THE IMPACT OF THERAPEUTIC ANKLE TAPING ON THE KINEMATICS OF THE LOWER EXTREMITY WHILE RUNNING

Overpronation is a misalignment of the calcaneus resulting from flattening of the medial longitudinal arch, which may lead to an overuse injury in runners. It is suggested that taping may control the position of the calcaneus to correct foot pathologies associated with overpronation. This pilot study explored the effect of ankle taping on the kinematics of the lower extremity while running. Fifteen healthy participants ran on a treadmill with a Kinesio Tape®, Leuko Tape®, and a no tape condition while being video recorded for 3D analysis. No significant changes in the selected lower extremity kinematic variables were seen among the tape and no tape conditions. Participants demonstrated an average Foot Posture Index score of 2.2±1.5, which is considered neutral. Ankle taping may be more beneficial in altering lower extremity kinematics in runners with higher values of pronation and at faster running speeds

Stress as a Possible Mechanism in Melanoma Progression

The incidence of melanoma, the most aggressive type of cutaneous malignant tumor, is currently on the rise. Treatment in advanced stages is still unsuccessful compared with other malignant tumors, thus it is important to indentify the key mechanisms responsible for melanoma progression and metastasis. Genetic and molecular components, in particular, that are up- or downregulated in melanoma cells, affect the invasive potential of melanoma. Another possible important cofactor highlighted by recent studies is chronic stress, involving environmental and psychological factors, which can be an important cofactor in not only cancer progression in general but also in melanoma spreading. The negative effects of chronic stress have been evaluated epidemiologically in patients with breast and prostate cancer. In particular, the effects of stress mediators, namely, catecholamines have been studied on various human malignancies, including melanoma and have highlighted a significant increase of progression-related molecules. As such, this could be the starting point for a new approach in the treatment of advanced melanoma, in which the negative effects of stress are reduced or blocked

THE EFFECTS OF KNEE BRACING ON REACTIVE AGILITY PERFORMANCE AND EMG ACTIVITY IN HEALTHY SOCCER PLAYERS – A PILOT STUDY

This pilot study examined differences between braced and non-braced soccer players on measures of reactive agility time and electromyographic (EMG) activity of the gluteus medius (GM), biceps femoris (BF), and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles during the acceleration and change of direction phases of the Y-shaped reactive agility test. Twenty-four participants completed a Y-shaped reactive agility test under two conditions including wearing no knee brace and wearing a Playmaker II knee brace (DonJoy®, Lewisville, Texas) on their dominant leg. Although higher muscle activation was found in the GM and BF muscles during the change of direction phase compared to the acceleration phase, bracing did not statistically significantly affect agility time and EMG muscle activity. This outcome suggests that preventative bracing does not seem to hinder an athlete’s performance

The Effect of Ankle Taping on the Kinematics of the Lower Extremity While Running on Level, Inclined, and Declined Slopes

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology Volume 2: Issue 1, Article 8, 2021. Therapeutic taping is often prescribed as a treatment for various overuse injuries in the lower extremity. Researchers believe that taping may control the position and alter alignment of the calcaneus to correct foot pathologies when applied to the ankle in runners, however, the utility and specific mechanical effects of different taping techniques remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of ankle taping (no tape (NT), Kinesiotape® (KT), or Leukotape® (LT)) across different slope conditions (level, inclined, and declined) on the kinematics of the hip, knee, and ankle joints. Forty healthy participants (males=18, females=22) ran on a treadmill under different taping and slope conditions. Lower extremity kinematics at the hip, knee, and ankle were analyzed using a Contemplas Templo® 3D motion capture system. Data were analyzed using two-way repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs; p\u3c0.05) for each kinematic variable, respectively. Data analysis revealed no significant interactions effects between taping conditions and slope on kinematics measured across joints. The results, however, revealed a significant main effect for type of tape for peak knee flexion angle during the stance phase of running with the application of LT, which produced less knee flexion when compared to KT. The results also revealed a significant main effect regarding slope conditions which identified an increase in stride length (SL) while running on a declined slope compared to an inclined slope. Finally, a significant main effect concerning slope conditions was found which identified a decrease in stride frequency (SF) while running on a declined slope compared to a level and inclined slope. The results of this study suggested that the application of LT affected knee flexion during the stance phase of running. This tape outcome may have implications for clinicians, coaches, and patients because they suggest that the application of LT may potentially reduce the risk of overuse injury due to repetitive flexion at the knee joint while running. Additionally, slope outcomes suggest that increased SL and decreased SF may reduce impact forces while running on a declined slope. Future research is required to further explore these preliminary results

THE IMPACT OF THERAPEUTIC ANKLE TAPING AND FOOT POSTURE ON THE KINEMATICS OF THE KNEE AND ANKLE WHILE RUNNING

Overpronation is a misalignment of the calcaneus, contributing to overuse injuries in runners. Taping may control the position of the calcaneus to correct foot pathologies associated with overpronation. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of therapeutic ankle taping and foot posture on the kinematics of the knee and ankle during running in participants with neutral and pronated foot types. Forty healthy participants ran on a treadmill with the application of Kinesio Tape®, Leuko Tape®, and no tape. A significant main effect for foot posture indicated that participants with a pronated foot type (p=.03) ran with a decreased amount of plantarflexion at the toe off phase of running when compared to a neutral foot type for all taping conditions. As plantarflexion occurs at toe off to propel the runner to the swing phase, a more rigid taping technique may be beneficial to provide support to the calcaneus

Tuning the Level of Concurrency in Software Transactional Memory: An Overview of Recent Analytical, Machine Learning and Mixed Approaches

Synchronization transparency offered by Software Transactional Memory (STM) must not come at the expense of run-time efficiency, thus demanding from the STM-designer the inclusion of mechanisms properly oriented to performance and other quality indexes. Particularly, one core issue to cope with in STM is related to exploiting parallelism while also avoiding thrashing phenomena due to excessive transaction rollbacks, caused by excessively high levels of contention on logical resources, namely concurrently accessed data portions. A means to address run-time efficiency consists in dynamically determining the best-suited level of concurrency (number of threads) to be employed for running the application (or specific application phases) on top of the STM layer. For too low levels of concurrency, parallelism can be hampered. Conversely, over-dimensioning the concurrency level may give rise to the aforementioned thrashing phenomena caused by excessive data contention—an aspect which has reflections also on the side of reduced energy-efficiency. In this chapter we overview a set of recent techniques aimed at building “application-specific” performance models that can be exploited to dynamically tune the level of concurrency to the best-suited value. Although they share some base concepts while modeling the system performance vs the degree of concurrency, these techniques rely on disparate methods, such as machine learning or analytic methods (or combinations of the two), and achieve different tradeoffs in terms of the relation between the precision of the performance model and the latency for model instantiation. Implications of the different tradeoffs in real-life scenarios are also discussed

Genetic Variants of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System and Reverse Remodeling After Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Background: Reverse remodeling (RR) after cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is associated with favorable clinical outcomes in heart failure (HF). The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is involved in the remodeling process. Methods and Results: We assessed the association between RR and 8 common RAAS gene variants, which were determined by TaqMan assays, in 156 outpatients with chronic HF. RR was defined as a O15% decrease in left ventricular end systolic volume (LVESV) at 9 (interquartile range 7e12) months after CRT. We matched 76 patients who did not show RR (RR) to 80 RR? control subjects by age, sex, HF etiology, New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). The frequency of the minor allele of the NR3C2 gene (rs5522 C/T), encoding the mineralocorticoid receptor, was higher in RR than in RR (24/126 vs 10/150; P value after false discovery rate correction: <.0193). Conversely, LVESV decreased significantly less after CRT in carriers of the NR3C2 minor C allele (P 5 .02). After adjustment for age, sex, NYHA functional class, previous myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, and LVEF, RR remained independently associated with NR3C2 C allele carriage (odds ratio 3.093, 95% confidence interval 1.253e7.632). Conclusions: The association of RR after CRT with a common polymorphism in the mineralocorticoid receptor gene involved in aldosterone signaling suggests a possible role for variants in RAAS genes in progressive LV function decline, despite apparently effective CRT

Risk assessment of high altitude free flight commercial aircraft operations

A quantitative model is under development to assess the safety and efficiency of commercial aircraft operations under the Free Flight Program proposed for air traffic control for the US National Airspace System. The major objective of the Free Flight Program is to accommodate the dramatic growth anticipated in air traffic in the US. However, the potential impacts upon aircraft safety from implementing the Program have not been fully explored and evaluated. The model is directed at assessing aircraft operations at high altitude over the continental US airspace since this action is the initial step for Free Flight. Sequential steps with analysis, assessment, evaluation, and iteration will be required to satisfactorily accomplish the complete transition of US commercial aircraft traffic operations

Prenatal and Lactational Exposure to Bisphenol A in Mice Alters Expression of Genes Involved in Cortical Barrel Development without Morphological Changes

It has been reported that premature infants in neonatal intensive care units are exposed to a high rate of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disrupting chemical. Our previous studies demonstrated that corticothalamic projection was disrupted by prenatal exposure to BPA, which persisted even in adult mice. We therefore analyzed whether prenatal and lactational exposure to low doses of BPA affected the formation of the cortical barrel, the barreloid of the thalamus, and the barrelette of the brainstem in terms of the histology and the expression of genes involved in the barrel development. Pregnant mice were injected subcutaneously with 20 µg/kg of BPA daily from embryonic day 0 (E0) to postnatal 3 weeks (P3W), while the control mice received a vehicle alone. The barrel, barreloid and barrelette of the adult mice were examined by cytochrome C oxidase (COX) staining. There were no significant differences in the total and septal areas and the patterning of the posterior medial barrel subfield (PMBSF), barreloid and barrelette, between the BPA-exposure and control groups in the adult mice. The developmental study at postnatal day 1 (PD1), PD4 and PD8 revealed that the cortical barrel vaguely appeared at PD4 and completely formed at PD8 in both groups. The expression pattern of some genes was spatiotemporally altered depending on the sex and the treatment. These results suggest that the trigeminal projection and the thalamic relay to the cortical barrel were spared after prenatal and lactational exposure to low doses of BPA, although prenatal exposure to BPA was previously shown to disrupt the corticothalamic projection