conclusions a short-term wbv exercise improves isotonic strength of the leg muscle and dynamic balance, while creatine supplementation with and without wbv training increases isometric strength of the leg muscle and mobility in elderly women. background a decline in neuromuscular function can cause a decrease in physical fitness in elderly women. objective the present study aimed at investigati...

In this study, a biological microactuator was demonstrated by closed-loop motion control of the front leg of an insect (Mecynorrhina torquata, beetle) via electrical stimulation of the leg muscles. The three antagonistic pairs of muscle groups in the front leg enabled the actuator to have three degrees of freedom: protraction/retraction, levation/depression, and extension/flexion. We observed t...

Basal whole leg blood flow and vascular conductance are reduced in estrogen-deficient postmenopausal compared with premenopausal women. The underlying mechanisms are unknown, but oxidative stress could be involved. We studied 9 premenopausal [23 +/- 1 yr (mean +/- SE)] and 20 estrogen-deficient postmenopausal (55 +/- 1 yr) healthy women. During baseline control, oxidized low-density lipoprotein...

It is known that humans intentionally choose skipping in special situations, e.g. when descending stairs or when moving in environments with lower gravity than on Earth. Although those situations involve uneven locomotion, the dynamics of human skipping on uneven ground have not yet been addressed. To find the reasons that may motivate this gait, we combined experimental data on humans with num...

After stroke, paretic leg motor impairment is typically viewed as a unilateral control deficit. However, much of the neural circuitry controlling normal leg function is organized bilaterally to produce coordinated, task-specific activity in the two legs. Thus, as a result of contralesional neural control processes, paretic leg motor pattern generation may be substantially influenced by the nonp...

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of leg press and leg press with hip adduction exercise training on patellar alignment and pain in patients with patellofemoral pain (PFP). [Subjects and Methods] Seventeen patients participated in this study. Eight weeks of leg press or leg press with hip adduction training, including progressive lower-limb weight-training and st...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the asymmetry of anticipatory postural adjustment (APA) during gait initiation and to determine whether the process of choosing the initial swing leg affects APA during gait initiation. The participants initiated gait with the leg indicated by a start tone or initiated gait with the leg spontaneously chosen. The dependent variables of APA were not si...

The present study was designed to assess the relative contribution of each leg to unperturbed bipedal posture in lower limb amputees. To achieve this goal, eight unilateral traumatic trans-femoral amputees (TFA) were asked to stand as still as possible on a plantar pressure data acquisition system with their eyes closed. Four dependent variables were computed to describe the subject's postural ...

A total of 150 day old female chickens (Ross 308) were randomly allocated to 2 groups with 5 replicate and 15 chicks in each replicate to determine the effects of cold induced ascites on performance, antioxidant status, blood enzyme activities and bone metabolism. The two experimental treatments were: 1) chicks that reared under normal temperature (NT) and 2) chicks that reared under cold tempe...

Swing-leg retraction, the backward rotation of the swing leg just prior to ground contact, is observed in human locomotion. While several advantages of swingleg retraction, like gait stability and perturbation rejection, are shown by conceptual models, there is currently very little experimental data on swing-leg retraction in human motion. In this paper, kinematic data for twenty-eight subject...