The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of spasticity (1) on muscle tendon unit (MTU) length-force characteristics of rat m. gastrocnemius (GAS), m. soleus (SOL) and m. plantaris (PL), and (2) on epimuscular myofascial force transmission between synergistic GAS, SOL and PL, as well as between the calf muscles and antagonistic m. tibialis anterior (TA). The effects of spast...

Muscle motor unit numbers decrease markedly in old age, while remaining motor units are enlarged and can have reduced neuromuscular junction transmission stability. However, it is possible that regular intense physical activity throughout life can attenuate this remodeling. The aim of this study was to compare the number, size, and neuromuscular junction transmission stability of tibialis anter...

Nanoengineering of hydrophobic photosensitizers (PSs) is a promising approach for improved tumor delivery and enhanced photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficiency. A variety of delivery carriers have been developed for tumor delivery of PSs through the enhanced permeation and retention (EPR) effect. However, a high-performance PS delivery system with minimum use of carrier materials with excellent bi...

Chronic respiratory patients requiring oxygen or home mechanical ventilation experience frequent exacerbations and hospitalisations with related costs. Strict monitoring and care have been recommended. The aim of the present study was to primarily evaluate reduction in hospitalisations and, secondly, exacerbations, general practitioner (GP) calls and related cost-effectiveness of tele-assistanc...

We assessed the feasibility of using a waist-mounted, wireless triaxial accelerometer (TA) to monitor human movements in an unsupervised home setting to detect changes in functional status. A pilot study was carried out with six healthy subjects aged 80-86 years. The subjects wore a TA unit every day for two to three months. Each morning they carried out a short routine of directed movements th...

PURPOSE Telomere attrition and corresponding cellular senescence of the retinal pigment epithelium contribute to the changes of age-related macular degeneration. Activation of the enzyme telomerase can add telomeric DNA to retinal pigment epithelium chromosomal ends and has been proposed as a treatment for age-related macular degeneration. We report the use of a small molecule, oral telomerase ...

In the present study, effect of wet mechanical alloying (MA) on glass-forming ability (GFA) Co43Fe20X5.5B31.5 (X = Ta, W) alloys was studied. The structural evolution during MA investigated using high-energy X-ray diffraction, absorption spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and magnetic measurements. Pair distribution function extended fine structure spectroscopy were ...

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of Schaffer collateral (SC) synapses in the hippocampus is thought to play a key role in episodic memory formation. Because the hippocampus is a shorter-term, limited capacity storage system, repeated bouts of learning and synaptic plasticity require that SC synapses reset to baseline at some point following LTP. We previously showed that repeated low frequency acti...

The Telescope Array Low Energy Extension (TALE) is a series of detectors to be added to the Telescope Array (TA) experiment to extend its energy coverage to lower energies and increase its aperture at high energies. The combination of TA and TALE will be able to measure the spectrum of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays from 10 to 10 eV, and study all three features of the spectrum: the second knee, ...

Near surface air temperature (Ta) is one of the most critical variables in climatology, hydrology, epidemiology, and environmental health. In situ measurements are not efficient for characterizing spatially heterogeneous Ta, while remote sensing is a powerful tool to break this limitation. This study proposes a mapping framework for daily mean Ta using an enhanced empirical regression method ba...