Research in prevention and rehabilitation of hamstring muscle strain injury

Hamstring muscle strain injury is the most common and prevalent injury in sports involving high-speed running,such as American football,Australian football,English rugby,soccer,track and field,and cricket.1Hamstring muscle strain injury also has a high recurrence rate of up to 48%.2The average practice and game time loss due to hamstring injury is between17 and 60 days,contingent on the grade of injury.2Severe hamstring muscle strain injuries,and associated recurrent inju-

The prospects of regenerative medicine combined with rehabilitative approaches for chronic spinal cord injury animal models

Regenerative medicine has opened a window for functional recovery in acute-to-subacute phase spinal cord injury（SCI）.By contrast,there are still only a few studies have focused on the treatment of the chronically injured spinal cord,in which cell-based regenerative medicine seems less effective.Since the majority of SCI patients are in the chronic phase,representing a major challenge for the clinical application of cellbased regenerative medicine.Although combined therapies for the treatment of chronic SCI have attracted attention of researchers and its potential importance is also widely recognized,there had been very few studies involving rehabilitative treatments to date.In a recent study,we have demonstrated for the first time that treadmill training combined with cell transplantation significantly promotes functional recovery even in chronic SCI,not only in additive but also in synergistic manner.Even though we have succeeded to outline the profiles of recovery secondary to the combination therapy,the mechanism underlying the effects remain unsolved.In this review article,we summarize the present progress and consider the prospect of the cell-based regenerative medicine particularly combined with rehabilitative approaches for chronic SCI animal models.

Multiple injuries of the ascending reticular activating system in a stroke patient:a diffusion tensor tractography study

Consciousness is mainly controlled by activation of the ascending reticular activating system（ARAS）.Diffusion tensor tractography（DTT）,which is reconstructed from diffusion tensor imaging（DTI）data.

The Effects of Short-Term Resistance Training and Subsequent Detraining on Neuromuscular Function,Muscle Cross-Sectional Area,and Lean Mass

Purpose To examine and compare the effects of three days of dynamic constant external resistance(DCER)and isokinetic(ISOK)training and subsequent detraining on thigh muscle cross-sectional area(TMCSA)and thigh lean mass(TLM),ISOK peak torque(PT),DCER strength,isometric force,muscle activation,and percent voluntary activation(%VA).Methods Thirty-one apparently-healthy untrained men(mean±SD age=22.2±4.2 years;body mass=77.9±12.9 kg;height=173.9±5.4 cm)were randomly assigned to a DCER training group(n=11),ISOK training group(n=10)or control(CONT)group(n=10).Subjects visited the laboratory eight times.The first visit was a familiarization session,the second visit was a pre-training assessment,the subsequent three visits were for unilateral training of the quadriceps(if assigned to a training group),and the last three visits were the post-training assessments conducted at three days,one week,and two weeks after training ended.Results DCER strength increased from pre-to post-training assessment 1 in both limbs for the DCER group only,and remained elevated during post-training assessments 2 and 3(P<0.05).In addition,surface EMG for the biceps femoris was higher at post-training assessment 3 than at the pre-training assessment,and post-training assessments 1 and 2(P<0.05).No other training-related changes were found.Conclusion The primary finding of this study was that DCER strength of the trained and untrained limbs can be increased with three days of training.This has important implications for injury rehabilitation,where in the initial period post-injury strength gains on an injured limb can possibly be obtained with short-term contralateral resistance training.