STUDY OBJECTIVE Although no studies exist, to our knowledge, that examine the feasibility and safety of stress testing in a consecutive series of patients with severe arthritis, musculoskeletal conditions are often listed as relative contraindications to graded exercise testing. The current study was designed to examine the feasibility of maximal exercise testing in patients with end-stage arth...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to explore the influence of the characteristics of Japanese patients on the long-term outcomes after aortic valve replacement with either mechanical or biological prostheses by means of a microsimulation. METHODS A microsimulation model was used to simulate the lives of patients living in Japan and in the United States after aortic valve replacement. The b...

The influence of aging on contraction-induced rapid vasodilation has been well characterized in the forearm. We sought to examine the impact of aging on contraction-induced rapid vasodilation in the leg following single muscle contractions and determine whether potential age-related impairments were similar between limbs (leg vs. arm). Fourteen young (23 ± 1 years) and 16 older (66 ± 1 years) a...

We consider an age-replacement model with minimal repair based on a cumulative repair cost limit and random lead time for replacement delivery. A cumulative repair cost limit policy uses information about a system's entire repair cost history to decide whether the system is repaired or replaced; a random lead time models delay in delivery of a replacement once it is ordered. A general cost mode...

PURPOSE To describe the relationship of refractive errors to the 10-year incidence of age-related maculopathy (ARM) in a defined white population. METHODS Persons aged 43 to 86 years of age in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, were invited for a baseline examination from 1988 through 1990, and follow-up examinations 5 and 10 years later (n = 3684). Refraction was measured at baseline, with myopia define...

In this paper, trajectory generation for the 4 DOF arm of SURENA III humanoid robot with the purpose of optimizing energy and avoiding a moving obstacle is presented. For this purpose, first, kinematic equations for a seven DOF manipulator are derived. Then, using the Lagrange method, an explicit dynamics model for the arm is developed. In the next step, in order to generate the desired traject...

PURPOSE Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of age-related maculopathy susceptibility protein 2/HtrA serine peptidase 1 (ARMS2/HTRA1) and complement factor H (CFH) have been reported to be associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of ARMS2/HTRA1 and CFH SNPs with early age-related maculopathy (ARM) in a Han Chinese co...

PURPOSE To asses if tennis at prepubertal age elicits the hypertrophy of dominant arm muscles. METHODS The volume of the muscles of both arms was determined using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 7 male prepubertal tennis players (TP) and 7 non-active control subjects (CG) (mean age 11.0 ± 0.8 years, Tanner 1-2). RESULTS TP had 13% greater total muscle volume in the dominant than in the ...

BACKGROUND The standard way to stop smoking is to stop abruptly on a quit day with no prior reduction in consumption of cigarettes. Many smokers feel that reduction is natural and if reduction programmes were offered, many more might take up treatment. Few trials of reduction versus abrupt cessation have been completed. Most are small, do not use pharmacotherapy, and do not meet the standards n...