As foot constitutes the base of support for the whole body, the pregnancy-related anthropometric changes can result in adaptive plantar pressure alterations. The present study aimed to investigate ...how pregnancy affects foot loading pattern in gait, and if it is related to body adjustments to growing foetus that occur in the course of pregnancy.
A prospective longitudinal study included 30 women. Three experimental sessions in accordance with the same procedure were carried out in the first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy. First, the anthropometric measures of the body mass and waist circumference were taken. Then walking trials at a self-selected speed along a ~6-m walkway were registered with the FreeMED force platform (Sensor Medica, Italy). Vertical foot pressure was recorded by the force plate located in the middle of the walkway.
The correlation of individual foot loading parameters across different trimesters was relatively high. Nevertheless, our results revealed a longitudinal foot arch flattening with the strongest effect in late pregnancy (P = 0.01). The anthropometric characteristics also influenced the foot loading pattern depending on the phase of pregnancy. In particular, arch flattening correlated with the body mass in all trimesters (r≥0.44, P≤0.006) while the medial-lateral loading index correlated only in the first (r = 0.45, P = 0.005) and second (r = 0.36, P = 0.03) trimesters. Waist circumference changes significantly influenced dynamic arch flattening but only in the late pregnancy (r≥0.46, P≤0.004). In the third trimester, a small though significant increase in the right foot angle was observed (P = 0.01).
The findings provided the characteristics of the relative foot areas loading throughout pregnancy. Growing abdominal size increases the risk of medial arch flattening, which can result in less stable gait. The observed increase in foot angle in late pregnancy may constitute a strategy to enhance gait stability.
Poland, as a member of the European Union (EU), has to fulfill the obligations resulting from its membership in it. It is necessary to comply with numerous directives and other legal provisions ...adopted by the European Commission in the field of the energy market and production. Meeting the demands of the European Green Deal, as well as the solutions presented in the Fit for 55 package, is very difficult. In Poland, coal is still used in over 67% of electricity production. This article presents an attempt to join the multi-threaded discussion on renewable energy sources (RES) and the possibility of increasing their share in Poland’s energy mix. This article defines the RES support mechanisms in Poland, presents the support systems and instruments functioning within them, and also provides a statistical prediction of trends in energy production from RES for upcoming years. Research utilized the Brown, Holt, and Winters models and the cause-and-effect model. The research conducted in this article shows that Poland must make significant efforts to decarbonize the economy; in addition, the too quickly changing RES support system is not conducive to the development of these sources.
From among many studies observing the walking pattern throughout pregnancy, only two items monitor the influence of pregnancy on the movement system during gait considering the period before ...gestation.
Does the women's gait pattern at the end of the first trimester undergo changes in comparison to body movement pattern before pregnancy?
All subjects who met the inclusion criteria gave signed and informed consent before the study. Two experimental sessions were arranged according to the same protocol: (P0) before pregnancy and (P1) at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy (12th week of gestation). At first the anthropometric measures were taken. Then, walking trials at a self-selected speed along a walkway were registered with Vicon 250 (Oxford Metrics Ltd.; Oxford, UK) and FreeMED force platform (Sensor Medica, Italy).
An analysis of anthropometric parameters in 12th pregnancy week demonstrated significant changes in mean values of waist circumference and waist to hip ratio as well as waist to height ratio indexes compared to the results before pregnancy. No significant differences were found in the basic kinematic gait parameters between experimental conditions. Significant increase of mean inter-ankle distance during double support phase occurred during the first trimester of pregnancy. Also, the ratio of the ankle separation width to the pelvic width was noticeably higher in gestation. Then, angular changes of the pelvis in coronal and transverse planes throughout gait cycle during pregnancy demonstrated significant differences compared to those measured before pregnancy. At the same time in the first trimester of pregnancy no adaptive changes in the pattern of feet loading take place.
Since our study is of longitudinal character, in the course of pregnancy we expect compensatory mechanisms more clearly demonstrated. Therefore, we hope to identify a strategy of the gravid body progression in space.
In Arabidopsis thaliana, there are four members of the LSU (RESPONSE TO LOW SULFUR) gene family which are tandemly located on chromosomes 3 (LSU1 and LSU3) and 5 (LSU2 and LSU4). The LSU proteins are ...small, with coiled-coil structures, and they are able to form homo- and heterodimers. LSUs are involved in plant responses to environmental challenges, such as sulfur deficiency, and plant immune responses. Assessment of the role and function of these proteins was challenging due to the absence of deletion mutants. Our work fulfills this gap through the construction of a set of LSU deletion mutants (single, double, triple, and quadruple) by CRISPR/Cas9 technology. The genomic deletion regions in the obtained lines were mapped and the level of expression of each LSUs was assayed in each mutant. All lines were viable and capable of seed production. Their growth and development were compared at several different stages with the wild-type. No significant and consistent differences in seedlings’ growth and plant development were observed in the optimal conditions. In sulfur deficiency, the roots of 12-day-old wild-type seedlings exhibited increased length compared to optimal conditions; however, this difference in root length was not observed in the majority of lsu-KO mutants.
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•A series of plant lines with single and multigene lsu-KO mutations were obtained by CRISPR/Cas9 method.•All mutants, including a quadruple were viable and fertile.•LSU proteins are not essential but facilitate plant adaptation to non-optimal conditions, such as sulfur starvation.
Background
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a well‐known risk factor for cardiovascular events. Even though there are many electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria for LVH, they still provide poor ...performance, especially among obese patients. The aim of this study was to examine whether adding visceral fat to ECG LVH criteria improves accuracy in the diagnosis.
Methods
One thousand seven hundred twenty two patients were included in the study. All patients underwent a complete physical examination, office blood pressure measurement, analysis of body composition, 12‐lead ECG, and M‐mode two‐dimensional echocardiography. Four standard ECG criteria for LVH were analyzed, including Cornell voltage criteria, Cornell duration criteria, Sokolow–Lyon voltage criteria, and Sokolow–Lyon product criteria. Adjustments of ECG LVH criteria were performed using visceral fat level (VFATL) and BMI. Transthoracic echocardiography was used as a reference method to compare the quality of ECG LVH criteria.
Results
Multivariate logistic regression models were created and revealed a significant increase of area under curve (AUC) after VFATL and BMI addition to ECG LVH criteria. Improvement of sensitivity at 90% specificity was observed in all created models. The odds ratio (OR) of the analyzed ECG criteria increased after adding VFATL and BMI to the models. Furthermore, ROC curves analysis exposed better characteristics in detecting LVH of VFATL‐adjusted criteria than BMI‐adjusted and unadjusted criteria.
Conclusions
Adjusting ECG indexes to BMI or VFATL improves the sensitivity of LVH detection. VFATL‐corrected indexes are more sufficiently than BMI‐corrected. After advancements in indexes, both lean and morbidly obese individuals outcomes show a greater prevalence of correct LVH diagnosis.
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