Altered hip mechanics and patellofemoral pain. A review of literature

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common knee disorder in orthopedic clinics. In the last decade, several investigations have considered the role of proximal factors in addition to local and distal factors in development of PFP. There is a hypothesis which suggests that impaired neuromuscular control and altered hip joint kinematic affect tibiofemoral and patellofemoral biomechanics. Hence, PFP may develop as a result. This article reviews studies assessing the relationship between altered hip mechanics and PFP. The Medline and PubMed databases were searched between January 2004 and October 2014. Two authors independently selected related articles using the same search strategy and key words. Among 149 articles, 16 met the review inclusion criteria. The study results were described in three sections: 1) kinematic studies, 2) muscle activity studies, and 3) postural stability studies. Increased hip adduction and internal rotation, gluteal muscle weakness, and neuromuscular impairment were common findings in patients with patellofemoral pain. Precise assessment of hip mechanics, including hip kinematic, muscle performance and postural stability, should be considered in the examination of patients with patellofemoral pain. © MEDSPORTPRESS

Recent Advances in Facile Synthesis of Bimetallic Nanostructures: An Overview

Nobel metal nanomaterials with interesting physical and chemical properties are ideal building blocks for engineering and tailoring nanoscale structures for specific technological applications. Bimetallic nanomaterials consisting of magnetic metals and noble metals have attracted much interest for their promising potentials in many fields including magnetic sensors, catalysts, optical detection, and biomedical applications. Particularly, effective control of the size, shape, architecture, and compositional microstructure of metal nanomaterials plays an important role in enhancing their functionality and application potentials, for example, in fuel cells, optical and biomedical sensing. This paper focuses on recent advances in controllable synthesis of bimetallic nanostructured materials. Recent contributions in controllable synthesis of bimetallic nanomaterials with different architectures including nanoparticles, nanowires, nanosheets, or nanotubes and their assemblies are presented in this paper. A wide range of facile synthesis methods are covered herein with high emphasis on wet chemical methods owing to their facility of use, efficacy, and smaller environmental footprint

Electromyographic activity of the hip and knee muscles during functional tasks in males with and without patellofemoral pain

Background: Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a common overuse injury in physically active individuals. It is characterized by anterior knee, retropatellar, or prepatellar pain associated with activities that increase patellofemoral joint stress such as squatting, stair ascending and descending, running, jumping, prolonged sitting, and kneeling. The etiology of PFP is believed to be multifactorial. Recently, proximal factors have been shown to influence the biomechanics of patellofemoral joint. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess hip and knee muscle activity during single leg stance and single leg squat in males with PFP and a control group without PFP. Methods: Eighteen males with PFP (age 24.2 ± 4.4 years) and 18 healthy subjects as controls (age 23.5 ± 3.8 years) were included. We evaluated gluteus medius, gluteus maximus, vastus medialis oblique (VMO), and vastus lateralis (VL) electromyographic (EMG) activity. The muscle activity and reaction time of the proposed muscles were assessed during single leg stance and single leg squat tasks. Independent t-test was used to identify significant differences between PFP and control groups. Results: No difference in activity of the gluteus maximus muscle was found in either task (p > 0.5). Significant differences were found in activity of gluteus medius and VMO in both tasks (p 0.5). Conclusion: Males with PFP demonstrated altered gluteus medius, VMO, and VL muscle activity during single leg stance and single leg squat compared to healthy subjects. Gluteus maximus activity did not show any changes between groups. Moreover, muscle recruitment patterns were different between PFP and healthy groups. © 201

Function of Nanocatalyst in Chemistry of Organic Compounds Revolution: An Overview

Heterocyclic motif is an important scaffold which has both industrial and pharmaceutical applications. These motifs can be prepared using wide variety of reaction conditions such as the use of expensive catalyst, toxic solvent, harsh reaction condition like the use of base, high temperature, and multistep reaction. Although various methods are involved, the chemistry arena is now shifted towards the greener way of synthesis. Nanocatalyst constitutes an important role in the green synthesis. This is because the activity of the catalyst resides in the exposed portion of the particles. By decreasing the size of the catalyst, advantages such as more surface area would be exposed to the reactant, only negligible amount would be required to give the significant result and selectivity could be achieved, thereby, eliminating the undesired products. The current review enlists the various types of nanocatalyst involved in the heterocyclic ring formation and also some other important functionalization over the ring

Inoculate Release of Stethorus gilvifrons Mulsan (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) for Biological Control of Date Palm Spider Mite, Oligonychus afrasiaticusMcGregor (Prostigmata: Tetranychidae)

Introduction: The spider mite, Oligonychus afrasiaticus feeds by sucking the sap from the immature fruits tissue. The natural color of fruits changes to pale yellow or gray by mite's feeding. Damaged fruit are cracked and its damage can dry out the fruits. Because of resistance to pesticides, resurgence of date palm spider mite causes to disrupt the natural balance of their population. Tiny black ladybird beetle, Stethorous gilvifrons is the most important and active lady beetle species in Khuzestan province and is very effective on biological control of the spider mite. Determination of the amount and release time of the lady beetles are the most important factors in the implementation of biological control programs of date palm spider mite. So, careful monitoring, time of the release and the ability of deployment of predatory ladybird are essential steps to success in the programs of biological control. Materials and Methods: This research was conducted in Shadegan region of Khuzestan province. The nested design was used to compare the efficiency of different inoculate release methods of the predator, S. gilvifrons. The main niches include three release times which were at the time of emergence, three days and one week after emergence of date palm spider mite in date palm plantation. Sub nesting including three different levels of predator release including minimum, moderate and maximum release with 0.5, 1 and 3 predator /m2 per day and were continued for two weeks. The two or three-days ladybirds were used to release. First, the infected clusters were covered by mesh fabric and ladybirds were released under them. After a week, mantles were opened up to the establishment of ladybird run on the normal condition of date palm plantations. This experiment was repeated three times, and each replication consists of a quarter- hectare plantation with dominant cultivar Sayer.Three date Palm trees from each release and control were randomly selected. One hundred fruits from10 major's of each bunches were randomly selected and the number of spider mite (prey) and coccinellid (predator) were counted in different developmental stages. The relationship between predator and prey was calculated by using Pearson's correlation in different treatments as an index of density-dependent reaction of the predator to prey density and its establishment. Results and Discussion: Results showed that there were significant difference between treatments of release on seasonal mite and lady beetle populations and the average seasonal growth reduction rate at 1% probability level. The maximum difference in the number of mite – infested treatment and control occurred at maximum release with predatory mite. The maximum density of the lady beetle population was observed around mid to late June. Date palm fruits were been at Kharg phonological growth at this time and they had the greatest sensitivity to the mite population. The highest correlation coefficient occurred in terms of release time coincided with the moderate and maximum release of spider mite´s predator. So, the predator showed density - depend reaction and its establishment were occurred. Release of three and one lady beetle/m2 and simultaneously with the appearance of spider mite had powerful and significant correlation. In those circumstances, the density-dependent response of lady beetle was observed. The prey and the predator population densities have several fluctuations around their equilibrium level during the season. Number of predator population declines and prey population increases from their equilibrium levels were reduced by the simultaneous release of the predator to start prey activities. The predatory failure establishment is zero in the maximum release.The highest control of date palm spider mite was about 83.28% at release treatments. In all releasing treatments, the level of biological control was increased with increasing the number of coccinelid releases per unit. Conclusions: The highest predator efficiency were calculated in the maximum release (3 coccinellid per square meter) and simultaneously with the appearance of spider mite in date palm plantation. The control performance was 83.27 percent in this condition. Understanding of the fluctuations of the date palm pests and their natural enemies and the effect of climatic factors on the fluctuations are necessary to operate the proposed models for biological date palm pest control. The success of this predator is high in terms of the date ecosystem, and the susceptibility of palm fruit to pests decreased at the end of the season

Eligibility of the movement-based classification systems in the diagnosis of patients with low back pain: A systematic review

Objective: To evaluate the eligibility of the movement-based classification systems in the diagnosis of patients with low back pain. Methods: The present systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta -Analysis guidelines. Different databases including PubMed, Science Direct, OVID, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, ProQuest and Google Scholar were searched from January 1990 to December 2017. All studies assessed the reliability and validity of the movement-based classification systems to diagnose patients with low back pain were included. The keywords used to search the studies were: �reliability�, �validity�, �classification�, �movement impairment� and �low back pain�. Study selection and data extraction were performed by two independent reviewers. Results: Sixteen articles were met the inclusion criteria. Of these articles, 13 studies assessed the reliability and validity of movement-based classification systems to categorize patients with low back pain. Two out of 16 articles compared patients with low back pain and healthy subjects and one article had no control group. Conclusions: The results of the reviewed studies demonstrated that movement-based classification systems are valid and reliable enough to categorize patients with low back pain. © 2020 Elsevier Lt

Self-Assembly Techniques for Nanofabrication

Article introduces a special issue of the Journal of Nanomaterials that addresses the research studies on fabrication, processing, and applications of self-assembled nanostructures

FORMATION OF LANTHANUM HYDROXIDE NANOSTRUCTURES: EFFECT OF NaOH AND KOH SOLVENTS

Abstract Lanthanum hydroxide (La(OH)3) nanostructures, including elliptical nanoparticles, octahedral rods and irregular nanoparticles were prepared chemically in NaOH and KOH solutions with 10 M concentration. The obtained powders were characterized with XRD, SEM, TEM and DTA. Crystallinities, morphologies and thermal behavior of the obtained nanostructure powders were investigated under the influence of above mentioned solvents. The effect of chemical's temperature was also determined in one of the solvents (i.e. NaOH). The formation of growth in nanostructure mechanism under the influence of alkali solutions (i.e., KOH and NaOH) have been discussed considerably in this paper