The fall rate among pregnant women is nearly 20%, highlighting a significant concern. This study aimed to identify factors associated with falls in pregnant women and investigate walking and crossing-over movement characteristics during the late stages of pregnancy. Twenty healthy young women were assessed for the accuracy of their motor imagery during walking, while nine participants were evaluated for toe clearance during obstacle crossing both with and without simulated pregnant women's experience jackets. The participants were also queried about their fear of falling using the ABC scale while wearing the simulated pregnant women's experience jacket. The results revealed a significant underestimation in motor imagery accuracy for a maximum walk of 10 meters when participants wore the simulated pregnant women's experience jacket. The mean value of the ABC scale was 54.2%, indicating a high fear of falls. During the obstacle crossing, the toe clearance of the trailing foot while carrying a load was greater compared to crossing without a load. Furthermore, the toe clearance of the trailing foot when crossing lower obstacles with the simulated pregnant women's experience jacket was lower than that without it. The high incidence of falls among pregnant women was thought to be due to their tendency to lose balance when crossing obstacles while carrying luggage because they raise their lower limbs significantly to ensure clearance, which in turn predisposed them to tripping over low obstacles due to insufficient clearance.

When sensory perception is impaired, motor coordination becomes difficult. Thus, ways to cue with target objects during therapeutic exercise must be devised. This study investigated the effect of thumb motion adjustment on short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP). Twenty healthy adults participated in this study. Electrical stimulation to evoke the SEP was administrated the right median nerve at the wrist. All the subjects performed tasks involving repetitive palmar abduction movements, in which the right thumb was moved from 0° to 20° at a frequency of 1 Hz. Task 1 had no target (non-target task), while Task 2 had a palpable convex target at 20° (target task). Compared to the other amplitudes, those for the N9 and N13 amplitudes were the same in both tasks. The N20 amplitude was significantly lower in non-target task and target task than in the rest and significantly lower in non-target task than in target task. The absolute error was significantly lower in target task than in non-target task. Somatosensory input was suppressed and the N20 amplitude derived from the primary somatosensory cortex was decreased during voluntary movements. However, target task showed a weakened suppression effect compared to non-target task because the subjects made precise motor adjustments based on tactile stimulation. These findings suggested that motor control based on tactile stimulation might decrease the amount of gating in the thalamus and primary somatosensory cortex.

Purpose: Activation of fibroblasts constituting the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is necessary to realize conservative treatment after ACL injury. Therefore, we focused on the adjacent adipose tissue, the sub patellar adipose tendon, and conducted culture experiments to confirm the activation of ACL-derived fibroblasts through cell-to-cell interaction.

Methods: Fibroblasts were dispersed from the ACL of male Wistar rats, and fibroblasts from third passage were used in the experiment. Two groups were used: a Mono-culture group and a Co-culture group (co-culture with infrapatellar fat pad collected from living animals). In addition to wound healing studies, real-time qPCR analysis was performed to examine gene expression levels.

Results: In the wound healing study, significant cell infiltration into the wound was observed in the Co-culture group compared to the Mono-culture group. However, there was no difference in the number of infiltrated cells, and no significant difference in the gene expression of TGFβ1, which is involved in fibroblast proliferation and migration.

Conclusion: It was suggested that co-culture with infrapatellar fat pad enhances the migratory ability of ACL-derived fibroblasts, but the mechanism needs to be further verified.

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the effects of continuous pressure stimulus (CPS) of the thoracolumbar region on bowel sound (BS) and autonomic nervous system activity.
Methods: In this study, 12 healthy women (mean age, 22.5 ± 1.3 years, height 1.56 ± 0.05 m, weight 51.8 ± 4.2 kg, BMI 21.4 ± 1.7 kg/m²) were enrolled as the subjects. The survey items included voiding and quality of life questionnaires, and blood pressure (BP) levels were measured and the subjects underwent electrocardiogram. CPS to the thoracolumbar spine was performed at 30 mmHg for 15 min, and pre- and post-CPS comparisons were performed using Fisher's least significant difference for BS, heart rate (HR), and HR variability analysis as two-way repeated measures analysis of variance and multiple comparison methods and a paired t-test for BP.
Results: As for the simple main effects before and after CPS, the intervention group showed significant increases in BS, low frequency (LF), and LF/high frequency ratio 5 min after CPS, and the control group showed significant decreases in HR 5 and 10 min after CPS. However, no interaction was observed between the two groups.
Conclusion: CPS to the lateral skin of the thoracolumbar spine is suggested to induce intestinal peristalsis in the physiological range.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of differences in subjective perceptions of muscle contraction intensity of movements presented during exercise observation on the excitability of spinal motor nerve function. The subjects were 22 healthy adults, and F-waves were derived from a muscle group on the right thenar eminence. The measurement flow consisted of measuring the F-wave at rest for 1 minute, followed by 4 minutes of rest, and then measuring the F-wave during movement observation for 1 minute. The observation task consisted of an adduction/abduction movement of the thumb (unloaded video) and loading the thumb with two types of therabands (low and high loading video). Based on the subject's perception, the subjects were classified into subjective high load, subjective low load, and subjective no load, and the amplitude F/M ratio relative values between each condition were compared. The amplitude F/M ratio relative values increased in the subjective high-load condition compared to the subjective no-load and low-load conditions (p<0.05). The results suggest that the excitability of spinal motor nerve function increases when the subject is made aware during exercise observation that the exercise requires strong muscle contraction.