Grishina, EE, Zmijewski, P, Semenova, EA, Cięszczyk, P, Humińska-Lisowska, K, Michałowska-Sawczyn, M, Maculewicz, E, Crewther, B, Orysiak, J, Kostryukova, ES, Kulemin, NA, Borisov, OV, Khabibova, SA, Larin, AK, Pavlenko, AV, Lyubaeva, EV, Popov, DV, Lysenko, EA, Vepkhvadze, TF, Lednev, EM, Bondareva, EA, Erskine, RM, Generozov, EV, and Ahmetov, II. Three DNA polymorphisms previously identified as markers for handgrip strength are associated with strength in weightlifters and muscle fiber hypertrophy. J Strength Cond Res 33(10): 2602–2607, 2019—Muscle strength is a highly heritable trait. So far, 196 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with handgrip strength have been identified in 3 genome-wide association studies. The aim of our study was to validate the association of 35 SNPs with strength of elite Russian weightlifters and replicate the study in Polish weightlifters. Genotyping was performed using micro-array analysis or real-time polymerase chain reaction. We found that the rs12055409 G-allele near the MLN gene (p = 0.004), the rs4626333 G-allele near the ZNF608 gene (p = 0.0338), and the rs2273555 A-allele in the GBF1 gene (p = 0.0099) were associated with greater competition results (total lifts in snatch and clean and jerk adjusted for sex and weight) in 53 elite Russian weightlifters. In the replication study of 76 sub-elite Polish weightlifters, rs4626333 GG homozygotes demonstrated greater competition results (p = 0.0155) and relative muscle mass (p = 0.046), adjusted for sex, weight, and age, compared with carriers of the A-allele. In the following studies, we tested the hypotheses that these SNPs would be associated with skeletal muscle hypertrophy and handgrip strength. We found that the number of strength-associated alleles was positively associated with fast-twitch muscle fiber cross-sectional area in the independent cohort of 20 male power athletes (p = 0.021) and with handgrip strength in 87 physically active individuals (p = 0.015). In conclusion, by replicating previous findings in 4 independent studies, we demonstrate that the rs12055409 G-, rs4626333 G-, and rs2273555 A-alleles are associated with higher levels of strength, muscle mass, and muscle fiber size.

This study is devoted to the foreign language communicative competence development among non-linguistic universities under-graduate students. This research covered the issue of foreign language education based on the cognitive-conceptual model for teaching English to non-linguistic university students. As the main research method, pedagogical modelling was chosen. The experiment was conducted at Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, and Ural Institute of State Fire Service of EMERCOM of Russia among 72 undergraduate students. The results of several curriculum-based tests showed that the percentage of correct determination of expressions with the context available increased from 54% to 93.2% in EG1, and from 41.9 to 85.5% in EG2. The overall students’ understanding of lexical units increased by 39.2% and 43.6%, respectively. The ratio of misunderstanding/understanding of speech utterances increased from 15/7 to 6/16, while the proportion of students who do not use/use various interpretation strategies changed from 8/14 to 3/19. The developed cognitive-conceptual methodology effectiveness for teaching foreign language communicative competence was proven. It can be applied to train students of various specialisations at different university degree levels.