Assessment of hip abductor and adductor muscle strength with fixed-frame dynamometry: Considerations on the use of bilateral and unilateral tasks.

Objective: To examine the specificities and limitations of bilateral and unilateral tasks for the assessment of hip abductor and adductor strength with a commercially-available fixed-frame dynamometer.

Design: Correlational/validity study.

Methods: Maximal voluntary isometric strength of hip abductors and adductors was evaluated in 130 healthy participants using unilateral and bilateral tasks.

Feasibility of Using Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging Technology for Contactless 3D Body Scanning and Anthropometric Assessment of Athletes.

The scope of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of using the laser imaging detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology for contactless 3D body scanning of sports athletes and deriving anthropometric measurements of the lower limbs using available software. An Apple iPad Pro 3rd Generation with embedded LiDAR technology in combination with the iOS application Polycam were used. The effects of stance width, clothing, background, lighting, scan distance and measurement speed were initially assessed by scanning the lower limbs of one test person multiple times.

Ultraviolet Superradiance from Mega-Networks of Tryptophan in Biological Architectures.

Networks of tryptophan (Trp)─an aromatic amino acid with strong fluorescence response─are ubiquitous in biological systems, forming diverse architectures in transmembrane proteins, cytoskeletal filaments, subneuronal elements, photoreceptor complexes, virion capsids, and other cellular structures. We analyze the cooperative effects induced by ultraviolet (UV) excitation of several biologically relevant Trp mega-networks, thus giving insights into novel mechanisms for cellular signaling and control. Our theoretical analysis in the single-excitation manifold predicts the formation of strongly superradiant states due to collective interactions among organized arrangements of up to >10 Trp UV-excited transition dipoles in microtubule architectures, which leads to an enhancement of the fluorescence quantum yield (QY) that is confirmed by our experiments.

Pilot study: is there an influence of lower limb positioning during magnetic resonance imaging on muscle cross section shape assessment in the thigh?

Positioning in an MRI can influence quantitative measures of the muscle. The goal of this pilot study was to assess the influence of different levels of knee elevation during MRI on the predicted cross-sectional muscle shape in the thigh. Data were acquired in three healthy male participants (age: 29.

First Insights in the Relationship between Lower Limb Anatomy and Back Squat Performance in Resistance-Trained Males and Females.

Identifying key criteria of squat performance is essential to avoiding injuries and optimizing strength training outcomes. To work towards this goal, this study aimed to assess the correlation between lower limb anatomy and back squat performance during a set-to-exhaustion in resistance-trained males and females. Optical motion captures of squat performance and data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lower limbs were acquired in eight healthy participants (average: 28.