Biomechanical Performance Factors for Development of Minimum Disability Requirements in Para-taekwondo – Part 1

Objective: To assess taekwondo sparring performance variables, such as joint ranges of motion, reaction times, and kicking foot speeds, to serve as a framework for developing sport-specific classification in Para-taekwondo competition. Methods: After a standard taekwondo warm up, athletes executed five popular scoring techniques, back kick, cut kick, fast kick, turning kick, and tornado kick five times each (25 total). Kinematic and kinetic variables were recorded by a motion capture system of seven infrared cameras and two force plates. Maximum joint range of motion, foot velocities, and reaction time were calculated. Results: Collapsed over kick, maximum hip abduction motion, maximum hip flexion, maximum knee flexion, peak foot velocity, reaction time for male athletes were 47.8 ±10.4°, 46.3 ±7.6°, 105.3 ±14.0°, 11.5 ±2.4 m/s, and 0.46 ±0.06 s respectively. maximum hip abduction motion, maximum hip flexion, maximum knee flexion, peak foot velocity, reaction time for female athletes were 49.1 ±6.8°, 43.9 ±11.0°, 94.2 ±13.7°, 10.9 ±2.2 m/s, and 0.48 ±0.11 s respectively. Conclusions: The results of this study provide a foundational framework for future studies designed to compare and assess Para-taekwondo athletes with various physical and neurological impairments. From this, future studies may move towards developing practical on-site sport specific testing methods which may ultimately assist in making taekwondo-specific classification for Para-taekwondo competitions

Resultant linear acceleration of an instrumented head form does not differ between junior and collegiate taekwondo athletes' kicks

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of various taekwondo kicks and age (school level) in absolute terms and relative body mass on the resultant linear acceleration (RLA) of an instrumented head form. Methods: Forty-eight male (middle school: 16; high school: 16; university: 16) taekwondo athletes were recruited for this study. Subjects performed 10 turning, 10 jump spinning hook, and 10 jump back kicks on a Hybrid II head mounted on a height-adjustable frame. Results: A 2-way (School × Kick) MANOVA was used to determine the differences in RLA between schools (age groups) by type of kick. There was no univariate School main effect for absolute RLA (η2 = 0.06) and RLA relative to body mass (η2 = 0.06). No univariate Kick main effects were found for absolute (η2 = 0.06) and relative RLA (η2 = 0.06). Conclusion: It is of concern that RLA did not significantly differ between school levels, implying that young taekwondo athletes generate similar forces to their adult counterparts, possibly exposing young athletes to an increased risk for head injuries

Ezetimibe added to statin therapy after acute coronary syndromes

BACKGROUND: Statin therapy reduces low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels and the risk of cardiovascular events, but whether the addition of ezetimibe, a nonstatin drug that reduces intestinal cholesterol absorption, can reduce the rate of cardiovascular events further is not known. METHODS: We conducted a double-blind, randomized trial involving 18,144 patients who had been hospitalized for an acute coronary syndrome within the preceding 10 days and had LDL cholesterol levels of 50 to 100 mg per deciliter (1.3 to 2.6 mmol per liter) if they were receiving lipid-lowering therapy or 50 to 125 mg per deciliter (1.3 to 3.2 mmol per liter) if they were not receiving lipid-lowering therapy. The combination of simvastatin (40 mg) and ezetimibe (10 mg) (simvastatin-ezetimibe) was compared with simvastatin (40 mg) and placebo (simvastatin monotherapy). The primary end point was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, unstable angina requiring rehospitalization, coronary revascularization ( 6530 days after randomization), or nonfatal stroke. The median follow-up was 6 years. RESULTS: The median time-weighted average LDL cholesterol level during the study was 53.7 mg per deciliter (1.4 mmol per liter) in the simvastatin-ezetimibe group, as compared with 69.5 mg per deciliter (1.8 mmol per liter) in the simvastatin-monotherapy group (P<0.001). The Kaplan-Meier event rate for the primary end point at 7 years was 32.7% in the simvastatin-ezetimibe group, as compared with 34.7% in the simvastatin-monotherapy group (absolute risk difference, 2.0 percentage points; hazard ratio, 0.936; 95% confidence interval, 0.89 to 0.99; P = 0.016). Rates of pre-specified muscle, gallbladder, and hepatic adverse effects and cancer were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: When added to statin therapy, ezetimibe resulted in incremental lowering of LDL cholesterol levels and improved cardiovascular outcomes. Moreover, lowering LDL cholesterol to levels below previous targets provided additional benefit

Coronal Heating as Determined by the Solar Flare Frequency Distribution Obtained by Aggregating Case Studies

Flare frequency distributions represent a key approach to addressing one of the largest problems in solar and stellar physics: determining the mechanism that counter-intuitively heats coronae to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the corresponding photospheres. It is widely accepted that the magnetic field is responsible for the heating, but there are two competing mechanisms that could explain it: nanoflares or Alfv\'en waves. To date, neither can be directly observed. Nanoflares are, by definition, extremely small, but their aggregate energy release could represent a substantial heating mechanism, presuming they are sufficiently abundant. One way to test this presumption is via the flare frequency distribution, which describes how often flares of various energies occur. If the slope of the power law fitting the flare frequency distribution is above a critical threshold, $\alpha=2$ as established in prior literature, then there should be a sufficient abundance of nanoflares to explain coronal heating. We performed $>$600 case studies of solar flares, made possible by an unprecedented number of data analysts via three semesters of an undergraduate physics laboratory course. This allowed us to include two crucial, but nontrivial, analysis methods: pre-flare baseline subtraction and computation of the flare energy, which requires determining flare start and stop times. We aggregated the results of these analyses into a statistical study to determine that $\alpha = 1.63 \pm 0.03$. This is below the critical threshold, suggesting that Alfv\'en waves are an important driver of coronal heating.Comment: 1,002 authors, 14 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, published by The Astrophysical Journal on 2023-05-09, volume 948, page 7