DIFFERENCES IN ONSET TIMING OF MUSCLE ACTIVITIES DURING TWO TYPES OF JUMP LANDINGS

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in onset timing of muscle activities between single leg landings and double leg landings. Healthy male college students participated in this study. All subjects performed two types of jump landings, single leg and double leg. The muscle activation during jump landings was measured using electromyography. Muscle activity onset occurred earlier during the single leg landing than during double leg landing, however, there were no significant differences between the onset of the quadriceps femoris muscles’ activities and that of the hamstring muscles’ activities. Results showed that the earlier muscle activation during motions such as the single leg landing may contribute to decreasing the impact to the joint

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANTERIOR TIBIAL TRANSLATION AND ISOMETRIC STRENGTH IN FEMALE ATHLETES

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the isometric strength of the muscles around the knee and hip is associated with anterior tibial translation. Forty-four female high school basketball players participated in this study. Anterior tibial translation was measured with a Kneelax 3 arthrometer. The isometric strengths of knee flexion, knee extension, and hip abduction were determined with a hand-held dynamometer. In the case of both the legs, significant correlations were found between the anterior tibial translation, knee extension strength, and hamstring/quadriceps strength (H/Q) ratio. No significant correlations were found between the anterior tibial translation and the knee flexion and hip abduction strengths. Muscle imbalance between the quadriceps and hamstring muscles may lead to greater anterior tibial translation

Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein is Involved in Protein Synthesis-Dependent Collapse of Growth Cones Induced by Semaphorin-3A

Fragile X syndrome, the most frequent form of familial mental retardation, is caused by mutation of the Fmr1 gene. Fmr1 encodes the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), an mRNA binding protein regulating local, postsynaptic mRNA translation along dendrites necessary for long-term synaptic plasticity. However, recent studies on FMRP localization in axons and growth cones suggest a possible function in the regulation of local protein synthesis needed for axon guidance. Here, we have demonstrated that FMRP is involved in axonal and growth cone responses induced by the axon guidance factor, Semaphorin-3A (Sema3A). In cultured hippocampal neurons from wild type mice, Sema3A-induced growth cone collapse was protein synthesis-dependent. In contrast, Sema3A-induced growth cone collapse was attenuated in Fmr1 knock-out (KO) neurons and insensitive to protein synthesis inhibitors, suggesting that FMRP is involved in protein synthesis-dependent growth cone collapse. Sema3A increased phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), an indicator of local translation, in distal axons and growth cones of wild type, but not Fmr1 KO neurons. Furthermore, Sema3A rapidly induced a protein synthesis-dependent increase in levels of microtubule associated protein 1B (MAP1B) in distal axons of wild type neurons, but this response was attenuated in Fmr1 KO neurons. These results suggest a possible role of FMRP to regulate local translation and axonal protein localization in response to Sema3A. This study reveals a new link between FMRP and semaphorin signaling in vitro, and raises the possibility that FMRP may have a critical role in semaphorin signaling in axon guidance during brain development

Residual stress measurement of fiber texture materials near single crystal

In this paper, a sample having 〈111〉 fiber texture near single crystal structure made by PVD was evaluated about texture states by the pole figure and about residual stress states by the new expression for X-ray stress analysis. As a result, about 6GPa compressive residual stress existed in the film. However, measurement planes of X-ray line were influence on each stress value. Copyright © 2007 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers(ISOPE)

Application of neutron diffraction technique to industrial materials

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科As an important industrial problem, the rolling contact fatigue damage is accumulated in rails during the repeated passage of trains over the rails, and rail failures may occur from the cracks grown in the rails. In order to prevent such rail failures, the estimation of the behavior of internal rail cracks is required based on the exact engineering analysis model as well as conducting rail test to search rail defects. The purposes of this paper are to apply the neutron stress measurement to rails, and to obtain residual stress state in the rails for the above purpose. The rail samples used were those that have been used in service line in Japan for about six years (222 million gross tons). The neutron measurement was conducted using the Residual Stress Analyzer (RESA) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The present measurement of stresses in rails by the neutron diffraction method was the first attempt in Japan