Development of the Rope-Climbing Ergometer for Physical Training and Testing.

The purpose of this study was to develop and characterize a rope-climbing ergometer. A custom-made loading device that has an eddy current brake with an electrical current control circuit was developed to impose resistive load on the rope. A calibration test was first performed using a three-phase induction motor to associate the scale of the load-level setting (100 levels) with the resultant traction force.

Middle finger and ball movements around ball release during baseball fastball pitching.

The objectives of this study were to investigate middle finger movements and dynamics of ball movements around the instant of ball release during baseball pitching. Baseball pitching from an indoor mound among 14 semi-professional pitchers was captured using a motion capture system with 16 high-speed cameras (1,000 Hz). Kinematics of middle finger joints, ball rotation, and force applied to the ball were calculated.

Muscles used for chest compression under static and transportation conditions.

Background: Unstable conditions during ambulance transportation are not conducive to the performance of high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation by emergency medical technicians.

Objective: The present study was conducted to clarify differences in the quality of chest compression and associated muscle activity between static and ambulance transportation conditions.

Methods: Nine paramedic students performed chest compression for 5 minutes on the floor and during ambulance transportation.

Thioglucose-stabilized gold nanoparticles as a novel platform for colorimetric bioassay based on nanoparticle aggregation.

Gold nanoparticles stabilized with thioglucose (TGlu-AuNPs), which have carboxyl groups on the particle surface as anchoring sites for covalent immobilization of biomolecules, were prepared by the chemical reduction of HAuCl4 using 1-thio-β-D-glucose as a reducing and stabilizing agent, and their application to colorimetric bioassay was demonstrated using the carbohydrate-lectin system. p-Aminophenyl α-D-mannose (Man-NH2) was covalently attached by a conventional method to the activated carboxyl groups on the TGlu-AuNPs. On addition of Con A to the Man-AuNPs, multiple binding events occurred between Con A and the mannoses immobilized on the particle surface.