Features of the Visuomotor Tracking Skill Formation Using Isometric Regulatory Organs in Orthopedic Patients at Different Stages after Elimination of Asymmetry in Lower Extremity Length

In orthopedic patients, the formation of the motor skill of rapid and precise reproduction of an effort by the anterolateral muscles of the shin of the elongated extremity was significantly decelerated as compared to the intact one when tested at 5–50% of the maximum muscular force of the intact extremity. A correlation was observed between the tracking square error, which is an index of precision of instrumental motor reactions, and the dynamic activation indices (the ratios between the electromyogram integrals and the force momentum impulse), which characterize energy expenses, and was assumed to reflect specific optimization of sensorimotor reactions at different power loadings. Both with the elongated and the intact extremities, the interactive search for and fixation of the optimal motor program was most effective in a certain range of muscular loading. The results can serve as a basis for choosing specific rehabilitation programs for orthopedic patients.__________Translated from Fiziologiya Cheloveka, Vol. 31, No. 4, 2005, pp. 70–80.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Shein, Krivoruchko, Saifutdinov.     

Phylogenetics of New World Astragalus: Screening of novel nuclear loci for the reconstruction of phylogenies at low taxonomic levels

This study explores methods to use information gathered from genomics technology to understand evolutionary relationships in the hyperdiverse legume group Neo-Astragalus. These species inhabit deserts and mountains of North and South America, and even though the monophyly of the group is well established, relationships within it are still poorly understood. Plastid genes, commonly used to infer phylogenies in plants, are usually not useful for closely related taxa because of low levels of genetic variation. TheMedicago truncatula genome project provided a suite of candidate nuclear loci with high levels of variation that might prove suitable for low-level phylogenetics. This paper reports the development of methods for screening a large number of these nuclear loci, and detailed analysis of four of them. Four different patterns of phylogenetic diversification occur in the loci sampled from these genomes ofAstragalus species. One locus (CNGC4) was single copy and could be directly used in phylogenetic analyses. Two loci (ARG10 and FENR) showed patterns strongly suggestive of duplication events in some taxa, and one locus (tRALS) has apparently undergone a cryptic duplication, making it very difficult to diagnose. Potential methods for using the information provided by these loci are discussed.