Insights into muscle metabolic energetics: Modelling muscle-tendon mechanics and metabolic rates during walking across speeds.

The metabolic energy rate of individual muscles is impossible to measure without invasive procedures. Prior studies have produced models to predict metabolic rates based on experimental observations of isolated muscle contraction from various species. Such models can provide reliable predictions of metabolic rates in humans if muscle properties and control are accurately modeled.

Springs vs. motors: Ideal assistance in the lower limbs during walking at different speeds.

Recent years have witnessed breakthroughs in assistive exoskeletons; both passive and active devices have reduced metabolic costs near preferred walking speed by assisting muscle actions. Metabolic reductions at multiple speeds should thus also be attainable. Musculoskeletal simulation can potentially predict the interaction between assistive moments, muscle-tendon mechanics, and walking energetics.

Foliar Spraying with ZnSO or ZnO of cv. Syrah Increases the Synthesis of Photoassimilates and Favors Winemaking.

Zinc enrichment of edible food products, through the soil and/or foliar application of fertilizers, is a strategy that can increase the contents of some nutrients, namely Zn. In this context, a workflow for agronomic enrichment with zinc was carried out on irrigated cv. Syrah, aiming to evaluate the mobilization of photoassimilates to the winegrapes and the consequences of this for winemaking.

Experiment-guided tuning of muscle-tendon parameters to estimate muscle fiber lengths and passive forces.

The workflow to simulate motion with recorded data usually starts with selecting a generic musculoskeletal model and scaling it to represent subject-specific characteristics. Simulating muscle dynamics with muscle-tendon parameters computed from existing scaling methods in literature, however, yields some inconsistencies compared to measurable outcomes. For instance, simulating fiber lengths and muscle excitations during walking with linearly scaled parameters does not resemble established patterns in the literature.

An effort to improve the collection of patient-generated data: readability and understandability of patient-reported outcomes measures in a survivorship cohort.

Purpose: In this study, we evaluated readability and understandability of nine French-language Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) that are currently used in a contemporary longitudinal cohort of breast cancer survivors as part of an effort to improve equity in cancer care and research.

Methods: Readability of PROMs was assessed using the Flesh Reading Ease Score (FRES), the Gunning's Fog Index (FOG), and the FRY graphics. Readability was considered ideal if mean score ≤ 6th-grade level and acceptable if between 6th and 8th grade.