• Advances in biomechanics and applications
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.269-277
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• 2014

In skin-marker based motion analysis, knee translation measurement is highly dependent on a pre-selected reference point (functional center) on each segment determined by the location of anatomical landmarks. However, the placement of skin markers on palpable anatomical landmarks (i.e., femoral epicondyles) has limited reproducibility. Thus, it produces large variances in knee translation measurement among different subjects, as well as across studies. In order improve the repeatability of knee translation measurement, in this study an optimization method was introduced, by which the femoral functional center was numerically determined. At that point the knee anteroposterior translation during the stance phase of walking was minimized. This new method was tested on 30 healthy subjects during walking in gait lab with motion capture system. Using this new method, the impact of skin marker position (at anatomical landmarks) on the knee translation measurement has been minimized. In addition, the ranges of anteroposterior knee translations during stance phase were significantly (p<0.001) smaller than those measured by conventional method which relies on a pre-selected functional center ($11.1{\pm}3.5mm$ vs. $19.9{\pm}5.5mm$). The results of anteroposterior translation using this new method were very close to a previously reported knee translation (12.4 mm) from dual fluoroscopic imaging technique. Moreover, this new method increased the reproducibility of knee translation measurement by 50%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.571-582
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• 1992

Soybeans were dry extruded at three different temperatures (125, 135 and $145^{\circ}C$) for 30 s. Four lambs fitted with cannulae in the rumen and abomasums were used in a balanced $4{\times}4$ Latin square design. Lambs were fed at 2 h intervals for 12 times a day with automatic feeder to maintain steady state conditions in digestive tract. A dual-phase marker system was used to estivate ruminal flow rate of both liquid and solid digesta. Objectives of this study were to determine the effect of extrusion temperature of raw soybean on the ruminal liquid and solid dilution rate, nitrogen digestion and flow at the abomasum and availability of amino acid in lambs. There were no significant effects of extrusion on liquid and solid dilution rate, and liquid volume. Ruminal liquid flow rate was not influenced by extrusion and ranged from 389 to 435 ml/hr. Extrusion had no influence on ruminal OM digestion and flow rate to the abomasums. Dietary N flow to the abomasums increased (p < 0.05) as extruding temperature increased. Extruding temperature had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on flow of N escaping ruminal degradation and ranged from 34.91 to 57.38%. Microbial N synthesized/kg OMTDR ranged from 27 to 37 g and highest with $145^{\circ}C$ ESB diet. Extrusion decreased the amount of degradable amino acid in the rumen and increased the supply of amino acid to the lower gut, especially with 135 and $145^{\circ}C$ ESB diets.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1518-1525
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• 2011

Sorafenib is the only approved systemic, therapeutic agent for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The use of Ginseng Extract (GE) in cancer patients is growing worldwide; however, drug interaction between sorafenib and GE has not been illuminated. Four different human cancer cell lines including HepG2 were used and immunocompetent mice were implanted subcutaneously with a mouse HCC cell line. Treatment with low dose GE stimulated cell growth, while a high dose inhibited growth. pERK (phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase) was concomitantly increased and decreased respective of different doses of GE. Antitumoral effect of sorafenib decreased in non-proliferating phase cells but was sensitized after low dose GE (LDG) treatment. PD98059 (ERK phosphorylation inhibitor) efficiently blocked ERK phosphorylation, resulting in loss of sorafenib sensitization even after LDG treatment. In the HCC mouse model, LDG alone slightly increased tumor size while sorafenib alone significantly decreased it. However, a combination of LDG and sorafenib significantly decreased tumor size compared with sorafenib alone. Increase of pERK was observed in some normal mice organs and mild inflammatory change was observed in some of these organs, suggesting pERK activation by LDG may cause unexpected toxicity in normal cells. GE, dose-dependently, induced stimulation or inhibition in some human cancer cell lines. Combinational use of GE and sorafenib possibly potentiated an antitumoral response to sorafenib. pERK level has been provided as a potential predictive marker for sorafenib. Our result may suggest GE's dual effects in relation to pERK level in HCC cancer cell lines, and that certain doses of GE can sensitize sorafenib.