Edith Cowan University

About: Edith Cowan University is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 4040 authors who have published 13529 publications receiving 339582 citations. The organization is also known as: Edith Cowan & ECU.

Comparison between voluntary and stimulated contractions of the quadriceps femoris for growth hormone response and muscle damage

Abstract: This study aimed to compare voluntary and stimulated exercise for changes in muscle strength, growth hormone (GH), blood lactate, and markers of muscle damage. Nine healthy men had two leg press ex...

The general adaptation syndrome: A foundation for the concept of periodization

Abstract: Recent reviews have attempted to refute the efficacy of applying Selye's general adaptation syndrome (GAS) as a conceptual framework for the training process. Furthermore, the criticisms involved are regularly used as the basis for arguments against the periodization of training. However, these perspectives fail to consider the entirety of Selye's work, the evolution of his model, and the broad applications he proposed. While it is reasonable to critically evaluate any paradigm, critics of the GAS have yet to dismantle the link between stress and adaptation. Disturbance to the state of an organism is the driving force for biological adaptation, which is the central thesis of the GAS model and the primary basis for its application to the athlete's training process. Despite its imprecisions, the GAS has proven to be an instructive framework for understanding the mechanistic process of providing a training stimulus to induce specific adaptations that result in functional enhancements. Pioneers of modern periodization have used the GAS as a framework for the management of stress and fatigue to direct adaptation during sports training. Updates to the periodization concept have retained its founding constructs while explicitly calling for scientifically based, evidence-driven practice suited to the individual. Thus, the purpose of this review is to provide greater clarity on how the GAS serves as an appropriate mechanistic model to conceptualize the periodization of training.

The effect of salt stress and abscisic acid on proline production, chlorophyll content and growth of in vitro propagated shoots of Eucalyptus camaldulensis

Abstract: Three clones, selected for their variation in salt tolerance, were examined regarding their growth and physiological responses on exposure to salt (NaCl) and abscisic acid (ABA) in vitro. The shoot proline levels significantly increased in two salt tolerant clones when exposed to 100 mM NaCl in the shoot multiplication medium. In contrast, proline in a salt sensitive clone did not change in comparison to the control treatment. When 10 μM ABA was included in the medium all clones had an increase in proline regardless of whether they were salt tolerant or salt sensitive, linking proline production to the stress hormone ABA. Callus production was so variable that it was not possible to produce callus of consistent texture, colour and growth for all three clones. For the two clones where consistent growth was achievable, both the salt tolerant and salt sensitive clones increased proline production when exposed to salt. This response, however, was greater in the salt tolerant clone. Other parameters examined were growth (dry weight) and shoot chlorophyll content. These characteristics did not correlate with the salt tolerance of the clones, with similar weights being produced on non salt and salt media and similar chlorophyll in both salt sensitive and salt tolerant clones regardless of the medium in which they were grown. The production of proline is considered with regard to selection for differences in salt tolerance in vitro.

Seagrass meadows as a globally significant carbonate reservoir

Abstract: . There has been growing interest in quantifying the capacity of seagrass ecosystems to act as carbon sinks as a natural way of offsetting anthropogenic carbon emissions to the atmosphere. However, most of the efforts have focused on the particulate organic carbon (POC) stocks and accumulation rates and ignored the particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) fraction, despite important carbonate pools associated with calcifying organisms inhabiting the meadows, such as epiphytes and benthic invertebrates, and despite the relevance that carbonate precipitation and dissolution processes have in the global carbon cycle. This study offers the first assessment of the global PIC stocks in seagrass sediments using a synthesis of published and unpublished data on sediment carbonate concentration from 403 vegetated and 34 adjacent un-vegetated sites. PIC stocks in the top 1 m of sediment ranged between 3 and 1660 Mg PIC ha−1, with an average of 654 ± 24 Mg PIC ha−1, exceeding those of POC reported in previous studies by about a factor of 5. Sedimentary carbonate stocks varied across seagrass communities, with meadows dominated by Halodule, Thalassia or Cymodocea supporting the highest PIC stocks, and tended to decrease polewards at a rate of −8 ± 2 Mg PIC ha−1 per degree of latitude (general linear model, GLM; p

The comparative role of consanguinity in infant and childhood mortality in Pakistan

Abstract: As part of the 1990/1991 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, data were collected on the outcome of 26,408 births to 6,611 women, with mortality rates investigated at specific age intervals during the first 5 years of life. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to examine the comparative roles of consanguineous marriage and a number of demographic and socioeconomic factors, including the sex of the child, maternal age, maternal education, birth interval and birth order, as determinants of early death. The results indicate that, even after controlling for these non-genetic variables, inbreeding at the level of first cousin exerted a significant adverse effect on survival in four of the five age intervals examined, neonatal, post-neonatal, infant and under 5 years.