Survivin, a member of the inhibitors-of-apoptosis gene family, is overexpressed in many tumor types. Survivin is a prognostic marker of soft-tissue sarcomas, but the downregulation of survivin expression and the possible dependency of survivin downregulation on p53 in these tumors have not been investigated. Therefore, we applied small interfering RNA (siRNA) to knock down the expression of survivin in five human sarcoma cell lines with wild-type or mutant p53 alleles. Compared with survivin mRNA expression in the nonsense siRNA-treated sarcoma cell lines, expression after treatment with survivin-specific siRNA was reduced by 73-88%; survivin protein expression was reduced by 52-81%. This finding was coupled with a reduction in clonogenic survival ranging from 65-86%. However, less than 10% of cells treated with survivin-specific siRNA underwent apoptosis. Cell-cycle and morphologic analyses showed that after a dramatic increase in the number of treated cells in the G2/M phase, some of the cells became polyploid; this result indicates that mitosis of a substantial number of treated cells was incomplete. Our findings suggest that survivin-specific siRNA could be a selective treatment to kill sarcoma cells regardless of the presence or absence of wild-type p53 alleles.

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The aim of this investigation was to quantify the acute effects of the execution of the physical performance tests within the ice hockey-specific complex test (IHCT) on shooting performance. Thirty-four professional male ice hockey players with an average of 6.9 years of playing experience were recruited. The slap shot (SS) was found to accelerate the puck with a higher speed and greater precision. After the IHCT, the maximum puck speed of successful goal shots decreased considerably (p < 0.001, d > 1.5). The puck speed percentage decrement after the IHCT did not differ between the SS (6.1, SD = 4.4, −5.5–17.9) and the wrist shot (WS, 6.0, SD = 3.5, −0.9–12.2, p = 0.86, d = 0.03). The magnitude of puck speed reduction in the WS was inversely related to the functional heart rate reserve (r = −0.44, p = 0.02) and the blood lactate elimination rate (r = −0.43, p < 0.02). The linear and COD speed tests on-ice resulted in a higher amount of successful goal shots. These findings highlight the interaction of intense on-ice testing and goal-shooting performance.

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