暂无摘要。

Since traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is implicated as a prominent pathology of concussion, we examined potential sex differences in axon structure and responses to TAI. Rat and human neurons were used to develop micropatterned axon tracts in vitro that were genetically either male or female. Ultrastructural analysis revealed for the first time that female axons were consistently smaller with fewer microtubules than male axons. Computational modeling of TAI showed that these structural differences place microtubules in female axons at greater risk of failure during trauma under the same applied loads than in male axons. Likewise, in an in vitro model of TAI, dynamic stretch-injury to axon tracts induced greater pathophysiology of female axons than male axons, including more extensive undulation formations resulting from mechanical breaking of microtubules, and greater calcium influx shortly after the same level of injury. At 24h post-injury, female axons exhibited significantly more swellings and greater loss of calcium signaling function than male axons. Accordingly, sexual dimorphism of axon structure in the brain may also contribute to more extensive axonal pathology in females compared to males exposed to the same mechanical injury.

Finswimming is a sport of speed practiced on the surface or underwater, in which performance is based on whole-body oscillations. The present study investigated the undulatory motion performed by finswimmers at the surface. This study aiming to analyze the influence of the interaction of gender, practice level, and race distance on selected kinematic parameters. Six elite and six novices finswimmers equipped with joints markers (wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle) were recorded in the sagittal plane. The position of these anatomical marks was digitized at 50 Hz. An automated motion analysis software yielded velocity, vertical amplitude, frequency, and angular position. Results showed that stroke frequency decreased whereas the mean amplitude of all joints increased with increasing race distance (p < 0.01). Mean joint amplitude for the upper limbs (wrist, elbow and shoulder) was smaller for experts than for novices. Whereas that of the ankle was larger, so that the oscillation amplitude increased from shoulder to ankle. Elite male finswimmers were pitching more acutely than female. Moreover, elite male finswimmers showed a smaller knee bending than novices and than elite females (p < 0.01). This indicated that elite male finswimmers attempt to reduce drag forces thanks to a weak knee bending and a low upper limbs pitch. To sum up, gender, expertise, and race distance affect the performance and its kinematics in terms frontal drag. Expertise in finswimming requires taking advantage of the mechanical constraints pertaining to hydrodynamic constraints in order to optimize performance. Key PointsFinswimmers are at one and the same time a propelling and a propelled body. This study investigates the undulatory motion performed by finswimmers at the surface.Elite male finswimmers were pitching more acutely than female swimmers and showed a smaller knee bending than both novices and elite female swimmers.Finswimmers tended to perform a dolphin-like motion, which is used underwater situation and optimizes hydrodynamics.