Effectiveness of robotic exoskeletons for improving gait in children with cerebral palsy: a systematic review

Abstract Background: Robotic exoskeletons have been developed to assist locomotion and address gait abnormalities in children with cerebral palsy (CP). These wearable assistive devices provide powered assistance to the lower-extremity joints, as well as support and stability. Research Question: Does exoskeleton-assisted walking improve gait in children with CP? Methods: The PRISMA guidelines were used to conduct this systematic review. Articles were obtained in a search of the following electronic databases: Embase, CINAHL Complete, PubMed, Web of Science and MEDLINE. Studies investigating spatiotemporal, kinematic, kinetic, muscle activity and/or physiological parameters during exoskeleton-assisted walking in children with CP were included. All articles were assessed for methodological quality using an adapted version of the Quality Assessment Tool for Before-After (Pre-Post) Studies with No Control Group, provided by NIH. Results: Thirteen studies were included. They involved the use of the following exoskeletons: tethered knee exoskeleton, pediatric knee exoskeleton (P.REX), untethered ankle exoskeleton, WAKE-Up ankle module, WAKE-Up ankle & knee module and unilateral ankle exosuit. Methodological quality varied, with key limitations in sample size and allocated time to adapt to the exoskeleton. There was a consensus that robotic exoskeletons improve gait given careful optimisation of exoskeleton torque and sufficient exoskeleton practice time for each participant. Improvements in gait included reduced metabolic cost of walking, increased walking speed, and increased knee and hip extension during stance. Furthermore, exoskeletons with an actuated ankle module were shown to promote normal ankle rocker function. Significance: Robotic exoskeletons have the potential to improve the mobility of CP children and may therefore increase community participation and improve quality of life. Future work should involve larger controlled intervention studies utilising robotic exoskeletons to improve gait in children with CP. These studies should ensure sufficient exoskeleton practice time for each participant

Gas exchange during storage and incubation of Avian eggs: Effects on embryogenesis, hatchability, chick quality and post-hatch growth

Embryonic development is a dynamic process that requires a fine balance between several factors in order to achieve an optimum hatchability and chick quality. These factors include the background of the embryo, such as genetic line of the breeders, the age of the breeder, egg weight, and factors related to the environment in which the egg is stored and incubated, such as temperature, humidity, gas levels and altitude. Gas exchanges are of fundamental importance for embryonic development during incubation and may affect the livability of the embryo. This paper reviews the roles of the gaseous environment (i.e. O 2 and CO2) around hatching eggs during storage and during incubation and the effect it might have on the survival of the developing embryos and the chicks that hatch. The state of the art on the different attempts to establish the optimum requirements of different gases that promote the optimal developmental trajectories at different periods during incubation is presented. The roles and consequences of different levels of O2 and CO2 during storage and incubation on hatchability, incubation duration, hatching process, embryo growth, embryo mortality, organ development and morphology, metabolism, blood acid-base balance, chick quality and chick post-hatch growth are reviewed. © 2007 World's Poultry Science Association

A-Z of nutritional supplements: dietary supplements, sports nutrition foods and ergogenic aids for health and performance-Part 20

As usual, the alphabet throws together a mixture of supplements with different levels of popularity and scientific support. Part 20 covers some rarely reported, studied and/or little used supplements in sport: glycine, histidine and inosine. The majority of human studies of supplementation with the essential amino acid histidine has involved clinical work. In terms of athletic performance, there is current interest in supplementation strategies to increase muscle content of the histidine-containing dipeptide (HCD), carnosine. Despite some interest in the use of a chicken breast extract (CBEX) described in this article, most of the focus in this area involves β-alanine supplementation (covered in part 5). There was some interest in inosine as an ergogenic aid in the 1990s but it appears not to have been studied since then. Meanwhile, there appears little role for glycine supplementation in sport although some interest in glycine-containing compounds is possible. β-Hydroxymethyl β-butyrate (HMB) is much more well known, with marketing usually targeting bodybuilders

The Belgian PCB and dioxin incident of January-June 1999: exposure data and potential impact on health.

In January 1999, 500 tons of feed contaminated with approximately 50 kg of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 1 g of dioxins were distributed to animal farms in Belgium, and to a lesser extent in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. This study was based on 20,491 samples collected in the database of the Belgian federal ministries from animal feed, cattle, pork, poultry, eggs, milk, and various fat-containing food items analyzed for their PCB and/or dioxin content. Dioxin measurements showed a clear predominance of polychlorinated dibenzofuran over polychlorinated dibenzodioxin congeners, a dioxin/PCB ratio of approximately 1:50,000 and a PCB fingerprint resembling that of an Aroclor mixture, thus confirming contamination by transformer oil rather than by other environmental sources. In this case the PCBs contribute significantly more to toxic equivalents (TEQ) than dioxins. The respective means +/- SDs and the maximum concentrations of dioxin (expressed in TEQ) and PCB observed per gram of fat in contaminated food were 170.3 +/- 487.7 pg, 2613.4 pg, 240.7 +/- 2036.9 ng, and 51059.0 ng in chicken; 1.9 +/- 0.8 pg, 4.3 pg, 34.2 +/- 30.5 ng, and 314.0 ng in milk; and 32.0 +/- 104.4 pg, 713.3 pg, 392.7 +/- 2883.5 ng, and 46000.0 ng in eggs. Assuming that as a consequence of this incident between 10 and 15 kg PCBs and from 200 to 300 mg dioxins were ingested by 10 million Belgians, the mean intake per kilogram of body weight is calculated to maximally 25,000 ng PCBs and 500 pg international TEQ dioxins. Estimates of the total number of cancers resulting from this incident range between 40 and 8,000. Neurotoxic and behavioral effects in neonates are also to be expected but cannot be quantified. Because food items differed widely (more than 50-fold) in the ratio of PCBs to dioxins, other significant sources of contamination and a high background contamination are likely to contribute substantially to the exposure of the Belgian population

Marien zwerfvuil: van droeve cijfers tot hoopvolle initiatieven

Het eerste synthetische plastic (‘bakeliet’) deed zijn intrede in 1907, dankzij onze landgenoot Leo Baekeland. Nu, een dikke eeuw later, komt plastic of kunststof voor in alle vormen en maten: van verpakkingsmateriaal en drinkflessen, tot touw en kledijvezels, vaak ter vervanging van natuurlijke materialen als hout, steen, leer, metaal of glas. Maar wat in de 20ste eeuw nog beschreven werd als ‘hét wonderproduct’, zorgt nu voor een van de meest zichtbare vormen van vervuiling, op land maar zeker ook in zee..

Ergogenic effect of pre-exercise chicken broth ingestion on a high-intensity cycling time-trial

Background: chicken meat extract is a popular functional food in Asia. It is rich in the bioactive compounds carnosine and anserine, two histidine-containing dipeptides (HCD). Studies suggest that acute pre-exercise ingestion of chicken extracts has important applications towards exercise performance and fatigue control, but the evidence is equivocal. This study aimed to evaluate the ergogenic potential of the pre-exercise ingestion of a homemade chicken broth (CB) vs a placebo soup on a short-lasting, high-intensity cycling exercise. Methods: fourteen men participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover intervention study. Subjects ingested either CB, thereby receiving 46.4 mg/kg body weight of HCD, or a placebo soup (similar in taste without HCD) 40 min before an 8 min cycling time trial (TT) was performed. Venous blood samples were collected at arrival (fasted), before exercise and at 5 min recovery. Plasma HCD were measured with UPLC-MS/MS and glutathione (in red blood cells) was measured through HPLC. Capillary blood samples were collected at different timepoints before and after exercise. Results: a significant improvement (p = 0.033; 5.2%) of the 8 min TT mean power was observed after CB supplementation compared to placebo. Post-exercise plasma carnosine (p <  0.05) and anserine (p <  0.001) was significantly increased after CB supplementation and not following placebo. No significant effect of CB supplementation was observed either on blood glutathione levels, nor on capillary blood analysis. Conclusions: oral CB supplementation improved the 8 min TT performance albeit it did not affect the acid-base balance or oxidative status parameters. Further research should unravel the potential role and mechanisms of HCD, present in CB, in this ergogenic approach

Running head: Heat affects cholesterol and bile acid alterations in cholesterol and bile acids metabolism in large white pigs during short-term heat exposure

peer reviewedHeat stress influences lipid metabolism independently of nutrient intake. It is not well understood how cholesterol and bile acid (BA) metabolism are affected by heat stress. To investigate the alterations of cholesterol and bile acids when pigs are exposed to short term heat stress, 24 Large White pigs (63.2 ± 9.5 kg body weight, BW) were distributed into one of three environmental treatments: control conditions (CON, 23◦C with ad libitum intake; n = 8), heat stress conditions (HS, 33◦C with ad libitum intake; n = 8), or pair-fed conditions (PF, 23◦C with the same amount to the feed consumed by the HS; n = 8) for three days. Compared with CON pigs, HS pigs reduced the average daily feed intake and average daily gain by 55% and 124%, respectively, and significantly increased rectal temperatures by 0.9◦C and respiration rates more than three-fold. The serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and triglycerides (TG) increased (p < 0.05), while hepatic TC, TG, and mRNA of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase were reduced on day 3. Furthermore, liver taurine-conjugated BAs (TCBAs), including taurolithocholic acid, taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA), tauroursodeoxycholic acid, taurohyodeoxycholic acid, and taurocholic acid were elevated in HS pigs compared to CON and PF pigs (p < 0.05), and the level of chenodeoxycholic acid was more significant in the PF group than in the CON and HS groups. The concentration of ursodeoxycholic acid in the serum was higher in HS pigs than CON and PF pigs (p < 0.05), and TCDCA was increased in HS pigs compared with PF pigs (p < 0.05). Altogether, short-term HS reduced hepatic cholesterol levels by decreasing cholesterol synthesis, promoting cholesterol to TCBAs conversion, and cholesterol release to serum in growing pigs. This independently reduced feed intake might serve as a mechanism to protect cells from damage during the early period. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Risk assessment of microplastics in the ocean: modelling approach and first conclusions

We performed an environmental risk assessment for microplastics (−3 are predicted to float around in the ocean, which is a 50-fold increase compared to the present-day concentrations. From a meta-analysis with effect data available in literature, we derived a safe concentration of 6650 buoyant particles m−3 below which adverse effects are not likely to occur. Our risk assessment (excluding the potential role of microplastics as chemical vectors) suggests that on average, no direct effects of free-floating microplastics in the marine environment are to be expected up to the year 2100. Yet, even today, the safe concentration can be exceeded in sites that are heavily polluted with buoyant microplastics. In the marine benthic compartment between 32 and 144 particles kg−1 dry sediment are predicted to be present in the beach deposition zone. Despite the scarcity of effect data, we expect adverse ecological effects along the coast as of the second half of the 21st century. From then ambient concentrations will start to outrange the safe concentration of sedimented microplastics (i.e. 540 particles kg−1 sediment). Additional ecotoxicological research in which marine species are chronically exposed to realistic environmental microplastic concentration series are urgently needed to verify our findings