Patellar tendinopathy is prevalent among athletes, and most likely associated with a high jumping load. If methods for estimating jump frequency were available, this could potentially assist in understanding and preventing this condition. The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of using peak vertical acceleration (PVA) or peak resultant acceleration (PRA) measured by an accel...

All physiological processes of ectotherms depend on environmental temperature. Thus, adaptation of physiological mechanisms to the thermal environments is important for achieving optimal performance and fitness. The European Common Frog, Rana temporaria, is widely distributed across different thermal habitats. This makes it an exceptional model for studying the adaptations to different thermal ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a mental training protocol could improve gymnastic jumping performance. Seventy-two rhythmic gymnasts were randomly divided into an experimental and control group. At baseline, experimental group completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire Revised (MIQ-R) to assess the gymnast ability to generate movement imagery. A repeated measures design was use...

It has long been thought that jumping by the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum can enhance its nutrient uptake. However, jumping can be energetically costly and also dangerous by inducing hydrodynamic disturbances detectable by rheotactic predators. Here, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, driven by published empirical data, is developed to simulate the jump-induced unsteady flow as well as ch...

In the present study, interactive effects of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors antagonists and different periods of lithium pretreatment on morphine dependence in mice have been investigated. This study was designed to investigate whether the hypothesis that lithium and dopaminergic mechanisms via their effects on phosphoinositide pathways and calcium flux could influence morphine withdrawal respons...

BACKGROUND A high level of strength is inherent in elite soccer play, but the relation between maximal strength and sprint and jumping performance has not been studied thoroughly. OBJECTIVE To determine whether maximal strength correlates with sprint and vertical jump height in elite male soccer players. METHODS Seventeen international male soccer players (mean (SD) age 25.8 (2.9) years, he...

Anurans use a saltatorial (jumping) mode of locomotion. A jumping cycle can be divided into four subphases: propulsion, flight, landing and recovery. We studied the landing phase during locomotion in Rana esculenta by measuring the ground reaction forces during propulsion and landing over a range of distances. Landing performance affects locomotor ability in jumping frogs. Landing and recovery ...

BACKGROUND Studies involving chronic creatine supplementation in elite soccer players are scarce. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of creatine monohydrate supplementation on lower-limb muscle power in Brazilian elite soccer players (n = 14 males) during pre-season training. FINDINGS This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group study. Brazil...

Humans utilise elastic tendons of lower limb muscles to store and return energy during walking, running and jumping. Anuran and insect species use skeletal structures and/or dynamics in conjunction with similarly compliant structures to amplify muscle power output during jumping. We sought to examine whether human jumpers use similar mechanisms to aid elastic energy usage in the plantar flexor ...

A Jumping Petri Net ((18], 12]), JP T N for short, is deened as a classical net which can spontaneously jump from a marking to another one. In 18] it has been shown that the reachability problem for JP T N 's is undecidable, but it is decidable for nite JP T N 's (FJPTN). In this paper we establish some speciic properties and investigate the computational power of such nets, via the interleavin...