Subjects with medial and lateral tibiofemoral articular cartilage defects do not alter compartmental loading during walking

Background Healthy cartilage is essential for optimal joint function. Although, articular cartilage defects are highly prevalent in the active population and hamper joint function, the effect of articular cartilage defects on knee loading is not yet documented. Therefore, the present study compared knee contact forces and pressures between patients with tibiofemoral cartilage defects and healthy controls. Potentially this provides additional insights in movement adaptations and the role of altered loading in the progression from defect towards OA. Methods Experimental gait data collected in 15 patients with isolated cartilage defects (8 medial involvement, 7 lateral-involvement) and 19 healthy asymptomatic controls was processed using a musculoskeletal model to calculate contact forces and pressures. Differences between two patient groups and controls were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis tests and individually compared using Mann-Whitney-U tests (alpha <0.05). Findings The patients with lateral involvement walked significantly slower compared to the healthy controls. No movement adaptations to decrease the loading on the injured condyle were observed. Additionally, the location of loading was not significantly affected. Interpretation The current results suggest that isolated cartilage defects do not induce significant changes in the knee joint loading distribution. Consequently, the involved condyle will capture a physiological loading magnitude that should however be distributed over the cartilage surrounding the defect. This may cause local degenerative changes in the cartilage and in combination with inflammatory responses, might play a key role in the progression from articular cartilage defect to a more severe OA phenotype

Reduced knee extensor torque production at low to moderate velocities in postmenopausal women with knee osteoarthritis

This study aimed to determine deficits in knee extensor muscle function through the torque-time and torque-velocity relationships and whether these deficits are associated with reduced functional performance in postmenopausal women with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). A clinical sample of postmenopausal women with established KOA (n = 18, ≥55 years) was compared to an age-matched healthy control sample (CON) (n = 26). The deficits in different parameters of the knee extensor torque-time (maximal isometric torque and rate of torque development) and torque-velocity relationship (maximum muscle power, maximal velocity and torque at 0–500°·s−1) were assessed through a protocol consisting of isometric, isotonic and isokinetic tests. Functional performance was evaluated with sit-to-stand and stair-climbing tasks using a sensor-based technology (ie, time- and power-based outcomes). Postmenopausal women with KOA showed reduced maximal isometric torque (Hedge's g effect size (g) = 1.05, p = 0.001) and rate of torque development (g = 0.77‒1.17, all p ≤ 0.02), combined with impaired torque production at slow to moderate velocities (g = 0.92‒1.70, p ≤ 0.004), but not at high or maximal velocities (g = 0.16, p > 0.05). KOA were slower (g = 0.81‒0.92, p ≤ 0.011) and less powerful (g = 1.11‒1.29, p ≤ 0.001) during functional tasks. Additionally, knee extensor deficits were moderately associated with power deficits in stair climbing (r = 0.492‒0.659). To conclude, knee extensor muscle weakness was presented in postmenopausal women with KOA, not only as limited maximal and rapid torque development during isometric contractions, but also dynamically at low to moderate velocities. These deficits were related to impaired functional performance. The assessment of knee extensor muscle weakness through the torque-time and torque-velocity relationships might enable individual targets for tailored exercise interventions in KOA

Institutional Environments for Enabling Agricultural Technology Innovations: The Role of Land Rights in Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Bangladesh

Land rights are essential assets for improving the livelihoods of the rural poor. This literature based paper shed light to some land rights issues that are crucial for the effectiveness and sustainability of implementing technological innovations in marginalized rural areas of Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Bangladesh. By analysing country specific land right regimes, this paper aims to understand what institutional conditions might constitute barriers to the effective implementation of technological innovations and how they might be overcome. Land rights issues considered in this paper include public and private ownership of land in Ethiopia, customary and statutory law in Ghana, and gender equality and land rights in India and Bangladesh. A better understanding of institutional barriers for the effective implementation of technological innovations is a precondition for complementing technological with enabling institutional innovations and for improving priority setting, targeting and sequencing in the implementation of productivity increasing development measures

Between Hope and Hype: Traditional Knowledge(s) Held by Marginal Communities

Traditional Knowledge (TK) systems have always been integral to the survival and adaptation of human societies. Yet, they enjoy a fairly recent recognition and popularization by scientists, the media, politicians, corporates and the wider public. In this paper we present a typology of key driving forces behind the popularization of TK held by marginal communities: an equality preference motive, a value motive, a compliance motive, a scarcity motive and a strategic motive. Secondly, through the use of a simple model, we discuss the hype's impact on marginal communities. Moreover, we critically assess the outcome of a number of policy instruments that intend, in part, to protect traditional knowledge bases of such communities. Our analysis primarily draws upon secondary literature; policy documents and case studies within economics, the social sciences, conservation biology and legal studies. We argue that whilst the public and institutional hype around TK may have resulted in its prioritization within international conventions and frameworks, its institutionalization may have adversely impacted marginalized communities, and in particular contexts, unintentionally led to the creation of 'new' marginals. We purport that the traditional innovation incentive motive does not hold for protecting TK within a private property regime. Instead we identify a conservation incentive motive and a distribution motive that justify deriving policy instruments that focus on TK to protect marginal communities

Social Safety Nets for Food and Nutritional Security in India

This paper brings together existing literature on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNRGEA) and the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India, offering a narrative review of the evidence on impacts on food security, health and nutrition of beneficiaries. Both programs operate on a large scale and have the capacity to impact the factors leading to undernutrition. It is evident that despite the deficiencies in implementation, both the MGNREGA and the PDS are inclusive and reach the poor and the marginalized who are likely to also experience greater undernutrition and poor health. Data challenges have however prevented researchers from conducting studies that assess the ultimate impact of these two large-scale programs on health and nutrition. The evidence that exists suggests largely positive impacts indicating a clear potential to make these programs more nutrition sensitive not just by incorporating elements that would explicitly address nutritional concerns but also by directing specific attention to innovations that strengthen critical complementarities and synergies that exist between the two programs

Food and Nutrition Security Indicators: A Review

In this paper, we review existing food and nutrition security indicators, discuss some of their advantages and disadvantages, and finally classify them and describe their relationships and overlaps. In order to achieve this, the paper makes reference to the existing definitions of food and nutrition security (FNS), in particular as they have been agreed upon and implemented in the FoodSecure project (www.foodsecure.eu). The main existing conceptual frameworks of FNS predating the present paper are also used as guidelines and briefly discussed. Finally, we make recommendations in terms of the most appropriate FNS indicators to quantify the impacts of various shocks and interventions on food and nutrition security outcomes

The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative: Investigating Immigration and Social Policy Preferences. Executive Report.

In an era of mass migration, social scientists, populist parties and social movements raise concerns over the future of immigration-destination societies. What impacts does this have on policy and social solidarity? Comparative cross-national research, relying mostly on secondary data, has findings in different directions. There is a threat of selective model reporting and lack of replicability. The heterogeneity of countries obscures attempts to clearly define data-generating models. P-hacking and HARKing lurk among standard research practices in this area.This project employs crowdsourcing to address these issues. It draws on replication, deliberation, meta-analysis and harnessing the power of many minds at once. The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative carries two main goals, (a) to better investigate the linkage between immigration and social policy preferences across countries, and (b) to develop crowdsourcing as a social science method. The Executive Report provides short reviews of the area of social policy preferences and immigration, and the methods and impetus behind crowdsourcing plus a description of the entire project. Three main areas of findings will appear in three papers, that are registered as PAPs or in process