Comparison of two normative paediatric gait databases

The availability of age-matched normative data is an essential component of clinical gait analyses. Comparison of normative gait databases is difficult due to the high-dimensionality and temporal nature of the various gait waveforms. The purpose of this study was to provide a method of comparing the sagittal joint angle data between two normative databases. We compared a modern gait database to the historical San Diego database using statistical classifiers developed by Tingley et al. (2002). Gait data were recorded from 60 children aged 1–13 years. A six-camera Vicon 512 motion analysis system and two force plates were utilized to obtain temporal-spatial, kinematic, and kinetic parameters during walking. Differences between the two normative data sets were explored using the classifier index scores, and the mean and covariance structure of the joint angle data from each lab. Significant differences in sagittal angle data between the two databases were identified and attributed to technological advances and data processing techniques (data smoothing, sampling, and joint angle approximations). This work provides a simple method of database comparison using trainable statistical classifiers

Fault reactivation in the central Indian Ocean and the rheology of oceanic lithosphere

The intraplate deformation in the central Indian Ocean basin is a well-known example of a deviation from an axiom of plate tectonics: that of rigid plates with deformation concentrated at plate boundaries. Here we present multichannel seismic reflection profiles which show that high-angle reverse faults in the sediments of the central Indian Ocean extend through the crust and possibly into the uppermost mantle. The dip of these faults, which we believe result from the reactivation of pre-existing faults formed at the spreading centre, is ˜40° in the basement, which is consistent with the distribution and focal mechanisms of earthquakes on faults now forming at spreading centres. This style of deformation, coupled with the observation of large earthquakes in the mantle lithosphere, indicates that brittle failure of the oceanic lithosphere may nucleate in the vicinity of the brittle/ductile transition and propagate through the crust

Quantum biology: an update and perspective

This is the final version. Available from MDPI via the DOI in this record. Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.Understanding the rules of life is one of the most important scientific endeavours and has revolutionised both biology and biotechnology. Remarkable advances in observation tech-niques allow us to investigate a broad range of complex and dynamic biological processes in which living systems could exploit quantum behaviour to enhance and regulate biological functions. Recent evidence suggests that these non-trivial quantum mechanical effects may play a crucial role in maintaining the non-equilibrium state of biomolecular systems. Quantum biology is the study of such quantum aspects of living systems. In this review, we summarise the latest progress in quantum biology, including the areas of enzyme-catalysed reactions, photosynthesis, spin-dependent reactions, DNA, fluorescent proteins, and ion channels. Many of these results are expected to be fundamental building blocks towards understanding the rules of life.Leverhulme Trus

Large-scale mass wasting in the western Indian Ocean constrains onset of East African rifting

Faulting and earthquakes occur extensively along the flanks of the East African Rift System, including an offshore branch in the western Indian Ocean, resulting in remobilization of sediment in the form of landslides. To date, constraints on the occurrence of submarine landslides at margin scale are lacking, leaving unanswered a link between rifting and slope instability. Here, we show the first overview of landslide deposits in the post-Eocene stratigraphy of the Tanzania margin and we present the discovery of one of the biggest landslides on Earth: the Mafia mega-slide. The emplacement of multiple landslides, including the Mafia mega-slide, during the early-mid Miocene is coeval with cratonic rifting in Tanzania, indicating that plateau uplift and rifting in East Africa triggered large and potentially tsunamigenic landslides likely through earthquake activity and enhanced sediment supply. This study is a first step to evaluate the risk associated with submarine landslides in the region