The Amount and Pattern of Reciprocal Compensations Predict Performance Stability in a Visually Guided Finger Force Production Task.

Previous work suggests that synergistic activity among motor elements implicated in force production tasks underlies enhanced performance stability associated with visual feedback. A hallmark of synergistic activity is reciprocal compensation, that is, covariation in the states of motor elements that stabilizes critical performance variables. The present study examined if characteristics of reciprocal compensation are indicators of individuals' capacity to respond adaptively to variations in the resolution of visual feedback about criterion performance.

DFA as a window into postural dynamics supporting task performance: does choice of step size matter?

Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) has been used to investigate self-similarity in center of pressure (CoP) time series. For fractional gaussian noise (fGn) signals, the analysis returns a scaling exponent, DFA-α, whose value characterizes the temporal correlations as persistent, random, or anti-persistent. In the study of postural control, DFA has revealed two time scaling regions, one at the short-term and one at the long-term scaling regions in the diffusion plots, suggesting different types of postural dynamics.

Personal factors understood through the Ecological-Enactive Model of Disability and implications for rehabilitation research.

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) recognizes that disability arises from the interaction between an individual with a medical condition and the context in which they are embedded. Context in the ICF is comprised of environmental and personal factors. Personal factors, the background life and lifestyle of an individual, are poorly understood in rehabilitation.

Effects of Age and Attentional Focus on the Performance and Coordination of the Sit-to-Stand Task.

This study investigated whether age and attentional focus affect synergy organization of sit-to-stand (STS). Young and older adults performed STS while holding a cup under internal (IF) and external focus (EF) instructions. Uncontrolled manifold analysis was used to decompose trial-to-trial variability in joint kinematics into variability that preserves (V) and interferes (V) with the horizontal and vertical positions of the center of mass (CoM) and cup.

A Dynamical Approach to the Uncontrolled Manifold: Predicting Performance Error During Steady-State Isometric Force Production.

The uncontrolled manifold (UCM) approach quantifies the presence of compensatory variability between musculoskeletal elements involved in a motor task. This approach has proved useful for identifying synergistic control strategies for a variety of everyday motor tasks and for investigating how control strategies are affected by motor pathology. However, the UCM approach is limited in its ability to relate compensatory motor variance directly to task performance because variability along the UCM is mathematically agnostic to performance.

Narrowing the physiotherapy knowledge-practice gap: faculty training beyond the health sciences.

Physiotherapists seek to improve client movement and promote function within an individual's unique environmental and social realities. Despite this intention, there is a well-noted knowledge-practice gap, that is, therapists generally lack sufficient foundational preparation to effectively navigate societal challenges impacting contemporary healthcare. As one step toward addressing the issue, we propose an educational solution targeting current and future physiotherapy faculty, whose responsibilities for entry-level course development and curriculum design substantially impact student readiness for clinical practice.

DISABKIDS® in Brazil: advances and future perspectives for the production of scientific knowledge.

Objective: to map the Brazilian scientific production related to the stages of the methodological process for the use of DISABKIDS® instruments and/or forms adapted to Brazil.

Method: scoping review, with searches conducted on10 electronic databases, plus Google Scholar and contacts with researchers, without restriction of period or language.

Results: the mapping identified 90 scientific studies involving 46 instruments.

Social participation and personal autonomy of individuals with spinal cord injury.

Objective: To investigate, based on scientific literature, evidence on social participation and personal autonomy of individuals with spinal cord injury.

Method: Integrative review of the literature including studies published between January 2006 and September 2016, obtained in the databases PubMed, CINAHL and LILACS. The guiding question was: "What evidence is available in the scientific literature about the social participation and/or personal autonomy of individuals with spinal cord injury?" The data were processed by IRaMuTeQ and analyzed by the Hierarchical Descending Classification, according to the expertise of the researchers.

In vitro and in silico validation of CA3 and FHL1 downregulation in oral cancer.

Background: Aberrant methylation is a frequent event in oral cancer.

Methods: In order to better characterize these alterations, a search for genes downregulated by aberrant methylation in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) was conducted through the mining of ORESTES dataset. Findings were further validated in OSCC cell lines and patients' samples and confirmed using TCGA data.

Fast extraction of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran in sewage sludge and soil samples.

The current environmental legislations recommend monitoring chemical contaminants such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans before the use of sewage sludge on the agricultural land. In this study, a solid-liquid extraction with low-temperature purification (SLE-LTP) was optimized and validated to determine 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran in sewage sludge and soil samples. The analyses were performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry operating in the selective ion mode (GC-MS-SIM).

Implantation of an ergonomics administration system in a company: report of an occupational therapist specialist in ergonomics.

This article aims to describe step-by-step the implementation of an ergonomics administration system in a company from March 2009 till March 2011 by an occupational therapist specialist in ergonomics based on the OSHAS 18001 guidelines and the Regulatory Norms 17 manual. The process began with the definition of five requisites with bases on the manual of application of the Regulatory Norms 17: survey; materials individual transportation and discharge; workplace furniture; workplace equipments; work environment and organization of the work to be managed with bases on the OSHAS 18001 guidelines. The following steps were established: sensitization of the company high administration, elaboration and institution of an ergonomics politics, development of ergonomics committees, ergonomics analysis of the work with recommendation of ergonomic improvements, implantation of improvements and evaluation or the results.

Targeting MAGE-C1/CT7 expression increases cell sensitivity to the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib in multiple myeloma cell lines.

The MAGE-C1/CT7 encodes a cancer/testis antigen (CTA), is located on the chromosomal region Xq26-27 and is highly polymorphic in humans. MAGE-C1/CT7 is frequently expressed in multiple myeloma (MM) that may be a potential target for immunotherapy in this still incurable disease. MAGEC1/CT7 expression is restricted to malignant plasma cells and it has been suggested that MAGE-C1/CT7 might play a pathogenic role in MM; however, the exact function this protein in the pathophysiology of MM is not yet understood.

MAGE-A inhibits apoptosis in proliferating myeloma cells through repression of Bax and maintenance of survivin.

Purpose: The type I Melanoma Antigen GEnes (MAGEs) are commonly expressed in cancers, fueling speculation that they may be therapeutic targets with oncogenic potential. They form complexes with RING domain proteins that have E3 ubiquitin ligase activity and promote p53 degradation. MAGE-A3 was detected in tumor specimens from patients with multiple myeloma and its expression correlated with higher frequencies of Ki-67(+) malignant cells.

Evaluation of LAGE-1 and NY-ESO-1 expression in multiple myeloma patients to explore possible benefits of their homology for immunotherapy.

Due to the high homology between the LAGE-1 and NY-ESO-1 proteins, we hypothesized that an anti-NY-ESO-1 vaccine might elicit LAGE-1 immunity and hence may be effective in multiple myeloma (MM) patients with LAGE-1-positive/NY-ESO-1-negative tumors. Therefore, we set out to evaluate LAGE-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA and protein expression in MM patients in a bid to evaluate possible benefits of their homology for immunotherapy. LAGE-1 (a and b isoforms) and NY-ESO-1 mRNA expression was studied in 18 normal tissues and 50 bone marrow MM samples by RT-PCR.

Number of expressed cancer/testis antigens identifies focal adhesion pathway genes as possible targets for multiple myeloma therapy.

Considering that the importance of cancer/testis (CT) antigens in multiple myeloma (MM) biology is still under investigation, the present study aimed to: (1) identify genes differentially expressed in MM using microarray analysis of plasma cell samples, separated according to the number of expressed CTs; (2) examine possible pathways related to MM pathogenesis; (3) validate the expression of candidate genes by quantitative real-time PCR (RQ-PCR). Three samples predominantly positive (>6 expressed), including the U266 cell line, and three samples predominantly negative (0 or 1 expressed CT for the 13 analyzed CT antigens), were submitted for microarray analysis. Validation by RQ-PCR from 24 MM samples showed that the ITGA5 gene was downregulated in predominantly positive (>6 expressed CTs, p = 0.

Comparative expression of a set of genes to an internal housekeeping control in CDNA amplified and not amplified by PolyAPCR in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma samples obtained from fine-needle aspiration cytology.

Aim: We aimed to evaluate the amount and quality of the RNA obtained from lymph nodes of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) patients using fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), and to develop strategies to overcome eventual technical drawbacks.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-six patients with NHL and 10 tonsils from children submitted to tonsillectomy underwent FNAC. The aspirates were performed using both cytoaspirator (sample A) and syringe and needle (sample B).

Frequency and prognostic relevance of cancer testis antigen 45 expression in multiple myeloma.

Objective: This study aims to analyze the expression of cancer testis antigen 45 (CT45) in normal tissues and in plasma cell disorders and to identify possible associations with clinical data and prognosis in multiple myeloma (MM) patients.

Materials And Methods: Expression of CT45 was studied in 20 normal tissues (testis, placenta, skeletal muscle, bladder, lung, spleen, heart, brain and fetal brain, thymus, uterus, stomach, mammary gland, pancreas, prostate, small intestine, kidney, adrenal gland, spinal cord, colon, and one pool of 10 normal bone marrow samples) and bone marrow aspirates from 3 monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance, 5 solitary plasmacytomas, 61 newly diagnosed MM patients and MM cell line U266 by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

Results: CT45 was positive in 3 of 20 (15%) normal tissues tested: lung, brain (both fetal and adult), and spinal cord.

SAGE analysis highlights the importance of p53csv, ddx5, mapkapk2 and ranbp2 to multiple myeloma tumorigenesis.

Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) allows a comprehensive profiling of gene expression within a given tissue and also an assessment of transcript abundance. We generated SAGE libraries from normal and neoplastic plasma cells to identify genes differentially expressed in multiple myeloma (MM). Normal plasma cells were obtained from palatine tonsils and MM SAGE library was generated from bone marrow plasma cells of MM patients.

Prognostic impact of cancer/testis antigen expression in advanced stage multiple myeloma patients.

This study aims to analyze the expression of 14 cancer/testis (CT) antigens in multiple myeloma (MM) to identify possible prognostic markers and therapeutic targets. The expression of MAGEA1, MAGEA2, MAGEA3/6, MAGEA4, MAGEA10, MAGEA12, BAGE1, MAGEC1/CT7, the GAGE family, LAGE-1, PRAME, NY-ESO-1, SPA17 and SSX1 was studied by RT-PCR in 15 normal tissues, a pool of 10 normal bone marrow samples, 3 normal tonsils and bone marrow aspirates from 6 normal donors, 3 monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance (MGUS), 5 solitary plasmacytomas, 39 MM samples (95% advanced stage) and the MM cell line U266. MAGEC1/CT7 was expressed in bone marrow aspirates from one MGUS and one plasmacytoma.

Physical interaction of two cancer-testis antigens, MAGE-C1 (CT7) and NY-ESO-1 (CT6).

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are the protein products of germ line-associated genes that are activated in a wide variety of tumors and can elicit autologous cellular and humoral immune responses. CT antigens can be divided between those that are encoded on the X chromosome (CT-X antigens) and those that are not (non-X CT antigens). Among the CT-X antigens, the melanoma antigen gene (MAGE) family, defined by a shared MAGE homology domain (MHD), is the largest.