at the highest signal levels, the masking function for the off-frequency condition seems to become more linear. while some basilar membrane data show more linear growth at high levels, others do not. aim of the present study is to assess function of masking at high levels regarding its clinical appearance. in this experiment we evaluated the hearing thresholds of three different signals (wide-b...

introduction: one of the most common syndromes in parkinson's disease (pd) is rigidity. currently, an index is used to evaluate the level of pd by the clinical measurement of rigidity in the upper extremity. the index uses a subjective method called unified parkinson's disease rating system (updrs). the subjective nature of this method makes the influence of physician in the measureme...

background nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld) is being increasingly recognized as a cause of chronic liver disease. it has also been associated with devastating outcomes such as decompensated liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as diabetes and metabolic syndrome. objectives this study was conducted in order to assess liver fibrosis using fibroscan, and to compare these r...

Both the linear leg spring model and the two-segment leg model with constant spring stiffness have been broadly used as template models to investigate bouncing gaits for legged robots with compliant legs. In addition to these two models, the other stiffness leg spring models developed using inspiration from biological characteristic have the potential to improve high-speed running capacity of s...

To assess the effects of halothane, isoflurane, and sevoflurane on cross bridges in intact cardiac muscle, electrically stimulated (0.25 Hz, 25 degrees C) right ventricular ferret papillary muscles (n = 14) were subjected to sinusoidal load oscillations (37-182 Hz, 0.2-0.5 mN peak to peak) at the instantaneous self-resonant frequency of the muscle-lever system. At resonance, stiffness is propor...

Mechanosensing by adherent cells is usually studied by quantifying cell responses on hydrogels that are covalently linked to a rigid substrate. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) represents a convenient way of characterizing the mechanoadaptation response of adherent cells on hydrogels of varying stiffness and thickness. Since AFM measurements reflect the effective cell stiffness, therefore, in addi...

Background: Adequate passive stiffness of the hip joint can prevent the occurrence of excessive transverse plane lower limb movement during functional activities. Strength training of the hip lateral rotator muscles can be used to increase the stiffness of this joint. However, the relationship between hip joint passive stiffness and muscle strength remains undocumented in the literature. Object...

Background Measuring liver stiffness is becoming more popular as a non-invasive tool for assessing liver fibrosis. Aim To assess the effect of severe hepatitis B flare on liver stiffness and determine factors that correlate with liver stiffness measurements. Methods Twenty-nine patients with severe hepatitis B flare (ALT [ 10 9 upper limit of normal) were followed up for 1 year. Serial transien...

BACKGROUND Adequate passive stiffness of the hip joint can prevent the occurrence of excessive transverse plane lower limb movement during functional activities. Strength training of the hip lateral rotator muscles can be used to increase the stiffness of this joint. However, the relationship between hip joint passive stiffness and muscle strength remains undocumented in the literature. OBJEC...

background: both increased arterial stiffness and hyperuricaemia are associated with elevated cardiovascular risks. little is known about the relations of serum uric acid (ua) level to regional arterial stiffness and wave reflection. the aim of the study was to investigate the gender-specific association of serum ua and indices of arterial function in a community-based investigation in china. m...