BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to assess the functional effects and acceptability of rocker-soled shoes that were designed to relatively "unload" the calf muscles during walking in people with calf claudication due to peripheral arterial disease. METHODS In this randomised AB/BA crossover trial, participants completed two assessment visits up to two weeks apart. At each visit, parti...

BACKGROUND Severe burn induces a sustained hypermetabolic response, which causes long-term loss of muscle mass and decrease in muscle strength. In this study, we sought to determine whether muscle disuse has additional impact on muscle atrophy after severe burn using a rat model combining severe cutaneous burn and hindlimb unloading. METHODS Forty Sprague-Dawley rats (≈ 300 g) were randomly a...

A model of weightlessness in which the hindlimbs of rats are elevated by their tails at a 40 degrees angle to unload the hindlimbs while maintaining normal weight bearing on the forelimbs has been used to simulate certain conditions of space flight. When we used this model in growing rats, we found that growth in bone weight ceased by 1 week in the hindlimbs and lumbar vertebrae, whereas growth...

A single exposure to mechanical unloading can result in significant bone loss, but the consequences of multiple exposures are largely unknown. Within a 18-wk period, adult C57BL/6 male mice were exposed to 2 wk of hindlimb unloading (HLU) followed by 4 wk of reambulation (RA) once (1x-HLU), twice (2x-HLU), or three times (3x-HLU), or served as ambulatory age-matched controls. In vivo μCT longit...

BACKGROUND Mechanical assistance of the failing left ventricle (LV) can lead to functional recovery after a period of unloading, including restoration of beta-adrenergic receptor (betaAR) inotropic reserve. We tested whether prolonged LV unloading of failing rabbit hearts by use of a heterotopic transplantation technique could lead to recovery and whether adenoviral gene transfer of a beta2AR t...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to demonstrate that short-term cardiac unloading with a left ventricular (LV) assist device (LVAD) after acute myocardial infarction (MI) can conserve calcium cycling and improve heart function. BACKGROUND Heart failure secondary to MI remains a major source of morbidity and mortality. Alterations in calcium cycling are linked to cardiac dysfunction in the failing...

The underlying mechanisms leading to deep tissue injury after sustained compressive loading are not well understood. It is hypothesized that initial damage to muscle fibers is induced mechanically by local excessive deformation. Therefore, in this study, an animal model was used to study early damage after compressive loading to elucidate on the damage mechanisms leading to deep pressure ulcers...

Accepted for publication 23 October 1990 Abstract Eleven patients with coronary artery disease and chronic heart failure were studied before and three months after the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril was added to their frusemide medication. The following were measured: left ventricular pressure and volume with transient occlusion of the inferior vena cava, radionuclide angiogr...

As a strain rate-dependent material, bone has a different mechanical response to various loads. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of water and different loading/unloading rates on the nanomechanical properties of canine femur cortical bone. Six cross-sections were cut from the diaphysis of six dog femurs and were nanoindented in their cortical area. Both dry and wet conditions were taken into ...

To date little is known about catabolic NO-dependent signaling systems in human skeletal muscle during early stages of gravitational unloading. The goal of the study was to analyze signaling pathways that determine the initial development of proteolytic events in human soleus muscle during short-term gravitational unloading (simulated microgravity). Gravitational unloading was simulated by 3-da...