The relationship between free-throw accuracy and performance variables in male wheelchair basketball players

We investigated the relationship between the free-throw accuracy and performance variables among fourteen elite male wheelchair basketball players. Participants performed 20 basketball free-throws. Basketball performance variables were the phases of the pre-shoot routine: (a) time taken, (b) minimum angle when taking the ball back, (c) angle at ball release, (d) angular displacement during the forward arm swing, and (e) angular velocity at ball release on the elbow, shoulder, and hip. A significant negative correlation was observed between the free-throw accuracy and mean pre-shot time, suggesting that participants with a shorter pre-shot time showed a higher free-throw accuracy. In addition, a significant negative correlation was found between the free-throw accuracy and variability of angular velocity of the hip at the time of ball release, indicating that the consistency of hip movement is an important factor in free-throw accuracy. In contrast, there were no relationship between the free-throw accuracy and player’s classification point defined as International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, and experience of wheelchair basketball. These data suggest that the routine duration and trunk movement are related to free-throw accuracy in wheelchair basketball

The Role of Corn Seed Hemicellulose for Cereal Fresh Preservation

The storage of corn seeds in the fresh state is very difficult. This reason is presumably ascribable to the unstability of hemicellulose constructing the cell membrane. The hemicellulose was composed of xylose, arabinose mainly, and smaller amounts of galacturonic acid, glucose and galactose. The mean molecular weight was about 730,000 by a gelfiltration method. The yield of the hemicellulose from corn seeds amounts to about 1.5%. It is hydrolyzed by an exo-enzyme of one strain of bacteria isolated from corn seed. The mode of the hydrolysis is that of an endo type. This bacterium is a native one, namely, utilizes preferably the hemicellulose as only carbon source for the growth. At 15℃ it can grow with difficulty in stab and plate culture, but at 5℃ it can not grow at all. This bacterium is quite resistant to heat treatment, since even after heating at 120℃ for 20 min., a significant number of bacteria appeared in the sterilized medium. The bacterium can grow within pH 6-10 range. Thus, we are expecting that corn seeds will be stored safely by controlling temperature and spraying of the acidic solution

Comparative study of subjective fatigue between automatic transmission bus drivers and manual transmission bus drivers.

The difference in the physiological condition of drivers of manual transmission buses (MTB) and automatic transmission buses (ATB) was examined from the viewpoint of occupational health. This study was based on a self-administered questionnaire which involved items concerning subjective fatigue complaints. No differences in the mental fatigue and stress between MTB drivers and ATB drivers were observed. Although ATB drivers tended to feel less physical fatigue than MTB drivers, the difference was not statistically significant. From these results, it was suggested that there was little difference in the subjective fatigue between ATB drivers and MTB drivers.</p