The effect of Dynamic tape's directional support on shoulder fatigue and pitching performance in amateur baseball players: a randomized crossover trial.

Background: To evaluate whether the application of Dynamic tape to the pitching shoulder could result in reduced shoulder fatigue, reduced delayed onset muscle soreness, or improved performance.

Methods: This is a randomized crossover study, in which participants and investigators were blinded, included 20 amateur adult baseball players without shoulder pain. Sham taping and Dynamic taping were randomized, using an internal rotation support taping method in both groups.

Water-repellent hydrophilic nanogrooves.

The wetting behavior of a nanodrop atop a nanogroove on a smooth or a rough surface is explored by many-body dissipative particle dynamics and Surface Evolver. The nanogroove possesses the same contact angle (θ) as that of the surface. Depending on whether the groove is initially wetted or not, two critical contact angles beyond which the groove cannot be wetted are determined.

Accelerating Computation of DCM for ERP in MATLAB by External Function Calls to the GPU.

This study aims to improve the performance of Dynamic Causal Modelling for Event Related Potentials (DCM for ERP) in MATLAB by using external function calls to a graphics processing unit (GPU). DCM for ERP is an advanced method for studying neuronal effective connectivity. DCM utilizes an iterative procedure, the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm, to find the optimal parameters given a set of observations and the underlying probability model.

Giant surfactants provide a versatile platform for sub-10-nm nanostructure engineering.

The engineering of structures across different length scales is central to the design of novel materials with controlled macroscopic properties. Herein, we introduce a unique class of self-assembling materials, which are built upon shape- and volume-persistent molecular nanoparticles and other structural motifs, such as polymers, and can be viewed as a size-amplified version of the corresponding small-molecule counterparts. Among them, "giant surfactants" with precise molecular structures have been synthesized by "clicking" compact and polar molecular nanoparticles to flexible polymer tails of various composition and architecture at specific sites.

Breaking symmetry toward nonspherical Janus particles based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes: molecular design, "click" synthesis, and hierarchical structure.

The design, synthesis, and self-assembly of a series of precisely defined, nonspherical, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based molecular Janus particles are reported. The synthesis aims to fulfill the "click" philosophy by using thiol-ene chemistry to efficiently install versatile functionalities on one of the POSS cages. In such a way, both the geometrical and chemical symmetries were broken to create the Janus feature.

Stoichiometric self-assembly of shape-persistent 2D complexes: a facile route to a symmetric supramacromolecular spoked wheel.

An approach to multicomponent coordination-driven self-assembly of the first terpyridine-based, shape-persistent, giant two-dimensional D(6h) supramacromolecular spoked wheel is reported. Mixing core T6, rim T3, and Zn(II) or Cd(II) ions in a stoichiometric ratio (1:6:12) permitted the selective generation of a highly symmetric spoked wheel in 94% isolated yield via geometric and thermodynamic control. The products were characterized by a combination of traveling-wave ion mobility mass spectrometry and NMR techniques together with TEM imaging, which agreed with computational simulations.