Muscle Function and Fatigability of Trunk Flexors in Males and Females

Background Optimal function of the abdominal muscles is necessary for several life functions including lifting and carrying tasks. Sex differences in strength and fatigability are established for many limb muscles and back extensor muscles, but it is unknown if sex differences exist for the abdominal muscles despite their functional importance. Methods Eighteen females (24.3 ± 4.8 years) and 15 males (24.1 ± 6.6 years) performed (1) isometric trunk flexion maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) in a range of trunk positions to establish a torque-angle curve and (2) submaximal (50% MVC), intermittent isometric contraction (6 s on, 4 s off) until task failure to determine fatigability of the trunk flexor muscles. Dual X-ray absorptiometry quantified body fat and lean mass. Physical activity levels were quantified with a questionnaire. Torque-angle curves, electromyography (EMG), MVC torque, and torque steadiness were compared with repeated measures ANOVA with sex as a between-subjects factor. Results For the torque-angle curve, MVC torque was reduced as the trunk angle increased toward flexion (p \u3c 0.001). Males had greater MVC torque than females at the extended positions (31% difference), with no sex differences in torque in upright sitting (p \u3e 0.05). Time-to-task failure for the submaximal fatigability task in upright sitting was similar between males and females (12.4 ± 7 vs 10.5 ± 6 min). Time-to-task failure was positively associated with strength (r = 0.473, p = 0.005) and self-reported physical activity (r = 0.456, p = 0.030). Lean mass in the trunk was positively associated with trunk flexor strength (r = 0.378, p = 0.011) and self-reported physical activity (r = 0.486, p = 0.007). Finally, torque steadiness [coefficient of variation of torque (CV)] during submaximal isometric contractions decreased with contraction intensity and was similar for males and females across all intensities. Conclusions Unlike many limb muscle groups, males and females had similar fatigability and torque steadiness of the trunk flexor muscles during isometric contractions. Stronger individuals, however, exhibited less fatigability. Lower self-reported physical activity was associated with greater fatigability of trunk flexor muscles. The relationship between strength and fatigability of the trunk flexor muscles and physical activity supports the importance of abdominal muscle strengthening to offset fatigability in both males and females

Comprehensible legal texts – utopia or a question of wording? On processing rephrased German court decisions

This paper presents a study on the comprehensibility of rephrased syntactic structures in German court decisions. While there are a number of studies using psycholinguistic methods to investigate the comprehensibility of original legal texts, we are not aware of any study looking into the effect resolving complex structures has on the comprehensibility. Our study combines three methodological steps. First, we analyse an annotated corpus of court decisions, press releases and newspaper reports on these decisions in order to detect those complex structures in the decisions which distinguish them from the other text types. Secondly, these structures are rephrased into two increasingly simple versions. Finally, all versions are subjected to a self paced reading experiment. The findings suggest that rephrasing greatly enhances the comprehensibility for the lay reader

Comprehensible legal texts - utopia or a question of wording? On processing rephrased German court decisions

This paper presents a study on the comprehensibility of rephrased syntactic structures in German court decisions. While there are a number of studies using psycholinguistic methods to investigate the comprehensibility of original legal texts, we are not aware of any study looking into the effect resolving complex structures has on the comprehensibility. Our study combines three methodological steps. First, we analyse an annotated corpus of court decisions, press releases and newspaper reports on these decisions in order to detect those complex structures in the decisions which distinguish them from the other text types. Secondly, these structures are rephrased into two increasingly simple versions. Finally, all versions are subjected to a self paced reading experiment. The findings suggest that rephrasing greatly enhances the comprehensibility for the lay reader

Enhanced Go and NoGo Learning in Individuals With Obesity

Overeating in individuals with obesity is hypothesized to be partly caused by automatic action tendencies to food cues that have the potential to override goal-directed dietary restriction. Individuals with obesity are often characterized by alterations in the processing of such rewarding food, but also of non-food stimuli, and previous research has suggested a stronger impact on the execution of goal-directed actions in obesity. Here, we investigated whether Pavlovian cues can also corrupt the learning of new approach or withdrawal behavior in individuals with obesity. We employed a probabilistic Pavlovian-instrumental learning paradigm in which participants (29 normal-weight and 29 obese) learned to actively respond (Go learning) or withhold a response (NoGo learning) in order to gain monetary rewards or avoid losses. Participants were better at learning active approach responses (Go) in the light of anticipated rewards and at learning to withhold a response (NoGo) in the light of imminent punishments. Importantly, there was no evidence for a stronger corruption of instrumental learning in individuals with obesity. Instead, they showed better learning across conditions than normal-weight participants. Using a computational reinforcement learning model, we additionally found an increased learning rate in individuals with obesity. Previous studies have mostly reported a lower reinforcement learning performance in individuals with obesity. Our results contradict this and suggest that their performance is not universally impaired: Instead, while previous studies found reduced stimulus-value learning, individuals with obesity may show better action-value learning. Our findings highlight the need for a broader investigation of behavioral adaptation in obesity across different task designs and types of reinforcement learning.Peer Reviewe

The measurement of homonegative reactions with physiological and subjective reports

A proposal to present a paper on the physiological measurement of homonegativit