supplementation. Participants identified which supplement they believed they had 29 ingested ("caffeine", "placebo", "don't know") pre-and post-exercise. Subsequently, 30 participants were allocated to subgroups for analysis according to their identifications. 31Overall and subgroup analyses were performed using mixed-model and magnitude 32 based inference analyses. Caffeine improved performance vs. PLA and CON 33 (P≤0.001). Correct pre-and post-exercise identification of caffeine in CAF improved 34 exercise performance (+4.8 and +6.5%) vs. CON, with slightly greater relative 35 increases than the overall effect of caffeine (+4.1%). Performance was not different 36 between PLA and CON within subgroups (all P>0.05), although there was a tendency 37 towards improved performance when participants believed they had ingested caffeine 38 post-exercise (P=0.06; 87% likely beneficial). Participants who correctly identified 39 placebo in PLA showed possible harmful effects on performance compared to CON. 40 Supplement identification appeared to influence exercise outcome and may be a 41 source of bias in sports nutrition. 42

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Objectives The main goals were to provide normal reference ranges for fractional limb volume as a new index of generalized fetal nutritional status, to evaluate the reproducibility of fractional fetal limb volume measurements during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, and to demonstrate technical considerations for this technique. Methods This was a prospective, cross-sectional study of gravid women during mid to late pregnancy. Fractional limb volumes were based on either 50% of humeral or femoral diaphysis length. Each partial volume was subdivided into five equidistant slices that were centered along the mid-arm or mid-thigh. Slices were traced manually to obtain fractional arm (AVol) or fractional thigh (TVol) volume. Reproducibility studies were performed, using Bland-Altman plots, to assess blinded interobserver and intraobserver measurement bias and agreement. Selected images were chosen to demonstrate technical factors for the acquisition and analysis of these parameters. Reference charts were established to describe normal ranges for AVol and TVol. Results Three hundred and eighty-seven subjects were scanned to include 380 AVol (range, 1.1-68.3 mL) and 378 TVol (Range, 2.0-163.2 mL) measurements between 18.0 and 42.1 weeks’ menstrual age. No gender differences were found in these soft tissue measurements (AVol, P = 0.90; TVol, P = 0.91; Mann-Whitney test). Intraobserver mean bias ± SD and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) for fractional limb volumes were: 2.2 ± 4.2% (95% LOA, −6.0 to 10.5%) for AVol and 2.0 ± 4.2% (95% LOA, −6.3 to 10.3%) for TVol. Interobserver bias and agreement were −1.9 ± 4.9% (95% LOA, −11.6 to 7.8%) for AVol and −2.0 ± 5.4% (95% LOA, −12.5 to 8.6%) for TVol. Technical factors were related to image optimization, transducer pressure, fetal movement, soft tissue compression and amniotic fluid volume. Conclusions Fractional limb volume assessment may improve the detection and monitoring of malnourished fetuses because this soft tissue parameter can be obtained quickly and reproducibly during mid to late pregnancy. Careful attention should be placed on technical factors that can potentially affect optimal acquisition and analysis of these volume measurements.

Capsicum species are very important in Brazil because of economic, cultural and biological factors, and the country is considered to be a diversity center for this genus. Collection and maintenance of the genetic diversity in Capsicum are important to avoid genetic erosion. Besides the identification of species, the characterization and evaluation of accessions maintained in gene banks are of fundamental importance. For this purpose, multivariate methods have become an important tool in the classification of conserved genotypes. The objectives of this study were: i) to identify and characterize accessions of the Capsicum spp collection and draw conclusions about the potential use of certain accessions in different production sectors; ii) to estimate the genetic divergence among accessions using the Ward-MLM procedure, and iii) to evaluate the efficiency of the analysis of continuous and categorical data using the Ward-MLM procedure. Fifty-six Capsicum spp accessions were evaluated based on 25 descriptors, 14 of which were morphological and 11 agronomic. Based on the qualitative descriptors, it was possible to identify all species and, together with the agronomic descriptors, genotypes could be indicated with potential for use in various production sectors. Five was determined as the ideal number of groups by the criteria pseudo-F and pseudo-t 2 . The Ward-MLM procedure allowed the differentiation of the species C. annuum, C. frutescens, C. baccatum, and C. chinense in separate groups. The Ward-MLM procedure showed some level of efficiency in clustering Capsicum species analyzing morphological and agronomic data simultaneously.

K E Y W O R D S:amniotic fluid 'sludge'; chorioamnionitis; intrauterine inflammation; microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity; preterm delivery; preterm labor; ultrasound ' [AF 'sludge' median, 1 (IQR,[1][2][3][4][5] 33 (IQR, ABSTRACT

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