Comparison of breast motion at different levels of support during physical activity

Optical tracking systems have been used in previous studies to capture the motion of the nude breast and breasts in bras, under the assumption that no breast-bra relative movement occurred within the bra. This study compared breast and bra movement through electromagnetic tracking and optical tracking systems to determine the relative breast movement occurring with different breast support and exercise-induced breast discomfort. Total of 30 female participants (mean age: 21.5 ± 2.3 years; cup sizes: A-F) were recruited and their movement at four different levels of breast support was recorded in two motion capture systems for further analysis and comparison. Significant differences between bra and breast vertical displacement were found at all support levels during periods of intense movement (r = 0.556; p < 0.05). Because the greatest bra displacement was observed when participants wore an everyday bra and the greatest breast displacement was observed when participants wore a crop-top bra, there was evident inconsistency in bra and breast motion and a high-impact sports bra was the most effective to reduce breast movement and discomfort among the four types of bras. An electromagnetic tracking system provided direct observation of the actual movement of the breasts, and an optical tracking system enabled us to monitor bra displacement. Significant differences were observed in bra and breast displacement during the intense movements included in this study. The results bring into question the assumption made in previous studies that no relative movement occurs within a breast support garment.This study is supported by Ministry of Science and Technology grants 103-2815-C-006-037-H and 105-2410-H-006-052, TAIWAN, and OT Motion Lab, Department of Occupational Therapy, National Cheng Kung University

Effect of the Kinesio tape to muscle activity and vertical jump performance in healthy inactive people

BACKGROUND: Elastic taping applied on the triceps surae has been commonly used to improve the performance of lower extremities. However, little objective evidence has been documented. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of elastic taping on the triceps surae during a maximal vertical jump. It was hypothesized that elastic taping to the triceps surae would increase muscle activity and cause positive effect to jump height. METHODS: Thirty-one healthy adults (19 males and 12 females with mean age, body weight and height for 25.3 ± 3.8 years old, 64.1 ± 6.2 kg, and 169.4 ± 7.3 cm, respectively) were recruited. All participants performed vertical jump tests prior to (without taping) and during elastic taping. Two elastic tapes, Kinesio tape and Mplacebo tape from two different manufacturers, were applied to the participants, respectively. RESULTS: The results showed that the vertical ground reaction force increased when Kinesio tape was applied even when the height of jump remained about constant. However, the height of the jump decreased, and there was no difference on the vertical ground reaction force in Mplacebo taping group. Although the EMG activity of medial gastrocnemius tended to increase in Kinesio taping group, we did not see differences in EMG activity for the medial gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior and soleus muscles in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the varied effects of Kinesio tape and Mplacebo tape, different intervention technique was suggested for specific purpose during vertical jump movement. Mplacebo tape was demanded for the benefits of stabilization, protection, and the restriction of motion at the ankle joint. On the other hand, the findings may implicate benefits for medial gastrocnemius muscle strength and push-off force when using Kinesio tape

Segregation analysis of apolipoprotein A1 levels in families of adolescents: A community-based study in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: Apolipoprotein (Apo) A1 is a protective factor for cardiovascular events. This study aimed to perform complex segregation analyses of Apo A1 levels in families of adolescents systematically ascertained from the junior high school students in a rural community. Both siblings and parents of the adolescent probands were recruited for the study. Apo A1 concentrations were measured by turbidimetric immunoassay methods. After adjustment for gender, age, body mass index, smoking and drinking status, residual values of Apo A1 were subjected to subsequent analyses. RESULTS: Significant mother-father and parent-offspring correlations were found. Commingling analyses indicated that a four-component distribution model was needed to account for the Apo A1 variation. Segregation analysis using regressive models revealed that the best-fit model of Apo A1 was a model of environmental effect plus familial correlation (heritability = 23.9%), in which a significant mother-father correlation existed. Models containing major gene effect could be rejected. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that variations of Apo A1 levels in the normal range, especially during adolescence, are likely to be influenced by multiple factors without significant contribution from major genes

Total white blood cell count or neutrophil count predict ischemic stroke events among adult Taiwanese: report from a community-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Evidence about whether white blood cell (WBC) or its subtypes can act as a biomarker to predict the ischemic stroke events in the general population is scanty, particularly in Asian populations. The aim of this study is to establish the predictive ability of total WBC count or subtypes for long-term ischemic stroke events in the cohort population in Taiwan. METHODS: The Chin-Shan Community Cohort Study began from 1990 to 2007 by recruiting 1782 men and 1814 women of Chinese ethnicity. Following a total of 3416 participants free from ischemic stroke events at baseline for a median of 15.9 years; we documented 187 new incident cases. RESULTS: The multivariate relative risk for the comparison of the participants in the fifth and first WBC count quintiles was 1.67 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02–2.73; P for trend=0.03), and the corresponding relative risk for neutrophil count was 1.93 (95% CI, 1.13–3.29; P for trend=0.02). The discriminative ability by WBC and neutrophil counts were similar (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.600 for adding WBC, 0.610 for adding neutrophils, 0.595 for traditional risk factor model). In addition, the net reclassification improvement (NRI) values between the neutrophil and white blood cell count models were not significant (NRI, =-2.60%, P=0.35), indicating the similar discrimination performance for both WBC and neutrophil counts. CONCLUSIONS: WBC and neutrophil count had a similar ability to predict the long-term ischemic stroke events among Taiwanese

Biomechanical investigation of flexor digitorum tendons in trigger finger patients using sonography

Trigger finger (TF) has generally been ascribed to primary changes in the first annular (A1) pulley. Repeated friction between the A1 pulley and flexor digitorum tendons could result in swelling of soft tissues, and thus it has been speculated that TF affects tendons’ biomechanical behaviors. However, the pathology mechanism related to these behaviors remains unclear. The purposes of this study are to understand (1) the variations in the morphologies of the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) and flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) between normal fingers and TFs, (2) the differences in the biomechanical behaviors of the FDP and FDS between normal fingers and TFs in various finger flexion positions, and (3) the effect of various finger positions on the biomechanical behaviors of the FDP and FDS

Serologic and Molecular Biologic Methods for SARS-associated Coronavirus Infection, Taiwan

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has raised a global alert since March 2003. After its causative agent, SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), was confirmed, laboratory methods, including virus isolation, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and serologic methods, have been quickly developed. In this study, we evaluated four serologic tests ( neutralization test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA], immunofluorescent assay [IFA], and immunochromatographic test [ICT]) for detecting antibodies to SARS-CoV in sera of 537 probable SARS case-patients with correlation to the RT-PCR . With the neutralization test as a reference method, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 98.2%, 98.7%, 98.7%, and 98.4% for ELISA; 99.1%, 87.8%, 88.1% and 99.1% for IFA; 33.6%, 98.2%, 95.7%, and 56.1% for ICT, respectively. We also compared the recombinant-based western blot with the whole virus–based IFA and ELISA; the data showed a high correlation between these methods, with an overall agreement of >90%. Our results provide a systematic analysis of serologic and molecular methods for evaluating SARS-CoV infection

Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness, Carotid Plaque and Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke in Chinese

Background: Our aim was to prospectively investigate the association between carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) as well as carotid plaque and incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in Chinese, among whom data are limited. Methods and Findings: We conducted a community-based cohort study composed of 2190 participants free of cardiovascular disease at baseline in one community. During a median 10.5-year follow up, we documented 68 new cases of coronary heart disease and 94 cases of stroke. The multivariate relative risks (RRs) associated with a change of 1 standard deviation of maximal common carotid IMT were 1.38 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12–1.70) for CHD and 1.47 (95% CI, 1.28–1.69) for stroke. The corresponding RRs with internal carotid IMT were 1.47 (95% CI, 1.21–1.79) for CHD and 1.52 (95% CI, 1.31–1.76) for stroke. Carotid plaque measured by the degree of diameter stenosis was also significantly associated with increased risk of CHD (p for trend<0.0001) and stroke (p for trend<0.0001). However, these associations were largely attenuated when adjusting for IMT measurements. Conclusions: This prospective study indicates a significant association between carotid IMT and incidence of CHD and stroke in Chinese adults. These measurements may be useful for cardiovascular risk assessment and stratification in Chinese

Heritability and major gene effects on left ventricular mass in the Chinese population: a family study

BACKGROUND: Genetic components controlling for echocardiographically determined left ventricular (LV) mass are still unclear in the Chinese population. METHODS: We conducted a family study from the Chin-San community, Taiwan, and a total of 368 families, 1145 subjects, were recruited to undergo echocardiography to measure LV mass. Commingling analysis, familial correlation, and complex segregation analysis were applied to detect component distributions and the mode of inheritance. RESULTS: The two-component distribution model was the best-fitting model to describe the distribution of LV mass. The highest familial correlation coefficients were mother-son (0.379, P < .0001) and father-son (0.356, P < .0001). Genetic heritability (h(2)) of LV mass was estimated as 0.268 ± 0.061 (P < .0001); it decreased to 0.153 ± 0.052 (P = .0009) after systolic blood pressure adjustment. Major gene effects with polygenic components were the best-fitting model to explain the inheritance mode of LV mass. The estimated allele frequency of the gene was 0.089. CONCLUSION: There were significant familial correlations, heritability and a major gene effect on LV mass in the population-based families

Complexity of the Tensegrity Structure for Dynamic Energy and Force Distribution of Cytoskeleton during Cell Spreading

Cytoskeleton plays important roles in intracellular force equilibrium and extracellular force transmission from/to attaching substrate through focal adhesions (FAs). Numerical simulations of intracellular force distribution to describe dynamic cell behaviors are still limited. The tensegrity structure comprises tension-supporting cables and compression-supporting struts that represent the actin filament and microtubule respectively, and has many features consistent with living cells. To simulate the dynamics of intracellular force distribution and total stored energy during cell spreading, the present study employed different complexities of the tensegrity structures by using octahedron tensegrity (OT) and cuboctahedron tensegrity (COT). The spreading was simulated by assigning specific connection nodes for radial displacement and attachment to substrate to form FAs. The traction force on each FA was estimated by summarizing the force carried in sounding cytoskeletal elements. The OT structure consisted of 24 cables and 6 struts and had limitations soon after the beginning of spreading by declining energy stored in struts indicating the abolishment of compression in microtubules. The COT structure, double the amount of cables and struts than the OT structure, provided sufficient spreading area and expressed similar features with documented cell behaviors. The traction force pointed inward on peripheral FAs in the spread out COT structure. The complex structure in COT provided further investigation of various FA number during different spreading stages. Before the middle phase of spreading (half of maximum spreading area), cell attachment with 8 FAs obtained minimized cytoskeletal energy. The maximum number of 12 FAs in the COT structure was required to achieve further spreading. The stored energy in actin filaments increased as cells spread out, while the energy stored in microtubules increased at initial spreading, peaked in middle phase, and then declined as cells reached maximum spreading. The dynamic flows of energy in struts imply that microtubules contribute to structure stabilization