TY - JOUR A1 - Werkhausen, Amelie A1 - Willwacher, Steffen A1 - Albracht, Kirsten T1 - Medial gastrocnemius muscle fascicles shorten throughout stance during sprint acceleration JF - Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports N2 - The compliant nature of distal limb muscle-tendon units is traditionally considered suboptimal in explosive movements when positive joint work is required. However, during accelerative running, ankle joint net mechanical work is positive. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how plantar flexor muscle-tendon behavior is modulated during fast accelerations. Eleven female sprinters performed maximum sprint accelerations from starting blocks, while gastrocnemius muscle fascicle lengths were estimated using ultrasonography. We combined motion analysis and ground reaction force measurements to assess lower limb joint kinematics and kinetics, and to estimate gastrocnemius muscle-tendon unit length during the first two acceleration steps. Outcome variables were resampled to the stance phase and averaged across three to five trials. Relevant scalars were extracted and analyzed using one-sample and two-sample t-tests, and vector trajectories were compared using statistical parametric mapping. We found that an uncoupling of muscle fascicle behavior from muscle-tendon unit behavior is effectively used to produce net positive mechanical work at the joint during maximum sprint acceleration. Muscle fascicles shortened throughout the first and second steps, while shortening occurred earlier during the first step, where negative joint work was lower compared with the second step. Elastic strain energy may be stored during dorsiflexion after touchdown since fascicles did not lengthen at the same time to dissipate energy. Thus, net positive work generation is accommodated by the reuse of elastic strain energy along with positive gastrocnemius fascicle work. Our results show a mechanism of how muscles with high in-series compliance can contribute to net positive joint work. KW - locomotion KW - muscle mechanics KW - running KW - sprint start KW - ultrasonography Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sms.13956 SN - 0905-7188 (Druckausgabe) SN - 1600-0838 (Onlineausgabe) VL - 31 IS - 7 SP - 1471 EP - 1480 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Richter, Charlotte A1 - Braunstein, Björn A1 - Stäudle, Benjamin A1 - Attias, Julia A1 - Süss, Alexander A1 - Weber, Tobias A1 - Mileva, Katya N. A1 - Rittweger, Jörn A1 - Green, David A. A1 - Albracht, Kirsten T1 - Gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior during running differs between simulated Lunar and Martian gravities JF - Scientific reports N2 - The international partnership of space agencies has agreed to proceed forward to the Moon sustainably. Activities on the Lunar surface (0.16 g) will allow crewmembers to advance the exploration skills needed when expanding human presence to Mars (0.38 g). Whilst data from actual hypogravity activities are limited to the Apollo missions, simulation studies have indicated that ground reaction forces, mechanical work, muscle activation, and joint angles decrease with declining gravity level. However, these alterations in locomotion biomechanics do not necessarily scale to the gravity level, the reduction in gastrocnemius medialis activation even appears to level off around 0.2 g, while muscle activation pattern remains similar. Thus, it is difficult to predict whether gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior during running on Moon will basically be the same as on Mars. Therefore, this study investigated lower limb joint kinematics and gastrocnemius medialis behavior during running at 1 g, simulated Martian gravity, and simulated Lunar gravity on the vertical treadmill facility. The results indicate that hypogravity-induced alterations in joint kinematics and contractile behavior still persist between simulated running on the Moon and Mars. This contrasts with the concept of a ceiling effect and should be carefully considered when evaluating exercise prescriptions and the transferability of locomotion practiced in Lunar gravity to Martian gravity. KW - Bone quality and biomechanics KW - Environmental impact KW - Skeletal muscle KW - Tendons KW - Ultrasound Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00527-9 SN - 2045-2322 N1 - Corresponding author: Charlotte Richter VL - 11 IS - Article number: 22555 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Richter, Charlotte A1 - Braunstein, Bjoern A1 - Stäudle, Benjamin A1 - Attias, Julia A1 - Suess, Alexander A1 - Weber, Tobias A1 - Mileva, Katja N. A1 - Rittweger, Joern A1 - Green, David A. A1 - Albracht, Kirsten T1 - Gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior is preserved during 30% body weight supported gait training JF - Frontiers in Sports and Active Living N2 - Rehabilitative body weight supported gait training aims at restoring walking function as a key element in activities of daily living. Studies demonstrated reductions in muscle and joint forces, while kinematic gait patterns appear to be preserved with up to 30% weight support. However, the influence of body weight support on muscle architecture, with respect to fascicle and series elastic element behavior is unknown, despite this having potential clinical implications for gait retraining. Eight males (31.9 ± 4.7 years) walked at 75% of the speed at which they typically transition to running, with 0% and 30% body weight support on a lower-body positive pressure treadmill. Gastrocnemius medialis fascicle lengths and pennation angles were measured via ultrasonography. Additionally, joint kinematics were analyzed to determine gastrocnemius medialis muscle–tendon unit lengths, consisting of the muscle's contractile and series elastic elements. Series elastic element length was assessed using a muscle–tendon unit model. Depending on whether data were normally distributed, a paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank test was performed to determine if body weight supported walking had any effects on joint kinematics and fascicle–series elastic element behavior. Walking with 30% body weight support had no statistically significant effect on joint kinematics and peak series elastic element length. Furthermore, at the time when peak series elastic element length was achieved, and on average across the entire stance phase, muscle–tendon unit length, fascicle length, pennation angle, and fascicle velocity were unchanged with respect to body weight support. In accordance with unchanged gait kinematics, preservation of fascicle–series elastic element behavior was observed during walking with 30% body weight support, which suggests transferability of gait patterns to subsequent unsupported walking. KW - AlterG KW - rehabilitation KW - gait KW - walking KW - ultrasound imaging KW - series elastic element behavior KW - muscle fascicle behavior KW - unloading Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.614559 SN - 2624-9367 VL - 2021 IS - 2 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gaigall, Daniel T1 - Test for Changes in the Modeled Solvency Capital Requirement of an Internal Risk Model JF - ASTIN Bulletin N2 - In the context of the Solvency II directive, the operation of an internal risk model is a possible way for risk assessment and for the determination of the solvency capital requirement of an insurance company in the European Union. A Monte Carlo procedure is customary to generate a model output. To be compliant with the directive, validation of the internal risk model is conducted on the basis of the model output. For this purpose, we suggest a new test for checking whether there is a significant change in the modeled solvency capital requirement. Asymptotic properties of the test statistic are investigated and a bootstrap approximation is justified. A simulation study investigates the performance of the test in the finite sample case and confirms the theoretical results. The internal risk model and the application of the test is illustrated in a simplified example. The method has more general usage for inference of a broad class of law-invariant and coherent risk measures on the basis of a paired sample. KW - Bootstrap KW - Empirical process KW - Functional Delta Method KW - Hadamard differentiability KW - Paired sample Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/asb.2021.20 SN - 1783-1350 VL - 51 IS - 3 SP - 813 EP - 837 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Richter, Charlotte A1 - Braunstein, Bjoern A1 - Staeudle, Benjamin A1 - Attias, Julia A1 - Suess, Alexander A1 - Weber, Tobias A1 - Mileva, Katya N. A1 - Rittweger, Joern A1 - Green, David A. A1 - Albracht, Kirsten T1 - Contractile behavior of the gastrocnemius medialis muscle during running in simulated hypogravity JF - npj Microgravity N2 - Vigorous exercise countermeasures in microgravity can largely attenuate muscular degeneration, albeit the extent of applied loading is key for the extent of muscle wasting. Running on the International Space Station is usually performed with maximum loads of 70% body weight (0.7 g). However, it has not been investigated how the reduced musculoskeletal loading affects muscle and series elastic element dynamics, and thereby force and power generation. Therefore, this study examined the effects of running on the vertical treadmill facility, a ground-based analog, at simulated 0.7 g on gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior. The results reveal that fascicle−series elastic element behavior differs between simulated hypogravity and 1 g running. Whilst shorter peak series elastic element lengths at simulated 0.7 g appear to be the result of lower muscular and gravitational forces acting on it, increased fascicle lengths and decreased velocities could not be anticipated, but may inform the development of optimized running training in hypogravity. However, whether the alterations in contractile behavior precipitate musculoskeletal degeneration warrants further study. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41526-021-00155-7 SN - 2373-8065 N1 - Corresponding author: Charlotte Richter VL - 7 IS - Article number: 32 PB - Springer Nature CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jablonski, Melanie A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Keusgen, Michael A1 - Wege, Christina A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Detection of plant virus particles with a capacitive field-effect sensor JF - Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry N2 - Plant viruses are major contributors to crop losses and induce high economic costs worldwide. For reliable, on-site and early detection of plant viral diseases, portable biosensors are of great interest. In this study, a field-effect SiO2-gate electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) sensor was utilized for the label-free electrostatic detection of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) particles as a model plant pathogen. The capacitive EIS sensor has been characterized regarding its TMV sensitivity by means of constant-capacitance method. The EIS sensor was able to detect biotinylated TMV particles from a solution with a TMV concentration as low as 0.025 nM. A good correlation between the registered EIS sensor signal and the density of adsorbed TMV particles assessed from scanning electron microscopy images of the SiO2-gate chip surface was observed. Additionally, the isoelectric point of the biotinylated TMV particles was determined via zeta potential measurements and the influence of ionic strength of the measurement solution on the TMV-modified EIS sensor signal has been studied. KW - Plant virus KW - Capacitive field-effect sensor KW - Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) KW - Label-free detection KW - Zeta potential Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03448-8 SN - 1618-2650 N1 - Corresponding authors: Arshak Poghossian & Michael J. Schöning VL - 413 SP - 5669 EP - 5678 PB - Springer Nature CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Welden, Rene A1 - Nagamine Komesu, Cindy A. A1 - Wagner, Patrick H. A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef A1 - Wagner, Torsten T1 - Photoelectrochemical enzymatic penicillin biosensor: A proof-of-concept experiment JF - Electrochemical Science Advances N2 - Photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensors are a rather novel type of biosensors thatutilizelighttoprovideinformationaboutthecompositionofananalyte,enablinglight-controlled multi-analyte measurements. For enzymatic PEC biosensors,amperometric detection principles are already known in the literature. In con-trast, there is only a little information on H+-ion sensitive PEC biosensors. Inthis work, we demonstrate the detection of H+ions emerged by H+-generatingenzymes, exemplarily demonstrated with penicillinase as a model enzyme on atitanium dioxide photoanode. First, we describe the pH sensitivity of the sensorand study possible photoelectrocatalytic reactions with penicillin. Second, weshow the enzymatic PEC detection of penicillin. KW - enzymatic biosensor KW - penicillin KW - penicillinase KW - photoelectrochemistry KW - titanium dioxide photoanode Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/elsa.202100131 SN - 2698-5977 N1 - Corresponding auhtor: Michael J. Schöning VL - 2 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oliveira, Danilo A. A1 - Molinnus, Denise A1 - Beging, Stefan A1 - Siqueira Jr, José R. A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Biosensor Based on Self-Assembled Films of Graphene Oxide and Polyaniline Using a Field-Effect Device Platform JF - physica status solidi (a) applications and materials science N2 - A new functionalization method to modify capacitive electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor (EIS) structures with nanofilms is presented. Layers of polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAH) and graphene oxide (GO) with the compound polyaniline:poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PANI:PAAMPSA) are deposited onto a p-Si/SiO2 chip using the layer-by-layer technique (LbL). Two different enzymes (urease and penicillinase) are separately immobilized on top of a five-bilayer stack of the PAH:GO/PANI:PAAMPSA-modified EIS chip, forming a biosensor for detection of urea and penicillin, respectively. Electrochemical characterization is performed by constant capacitance (ConCap) measurements, and the film morphology is characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An increase in the average sensitivity of the modified biosensors (EIS–nanofilm–enzyme) of around 15% is found in relation to sensors, only carrying the enzyme but without the nanofilm (EIS–enzyme). In this sense, the nanofilm acts as a stable bioreceptor onto the EIS chip improving the output signal in terms of sensitivity and stability. KW - capacitive electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor sensors KW - graphene oxide KW - layer-by-layer technique KW - nanomaterials KW - polyaniline Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pssa.202000747 SN - 1862-6319 N1 - Corresponding author: José R. Siqueira Jr & Michael J. Schöning VL - 218 IS - 13 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grundlach, Michael A1 - Baumann, Martin A1 - Engelmann, Ulrich M. ED - Dössel, Olaf T1 - How Multimodal Examinations Can Increase Sustainable Student Gain by Aligning Teaching and Assessment JF - Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering N2 - Modern industry and multi-discipline projects require highly trained individuals with resilient science and engineering back-grounds. Graduates must be able to agilely apply excellent theoretical knowledge in their subject matter as well as essential practical “hands-on” knowledge of diverse working processes to solve complex problems. To meet these demands, university education follows the concept of Constructive Alignment and thus increasingly adopts the teaching of necessary practical skills to the actual industry requirements and assessment routines. However, a systematic approach to coherently align these three central teaching demands is strangely absent from current university curricula. We demonstrate the feasibility of implementing practical assessments in a regular theory-based examination, thus defining the term “blended assessment”. We assessed a course for natural science and engineering students pursuing a career in biomedical engineering, and evaluated the benefit of blended assessment exams for students and lecturers. Our controlled study assessed the physiological background of electrocardiograms (ECGs), the practical measurement of ECG curves, and their interpretation of basic pathologic alterations. To study on long time effects, students have been assessed on the topic twice with a time lag of 6 months. Our findings suggest a significant improvement in student gain with respect to practical skills and theoretical knowledge. The results of the reassessments support these outcomes. From the lecturers ́ point of view, blended assessment complements practical training courses while keeping organizational effort manageable. We consider blended assessment a viable tool for providing an improved student gain, industry-ready education format that should be evaluated and established further to prepare university graduates optimally for their future careers. KW - constructive alignment KW - examination KW - long-term retention KW - multimodal KW - practical learning Y1 - 2021 SN - 2364-5504 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2021-2019 VL - 7 IS - 7/2 SP - 73 EP - 76 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Albanna, Walid A1 - Conzen, Catharina A1 - Weiss, Miriam A1 - Seyfried, Katharina A1 - Kotliar, Konstantin A1 - Schmidt, Tobias Philip A1 - Kuerten, David A1 - Hescheler, Jürgen A1 - Bruecken, Anne A1 - Schmidt-Trucksäss, Arno A1 - Neumaier, Felix A1 - Wiesmann, Martin A1 - Clusmann, Hans A1 - Schubert, Gerrit Alexander T1 - Non-invasive assessment of neurovascular coupling after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a prospective observational trial using retinal vessel analysis JF - Frontiers in Neurology N2 - Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is a common complication after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and can lead to infarction and poor clinical outcome. The underlying mechanisms are still incompletely understood, but animal models indicate that vasoactive metabolites and inflammatory cytokines produced within the subarachnoid space may progressively impair and partially invert neurovascular coupling (NVC) in the brain. Because cerebral and retinal microvasculature are governed by comparable regulatory mechanisms and may be connected by perivascular pathways, retinal vascular changes are increasingly recognized as a potential surrogate for altered NVC in the brain. Here, we used non-invasive retinal vessel analysis (RVA) to assess microvascular function in aSAH patients at different times after the ictus. Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.690183 SN - 1664-2295 VL - 12 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 15 ER -