OBJECTIVES We sought to investigate the effects of intensive cholesterol reduction on large artery stiffness and blood pressure in normolipidemic patients with isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). BACKGROUND Isolated systolic hypertension is associated with elevated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and is primarily due to large artery stiffening, which has been independently related to...

KEY POINTS This paper describes a novel model that allows exploration of matrix-induced cardiomyocyte adaptations independent of the passive effect of matrix rigidity on cardiomyocyte function. Detachment of adult cardiomyocytes from the matrix enables the study of matrix effects on cell shortening, Ca2+ handling and myofilament function. Cell shortening and Ca2+ handling are altered in cardiom...

Wave propagation in unbounded layered media with a new formulation of Axisymmetric Scaled Boundary Finite Element Method (AXI-SBFEM) is derived. Dividing the general three-dimensional unbounded domain into a number of independent two-dimensional ones, the problem could be solved by a significant reduction in required storage and computational time. The equations of the corresponding Axisymmetri...

BACKGROUND The presence of inadequate levels of passive ankle stiffness have been associated with the occurrence of movement disorders, the development of pathological conditions and the reduction in the performance of functional activities such as walking, running and jumping. Therefore, clinical tests to evaluate ankle stiffness may be useful for the physical therapy assessment. OBJECTIVES ...

[1] The mechanical behavior of hydrate-bearing sediments subjected to large strains has relevance for the stability of the seafloor and submarine slopes, drilling and coring operations, and the analysis of certain small-strain properties of these sediments (for example, seismic velocities). This study reports on the results of comprehensive axial compression triaxial tests conducted at up to 1 ...

This study analyzes the design criteria for obtaining high slip-resistant shoe sole tread pattern the by adept control of various design parameters such as the height, orientation, and hardness of rubber strips. In the typical process, specimens of natural rubber (NR) strip with a width of 3 mm, length of 25 mm, and height of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 mm were affixed onto the base rubber sheet (25 mm × ...

A generalized method for characterizing mechanical stresses in brittle materials during crack tip propagation is presented. This approach was derived from classical fracture mechanics and is therefore mechanism independent and applies to any isotropic brittle material, including glasses, fine grained ceramics or metals, and high stiffness polymers. A practical implementation demonstrates the me...

Risk factors for arterial stiffness progression have not been well characterized. We examined the relationship between arterial stiffness progression and body weight and weight gain in a group of healthy young adults. Aortic pulse-wave velocity was assessed at 2 time points approximately 2 years apart in 152 white and black adults aged 20 to 40 years, and was standardized by the time between vi...

This paper deals with finding the optimal measurement locations for a structural system modelled by a single-degree-of-freedom oscillator, so that any one of the parameters to be identified can be estimated with a minimum variance. The measurements are assumed to be taken in a noisy environment, and the paper addresses both linear and nonlinear, nonhysteretic systems. Besides the analytical rel...