BackgroundToll‐like receptors (TLRs) have been shown to be involved in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. TLR9 is located in intracellular compartments and recognizes CpG‐DNA. This study examined the effect of CpG‐ODN on cerebral I/R injury.Methods and ResultsC57BL/6 mice were treated with CpG‐ODN by i.p. injection 1 hour before the mice were subjected to cerebral ischemia (60 minutes) followed by reperfusion (24 hours). Scrambled‐ODN served as control‐ODN. Untreated mice, subjected to cerebral I/R, served as I/R control. The effect of inhibitory CpG‐ODN (iCpG‐ODN) on cerebral I/R injury was also examined. In addition, we examined the therapeutic effect of CpG‐ODN on cerebral I/R injury by administration of CpG‐ODN 15 minutes after cerebral ischemia. CpG‐ODN administration significantly decreased cerebral I/R‐induced infarct volume by 69.7% (6.4±1.80% vs 21.0±2.85%, P<0.05), improved neurological scores, and increased survival rate, when compared with the untreated I/R group. Therapeutic administration of CpG‐ODN also significantly reduced infarct volume by 44.7% (12.6±2.03% vs 22.8±2.54%, P<0.05) compared with untreated I/R mice. Neither control‐ODN, nor iCpG‐ODN altered I/R‐induced cerebral injury or neurological deficits. Nissl staining showed that CpG‐ODN treatment preserved neuronal morphology in the ischemic hippocampus. Immunoblot showed that CpG‐ODN administration increased Bcl‐2 levels by 41% and attenuated I/R‐increased levels of Bax and caspase‐3 activity in ischemic brain tissues. Importantly, CpG‐ODN treatment induced Akt and GSK‐3β phosphorylation in brain tissue and cultured microglial cells. PI3K inhibition with LY294002 abolished CpG‐ODN‐induced protection.ConclusionCpG‐ODN significantly reduces cerebral I/R injury via a PI3K/Akt‐dependent mechanism. Our data also indicate that CpG‐ODN may be useful in the therapy of cerebral I/R injury.

Dai, B, Layer, J, Vertz, C, Hinshaw, T, Cook, R, Li, Y, and Sha, Z. Baseline assessments of strength and balance performance and bilateral asymmetries in collegiate athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-Injuries to upper and lower extremities comprise more than 70% of the total injuries in collegiate athletes. Establishing normative data of upper and lower extremity strength and balance may help guide postinjury rehabilitation and return-to-play decisions. The purposes of the current study were to develop the normative data of performance and bilateral asymmetries during 4 upper and lower extremity strength and balance tests in collegiate athletes and to quantify the correlations between strength and balance performance and bilateral asymmetries. A total of 304 male and 195 female Division I athletes from 14 sports performed a maximum push-up test to assess upper extremity strength, a countermovement jump test to assess lower extremity strength, an upper extremity reaching test to assess upper extremity balance, and a lower extremity reaching test to assess lower extremity balance. Bilateral ground reaction forces were collected for the push-up and jump tests. Reaching distances were measured for the 2 balance tests. Bilateral asymmetries were generally less than 10%. Significant sports effects were observed for all 5 performance variables (p < 0.001) but not for asymmetry variables (p ≥ 0.36). Weak correlations were found between strength and balance performance and asymmetries (r < 0.3). Normative data are sex and sports specific in collegiate athletes. Increased asymmetries could be more individualized rather than sex and sports specific. When return-to-play decisions are made, athletes following injuries need to demonstrate less than 10% of asymmetries to be consistent with the normative data. Strength and balance should be evaluated and improved with specific focuses.

Objectives:The purpose of the study was to identify the level of accuracy in velocity measurement from a newly developed inertia sensor. Design and Methods: Five subjects performed two dumbbell exercises for total of four sets of ten repetitions with a light intensity. Velocity data were taken and considered for analysis from two devices; the inertia sensor, wirelessly connected via Bluetooth™ to a smartphone, and a motion capture system. Both data were taken at the sampling frequency of 200 Hz. Identical data sets of peak and average velocity were analyzed with Pearson product-moment zero-order correlation using total 200 data points (5 subjects, 4 sets, and 10 repetitions) on both exercises with p value of 0.05. Data were also analyzed using the same statistical procedure for left and right side to ensure the device-device data consistency. Results: Results showed high correlations in both exercises between the two velocity measurement methods (0.80 -0.92), indicating the accuracy of the data from the inertia sensor is supportive. Left and right side correlations were also high from the inertia sensor (0.90 -0.93) indicating that the data were similar with relatively identical movements between the two limbs. Conclusions: With the accuracy of the velocity measurement, this would potentially replace currently used, wired devices to accommodate user-friendly, accessible to more exercises to measure velocity.

Hinshaw, TJ, Stephenson, ML, Sha, Z, and Dai, B. Effect of external loading on force and power production during plyometric push-ups. J Strength Cond Res 32(4): 1099-1108, 2018-One common exercise to train upper-body strength and power is the push-up. Training at the loads that would produce the greatest power is an effective way to increase peak power. The purpose of the current study was to quantify the changes in peak force, peak power, and peak velocity among a modified plyometric push-up and plyometric push-ups with or without external loading in physically active young adults. Eighteen male and 17 female participants completed 4 push-ups: (a) modified plyometric push-up on the knees, (b) plyometric push-up without external loading, (c) plyometric push-up with an external load of 5% of body weight, and (d) plyometric push-up with an external load of 10% of body weight. Two force platforms were set up to collect vertical ground reaction forces at the hands and feet. The modified plyometric push-up demonstrated the lowest force, power, and velocity (5.4≥ Cohen's dz ≥1.2). Peak force and force at peak velocity increased (3.8≥ Cohen's dz ≥0.3) and peak velocity and velocity at peak power decreased (1.4≥ Cohen's dz ≥0.8) for the push-up without external loading compared with the 2 push-ups with external loading. No significant differences were observed for peak power among the push-ups with or without external loading (0.4≥ Cohen's dz ≥0.1). Although peak power is similar with or without external loading, push-ups without external loading may be more beneficial for a quick movement, and push-ups with external loading may be more beneficial for a greater force production.

This study aimed to analyze counter-movement jump (CMJ) performance in time and frequency domains. Fortyfour Division I American football players participated in the study. Kinetic variables were collected from both dominant and non-dominant legs using two force plates. Normalized peak power, normalized net impulse, and normalized peak force significantly correlated with jump height (r = .960, r = .998, r = .725, respectively with p < .05). The mean frequency component was significantly correlated with CMJ performance (r = .355 with p < .05). The reliability of the frequency variables was higher than the time domain variables. Frequency domain variables showed weaker correlations with jump height compared with time domain variables. Frequency domain analysis provides frequency components, which represent the rate of energy transmission from the eccentric phase to the end of the push-off phase. Frequency component information may provide additional information for the analyses of CMJ performance for athletes.