Accuracy and Precision of a Novel Photogate System to Measure Toe Clearance on Stairs.

Toe clearance on stairs is typically measured using optoelectronic systems, though these are often constrained to the laboratory, due to their complex setups. Here we measured stair toe clearance through a novel prototype photogate setup and compared this to optoelectronic measurements. Twelve participants (age 22 ± 3 years) completed 25 stair ascent trials, each on a seven-step staircase.

Using a stair horizontal-vertical illusion to increase foot clearance over an inconsistently taller stair-riser.

Introduction: Stair falls can be caused by inconsistent stair dimensions. During ascent, inconsistently taller stair risers lead to reduced foot clearances as the inconsistency goes unnoticed. A stair horizontal-vertical illusion increases perceived riser heights and foot clearance and could offset reduced foot clearances over inconsistently taller risers, though this might impact other stair safety measures.

The next step in optimising the stair horizontal-vertical illusion: Does a perception-action link exist in older adults?

Introduction: Tripping on stairs results from insufficient foot to step edge clearance and can often lead to a fall in older adults. A stair horizontal-vertical illusion is suggested to increase the perceived riser height of a step and increase foot clearance when stepping up. However, this perception-action link has not been empirically determined in older adults.

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Show Altered Visuomotor Control During Stair Negotiation Associated With Heightened State Anxiety.

Safe stair negotiation is an everyday task that children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are commonly thought to struggle with. Yet, there is currently a paucity of research supporting these claims. We investigated the visuomotor control strategies underpinning stair negotiation in children with ( = 18, age = 10.

Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder Exhibit Greater Stepping Error Despite Similar Gaze Patterns and State Anxiety Levels to Their Typically Developing Peers.

This study examined stepping accuracy, gaze behavior, and state-anxiety in children with ( = 21, age = 10.81, = 1.89) and without ( = 18, age = 11.

Optimal lighting levels for stair safety: Influence of lightbulb type and brightness on confidence, dynamic balance and stepping characteristics.

Introduction: Poor lighting has been associated with stair falls in young and older adults. However, current guidelines for illuminating stairs seem arbitrary, differ widely between sources, and are often difficult to interpret.

Aims: Here we examined the influence of real-world bulb illumination properties on stair descent safety in young and older adults, with a view to generating preliminary evidence for appropriate lightbulb use/stair illumination.

Centre of mass control is reduced in older people when descending stairs at an increased riser height.

Background: Maintaining body centre of mass (CoM) lowering velocity within manageable/safe limits during stair descent can be problematic for older individuals due to reduced ranges of motion at the involved joints (ankle and knee) and a reduced ability to generate adequate joint moments at the extremes in joint ranges of motion. These problems are likely to magnify in circumstances where the distance of lowering increases, or when misjudging the height of lowering.

Research Question: How does a 50% increase in standard stair riser-height affect control of CoM velocity and acceleration of older people during stair descent?

Methods: Fifteen older (75 ± 3 years) and seventeen young (25 ± 4 years) healthy adults descended a 4-step staircase, at two riser-heights: 170 mm, 255 mm.

Nanoscale mechanics of microgel particles.

Microgel particles are highly tuneable materials that are useful for a wide range of industrial applications, such as drug delivery, sensing, nanoactuation, emulsion stabilisation and use as cell substrates. Microgels have also been used as model systems investigating physical phenomena such as crystallization, glass-formation, jamming, ageing and complex flow behaviour. The responsiveness of microgel systems such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) to external stimuli has been established in fundamental investigations and in applications and recent work has begun to quantify the mechanics of individual particles.

Affimer proteins inhibit immune complex binding to FcγRIIIa with high specificity through competitive and allosteric modes of action.

Protein-protein interactions are essential for the control of cellular functions and are critical for regulation of the immune system. One example is the binding of Fc regions of IgG to the Fc gamma receptors (FcγRs). High sequence identity (98%) between the genes encoding FcγRIIIa (expressed on macrophages and natural killer cells) and FcγRIIIb (expressed on neutrophils) has prevented the development of monospecific agents against these therapeutic targets.

The addition of stripes (a version of the 'horizontal-vertical illusion') increases foot clearance when crossing low-height obstacles.

Trips over obstacles are one of the main causes of falling in older adults, with vision playing an important role in successful obstacle negotiation. We determined whether a horizontal-vertical illusion, superimposed onto low-height obstacles to create a perceived increase in obstacle height, increased foot clearances during obstacle negotiation thus reducing the likelihood of tripping. Eleven adults (mean ± 1 SD: age 27.

A nuclear magnetic resonance study of water in aggrecan solutions.

Aggrecan, a highly charged macromolecule found in articular cartilage, was investigated in aqueous salt solutions with proton nuclear magnetic resonance. The longitudinal and transverse relaxation rates were determined at two different field strengths, 9.4 T and 0.

An in vivo platform for identifying inhibitors of protein aggregation.

Protein aggregation underlies an array of human diseases, yet only one small-molecule therapeutic targeting this process has been successfully developed to date. Here, we introduce an in vivo system, based on a β-lactamase tripartite fusion construct, that is capable of identifying aggregation-prone sequences in the periplasm of Escherichia coli and inhibitors that prevent their aberrant self-assembly. We demonstrate the power of the system using a range of proteins, from small unstructured peptides (islet amyloid polypeptide and amyloid β) to larger, folded immunoglobulin domains.

What you see is what you step: the horizontal-vertical illusion increases toe clearance in older adults during stair ascent.

Purpose: Falls on stairs are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in elderly people. A simple safety strategy to avoid tripping on stairs is increasing foot clearance. We determined whether a horizontal-vertical illusion superimposed onto stairs to create an illusory perceived increase in stair-riser height would increase stair ascent foot clearance in older participants.

ESI-IMS-MS: A method for rapid analysis of protein aggregation and its inhibition by small molecules.

Electrospray ionisation-ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (ESI-IMS-MS) is a powerful method for the study of conformational changes in protein complexes, including oligomeric species populated during protein self-aggregation into amyloid fibrils. Information on the mass, stability, cross-sectional area and ligand binding capability of each transiently populated intermediate, present in the heterogeneous mixture of assembling species, can be determined individually in a single experiment in real-time. Determining the structural characterisation of oligomeric species and alterations in self-assembly pathways observed in the presence of small molecule inhibitors is of great importance, given the urgent demand for effective therapeutics.

Screening and classifying small-molecule inhibitors of amyloid formation using ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry.

The search for therapeutic agents that bind specifically to precursor protein conformations and inhibit amyloid assembly is an important challenge. Identifying such inhibitors is difficult because many protein precursors of aggregation are partially folded or intrinsically disordered, which rules out structure-based design. Furthermore, inhibitors can act by a variety of mechanisms, including specific or nonspecific binding, as well as colloidal inhibition.

Safety on stairs: influence of a tread edge highlighter and its position.

Background: Falls sustained when descending stairs are the leading cause of accidental death in older adults. Highly visible edge highlighters/friction strips (often set back from the tread edge) are sometimes used to improve stair safety, but there is no evidence for the usefulness of either.

Objective: To determine whether an edge highlighter and its location relative to the tread edge affect foot placement/clearance and accidental foot contacts when descending stairs.

Stair-specific algorithms for identification of touch-down and foot-off when descending or ascending a non-instrumented staircase.

The present study introduces four event detection algorithms for defining touch-down and foot-off during stair descent and stair ascent using segmental kinematics. For stair descent, vertical velocity minima of the whole body center-of-mass was used to define touch-down, and foot-off was defined as the instant of trail limb peak knee flexion. For stair ascent, vertical velocity local minima of the lead-limb toe was used to define touch-down, and foot-off was defined as the local maxima in vertical displacement between the toe and pelvis.

The effects of virtual reality game training on trunk to pelvis coupling in a child with cerebral palsy.

Background: Good control of trunk and pelvic movements is necessary for well controlled leg movements required to perform activities of daily living. The nature of movement coupling between the trunk and pelvis varies and depends on the type of activity. Children with cerebral palsy often have reduced ability to modulate coupling between the trunk and pelvis but movement patterns of the pelvis can be improved by training.