Effect of the Kinesio tape to muscle activity and vertical jump performance in healthy inactive people

BACKGROUND: Elastic taping applied on the triceps surae has been commonly used to improve the performance of lower extremities. However, little objective evidence has been documented. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of elastic taping on the triceps surae during a maximal vertical jump. It was hypothesized that elastic taping to the triceps surae would increase muscle activity and cause positive effect to jump height. METHODS: Thirty-one healthy adults (19 males and 12 females with mean age, body weight and height for 25.3 ± 3.8 years old, 64.1 ± 6.2 kg, and 169.4 ± 7.3 cm, respectively) were recruited. All participants performed vertical jump tests prior to (without taping) and during elastic taping. Two elastic tapes, Kinesio tape and Mplacebo tape from two different manufacturers, were applied to the participants, respectively. RESULTS: The results showed that the vertical ground reaction force increased when Kinesio tape was applied even when the height of jump remained about constant. However, the height of the jump decreased, and there was no difference on the vertical ground reaction force in Mplacebo taping group. Although the EMG activity of medial gastrocnemius tended to increase in Kinesio taping group, we did not see differences in EMG activity for the medial gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior and soleus muscles in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the varied effects of Kinesio tape and Mplacebo tape, different intervention technique was suggested for specific purpose during vertical jump movement. Mplacebo tape was demanded for the benefits of stabilization, protection, and the restriction of motion at the ankle joint. On the other hand, the findings may implicate benefits for medial gastrocnemius muscle strength and push-off force when using Kinesio tape

IMECE2002-33382 SCREAM FOR MULTI-LEVEL MOVABLE STRUCTURES BY INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA PROCESS

ABSTRACT A novel fabrication process to etch, to passivate, and to release single-crystal silicon structures totally in just only one process by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) has been presented in this paper. Several kinds of movable actuators such as relay, comb-drive, and capacitance with thickness of 30 m have been fabricated successfully to demonstrate this fabrication process. Here, experimental investigations about fabrication parameters to get well profile and suspension structures are performed in a STS ICP-RIE system

The Functional Haplotypes of CHRM3 Modulate mRNA Expression and Associate with Bladder Cancer among a Chinese Han Population in Kaohsiung City

Bladder cancer is one of the major cancer types and both environmental factors and genetic background play important roles in its pathology. Kaohsiung is a high industrialized city in Taiwan, and here we focused on this region to evaluate the genetic effects on bladder cancer. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M3 (CHRM3) was reported as a key receptor in different cancer types. CHRM3 is located at 1q42-43 which was reported to associate with bladder cancer. Our study attempted to delineate whether genetic variants of CHRM3 contribute to bladder cancer in Chinese Han population in south Taiwan. Five selected SNPs (rs2165870, rs10802789, rs685550, rs7520974, and rs3738435) were genotyped for 30 bladder cancer patients and 60 control individuals and genetic association studies were performed. Five haplotypes (GTTAT, ATTGT, GCTAC, ACTAC, and ACCAC) were found significantly associated with low CHRM3 mRNA level and contributed to increased susceptibility of bladder cancer in Kaohsiung city after rigid 10000 consecutive permutation tests. To our knowledge, this is the first genetic association study that reveals the genetic contribution of CHRM3 gene in bladder cancer etiology

Women with endometriosis have higher comorbidities: Analysis of domestic data in Taiwan

AbstractEndometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities

Pricing of the Cross-Currency Interest Rate Guarantee Embedded in Financial Contracts in a LIBOR Market Model

[[abstract]]We derive the pricing formulae for the financial contracts, such as guaranteed investment contracts (GICs), life insurance contracts, pension plans, and others, with the guaranteed minimum rate of return set relative to a LIBOR interest rate. Further, we analyze the guaranteed contracts in which the asset that provides the underlying return for the contract and the guaranteed interest rate are denominated in different currencies, which is a common practice. The guaranteed contracts with the above characteristics are called “cross-currency interest rate guaranteed contracts” (CIRGCs). To value CIRGCs, a cross-currency LIBOR market model is introduced. The LIBOR market model for a single-currency economy is extended to a cross-currency economy which incorporates the traded-asset prices and exchange rate processes into the model setting. The cross-currency LIBOR market model (CLMM) is suitable and applicable to pricing a variety of CIRGCs. The pricing formulas derived under the CLMM are more tractable and feasible for practice than those derived under the instantaneous short rate model or the HJM model. Four different types of CIRGCs are priced in this article. Calibration procedures are also discussed for practical implementation. In addition, Monte-Carlo simulation is provided to evaluate the accuracy of the theoretical prices.[[notice]]補正完

Valuation of Guarantees Set Relative to Cross-Currency Stochastic Rates of Return

[[abstract]]We derive the pricing formulas for guarantees whose guaranteed minimum rates of return are set relative to cross-currency stochastic rates of return, “GCSRs” for short, via a cross-currency framework. GCSRs are often embedded in contracts which include life and pension insurance policies, guaranteed investment contracts and index-linked bonds, etc. The valuation of such guarantees has not been investigated in previous literature regarding guarantees. Our research finds that valuing GCSRs via a single-currency framework which is adopted in previous research on guarantees causes a significant underestimation of GCSRs under both maturity and multi-period guarantee. The underestimation of multi-period guarantee is much more significant than that of maturity guarantee. As a result, the pricing formulas derived in our research are more suitable, tractable and feasible for practice than those in previous relevant literature

Successful seminal vesiculoscopic lithotripsy of seminal vesicle stone: A case report and literature review

Seminal vesicle stones are rare; the first case was reported in 1928. We present a case of 51-year-old male with bloody semen and perineal discomfort for several years. He received seminal vesiculoscopic lithotripsy successfully; his recovery and improvement of symptoms were satisfactory. Diagnosis depends on an initial pelvis X-ray, sonography, and further computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging if necessary. Traditional surgery is open seminal vesiculectomy. Seminal vesiculoscopic lithotripsy can be viewed as a new intervention of choice

Copper Chaperone-Dependent and -Independent Activation of Three Copper-Zinc Superoxide Dismutase Homologs Localized in Different Cellular Compartments in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are important antioxidant enzymes that catalyze the disproportionation of superoxide anion to oxygen and hydrogen peroxide to guard cells against superoxide toxicity. The major pathway for activation of copper/zinc SOD (CSD) involves a copper chaperone for SOD (CCS) and an additional minor CCS-independent pathway reported in mammals. We characterized the CCS-dependent and -independent activation pathways for three CSDs localized in different cellular compartments in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). The main activation pathway for CSD1 in the cytoplasm involved a CCS-dependent and -independent pathway, which was similar to that for human CSD. Activation of CSD2 in chloroplasts depended totally on CCS, similar to yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) CSD. Peroxisome-localized CSD3 via a CCS-independent pathway was similar to nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans) CSD in retaining activity in the absence of CCS. In Arabidopsis, glutathione played a role in CCS-independent activation, as was reported in humans, but an additional factor was required. These findings reveal a highly specific and sophisticated regulation of CSD activation pathways in planta relative to other known CCS-independent activation