A mouse model of ankle-subtalar joint complex instability induced post-traumatic osteoarthritis

Background Ankle-subtalar joint complex instability is not uncommonly presented in the clinic, but symptoms and signs similar to other conditions can easily lead to its misdiagnosis. Due to the lack of appropriate animal models, research on ankle-subtalar joint complex instability is limited. The aims of the present study were to establish an animal model of ankle-subtalar joint complex instability in mice and to explore its relationship with post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Methods Twenty-one male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into three groups: SHAM group (sham surgery group), transected cervical ligament + anterior talofibular ligament (CL+ATFL) group, and transected cervical ligament + deltoid ligament (CL+DL) group. Two weeks after surgery, all mice underwent cage running training. Balance beam and gait tests were used to evaluate the changes in self-movement in the mice after ankle-subtalar ligament injury. Micro-CT and histological staining were used to evaluate the progress of PTOA. Results Compared with the SHAM group, balance and gait were affected in the ligament transection group. Twelve weeks after surgery, the time required to cross the balance beam in the CL+ATFL group was 35.1% longer and the mice slipped 3.6-fold more often than before surgery, and the mean step length on the right side was 7.2% smaller than that in the SHAM group. The time required to cross the balance beam in the CL+DL group was 32.1% longer and the mice slipped 3-fold more often than prior to surgery, and the average step length on the right side was 5.6% smaller than that in the SHAM group. CT images indicated that 28.6% of the mice in the CL+DL group displayed dislocation of the talus. Tissue staining suggested that articular cartilage degeneration occurred in mice with ligament transection 12 weeks after surgery. Conclusions Transected mice in the CL+ATFL and CL+DL groups displayed mechanical instability of the ankle-subtalar joint complex, and some mice in the CL+DL group also suffered from talus dislocation due to ligament injury leading to loss of stability of the bone structure. In addition, as time progressed, the articular cartilage displayed degenerative changes, which affected the ability of animals to move normally.

Mental body rotation with egocentric and object-based transformations in different postures: standing vs. balancing

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest better visual-spatial processing when participants are tested in postures in which dynamic stability is challenged. The question arises if this is also true for the performance in mental body-rotation tasks (MBRT). AIM: Taking the embodied cognition approach into account, the first aim of the present study was to examine the potential influence of different demands on dynamic stability for two postures (parallel stand vs. tandem stand) on solving two versions of the MBRT, inducing either an object-based or an egocentric perspective transformation strategy. The second aim was to investigate if these different demands on dynamic stability are reflected in postural sway parameters. METHOD: Thirty participants (18 females and 12 males) were tested in the two MBRTs and in a control condition. All tasks were performed while standing on a balance beam in tandem stand and in a feet parallel position on a force plate. RESULTS: The results for response time and response error revealed effects of rotation angle and task, but no effect of posture. The analyzed Center of Pressure (CoP) data revealed a reduction of body sway during the MBRT for egocentric perspective transformations. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that participants performed better for egocentric than for object-based transformations and that the egocentric transformation leads to more postural stability than the object-based.

Children's (Mis)understanding of the Balance Beam (Online Edition)

The balance-scale task, proposed by Inhelder and Piaget, illustrates children understanding of weight-distance relationships. Piaget used the clinical interview method in order to investigate children's reasoning. Over the last five decades, Siegler's Rule-Assessment Approach has been used to explain children reasoning in the balance-scale task according to rules children would use to solve the task. However, this approach does not take into account some key perceptual properties of the task. This study evaluates whether different task demands would alter children's errors. Forty children (twenty children aged 4–5 years and twenty children aged 9–10 years) predicted the movement of both arms of 16 balance-scale problems administered online. Nine 4–5-year-olds produced non-plausible responses whereas none of the 9–10-year-olds provided non-plausible responses. These results seem to indicate a basic misunderstanding of the scale from some younger children, one that eludes traditional measures used with this task.

The Effect of Single Leg and Double Leg Bounding Exercise Program (BEP) on Increasing the Physical Ability of Agility, Strength, Balance and Leg Muscle Power

The objectives of this study are to study and test the effect of using the effect of the single leg and double leg bounding exercise program (BEP) on the improvement of physical agility, strength, balance, and leg muscle power. The subjects of this study were 42 students of Physical Education class 2017 STKIP PGRI Jombang.This type of research is quantitative with quasi-experimental techniques. Sampling using the Solvin formula and purposive sampling technique. The process of taking data from the initial test and the final test uses the leg dynamometer test to determine leg muscle strength, side step test for agility, force plate test for leg muscle power, and balance beam test for balance.The results of the study on the normality and homogeneous tests showed normal and homogeneous data results with a significance value above 0.05. The mean difference test was carried out using the paired test and the Manova test. The method of increasing the agility, strength, balance and leg muscle power has a significant improvement with the two experimental methods.The conclusion of this study is that the bounding exercise program can significantly increase the agility, strength, balance and leg muscle power. However, from the two exercises the increase was greater in the group using the single leg bounding type of exercise.

APC Overexpression Suppresses the Pyroptosis of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Model Cells through Regulating NLRP3 Inflammasome Pathway

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a kind of hemorrhagic stroke with high mortality. Activated protein C (APC) was implicated to play a neuroprotective role in central nervous system diseases. However, its role in SAH remains unclear. Our study aims to investigate the role of APC and its regulatory mechanism in SAH. The SAH rat model was constructed by internal carotid artery puncture. The SAH cell model was established by the application of oxygen hemoglobin. ELISA was performed to detect the level of cytokines. Flow cytometry was used to detect the population of pyroptosis cells. Neurological functions of rats were estimated using modified Garcia scoring and balance beam test. SAH hemorrhage was estimated using modified Sugawara's scoring. APC was significantly increased and NLRP3 was decreased in SAH rat model in a time-dependent manner. The application of APC recombinant protein 3K3A-APC could notably ameliorate SAH hemorrhage and improve neurological functions. Besides, 3K3A-APC could inhibit pyroptosis in a dose-dependent manner in SAH cell model. Moreover, the inhibition of NLRP3 could reverse the effects induced by the knockdown of APC. Our study revealed that APC could ameliorate SAH-induced EBI by suppressing pyroptosis via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome, which would provide a novel strategy for the treatment of SAH.

SPRING EXERCISES AND TRAINING WALKING ON BEAMS BALANCE ON MOTION BALANCE BASIC STUDENT'S BODY

The background that underlies this research is the existence of several problems with the level of balance of movement of students which are low and very varied and there is no suitable method to train the balance of body movements. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of stilts and balance beam exercises on the balance of body movements of elementary school students, and to know the difference between stilts training and walking exercises on balance blocks on the balance of body movements of elementary school students. In this study, the research object was elementary school students. The research method used in this research is the experimental research method. Then the measuring instrument used is the Modified Bass Test of Dynamic Balance. For data analysis using homogeneity test, normality test, hypothesis test and difference test. The hypothesis that the researcher proposes is that there is an effect of stilts and balance beam training on the balance of body movements and there are differences between the two. Based on the results of the research and discussion, it can be concluded that there is a difference in the effect of stilts training and walking on a balance beam on the balance of upper class students. This is based on the results of the calculation, the average difference in the improvement in the results of the stilts 4.0 and balance beam training results is 3.33.

Chronological and Skeletal Age in Relation to Physical Fitness Performance in Preschool Children

Introduction: Physical fitness is an adaptive state that varies with an individual's growth and maturity status. Considering that the difference in skeletal maturity already existed among preschool children, this study was designed to determine the influence of skeletal age and chronological age on preschoolers' physical fitness performance.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 945 healthy preschoolers (509 males, 436 females) aged between 3.0 and 6.0 years in Shanghai, China. We used the method of TW3-C RUS to determine skeletal age. Chronological age was measured by subtracting the date of birth from the test date. Sit and reach, 2 × 10 m shuttle run test, standing long jump, tennis ball throw, 5 m jump on both feet, and balance beam walk were considered for physical fitness performance. Correlation coefficients and partial correlations adjusting height and weight were used to determine the relationships among the variables of skeletal age/ relative skeletal age, chronological age/relative chronological age, and physical fitness items.Results: Skill-related physical fitness was weakly to moderately associated with skeletal age (the absolute value of r: 0.225–0.508, p < 0.01) and was moderately to strongly associated with chronological age (the absolute value of r: 0.405–0.659, p < 0.01). Health-related physical fitness items (BMI and sit and reach) showed a fairly weak to no correlation with skeletal age and chronological age. After adjusting the height and weight, an extremely weak to no correlation was observed between skeletal age and both health- and skill-related physical fitness, and weak-moderate correlations were noted between chronological age and skill-related physical fitness (the absolute value of r: 0.220–0.419, p < 0.01). In children in Grade 1, skill-related physical fitness (except for balance beam walk) showed a weak to moderate correlation with relative chronological age (the absolute value of r: 0.227–0.464, p < 0.05).Conclusion: (1) both skeletal age and chronological age are associated with skill-related rather than health-related physical fitness performance, and after adjusting height and weight, chronological age, rather than skeletal age, is associated with skill-related physical fitness performance; (2) for preschool children, skill-related physical fitness performance is influenced by relative chronological age rather than individual differences in skeletal maturation, especially in the lower grades.

Correlation of body composition with speed and agility of children aged 9-10

Purpose: Physical growth of children is measured by changes in body size and/or body composition, as well as by changes in motor skills. Motor skills can be affected by many factors, such as genetic predisposition, body composition, socio-economic conditions, and the like. Accordingly, the aim of the research is to determine the correlation between body composition with speed and agility of children aged 9 to 10 years. Methods: The sample included 40 participants (29 boys and 11 girls, 9.47 ± 0.5 years). Body height (BH), body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI) and body fat (BF), and basal metabolism (BMR) were determined to assess body composition. The BOT-2 subtest was used to assess speed and agility, which includes: Shuttle Run (1SAA), Stepping Sideways over a Balance Beam (2SAA), One-Legged Stationary Hop (3SAA), One-Legged Side Hop (4SAA), Two-Legged Side Hop (5SAA), and Total Speed and Agility (TSAA). Results: The results of correlation statistics indicated the existence of negative correlations between: height and 3SAA (r=-.353, p=.026); weight and 3SAA (r=-.422, p=. 007); weight and TSAA (r=-.359, p=.023); BMI and 3SAA (r=-.342, p=. 031); BMI and TSAA (r=-.333, p=.036); BMR and 3SAA (r=-.369, p=. 019); BMR and TSAA (r=-.363, p=.021). Conclusion: Based on the results obtained in this study, it can be concluded that there is a correlation between body composition and speed and agility. In addition to body composition, a correlation was found between body height and performance of one-legged stationary hop, as well as between basal metabolism, the one-legged stationary hop test and the overall results achieved in motor skill tests.

Children with Auditory Brainstem Implant: How Do They Perform in Motor and Language Skills?

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Young children are able to explore new objects and practice language through the acquisition of motor skills that lead to their overall development. Congenital hearing loss and total vestibular loss may contribute to the delay in speech and motor skill development. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> To investigate the relationship between motor development performance, speech perception, and language performance in children with auditory brainstem implant (ABI). <b><i>Method:</i></b> Ten children, aged 4–17 years (mean age 9.76 ± 4.03), fitted with unilateral ABI for at least 2 years due to the presence of labyrinthine aplasia and rudimentary otocyst at least 1 side were included in the study. Several standardized tests, such as Bruininks-Oseretsky Motor Proficiency Test-2 (BOT-2), Children’s Auditory Perception Test Battery, Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS), and Test of Early Language Development-3, were performed to evaluate their skills of fine motor control, balance, manual dexterity, language, and auditory perception. <b><i>Results:</i></b> A significant correlation was established between the BOT-2 manual dexterity and MAIS scores (<i>r</i> = 0.827, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05) and between the manual dexterity and language skills (for expressive language, <i>r</i> = 0.762, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05; for receptive language, <i>r</i> = 0.650, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). Some of the BOT-2 balance tasks, such as standing on 1 leg on a line with eyes closed, standing on 1 leg on a balance beam with eyes open, standing heel-to-toe on a balance beam, and walking forward heel-to-toe on a line, showed a strong correlation with their receptive and expressive language performance (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The current study has indicated that significantly poor manual and balance performances are associated with poor speech perception and language skills in children with ABI. The authors recommend performing a vestibular assessment before and after ABI surgery and the use of a holistic rehabilitation approach, including auditory and vestibular rehabilitation, to support development of the children with ABI.