GENDER DIFFERENCES OF TRUNK AND LOWER LIMB POSITIONS DURING THE CUTTING MANEUVER

The purpose of this study was to analyze the gender differences in positions of the trunk and lower limb during the cutting maneuver. We captured the trunk and lower limb positions during shuttle-run cutting in 8 male and 7 female soccer players. The distance from the center of the trunk to the foot-plant point in the frontal and sagittal planes, knee flexion angle, knee valgus angle, femoral inclination angle, trunk forward-inclination angle, and trunk lateral-inclination angle were measured. Our results showed that female subjects demonstrated less femoral inclination, greater trunk lateral inclination away from the cutting limb, and smaller distance from the center of the trunk to the foot-plant point in the frontal plane than male subjects. The study results may reveal potential risks for ACL injury

FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE HAMSTRING MUSCLES DURING SPRINTING

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the respective activation of the biceps femoris (BF), semitendinosus (ST), and semimembranosus (SM) muscles during overground sprinting. Lower extremity kinematics and the electromyographic (EMG) activities of the BF, ST, and SM muscles were recorded for 13 male sprinters performing overground sprinting at maximum effort. Mean normalized EMG activity was calculated in the early stance, late stance, middle swing, and late swing phases. The peak activation time during the stance and latter half of the swing phases was also calculated. Significantly different characteristics for EMG activation and different occurrences of peak activation of the BF, ST, and SM were found within the gait cycle, indicating that the activation demand of each hamstring muscle differs during sprinting

SEX-BASED DIFFERENCES IN TRUNK ACCELERATION AND LANDING POSTURE DURING THE DROP VERTICAL JUMP TEST

The purpose of this study was to investigate sex-based differences in trunk acceleration and landing posture during the drop vertical jump test and to determine the relationships among relevant variables. Twenty college students (10 men and 10 women) performed drop vertical jumps from a 30cm high box. Trunk acceleration and the trunk, limb, knee, and ankle angles in the sagittal plane were measured. The unpaired Student t-test and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used for statistical analysis. Female participants demonstrated greater vertical trunk acceleration and smaller trunk angles than male participants did. In addition, vertical acceleration correlated with trunk and limb angles. Therefore, these parameters, which can be estimated by using wearable sensors, may be useful for checking athletes at high risk for injury

THE KINEMATICS OF OVERGROUND SPRINTING IN TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES WITH PREVIOUS HAMSTRING INJURIES

The purpose of this study was to examine the kinematic characteristics of lower extremity and long head of the biceps femoris (BFlh) muscle length during overground sprinting in track and field athletes with previous unilateral hamstring strain injuries. Ten male college sprinters with a history of hamstring injury performed a maximum effort sprint on an athletic track. Three-dimensional kinematic data were recorded during sprinting, and the hip and knee joint angles and musculotendon length of the biceps femoris muscle were calculated. The previously injured limb displayed delayed peak hip flexion and increased knee flexion compared with the uninjured limb, placing the BFlh muscle at decreased length during the terminal swing phase of sprinting

A Multicenter Phase 2 Trial Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Preoperative Lenvatinib Therapy for Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma (LENS-HCC Trial)

Introduction: The phase III REFLECT trial demonstrated that lenvatinib was superior to sorafenib in terms of progression-free survival (PFS), time to progression, and objective response rate (ORR) for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study assessed the efficacy and safety of preoperative lenvatinib therapy for patients with oncologically or technically unresectable HCC. Methods: In this multicenter single-arm phase II trial, patients with advanced HCC and factors suggestive of a poor prognosis (macroscopic vascular invasion, extrahepatic metastasis, or multinodular tumors) were enrolled. Patients with these factors, even with technically resectable HCC, were defined as oncologically unresectable because of the expected poor prognosis after surgery. After 8 weeks of lenvatinib therapy, the patients were assessed for resectability, and tumor resection was performed if the tumor was considered technically resectable. The primary endpoint was the surgical resection rate. The secondary endpoints were the macroscopic curative resection rate, overall survival (OS), ORR, PFS, and the change in the indocyanine green retention rate at 15 min as measured before and after lenvatinib therapy. The trial was registered with the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (s031190057). Results: Between July 2019 and January 2021, 49 patients (42 oncologically unresectable patients and 7 technically unresectable patients) from 11 centers were enrolled. The ORR was 37.5% based on mRECIST and 12.5% based on RECIST version 1.1. Thirty-three patients underwent surgery (surgical resection rate: 67.3%) without perioperative mortality. The surgical resection rate was 76.2% for oncologically unresectable patients and 14.3% for technically unresectable patients. The 1-year OS rate and median PFS were 75.9% and 7.2 months, respectively, with a median follow-up period of 9.3 months. Conclusions: The relatively high surgical resection rate seen in this study suggests the safety and feasibility of lenvatinib therapy followed by surgical resection for patients with oncologically or technically unresectable HCC

Effects of jump and balance training on knee kinematics and electromyography of female basketball athletes during a single limb drop landing: pre-post intervention study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Some research studies have investigated the effects of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention programs on knee kinematics during landing tasks; however the results were different among the studies. Even though tibial rotation is usually observed at the time of ACL injury, the effects of training programs for knee kinematics in the horizontal plane have not yet been analyzed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a jump and balance training program on knee kinematics including tibial rotation as well as on electromyography of the quadriceps and hamstrings in female athletes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight female basketball athletes participated in the experiment. All subjects performed a single limb landing at three different times: the initial test, five weeks later, and one week after completing training. The jump and balance training program lasted for five weeks. Knee kinematics and simultaneous electromyography of the rectus femoris and Hamstrings before training were compared with those measured after completing the training program.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After training, regarding the position of the knee at foot contact, the knee flexion angle for the Post-training trial (mean (SE): 24.4 (2.1) deg) was significantly larger than that for the Pre-training trial (19.3 (2.5) deg) (p < 0.01). The absolute change during landing in knee flexion for the Post-training trial (40.2 (1.9) deg) was significantly larger than that for the Pre-training trial (34.3 (2.5) deg) (p < 0.001). Tibial rotation and the knee varus/valgus angle were not significantly different after training. A significant increase was also found in the activity of the hamstrings 50 ms before foot contact (p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The jump and balance training program successfully increased knee flexion and hamstring activity of female athletes during landing, and has the possibility of producing partial effects to avoid the characteristic knee position observed in ACL injury, thereby preventing injury. However, the expected changes in frontal and transverse kinematics of the knee were not observed.</p

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

Sorafenib plus low-dose cisplatin and fluorouracil hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy versus sorafenib alone in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (SILIUS): a randomised, open label, phase 3 trial

Background Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy plus sorafenib in phase 2 trials has shown favourable tumour control and a manageable safety profile in patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. However, no randomised phase 3 trial has tested the combination of sorafenib with continuous arterial infusion chemotherapy. We aimed to compare continuous hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy plus sorafenib with sorafenib alone in patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods We did an open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial (SILIUS) at 31 sites in Japan. Eligible patients were aged 20 years or older, with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma not suitable for resection, local ablation, or transarterial chemoembolisation; Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0–1; Child-Pugh score 7 or lower; and adequate bone marrow, liver, and renal function. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) via an interactive web response system with a computer-generated sequence to receive 400 mg sorafenib orally twice daily or 400 mg sorafenib orally twice daily plus hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (cisplatin 20 mg/m 2 on days 1 and 8 and fluorouracil 330 mg/m 2 continuously on days 1–5 and 8–12 of every 28-day cycle via an implanted catheter system). The primary endpoint was overall survival. The primary efficacy analysis comprised all randomised patients (the intention-to-treat population), and the safety analysis comprised all randomised patients who received at least one dose of study treatment. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01214343. Findings Between Nov 4, 2010, and June 10, 2014, 206 patients were randomly assigned (103 to the sorafenib group, 103 to the sorafenib plus hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy group). One patient in the sorafenib plus hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy group withdrew after randomisation. Median overall survival was similar in the sorafenib plus hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (n=102) and sorafenib monotherapy (n=103) groups (11·8 months [95% CI 9·1–14·5] vs 11·5 months [8·2–14·8]; hazard ratio 1·009 [95% CI 0·743–1·371]; p=0·955). Grade 3–4 adverse events that were more frequent in the sorafenib plus hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy group than in the sorafenib monotherapy group included anaemia (15 [17%] of 88 vs six [6%] of 102), neutropenia (15 [17%] vs one [1%]), thrombocytopenia (30 [34%] vs 12 [12%]), and anorexia (12 [14%] vs six [6%]). Interpretation Addition of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy to sorafenib did not significantly improve overall survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Funding Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E  >  2  keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month

Change in muscle thickness under contracting conditions following return to sports after a hamstring muscle strain injury—A pilot study

The purpose of this study was to measure the change in hamstring muscle thickness between contracting and relaxing conditions following a return to sports after a hamstring muscle strain and thereby evaluate muscle function. Six male track and field sprinters participated in this study. All had experienced a prior hamstring strain injury that required a minimum of 2 weeks away from sport participation. Transverse plane scans were performed at the following four points on the affected and unaffected sides under contracting and relaxing conditions: proximal biceps femoris long head, proximal semitendinosus, middle biceps femoris long head, and middle semitendinosus. The results demonstrated an increase in the thickness of the middle biceps femoris long head and middle semitendinosus regions on the unaffected side with contraction, whereas the affected side did not show a significant increase. The proximal semitendinosus muscle thickness was increased with contraction on both the unaffected and the affected sides. By contrast, the proximal biceps femoris muscle thickness did not show a significant increase on both sides. The results of this study show that evaluation of muscle thickness during contraction may be useful for assessing the change in muscle function after a hamstring muscle strain injury