Effect of transverse plane alterations in footwear design on lower limb biomechanics during running

Background Abduction of the forefoot, relative to the rearfoot, is a component of rearfoot pronation. It is therefore feasible that an ill-fitting shoe, which creates a relative abduction of the forefoot, could influence rearfoot motion with a corresponding effect on transverse plane tibial rotation. Aim To investigate whether transverse plane motion of the tibia is altered with specially designed footwear in which the front of the shoe is positioned either laterally or medially. Methods Kinematic data was collected from n=9 participants during running at 3.9 m/s in three footwear conditions: baseline, lateral forefoot and medial forefoot. ANOVA testing was then used to understand whether the different shoe designs affected tibial and/or pelvic motions. Results There was marked inter-subject variability in response to the two designs. Whereas some participants responded to the lateral design with a decrease in tibial rotation, others responded with a clear increase in external transverse tibial rotation. However, the mean effect was small and there were no significant difference in either the transverse tibial angle at initial contact or the transverse tibial range of movement. Interesting, the footwear designs appeared to have an effect on frontal plane pelvic motion. However, in some subjects pelvic motions were increased, whereas in others they were decreased, again leading to a non-significant mean effect. Conclusion These results may support the idea that an ill-fitting running shoe could lead to alterations in lower limb kinematics; however further work is required to understand individual differences in response

Musculoskeletal modelling of the human cervical spine for the investigation of injury mechanisms during axial impacts

This is the final version. Available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this record.All relevant data are available at Figshare [https://figshare.com/projects/SILVESTROS_PLOS_ONE_SUPPORTING_DOCUMENTS/58280] and musculoskeletal models and relevant project information is available on the OpenSim SimTK repository [https://simtk.org/projects/csibath].Head collisions in sport can result in catastrophic injuries to the cervical spine. Musculoskeletal modelling can help analyse the relationship between motion, external forces and internal loads that lead to injury. However, impact specific musculoskeletal models are lacking as current viscoelastic values used to describe cervical spine joint dynamics have been obtained from unrepresentative quasi-static or static experiments. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a cervical spine musculoskeletal model for use in axial impacts. Cervical spine specimens (C2-C6) were tested under measured sub-catastrophic loads and the resulting 3D motion of the vertebrae was measured. Specimen specific musculoskeletal models were then created and used to estimate the axial and shear viscoelastic (stiffness and damping) properties of the joints through an optimisation algorithm that minimised tracking errors between measured and simulated kinematics. A five-fold cross validation and a Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis were conducted to assess the performance of the newly estimated parameters. The impact-specific parameters were integrated in a population specific musculoskeletal model and used to assess cervical spine loads measured from Rugby union impacts compared to available models. Results of the optimisation showed a larger increase of axial joint stiffness compared to axial damping and shear viscoelastic parameters for all models. The sensitivity analysis revealed that lower values of axial stiffness and shear damping reduced the models performance considerably compared to other degrees of freedom. The impact-specific parameters integrated in the population specific model estimated more appropriate joint displacements for axial head impacts compared to available models and are therefore more suited for injury mechanism analysis.Rugby Football Union (RFU) Injured Players Foundatio

Advances in oral health knowledge of Greek navy recruits and their socioeconomic determinants

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to evaluate temporal changes on oral health knowledge and attitudes among two populations of young Greek males (age 19–29 years) undergoing their military training. A secondary aim was to identify socioeconomic trends that may have influenced the above. METHODS: A total of 2,764 healthy subjects (1511 in 1985, and 1253 in 1996) answered a standardized questionnaire of oral health issues. Respondents were stratified in 3 groups, according to their educational status (ES); their responses were compared using the chi-square statistic. The evaluation of socioeconomic indicators utilized longitudinal data from the national Household Expenditures Survey. RESULTS: An overall improvement was noted in the majority of "Knowledge" and "Attitudes" variables in 1996, as compared to 1985. Education seems to play an important role in both knowledge and attitudes. These changes may also be partially attributed to a shift in consuming standards from the coverage of main needs to income disposal directed towards the achievement of better quality of life

Synthesis of hydroxyapatite, β-Tricalcium phosphate and biphasic calcium phosphate particles to act as local delivery carriers of curcumin: Loading, release and in vitro studies

The successful synthesis of hydroxyapatite (HA), β-Tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and two biphasic mixtures (BCPs) of the two was performed by means of wet precipitation. The resulting crystals were characterized and the BCP composition was analyzed and identified as 13% HA-87% TCP and 41% HA-59% TCP. All samples were treated with curcumin solutions, and the degree of curcumin loading and release was found to be proportional to the TCP content of the ceramic. No further cytotoxicity was observed upon MG-63 treatment with the curcumin-loaded ceramics. Finally, the alkaline phosphatase activity of the cells was found to increase with increasing content of TCP, which provides an encouraging proof of concept for the use of curcumin-loaded synthetic biomaterials in bone remodeling. © 2018 by the authors