BACKGROUND Aortic stiffness is a strong predictor of cardiovascular mortality in various clinical conditions. The aim of this review is to focus on the arterial stiffness gradient, to discuss the integrated role of medium-sized muscular conduit arteries in the regulation of pulsatile pressure and organ perfusion and to provide a rationale for integrating their mechanical properties into risk pr...

Carotid stiffening is considered an important element in the pathogenesis of cerebrovascular diseases. These include stroke as well as vascular dementia and depression. However, results of individual studies evaluating the association between carotid stiffening and incident stroke have been inconsistent. Therefore, we have conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis, showing that carotid st...

The metastatic potential of cells is an important parameter in the design of optimal strategies for the personalized treatment of cancer. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), we show, consistent with previous studies conducted in other types of epithelial cancer, that ovarian cancer cells are generally softer and display lower intrinsic variability in cell stiffness than non-malignant ovarian e...

BACKGROUND Early information on treatment response of HCC to local ablative therapy is crucial. Elastography as a non-invasive method has recently been shown to play a potential role in distinguishing between benign and malignant liver lesions. Elastography of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in early response to local ablative therapy has not been studied to date. METHODS We prospectively incl...

2-In order to determine how posteroanterior movements (PAs) are related to tenderness and thus possibly symptom production, we measured PA movements to a force of 25 N on each side of the cervical spines of asymptomatic subjects. From ten subjects (six females and four males; mean age 37.2, range 21 to 50), ten locations with a difference in tenderness to pressure between sides were used for an...

Background.  Access to hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment is limited in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Noninvasive biomarkers, such as fibrosis 4 (FIB-4) and aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI), are low-cost alternatives to staging liver disease and identifying treatment need in people with chronic HCV infection, but their accuracy has not been evaluated in LMICs. Methods....

In order to determine how posteroanterior movements (PAs) are related to tenderness and thus possibly symptom production, we measured PA movements to a force of 25N on each side of the cervical spines of asymptomatic subjects. From 10 subjects (six females and four males; mean age 37.2, range 21-50), 10 locations with a difference in tenderness to pressure between sides were used for analysis. ...

Hemp fibre mat reinforced polyester composites were fabricated using a conventional sheet moulding compound (SMC) process. The influence of fibre and CaCO3 filler content on strength and stiffness of the HF-SMCs is reported and compared with data for chopped glass fibre reinforced sheet moulding compounds (GF-SMCs). In addition the influence of alkaline and silane treatments of the hemp fibres ...

Drop-jumps are controlled by predictive and reactive motor strategies which differ with respect to the utilization of sensory feedback. With reaction, sensory feedback is integrated while performing the task. With prediction, sensory information may be used prior to movement onset. Certainty about upcoming events is important for prediction. The present study aimed at investigating how uncertai...