Time-of-day effects on motor unit firing and muscle contractile properties in humans.

Intrinsic factors related to neuromuscular function are time-of-day dependent, but diurnal rhythms in neural and muscular components of the human neuromuscular system remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the time-of-day effects on neural excitability and muscle contractile properties by assessing the firing properties of tracked motor units and electrically evoked twitch muscle contraction. In 15 young adults (22.9 ± 4.7 yr), neuromuscular function was measured in the morning (10:00), at noon (13:30), in the evening (17:00), and at night (20:30). Four measurements were completed within 24 h. The measurements consisted of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) strength of knee extension, recording of high-density surface electromyography (HDsEMG) from the vastus lateralis during ramp-up contraction to 50% of MVC, and evoked twitch torque of knee extensors by electrical stimulation. Recorded HDsEMG signals were decomposed to individual motor unit firing behaviors and the same motor units were tracked among the times of day, and recruitment thresholds and firing rates were calculated. The number of detected and tracked motor units was 127. Motor unit firing rates significantly increased from morning to noon, evening, and night (P < 0.01), but there were no significant differences in recruitment thresholds among the times of day (P > 0.05). Also, there were no significant effects of time of day on evoked twitch torque (P > 0.05). Changes in the motor unit firing rate and evoked twitch torque were not significantly correlated (P > 0.05). These findings suggest that neural excitability may be affected by the time of day, but it did not accompany changes in peripheral contractile properties in a diurnal manner.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We investigated the variations of tracked motor unit firing properties and electrically evoked twitch contraction during the day within 24 h. The variation of motor unit firing rate was observed, and tracked motor unit firing rate increased at noon, in the evening, and at night compared with that in the morning. The variation in motor unit firing rate was independent of changes in twitch contraction. Motor unit firing rate may be affected by diurnal rhythms.

Synthesis of Branch-Type 3-Allylindoles from N-Alkyl-N-cinnamyl-2-ethynylaniline Derivatives Using π-Allylpalladium Chloride Complex as a Catalyst.

The reaction of N-alkyl-N-cinnamyl-2-ethynylaniline derivatives 1 via annulation and aza-Claisen-type rearrangement easily afforded corresponding branch-type 3-allylindoles 2 with high regioselectivities in good yields using π-allylpalladium chloride complex as a catalyst.

Individuals with chronic ankle instability show altered regional activation of the peroneus longus muscle during ankle eversion.

Individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI) present muscular weakness and potential changes in the activation of the peroneus longus muscle, which likely explains the high recurrence of ankle sprains in this population. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding the role of the peroneus longus activity in CAI, possibly due to the limited spatial resolution of the surface electromyography (sEMG) methods (i.e., bipolar sEMG). Recent studies employing high-density sEMG (HD-sEMG) have shown that the peroneus longus presents differences in regional activation, however, it is unknown whether this regional activation is maintained under pathological conditions such as CAI. This study aimed to compare the myoelectric activity, using HD-sEMG, of each peroneus longus compartment (anterior and posterior) between individuals with and without CAI. Eighteen healthy individuals (No-CAI group) and 18 individuals with CAI were recruited. In both groups, the center of mass (COM) and the sEMG amplitude at each compartment were recorded during ankle eversion at different force levels. For the posterior compartment, the sEMG amplitude of CAI group was significantly lower than the No-CAI group (mean difference = 5.6% RMS; 95% CI = 3.4-7.6; p = 0.0001). In addition, it was observed a significant main effect for group (F1,32 = 9.608; p = 0.0040) with an anterior displacement of COM for the CAI group. These findings suggest that CAI alters the regional distribution of muscle activity of the peroneus longus during ankle eversion. In practice, altered regional activation may impact strengthening programs, prevention, and rehabilitation of CAI.

Subtetanic neuromuscular electrical stimulation can maintain Wingate test performance but augment blood lactate accumulation.

PURPOSE: Concentration- and time-dependent effect of lactate on physiological adaptation (i.e., glycolytic adaptation and mitochondrial biogenesis) have been reported. Subtetanic neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) with voluntary exercise (VOLES) can increase blood lactate accumulation. However, whether this is also true that VOLES can enhance the blood lactate accumulation during sprint exercise is unknown. Thus, we investigated whether VOLES before the Wingate test can enhance blood lactate accumulation without compromising Wingate exercise performance. METHODS: Fifteen healthy young males (mean [SD], age: 23 [4] years, body mass index: 22.0 [2.1] kg/m2) volunteered. After resting measurement, participants performed a 3-min intervention: VOLES (NMES with free-weight cycling) or voluntary cycling alone, which matched exercise intensity with VOLES (VOL, 43.6 [8.0] watt). Then, they performed the Wingate test with 30 min free-weight cycling recovery. The blood lactate concentration ([La]b) was assessed at the end of resting and intervention, and recovery at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, and 30 min. RESULTS: [La]b during intervention was higher with VOLES than VOL (P = 0.011). The increase in [La]b after the Wingate test was maintained for longer with VOLES than VOL at 10- and 20-min recovery (P = 0.014 and 0.023, respectively). Based on the Wingate test, peak power, mean power, and the rate of decline were not significantly different between VOLES and VOL (P = 0.184, 0.201, and 0.483, respectively). CONCLUSION: The combination of subtetanic NMES with voluntary exercise before the Wingate test has the potential to enhance blood lactate accumulation. Importantly, this combined approach does not compromise Wingate exercise performance compared to voluntary exercise alone.

Sex differences in laterality of motor unit firing behavior of the first dorsal interosseous muscle in strength-matched healthy young males and females.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare laterality in motor unit firing behavior between females and males. METHODS: Twenty-seven subjects (14 females) were recruited for this study. The participants performed ramp up and hold isometric index finger abduction at 10, 30, and 60% of their maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). High-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) signals were recorded in the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle and decomposed into individual motor unit (MU) firing behavior using a convolution blind source separation method. RESULTS: In total, 769 MUs were detected (females, n = 318 and males, n = 451). Females had a significantly higher discharge rate than males at each relative torque level (10%: male dominant hand, 13.4 ± 2.7 pps vs. female dominant hand, 16.3 ± 3.4 pps; 30%: male dominant hand, 16.1 ± 3.9 pps vs. female dominant hand, 20.0 ± 5.0 pps; and 60%: male dominant hand, 19.3 ± 3.8 vs. female dominant hand, 25.3 ± 4.8 pps; p < 0.0001). The recruitment threshold was also significantly higher in females than in males at 30 and 60% MVC. Furthermore, males exhibited asymmetrical discharge rates at 30 and 60% MVC and recruitment thresholds at 30 and 60% MVC, whereas no asymmetry was observed in females. CONCLUSION: In the FDI muscle, compared to males, females exhibited different neuromuscular strategies with higher discharge rates and recruitment thresholds and no asymmetrical MU firing behavior. Notably, the findings that sex differences in neuromuscular activity also occur in healthy individuals provide important information for understanding the pathogenesis of various diseases.

Acute effects of caffeine or quercetin ingestion on motor unit firing pattern before and after resistance exercise.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the acute effect of caffeine or quercetin ingestion on motor unit firing patterns and muscle contractile properties before and after resistance exercise. High-density surface electromyography (HDs-EMG) during submaximal contractions and electrically elicited torque in knee extensor muscles were measured before (PRE) and 60 min after (POST1) ingestion of caffeine, quercetin glycosides, or placebo, and after resistance exercise (POST2) in ten young males. The Convolution Kernel Compensation technique was used to identify individual motor units of the vastus lateralis muscle for the recorded HDs-EMG. Ingestion of caffeine or quercetin induced significantly greater decreases in recruitment thresholds (RTs) from PRE to POST1 compared with placebo (placebo: 94.8 ± 9.7%, caffeine: 84.5 ± 16.2%, quercetin: 91.9 ± 36.7%), and there were significant negative correlations between the change in RTs (POST1-PRE) and RT at PRE for caffeine (rs = - 0.448, p < 0.001) and quercetin (rs = - 0.415, p = 0.003), but not placebo (rs = - 0.109, p = 0.440). Significant positive correlations between the change in firing rates (POST2-POST1) and RT at PRE were noted with placebo (rs = 0.380, p = 0.005) and quercetin (rs = 0.382, p = 0.007), but not caffeine (rs = 0.069, p = 0.606). No significant differences were observed in electrically elicited torque among the three conditions. These results suggest that caffeine or quercetin ingestion alters motor unit firing patterns after resistance exercise in different threshold-dependent manners in males.

Association between physical fitness tests and neuromuscular properties.

PURPOSE: While various fitness tests have been developed to assess physical performances, it is unclear how these tests are affected by differences, such as, in morphological and neural factors. This study was aimed to investigate associations between individual differences in physical fitness tests and neuromuscular properties. METHODS: One hundred and thirty-three young adults participated in various general physical fitness tests and neuromuscular measurements. The appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) was estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Echo intensity (EI) was evaluated from the vastus lateralis. During submaximal knee extension force, high-density surface electromyography of the vastus lateralis was recorded and individual motor unit firings were detected. Y-intercept (i-MU) and slope (s-MU) from the regression line between the recruitment threshold and motor unit firing rate were calculated. RESULTS: Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that knee extension strength could be explained (adjusted R2 = 0.712) by ASM (ß = 0.723), i-MU (0.317), EI (- 0.177), and s-MU (0.210). Five-sec stepping could be explained by ASM (adjusted R2 = 0.212). Grip strength, side-stepping, and standing broad jump could be explained by ASM and echo intensity (adjusted R2 = 0.686, 0.354, and 0.627, respectively). Squat jump could be explained by EI (adjusted R2 = 0.640). Counter-movement jump could be explained by EI and s-MU (adjusted R2 = 0.631). On the other hand, i-MU and s-MU could be explained by five-sec stepping and counter-movement jump, respectively, but the coefficients of determination were low (adjusted R2 = 0.100 and 0.045). CONCLUSION: Generally developed physical fitness tests were mainly explained by morphological factors, but were weakly affected by neural factors involved in performance.

Can Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Enhance the Effect of Sprint Interval Training?

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of subtetanic neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with voluntary exercise between repeated Wingate tests on sprint exercise performance and blood lactate accumulation during sprint interval training. Fifteen healthy young males volunteered. After 1-min baseline, participants underwent the Wingate test twice. They performed a 4-min intervention between tests: neuromuscular electrical stimulation with free-weight cycling or voluntary cycling alone [43.6 (8.0) watts], which matched oxygen consumption with neuromuscular electrical stimulation with free-weight cycling. The blood lactate concentration was assessed at the end of the baseline, at 3-min intervention, and on recovery at 1, 3, 5, and 10 min after the second Wingate test. Peak and mean blood lactate concentration during recovery were significantly greater with neuromuscular electrical stimulation with free-weight cycling than voluntary cycling alone (P>0.036 and P=0.011, respectively). Peak power, mean power, and rate of decline (fatigue index) were not significantly different between conditions in both Wingate tests (condition/interaction all P>0.300, partial η2<0.1). Subtetanic neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with voluntary exercise indicated similar exercise performance and fatigue levels during Wingate tests, but enhanced blood lactate accumulation compared to oxygen consumption-matched voluntary cycling during sprint interval training.

Motor Unit Firing Properties During Force Control Task and Associations With Neurological Tests in Children.

The present study aimed to clarify the development of motor unit (MU) firing properties and the association between those neural properties and force steadiness (FS)/neurological tests in 6- to 12-year-old children. Fifty-eight school-aged children performed maximal voluntary knee extension contraction, a submaximal FS test at 10% of maximal voluntary knee extension contraction, knee extension reaction time to light stimulus test, and single-leg standing test, and data from 38 children who passed the criteria were subject to analysis. During the FS test, high-density surface electromyography was recorded from the vastus lateralis muscle to identify individual MU firing activity. FS was improved with an increase in age (r = -.540, P < .001). The MU firing rate (MUFR) was significantly decreased with an increase in age (r = -.343, P = .035). MUFR variability was not associated with age. Although there was no significant correlation between FS and MUFR, FS was significantly correlated with MUFR variability even after adjustment for the effect of age (r = .551, P = .002). Neither the reaction time nor the single-leg standing test was correlated with any MU firing properties. These findings suggest that MUFR variability makes an important contribution to precise force control in children but does not naturally develop with age.

[Primary renal triple expressor DLBCL treated with chemotherapy under continuous hemodialysis and filtration support].

A 69-year-old woman was previously treated with antibiotics for suspected pyelonephritis due to fever but showed limited improvement. Contrast-enhanced CT revealed heterogeneous areas of decreased contrast enhancement in both kidneys, along with an elevated soluble level of the IL-2 receptor (5,090 U/ml), and thus the patient was referred to our department for further evaluation. A percutaneous renal biopsy performed due to suspected malignant lymphoma confirmed lymphoma cell infiltration into the renal interstitium. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for MYC/BCL2/BCL6, leading to the diagnosis of stage IVB primary renal triple expressor diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Due to acute kidney injury, continuous hemodiafiltration (CHDF) was initiated, followed by rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) chemotherapy. The patient's renal function improved rapidly, and complete response was achieved after six cycles of R-CHOP. Although DLBCL is a common lymphoma, the primary renal subtype is extremely rare and poses both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. This case highlights the potential clinical implications of combining CHDF with chemotherapy to achieve complete response despite an initial poor prognosis based on the patient's overall clinical condition and pathology.

Neutral Silylyne Complex of Molybdenum: Synthesis, Properties, and Access to Silaiminoacyl Complexes via [2+3] Cycloaddition.

A neutral silylyne complex of molybdenum was synthesized by the stepwise dehydrogenation method and its properties were compared with those of the tungsten analog. The complex takes a dimeric form as crystals but afford a monomer-dimer equilibrium in solution. The replacement of the central metal from W to Mo led to a monomer dominant (~98 %) solution at room temperature. The monomer-dimer dynamics was investigated based on thermodynamic parameters. The molybdenum silylyne complex underwent [2+2] cycloaddition with alkynes much faster than the tungsten analog. The reactions with organic azides led to the formation of the first example of silaiminoacyl complexes through [2+3] cycloaddition. The structures and bonding aspects of the products were clarified by multiple measurements and DFT calculations.

Assessment of motor unit firing by high-density surface electromyography detects motor neuronal hyperexcitable state in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION/AIMS: In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the impact of motor neuron dysfunction on the motor unit (MU) firing pattern remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to clarify the characteristics of the MU firing rate and its association with clinical factors in ALS patients using high-density surface electromyography (HDSEMG) and MU decomposition analysis. METHODS: Nineteen ALS patients and 20 controls prospectively underwent HDSEMG recording of the vastus lateralis muscle during ramp-up (30% of maximum voluntary contraction) and sustained (10% of maximal voluntary contraction for 60 seconds) contractions on performing isometric knee extension. After decomposition analysis, instantaneous firing rates (IFRs) of individually identified MUs were calculated. Comparison of IFRs and clinical variables between ALS patients and controls and analysis of the correlation between individual mean IFR and clinical variables in ALS patients were performed. RESULTS: The number of identified MUs was lower in ALS patients than in controls (P = .017). Mean IFRs of MUs (i.e., mean MU firing rates) were higher in ALS patients than in controls at some force levels on ramp-up contraction (P < .05) and at 50 to 60 seconds during sustained contraction (9.1 [ALS] vs 8.3 [controls] pulses per second; P = .036). There was no correlation between the clinical parameters and mean IFR of each patient. DISCUSSION: ALS patients had a higher MU firing rate during muscle contraction at a low force level. Noninvasive assessment of the MU firing rate by HDSEMG can detect a motor neuronal hyperexcitable state in ALS patients.

Longitudinal development of muscle strength and relationship with motor unit activity and muscle morphological characteristics in youth athletes.

Neural and morphological adaptations determine gains of muscle strength. For youth athletes, the importance of morphological adaptation is typically highlighted based on the change in maturity status. However, the long-term development of neural components in youth athletes remains unclear. The present study investigated the longitudinal development of muscle strength, muscle thickness (MT), and motor unit firing activity of the knee extensor and their relationships in youth athletes. Seventy male youth soccer players (mean ± SD age = 16.3 ± 0.6 years) performed neuromuscular, maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC), and submaximal ramp contraction (at 30 and 50% MVC) tests with knee extensors, two times with a 10-month measurement interval. High-density surface electromyography was recorded from the vastus lateralis and decomposed to identify each individual motor unit activity. MT was evaluated by the sum of the vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius thicknesses. Finally, sixty-four participants were employed to compare MVC and MT, and 26 participants were employed to analyze motor unit activity. MVC and MT were increased from pre to post (p < 0.05, 6.9 and 1.7% for MVC and MT, respectively). Y-intercept of the regression line between median firing rate vs. recruitment threshold was also increased (p < 0.05, 13.3%). Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that the gains of both MT and Y-intercept were explanatory variables for the gain of strength. These findings suggest that the neural adaptation could also make the important contribution to the strength gain for the youth athletes over a 10-month training period.

Influence of pedal characteristics on pedaling control and neural drive in older adults.

This study was aimed to investigate whether pedal characteristics and age affect pedal position accuracy, fluctuation, and neural drive variability during a position control task. Twelve older (age: 72.8 ± 3.6 years) and twelve young (age: 23.8 ± 4.4 years) adults performed trapezoidal position control tasks involving holding plantar flexor contraction for 10 s with four pedal conditions (regular and pulley types × standard and low forces). Neural drive of the triceps surae muscle was estimated with high-density surface electromyograms and individual motor unit decomposition methods. The central 5 s of the sustained contraction phase was used for analysis. Variabilities of the angle and neural drive are presented by the coefficient of variation. We observed that the angle fluctuation was greater in older than young adults for four pedal conditions (p < 0.05). Regardless of age, using pulley pedals increased angle fluctuation more than regular pedals (p < 0.05). No significant interaction was found for pedal conditions and age in pedal position accuracy, angle fluctuation, or neural output. Our results suggest that older adults have poor control ability to maintain pedal angles, and pulley pedals make it difficult to adjust the pedal angles regardless of age. However, the neural output estimated by the continuously active motor units failed to explain these differences.

Physiological adaptations following vigorous exercise and moderate exercise with superimposed electrical stimulation.

INTRODUCTION: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) induces involuntary muscle contraction, preferentially promotes anaerobic metabolism, and is applicable for increasing exercise intensity. This study aimed to assess whether superimposing NMES onto moderate-intensity voluntary exercise imitates physiological adaptations that occur in response to vigorous voluntary exercise. METHODS: Eight participants trained with a cycling ergometer at 100% of the ventilatory threshold (VT) (73.3% of peak oxygen consumption) (VOL), and another nine participants trained with the cycling ergometer at 75% of VT (56.2% of peak oxygen consumption) with subtetanic NMES applied to the gluteus and thigh muscles (VOLES), matched to VOL training sessions, for nine weeks. RESULTS: Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) in VOLES (12.00 ± 1.50) was significantly lower than in VOL (14.88 ± 1.81) (p < 0.05) during training sessions. Peak power output during the exercise tolerance test was increased in VOL and VOLES following interventions. Oxygen consumption and heart rate (HR) at VT and blood lactate concentration (BLC) at < VT were decreased from before (PRE) to after (POST) training interventions for both VOL and VOLES. There were no significant differences in absolute changes from PRE to POST for peak power output and oxygen consumption, HR, and BLC at a submaximal intensity between VOL and VOLES. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that both superimposing subtetanic NMES onto moderate-intensity voluntary exercise and vigorous voluntary intensity exercise induce the improvement in cardiovascular and metabolic systems, but the adaptation of former method is provided without perceived strenuous exertion.

Effects of home-based bodyweight squat training on neuromuscular properties in community-dwelling older adults.

BACKGROUND: It is important to investigate neural as well as muscle morphological adaptations to evaluate the effects of exercise training on older adults. AIMS: This study was aimed to investigate the effects of home-based bodyweight squat training on neuromuscular adaptation in older adults. METHODS: Twenty-five community-dwelling older adults (77.7 ± 5.0 years) were assigned to squat (SQU) or control (CON) groups. Those in the SQU group performed 100 bodyweight squats every day and the others in the CON group only performed daily activities for 4 months. Maximum knee extension torque and high-density surface electromyography during submaximal contraction were assessed. Individual motor units (MUs) were identified and divided into relatively low or high-recruitment threshold MU groups. Firing rates of each MU group were calculated. The muscle thickness and echo intensity of the lateral thigh were assessed using ultrasound. As physical tests, usual gait speed, timed up and go test, grip strength, and five-time chair stand test were performed. RESULTS: While no improvements in muscle strength, muscle thickness, echo intensity, or physical tests were noted in either group, the firing rate of relatively low recruitment threshold MUs significantly decreased in the SQU group after intervention. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that low-intensity home-based squat training could not improve markedly muscle strength or physical functions even if high-repetition and high frequency exercise, but could modulate slightly neural activation in community-dwelling older adults.

Emotional Distress During COVID-19 by Mental Health Conditions and Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With a Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring the psychological conditions of social media users during rapidly developing public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, using their posts on social media has rapidly gained popularity as a relatively easy and cost-effective method. However, the characteristics of individuals who created these posts are largely unknown, making it difficult to identify groups of individuals most affected by such crises. In addition, large annotated data sets for mental health conditions are not easily available, and thus, supervised machine learning algorithms can be infeasible or too costly. OBJECTIVE: This study proposes a machine learning framework for the real-time surveillance of mental health conditions that does not require extensive training data. Using survey-linked tweets, we tracked the level of emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic by the attributes and psychological conditions of social media users in Japan. METHODS: We conducted online surveys of adults residing in Japan in May 2022 and collected their basic demographic information, socioeconomic status, and mental health conditions, along with their Twitter handles (N=2432). We computed emotional distress scores for all the tweets posted by the study participants between January 1, 2019, and May 30, 2022 (N=2,493,682) using a semisupervised algorithm called latent semantic scaling (LSS), with higher values indicating higher levels of emotional distress. After excluding users by age and other criteria, we examined 495,021 (19.85%) tweets generated by 560 (23.03%) individuals (age 18-49 years) in 2019 and 2020. We estimated fixed-effect regression models to examine their emotional distress levels in 2020 relative to the corresponding weeks in 2019 by the mental health conditions and characteristics of social media users. RESULTS: The estimated level of emotional distress of our study participants increased in the week when school closure started (March 2020), and it peaked at the beginning of the state of emergency (estimated coefficient=0.219, 95% CI 0.162-0.276) in early April 2020. Their level of emotional distress was unrelated to the number of COVID-19 cases. We found that the government-induced restrictions disproportionately affected the psychological conditions of vulnerable individuals, including those with low income, precarious employment, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes a framework to implement near-real-time monitoring of the emotional distress level of social media users, highlighting a great potential to continuously monitor their well-being using survey-linked social media posts as a complement to administrative and large-scale survey data. Given its flexibility and adaptability, the proposed framework is easily extendable for other purposes, such as detecting suicidality among social media users, and can be used on streaming data for continuous measurement of the conditions and sentiment of any group of interest.

Correction: Emotional Distress During COVID-19 by Mental Health Conditions and Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With a Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/44965.].

Muscle Fiber Conduction Velocity During Electrically Stimulated Contraction at Various Joint Angles, During Joint Movements, and During Voluntary Contractions.

Muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) can be affected by muscle fiber geometry at different joint angles and during joint movements. This study aimed to investigate MFCV during electrically evoked contraction at different joint angles, during joint movements, and during voluntary contractions. Sixteen healthy young men participated. A stimulation electrode was attached on the innervation zone of the vastus lateralis, and a linear electrode array was attached on the vastus lateralis. Under a static condition, electrically evoked electromyography signals were recorded at knee joint angles set every 15° between 0° and 105°. Under a passive movement condition, signals were recorded during knee extension and flexion passively. Under a voluntary contraction condition, signals were recorded while performing 30% or 60% of maximum voluntary contraction. MFCV was calculated using cross-correlation coefficients. Under the static condition, there were no differences in MFCV among various joint angles. Under the passive movement condition, MFCV was significantly greater during high velocity or shortening. Under the voluntary contraction condition, MFCV was significantly greater during high-intensity voluntary contraction and with a shortened muscle length. Joint angles do not influence MFCV markedly during relaxation, but it is possible to overestimate MFCV during movement or voluntary contraction.

Mechanistic Details of Asymmetric Bromocyclization with BINAP Monoxide: Identification of Chiral Proton-Bridged Bisphosphine Oxide Complex and Its Application to Parallel Kinetic Resolution.

The mechanism of our previously reported catalytic asymmetric bromocyclization reactions using 2,2'-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1'-binaphthyl (BINAP) monoxide was examined in detail by the means of control experiments, NMR studies, X-ray structure analysis, and CryoSpray electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis. The chiral BINAP monoxide was transformed to a key catalyst precursor, proton-bridged bisphosphine oxide complex (POHOP·Br), in the presence of N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) and contaminating water. The thus-formed POHOP further reacts with NBS to afford BINAP dioxide and molecular bromine (Br2) simultaneously in equimolar amounts. While the resulting Br2 is activated by NBS to form a more reactive brominating reagent (Br2─NBS), BINAP dioxide serves as a bifunctional catalyst, acting as both a Lewis base that reacts with Br2─NBS to form a chiral brominating agent (P═O+─Br) and also as a Brønsted base for the activation of the substrate. By taking advantage of this novel concerted Lewis/Brønsted base catalysis by BINAP dioxide, we achieved the first regio- and chemodivergent parallel kinetic resolutions (PKRs) of racemic unsymmetrical bisallylic amides via bromocyclization.