Exploratory insights into novel prehabilitative neuromuscular exercise-conditioning in total knee arthroplasty.

Background: Contemporary strategies for prehabilitation and rehabilitation associated with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery have focused on improving joint range-of-motion and function with less emphasis on neuromuscular performance beneficially affecting joint stability. Furthermore, prehabilitation protocols have been found to be too long and generic-in-effect to be considered suitable for routine clinical practice.

Methods: A pragmatic exploratory controlled trial was designed to investigate the efficacy of a novel, acute prehabilitative neuromuscular exercise-conditioning (APNEC) in patients electing TKA.

Hydrological intermittency drives diversity decline and functional homogenization in benthic diatom communities.

Over the last decades, the combined effects of global climate changes and severe land use modifications have been exacerbating river hydrological alterations and habitat fragmentation in many Mediterranean rivers. This trend is predicted to intensify, with expected significant impacts on taxonomic and functional diversity of benthic communities in the next future. By comparing perennial and intermittent reaches, the present research aims at investigating the role of flow intermittency, driven by the combined effects of climatic variables and land use changes, on benthic diatom communities in Mediterranean streams (NW Italy), by analysing data collected over 11 years.