Levels of Centralisation and Autonomy in Russia’s “Party of Power”:Cross-Regional Variations

The institutionalization and nationalisation of Russia’s party system, which is dominated by United Russia (UR), has played a major role in the building of Putin’s ‘power vertical’. Nevertheless, despite the fact that formal relations within United Russia are highly centralized, informal practices allow for far greater degrees of regional autonomy. Focusing on UR’s candidate selection for the 2011 Duma election this paper provides an examination of cross-regional variations in the relations between UR’s Party Centre and its regional branches. As electoral legislation requires the segmentation of party lists into “regional groups”, the composition of the regional lists, specifically the share of “native candidates”, is considered as an indicator of the level of autonomy of regional branches. Ordinal regression analysis confirms our main theoretical hypotheses. In the more financially autonomous regions, UR’s regional branches will have more leverage and bargaining power in their relations with the Party Centre. The second influential factor is heterogeneity: the more a region deviates, in one way or another, from the average (all-Russian) indicators, the less the region is subordinate to the Party Centre

Changes in In Vivo Knee Contact Forces through Gait Modification

Gait modification represents a non-invasive method for reducing knee joint loading in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Previous studies have shown that a variety of gait modifications are effective in reducing the external knee adduction moment. The external knee adduction moment is often used as a surrogate measure of medial compartment force. However, a recent study showed that reductions in the external knee adduction moment do not guarantee reductions in medial compartment loads. Therefore, direct measurement of changes in knee contact force is important for determining the effectiveness of gait modifications. A previous study found that medial thrust gait and walking with hiking poles reduced contact force in a patient with a force-measuring knee replacement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of additional gait modifications (mild crouch, moderate crouch, forefoot strike and bouncy gait) and four configurations of hiking poles on medial and lateral contact forces measured by a force-measuring knee replacement

Changes in Medial Knee Contact Force Through Gait Modification

The development of medial knee osteoarthritis (OA) has been attributed to overloading of the medial compartment articular cartilage. Therefore, treatment strategies are often focused on reducing medial compartment loads. Gait modification represents a non-invasive method for achieving this goal. Previous studies have shown that a variety of gait modifications (e.g., toeing out, increased medial-lateral trunk sway, walking with medialized knees (i.e., medial thrust gait)) are effective in reducing the external knee adduction moment. Although the external knee adduction moment is often used as a surrogate measure of medial compartment force, a recent study showed that reductions in the external knee adduction moment do not guarantee reductions in medial compartment force. Therefore, direct measurements of changes in medial contact force are important for determining the effectiveness of gait modifications

Experimental Evaluation of Computationally Predicted Changes in Knee Loads Resulting from Medial Thrust Gait

Abnormal loading of the medial compartment of the knee is believed to be a contributing factor to the development of medial compartment knee osteoarthritis (OA). Treatment strategies for patients with medial knee OA include both invasive (i.e., surgery) and non-invasive (e.g., gait modification) options. A variety of modified gait patterns have been proposed as non-invasive treatments for patients with medial knee OA