Modulation of pain perceptions following treadmill running with different intensities in females.

We aimed to compare the effects of three intensities of treadmill running on exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) in healthy individuals. We anticipated that the primary and secondary changes in pain perception and modulation may differ between running intensities. Sixty-six women were randomly assigned to one of three treadmill running intensities for 35 min: 40% reserved heart rate (HRR), 55% HRR, or 70% HRR. The effects of EIH were assessed using pressure pain thresholds (PPT) and tolerance thresholds (PPTol). We measured conditional pain modulation (CPM). Compared with baseline, PPT and PPTol significantly increased in all groups during running and at the 5-10-min follow-up. The PPT and PPTol changes in the moderate- and low-intensity groups were significantly higher than those in the high-intensity group during running and 24 h after running, while the CPM responses of the high-intensity group were significantly reduced at the 24-h follow-up. Moderate- and low-intensity running may elicit significant primary and secondary (persisting over 24 h) EIH effects and increase CPM responses in females. However, high-intensity running induced only limited analgesic effects and reduced CPM responses, which may be attributed to the activation of endogenous pain modulation.

Research advancement in vascular endothelial cell metabolism and tumor angiogenesis / 药学学报

Vascular endothelial cells play a major role in maintaining the oxygen and nutrient supply to all tissues in the body. Endothelial cells, together with vascular endothelial growth factor, are also the driving forces of tumor angiogenesis, a process describing the growth of blood vessels from the existing vasculature in tumor tissues. Reprogramming of endothelial cell metabolism satisfied the needs for biomass and energy in the process of tumor angiogenesis, which are known to involve the aspects of glucose metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and fatty acid metabolism. Recently, with the increasing interest to understand the metabolic regulation in cancer, the investigation into the metabolism of endothelial cells has made progress. We herein review the role of endothelial cell metabolism in angiogenesis, with a particular focus on the metabolic regulation of endothelial cells in tumor angiogenesis, which hopes to provide insights for the intervention of tumor angiogenesis in cancer therapy.

Investigation on Flos Trollii: constituents and bioactivities / 中国天然药物

Flos Trollii, the flowers of Trollius chinensis Bunge, has been widely used in Chinese and Mongolian medicine for its efficacy of heat-clearing and detoxification. This drug has both medicinal and edible applications, and has led to various pharmacognosy, natural product chemistry, and pharmacology studies. As a result, its chemical constituents and bioactivities have been well-characterized in recent years. Nevertheless, a couple of critical issues, such as the major effective components, are still unresolved. The present review summarizes research progress on this drug regarding the constituents and bioactivities based on investigations in these laboratories and the results reported in recent publications. In addition, the pending issues are discussed and constructive suggestions for further investigation are proposed.

Roles of deltoid and rotator cuff muscles in shoulder elevation.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to measure abduction moment arms of the supraspinatus, subscapularis, infraspinatus, and deltoid (anterior, middle, and posterior portions) muscles during humeral elevation in the scapular plane (abduction). DESIGN: Moment arms were measured by conducting an in vitro experiment. BACKGROUND: The moment arm of a muscle represents its mechanical advantage, which is an important determinant of muscle function. METHODS: Measurements were made on 10 fresh frozen cadaveric specimens. Tendon excursions were measured as the humerus was elevated in the plane of the scapula. The principle of virtual work was used to estimate the muscle moment arm of each muscle by computing the slope of the tendon excursion versus joint angle relationship. RESULTS: Moment arms were affected by joint angle in a non-linear fashion. The anterior deltoid, middle deltoid, subscapularis, and infraspinatus muscles had abduction moment arms throughout most of the range of motion studied. The posterior deltoid had an adduction moment arm. Internal and external humeral rotation affected the elevation moment arms of all six muscles. CONCLUSIONS: Abduction moment arm magnitudes of the muscles studies vary throughout the arc of elevation. This study was limited by considering broad muscles to have a single line of action. RELEVANCE: The positive elevation moment arms of the infraspinatus and subscapularis muscles indicate that they can elevate the arm in addition to acting as stabilizers. Thus this study suggests a biomechanical explanation for the clinical success of conservative treatment for rotator cuff tears.

Mechanical Properties of Palmar Radiocarpal Ligaments of Wrist and Their Clinical significances / 대한정형외과학회잡지

To study why the palmar capsular connections between radius and lunate remain intact in perilunate ligamentous injury of the wrist joint, and to compare the material properties of the short radiolunate, long radiolunate, and radioscaphoid region of the radioscaphocapitate ligaments (as the extrinsic ligaments) with those of the intrinsic ligaments of the previous papers, the anatomical and mechanical characteristics of those three palmar radiocarpal ligaments of twenty cadavers were measured and tested by a servo-hydraulic test machine. In spite of its small cross-sectional area (24% of short radiolunate ligament), the radioscaphoid ligament demonstrates a failure load of 58% and a stress of 260% of the short radiolunate ligament, and toughness similar to both the short and long radiolunate ligaments. This suggests that the radioscaphocapitate ligament may contribute as an initial constraint to perilunate injury. The failure load of the scapholunate ligament might be smaller than previously reported due to testing strain rate, which coupled with its short initial length may make it more vulnerable to injury at lower applied loads. The short radiolunate ligament, in spite of the largest width and cross-sectional area, has a failure load and toughness similar to the long radiolunate ligament. The material properties of short and long radiolunate ligaments may explain why the rest of the carpals persistently dislocate or fracture about lunate.