Abstract The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between the retention of fetal membranes (RFM) and apoptosis of the cells in fetal membranes. The present study investigated ...mRNA and protein expressions of apoptosis-regulating factors: FAS, cellular FLICE-like inhibiting protein (cFLIP), BAX, BCL2, caspase-8 (CASP8), and CASP3 in fetal membranes. Placentomes were manually collected from the uterus immediately after parturition and classified into two groups (RFM; n = 8 and non-RFM; n = 8) according to whether placental membranes were expelled or not within 12 h after delivery. FAS mRNA expression in maternal placental tissue was less in RFM cows than in non-RFM cows ( P < 0.05). cFLIP mRNA expression in maternal and fetal placental tissue was greater in RFM cows than in non-RFM cows ( P < 0.05). CASP3 mRNA expression in maternal placental tissue was greater in RFM cows than in non-RFM cows ( P < 0.05). However, the protein expressions of FAS, cFLIP and cleaved CASP3 were not significantly different between the two groups. mRNA and protein expressions of BAX, BCL2 and CASP8 were also not significantly different between the two groups. In the immunohistochemical study, single-stranded DNA, which appears specifically in the apoptotic cells, was mainly found in the maternal placenta of non-RFM cows. Together these results suggest that RFM occurs at least in part due to a dysfunctional apoptotic process caused by the inhibition of FAS expression in the maternal placenta, and the increase of cFLIP expression in the maternal and fetal placenta.
Chronic ankle instability (CAI) causes impairment in proprioception, such as ankle joint position sense and plantar cutaneous sensation. Although plantar vibration stimulation may be effective as a ...means of en hancing proprioception, its efficacy remains ambiguous. This study aimed to clarify the immediate effects of plan tar vibration stimulation on healthy athletes and athletes with CAI. Eight healthy and eight CAI athletes partici pated in this study, and their joint position sense and cutaneous sensation were evaluated before and after the in tervention of plantar vibration stimulation or non-intervention, designed as a cross-over study. There were no sig nificant differences between the healthy group and the CAI group in both joint position and plantar cutaneous sensation. Also, there were no statistically significant changes in either group before or after the intervention. One possible explanation for the absence of differences between the healthy and CAI groups could be attributed to a high Foot and Ankle Ability Measure score. Neither group exhibited any changes in joint position or plantar cuta neous sensation following the vibration intervention. The frequency and amplitude of the vibration stimulation af fecting proprioceptors may be different, and the joint position and plantar cutaneous sensation of CAI groups may be comparable with those of healthy participants.
Ankle brace is commonly used to treat and prevent ankle sprain. Its main aim is to restrict supina tion of the ankle. However, some braces restrict ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion. In ...addition, loosening and loss of restriction after exercise have also been reported. The purpose of this study was to reveal if thin-type ankle brace for ankle sprain restricts ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion and its effect of exercise. Five male adults (average age of 30.8±5.2 years) were included in the study. Dorsiflexion and plantar flexion of subjectsʼright ankle was measured before and after wearing the brace, and before and after exercises. Exercises consisted of perform ing 20 times of calf raise, full squat, maximum vertical jump, and 5-minute running on a treadmill. Measurement was performed thrice, and their average was statistically analyzed between with and without the brace, and be fore and after each exercise. The results showed that there was no significant difference between all measured an gles of with and without the brace and before and after each exercise. Thin-type ankle brace for ankle sprain have been reported to restrict supination. Considering our results, this brace does not restrict ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion.
A measurement principle of the three-dimensional electromagnetic articulographic device is presented. The state of the miniature receiver coil is described by five variables representing the position ...in the three-dimensional coordinate system and the rotation angles relative to it. When the receiver coil is placed in the magnetic field produced from the distributed transmitter coils, its state can be optimally estimated by minimizing the difference between the measured strength of the received signal and the predicted one using the known spatial pattern of the magnetic field. Therefore, the design and calibration of the field function inherently determine the accuracy in estimating the state of the receiver coil. The field function in our method is expressed in the form of a multivariate B spline as a function of position in the three-dimensional space. Because of the piecewise property of the basis function and the freedom in the selection of the rank and the number of basis functions, the spline field function has a superior ability to flexibly and accurately represent the actual magnetic field. Given a set of calibration data, the spline function is designed to form a smooth curved surface interpolating all of these data samples. Then, an iterative procedure is employed to solve the nonlinear estimation problem of the receiver state variables. Because the spline basis function is a polynomial, it is also shown that the calculation of the Jacobian or Hessian required to obtain updated quantities for the state variables can be efficiently performed. Finally, experimental results reveal that the measurement accuracy is about 0.2 mm for a preliminary condition, indicating that the method can achieve the degree of precision required for observing articulatory movements in a three-dimensional space. It is also experimentally shown that the Marquardt method is a better nonlinear programming technique than the Gauss-Newton or Newton-Raphson method for solving the receiver state problem.
Side-fringe-field effects on track edge phenomena for heads with different pole shapes were evaluated. Written tracks were partially dc-erased from both track edges, and the changes in the residual ...track output were measured. The erased track widths were also observed by the Bitter method. It was found that the fringe field width of recording heads strongly depends on the pole shape and that the trimming of recording head poles is very effective for reducing head-fringe-field effects. Writing misregistration capability was also evaluated through off-track overwrite measurement.
The numerical results for a bent parabolic mirror monochromator designed for the SPring‐8/Figure‐8 soft X‐ray undulator are described. A thermal and structural finite‐element analysis is presented ...for side‐cooled premirrors of the bent parabolic mirror monochromator. Using a ray‐tracing code, the effect of the final induced figure errors on the performance of the premirror are discussed.
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