what their time course is during switching tasks metaphorical mappings rely on the human body itself and its neurological substratum as the source domain in order to represent physical properties (e.g. the sensorimotor and somatosensory systems dictate the experience with the physical environment used to ground abstract concepts (e.g. these systems enable the processing of physical properties like high-low as analogs of valenced abstract concepts) the metaphorical mapping of emotions onto space requires somatosensory and sensorimotor simulations in order to comprehend the linkage from the target to the source domain Note that these types of results are informative as to within-modal emotion processing which propose that sensory and motor information is activated when a semantic representation is accessed we test the hypothesis that deep semantic processing is needed to display the effect of embodiment two experiments were planned; in Experiment 1 only shallow processing was required the effect of emotional versus non-emotional processing was contrasted these studies suggest that auditory emotional stimuli affect visual processing is the automaticity accompanying such an effect and whether the effect carries over onto metaphorical mapping (see above) these authors argued that an association between horizontal space and valence is not automatic and occurs only when explicit valence assessment is required visual targets were presented 550 to 750 ms (in increments of 50 ms) after auditory cue onset yet this data was not entered into the statistical analyses While such SOAs could have been used to further examine the behavioral time-course of the cross-modal audiovisual effect they were included in the study in order to approximate temporal changes (e.g. variations in stress and pitch) that affect prosody their results showed reverse effects of interference (with SOAs around 100–200 ms) and facilitation (with a SOA of 350 ms) depending exclusively on the timing between action-related words and motor responses The present investigation aimed to study the auditory-visual cross-modal mapping of spoken words onto vertical bodily simulated space The general method consisted in the prior presentation of a spoken word denoting a positive or negative emotion followed by the display of a visual target whose upper or lower location had to be detected by the participants as soon as possible It is hypothesized that an interaction between emotion words and the vertical spatial axis may be found in the context of a cross-modal procedure according to a ‘positive-up/negative-down’ embodied metaphor this could be owing to a faster detection of upper targets after presenting positive auditory words and lower targets after negative words compared with the other alternative combinations between affective valence and vertical position (i.e. Experiment 1 was a first attempt to study a possible metaphorical association between emotion and vertical space by means of an auditory to visual cross-modal task the spoken affective words were passively heard by the participants as they were not required to do any task with these auditory words this passive procedure was the main reason for the absence of affective and embodied effects found in Experiment 1 we decided to introduce a task requiring more active listening of the spoken words than in Experiment 2 two groups of participants carried out different tasks with the auditory words in order to compare an explicit emotion-focused task with a non-emotional activity the time delay between the auditory and visual stimuli was manipulated in order to explore the temporal course of metaphorical mapping between affect and space The current experiment examined whether auditory infinitive verbs with an affective valence could modulate the response to a localization task in line with the positive-up After playing the auditory files containing the affective words the participants had to speedily detect the position of a visual target displayed in either a high or low position on the screen This task did not require that the auditory stimuli were evaluated in order to test whether mere passive listening could be enough to produce an embodied effect based on a metaphorical conceptual-spatial association Seventeen undergraduate students (12 women and 5 men agerange = 19–48,) from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED Spain) participated in the experiment and received course credits for their participation The experimental protocol was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the UNED All of them were native Spanish speakers and reported to have normal or corrected-to-normal vision The visual stimuli were displayed on 19-inch LCD-LED color monitors with a screen resolution of 1024 × 768 pixels controlled by microcomputers running E-Prime 2.0 software (Psychology Software Tools The auditory words were presented through stereo headphones The visual targets could be displayed in one of two 11.3 cm × 3.0 cm white (255 RGB) boxes (10.8° × 2.9° of visual angle) presented 8.0 cm (7.6° of visual angle) above and below the center of the screen (center-to-center) The visual targets were printed in black (0 RGB) and presented against a light gray background (192 RGB; “silver” according to the E-Prime color palette) The masks were made up of a 29 × 8 matrix checkerboard of black and gray squares (0 and 192 RGB Forty-eight Spanish infinitive verbs denoting emotional states were used. Half of them referred to positive emotions [e.g., divertir (to entertain)] and the other half to negative emotions [e.g., sufrir (to suffer); see Data Sheet 1]. The verbs were obtained by converting 48 emotional adjectives from Santiago et al.’s (2012) study into their infinitive verbal tense Twelve additional verbs were selected for the practice block: six positive and six negative The infinite verbs were spoken by an expert Spanish-speaking female radio announcer in a neutral voice tone and were digitally recorded in a professional radio studio belonging to the UNED’s audiovisual services Mean auditory word duration was 640.2 ms (SD = 137.8 ms; range = 359–932 ms). There was no significant difference between the mean duration of positive (M = 622.75; SD = 135.95) and negative words [M = 657.67; SD = 134.43; t(46) = -0.88; p > 0.10]. Additional analyses were conducted to compare the number of letters and the frequency of use (according to LEXESP; Sebastián-Gallés et al., 2000) of the positive and negative words There were no differences in frequency of use [t(46) = 0.01 p > 0.10] nor in number of letters [t(46) = -0.82 an unexpected free-recall test of the spoken words was conducted A sheet of paper was provided and participants were asked to write down as many words from the experiment as possible for 5 min Illustration of the sequence of events in Experiments 1 (A) and 2 (B) The experimental design included three within-subjects factors: emotional valence of the word (positive vs FIGURE 2. Means of the median reaction times (ms) for all the conditions in Experiment 1. Error bars represent 95% CIs adjusted for within-subjects designs (Cousineau, 2005) An identical analysis was conducted on accuracy rates No effects or interactions were significant in this case Missing data for one particular participant was addressed by excluding this particular participant from the analyses The following analyses included data from the remaining sixteen participants The global mean number of words recalled was 8.31 (SD = 5.19; range = 1–20) whereas for positive words 4.00 (SD = 2.78) and for negative ones 4.31 (SD = 3.05) The global mean number of words correctly recalled was 6.81 (SD = 4.9); for positive words 3.25 (SD = 2.7) and for negative ones 3.56 (SD = 2.5) participants correctly remembered 14.2% (SD = 10.2) of all the words presented; 13.5% (SD = 11.2) for positive words and 14.8% (10.4) for negative ones a conditional proportion correct score was computed for each participant by dividing the number of correct responses by the overall amount of words recalled The mean conditional correct score was.76 (SD = 0.27) with values oscillating between 0.33 and 1.00 active listening of the auditory word could lead to a deeper processing of its semantic content and promote an embodied interaction with the vertical space A simpler explanation for the null embodied effects should not be ruled out. That is, are the auditory words selected representative samples of positive and negative affective stimuli? We adapted the adjectives denoting emotional states that Santiago et al. (2012) included in their experiments to infinitive verbs (see Santiago et al., 2012 for a revision of the method used for the selection of the words) we did not confirm that these stimuli were emotionally stimulating for our participants and therefore it might be possible that the verbs did not represent sufficiently polarized affective values An explicit evaluation of the emotional valence of each was conducted in Experiment 2 to rule out this possible cause Another procedural limitation of Experiment 1 has to do with the interval between the spoken words and the visual target the time was counted from the end of the digital file until the onset of the visual target The marked variability of the files’ duration (range = 359–932 ms; M = 640.2 ms; SD = 137.8 ms) might have introduced a confound variable that could make it difficult to stabilize the procedural conditions The results found in Experiment 1 suggested the possibility of studying a cross-modal embodied effect by means of a different task demanding an active listening of the auditory stimuli The current experiment aimed to examine the specific conditions under which the conceptual-physical interaction could emerge An active listening of the spoken words was introduced by means of two different between-subjects tasks: one requiring an explicit task about the positive or negative affective meaning of auditory stimuli (emotional condition) and another task demanding a mere distinction of the first letter of the word as a vowel or a consonant (non-emotional condition) a recognition test and an emotional valence evaluation were included at the end of the experimental session The inclusion of a recognition test aimed to obtain a more sensible indirect measure of the processing level devoted to the auditory words during the experiment the emotional valence evaluation was included in the experiment in order to reliably measure the affective salience that the auditory word had in our sample of participants Thirty undergraduate students (twenty-one women and nine men agerange = 19–45,) from the UNED (Spain) participated in the experiment and received course credits for their participation The experimental protocol was approved by the UNED’s Bioethics Committee All of the participants were native Spanish speakers and reported to have normal or corrected-to-normal vision The participants were randomly assigned to two groups of 15 individuals each; an emotional group (Mage = 24.3 The stimuli and apparatus were identical to those of Experiment 1 with the exception of a new set of 48 infinitive verbs selected as “new” distracter items for the recognition test (24 positive and 24 negative) This new set of infinitive verbs (both positive and negative) were synonyms of A crucial manipulation was related to the different instructions provided for both experimental subgroups participants were instructed to carefully listen to the auditory word and judge the emotional valence of the verb as either negative or positive with the aim of correctly responding to the retrospective question that could be displayed at the end of the trial participants had to identify whether the first letter of the word was a vowel or a consonant also with the aim of answering the retrospective question Retrospective questions were randomly distributed in 25% of the trials so participants could not predict their appearance a word was displayed in the middle of the screen (e.g. ‘POSITIVE’ for the emotional group or ‘VOWEL’ for the non-emotional group) and the observers had to respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’ by pressing one of two available keys (‘1’ and ‘2’ keys in the top row of numbers with stickers indicating “SÍ”/yes and “NO”) without time response demand and with a different hand than had been used in the main task There was a practice block and six experimental blocks Each experimental block consisted of 96 trials This part of the experiment lasted about 45–50 min The participants had to remember as many auditory words as possible during a 5 min period by writing them on a sheet of paper participants carried out a computerized recognition task verbs (48 ‘old,’ and 48 ‘new’) were randomly displayed on the screen (one word per trial) and participants judged whether the word was heard during the main task by clicking the mouse over the button containing the chosen response (‘YES’ or ‘NO’) without any time constraints participants had to make a self-paced confidence judgment of their recognition memory They indicated their confidence in having listened to the presented word by pressing one of eleven response keys from “0” to “10.” A “10” response indicated that they were completely sure of their response whereas a “0” response indicated that they were completely unsure of the response a valence emotional rating task of the 48 auditory words was administered by computer Participants rated the emotional valence of the words on a 9-point rating scale from -4 (extremely negative) to +4 (extremely positive) nine squares with digits inside from -4 to +4 were displayed on the screen Participants made their ratings by clicking the mouse over the square containing the chosen number without RT demands The experiment resulted in a mixed design with one between-subjects factor (emotional vs non-emotional groups) and three within-subject factors; emotional valence of the word (positive vs Performance on the retrospective question trials was high (M = 97%; SD = 3.4%; range = 87–100%; emotional group: M = 96.87%; SD = 3.6%; non-emotional group: M = 97.27%; SD = 3.3%) A one-factor between-subjects ANOVA intended to rule out differences in hit rates between the emotional and non-emotional group showed that there were no differences; F < 1 participants responded correctly in 97.6% of all trials (16,870 of 17,280) only correct responses and RTs longer than 200 ms (16,828 of 16,870) were considered the median RT was computed for each participant in each condition and these averages were submitted to an ANOVA A 2 × (2 × 2 × 2) mixed ANOVA of the RTs showed main effects of all three within-subjects factors: responses were faster with positive auditory words (429 ms) than with negative words [432 ms; F(1,28) = 5.71 after a SOA of 400 ms (411 ms) compared with a SOA of 200 ms [449 ms; F(1,28) = 95.8 and with visual targets displayed in the upper position (419 ms) compared to the lower location [442 ms; F(1,28) = 11.54 there was no main effect of the between-subjects factor group (F < 1) showing similar global RTs in both groups The interaction between group and emotional valence of the word was significant [F(1,28) = 5.26 showing that the speeding-up effect of the positive words respect to negative words was reliable in the emotional group (Δ6 ms) but not in the non-emotional group (Δ0 ms) There was also a significant interaction between visual target position and SOA [F(1,28) = 13.2 ηp2 = 0.30] suggesting a multiplier effect of the joining together of the longer SOA and the upper position that leads to an even faster response in this condition (396 ms Δ30 ms compared to longer SOA and lower position) than those in the shorter SOA and upper position (441 ms Δ16 ms compared to shorter SOA and lower position) FIGURE 3. Means of the median reaction times (ms) for the three-way interaction group, emotional valence, and position in Experiment 2. Error bars represent 95% CIs adjusted for within-subjects designs (Cousineau, 2005) a three-way interaction including emotional valence × target position × SOA was significant too [F(1,28) = 9.44 indicating that the combination of a long SOA positive valence and upper position generated an even faster response (393 ms) compared with the response to a short SOA negative valence and upper position (400 ms; p = 0.041) Identical analyses were conducted on accuracy rates The 2 × (2 × 2 × 2) mixed ANOVA of the hit rates only revealed a significant interaction effect between visual target position and SOA [F(1,28) = 4.56 pair-wise comparisons applying Bonferroni correction did not indicate any significant effect (all p > 0.05) The mean number of words evoked for the emotional group was 11.94 (SD = 4.11; range = 7–19) for the non-emotional group 11.4 (SD = 5.17; range = 4–22) The mean number of words correctly evoked for the emotional group was 10.13 (SD = 3.2) and for the non-emotional group 7.8 (SD = 4.66) participants of the emotional group correctly remembered 21.1% (SD = 6.7) of all the words presented; whereas the non-emotional group correctly remembered 16.25% (SD = 9.7) A comparison between the group from Experiment 1 and the two groups from the Experiment 2 was carried out by means of a mixed 3 × 2 ANOVA with the factors group and emotional valence of the word as well as the proportion of items correctly evoked as dependent measure Neither significant main effects nor interactions between factors reached statistical significance (all p > 0.05) A conditional proportion correct score was obtained for each participant The emotional group obtained an average of.86 (SD = 0.10) whereas the non-emotional group showed an average of 0.67 (SD = 0.23) A one-factor between-subjects ANOVA with the factor group and the conditional correct score as measure suggested differences between the groups [F(2,46) = 3.12 post hoc comparisons did not detect any significant pair-wise comparisons (all p > 0.05) A direct measure of word recognition (d′) was calculated for each participant The measures were obtained by treating “old” words as signal and “new” words as noise The individual d′ values ranged between 1.18 and 2.54 A mixed 2 × 2 ANOVA with the factors group (emotional vs non-emotional) and emotional valence of the word and d′ values as the dependent variable was conducted Only the between-subject factor group showed a significant effect [F(1,24) = 19.72 in that there was a better recognition rate in the emotional group (d′ = 2.02) than in the non-emotional sample (d′ = 1.43) Neither a difference between positive and negative words nor an interaction between the two factors was found (both F < 1) To analyse the data from the recognition confidence judgments a mixed 2 × (2 × 2) ANOVA with the factors group (emotional vs negative) and the type of word (“new” vs “old”) was conducted on the mean rating of the confidence scores A significant difference between groups was observed [F(1,25) = 6.5 in the sense of a higher confidence in the emotional group (M = 7.79; SD = 1.01) with respect to the non-emotional group (M = 6.81; SD = 0.99) the “old” stimuli had significantly more confident judgments (M = 7.77; SD = 1.07) than the “new” verbs [M = 6.80; SD = 1.25; F(1,25) = 41.3 Neither a difference between positive and negative words nor any interaction between the factors was found (all F < 1.2) Mean valence rating for each word was averaged (see Data Sheet 1) The mean rating for the positive words was 2.78 (SD = 0.61) and for the negative ones -2.61 (SD = 0.67) showing a clear polarized difference between them Two single-sample t-tests showed that these mean ratings were significantly different from the neutral score of zero both for positive words [t(23) = 22.5 p < 0.001] and negative items [t(23) = -19.12 a single-sample t-test comparing the absolute values (or modulus) of positive and negative words was insignificant suggesting that both categories of words are polarized to a similar degree When comparing the ratings provided by both subject groups more extreme responses were offered by the emotional group than the non-emotional both for positive words [M = 3.00 and M = 2.57 p < 0.001] and for negative words [M = -2.76 and M = -2.49 there was no difference in a global comparison of mean valence between both groups including all the words [t(47) = 1.19 which suggests that the polarized responses from the emotional group were mutually compensated The results from the recognition task showed a typical level-of-processing effect since a deep processing (i.e. semantic processing) leads to a more robust memory trace as well as higher confidence judgments phonemic or orthographic analysis) results in a more fragile memory and lower confidence in recognition the current design is not qualified to disentangle between both alternatives the auditory nature of the affective stimuli especially the cross-modal interaction with another sensory modality could have diminished the usual effects given by other procedures this possibility should be taken into account for future research on this topic no previous work has tackled the study of cross-modal interactions between emotionally valenced concepts and bodily space from an embodied standpoint The current research is the first step toward the study of the metaphorical mapping of emotions onto vertical space by means of an auditory to visual cross-modal paradigm all the three cited studies observed a significant main effect of position showing global faster responses to targets displayed at upper than lower locations the cross-modal embodied interaction found in the present study was restricted to the participants that carried out a semantic emotion-focused analysis of the auditory information the results of our experiments suggest that the association of affective valence and vertical space is not activated automatically during speech processing the exact nature of the task needed to obtain the embodied effect cannot be distinctly established with our experimental design The emotional group performed a valence-decision task while the other group had to identify the first letter of the spoken word for which emotional content was irrelevant Notice that the application of an emotional-based criterion was not the exclusive difference due to both between-subjects conditions an evident divergence regarding the level of processing between a semantic versus a phonemic analysis was presented without a choice to separate them considering the present results this crucial issue should be examined in future research it would be informative to know whether the mapping holds the other way around would the cross-modal mapping hold when visual emotional stimuli precede the location of auditory sources onto space Note that in this study only two sensory modalities are being considered the cross-modal processing occurring among these and other modalities (i.e. and gustative) need to be investigated in the context of emotions and metaphorical mapping our procedure could be useful to explore the limits of automaticity in the occurrence of space-valence congruity effects The inclusion of retrospective measures of memory of the valenced stimuli provide us with an indirect measure of the degree or level of processing devoted to the valenced words which might be correlated to the effect size of the embodied effects obtained a better recognition of the auditory words in the emotional group is compatible with a deeper processing of the valenced stimuli that is correlated with a significant space-valence interaction it is possible that the small sample size in the current study could have hidden this specific kind of embodiment phenomena it is thus tenable that these structures play some role in the representation of metaphorical mappings onto bodily space We believe that most of the metaphorical processing could be handled by these areas; however and vice versa via perirhinal and parahippocampal cortex some mild activation of sensorimotor and somatosensory cortical areas could be observed This speculation leads us to believe that the processing of cross-modal metaphorical mapping might need mild to low levels of embodiment this conjecture is yet to be empirically investigated An important advantage of our procedure is that it allows manipulation of the timing of the visual and auditory stimulation in order to explore the temporal requirements of a metaphorical mapping between emotion and bodily space The visual and auditory stimuli can be displayed simultaneously or with different SOAs or ISIs Another potential innovation would be the introduction of a dichotic listening procedure in order to manipulate the extent of cognitive resources devoted to the auditory items such a procedural improvement will serve as an important step in the study of the role of attention and the limits of automaticity in the occurrence of interactive effects between affect and bodily space Our study is a first step toward the study of a cross-modal metaphorical mapping of emotions onto vertical space The results obtained show that (i) a cross-modal association of affective valence and vertical space is possible but that (ii) this embodied association is not activated automatically because (iii) an explicit evaluation of the emotionally valenced words is needed to observe an interaction between emotion concepts and bodily simulated space This work was supported by grants EDU2013-46437-R from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain and 2012V/PUNED/0009 from the UNED We would like to thank Maite Pérez de Albéniz for her kind collaboration in the recording of the auditory material and María Fernández Cahill for proofreading this manuscript FM-R dedicates this paper to the memory of Javier Emiro Sánchez Ramos The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: 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Front. Psychol. 6:1205. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01205 Copyright © 2015 Montoro, Contreras, Elosúa and Marmolejo-Ramos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited *Correspondence: Pedro R. Montoro, Departamento de Psicología Básica I, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, C/Juan del Rosal 10, 28040 Madrid, Spain,cHJtb250b3JvQHBzaS51bmVkLmVz He currently lives in Havana with his daughter “Sady” and his wife Alma Latina (Tumi Music, 2014)Guajira Mas Guajira (Tumi, 2015) Black Roots (Tumi Please enter an answer in digits:thirteen − five =