Search results for " Muscle"
showing 10 items of 1495 documents
Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy in a northern German family linked to chromosome 14q, and presenting carnitine deficiency
1997
We report the evaluation of oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) in a large northern German family, which can be traced back six generations and is unrelated to French-Canadian families. The symptoms in this family start at about 50 years of age and include dysphagia, bilateral ptosis, and in some cases a slowly progressive atrophy and weakness of other extraocular, facial or limb girdle muscles. The muscle biopsies showed the pathognomonic ultrastructural finding of characteristic intranuclear filaments. Linkage analysis confirmed that this family is also linked to chromosome 14q markers. Haplotype analysis revealed that a unique haplotype segregates with the disease which is differen…
Determinants of physical activity in daily life in candidates for lung transplantation
2012
BACKGROUND: Participation in daily physical activity (PA) has never been objectively assessed in candidates for lung transplantation (LTx). The main research questions were: 1) How active are LTx-candidates in daily life? 2) What are determinants of activity behavior before LTX? METHODS: Ninety-six candidates for LTx (diagnosis of COPD or interstitial lung disease; mean age 55 ± 7 years) underwent measurements of PA, pulmonary function, 6-min walking distance (6MWD), muscle force and health-status (SF-36 scale). RESULTS: Patients were markedly inactive (5% of waking hours walking, 26% standing and 69% sedentary). Backward multiple regression identified 6MWD (expressed as % of predicted valu…
Neural and mechanical responses of the triceps surae muscle group after 1 h of repeated fast passive stretches
2004
Experiments were carried out to examine interaction between mechanical changes of the muscletendon unit and reduced reflex sensitivity after repeated and prolonged passive muscle stretching (RPS). There is some evidence that this interaction might be relevant also during active stretch-shortening cycle type of fatigue tasks. The results demonstrated a clear deterioration of voluntarily and electrically induced muscle contractions after RPS. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), average electromyographic activities of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, and maximal twitch contraction decreased on average by 13.8, 10.4, 7.6, and 16.8%, respectively. In addition, there was a 14% lengthening …
The pterygoid reflex in man and its clinical application
1992
A technique for eliciting and recording the stretch reflex (R) of the medial pterygoid muscle (Pter) is described. The latency was 6.9 ± 0.43 ms in 23 healthy volunteers (mean age 23.7 years) showing a side-to-side difference of 0.29 ± 0.21 ms. The PterR latencies were little shorter and side-to-side difference little greater than of the masseter reflex. Observations in 5 selected patients with small brainstem lesions suggest that the neurons of the PterR afferents form a cluster within the caudal portion of the trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus. Testing the masseter and pterygoid reflexes provides a more precise localization of small ponto-mesencephalic lesions. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, In…
Effects of different dropping intensities on fascicle and tendinous tissue behavior during stretch-shortening cycle exercise.
2003
This study examined whether the elasticity of the tendinous tissues plays an important role in human locomotion by improving the power output and efficiency of skeletal muscle. Ten subjects performed one-leg drop jumps (DJ) from different dropping heights with a constant rebound height. The fascicle length of the vastus lateralis muscle was measured by using real-time ultrasonography during DJ. In the braking phase of the DJ, fascicle lengthening decreased and the tendinous tissue lengthening increased with increased dropping intensity. In the subsequent push-off phase, the shortening of tendinous tissues increased with higher dropping intensity. The averaged electromyographic activities of…
Stretch-reflex mechanical response to varying types of previous muscle activities
2002
This study was designed to examine the effects of varying types of background muscle activity on the stretch-reflex mechanical response. A rapid stretch was applied to the calf muscles after an isometric (pre-ISO), shortening (pre-SHO) and lengthening contraction (pre-LEN) with several pre-contraction levels, respectively. The stretch perturbation was applied with the tibio-tarsal joint angle at 90 degrees. The ankle joint torque elicited by the stretch showed a first peak (non-reflex torque: NRT), a transient drop and a second peak (reflex torque: RT). The muscle activities before the stretch clearly influenced the stretch-reflex mechanical response. The NRT reached the largest peak with t…
Short-latency stretch reflex modulation in response to varying soleus muscle activities.
2002
The current investigation examined the effect of various types of background muscle contractions on the short-latency stretch reflex (SLR) elicited from the soleus muscle while subjects were in a sitting position. A stretch was applied to the calf muscles while they performed an isometric (pre-ISO), shortening (pre-SHO) and lengthening contraction (pre-LEN) with several pre-contraction levels. The ankle was at a 90 degrees tibio-tarsal joint angle when the perturbation was applied. Subjects developed and maintained a given pre-load level, which was maintained at various percentages of the maximum voluntary isometric plantar flexion torque. This was performed at 80 degrees in pre-SHO, 90 deg…
The role of the stretch reflex in the gastrocnemius muscle during human locomotion at various speeds
2007
In the present study, the fascicle length ( Lfa) of the human medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle was monitored to evaluate possible input from the short-latency stretch reflex (SLR) during the stance phase of running and to examine its timing at various running speeds. Eight subjects ran at 2.0, 3.5, 5.0, and 6.5 m/s. The Lfa was measured with the high-speed ultrasound fascicle scanning together with kinematics and myoelectrical activities. The amplitudes and onset latency of SLR activities were determined. During ground contact, the sudden MG fascicle stretch occurred during the early contact at all running speeds. This was followed by the fascicle shortening. The timing of fascicle stretch…
Altered reflex sensitivity after repeated and prolonged passive muscle stretching.
1999
Experiments were carried out to test the effect of prolonged and repeated passive stretching (RPS) of the triceps surae muscle on reflex sensitivity. The results demonstrated a clear deterioration of muscle function immediately after RPS. Maximal voluntary contraction, average electromyographic activity of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, and zero crossing rate of the soleus muscle (recorded from 50% maximal voluntary contraction) decreased on average by 23.2, 19.9, 16.5, and 12.2%, respectively. These changes were associated with a clear immediate reduction in the reflex sensitivity; stretch reflex peak-to-peak amplitude decreased by 84.8%, and the ratio of the electrically induced m…
Effects of long- and short-term fatiguing stretch-shortening cycle exercises on reflex EMG and force of the tendon-muscle complex
2003
This study examined the fatigue effects of stretch-shortening cycle exercises of different intensity and duration on stretch reflex EMG and mechanical responses of the triceps surae muscle. Twelve subjects performed either a 10-km run ( n=6) or short but exhaustive rebound exercise on a sledge apparatus ( n=6). Passive reflex tests (mechanically induced ankle dorsiflexions) were examined before, after as well as 2 h, 2 and 7 days after exercise. Mechanical reflex responses were recorded from the ergometer torque signal. An acute contractile failure was observed as large reductions in twitch responses, especially in the sledge subgroup who showed high post-exercise peak blood lactate and an …