Quadriceps muscle activity during walking with a knee ankle foot orthosis is associated with improved gait ability in acute hemiplegic stroke patients with severe gait disturbance.

Introduction: A knee-ankle-foot orthosis (KAFO) prevents knee buckling during walking and enables gait training for acute hemiplegic stroke patients with severe gait disturbances. Although the goal of gait training with a KAFO is to improve gait ability, that is, to acquire walking with an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO), it is not clear how gait training with a KAFO contributes to improving gait ability. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between muscle activities during walking with a KAFO and the improvement of gait ability in hemiplegic stroke patients with severe gait disturbance.

A case of a novel hemoglobin variant, Hb A2-Karatsu, discovered following a falsely elevated HbA1c value.

The patient, a man in his thirties, presented to our hospital for a secondary examination after a 2020 medical check-up found a high hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HbA1c level determined by HPLC (HA-8180V, fast mode) was elevated at 6.8%, but a 75-g glucose tolerance test showed normal glucose tolerance.

The development of Ambulation Independence Measure: A new measurement tool to assess gait ability in acute stroke patients.

Background: The assessment of gait function is important for stroke rehabilitation. Gait function of patients with stroke often depends on the type of orthosis. There are however few gait assessments that assess the type of orthosis.

Effect of Cross-Linking on the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimer/Poly(vinyl alcohol) Hybrid Membranes for CO2 Separation.

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers were incorporated into cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) matrix to improve carbon dioxide (CO2) separation performance at elevated pressures. In our previous studies, PAMAM/PVA hybrid membranes showed high CO2 separation properties from CO2/H2 mixed gases. In this study, three types of organic Ti metal compounds were selected as PVA cross-linkers that were used to prepare PAMAM/cross-linked PVA hybrid membranes.