Age- and gender-stratified adult myometric reference values of isometric intrinsic hand strength.

Study Design: Descriptive normative.

Introduction: Intrinsic hand strength can be impacted by hand arthritis, peripheral nerve injuries, and spinal cord injuries. Grip dynamometry does not isolate intrinsic strength, and manual muscle testing is not sensitive to change in grades 4 and 5.

Actual Versus Predicted Cardiovascular Demands in Submaximal Cycle Ergometer Testing.

The Astrand-Rhyming cycle ergometer test (ARCET) is a commonly administered submaximal test for estimating aerobic capacity. Whereas typically utilized in clinical populations, the validity of the ARCET to predict VO in a non-clinical population, especially female, is less clear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of the ARCET in a sample of healthy and physically active college students.

Metabolic changes in the glucose-induced apoptotic blastocyst suggest alterations in mitochondrial physiology.

Mammalian preimplantation embryos experience a critical switch from an oxidative to a predominantly glycolytic metabolism. In this study, the change in nutrient metabolism between the 2-cell and blastocyst stages was followed by measuring single embryo concentrations of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and glycolytic metabolites with microfluorometric enzymatic cycling assays. When the normal values were established, further changes that occur as a result of the induction of apoptosis by exposure to high-glucose conditions were examined.

Glucose transporter 8 expression and translocation are critical for murine blastocyst survival.

Glucose transporter (GLUT) 8 is an insulin-responsive facilitative glucose transporter expressed predominantly in the murine blastocyst. To determine the physiologic role of GLUT8, two-cell embryos were cultured to a blastocyst stage in antisense or sense oligonucleotides to GLUT8. Apoptosis was assessed using the TUNEL techniques and recorded as the percentage of TUNEL-positive nuclei/total nuclei.