Decoupling of muscle-tendon unit and fascicle velocity contributes to the in vivo stretch-shortening cycle effect in the male human triceps surae muscle.

During the shortening of stretch-shortening cycles (SSCs), muscle force output is enhanced compared with pure shortening (SHO), referred to as the SSC-effect. In general, muscle-tendon unit (MTU), muscle belly, muscle fascicle, and tendon length changes can be decoupled during contraction, which affects force generation and elastic recoil. We researched whether MTU decoupling contributes to the SSC-effect.

Age and mating status have complex but modest effects on the critical thermal limits of adult Mediterranean fruit flies from geographically divergent populations.

The highly invasive Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is currently expanding its geographic distribution into cooler temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere. In marginal conditions, the invasion potential of medfly depends in part on innate tolerance to the novel environmental conditions. Physiological tolerances are potentially influenced by interactions among multiple factors, such as organism age or reproductive maturity, sex, and mating status.