Search results for "Contraction"

Specific modulation of corticospinal and spinal excitabilities during maximal voluntary isometric, shortening and lengthening contractions in synergi…

2011

Non-technical summary  The neural control of muscle activity differs during voluntary shortening and lengthening contractions. In this paper, we show that the relative contribution of both cortical and spinal mechanisms to the modulation of neural activation is specific during lengthening contraction and differs between synergist muscles. Knowledge of spinal and corticospinal excitabilities modulations during shortening and lengthening muscle contraction improves our understanding of the processes that underlies the neural control of muscles during dynamic contractions.

Acute myocardial effects of mitoxantrone in the rabbit

1987

Some clinical studies that were performed for the purpose of assessing the potential cardiotoxicity of mitoxantrone (DHAD) have shown that repeated administrations of the drugs in some patients cause a mild impairment of cardiac functions and morphological changes in the myocardial cells qualitatively similar to those elicited by anthracyclines. Since doxorubicin has been reported to cause acute cardiac effects, probably related to its chronic cardiotoxicity, experiments were carried out on the rabbit heart to investigate whether DHAD is also able to induce acute cardiac effects. Our results show that this drug caused a reversible dose-related impairment of cardiac contractility on the isol…

Trainierte Skelettmuskulatur als Herzmuskelersatz: Ein neues Therapiekonzept

2008

Patterns of Reversal in the Heart of Ciona Intestinalis L.

1969

The reversal of the heart beat is not exclusive to tunicates, for Marcello Malpighi in 1660 described periodic reversal in Bombyx mori and in some Orthoptera. In 1821 Kuhl and van Hasselt reported the phenomenon in Ciona intestinalis L. We have observed reversal in many active pulsating blood vessels, both in vertebrates and in invertebrates, and even in embryonic heart tubes. Using four or five suction electrodes simultaneously, we were able to record electrical activity from multiple sites. Normally, the contraction wave originates from a localized site at one end of the tube and then traverses the whole length of the heart. When a wave of excitation does not propagate the full length, th…

Neuromuscular junction disassembly and muscle fatigue in mice lacking neurotrophin-4

2001

Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) is produced by slow muscle fibers in an activity-dependent manner and promotes growth and remodeling of adult motorneuron innervation. However, both muscle fibers and motor neurons express NT-4 receptors, suggesting bidirectional NT-4 signaling at the neuromuscular junction. Mice lacking NT-4 displayed enlarged and fragmented neuromuscular junctions with disassembled postsynaptic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) clusters, reduced AChR binding, and acetylcholinesterase activity. Electromyographic responses, posttetanic potentiation, and action potential amplitude were also significantly reduced in muscle fibers from NT-4 knock-out mice. Slow-twitch soleus muscles from thes…

Mechanisms underlying diabetes enhancement of endothelin-1-induced contraction in rabbit basilar artery

2004

The influence of alloxan-induced diabetes on the reactivity of rabbit basilar artery to endothelin-1 was examined. Endothelin-1 induced concentration-dependent contraction of basilar arteries that was higher in diabetic than in control rabbits. Endothelium removal produced a higher enhancement of the endothelin-1-induced contraction in control than in diabetic rabbits. N(G)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NOArg) enhanced the maximal contraction induced by endothelin-1 in control rabbits and potentiated this response in diabetic rabbits. Endothelin ETA receptor antagonist, cyclo(D-Asp-Pro-D-Val-Leu-D-Trp) (BQ-123), inhibited endothelin-1-induced contraction in both rabbit groups. Endothelin ETB receptor…

A mixed FES/EMG system for real time analysis of muscular fatigue

2010

International audience; In this article, we present a functional electrical stimulator allowing the extraction in real time of M-wave characteristics from resulting EMG recodings in order to quantify muscle fatigue. This system is composed of three parts. A Labview software managing the stimulation output and electromyogram (EMG) input signal, a hardware part amplifying the output and input signal and a link between the two previous parts which is made up from input/output module (NIdaq USB 6251). In order to characterize the fatigue level, the Continuous Wavelet Transform is applied yielding a local maxima detection. The fatigue is represented on a scale from 0 for a fine shaped muscle to …

A full body musculoskeletal model based on flexible multibody simulation approach utilised in bone strain analysis during human locomotion

2011

Load-induced strains applied to bone can stimulate its development and adaptation. In order to quantify the incident strains within the skeleton, in vivo implementation of strain gauges on the surfaces of bone is typically used. However, in vivo strain measurements require invasive methodology that is challenging and limited to certain regions of superficial bones only such as the anterior surface of the tibia. Based on our previous study [Al Nazer et al. (2008) J Biomech. 41:1036-1043], an alternative numerical approach to analyse in vivo strains based on the flexible multibody simulation approach was proposed. The purpose of this study was to extend the idea of using the flexible multibod…

Simple equipment to measure biomechanical quantities of muscles and organs which includes a polarity-programmable peak detector

1982

Biomechanical measurements of muscles and organs require appropriate measuring equipment. As far as the static properties are concerned, the excursion of the bender bar of stress should be without force. The bender bar of force, however, ideally should not elongate under load. Because natural frequency is the most important boundary condition, the bender bar should be developed with this in mind. The developed bars imposed an insignificant preload to the muscle or to the organ. The small changes in resistance occurring in the resistance strain gauges affixed to the bars require the use of a highly stable amplifier. A new amplifier was accordingly developed based on the principle of an instr…

FIELD TESTING OF THE SMBF FLUME

2007

At first, in this paper the stage-discharge relationship of a new flume, originally proposed by Samani and Magallanez, for measuring flow discharge in open channels is reviewed. The flume is obtained inserting two semicylinders in a rectangular cross-section. Then, the results of some experimental runs carried out using horizontal flumes characterized by different values of the contraction ratio (ranging from 0.17 to 0.81) are used for determining the two coefficients of the power stage-discharge equation. Finally, the stage-discharge equation is tested using flow measurements carried out, in the period December 2004 – March 2006 in the Sicilian experimental SPA1 and SPA2 basins. Field test…