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Objectives With the advent of new optical technologies, early pharyngolaryngeal cancerous lesions can be better visualized. Although the conventional transnasal approach offers great views of the hypopharynx and larynx, the visualization of the oropharynx and palatine tonsils is limited. Through the transoral insertion of a flexible video-laryngoscope, direct views of the oropharynx and oral cavity can be obtained. Thus, transoral examination may contribute to primary detection of cancers of unknown primary (CUP). Methods Eighty-five CUP patients from Tokai University were included retrospectively in this study, from 2006 to 2017. Starting in 2010, we employed the transoral examination in addition to our conventional method. The primary detection rates were compared before and after 2010. Oropharyngeal primaries were further analyzed for tumor subsite and p16 status. Results The overall primary detection rate did not improve with the addition of transoral examination. However, greater numbers of oropharyngeal primaries were detected. The oropharyngeal lesions detected by transoral examination were mainly p16 positive, located on the palatine tonsil. Conclusion Transoral examination is a noninvasive, easy method to adopt in an outpatient setting, and a promising technique to improve tumor detection in this era of human papillomavirus-associated head and neck cancers. Level of evidence 3.

A growing number of spinal cord injury, neuromodulation, and cell therapy studies on porcine models, especially the Yucatan minipigs (YMPs), have been recently reported. This is due to the large similarities between human and porcine neuroanatomy and biomechanics. To assess treatment modalities and locomotor recovery in this model, there is an obvious need for detailed characterization of normative overground gait in neurologically intact YMPs. The objective of this study was to assess gait biomechanics and the effect of overground walking speed on gait parameters, kinematics, and electromyographic (EMG) activity in the hindlimb muscles of YMPs. Nine neurologically-intact adult YMPs were trained to walk overground in a straight line. Whole-body kinematics and EMG activity of hindlimb muscles were recorded and analyzed at 6 different speed ranges (0.4-0.59, 0.6-0.79, 0.8-0.99, 1.0-1.19, 1.2-1.39, and 1.4-1.6 m/s). A MATLAB program was developed to detect strides and gait events automatically from motion-captured data. Significant decreases in stride duration, stance and swing times and an increase in stride length were observed with increasing speed. A transition in gait pattern occurred at the 1.0m/s walking speed. Significant increases in the range of motion of the knee and ankle joints were observed at higher speeds. Also, the points of minimum and maximum knee and ankle joint angles occurred earlier in the gait cycle at higher speeds. The onset of EMG activity in the biceps femoris muscle occurred significantly earlier in the gait cycle with increasing speed. A comprehensive characterization of overground walking in neurologically-intact YMPs is provided. These normative measures set the basis against which the effects of future interventions on locomotor capacity in YMPs can be compared.

Interactive simulations allow preservice teachers to connect education theory and pedagogy in scaffolded environments. We created digital simulations with scenarios from in-person simulatio...

Purpose: Few ballet-specific studies in the literature examine kinematics during dance activities. Sports studies have identified injury risk in athletes by observing kinematics during specific activity, but this has not yet been explored for ballet. Evaluating kinematics in dancers has the potential to identify injury risk and influence treatment for prevention and rehabilitation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the landing kinematics of professional ballet dancers during a series of 16 ballet-specific jumps. Methods: This study was a multi-factor repeated measures design. Participants (3 males, 16 females aged 19-33 years; first or second company members) performed 16 consecutive sautés in first position to a metronome set at 120 beats per minute. Lower extremity kinematic data was captured using the Noraxon myoMOTIONTM system and was analyzed at peak knee flexion of landing on jumps 1, 8, and 15 for hip abduction (HA), hip flexion (HF), and hip external rotation (HER). Analyses included: right versus left side differences (RvL), differences between jumps 1, 8, and 15, and interaction between the specific jump and RvL. Results: Statistically significant differences (SD) were found in: RvL HA (p=0.000, 10.68 degrees; clinically relevant) and in HF between jumps 1 and 8 (p=0.000) and 1 and 15 (p=0.006). There was no interaction effect of HA between jump number and RvL (p=0.470) or of HER between jump number and RvL (p=0.599). There was no SD in: HF between jumps 8 and 15 (p=0.245), HA between jumps (p=0.062), RvL HF (p=0.190), RvL HF between jumps (p=0.972), HER between jumps (p=0.366), or RvL HER (p=0.562). Conclusions: The RvL difference in HA (p=0.000) suggests asymmetrical loading of hip joints. This difference did not change between jumps (p=0.062), suggesting repeated preferential frontal plane loading. The SD in HF between jumps 1 and 8 (p=0.000) and 1 and 15 (p=0.006) suggests that a small series of jumps that are standard in ballet class are not consistent motions for professional dancers. Limitations include small sample size and lack of controlled warm up. Future work should examine single leg jumps or sautés following a fatigue protocol to assess joint motion more accurately.

Background/Purpose: Studies investigating the trends of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction rates have shown that since 2006, females aged 13 - 17 years of age have had the highest injury rates of any age or gender group in the country. This study investigated the lower chain biomechanics of landing before and after a six-session training intervention. This training ses-sion was conducted between the fall and spring season break for a travel soccer club. Study design: Non-randomized controlled follow-up study. Methods: Thirty-six healthy, female soccer players between the ages of ten and fifteen years old participated. Using an inertial tracking system for three-dimensional kinematic (motion) analyses of a drop jump assessment that were conducted before and after a six-session training intervention focused on proximal hip strengthening, motor control, and lower extremity loading strategies. The study took place over a period of eight weeks. Results: When compared to pre-intervention measures for the drop jump, post-intervention measures were significantly improved bilaterally for each of the following variables: knee flexion (p = 0.000), hip flexion (p = 0.000), and hip abduction (p = 0.002. As compared to pre-test jump height, post-test jump heights were significantly lower by an average value of 1.8034 cm (p = 0.005). Conclusions: The results of this study showed that a short duration (six, 90 min, sessions occurring over 8 weeks) training intervention can significantly influence the landing kinematics in adolescent female soccer players during a drop jump assessment. Increased peak values of hip and knee flexion along with decreased hip adduction during landing indicate a more optimal loading technique associated with decreased risk of ACL injury. The inertial motion analysis system was a useful screening tool for identifying high-risk biomechanics that must be addressed to develop successful ACL injury prevention programs.

The properties of thermal networks are examined to understand the effective thermal conductivity of heterogeneous two-phase composite materials and systems. At conditions of high contrast in thermal conductivity of the individual phases (k1 and k2), where k1 &lt, &lt, k2 or k1 &gt, &gt, k2, the effective thermal conductivity of individual networks of the same composition was seen to be highly sensitive to the distribution of the phases and the presence of percolation paths across the network. However, when the contrast in thermal conductivities of the two phases was modest (k1/k2 ~ 10&minus, 2 to 102), the thermal networks were observed to exhibit an emergent response with a low variability in the effective thermal conductivity of mixtures of the same composition. A logarithmic mixing rule is presented to predict the network response in the low variability region. Excellent agreement between the model, mixing rule and experimental data is observed for a range two-phase porous and granular media. The modelling approach provides new insights into the design of multi-phase composites for thermal management applications and the interpretation or prediction of their heat transfer properties.