University of Southern Denmark

About: University of Southern Denmark is a education organization based out in Odense, Syddanmark, Denmark. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Randomized controlled trial. The organization has 11928 authors who have published 37918 publications receiving 1258559 citations. The organization is also known as: SDU.

Myofibre damage in human skeletal muscle: effects of electrical stimulation versus voluntary contraction

Abstract: Disruption to proteins within the myofibre after a single bout of unaccustomed eccentric exercise is hypothesized to induce delayed onset of muscle soreness and to be associated with an activation of satellite cells. This has been shown in animal models using electrical stimulation but not in humans using voluntary exercise. Untrained males (n=8, range 22-27 years) performed 210 maximal eccentric contractions with each leg on an isokinetic dynamometer, voluntarily (VOL) with one leg and electrically induced (ES) with the other leg. Assessments from the skeletal muscle were obtained prior to exercise and at 5, 24, 96 and 192 h postexercise. Muscle tenderness rose in VOL and ES after 24 h, and did not differ between groups. Maximal isometric contraction strength, rate of force development and impulse declined in the VOL leg from 4 h after exercise, but not in ES (except at 24 h). In contrast, a significant disruption of cytoskeletal proteins (desmin) and a rise of myogenic growth factors (myogenin) occurred only in ES. Intracellular disruption and destroyed Z-lines were markedly more pronounced in ES (40%) compared with VOL (10%). Likewise, the increase in satellite cell markers [neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) and paired-box transcription factor (Pax-7)] was more pronounced in ES versus VOL. Finally, staining of the intramuscular connective tissue (tenascin C) was increased equally in ES and VOL after exercise. The present study demonstrates that in human muscle, the delayed onset of muscle soreness was not significantly different between the two treatments despite marked differences in intramuscular histological markers, in particular myofibre proteins and satellite cell markers. An increase in tenascin C expression in the midbelly of the skeletal muscle in both legs provides further evidence of a potential role for the extracellular matrix in the phenomenon of delayed onset of muscle soreness.

What They Know vs. What They Do: How Acquirers Leverage Technology Acquisitions

Abstract: Existing research suggests that in acquisitions of small technology based firms by large established firms, post merger integration both enables and hinders acquirer's efforts to leverage the technology of acquired firms. This apparent paradox can be resolved once we account for the qualitatively distinct ways in which acquirers leverage technology acquisitions. Integration helps acquirers use the acquired firm's existing knowledge as an input to their own innovation processes (leveraging what they know), but hinders their reliance on the acquired firm as an independent source of ongoing innovation (leveraging what they do). We also show that experienced acquirers are better able to mitigate the disruptive consequences of the loss of autonomy entailed by integration, though we find no evidence that they achieve greater coordination benefits from integration.

Intracellular cholesterol transport

Abstract: Cholesterol is the single most abundant lipid species in mammalian cells. More than 2×109 years of evolution designed this molecule to perfectly fit into phospholipid bilayers regulating the fluidity, permeability and bending stiffness of biological membranes. Cholesterol also serves as a precursor of steroid hormones, bile acids and oxysterols, and its cellular synthesis is regulated by a complex machinery. While the molecular mechanisms underlying cholesterol synthesis are known in great detail, knowledge is rather sparse about the inter-compartment transport of cholesterol, including trafficking modes and kinetics, as well as control of endomembrane cholesterol content. This chapter provides an overview of our recent understanding of intracellular transport of cholesterol. It is aimed to create a link between the well characterized biophysical properties of cholesterol in model membranes and its behavior in living cells.

A model for assessment of telemedicine applications: MAST

Abstract: Objectives: Telemedicine applications could potentially solve many of the challenges faced by the healthcare sectors in Europe. However, a framework for assessment of these technologies is need by decision makers to assist them in choosing the most efficient and cost-effective technologies. Therefore in 2009 the European Commission initiated the development of a framework for assessing telemedicine applications, based on the users’ need for information for decision making. This article presents the Model for ASsessment of Telemedicine applications (MAST) developed in this study.Methods: MAST was developed through workshops with users and stakeholders of telemedicine.Results: Based on the workshops and using the EUnetHTA Core HTA Model as a starting point a three-element model was developed, including: (i) preceding considerations, (ii) multidisciplinary assessment, and (iii) transferability assessment. In the multidisciplinary assessment, the outcomes of telemedicine applications comprise seven domains, based on the domains in the EUnetHTA model.Conclusions: MAST provides a structure for future assessment of telemedicine applications. MAST will be tested during 2010–13 in twenty studies of telemedicine applications in nine European countries in the EC project Renewing Health.