Knee alignment with and without implements in leg press and squat exercises: a systematic review

Resistance training has been commonly used as a method of intervention in the rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries affecting the knee. Thus, the objective of this systematic review was to identify the methods employed with and without implements in leg press and squat exercises for the maintenance of knee alignment. The literature search was performed in the databases: PubMed, SciELO, and Lilacs. We used the descriptors "muscle strength" and "exercise" and their synonyms, available in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) and the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), with the terms "valgus knee" and "varus knee". From the 1,117 articles found, eight studies were considered for the review. The included studies had samples composed of young men and women with advanced levels of training. Despite verifying conditions of valgus or varus knee, the studies presented different protocols and assessment methods. The implements comprised physioball, elastic resistance, and wedge. Electromyography and kinematics were used to assess muscle activity and movement patterns. These results reinforced the possibility of using implements to induce muscle and joint actions to reduce varus and valgus conditions. We suggest more studies to define the best strategies to reduce the excessive deviation of the patella in people who have valgus or varus knee

Metal-responsive promoter DNA compaction by the ferric uptake regulator

Short-range DNA looping has been proposed to affect promoter activity in many bacterial species and operator configurations, but only few examples have been experimentally investigated in molecular detail. Here we present evidence for a metal-responsive DNA condensation mechanism controlled by the Helicobacter pylori ferric uptake regulator (Fur), an orthologue of the widespread Fur family of prokaryotic metal-dependent regulators. H. pylori Fur represses the transcription of the essential arsRS acid acclimation operon through iron-responsive oligomerization and DNA compaction, encasing the arsR transcriptional start site in a repressive macromolecular complex. A second metal-dependent regulator NikR functions as nickel-dependent anti-repressor at this promoter, antagonizing the binding of Fur to the operator elements responsible for the DNA condensation. The results allow unifying H. pylori metal ion homeostasis and acid acclimation in a mechanistically coherent model, and demonstrate, for the first time, the existence of a selective metal-responsive DNA compaction mechanism controlling bacterial transcriptional regulation

Intralesional administration of L19-IL2/L19-TNF in stage III or stage IVM1a melanoma patients: results of a phase II study

ISSN:0340-7004ISSN:1432-085

Efeitos de 20 semanas de treinamento combinado na capacidade funcional de idosas

Resumo O estudo baseou-se em avaliar os efeitos de 20 semanas de treinamento combinado na capacidade funcional de idosas; 66 foram divididas por randomização em dois grupos, um grupo treinamento combinado (GTC, n = 33, com 69,12 ± 7 anos) e outro grupo controle (GC, n = 33, com 69,21 ± 6,60 anos). O período de intervenção da pesquisa ocorreu durante 20 semanas. A avaliação da CF foi feita pela Escala de Atividade da Vida Diária (AVD) proposta por Katz, associada à Escala das Atividades Instrumentais da Vida Diária (AIVD) proposta por Lawton. Para o treinamento de força muscular, usou-se carga máxima entre 70-85% de 1RM e no treinamento de resistência cardiovascular optou-se pelo uso de 70-89% da FC de reserva. Os resultados apresentam melhorais estatisticamente significativas na escala de CF de Lawton (Δ% = 21,04%, p = 0,007) e na escala de CF de Katz, (Δ% = 7,31%, p < 0,001) comparados com os do GC. Os resultados possibilitam concluir que a prática do treinamento combinado melhorou a CF de idosas

Comparison of different commercial FFDM units by means of physical characterization and contrast-detail analysis

The purpose of this study was to perform a complete evaluation of three pieces of clinical digital mammography equipment. Image quality was assessed by performing physical characterization and contrast-detail (CD)analysis. We considered three different FFDM systems: a computed radiography unit Fuji \u201cFCR 5000 MA\u201d and two flat-panel units, the indirect conversion a-Si based GE \u201cSenographe 2000D\u201d and the direct conversion a-Se based IMS \u201cGiotto Image MD.\u201d The physical characterization was estimated by measuring the MTF, NNPS, and DQE of the detectors with no antiscatter grid and over the clinical range of exposures. The CD analysis was performed using a CDMAM 3.4 phantom and custom software designed for automatic computation of the contrast detail curves. The physical characterization of the three digital systems confirms the excellent MTF properties of the direct conversion flat-panel detector (FPD). We performed a relative standard deviation (RSD) snalysis, for investigating the different components of the noise presented by the three systems. It turned out that the two FPDs show a significant additive component, whereas for the CR system the statistical noise is dominant. The multiplicative factor is a minor constituent for all the systems. The two FPDs demonstrate better DQE, with respect to the CR system, for exposures higher than 70 uGy. The CD analysis indicated that the three systems are not statistically different for detail objects with a diameter greater than 0.3 mm. However, the IMS system showed a statistically significant different response for details smaller than 0.3 mm. In this case, the poor response of the a-Se detector could be attributed to its high-frequency noise characteristics, since its MTF, NEQ, and DQE are not inferior to those of the other systems. The CD results were independent of exposure level, within the investigated clinical range. We observed slight variations in the CD results, due to the changes in the visualization parameters (window/level and magnification factor). This suggests that radiologists would benefit from viewing images using varied window/ level and magnification