OBJECTIVE: To evaluate strength profile of the upper and lower limbs among adolescent elite Malaysian badminton players.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
SETTING: Laboratory.
PARTICIPANTS: Forty-eight asymptomatic athletes (24 males and 24 females) were grouped into early and late adolescence (13-14 y old and 15-17 y old, respectively).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Strength (absolute and normalized) of the external/internal rotators of the shoulder and flexor/extensor of the knee and strength derivatives, conventional strength ratio (CSR), dynamic control ratio (DCR), and bilateral deficits were measured.
RESULTS: Males showed greater strength in all strength indices (P < .05). The older group had greater strength compared to younger for most of the upper and lower limb indices (P < .05); these effects diminished when using normalized data. For females, there was no age group effect in the shoulder and knee strength. All players displayed lower shoulder and knee normative values for CSR and DCR. Dominant and non-dominant knee strength were comparable between sex and age groups.
CONCLUSIONS: For males, growth and maturation had a greater contribution to strength gained compared to training, whereas for females, growth, maturation, and training did not improve strength. The normalized data indicated that training did not improve all indices measured apart from external rotator strength in females. All players also displayed lower normative values of CSR and DCR. These results suggest that training in elite adolescent Malaysian badminton players lacks consideration of strength gain and injury risk factors.
AIM OF THE STUDY: In the present study, we investigated the effects of TCS against insulin resistance in muscle cells through integrating in vitro experiment and identifying its active biomarker using metabolomics and in molecular docking validation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) to isolate 33 fractions from methanolic extract of TCS, and then used UHPLC-Orbitrap-HRMS to identify the detectable metabolites in each fraction. We assessed the insulin sensitization activity of each fraction using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and then used confocal immunocytochemistry microscopy to measure the translocation of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) to the cell membrane. The identified active metabolites were further simulated for its molecular docking interaction using Autodock Tools.
RESULTS: The polar fractions of TCS significantly increased insulin sensitivity, as measured by the inhibition of phosphorylated insulin receptor substrate-1 (pIRS1) at serine-312 residue (ser312) also the increasing number of translocated GLUT4 and glycogen content. We identified 58 metabolites of TCS, including glycosides, flavonoids, alkaloids, coumarins, and nucleotides groups. The metabolomics and molecular docking simulations showed the presence of minor metabolites consisting of tinoscorside D, higenamine, and tinoscorside A as the active compounds.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that TCS is a promising new treatment for insulin resistance and the identification of the active metabolites in TCS could lead to the development of new drugs therapies for diabetes that target these pathways.
Methods: Human skeletal muscle myoblast (HSMM) cells were cultured and serial passaging was carried out to obtain young and senescent cells. The cells were then treated with C. vulgaris followed by differentiation induction. The expression of Pax7, MyoD1, Myf5, MEF2C, IGF1R, MYOG, TNNT1, PTEN, and MYH2 genes and miR-133b, miR-206, and miR-486 was determined in untreated and C. vulgaris-treated myoblasts on Days 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 of differentiation.
Results: The expression of Pax7, MyoD1, Myf5, MEF2C, IGF1R, MYOG, TNNT1, and PTEN in control senescent myoblasts was significantly decreased on Day 0 of differentiation (p<0.05). Treatment with C. vulgaris upregulated Pax7, Myf5, MEF2C, IGF1R, MYOG, and PTEN in senescent myoblasts (p<0.05) and upregulated Pax7 and MYOG in young myoblasts (p<0.05). The expression of MyoD1 and Myf5 in young myoblasts however was significantly decreased on Day 0 of differentiation (p<0.05). During differentiation, the expression of these genes was increased with C. vulgaris treatment. Further analysis on myomiRs expression showed that miR-133b, miR-206, and miR-486 were significantly downregulated in senescent myoblasts on Day 0 of differentiation which was upregulated by C. vulgaris treatment (p<0.05). During differentiation, the expression of miR-133b and miR-206 was significantly increased with C. vulgaris treatment in both young and senescent myoblasts (p<0.05). However, no significant change was observed on the expression of miR-486 with C. vulgaris treatment.
Conclusions: C. vulgaris demonstrated the modulatory effects on the expression of MRFs and myomiRs during proliferation and differentiation of myoblasts in culture. These findings may indicate the beneficial effect of C. vulgaris in muscle regeneration during ageing thus may prevent sarcopenia in the elderly.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The databases Google Scholar, Science Direct, ResearchGate, PubMed, and Scopus were searched to identify potentially relevant documents. The keywords used for the search included "motor control" OR "motor learning" OR" core stability" AND "lower crossed syndrome" AND "gait". The search includes articles published between 1970 and 2022 and written in English. It is excluded when the paper is not a full-text article. After finding the articles, the information was extracted, including author, year of publication, country, objective, type of study, and motor control analysis summary.
RESULTS: There were 107 articles retrieved from the search. but only seventeen articles were included for analysis. The finding demonstrates that LCS may associate with LBP and reduces the motor control of the core muscle stability which indirectly influences gait performance.
CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that individuals with LCS will have an alteration in their gait. However, there is still insufficient information on motor control in gait performance among lower crossed syndrome. Further research is needed to find what factors that may contribute to the adaptation of motor control in gait among LCS population.
METHODS: An analytical cross sectional study design was used and a self-administered proforma was distributed for data collection. 1239 Malay secondary school children in Putrajaya were tested for absence of Palmaris Longus using Schaffer's test. 4 additional tests namely Thompson's test, Mishra's test I, Mishra's test II and Pushpakumar's 'two-finger sign' method were used to confirm its absence in respondents with negative Schaffer's test. Function of Flexor Digitorum Superficialis tendon to little finger was determined by flexing PIP of little finger while hyperextend the other fingers.
RESULTS: The prevalence of absence of Palmaris Longus was 11.7%. Left side absence of Palmaris Longus was much common. There was a significant association between absence of Palmaris Longus with gender in which female had higher prevalence of absence of Palmaris Longus than male.
CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the prevalence of absence of Palmaris Longus in Malay population was lower than Indian but higher than Chinese population. Females had higher prevalence of absence of Palmaris Longus and no association can be found with hand dominance and absence of Flexor Digitorum Superficialis tendon to little finger.
METHODS: Twenty-four studies met the inclusion criteria including 1761 cadaveric limbs.
RESULTS: The results were as following: (a) the mean palmaris longus tendon length was of 13.9 ± 2.6 cm, (b) the mean ratio palmaris longus tendon length/forearm length was of 0.545 ± 0.06, (c) the weighted correlation value was of 0.686, and (d) the mean palmaris longus tendon width was of 4.0 ± 1.7 mm. Only five studies reported a palmaris longus tendon length of more than 15 cm. The palmaris longus tendon length was shown to vary between ancestries; the Japanese had the shortest while Malaysian the longest palmaris longus tendons. All studies but one reported a palmaris longus tendon mean width of more than 3 mm where the minimal mean palmaris longus tendon width was of 2.5 mm.
CONCLUSION: While the requested length depends on the recipient site and/or type of reconstructive surgery, the palmaris longus tendon often met the required diameter for grafting. Our review demonstrated that while palmaris longus length varies between ancestries, its width is often adequate for grafting. In addition, the forearm length could be a good predictor of palmaris longus tendon length; such correlation could assist surgeons when planning to use palmaris longus tendon as a graft source.