Discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) plays potential roles in the regulation of collagen turnover mediated by smooth muscle cells in atherosclerosis. How mechanical stretch affects the regulation of DDR2 in smooth muscle cells is not fully understood. We sought to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms of regulation of DDR2 by cyclic stretch in smooth muscle cells. Rat vascular smooth ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different modes of stretching within a pre-exercise warm-up on high-speed motor capacities important to soccer performance. Eighteen professional soccer players were tested for countermovement vertical jump, stationary 10-m sprint, flying 20-m sprint, and agility performance after different warm-ups consisting of static stretching, dynamic...

Physical therapy consists of fixation, thermotherapy, traction, and physical training. The symptomatic therapy is effective for some low back pain, including pain due to metastasis by malignant tumors. Fixation with a corset or wide canvas band reduces muscle pain in the low back region as curative therapy, but reduces the pain caused by tumors or inflammation as symptomatic therapy. Thermother...

OBJECTIVES It is now well recognized that myocardial stretch can cause arrhythmias due to stretch-induced depolarizations. The effects of transient stretch applied during the various phases of the cardiac action potential have not been investigated. This study (1) examined the effects of short stretch pulses and sustained stretch on the monophasic action potential (MPA) repolarization time cour...

In this paper, we present a passive linear skin stretch device that can provide proprioceptive feedback for multiple degrees of freedom (DOF) in a prosthetic hand. In a 1-DOF virtual targeting task, subjects performed as well with our device as with a vibrotactile array, and significantly better (p < 0.05) than having no feedback at all. In a 3-DOF grip recognition task, subjects were able to c...

Maintaining postural equilibrium, sensing movement, and maintaining an awareness of the relative location of our body parts requires the precise integration of several of the body's sensory and response systems including visual, vestibular, somatosensory (touch, pressure, and stretch receptors in our skin, muscles, and joints), and auditory. Vestibular system plays important part in maintaining...

PURPOSE To determine whether ballistic power training and strength training result in specific changes in stretch-shorten cycle (SSC) function during the eccentric (ECC) phase and, if so, whether these changes are influenced by the individual's strength level. METHODS Thirty-two male subjects were divided into four groups: stronger power training group (SP, n = 8, squat one-repetition maximum...

Bond-stretch isomerism is predicted not to occur in the parent compound Si4H6 and the substituted 1,3-di-tert-butyl derivative, although the existence of bond-stretch isomerism in the 1,3-dimethyl derivative is a possibility. Bulky bridgehead moieties induce a preference for a short Si−Si bridge bond, while a longer bridge bond length (2.840 Å at the MP2/6-31G(d,p) level) is predicted for the u...

Maintaining the postural configuration of a limb such as an arm or leg is a fundamental neural control task that involves the coordination of multiple linked body segments. Biological systems are known to use a complex network of inter- and intra-joint feedback mechanisms arising from muscles, spinal reflexes and higher neuronal structures to stabilize the limbs. While previous work has shown t...

Osmotic swelling of cardiac myocytes and other types of cells activates an outwardly rectifying, tamoxifen-sensitive Cl- current, ICl,swell, but it is unclear whether Cl- currents also are activated by direct mechanical stretch. We tested whether specific stretch of beta1-integrin activates a Cl- current in rabbit left ventricular myocytes. Paramagnetic beads (4.5-microm diameter) coated with m...