Repeated Maximal Volitional Effort Contractions in Human Spinal Cord Injury: Initial Torque Increases and Reduced Fatigue

Substantial data indicate greater muscle fatigue in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) compared with healthy control subjects when tested by using electrical stimulation protocols. Few studies have investigated the extent of volitional fatigue in motor incomplete SCI

Standardized Screening for Mental Health Needs of Detained Youths from Various Ethnic Origins: The Dutch Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Second Version (MAYSI-2)

In the U.S., the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Second Version (MAYSI-2) has been shown to be a reliable and valid tool to identify youth with mental health needs upon entry in detention facilities. The present study examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity of the Dutch MAYSI-2 administered as part of routine clinical assessments in up to 955 detained male adolescents. Standardized mental health screening questionnaires (Youth Self-Report and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) were used to test the convergent validity of the Dutch MAYSI-2. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the factor structure of the original MAYSI-2 could be replicated with the Dutch MAYSI-2. Internal consistency indices showed that the Dutch MAYSI-2 provides a reliable screening of mental health needs. In addition, the Dutch MAYSI-2 scales were related with conceptually parallel measures of the same targeted mental health needs in the total group. With a few exceptions, the internal consistency and convergent validity was supported across ethnic groups as well. Overall, these results suggest the psychometric properties of the Dutch MAYSI-2 to be promising. Implications and limitations of the current study\u27s findings and directions for future research are discussed

Live-streaming: will football fans continue to be more law abiding than music fans?

The compact disc was launched in 1982 and heralded a golden age of music industry profitability before extensions of the same digital revolution, in the form of file-sharing, began, in 1999, to undermine the very foundations of commercial mediation in recorded music. The parallels in English football run one decade behind, with subscription-based digital broadcasting of live matches kicking off in 1992. Much has been made of the successes and corruptions associated with the vast influx of revenues that have supposedly transformed English ‘elite’ football, but such discussions are premature at best. Ten years on from the advent of file-sharing in music, parallel technologies are emerging for the free transmission of live sporting events. This article suggests that the cultural differences that might have inhibited the uptake of such services amongst football fans, relative to music fans, have been eroded by the very hyper-commercialization of sport which digital media once helped to facilitate but which now threatens or promises to undermine

Small Water Bodies in Great Britain and Ireland: Ecosystem function, human-generated degradation, and options for restorative action

© 2018 Small, 1st and 2nd-order, headwater streams and ponds play essential roles in providing natural flood control, trapping sediments and contaminants, retaining nutrients, and maintaining biological diversity, which extend into downstream reaches, lakes and estuaries. However, the large geographic extent and high connectivity of these small water bodies with the surrounding terrestrial ecosystem makes them particularly vulnerable to growing land-use pressures and environmental change. The greatest pressure on the physical processes in these waters has been their extension and modification for agricultural and forestry drainage, resulting in highly modified discharge and temperature regimes that have implications for flood and drought control further downstream. The extensive length of the small stream network exposes rivers to a wide range of inputs, including nutrients, pesticides, heavy metals, sediment and emerging contaminants. Small water bodies have also been affected by invasions of non-native species, which along with the physical and chemical pressures, have affected most groups of organisms with consequent implications for the wider biodiversity within the catchment. Reducing the impacts and restoring the natural ecosystem function of these water bodies requires a three-tiered approach based on: restoration of channel hydromorphological dynamics; restoration and management of the riparian zone; and management of activities in the wider catchment that have both point-source and diffuse impacts. Such activities are expensive and so emphasis must be placed on integrated programmes that provide multiple benefits. Practical options need to be promoted through legislative regulation, financial incentives, markets for resource services and voluntary codes and actions

His dream of passion: reflections on the work of Lee Strasberg and his influence on British actor training

The first of two ‘companion’ articles examining the work of Lee Strasberg, this discussion begins with an exploration of Lee Strasberg’s interpretation and adaptation of Stanislavski’s ‘Emotion Memory’ exercise before proceeding to examine the efficacy of his version of the technique and consider the extent to which some of the persistent criticisms surrounding his approach are tenable. Has his work been misjudged and misrepresented in recent years or are some of the concerns that have arisen justified? The discussion will then move on offer a brief outline of some of Strasberg’s other techniques and consider the degree to which his approach may have influenced actor-training environments in British schools and colleges

Patient-cooperative control increases active participation of individuals with SCI during robot-aided gait training

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Manual body weight supported treadmill training and robot-aided treadmill training are frequently used techniques for the gait rehabilitation of individuals after stroke and spinal cord injury. Current evidence suggests that robot-aided gait training may be improved by making robotic behavior more patient-cooperative. In this study, we have investigated the immediate effects of patient-cooperative versus non-cooperative robot-aided gait training on individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI). METHODS: Eleven patients with iSCI participated in a single training session with the gait rehabilitation robot Lokomat. The patients were exposed to four different training modes in random order: During both non-cooperative position control and compliant impedance control, fixed timing of movements was provided. During two variants of the patient-cooperative path control approach, free timing of movements was enabled and the robot provided only spatial guidance. The two variants of the path control approach differed in the amount of additional support, which was either individually adjusted or exaggerated. Joint angles and torques of the robot as well as muscle activity and heart rate of the patients were recorded. Kinematic variability, interaction torques, heart rate and muscle activity were compared between the different conditions. RESULTS: Patients showed more spatial and temporal kinematic variability, reduced interaction torques, a higher increase of heart rate and more muscle activity in the patient-cooperative path control mode with individually adjusted support than in the non-cooperative position control mode. In the compliant impedance control mode, spatial kinematic variability was increased and interaction torques were reduced, but temporal kinematic variability, heart rate and muscle activity were not significantly higher than in the position control mode. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-cooperative robot-aided gait training with free timing of movements made individuals with iSCI participate more actively and with larger kinematic variability than non-cooperative, position-controlled robot-aided gait training

Lee Strasberg's Method

Lee Strasberg (1901–1982) is a divisive figure whose method of acting is often misunderstood. Few people really know what it is or how it works, or what is its true relationship to the Stanislavski System. This is due to a number of misconceptions about the nature of his training with its emphasis on the development of the sensory imagination. This paper aims to challenge some of the myths about the Method, and to clarify Strasberg’s unique contribution to actor training

A nomenclature for restriction enzymes, DNA methyltransferases, homing endonucleases and their genes

A nomenclature is described for restriction endonucleases, DNA methyltransferases, homing endonucleases and related genes and gene products. It provides explicit categories for the many different Type II enzymes now identified and provides a system for naming the putative genes found by sequence analysis of microbial genome