Upright stance on a balance board is a skill requiring complex rearrangement of the postural control. Despite the large use of these boards in training the standing posture, a comprehensive analysis of the learning process underlying the control of these devices is lacking. In this paper learning to maintain a stable stance on a multiaxial oscillating board was studied by analyzing performance changes over short and long periods. Healthy participants were asked to keep the board orientation as horizontal as possible for 20 sec, performing two sessions of 8 trials separated by 15-min pause. Memory consolidation was tested one week later. Amplitude and variability of the oscillations around horizontal plane and area and sway path of the board displacement decreased rapidly over the first session. The performance was stable during the second session, and retained after 1 week. A similar behavior was observed in the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions for amplitude and variability parameters, with less stable balance in the anterior-posterior direction. Approximate entropy and mean power frequency, assessing temporal dynamics and frequency content of oscillations, changed only in the anterior-posterior direction during the retention test. Overall, the ability to stand on a balance board is rapidly acquired, and retained for long time. The asymmetric stability between anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions replicates a structure observed in other standing stances, suggesting a possible transfer from previous postural experiences. Conversely, changes in the temporal dynamics and the frequency content could be associated with new postural strategies developed later during memory consolidation.

Background: Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages worldwide. In the last years, coffee consumption has been associated with a number of beneficial effects against metabolic impairment. The aim of this narrative review was to report the most updated and comprehensive evidence from epidemiological and experimental studies as well as mechanisms of action of coffee on metabolic impairment. Methods: A search in electronic databases (PUBMED and EMBASE) was performed to retrieve systematic and pooled analyses on coffee and diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Furthermore, the most accredited hypotheses and mechanisms of action of coffee have been described. Results: Coffee consumption has been associated with reduced risk of diabetes in observational studies. However, the effect seems not to be mediated by caffeine. Contrasting results have been found in pooled analyses of observational studies on hypertension, despite short- and long-term follow-ups that have been demonstrated to influence the outcome. Poor or little effect on plasma lipids has been reported in studies on acute administration of coffee, yet depending on the type of coffee preparation. The main beneficial effects of coffee consumption seem to rely on the content of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds (i.e., polyphenols). Among the most important, chlorogenic acids have demonstrated direct anti-hypertensive action through beneficial effect on endothelial function, and significant improvement in glucose and insulin metabolism. Also, diterpenes and melanoidins are major candidates as antioxidant compounds showing the capacity to inhibit the production of inflammatory mediators. However, caffeine and diterpenes may also exert negative effects, such as acute rise in blood pressure and serum lipids. Conclusion: In light of the most recent evidence, coffee consumption seems to be favorably related with health and to protect by metabolic impairment

Benefits from post-training memory processing have been observed in learning many procedural skills. Here, we show that appropriate offline periods produce a performance gain during learning to stand on a multiaxial balance board. The tilt angle and the area of sway motion of the board were much more reduced in participants performing a training spaced by an interval of one day with respect to participants executing the same amount of practice over a concentrated period. In particular, offline memory encoding was specifically associated with the motion along the anterior-posterior direction, the spatio-temporal dynamics, and the frequency contents of the board sway. Overall, quantification of spaced learning in a whole-body postural task reveals that offline memory processes enhance the performance by encoding single movement components. From a practical perspective, we believe that the amount of practice and the length of inter-session interval, adopted in this study, may provide objective insights to develop appropriate programs of postural training.

In the last years, nano-communications have attracted much attention as a newly promising research field. In particular, molecular communications, which exploit molecular nodes, are a powerful tool to implement communication functionalities in environments where the use of electromagnetic waves becomes critical, e.g., in the human body. In molecular communications, molecules such as proteins, DNA and RNA sequences are used to carry information. To this aim a novel approach relies on the use of genetically modified bacteria to transport enhanced DNA strands, called plasmids, where information can be encoded. Information transfer is thus based on bacteria motility, i.e., self-propelled motion, which under appropriate circumstances is exhibited by certain bacteria. It has been observed that bacteria motility presents many similarities with opportunistic forwarding. Currently the few studies on opportunistic communications among bacteria are based on simulations only. In this paper we propose an analytical model to characterize information spreading in bacterial nano-networks. To this purpose, an epidemic approach, similar to those used to model Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), is employed. We also derive two mathematical models which slightly differ. The first describes bacterial nano-networks where a single plasmid is disseminated according to an epidemic approach; the second, takes into account more complex mechanisms where multiple plasmids are disseminated as in realistic bacterial nano-networks. Numerical results being obtained are finally shown and discussed.

Background The demand for total hip arthroplasty (THA) is quickly rising given the escalating global incidence of hip osteoarthritis, and it is widely accepted that the post-surgery rehabilitation is key to optimize outcomes. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a new telerehabilitation solution, ReHub, for the physical function and clinical outcome improvement following THA. The specific aims of this manuscript are to describe the study design, protocol, content of interventions, and primary and secondary outcomes and to discuss the clinical rehabilitation impact of the expected experimental results. Methods/design This prospective, randomized, controlled, parallel-group trial will include 56 patients who had undergone primary THA. Patients are randomized to a control group (standard rehabilitation during the 2-week stay in the rehabilitation clinic followed by 3 weeks of unsupervised home-based rehabilitation) or an experimental group (standard rehabilitation during the 2-week stay in the rehabilitation clinic followed by 3 weeks of home-based ReHub-assisted telerehabilitation). The primary outcome is physical performance assessed through the Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) test. Secondary outcomes include independence level, pain intensity, hip disability, hip range of motion, muscle strength, and patient’s perception of clinical improvement. Discussion Proving the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a home-based telerehabilitation program for physical and muscle function following THA could support its systematic incorporation in post-surgical rehabilitation protocols, which should be tailored to the individual and collective needs. Trial registration ClinicalTrial.gov NCT04176315. Registered on 22 November 2019