A Novel Method for Evaluating Loading Rate During Running Regardless of Impact Peak

Recently there has been a focus on the relationship between the characteristics of the vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) and running injury occurrence. [1,2] AVLR is defined as the slope of the vGRF-time curve following initial contact. There are several methods for computing AVLR in the literature, however, the 20-80% method can only be calculated in the presence of an impact peak, [3] typically only associated with a rearfoot strike pattern. Additionally, the 3-12% method is unreliable when the impact peak occurs earlier than 12% of stance phase. This presents a problem when computing, interpreting and comparing research findings amongst runners with different foot strike patterns. To our knowledge, no study has described a method that can evaluate AVLR regardless of time or occurrence of the impact peak. The purpose of this study was to introduce the 3-12% auto method for calculating AVLR and compare it to the 3-12% and 20-80% methods

Validity of the optogait portable photoelectric cell system for quantification of spatial-temporal parameters of running gait

Gait analysis on a treadmill can be used to identify spatial-temporal parameters of gait in both healthy [1] and injured [2] individuals. Instrumented treadmills have been considered the gold standard for assessing certain running parameters; however, these treadmills are costly, require trained personnel to operate, and use custom code to calculate variables of interest from the raw data. The OPTOGait system is portable and can be used on any flat surface or treadmill to collect data. OPTOGait uses high-density photoelectric cells between transmitting and receiving bars which detect interruption in light signals due to a subject’s foot and automatically calculates spatial and temporal parameters [3]. While convenient, the reliability of the OPTOGait system for the assessment of gait parameters during running has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of spatial and temporal gait parameters calculated by the OPTOGait compared to an instrumented treadmill system during running

Comparison of On-Shoe Wireless Sensor to Instrumented Treadmill and Outdoor Environment – A Pilot Study

This study compared the MilestonePod (MSP) wireless running sensor to a fully instrumented treadmill (FIT) in measuring average vertical loading rate (AVLR), ground contact time (GCT), cadence, and stride length. MSP data from treadmill was also compared to MSP data during outdoor overground running. The MSP accurately measured GCT, cadence, and stride length during treadmill running compared to the FIT but failed to provide accurate AVLR data

ClpX Inhibits FtsZ Assembly in a Manner That Does Not Require Its ATP Hydrolysis-Dependent Chaperone Activity▿ †

ClpX is a well-characterized bacterial chaperone that plays a role in many processes, including protein turnover and the remodeling of macromolecular complexes. All of these activities require ATP hydrolysis-dependent, ClpX-mediated protein unfolding. Here we used site-directed mutagenesis in combination with genetics and biochemistry to establish that ClpX inhibits assembly of the conserved division protein FtsZ through a noncanonical mechanism independent of its role as an ATP-dependent chaperone