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The purpose of this study was to identify the correlation between angle of the lead leg and ball velocity during throwing motion of female professional baseball players. Ball velocity and throwing motion were measured. The correlation between the ball velocity and each angle, the amount of change from FC to the maximum value were examined. A positive correlation was observed between ankle plantar flexion angle and ball velocity in the 14-49% section, and a negative correlation was observed with the amount of change in knee flexion. The hip flexion angle was positively correlated with the ball velocity in almost all sections and the hip adduction angle was 75% or later. In male players with high pitching ability, the knee flexion angle is maintained after FC. On the contrary, in female players who can throw fast ball, the amount of change in knee flexion was reduced by holding the ankle joint in the plantar flexion position after FC and suppressing the forward tilt of the lower leg. It is considered that female players who can throw the ball faster support the lead leg with larger hip flexion and adduction angle after the ball is released. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makoto Umeda,1 Masaki Hiramoto,1,2 Takeshi Imai1 1Department of Aging Intervention, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Aichi, Japan; 2Department of Biochemistry, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan Abstract: Estrogens play central roles in sexual development, reproduction, and hepatocyte proliferation. The ovaries are one of the main organs for estradiol (E2) production. Ovariectomies (OVXs) were performed on the female mice, and hepatocyte proliferation was analyzed. The ovariectomized mice exhibited delayed hepatocyte proliferation after partial hepatectomy (PH) and also exhibited delayed and reduced E2 induction. Both E2 administration and PH induced the gene expression of estrogen receptor α (ERα). The transcripts of ERα were detected specifically in periportal hepatocytes after E2 administration and PH. Moreover, the E2 concentrations and hepatocyte proliferation rates were highest in the proestrus period of the estrous cycle. Taken together, these findings indicate that E2 accelerated ERα expression in periportal hepatocytes and hepatocyte proliferation in the female mice.Keywords: estrogen, ER, estrous cycle, hepatocyte proliferation, liver regeneration

The magnetic, structural and corrosive properties of sputtered FeSiA1(Ti/Ta)(O)N films were investigated. The films are believed to be sensitive on the grain structure due to the small magnetocrystalline anisotropy (K(sub1)) of the FeSiA1 system. Soft magnetic properties were observed following thermal treatment, and the composition of the granular grains and needle shaped grains were mostly Fe and FeSi.

The local electronic structures of crystalline and amorphous films of zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and metal-free phthalocyanine (H2Pc) have been studied by soft x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES). We found a clear crystalline structure dependence of the elastic-peak shape in the resonant XES spectra. The elastic peaks of both ZnPc and H2Pc are found to show an asymmetric shape due to resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the nitrogen sites for the α-crystalline films, but not for the amorphous films. The observed RIXS feature is ascribed to the charge transfer excitation due to the Raman-active intermolecular interaction, which dominates the excited-electron dynamics in α-crystalline phthalocyanine films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FeAlSi/FeAlSiO multilayers prepared by the pulse reactive sputtering were investigated. It was found that the layered structure had a high thermal stability over the ordering temperature of FeAlSi. In consequence, a saturation magnetic flux density of 1.4-1.5 T, a high isotropic initial permeability of 2000-10000 at 1MHz were obtained even after the thermal annealing above 500 [degrees] C.