37 research outputs found

    Tradeoff between Stability and Maneuverability during Whole-Body Movements

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    Understanding how stability and/or maneuverability affects motor control strategies can provide insight on moving about safely in an unpredictable world. Stability in human movement has been well-studied while maneuverability has not. Further, a tradeoff between stability and maneuverability during movement seems apparent, yet has not been quantified. We proposed that greater maneuverability, the ability to rapidly and purposefully change movement direction and speed, is beneficial in uncertain environments. We also hypothesized that gaining maneuverability comes at the expense of stability and perhaps also corresponds with decreased muscle coactivation.We used a goal-directed forward lean movement task that integrated both stability and maneuverability. Subjects (n = 11) used their center of pressure to control a cursor on a computer monitor to reach a target. We added task uncertainty by shifting the target anterior-posterior position mid-movement. We used a balance board with a narrow beam that reduced the base of support in the medio-lateral direction and defined stability as the probability that subjects could keep the balance board level during the task.During the uncertainty condition, subjects were able to change direction of their anterior-posterior center of pressure more rapidly, indicating that subjects were more maneuverable. Furthermore, medio-lateral center of pressure excursions also approached the edges of the beam and reduced stability margins, implying that subjects were less stable (i.e. less able to keep the board level). On the narrow beam board, subjects increased muscle coactivation of lateral muscle pairs and had greater muscle activity in the left leg. However, there were no statistically significant differences in muscle activity amplitudes or coactivation with uncertainty.These results demonstrate that there is a tradeoff between stability and maneuverability during a goal-directed whole-body movement. Tasks with added uncertainty could help individuals learn to be more maneuverable yet sufficiently stable

    Persistent Exposure to Mycoplasma Induces Malignant Transformation of Human Prostate Cells

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    Recent epidemiologic, genetic, and molecular studies suggest infection and inflammation initiate certain cancers, including those of the prostate. The American Cancer Society, estimates that approximately 20% of all worldwide cancers are caused by infection. Mycoplasma, a genus of bacteria that lack a cell wall, are among the few prokaryotes that can grow in close relationship with mammalian cells, often without any apparent pathology, for extended periods of time. In this study, the capacity of Mycoplasma genitalium, a prevalent sexually transmitted infection, and Mycoplasma hyorhinis, a mycoplasma found at unusually high frequency among patients with AIDS, to induce a malignant phenotype in benign human prostate cells (BPH-1) was evaluated using a series of in vitro and in vivo assays. After 19 weeks of culture, infected BPH-1 cells achieved anchorage-independent growth and increased migration and invasion. Malignant transformation of infected BPH-1 cells was confirmed by the formation of xenograft tumors in athymic mice. Associated with these changes was an increase in karyotypic entropy, evident by the accumulation of chromosomal aberrations and polysomy. This is the first report describing the capacity of M. genitalium or M. hyorhinis infection to lead to the malignant transformation of benign human epithelial cells and may serve as a model to further study the relationship between prostatitis and prostatic carcinogenesis

    The influence of early aging on eye movements during motor simulation

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    Movement based interventions such as imagery and action observation are used increasingly to support physical rehabilitation of adults during early aging. The efficacy of these more covert approaches is based on an intuitively appealing assumption that movement execution, imagery and observation share neural substrate; alteration of one influences directly the function of the other two. Using eye movement metrics this paper reports findings that question the congruency of the three conditions. The data reveal that simulating movement through imagery and action observation may offer older adults movement practice conditions that are not constrained by the age-related decline observed in physical conditions. In addition, the findings provide support for action observation as a more effective technique for movement reproduction in comparison to imagery. This concern for imagery was also seen in the less congruent temporal relationship in movement time between imagery and movement execution suggesting imagery inaccuracy in early aging

    Eocene Tibetan plateau remnants preserved in the northwest Himalaya

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    International audienceThe northwest Himalaya shows strongly contrasting relief. Deeply incised mountain ranges that are characterized by extremely rapid exhumation and some of the highest peaks in the world are in contrast with high-elevation, low-relief areas such as the Deosai plateau in northern Pakistan, which lies at an altitude of 4,000m. The origin and evolution of such plateau regions at the convergence of the most active continental collision in the world remain elusive. Here we report low-temperature thermochronology data from the Deosai plateau and use thermal history modelling to show that the plateau has undergone continuous slow denudation at rates below 250mMyr-1 for the past 35Myr at least. This finding suggests tectonic and morphologic stability of the plateau since at least Eocene times, only 15-20Myr after the onset of the India-Asia collision. Our work contradicts the hypothesis that widespread low-relief surfaces in the northwest Himalaya result from efficient kilometre-scale glacial erosion during Quaternary times. We show that similarly stable surfaces exist throughout the entire northwest Himalaya and share common morphologic characteristics and denudation histories, which are comparable to those of the western Tibetan plateau. Our results suggest that these surfaces are preserved remnants of an Eocene southwestern Tibetan plateau that was more extensive than today
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