Does an acute transition to different footwear conditions affect walking patterns in people with different experiences of minimalist footwear?

BACKGROUND: Minimalistic footwear provides adequate toe space, tripod function, improving foot function, muscle activation and stability during walking similarly to barefoot walking. Due to the increasing popularity of this specific footwear, there is a lack of research focusing on general users of minimalistic footwear. RESEARCH QUESTION: Does annual walking in minimalistic footwear affect gait biomechanics? METHODS: Cross-sectional study involving twenty participants in a minimalistic footwear group with both experience (MFE) and no experience (NMFE). Participants walked in three different conditions (barefoot, minimalistic, and neutral footwear) in the laboratory at normal human walking speed. RESULTS: A significant main effect of groups regardless of footwear conditions show significantly greater values during walking in minimalistic footwear and barefoot in the stride length (p=0.035, p=0.003, respectively), and stride width (p=0.047, p=0.028, respectively) in the NMFE group compared to MFE group. The significant differences in the main effects of footwear regardless of experience were found in stance time (p<0.001), steps per minute (p<0.001), stride length (<0.001), foot adduction in TO (p<0.001), foot eversion angle in IC and TO (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively), foot progression angle (p<0.001), ankle dorsiflexion angle in IC and TO (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively), in ankle eversion angle in IC and TO (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively), knee flexion angle in IC and TO (p<0.001; p<0.001, respectively), and in knee flexion range of motion (p<0.001). SIGNIFICANCE: Based on our findings, barefoot walking should be used primarily during daily activities if the environment is conducive. Only one year of experience with minimalistic footwear seems insufficient and an intervention should be incorporated to change the gait pattern when transitioning to full minimalistic footwear walking.

Amyloids, amorphous aggregates and assemblies of peptides - Assessing aggregation.

Amyloid and amorphous aggregates represent the two major categories of aggregates associated with diseases, and although exhibiting distinct features, researchers often treat them as equivalent, which demonstrates the need for more thorough characterization. Here, we compare amyloid and amorphous aggregates based on their biochemical properties, kinetics, and morphological features. To further decipher this issue, we propose the use of peptide self-assemblies as minimalistic models for understanding the aggregation process. Peptide building blocks are significantly smaller than proteins that participate in aggregation, however, they make a plausible means to bridge the gap in discerning the aggregation process at the more complex, protein level. Additionally, we explore the potential use of peptide-inspired models to research the liquid-liquid phase separation as a feasible mechanism preceding amyloid formation. Connecting these concepts can help clarify our understanding of aggregation-related disorders and potentially provide novel drug targets to impede and reverse these serious illnesses.

Bioinspired Amino Acid Based Materials in Bionanotechnology: From Minimalistic Building Blocks and Assembly Mechanism to Applications.

Inspired by natural hierarchical self-assembly of proteins and peptides, amino acids, as the basic building units, have been shown to self-assemble to form highly ordered structures through supramolecular interactions. The fabrication of functional biomaterials comprised of extremely simple biomolecules has gained increasing interest due to the advantages of biocompatibility, easy functionalization, and structural modularity. In particular, amino acid based assemblies have shown attractive physical characteristics for various bionanotechnology applications. Herein, we propose a review paper to summarize the design strategies as well as research advances of amino acid based supramolecular assemblies as smart functional materials. We first briefly introduce bioinspired reductionist design strategies and assembly mechanism for amino acid based molecular assembly materials through noncovalent interactions in condensed states, including self-assembly, metal ion mediated coordination assembly, and coassembly. In the following part, we provide an overview of the properties and functions of amino acid based materials toward applications in nanotechnology and biomedicine. Finally, we give an overview of the remaining challenges and future perspectives on the fabrication of amino acid based supramolecular biomaterials with desired properties. We believe that this review will promote the prosperous development of innovative bioinspired functional materials formed by minimalistic building blocks.

Effect of Footwear Type on Biomechanical Risk Factors for Knee Osteoarthritis.

Background: Regular walking in different types of footwear may increase the mediolateral shear force, knee adduction moment, or vertical ground-reaction forces that could increase the risk of early development of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Purpose: To compare kinematic and kinetic parameters that could affect the development of knee OA in 3 footwear conditions. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: A total of 40 asymptomatic participants performed walking trials in the laboratory at self-selected walking speeds under barefoot (BF), minimalistic (MF), and neutral (NF) footwear conditions. Knee joint parameters were described using discrete point values, and continuous curves were evaluated using statistical parametric mapping. A 3 × 1 repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to determine the main effect of footwear for both discrete and continuous data. To compare differences between footwear conditions, a post hoc paired t test was used. Results: Discrete point analyses showed a significantly greater knee power in NF compared with MF and BF in the weight absorption phase (P < .001 for both). Statistical parametric mapping analysis indicated a significantly greater knee angle in the sagittal plane at the end of the propulsive phase in BF compared with NF and MF (P = .043). Knee joint moment was significantly greater in the propulsive phase for the sagittal (P = .038) and frontal planes (P = .035) in BF compared with NF and MF and in the absorption phase in the sagittal plane (P = .034) in BF compared with MF and NF. A significant main effect of footwear was found for anteroposterior (propulsion, ↑MF, NF, ↓BF [P = .008]; absorption, ↑BF, MF, ↓NF [P = .001]), mediolateral (propulsion, ↑MF, NF, ↓BF [P = .005]; absorption, ↑NF, MF, ↓BF [P = .044]), and vertical (propulsion, ↑NF, BF, ↓MF [P = .001]; absorption, ↑MF, BF, ↓NF [P < .001]) ground-reaction forces. Knee power showed a significant main effect of footwear (absorption, ↑NF, MF, ↓BF [P = .015]; propulsion, ↑MF, NF, ↓BF [P = .039]). Conclusion: Walking in MF without sufficient accommodation affected kinetic and kinematic parameters and could increase the risk of early development of knee OA.

Alveolar Ridge Augmentation Assessment Using a Minimalistic Approach, with and without Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT)-A Comparative Clinical Trial.

Background and Objective: A narrow alveolar ridge is an obstacle to optimal rehabilitation of the dentition. There are several complex and invasive techniques to counter the ridge augmentation dilemma, with most of them exhibiting low feasibility. Hence, this randomized clinical trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a Minimalistic Ridge Augmentation (MRA) technique, in conjunction with low-level laser therapy (LLLT). Materials and Methods: A total of 20 patients (n = 20) were selected, with 10 assigned to the test group (MRA+LLLT) and the other 10 to the control group (MRA). A vertical incision of approximately 10 mm was placed mesial to the defect and tunneled to create a subperiosteal pouch across the entire width of the defect. At the test sites, a diode laser (AnARC FoxTM Surgical Laser 810 nm) was used to deliver LLLT (parameters: 100 mW, with a maximum energy distribution of 6 J/cm2 in the continuous wave mode for 60 s per point) to the exposed bone surface inside the pouch, followed by graft (G-Graft, SurgiwearTM, Shahjahanpur, India) deposition with a bone graft carrier. The control sites were not irradiated with a laser. Results: A horizontal ridge width gain of >2 mm was observed in both groups. The changes in bone density for the test and control groups were -136 ± 236.08 HU and -44.30 ± 180.89 HU, respectively. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference between the test and control groups in these parameters. Conclusion: The study findings reveal that the MRA technique is relatively simple and feasible for alveolar ridge augmentation. The role of LLLT in the process requires further elucidation.

Mkit: A mobile nucleic acid assay based on a chitosan-modified minimalistic microfluidic chip (CM3-chip) and smartphone.

Mobile sensing enabled by MS2 technology, which integrates microfluidic and smartphone components, has seen many applications in recent years. In this direction, we developed an MS2 platform (an integrated kit) for nucleic acid assay, which included a chitosan-modified minimalistic microfluidic chip (CM3-chip), a smartphone-based fluorescence detector (SF-detector), an APP for imaging and analysis, reagents, and accessories. Once the lysed sample was loaded into the CM3-chip modified by 1% concentration and 200-260 kDa molecular weight of chitosan, the following assay can be completed in approximately 1 h. The Mkit can detect 3 × 10° copies µL-1 of plasmid DNA and its polymerase chain reaction (PCR) efficiency was 96.8%. The CM3-chip equipped for the Mkit can enrich nucleic acid from the pH = 5 of lysis buffer, instead of using conventional adsorption mediums such as the magnetic beads and silica gel membranes, which could result in unexpected impurity residuals and tedious cleaning operations. In addition, the performance of the Mkit equipped with the pristine chip was demonstrated to perform poorer than that coupled with the CM3-chip in which the enriched nucleic acid can be all used for "in-situ PCR". The universality, selectivity, and user-friendliness of the Mkit were also validated. We finally demonstrated the feasibility of the Mkit for testing artificially prepared infected samples. H5N6 and IAV-infected saliva samples provided the limits of detection of 5 × 102 copies mL-1 and 3.24 × 102 copies mL-1 per chamber, respectively. The streamlined assay and compact device should enable the great potential of the Mkit in research and potential diagnostic uses.

A 20-year journey in transcatheter aortic valve implantation: Evolution to current eminence.

Since the first groundbreaking procedure in 2002, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has revolutionized the management of aortic stenosis (AS). Through striking developments in pertinent equipment and techniques, TAVI has now become the leading therapeutic strategy for aortic valve replacement in patients with severe symptomatic AS. The procedure streamlining from routine use of conscious sedation to a single arterial access approach, the newly adapted implantation techniques, and the introduction of novel technologies such as intravascular lithotripsy and the refinement of valve-bioprosthesis devices along with the accumulating experience have resulted in a dramatic reduction of complications and have improved associated outcomes that are now considered comparable or even superior to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). These advances have opened the road to the use of TAVI in younger and lower-risk patients and up-to-date data from landmark studies have now established the outstanding efficacy and safety of TAVI in patients with low-surgical risk impelling the most recent ESC guidelines to propose TAVI, as the main therapeutic strategy for patients with AS aged 75 years or older. In this article, we aim to summarize the most recent advances and the current clinical aspects involving the use of TAVI, and we also attempt to highlight impending concerns that need to be further addressed.

Optimizing and designing a leg shape to increase robustness of a running robot on rough terrain.

The superior ability of dynamic legged locomotion in traversing rough terrain relative to wheeled or tracked mechanisms comes with the cost of fragile stability. Simple control methods that use only a few basic detection sensors and apply a single controller help robots keep their balance when traversing unforeseen rough terrain. Exploiting multiple controllers simultaneously, such as the free leg length and stiffness in our hopping monopod, can further improve robustness but is often mechanically hard to implement. This work demonstrates that a curved leg shape can improve the robustness of a robot to perturbations in both terrain levels and initial horizontal velocity without complicating the control scheme. Our work develops spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) based models that manifest the coupling of the leg's parameters and capture the rolling motion. We use these models to find an optimal combination of parameters that maximizes a measure for long-term stability-reaching a desired relative height above terrain. We demonstrate that when traversing unknown rough terrain, such optimal coupling can increase robustness to perturbations in the initial horizontal velocity by 93% relative to the optimal conventional SLIP model. We further demonstrate our results in experiments.

Exploiting Peptide Self-Assembly for the Development of Minimalistic Viral Mimetics.

Viruses are natural supramolecular nanostructures that form spontaneously by molecular self-assembly of complex biomolecules. Peptide self-assembly is a versatile tool that allows mimicking viruses by creating their simplified versions through the design of functional, supramolecular materials with modularity, tunability, and responsiveness to chemical and physical stimuli. The main challenge in the design and fabrication of peptide materials is related to the precise control between the peptide sequence and its resulting supramolecular morphology. We provide an overview of existing sequence patterns employed for the development of spherical and fibrillar peptide assemblies that can act as viral mimetics, offering the opportunity to tackle the challenges of viral infections.

Percu-Ax aortic valve implantation with a double arm approach: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Transaxillary route for structural and coronary percutaneous interventions represents a valid alternative access in patients with obstructive peripheral disease. Nevertheless, its widespread use is limited by a less manageable haemostasis procedure. CASE SUMMARY: In this case, we describe a minimalistic high-risk transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedure (TAVI Score 6.42%) conducted with a double arm approach (radial and axillary accesses) in an 88-year-old patient with severe aortic stenosis and multiple co-morbidities preventing both surgical (Society of Thoracic Surgeons mortality 7.9%) and percutaneous transfemoral approach (extensive peripheral artery disease). We also described the successful management of a complicated transaxillary haemostasis with this technique. DISCUSSION: In our cases, a minimalist double-arm approach was successfully used for TAVI procedure as an alternative to transfemoral approach assuring effective and safe management of vascular access haemostasis.

A Multilevel Isolation Forrest and Convolutional Neural Network Algorithm for Impact Characterization on Composite Structures.

In this paper, a Deep Learning approach is proposed to classify impact data based on the type of impact (Hard or Soft Impacts), via obtaining voltage signals from Piezo-Electric sensors, mounted on a composite panel. The data is processed further to be classified based on their energy, location and material. Minimalistic and Automated feature extraction and selection is achieved via a deep learning algorithm. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are employed to extract and select important features from the voltage data. Once features are selected the impacts, are classified based on either, Hard Impacts (simulated from steel impactors in a lab setting), Soft Impacts (simulated from silicon impactors in a lab setting) and their corresponding location and energy levels. Furthermore, in order to use the right data for training they are obtained from the signals as anomalies via Isolation Forests (IF) to speed up the process. Using this approach Hard and Soft Impacts, their corresponding locations and respective energies are identified with high accuracy.

Minimalistic coarse-grained modeling of viral capsid assembly.

The spontaneous formation of virus capsids from multiple copies of capsid proteins is a fascinating example of supramolecular self-assembling processes. Most known viruses protect their genome with icosahedral capsids, but other morphologies exist as well, including elongated, conical, tubular, head-tail structures. The mechanisms of assembly can be diverse and are still not perfectly understood. In this chapter we present theoretical models developed over the years that reproduce the basic physics of self-assembly of empty viral capsids. All these models are highly coarse-grained, as it is still not possible to access the long timescales of such processes with atomistic modeling. Very different particle-based models can result in the same overall behavior, showing that such processes are governed by the effective anisotropic interactions between protein building blocks.

Single-Input Control of Multiple Fluid-Driven Elastic Actuators via Interaction Between Bistability and Viscosity.

A leading concept in soft robotics actuation, as well as in microfluidics applications such as valves in lab-on-a-chip devices, is applying pressurized flow in cavities embedded within elastic bodies. Generating complex deformation patterns typically requires control of several inputs, which greatly complicates the system's operation. In this study, we present a novel method for single-input control of a serial chain of bistable elastic chambers connected by thin tubes. Controlling a single flow rate at the chain's inlet, we induce an irreversible sequence of transitions that can reach any desired state combination of all bistable elements. Mathematical formulation and analysis of the system's dynamics reveal that these transitions are enabled, thanks to bistability combined with pressure lag induced by viscous resistance. The results are demonstrated through numerical simulations combined with experiments for chains of up to five chambers, using water-diluted glycerol as the injected fluid. The proposed technique has a promising potential for development of sophisticated soft actuators with minimalistic control.

Minimalist strategies applied to analysis of forensic samples using elemental and molecular analytical techniques - A review.

Forensic science is an emerging field driven by a number of factors, and the development of different methods of analyses, instruments, and techniques is of great help to experts in the field. Sampling and sample preparation in forensic cases are of utmost importance, and therefore, the methods for processing (or not) the samples are critical for acquiring accurate results. Some alternatives for attaining the minimalist concept, i.e. little or no sample treatment, are discussed in this review. For elemental analysis, analytical techniques, such as X-ray spectrometry, laser-ablation mass spectrometry, laser-induced breakdown spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and optical emission spectrometry, and Mössbauer spectrometry are overviewed. Molecular analysis, such as Raman spectroscopy, and ambient ionization mass spectrometry are discussed. Some representative examples are presented that involve in situ analysis, counterfeit bank notes and documents, post-mortem and bone analyses, and forensic analysis of drugs, glass, fingerprints, biological fluids and explosives.

Optimization and simplification of transcatheter aortic valve implantation therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is now a widely adopted therapy for the treatment of elderly patients with severe aortic stenosis. Improved pre-procedural screening, increased operators' experience and technology advancement have made this technique highly reliable and standardized. Areas covered: The purpose of this review article is to provide an overview of the strategies that can be adopted to optimize the TAVI procedure (pre-interventional work-up and procedural simplification and early discharge). Expert commentary: Optimization of TAVI therapy is already a reality and has shown to be safe in most patients, but its penetration has to face with real-world practice. The adoption of a minimalistic and optimized approach requires integration of multidisciplinary competences and an extended, dynamic conception of heart team, which also includes patients' families, referring cardiologist and general practitioners.

Minimalistic toy robot to analyze a scenery of speaker-listener condition in autism.

Atypical neural architecture causes impairment in communication capabilities and reduces the ability of representing the referential statements of other people in children with autism. During a scenery of "speaker-listener" communication, we have analyzed verbal and emotional expressions in neurotypical children (n = 20) and in children with autism (n = 20). The speaker was always a child, and the listener was a human or a minimalistic robot which reacts to speech expression by nodding only. Although both groups performed the task, everything happens as if the robot could allow children with autism to elaborate a multivariate equation encoding and conceptualizing within his/her brain, and externalizing into unconscious emotion (heart rate) and conscious verbal speech (words). Such a behavior would indicate that minimalistic artificial environments such as toy robots could be considered as the root of neuronal organization and reorganization with the potential to improve brain activity.

Two new species of Limbodessus diving beetles from New Guinea - short verbal descriptions flanked by online content (digital photography, µCT scans, drawings and DNA sequence data).

BACKGROUND: To date only one species of Limbodessus diving beetles has been reported from the Island of New Guinea, L. compactus (Clark, 1862), which is widerspread in the Australian region. NEW INFORMATION: We describe two new species of microendemic New Guinea Limbodessus and use a compact descriptive format flanked by enriched online content in wiki powered species pages. Limbodessus baliem sp.n. is described from ca. 1,600 m altitude in the Baliem Valley of Papua and Limbodessus alexanderi sp.n. from >3,000 m altitude north of Sugapa, Papua. Based on our analysis, we also transfer three species from other genera to Limbodessus Guignot, 1939, with the following changes: Limbodessus deflectus (Ordish, 1966), new combination; Limbodessus leveri (J. Balfour-Browne, 1944), new combination; and Limbodessus plicatus (Sharp, 1882), new combination.