Tyrimo objektas. Vidutinių ir ilgų nuotolių bėgikų aerobinis pajėgumas ir kvėpavimo sistemos rodiklių sąryšis. Tyrime dalyvavo 19 vidutinio bei didelio meistriškumo vidutinių (pagrindinis varžybinis nuotolis – nuo 600 m iki 2 km, n =9) ir ilgųjų (3 km arba daugiau, n =10) nuotolių bėgikai. Tiriamiesiems buvo atliktas kvėpavimo sistemos funkcinės būklės nustatymas ramybėje ir aerobinio pajėgumo nustatymas atliekant nepertraukiamą nuosekliai didėjantį krūvį. Tikslas - nustatyti vidutinių ir ilgų nuotolių bėgikų aerobinio pajėgumo ir kvėpavimo sistemos funkcijos ypatumus. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Palyginti vidutinių ir ligų nuotolių bėgikų aerobinį pajėgumą. 2. Palyginti vidutinių ir ligų nuotolių bėgikų kvėpavimo sistemos funkcinius rodiklius. 3. Įvertinti sąryšį tarp bėgikų aerobinio pajėgumo ir kvėpavimo sistemos funkcijos rodiklių. Išsikėlėme hipotezę, kad kvėpavimo funkcinės galimybės dėl skirtingo intensyvumo treniruotės ir varžybinių krūvių turėtų būti didesnės tarp vidutinių nuotolių bėgikų, o aerobinės ištvermės rodikliai turėtų būti didesni tarp ilgų nuotolių bėgikų. Išvados 1. Absoliutus maksimalus deguonies suvartojimas lyginant vidutinių ir ilgų nuotolių bėgikus nesiskiria, o santykinės šio rodiklio reikšmės reikšmingai didesnės ilgų nuotolių bėgikų grupėje. 2. Ilgų nuotolių bėgikų pirmasis ventiliacinis slenkstis ir jį atitinkantis ŠSD didesni ilgų nuotolių bėgikų grupėje, nors maksimalios ŠSD reikšmės nuosekliai didinamo krūvio metu nesiskiria. 3. Bėgimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Object of research. Middle distance and long distance runners aerobic capacity and the connection of respiratory system indicators. We researched 19 superior level middle distance (main competition distance from 600m to 2 km, n = 9) and long distance (3 km or more, n = 10) runners. Researched sportsman have undergone respiratory system functional condition test in tranquility state and aerobic capacity test during consecutively heavier physical load. Goal of research. To determine the functional features of middle distance and long distance runners aerobic capacity and respiratory system. Tasks: 1. To compare aerobic capacity between middle distance and long distance runners. 2. To compare respiratory system functional indicators between middle distance and long distance runners. 3. Analyze and connection between runners aerobic capacity and respiratory system indicators. Hypothesis. Because of different training intensiveness and competition loads, functional capacities of respiration system are greater of the middle distance runners, and aerobic capacity indicators are greater of the long distance runners. Conclusion. 1. Absolute maximum oxygen consumption is almost the same of both middle distance and long distance runners, while relative indicators are significantly greater in the long distance runners group 2. Long distance runners first ventilator threshold and its corresponding heart contraction rate is greater in the long distance runners group, while maximum heart... [to full text]

The majority of physiological processes and various other processes taking place in the body are closely related to changes in body temperature (Shellock & Prentince, 1985; Bennett, 1990). The temperature of the human body is constant throughout one’s life. It is approximately 37ºC and it constantly adjusts itself to changes in environment, relative air humidity, the level of radiation, atmosphere pressure and thermo isolation. During long-term physical load, in case of illness or in conditions of extreme body temperature may be in the range from 32ºC to 40ºC or even more (Wilmore & Costill, 2004). It could be hypothesized therefore that the muscle warmed prior to the load to be undertaken, when the leg is extended and flexed in the knee joint at high (500, 450o / s) and average (180o / s) speed depending on gender will increase muscle force and muscle capacity to a greater extent than the cooled muscle, but after lowering the temperature muscle resistance to fatigue will increase. Though considerable research has been done already certain questions still remain to be cleared up, namely: 1. how warming affects muscle fatigue and recovery of female knee extensors and flexors when the leg is being flexed and extended in the knee joint at the fixed 500o / s speed; 2. how muscle contraction function of female and male knee extensors and flexors depends on temperature when the leg is being flexed and extended in the knee joint at the fixed 450o / s and 180o / s peed. Though there... [to full text]

The response patterns of human stretch receptors in the finger extensor muscles of the forearm were studied using the microneurography technique. Single-unit recordings were obtained from one-hundred and twenty-four afferents. A procedure was developed to classify the units in muscle spindle primary afferents, secondary afferents, and Golgi tendong organ afferents. The procedure allows an objective and reproducible classification on the basis of the afferents’ responses to a series of tests which individually are non-conclusive. It was demonstrated that maximal twitch contractions can be elicited in the finger extensor muscles of the forearm, without causing undue discomfort to the subjects, or hazarding the single-unit recording. The response of the units to this test allowed, in most cases but not always, a separation in muscle spindle and tendon organ afferents. Thus the test was not adequate for an unequivocal classification. Three discrete response parameters were extracted from ramp-and-hold stretches, viz. the presence or absence of an initial burst and a deceleration response, and prompt silencing at slow muscle shortening. The distributions of the parameters were significantly different among the three unit types. These parameters which were pair-wise independent constituted a set of considerable discriminative power. It was shown that human muscle spindles have about the same static position sensitivity to fractional muscle stretch as previously found in animals. Stretch sensitization was demonstrated by rapid, repeated stretches of the muscle which enhanced the réponse to subsequent slow stretches of muscle spindles. Sensitization was different with primary and secondary muscle spindle afferents whereas Golgi tendon organ afferents never displayed stretch sensitization. One-to-one driving with small-amplitude sinusoidal stretches superimposed on ramp-and- hold stretches was almost exclusively seen with primary muscle spindle afferents, whereas secondaries seldom and tendon organ afferents never displayed driving. The afferent responses during slowly increasing isometric contractions and rapid relaxations were analysed. An increased discharge rate on relaxation was common among spindle afferents whereas it was never seen in tendon organs afferents. Two separate groups of spindles afferents were found with regard to fusimotor recruitment. The largest group was recruited at rather low and variable contractile forces whereas the smaller group was not recruited at all. The proportions of the three unit types, spindle primary, spindle secondary, and Golgi tendon organ afferents were estimated from a preliminary classification and the distribution of the eight response features were analyzed for each class of afferents. On the basis of these estimates and the response pattern of the individual unit Bayes’ theorem was used to calculate the probabilities that the unit was a spindle primary, a spindle secondary, or a tendon organ afferent. Estimates indicate that about 19 out of 20 muscle afferents are correctly classified when all eight features are analyzed. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1988, härtill 6 uppsatser.</p> / digitalisering@umu

Optimal management of fractures, post-traumatic arthritis and instability of the distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) requires an understanding of the forces existing across this joint as a function of the activities of daily living. However, such knowledge is currently incomplete. The goal of this research was to quantify the loads that occur at the DRUJ during forearm rotation and to determine the effect that individual muscles have on those loads. Human and cadaver studies were used to analyze the shear (A-P), transverse (M-L) and resultant forces at the DRUJ and to determine the role that 15 individual muscles had on those forces. Data for scaling the muscles forces came from EMG analysis measuring muscle activity at nine positions of forearm rotation in volunteers during isometric pronation and supination. Muscle orientations were determined from the marked muscle origin and insertion locations of nine cadaveric arms at various stages of forearm rotation. The roles that individual muscles played in DRUJ loading were analyzed by removing the muscle of interest from the analysis and comparing the results. The EMG portion of this study found that the pronator quadratus, pronator teres, brachioradialis, flexor carpi radialis and palmaris longus contribute significantly to forearm pronation. The supinator, biceps brachii, and abductor pollicis longus were found to contribute significantly to supination. The results of the DRUJ analysis affirm that large transverse forces pass from the radius to the ulnar head at all positions of forearm rotation during pronation and supination (57.5N-181.4N). Shear forces exist at the DRUJ that act to pull the radius away from the ulna in the AP direction and are large enough to merit consideration when examining potential treatment options (7.9N-99.5N). Individual muscle analysis found that the extensor carpi radialis brevis, extensor pollicis longus, extensor carpi ulnaris, extensor indicis and palmaris longus had minimal effect on DRUJ loading. Other than the primary forearm rotators (pronator quadratus, pronator teres, supinator, biceps brachii), the muscles that exhibited the largest influence on DRUJ loading were the abductor pollicis longus, brachialis, brachioradialis, extensor carpi ulnaris, flexor carpi radialis, and flexor carpi ulnaris.

L'objectif de ce travail était d'une part de développer des méthodes numériques permettant d'estimer de manière satisfaisante les moments résultant, agoniste et antagoniste développés autour d'une articulation et, d'autre part, d'appliquer ces méthodes à l'analyse de la coordination pluri-articulaire d'un mouvement de piétinement. Le problème de la dynamique inverse est résolu à l'aide d'une méthode d'optimisation statique des accélérations qui permet d'estimer les moments résultants en accord avec toutes les mesures cinématiques et dynamiques, tout en respectant les conditions d'équilibre mécanique de chaque segment. Les moments musculaires agoniste et antagoniste sont estimés en conditions dynamiques à l'aide d'une méthode qui comprend une étape de calibration isométrique et une procédure d'optimisation numérique qui utilise les données cinématiques, dynamiques et électromyographiques en entrée. Le modèle tient compte du comportement mécanique des muscles et de leur fonction anatomique pour obtenir une estimation physiologiquement réaliste des moments et un indice de co-contraction fiable a chaque instant du mouvement. Ces modèles sont appliqués à l'étude de la coordination pluri-articulaire d'un mouvement de piétinement, perturbé par le port d'un système élastique à l'articulation du genou. La redondance du système musculo-squelettique permet de gérer localement la perturbation en accroissant la participation des muscles extenseurs au contrôle de la cinématique du genou. Cette stratégie permet de conserver la même cinématique du mouvement et ainsi préserve l'équilibre dynamique du piétinement.

The term ???Integral Abutment Bridges??? is used broadly all over the world these days. While the expansion joints used in bridges were once a scientifically proved cure to the problem of natural expansion and contraction, there are the excessive maintenance costs being accumulated annually due to the deterioration of essential functions from deicing chemicals and debris. This drawback triggered the advent of Integral Abutment Bridges. The performance of Integral Abutment Bridges at almost no extra costs in seasonal and daily cyclic contraction and expansion can be assessed as a monumental landmark of civil engineering technologies with respect to the massive budget reductions. However, since Integral Abutment Bridges are destined to expand or contract under the laws of nature, the bridge design became more complicated and sophisticated in order to complement the removal of expansion joints. That is why numerous researchers are attracted to Integral Abutment Bridges with deep interests. Accordingly, in designing the piled abutments of Integral bridges, it is essential to precisely predict the bridge???s behavior in advance. Researchers have been broadly carried out during the last several decades on the behavior of piled bridge abutments. However, most of the studies have been analyzed with focus on structural elements or soils, respectively for the static and dynamic loads such as thermal variations and earthquake loads. This presented research developed 3D numerical models with 3 m, 4 m, 5 m, 6 m, 7 m, and 8 m-tall abutments in the bridge using the finite element analysis software MIDAS CIVIL that simulate the behaviors of Integral Abutment Bridges to study the soil-structure interaction mechanism. In addition, this work evaluated and validated the suitability to the limit of the abutment height in Ontario???s recommendations for Integral Abutment Bridges by a parametric study under the combined static loading conditions. In order to be a balanced research in terms of a multidisciplinary study, this research analyzed key facts and issues related to soil-structure interaction mechanisms with both structural and geotechnical concerns. Moreover, the study established an explanatory diagram on soil-structure interaction mechanisms by cyclic thermal movements in Integral Abutment Bridges.

Cardiac myofibroblasts participate in post-myocardial infarct (MI) wound healing, infarct scar formation, and remodeling of the ventricle remote to the site of infarction. The role of intracellular calcium handling in cardiac myofibroblasts as a modulator of cellular motility, contractile responses, and proliferation is largely unexplored. We have investigated the role of sodium calcium exchange (Na Ca exchange or NCX1.1) and non-selective cation channels (NSCCs) in regulation of myofibroblast function using a pharmacological inhibitor approach in vitro. Primary myofibroblasts were stimulated with PDGF-BB and cellular chemotaxis, contraction and proliferative responses were characterized using standard bioassays (Costar Transwell apparatuses, pre-formed collagen type I gel deformation assays, and 3H-thymidine incorporation). Stimulated cellular responses were compared to those in the presence of AG1296 (PDGFβR inhibitor), KB-R7943 (NCX inhibitor), gadolinium, nifedipine or ML-7. Immunofluorescence was used to determine localized expression of αSMA, SMemb, NCX1.1, and Cav1.2a in cultured myofibroblasts. Motility of myofibroblasts in the presence of PDGF-BB was blocked with AG1296 treatment. Immunoblotting and immunocytochemical studies revealed expression of NCX1.1 in fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. Motility (in the presence of either PDGF-BB or CT-1), contraction (in the presence of either PDGF-BB or TGFβ1), and proliferation (in the presence of PDGF-BB) were sensitive to KB-R7943 treatment of cells (7.5 and 10 μM for motility, 5 and 10 μM for contractility, and 10 μM for proliferation). Proliferation (in the presence of PDGF-BB), and contractility (in the presence of either PDGF-BB or TGFβ1) but not motility (in the presence of PDGF-BB) are sensitive to nifedipine treatment, while gadolinium treatment was associated only with decreased motility of cells (in the presence of either PDGF-BB, CT-1, or LoFGF-2). We found that ML-7 treatment inhibited cellular chemotaxis, and contraction. Thus cellular chemotaxis, contractile, and proliferation responses were sensitive to different pharmacologic treatment. Regulation of transplasmalemmal calcium movements may be important in cytokine and growth factor receptor-mediated cardiac myofibroblast motility, contractility, and proliferation. Furthermore, our results support the hypothesis that activation of specific calcium transport proteins is an important determinant of physiologic responses.

We investigated the gestational expression of androgen receptor (AR) and defined its regulation and that of its co-repressors, PSF and p54nrb, by steroid hormones and myometrial stretch in vivo in pregnant and non-pregnant rats. Our data demonstrate that, 1) myometrial AR expression decreases prior to term; 2) AR expression is up-regulated by MPA treatment and down-regulated by mechanical stretch; (3) myometrial PSF protein expression is down-regulated by estrogen signaling and by mechanical stretch, and up-regulated by androgen signaling; (4) while myometrial PSF mRNA expression is also down-regulated by stretch, the regulation by estrogen and P4 on PSF mRNA appear to be opposite to the effects on PSF protein. We conclude that the decreased androgen signaling in late pregnancy (as a result of decreased AR and PSF expression mediated by hormonal and mechanical signals) may contribute to the mechanisms leading to labor initiation.

We investigated the gestational expression of androgen receptor (AR) and defined its regulation and that of its co-repressors, PSF and p54nrb, by steroid hormones and myometrial stretch in vivo in pregnant and non-pregnant rats. Our data demonstrate that, 1) myometrial AR expression decreases prior to term; 2) AR expression is up-regulated by MPA treatment and down-regulated by mechanical stretch; (3) myometrial PSF protein expression is down-regulated by estrogen signaling and by mechanical stretch, and up-regulated by androgen signaling; (4) while myometrial PSF mRNA expression is also down-regulated by stretch, the regulation by estrogen and P4 on PSF mRNA appear to be opposite to the effects on PSF protein. We conclude that the decreased androgen signaling in late pregnancy (as a result of decreased AR and PSF expression mediated by hormonal and mechanical signals) may contribute to the mechanisms leading to labor initiation.

The history of Newfoundland is intimately tied to its relationship with the sea, to its island status and its consequent cultural isolation, to its reliance on fishing and more recently oil. But it is also one of tides - of prosperity and loss, migration and resettlement, of occupation and erasure. This research is an investigation into the nature of mutable landscapes – shifting settlements, resources and infrastructures. It is recognized that the needs of each community and the resources of each environment are diverse in type and supply. The spatialization of an energy infrastructure has the opportunity to link, in a dynamic system, the ecological, political, cultural, and historical constituents atomized communities. It has the potential to be a dynamic system that forces a presence in the everyday lives of a cultural habitat. This investigation tests the possibility for a contemporary energy infrastructure, usually hidden from the cultural landscape, to become a physically and culturally pronounced manifestation of a layered historical narrative. This work exhumes histories of Newfoundland and uncovers omnipresent themes of mutability, shifting, movement, and transience, presenting the history of Newfoundland as a fluctuating story of the sea. These stories not only frame the historical spatializations of Newfoundland’s population, its infrastructures, and economies through various media, but they also simultaneously outline the social and economic deficiencies of modern approaches to developing the island. Structured chronologically, the research forms the basis for an investigation into new ideas for an infrastructure off the southern coast of Newfoundland. This design project exemplifies themes of shifting and movement through a mobile, water-based energy, research, and cultural infrastructure. It is situated off the southern coast of Newfoundland and engages both the land and the sea. This thesis does not try to tame, resolve, or control the sea. The sea is always itself, ordered by its own cycles of tides, currents and ecologies. One can really only synchronize the relationships between land and sea.