Genetic risk factors for clozapine-induced neutropenia and agranulocytosis in a Dutch psychiatric population

Personalised Therapeutic

Applying Stretch to Evoke Hyperreflexia in Spasticity Testing: Velocity vs. Acceleration

\ua9 Copyright \ua9 2021 Sloot, Weide, van der Krogt, Desloovere, Harlaar, Buizer and Bar-On. In neurological diseases, muscles often become hyper-resistant to stretch due to hyperreflexia, an exaggerated stretch reflex response that is considered to primarily depend on the muscle\u27s stretch velocity. However, there is still limited understanding of how different biomechanical triggers applied during clinical tests evoke these reflex responses. We examined the effect of imposing a rotation with increasing velocity vs. increasing acceleration on triceps surae muscle repsonse in children with spastic paresis (SP) and compared the responses to those measured in typically developing (TD) children. A motor-operated ankle manipulator was used to apply different bell-shaped movement profiles, with three levels of maximum velocity (70, 110, and 150\ub0/s) and three levels of maximum acceleration (500, 750, and 1,000\ub0/s2). For each profile and both groups, we evaluated the amount of evoked triceps surae muscle activation. In SP, we evaluated two additional characteristics: the intensity of the response (peak EMG burst) and the time from movement initiation to onset of the EMG burst. As expected, the amount of evoked muscle activation was larger in SP compared to TD (all muscles: p < 0.001) and only sensitive to biomechanical triggers in SP. Further investigation of the responses in SP showed that peak EMG bursts increased in profiles with higher peak velocity (lateral gastrocnemius: p = 0.04), which was emphasized by fair correlations with increased velocity at EMG burst onset (all muscles: r > 0.33–0.36, p ≤ 0.008), but showed no significant effect for acceleration. However, the EMG burst was evoked faster with higher peak acceleration (all muscles p < 0.001) whereas it was delayed in profiles with higher peak velocity (medial gastrocnemius and soleus: p < 0.006). We conclude that while exaggerated response intensity (peak EMG burst) seems linked to stretch velocity, higher accelerations seem to evoke faster responses (time to EMG burst onset) in triceps surae muscles in SP. Understanding and controlling for the distinct effects of different biological triggers, including velocity, acceleration but also length and force of the applied movement, will contribute to the development of more precise clinical measurement tools. This is especially important when aiming to understand the role of hyperreflexia during functional movements where the biomechanical inputs are multiple and changing

Size and density redistribution by a rod obstacle in a cluster jet for quasi-phase matching of high harmonic generation

We investigate the the possibility to realize a fully coherent XUV light source generating wavelengths down to 4 nm by using high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in an ionized medium. Due to the strong ionization, current p We investigate the possibility to realize a fully coherent XUV light source generating wavelengths down to 4 nm by using high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in an ionized medium. Due to the strong ionization, current phase-matching techniques for HHG are not suitable. Instead, we will investigate quasi-phase matching (QPM) over an extended interaction length to increase the output pulse energy. For this, we will prepare a cluster jet from a 5 mm long supersonic nozzle operated at high backing pressure (up to 75 bar). The modulation for QPM is obtained by placing either an array of wires or slits on top of the exit of the nozzle. Here, we report on the characterization of the modulated argon cluster jet. We apply Rayleigh scattering imaging and interferometry to infer the cluster size and total atomic number density distribution in the jet. Initial experiments concern the modulation of the jet by placing a 2 mm rod above the nozzle. The rst results on the cluster size and density distribution will be compared with the simulation results from our 2D fluid dynamics model

Comparison of the finite volume and discontinuous Galerkin schemes for the double vortex pairing problem using the SU2 software suite

A numerical investigation of finite volume (FV) and discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element methods in the framework of the SU2 software is presented. The accuracy of different numerical variants is assessed with reference to the low Mach double vortex pairing flow problem, which has recently been proposed as a benchmark for studying the properties of structured and unstructured grid based methods with respect to turbulent-like vortices. The present study reveals that low-Mach corrections significantly improve the accuracy of second- and third-order, unstructured grid based schemes, at flow speeds in the incompressible limit. Furthermore, the 3rd-order DG method produces results similar to 11th-order accurate FV volume schemes

Training-induced muscle adaptations during competitive preparation in elite female rowers

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