Anisotropically wetting substrates enable useful control of droplet behavior across a range applications. Usually, these involve chemically or physically patterning the substrate surface, applying gradients in properties like temperature electrical field. Here, we show that flat, stretched, uniform soft also exhibits asymmetric wetting, both terms how droplets slide and their static shape. Drop...

In this paper, elastodynamic large deformation theory is applied to calculate dynamic stresses and strains in the left ventricular wall. Researchers usually neglect inertial forces and consider the wall to be thin. In this work, we do not make these simplifying assumptions, although we consider the ventricle to be spherical. We examine the innuence the inertial term has on stresses, strains, st...

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the influence of Fluori-Methane spray as a method of affecting passive range of motion measured at the right hip joint. Subjects were 30 normal volunteers randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. A special table was constructed to position and stabilize each subject for monitoring the right lower extremity's resistance to side-lyi...

Standley, Paul R., Tamar J. Obards, and Cherie L. Martina. Cyclic stretch regulates autocrine IGF-I in vascular smooth muscle cells: implications in vascular hyperplasia. Am. J. Physiol. 276 (Endocrinol. Metab. 39): E697–E705, 1999.—Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) subjected to acute or chronic stretch display enhanced growth rates in vitro and in vivo. Clinical examples of vascular hyperpla...

The ability of cells to orient in response to mechanical stimuli is essential to embryonic development, cell migration, mechanotransduction, and other critical physiologic functions in a range of organs. Endothelial cells, fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem cells, and osteoblasts all orient perpendicular to an applied cyclic stretch when plated on stretchable elastic substrates, suggesting a common ...

[Purpose] Degenerative changes take place in the musculoskeletal system of elderly people, resulting in a reduced range of motion. For this reason, stretch training is recommended for elderly individuals. To date, there have been no studies of the adaptations of the passive properties of muscles following long-term stretch training. The aim of this study is to investigate the hamstring elastici...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Physiological mechanical stretch in vivo helps to maintain the quiescent contractile differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of SIRT1 in VSMC differentiation in response to mechanical cyclic stretch. METHODS AND RESULTS Rat VSMCs were subjected to 10%-1.25Hz-cyclic stretch in vi...

Stretching before performance is a common practice among athletes in hopes of increasing performance and reducing the risk of injury. However, cumulative results indicate a negative impact of static stretching and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) on performance; thus, there is a need for evaluating other stretching strategies for effective warm-up. The purpose of this study was t...

To characterize the in vivo responses of the wing hinge stretch receptor of Manduca sexta, I recorded its activity and simultaneously tracked the up-and-down motion of the wing while the hawkmoth flew tethered in a wind tunnel. The stretch receptor fires a high-frequency burst of spikes near each dorsal stroke reversal. The onset of the burst is tightly tuned to a set-point in wing elevation, a...

Neural coupling of proximal and distal upper limb segments may have functional implications in the recovery of hemiparesis after stroke. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether the stretch reflex response magnitude of spastic finger flexor muscles poststroke is influenced by sensory input from the shoulder and the elbow and whether reflex coupling of muscles throughout the uppe...