Effect of mental fatigue on induced tremor in human knee extensors

In this study, the effects of mental fatigue on mechanically induced tremor at both a low (3–6 Hz) and high (8–12 Hz) frequency were investigated. The two distinct tremor frequencies were evoked using two springs of different stiffness, during 20 s sustained contractions of the knee extensor muscles at 30% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) before and after 100 min of a mental fatigue task, in 12 healthy (29 ± 3.7 years) participants. Mental fatigue resulted in a 6.9% decrease in MVC and in a 9.4% decrease in the amplitude of the agonist muscle EMG during sustained 30% MVC contractions in the induced high frequency only. Following the mental fatigue task, the coefficient of variation and standard deviation of the force signal decreased at 8–12 Hz induced tremor by 31.7% and 35.2% respectively, but not at 3–6 Hz induced tremor. Similarly, the maximum value and area underneath the peak in the power spectrum of the force signal decreased by 55.5% and 53.1% respectively in the 8–12 Hz range only. In conclusion, mental fatigue decreased mechanically induced 8–12 Hz tremor and had no effect on induced 3–6 Hz tremor. We suggest that the reduction could be attributed to the decreased activation of the agonist muscles.     

Effects of multi-joint muscular fatigue on biomechanics of slips

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of multi-joint muscular fatigue on biomechanics of slips. Both lower-limb fatigue and upper-limb fatigue were examined, and the fatiguing exercises involved multi-joint movements to replicate muscular fatigue in realistic scenarios. Sixty healthy young adults participated in the study, and were evenly categorized into three groups: no fatigue, lower-limb fatigue, and upper-limb fatigue. These participants were instructed to walk on a linear walkway, and slips were induced unexpectedly during walking. The results showed that multi-joint muscular fatigue affects biomechanics of slips in all three phases of slips (i.e. initiation, detection, and recovery). In particular, adaptive safer postural control strategies were adopted with the application of both lower-limb fatigue and upper-limb fatigue to maintain the likelihood of slip initiation as in the no fatigue condition. In the phases of detection and recovery, lower-limb fatigue was found to compromise biomechanics of slips while upper-limb fatigue did not show any effects. Based on these findings, minimizing exposures to lower-limb fatigue should be given higher priority compared to upper-limb fatigue when developing interventions to prevent slip-induced falls. In addition, these findings also suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing proprioceptive acuity and increasing muscular strength in the lower limb could also be effective in slip-induced fall prevention.     

Development and validation of a bioreactor system for dynamic loading and mechanical characterization of whole human intervertebral discs in organ culture

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is a common cause of back pain, and attempts to develop therapies are frustrated by lack of model systems that mimic the human condition. Human IVD organ culture models can address this gap, yet current models are limited since vertebral endplates are removed to maintain cell viability, physiological loading is not applied, and mechanical behaviors are not measured. This study aimed to (i) establish a method for isolating human IVDs from autopsy with intact vertebral endplates, and (ii) develop and validate an organ culture loading system for human or bovine IVDs. Human IVDs with intact endplates were isolated from cadavers within 48 h of death and cultured for up to 21 days. IVDs remained viable with ~80% cell viability in nucleus and annulus regions. A dynamic loading system was designed and built with the capacity to culture 9 bovine or 6 human IVDs simultaneously while applying simulated physiologic loads (maximum force: 4 kN) and measuring IVD mechanical behaviors. The loading system accurately applied dynamic loading regimes (RMS error <2.5 N and total harmonic distortion <2.45%), and precisely evaluated mechanical behavior of rubber and bovine IVDs. Bovine IVDs maintained their mechanical behavior and retained >85% viable cells throughout the 3 week culture period. This organ culture loading system can closely mimic physiological conditions and be used to investigate response of living human and bovine IVDs to mechanical and chemical challenges and to screen therapeutic repair techniques.     

Elevated gastrocnemius forces compensate for decreased hamstrings forces during the weight-acceptance phase of single-leg jump landing: implications for anterior cruciate ligament injury risk

Approximately 320,000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in the United States each year are non-contact injuries, with many occurring during a single-leg jump landing. To reduce ACL injury risk, one option is to improve muscle strength and/or the activation of muscles crossing the knee under elevated external loading. This study?s purpose was to characterize the relative force production of the muscles supporting the knee during the weight-acceptance (WA) phase of single-leg jump landing and investigate the gastrocnemii forces compared to the hamstrings forces. Amateur male Western Australian Rules Football players completed a single-leg jump landing protocol and six participants were randomly chosen for further modeling and simulation. A three-dimensional, 14-segment, 37 degree-of-freedom, 92 muscle-tendon actuated model was created for each participant in OpenSim. Computed muscle control was used to generate 12 muscle-driven simulations, 2 trials per participant, of the WA phase of single-leg jump landing. A one-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc analysis showed both the quadriceps and gastrocnemii muscle force estimates were significantly greater than the hamstrings (p<0.001). Elevated gastrocnemii forces corresponded with increased joint compression and lower ACL forces. The elevated quadriceps and gastrocnemii forces during landing may represent a generalized muscle strategy to increase knee joint stiffness, protecting the knee and ACL from external knee loading and injury risk. These results contribute to our understanding of how muscle?s function during single-leg jump landing and should serve as the foundation for novel muscle-targeted training intervention programs aimed to reduce ACL injuries in sport.     

Does ‘gliding while gravid’ explain Rensch's rule in flying lizards?

Among species with sexual size dimorphism (SSD), taxa in which males are the larger sex have increasing SSD with increasing body size, whereas in taxa in which females are the larger sex, SSD decreases with body size: Rensch's rule. We show in flying lizards, a clade of mostly female‐larger species, that SSD increases with body size, a pattern similar to that in clades with male‐biased SSD or more evenly mixed SSD. The observed pattern in Draco appears due to SSD increasing with evolutionary changes in male body size; specifically divergence in body size among species that are in sympatric congeneric assemblages. We suggest that increasing body size, resulting in decreased gliding performance, reduces the relative gliding cost of gravidity in females, and switches sexual selection in males away from a small‐male, gliding advantage and toward selection on large size and fighting ability as seen in many other lizards. Thus, selection for large females is likely greater than selection for large males at the smaller end of the body size continuum, whereas this relationship reverses for species at the larger end of the continuum. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 113 , 270–282.     

Laboratory-determined Phosphorus Flux from Lake Sediments as a Measure of Internal Phosphorus Loading

Eutrophication is a water quality issue in lakes worldwide, and there is a critical need to identify and control nutrient sources. Internal phosphorus (P) loading from lake sediments can account for a substantial portion of the total P load in eutrophic, and some mesotrophic, lakes. Laboratory determination of P release rates from sediment cores is one approach for determining the role of internal P loading and guiding management decisions. Two principal alternatives to experimental determination of sediment P release exist for estimating internal load: in situ measurements of changes in hypolimnetic P over time and P mass balance. The experimental approach using laboratory-based sediment incubations to quantify internal P load is a direct method, making it a valuable tool for lake management and restoration.Laboratory incubations of sediment cores can help determine the relative importance of internal vs. external P loads, as well as be used to answer a variety of lake management and research questions. We illustrate the use of sediment core incubations to assess the effectiveness of an aluminum sulfate (alum) treatment for reducing sediment P release. Other research questions that can be investigated using this approach include the effects of sediment resuspension and bioturbation on P release.The approach also has limitations. Assumptions must be made with respect to: extrapolating results from sediment cores to the entire lake; deciding over what time periods to measure nutrient release; and addressing possible core tube artifacts. A comprehensive dissolved oxygen monitoring strategy to assess temporal and spatial redox status in the lake provides greater confidence in annual P loads estimated from sediment core incubations.     

近50年京津冀气候舒适度的区域时空特征分析

受气候变化影响,区域气候舒适期势必会发生不同程度的变化。从气候舒适性的视角出发,利用京津冀地区1966—2015年的170个观测站点50年逐日气象资料,以温湿指数、风效指数、着衣指数及其综合指数为气候舒适性的评价指标,统计分析区域气候舒适期的起止日期、天数及其年际间变化规律,揭示京津冀区域气候舒适度的时空变化特征,为区域人口合理分布和气候资源评价提供科学依据。此外,以日为时间尺度进行气候舒适期分析,有利于气候变化背景下区域间横向和区域内纵向的比较研究。结果显示:(1)京津冀气候舒适度指数近50年来的变化趋势基本相同,综合指数呈显著增加趋势;但各地间变幅存在一定差异,其中天津气候舒适度指数变化幅度最为明显,北京变化相对平稳。(2)从气候舒适度综合指数来看,京津冀地区气候舒适期年内分布呈"M"型,舒适期相对集中在4—5月、9—10月,舒适和较舒适等级的月累计日数均达到28 d以上,其中5月气候最为舒适,舒适等级日数最多,达到24—26 d;北京年平均舒适天数最多(100 d),天津最少(91 d)。(3)从单一气候舒适度指数来看,京津冀舒适和较舒适等级的初始日期大多呈显著的提前趋势;终止日期和天数大多略有增加,但变化趋势不显著。而综合指数显示,1966—2015年较舒适等级的初始日期变化最为显著,大约每10年提前3—4 d;天津和河北终止日期变化也达到显著水平,大约每10年推迟1—2 d,北京增加趋势不明显。(4)京津冀气候舒适期的空间分布显示,舒适等级的日数从西北向东南地区呈减少特征,河北北部舒适等级的年平均日数最多达115—120 d,东南部最少,不足90 d。     

Skeletal muscle biochemical origin of exercise intensity domains and their relation to whole-body V̇O2 kinetics

This article presents the biochemical intra-skeletal-muscle basis of exercise intensity domains: moderate (M), heavy (H), very heavy (VH) and severe (S). Threshold origins are mediated by a ‘P_i double-threshold’ mechanism of muscle fatigue, which assumes (1) additional ATP usage, underlying muscle V̇O₂ and metabolite slow components, is initiated when inorganic phosphate (P_i) exceeds a critical value (Pi_crit); (2) exercise is terminated because of fatigue, when P_i reaches a peak value (Pi_peak); and (3) the P_i increase and additional ATP usage increase mutually stimulate each other forming a positive feedback. M/H and H/VH borders are defined by P_i on-kinetics in relation to Pi_crit and Pi_peak. The values of the ATP usage activity, proportional to power output (PO), for the M/H, H/VH and VH/S borders are lowest in untrained muscle and highest in well-trained muscle. The metabolic range between the M/H and H/VH border (or ‘H space’) decreases with muscle training, while the difference between the H/VH and VH/S border (or ‘VH space’) is only weakly dependent on training status. The absolute magnitude of the muscle V̇O₂ slow-component, absent in M exercise, rises gradually with PO to a maximal value in H exercise, and then decreases with PO in VH and S exercise. Simulations of untrained, physically active and well-trained muscle demonstrate that the muscle M/H border need not be identical to the whole-body M/H border determined from pulmonary V̇O₂ on-kinetics and blood lactate, while suggesting that the biochemical origins of the H/VH border reside within skeletal muscle and correspond to whole-body critical power.     

Nitrogen assimilation and transport in carob plants

Most of the nitrate reductase activity (80%;) in carob ( Ceratonia siliqua L. cv. Mulata) is localised in the roots. The nitrate concentration in the leaves is relatively low compared to that in the roots, suggesting that nitrate influx into the leaf may be a major factor limiting the levels of nitrate reductase in the shoot. Transport of nitrate from root to shoot appears limited by the entrance of nitrate into the xylem. In order to study this problem, we determined the nitrate concentrations and nitrate reductase activities along the roots of nitrate-grown plants, as well as the composition of the xylem sap and the nitrate levels in the leaves. Some of the the bypocotyl, in order to bypass the loading of nitrate into the xylem of the roots. The results show that the loading of nitrate into the xylem is a limiting step.
The cation and anion concentrations of nitrate- and ammonium-fed plants were similar, showing almost no production of organic anions. In both nitrate- and ammonium-fed plants, the transport of nitrogen from root to shoot was in the form of organic nitrogen compounds. The nitrate reductase activity in the roots was more than sufficient to explain all the efflux of OH⁻ into the root medium of nitrate-fed plants. In carob plants the K-shuttle may thus be operative to a limited extent only, corresponding to between 11 and 27%; of the nitrate taken up. Potassium seems to be the cation accompanying stored nitrate in the roots of carob seedlings, since they accumulate nearly stoichiometric amounts of K⁺ and NO⁻₃.     

运动性骨骼肌疲劳亚细胞机制的探讨

本实验采用持续性下坡跑运动,观察大鼠骨骼肌运动后不同时相线粒体形态、代谢、机能等指标的变化,结果表明：大鼠运动后即刻线粒体钙含量、细胞膜丙二醛（ＭＤＡ）值明显增加,ＡＴＰ含量和细胞膜Ｎａ＋,Ｋ＋－ＡＴＰ酶活性下降;运动后２４ｈ线粒体钙含量、ＭＤＡ值增加最明显,ＡＴＰ含量仍未恢复,细胞膜Ｎａ＋,Ｋ＋－ＡＴＰ酶活性基本恢复,线粒体体密度、平均体积比运动前明显增加,比表面缩小;运动后４８ｈＡＴＰ含量完全恢复,线粒体钙含量、ＭＤＡ值开始恢复。本研究结果提示,急性运动引起的细胞膜脂质过氧化加强、线粒体形态、代谢机能异常抑制线粒体氧化磷酸化过程、减少ＡＴＰ生成可能是运动性骨骼肌疲劳的亚细胞机制之一。耐力训练可以通过改善线粒体形态、代谢、机能提高机体的运动能力。