Effects of Step Length and Stride Variation During Forward Lunges on Lower-Extremity Muscle Activity.

Background: The forward lunge is a closed-chain weight-bearing multi-joint exercise simulating the activities of daily living, such as walking or stair climbing, which mainly activates hip, knee, and ankle musculature and is also used by athletes and other individuals to train lower-extremity musculature.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare lower-extremity muscle recruitment patterns between stride and step length variations in forward lunges.

Methods: Twenty participants had a mean (±SD) age, mass, and height of 26 ± 6 y, 79 ± 8 kg, and 176 ± 7 cm, respectively, for males, and 27 ± 4 y, 62 ± 6 kg, and 161 ± 7 cm, respectively, for females.

Generalizable Molecular Switch Designs for Continuous Biosensing.

ConspectusContinuous biosensors have the potential to transform medicine, enabling healthcare to be more preventative and personalized as compared to the current standard of reactive diagnostics. Realizing this transformative potential requires biosensors that can function continuously without sample preparation and deliver molecular specificity, sensitivity, and high temporal resolution. Molecular switches stand out as a promising solution for creating such sensors for the continuous detection of many different types of molecules.

Genome-wide association study of prostate-specific antigen levels in 392,522 men identifies new loci and improves prediction across ancestry groups.

We conducted a multiancestry genome-wide association study of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in 296,754 men (211,342 European ancestry, 58,236 African ancestry, 23,546 Hispanic/Latino and 3,630 Asian ancestry; 96.5% of participants were from the Million Veteran Program). We identified 318 independent genome-wide significant (P ≤ 5 × 10) variants, 184 of which were novel.

Rapid, Sensitive Detection of Protein Biomarkers in Minimally-Processed Blood Products with a Monolithic Sandwich Immunoassay Reagent.

For more than fifty years, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) serves as the gold standard for protein biomarker detection. However, conventional ELISA requires considerable sample preparation including reagent addition, incubation, and washing steps, limiting its usefulness at the point-of-care. In this work, the "instant ELISA" (fluorophore-linked immunosorbent assay) biosensor that can measure protein biomarkers in the picomolar range within 15 min in undiluted plasma or serum with no sample preparation is described.

Patellofemoral Joint Loading During Bodyweight One-Legged and Two-Legged BOSU and Floor Squats.

Background: While one-legged and two-legged bodyweight squats on unstable and stable surfaces are commonly used during patellofemoral rehabilitation, patellofemoral loading during these exercises is unknown. Understanding how patellofemoral force and stress magnitudes affects different squat variations will aid clinicians in determining how and when to prescribe and progress these squatting types of exercises in patients with patellofemoral pain.

Hypothesis/purpose: To quantify patellofemoral force and stress between two squat type variations (BOSU squat versus floor squat) and between two leg variations (one-legged squat versus two-legged squat).