Using Pressure Massage for Achilles Tendinopathy: A Single-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing a Novel Treatment Versus an Eccentric Exercise Protocol

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Background: Eccentric exercises are the only conservative treatment that has shown good clinical results in studies of Achilles tendinopathy (AT), but success rates vary, indicating the need for alternative treatments. Soft tissue treatments are widely used for AT, but strong scientific evidence is lacking to support those treatments. Purpose/Hypotheses: This study aimed to determine whether pressure massage to the calf muscles is a useful treatment for AT and to compare this treatment versus an eccentric exercise protocol. Our first hypothesis was that pressure massage treatment is equivalent or superior to eccentric exercises with regard to pain reduction time (ie, pain would be reduced more quickly with pressure massage). The second hypothesis was that pressure massage is equivalent or superior to eccentric exercises with regard to function of the calf muscles. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods: A total of 60 patients with AT were randomized into 3 groups: group 1 underwent an eccentric exercise protocol, group 2 underwent pressure massage, and group 3 underwent pressure massage and the eccentric exercise protocol. Patients were evaluated with the Icelandic version of the Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment–Achilles questionnaire (VISA-A-IS), an algometer to test the pressure pain threshold (PPT) of the Achilles tendon, tests for ankle range of motion (ROM), and real-time ultrasonographic (US) scanning of tendon thickness and degree of neovascularization. Measurements for VISA-A-IS, PPT, and ROM were taken at 0, 4, 8, 12, and 24 weeks. US scan measurements were taken at 0, 12, and 24 weeks. Mixed-model analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis. Results: All groups improved when evaluated with VISA-A-IS scores (P <.0001). The pressure massage group improved significantly more than the eccentric exercise group at week 4, which was the only between-group difference. Ankle ROM increased significantly over time (ROM bent knee P =.006 and ROM straight knee P =.034), but no significant difference was found between groups. No significant difference was found in evaluations of PPT or US scan measurements. Conclusion: Pressure massage is a useful treatment for Achilles tendinopathy. Compared with eccentric exercise treatment, pressure massage gives similar results. Combining the treatments did not improve the outcome.Peer Reviewe

Radiographic closure time of appendicular growth plates in the Icelandic horse

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Icelandic horse is a pristine breed of horse which has a pure gene pool established more than a thousand years ago, and is approximately the same size as living and extinct wild breeds of horses. This study was performed to compare the length of the skeletal growth period of the "primitive" Icelandic horse relative to that reported for large horse breeds developed over the recent centuries. This information would provide practical guidance to owners and veterinarians as to when the skeleton is mature enough to commence training, and would be potentially interesting to those scientists investigating the pathogenesis of osteochondrosis. Interestingly, osteochondrosis has not been documented in the Icelandic horse.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The radiographic closure time of the appendicular growth plates was studied in 64 young Icelandic horses. The results were compared with previously published closure times reported for other, larger horse breeds. The radiographs were also examined for any signs of developmental orthopaedic diseases. In order to describe further the growth pattern of the Icelandic horse, the total serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was determined and the height at the withers was measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most of the examined growth plates were fully closed at the age of approximately three years. The horses reached adult height at this age; however ALP activity was still mildly increased over baseline values. The growth plates in the digits were the first to close at 8.1 to 8.5 months of age, and those in the regions of the distal radius (27.4 to 32.0 months), tuber olecrani (31.5 to 32.2 months), and the stifle (27.0 to 40.1 months) were the last to close. No horse was found to have osteochondrosis type lesions in the neighbouring joints of the evaluated growth plates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The Icelandic horse appears to have similar radiographic closure times for most of the growth plates of its limbs as reported for large new breeds of horses developed during the past few centuries. It thus appears that different breeding goals and the intensity of breeding have not altered the length of the growth period in horses. Instead, it can be assumed that the pristine and relatively small Icelandic horse has a slower rate of growth. The appendicular skeleton of Icelandic horses has completed its bone growth in length at approximately 3 years of age, and therefore may be able to enter training at this time.</p

Heritability of longevity in Large White and Landrace sows using continuous time and grouped data models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Using conventional measurements of lifetime, it is not possible to differentiate between productive and non-productive days during a sow's lifetime and this can lead to estimated breeding values favoring less productive animals. By rescaling the time axis from continuous to several discrete classes, grouped survival data (discrete survival time) models can be used instead.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The productive life length of 12319 Large White and 9833 Landrace sows was analyzed with continuous scale and grouped data models. Random effect of herd*year, fixed effects of interaction between parity and relative number of piglets, age at first farrowing and annual herd size change were included in the analysis. The genetic component was estimated from sire, sire-maternal grandsire, sire-dam, sire-maternal grandsire and animal models, and the heritabilities computed for each model type in both breeds.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>If age at first farrowing was under 43 weeks or above 60 weeks, the risk of culling sows increased. An interaction between parity and relative litter size was observed, expressed by limited culling during first parity and severe risk increase of culling sows having small litters later in life. In the Landrace breed, heritabilities ranged between 0.05 and 0.08 (s.e. 0.014-0.020) for the continuous and between 0.07 and 0.11 (s.e. 0.016-0.023) for the grouped data models, and in the Large White breed, they ranged between 0.08 and 0.14 (s.e. 0.012-0.026) for the continuous and between 0.08 and 0.13 (s.e. 0.012-0.025) for the grouped data models.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Heritabilities for length of productive life were similar with continuous time and grouped data models in both breeds. Based on these results and because grouped data models better reflect the economical needs in meat animals, we conclude that grouped data models are more appropriate in pig.</p

Evidence of Segregated Spawning in a Single Marine Fish Stock: Sympatric Divergence of Ecotypes in Icelandic Cod?

There is increasing recognition of intraspecific diversity and population structure within marine fish species, yet there is little direct evidence of the isolating mechanisms that maintain it or documentation of its ecological extent. We analyzed depth and temperature histories collected by electronic data storage tags retrieved from 104 Atlantic cod at liberty ≥1 year to evaluate a possible isolating mechanisms maintaining population structure within the Icelandic cod stock. This stock consists of two distinct behavioral types, resident coastal cod and migratory frontal cod, each occurring within two geographically distinct populations. Despite being captured together on the same spawning grounds, we show the behavioral types seem reproductively isolated by fine-scale differences in spawning habitat selection, primarily depth. Additionally, the different groups occupied distinct seasonal thermal and bathymetric niches that generally demonstrated low levels of overlap throughout the year. Our results indicate that isolating mechanisms, such as differential habitat selection during spawning, might contribute to maintaining diversity and fine-scale population structure in broadcast-spawning marine fishes

Identification and characterisation of novel SNP markers in Atlantic cod: Evidence for directional selection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Atlantic cod (<it>Gadus morhua</it>) is a groundfish of great economic value in fisheries and an emerging species in aquaculture. Genetic markers are needed to identify wild stocks in order to ensure sustainable management, and for marker-assisted selection and pedigree determination in aquaculture. Here, we report on the development and evaluation of a large number of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers from the alignment of Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) sequences in Atlantic cod. We also present basic population parameters of the SNPs in samples of North-East Arctic cod and Norwegian coastal cod obtained from three different localities, and test for SNPs that may have been targeted by natural selection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 17,056 EST sequences were used to find 724 putative SNPs, from which 318 segregating SNPs were isolated. The SNPs were tested on Atlantic cod from four different sites, comprising both North-East Arctic cod (NEAC) and Norwegian coastal cod (NCC). The average heterozygosity of the SNPs was 0.25 and the average minor allele frequency was 0.18. <it>F</it>_{<it>ST </it>}values were highly variable, with the majority of SNPs displaying very little differentiation while others had <it>F</it>_{<it>ST </it>}values as high as 0.83. The <it>F</it>_{<it>ST </it>}values of 29 SNPs were found to be larger than expected under a strictly neutral model, suggesting that these loci are, or have been, influenced by natural selection. For the majority of these outlier SNPs, allele frequencies in a northern sample of NCC were intermediate between allele frequencies in a southern sample of NCC and a sample of NEAC, indicating a cline in allele frequencies similar to that found at the Pantophysin I locus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The SNP markers presented here are powerful tools for future genetics work related to management and aquaculture. In particular, some SNPs exhibiting high levels of population divergence have potential to significantly enhance studies on the population structure of Atlantic cod.</p

Investigating Population Genetic Structure in a Highly Mobile Marine Organism: The Minke Whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata acutorostrata in the North East Atlantic

Inferring the number of genetically distinct populations and their levels of connectivity is of key importance for the sustainable management and conservation of wildlife. This represents an extra challenge in the marine environment where there are few physical barriers to gene-flow, and populations may overlap in time and space. Several studies have investigated the population genetic structure within the North Atlantic minke whale with contrasting results. In order to address this issue, we analyzed ten microsatellite loci and 331 bp of the mitochondrial D-loop on 2990 whales sampled in the North East Atlantic in the period 2004 and 2007–2011. The primary findings were: (1) No spatial or temporal genetic differentiations were observed for either class of genetic marker. (2) mtDNA identified three distinct mitochondrial lineages without any underlying geographical pattern. (3) Nuclear markers showed evidence of a single panmictic population in the NE Atlantic according STRUCTURE's highest average likelihood found at K = 1. (4) When K = 2 was accepted, based on the Evanno's test, whales were divided into two more or less equally sized groups that showed significant genetic differentiation between them but without any sign of underlying geographic pattern. However, mtDNA for these individuals did not corroborate the differentiation. (5) In order to further evaluate the potential for cryptic structuring, a set of 100 in silico generated panmictic populations was examined using the same procedures as above showing genetic differentiation between two artificially divided groups, similar to the aforementioned observations. This demonstrates that clustering methods may spuriously reveal cryptic genetic structure. Based upon these data, we find no evidence to support the existence of spatial or cryptic population genetic structure of minke whales within the NE Atlantic. However, in order to conclusively evaluate population structure within this highly mobile species, more markers will be required

Yolk utilization and growth during the early larval life of the Silver Perch, Bidyanus bidyanus (Mitchell, 1838)

The aim of this research was to investigate the yolk sac and oil globule utilization by silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) larvae produced from domesticated broodfish. The larvae were kept unfed in the holding tank, sampled, and investigated by image analysis software to determine various characteristics, such as the diameters of ova, water-hardened eggs, yolk-sac, oil globules, and the total length of larvae. The research illustrated that, with the exception of oil globule diameter, all other morphometric parameters were significantly lower (P &lt; 0.05) when compared to the larvae from the wild broodfish. The yolk sac was completely absorbed at 96 h post-hatching (hph) and the oil globule was visible until 240 hph. The larvae exhibited predatory movements and tried to catch rotifer at 4 days post hatching (dph). However, the onset of feeding took place at 5 dph, while 100% of feeding occurred at 6 dph. During the first 96 h (h), larvae grew significantly faster than the next 144 h. Larvae encountered low mortalities (&lt;10%) during the first 96 hph, before increasing significantly in the next 24 h and no unfed larvae survived post 240 h. The results also suggested that the exogenous feed should be available at 96 hph, which is well after the yolk sac is completely depleted. In addition, although most of eggs and larval performance from domesticated broodfish were inferior compared to the wild one, it has larger oil globule that could make longer of its mixed feeding period and therefore could have better in viability

Phylogenetic relationships in southern African Bryde's whales inferred from mitochondrial DNA : further support for subspecies delineation between the two allopatric populations

Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera edeni) are medium-sized balaenopterids with tropical and subtropical distribution. There is confusion about the number of species, subspecies and populations of Bryde’s whale found globally. Two eco-types occur off South Africa, the inshore and offshore forms, but with unknown relationship between them. Using the mtDNA control region we investigated the phylogenetic relationship of these populations to each other and other Bryde’s whale populations. Skin, baleen and bone samples were collected from biopsy-sampled individuals, strandings and museum collections. 97 sequences of 674 bp (bp) length were compared with published sequences of Bryde’s whales (n = 6) and two similar species, Omura’s (B. omurai) and sei (B. borealis) whales (n = 3). We found eight haplotypes from the study samples: H1–H4 formed a distinct, sister clade to pelagic populations of Bryde’s whales (B. brydei) from the South Pacific, North Pacific and Eastern Indian Ocean. H5–H8 were included in the pelagic clade. H1–H4 represented samples from within the distributional range of the inshore form. Pairwise comparisons of the percentage of nucleotide differences between sequences revealed that inshore haplotypes differed from published sequences of B. edeni by 4.7–5.5% and from B. brydei by 1.8–2.1%. Ten fixed differences between inshore and offshore sequences supported 100% diagnosability as subspecies. Phylogenetic analyses grouped the South African populations within the Bryde’s-sei whale clade and excluded B. edeni. Our data, combined with morphological and ecological evidence from previous studies, support subspecific classification of both South African forms under B. brydei and complete separation from B. edeni.PostprintPeer reviewe