Environmental risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater in nothern Vietnam.

Pharmaceuticals are progressively employed in both human and veterinary medicine and increasingly recognized as environmental contaminants. This study investigated the occurrence of selected pharmaceuticals in influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants of 12 hospitals in Hanoi and 3 northern cities of Vietnam during dry and rainy seasons. In addition, environmental risk of pharmaceuticals in both hospital influents and effluents were evaluated based on risk quotients (RQs).

Optimization of modularity during development to simplify walking control across multiple steps.

Introduction: Walking in adults relies on a small number of modules, reducing the number of degrees of freedom that needs to be regulated by the central nervous system (CNS). While walking in toddlers seems to also involve a small number of modules when considering averaged or single-step data, toddlers produce a high amount of variability across strides, and the extent to which this variability interacts with modularity remains unclear.

Methods: Electromyographic activity from 10 bilateral lower limb muscles was recorded in both adults ( = 12) and toddlers ( = 12) over 8 gait cycles.

Climate change and human health in Vietnam: a systematic review and additional analyses on current impacts, future risk, and adaptation.

This study aims to investigate climate change's impact on health and adaptation in Vietnam through a systematic review and additional analyses of heat exposure, heat vulnerability, awareness and engagement, and projected health costs. Out of 127 reviewed studies, findings indicated the wider spread of infectious diseases, and increased mortality and hospitalisation risks associated with extreme heat, droughts, and floods. However, there are few studies addressing health cost, awareness, engagement, adaptation, and policy.

Generating variability from motor primitives during infant locomotor development.

Motor variability is a fundamental feature of developing systems allowing motor exploration and learning. In human infants, leg movements involve a small number of basic coordination patterns called locomotor primitives, but whether and when motor variability could emerge from these primitives remains unknown. Here we longitudinally followed 18 infants on 2-3 time points between birth (~4 days old) and walking onset (~14 months old) and recorded the activity of their leg muscles during locomotor or rhythmic movements.

Vertical ground reaction force oscillation during standing on hard and compliant surfaces: The "postural rhythm".

When a person stands upright quietly, the position of the Centre of Mass (CoM), the vertical force acting on the ground and the geometrical configuration of body segments is accurately controlled around to the direction of gravity by multiple feedback mechanisms and by integrative brain centres that coordinate multi-joint movements. This is not always easy and the postural muscles continuously produce appropriate torques, recorded as ground reaction force by a force platform. We studied 23 young adults during a 90 s period, standing at ease on a hard (Solid) and on a compliant support (Foam) with eyes open (EO) and with eyes closed (EC), focusing on the vertical component of the ground reaction force (VGRF).

Cutaneous and muscular afferents from the foot and sensory fusion processing: Physiology and pathology in neuropathies.

The foot-sole cutaneous receptors (section 2), their function in stance control (sway minimisation, exploratory role) (2.1), and the modulation of their effects by gait pattern and intended behaviour (2.2) are reviewed.

Modularity underlying the performance of unusual locomotor tasks inspired by developmental milestones.

Motor behaviors are often hypothesized to be set up from the combination of a small number of modules encoded in the central nervous system. These modules are thought to combine such that a variety of motor tasks can be realized, from reproducible tasks such as walking to more unusual locomotor tasks that typically exhibit more step-by-step variability. We investigated the impact of step-by-step variability on the modular architecture of unusual tasks compared with walking.

Short-term DHEA administration in recreational athletes: impact on food intake, segmental body composition and adipokines.

Background: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) administration is potentially therapeutic because it has been shown to decrease fat mass and adipokines and improve eating and mood disturbances. However, its impact on these parameters has never been investigated in a young healthy population. This study therefore sought to determine whether short-term DHEA administration would alter food intake, segmental body composition, adipokine secretion and mood in young healthy male and female volunteers with regular sport practice.

Short-term Dehydroepiandrosterone Intake and Supramaximal Exercise in Young Recreationally-trained Women.

WADA has banned dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) but its ergogenic effect in female athletes has never been investigated. The aim of this study was to determine whether short-term DHEA intake would improve performance during a supramaximal field exercise in healthy young recreationally trained women. Its impact on body composition, metabolic responses was also measured.

Effects of short-term DHEA intake on hormonal responses in young recreationally trained athletes: modulation by gender.

Background: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) figures on the World Anti-Doping Agency list of prohibited substances in sport because it is assumed that athletes expect a significant increase in testosterone through DHEA administration. The literature on the hormonal effects of DHEA intake nevertheless appears to be very scant in healthy young subjects, especially women.

Purpose: We examined the effects of DHEA on adrenal and gonadal hormones, IGF1 and free T3 in healthy young male and female recreationally trained volunteers.

Rigid Ankle Foot Orthosis Deteriorates Mediolateral Balance Control and Vertical Braking during Gait Initiation.

Rigid ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) are commonly used for impeding foot drop during the swing phase of gait. They also reduce pain and improve gait kinematics in patients with weakness or loss of integrity of ankle-foot complex structures due to various pathological conditions. However, this comes at the price of constraining ankle joint mobility, which might affect propulsive force generation and balance control.

Postural Preparation to Stepping: Coupled Center of Pressure Shifts in the Anterior-Posterior and Medio-Lateral Directions.

We explored changes in the postural preparation to stepping introduced by modifications of the initial coordinates of the center of pressure (COP). We hypothesized that the postural adjustments in the anterior-posterior direction would persist across all initial COP manipulations while the adjustments in the medio-lateral direction would be highly sensitive to the initial COP coordinate. Healthy subjects stood on a force plate, shifted the body weight to one of the initial conditions that spanned the range of COP coordinates in both directions, and initiated a single step or started to walk.

The Neuro-Mechanical Processes That Underlie Goal-Directed Medio-Lateral APA during Gait Initiation.

Gait initiation (GI) involves passing from bipedal to unipedal stance. It requires a rapid movement of the center of foot pressure (CoP) towards the future swing foot and of the center of mass (CoM) in the direction of the stance foot prior to the incoming step. This anticipatory postural adjustment (APA) allows disengaging the swing leg from the ground and establishing favorable conditions for stepping.

Towards an explanation of age-related difficulties in crossing a two-way street.

Crossing a two-way street is a complex task that involves visual, cognitive and motor abilities, all of which are known to decline with ageing. In particular, older pedestrians may experience difficulties when crossing two-way streets because of incorrect gap acceptance choices and impossible or unperceived evasive actions. To understand the overrepresentation of older pedestrians in crash statistics, several experimental studies have sought to identify traffic-related factors as well as those related to the abilities of the individuals themselves.

Association between climate factors and diarrhoea in a Mekong Delta area.

The Mekong Delta is vulnerable to changes in climate and hydrological events which alter environmental conditions, resulting in increased risk of waterborne diseases. Research exploring the association between climate factors and diarrhoea, the most frequent waterborne disease in Mekong Delta region, is sparse. This study evaluated the climate-diarrhoea association in Can Tho city, a typical Mekong Delta area in Vietnam.

Identification of the prediction model for dengue incidence in Can Tho city, a Mekong Delta area in Vietnam.

The Mekong Delta is highly vulnerable to climate change and a dengue endemic area in Vietnam. This study aims to examine the association between climate factors and dengue incidence and to identify the best climate prediction model for dengue incidence in Can Tho city, the Mekong Delta area in Vietnam. We used three different regression models comprising: standard multiple regression model (SMR), seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model (SARIMA), and Poisson distributed lag model (PDLM) to examine the association between climate factors and dengue incidence over the period 2003-2010.

Postural disturbances resulting from unilateral and bilateral diaphragm contractions: a phrenic nerve stimulation study.

Thoracoabdominal breathing movements are a complex source of postural disturbance, but there are contradictory reports in the literature with inspiration described as having either a backward or a forward disturbing effect. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, the present study studied the postural disturbance caused by isolated contractions of the diaphragm. Eight male and four female healthy subjects followed an original paradigm of phrenic nerve stimulation (bilateral and unilateral) and "diaphragmatic" voluntary sniff maneuvers in the seated and standing postures.

Ergogenic and metabolic effects of oral glucocorticoid intake during repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise.

All systemically administered glucocorticoids (GC) are prohibited in-competition, because of the potential ergogenic effects. Although short-term GC intake has been shown to improve performance during submaximal exercise, literature on its impact during brief intense exercise appears to be very scant. The purpose of this study was to examine the ergogenic and metabolic effects of prednisone during repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise.

Methodological requirement to analyze biomechanical postural control mechanisms with two platforms.

In 1996, Winter and colleagues proposed the existence of two postural control mechanisms in both the anteroposterior and mediolateral axes: a bodyweight (loading/unloading) distribution mechanism and a complementary center of pressure location mechanism. To measure the loading/unloading forces under each foot, the feet had to be placed side by side in the mediolateral axis and one foot ahead of the other in the anteroposterior axis. Our first objective was to reexamine the validity of anteroposterior data published with the feet side by side.

By counteracting gravity, triceps surae sets both kinematics and kinetics of gait.

In the single-stance phase of gait, gravity acting on the center of mass (CoM) causes a disequilibrium torque, which generates propulsive force. Triceps surae activity resists gravity by restraining forward tibial rotation thereby tuning CoM momentum. We hypothesized that time and amplitude modulation of triceps surae activity determines the kinematics (step length and cadence) and kinetics of gait.

The braking force in walking: age-related differences and improvement in older adults with exergame training.

The purposes of this present research were, in the first study, to determine whether age impacts a measure of postural control (the braking force in walking) and, in a second study, to determine whether exergame training in physically-simulated sport activity would show transfer, increasing the braking force in walking and also improving balance assessed by clinical measures, functional fitness, and health-related quality of life in older adults. For the second study, the authors developed an active video game training program (using the Wii system) with a pretest-training-posttest design comparing an experimental group (24 1-hr sessions of training) with a control group. Participants completed a battery comprising balance (braking force in short and normal step conditions), functional fitness (Senior Fitness Test), and health-related quality of life (SF-36).

High-level gait and balance disorders in the elderly: a midbrain disease?

The pathophysiology of gait and balance disorders in elderly people with 'higher level gait disorders' (HLGD) is poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to identify the brain networks involved in this disorder. Standardised clinical scores, biomechanical parameters of gait initiation and brain imaging data, including deep white matter lesions (DWML) and brain voxel-based morphometry analyses, were assessed in 20 HLGD patients in comparison to 20 age-matched controls.

Attentional focus effects on sprint start performance as a function of skill level.

Several researchers have demonstrated that an external focus of attention (about movement's effects) during movement execution allowed better performances and learning of various motor tasks than an internal focus of attention (about movement itself). However, attentional focus effects have not been studied in tasks requiring explosive actions preceded by fast reaction time to a signal, such as a sprint start. We hypothesised that the beneficial effect of external focus of attention would be observed in the different stages of the sprint start (i.

The Consecutive Postural Adjustments (CPAs) that follow foot placement in single stepping.

This research deals with the postural adjustments that occur after the end of a voluntary movement ("Consecutive Postural Adjustments": CPAs). With the aim of more fully characterizing the postural component of motor tasks, they are compared with those occurring before movement onset ("anticipatory postural adjustments": APAs). Ten male adults were asked to perform a single step as quickly as possible to a target marked on the ground (STEP).

The functional role of the triceps surae muscle during human locomotion.

Aim: Despite numerous studies addressing the issue, it remains unclear whether the triceps surae muscle group generates forward propulsive force during gait, commonly identified as 'push-off'. In order to challenge the push-off postulate, one must probe the effect of varying the propulsive force while annulling the effect of the progression velocity. This can be obtained by adding a load to the subject while maintaining the same progression velocity.