Falls and balance impairment; what and how has this been measured in adults with joint hypermobility? A scoping review.

Background: People with joint hypermobility have excessive joint flexibility, which is more common in young women. The people with symptomatic hypermobility report poor balance and even falls. This scoping review aims to identify and map the available evidence related to balance and falling in adults with joint hypermobility to support research planning and ideas for treatment direction.

Changes in thoracic erector spinae regional activation during postural adjustments and functional reaching tasks after spinal cord injury.

Many individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) exhibit reduced volitional control of trunk muscles, such as impaired voluntary contractions of the erector spinae (ES), due to damage to the neural pathways regulating sensorimotor function. Studies using conventional bipolar electromyography (EMG) showed alterations in the overall, or global, activation of the trunk muscles in people with SCI. However, how activation varied across specific regions within the ES, referred to as regional activation, remains unknown.

Measurement of voluntary activation of abdominal flexors using transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to assess voluntary activation (VA) of limb and back muscles, however its ability to assess abdominal muscle VA is unknown. The assessment of abdominal muscle VA using TMS could be applied to patients with trunk dysfunction to enable further understanding of the neurophysiology of trunk control, inform practice and enable the development and monitoring of rehabilitation programmes.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate use of TMS and the twitch interpolation technique to measure voluntary activation of abdominal muscles.

One-third of Southern Ocean productivity is supported by dust deposition.

Natural iron fertilization of the Southern Ocean by windblown dust has been suggested to enhance biological productivity and modulate the climate. Yet, this process has never been quantified across the Southern Ocean and at annual timescales. Here we combined 11 years of nitrate observations from autonomous biogeochemical ocean profiling floats with a Southern Hemisphere dust simulation to empirically derive the relationship between dust-iron deposition and annual net community production (ANCP) in the iron-limited Southern Ocean.

Characteristics of motor evoked potentials in patients with peripheral vascular disease.

With an aging population, it is common to encounter people diagnosed with peripheral vascular disease (PVD). Some will undergo surgeries during which the spinal cord may be compromised and intraoperative neuromonitoring with motor evoked potentials (MEPs) is employed to help mitigate paralysis. No data exist on characteristics of MEPs in older, PVD patients, which would be valuable for patients undergoing spinal cord at-risk surgery or participating in neurophysiological research.