Alternating activation is related to fatigue in lumbar muscles during sustained sitting

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between variability in muscle activity and fatigue during a sustained low level contraction in the lumbar muscles. Twenty-five healthy participants (13 men 12 women) performed a 30 min sitting task with 5 degrees inclination of the trunk. Surface electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded bilaterally from the lumbar muscles with 2 high density surface EMG grids of 9 × 14 electrodes. Median frequency (MDF) decrease, amplitude (RMS) increase and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were used as fatigue indices. Alternating activation and spatial and temporal variability were computed and relations with the fatigue indices were explored. During sitting, the mono- and bipolar RMS slightly increased while the MDF remained unchanged indicating no systematic muscle fatigue, although the average RPE increased from 6 to 13 on a scale ranging between 6 and 20. Higher frequency of alternating activation between the left and right side was associated with increased RPE (p = 0.03) and decreased MDF (p = 0.05). A tendency in the same direction was seen between increased spatial and temporal variation within the grids and increased RPE and decreased MDF. Present findings provide evidence for a relationship between variability in muscle activity and fatigue.     

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.     

EMG-based muscle fatigue assessment during dynamic contractions using principal component analysis

A novel approach to fatigue assessment during dynamic contractions was proposed which projected multiple surface myoelectric parameters onto the vector connecting the temporal start and end points in feature-space in order to extract the long-term trend information. The proposed end to end (ETE) projection was compared to traditional principal component analysis (PCA) as well as neural-network implementations of linear (LPCA) and non-linear PCA (NLPCA). Nine healthy participants completed two repetitions of fatigue tests during isometric, cyclic and random fatiguing contractions of the biceps brachii. The fatigue assessments were evaluated in terms of a modified sensitivity to variability ratio (SVR) and each method used a set of time-domain and frequency-domain features which maximized the SVR. It was shown that there was no statistical difference among ETE, PCA and LPCA (p > 0.99) and that all three outperformed NLPCA (p < 0.0022). Future work will include a broader comparison of these methods to other new and established fatigue indices.     

Sleep,Sleepiness, and Neurobehavioral Performance While on Watch in a Simulated 4 Hours on/8 Hours off Maritime Watch System

Seafarer sleepiness jeopardizes safety at sea and has been documented as a direct or contributing factor in many maritime accidents. This study investigates sleep, sleepiness, and neurobehavioral performance in a simulated 4?h on/8?h off watch system as well as the effects of a single free watch disturbance, simulating a condition of overtime work, resulting in 16?h of work in a row and a missed sleep opportunity. Thirty bridge officers (age 30?±?6 yrs; 29 men) participated in bridge simulator trials on an identical 1-wk voyage in the North Sea and English Channel. The three watch teams started respectively with the 00–04, the 04–08, and the 08–12 watches. Participants rated their sleepiness every hour (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale [KSS]) and carried out a 5-min psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) test at the start and end of every watch. Polysomnography (PSG) was recorded during 6 watches in the first and the second half of the week. KSS was higher during the first (mean?±?SD: 4.0?±?0.2) compared with the second (3.3?±?0.2) watch of the day (p?<?0.001). In addition, it increased with hours on watch (p?<?0.001), peaking at the end of watch (4.1?±?0.2). The free watch disturbance increased KSS profoundly (p?<?0.001): from 4.2?±?0.2 to 6.5?±?0.3. PVT reaction times were slower during the first (290?±?6?ms) compared with the second (280?±?6?ms) watch of the day (p?<?0.001) as well as at the end of the watch (289?±?6?ms) compared with the start (281?±?6?ms; p?=?0.001). The free watch disturbance increased reaction times (p?<?0.001) from 283?±?5 to 306?±?7?ms. Similar effects were observed for PVT lapses. One third of all participants slept during at least one of the PSG watches. Sleep on watch was most abundant in the team working 00–04 and it increased following the free watch disturbance. This study reveals that—within a 4?h on/8?h off shift system—subjective and objective sleepiness peak during the night and early morning watches, coinciding with a time frame in which relatively many maritime accidents occur. In addition, we showed that overtime work strongly increases sleepiness. Finally, a striking amount of participants fell asleep while on duty.     

Brain Atrophy in a Murine Model of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Beneficial Effect of Hochu-ekki-to (TJ-41)

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is associated with the main symptoms of chronic fatigue sydrome (CFS) and neuron apoptosis. Nevertheless, no study has been performed directly to explore the relationship between CFS, BDNF and neuron apoptosis. We induced a CFS model by six injections of killed Brucella abortus antigen in BALB/c mice and treated them with Hochu-ekki-to (TJ-41). Daily running activity, body weight (BW), ratio of cerebral weight to BW (CW/BW) and expression levels of BDNF and Bcl-2 mRNA in the hippocampus were determined. The daily activity and CW/BW decreased significantly in the CFS model. BDNF and Bcl-2 mRNA expression levels in the hippocampus were suppressed in the CFS model and TJ-41 treated mice, while no significant difference was found between them. We improved a murine model to investigate the relationship between CFS and brain dysfunction. In this model, reduced daily activity might have been associated with decreased hippocampal BDNF mRNA expression, hippocampal apoptosis and brain atrophy. TJ-41 increased the daily running activity of the model, which was independent of brain recovery.     

杭州城北体育公园夏季小气候温湿效应研究

以杭州城北体育公园为研究对象,采用实地测量法对夏季小气候进行研究,对比与分析公园内外小气候的温湿效应,为今后体育公园的规划与后期管理提供参考意见。结果表明：在夏季高温炎热的天气里,公园内的温度明显低于公园外的温度,且相对湿度高于公园外的相对湿度,公园内外一天中最大温差为6.2°C,平均温差1.5°C;最大相对湿度相差17.8%,平均相对湿度相差5.1%。各个测试点对比后发现,相对距离与空气温度的差异性显著,体育公园的小气候对公园外部降温作用辐射范围大约为0.9km。公园内的温湿度变化相对于公园外更稳定,且空气温度与相对距离成正相关并达到极显著水平,因此杭州城北体育公园对周边的城市环境具有明显的降温增湿作用。