TY - JOUR A1 - Allan, Eric A1 - Bossdorf, Oliver A1 - Dormann, Carsten F. A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Tscharntke, Teja A1 - Blüthgen, Nico A1 - Bellach, Michaela A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Böhm, Stefan A1 - Börschig, Carmen A1 - Chatzinotas, Antonis A1 - Christ, Sabina A1 - Daniel, Rolf A1 - Diekötter, Tim A1 - Fischer, Christiane A1 - Friedl, Thomas A1 - Glaser, Karin A1 - Hallmann, Christine A1 - Hodac, Ladislav A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Morris, E. Kathryn A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Nacke, Heiko A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Rillig, Matthias C. A1 - Rothenwoehrer, Christoph A1 - Schally, Peter A1 - Scherber, Christoph A1 - Schulze, Waltraud X. A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Steckel, Juliane A1 - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf A1 - Türke, Manfred A1 - Weiner, Christiane N. A1 - Werner, Michael A1 - Westphal, Catrin A1 - Wolters, Volkmar A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Gockel, Sonja A1 - Gorke, Martin A1 - Hemp, Andreas A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Schöning, Ingo A1 - Pfeiffer, Simone A1 - König-Ries, Birgitta A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Interannual variation in land-use intensity enhances grassland multidiversity JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America N2 - Although temporal heterogeneity is a well-accepted driver of biodiversity, effects of interannual variation in land-use intensity (LUI) have not been addressed yet. Additionally, responses to land use can differ greatly among different organisms; therefore, overall effects of land-use on total local biodiversity are hardly known. To test for effects of LUI (quantified as the combined intensity of fertilization, grazing, and mowing) and interannual variation in LUI (SD in LUI across time), we introduce a unique measure of whole-ecosystem biodiversity, multidiversity. This synthesizes individual diversity measures across up to 49 taxonomic groups of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria from 150 grasslands. Multidiversity declined with increasing LUI among grasslands, particularly for rarer species and aboveground organisms, whereas common species and belowground groups were less sensitive. However, a high level of interannual variation in LUI increased overall multidiversity at low LUI and was even more beneficial for rarer species because it slowed the rate at which the multidiversity of rare species declined with increasing LUI. In more intensively managed grasslands, the diversity of rarer species was, on average, 18% of the maximum diversity across all grasslands when LUI was static over time but increased to 31% of the maximum when LUI changed maximally over time. In addition to decreasing overall LUI, we suggest varying LUI across years as a complementary strategy to promote biodiversity conservation. KW - biodiversity loss KW - agricultural grasslands KW - Biodiversity Exploratories Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1312213111 SN - 0027-8424 VL - 111 IS - 1 SP - 308 EP - 313 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - GEN A1 - Appiah-Dwomoh, Edem Korkor A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Hadzic, Miralem A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Star Excursion Balance Test in young athletes with back pain N2 - The Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) is effective in measuring dynamic postural control (DPC). This research aimed to determine whether DPC measured by the SEBT in young athletes (YA) with back pain (BP) is different from those without BP (NBP). 53 BP YA and 53 NBP YA matched for age, height, weight, training years, training sessions/week and training minutes/session were studied. Participants performed 4 practice trials after which 3 measurements in the anterior, posteromedial and posterolateral SEBT reach directions were recorded. Normalized reach distance was analyzed using the mean of all 3 measurements. There was no statistical significant difference (p > 0.05) between the reach distance of BP (87.2 ± 5.3, 82.4 ± 8.2, 78.7 ± 8.1) and NBP (87.8 ± 5.6, 82.4 ± 8.0, 80.0 ± 8.8) in the anterior, posteromedial and posterolateral directions respectively. DPC in YA with BP, as assessed by the SEBT, was not different from NBP YA. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 337 KW - young athletes KW - back pain KW - star excursion balance test Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-400441 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Appiah-Dwomoh, Edem Korkor A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Reproducibility of Static and Dynamic Postural Control Measurement in Adolescent Athletes with Back Pain T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Static (one-legged stance) and dynamic (star excursion balance) postural control tests were performed by 14 adolescent athletes with and 17 without back pain to determine reproducibility. The total displacement, mediolateral and anterior-posterior displacements of the centre of pressure in mm for the static, and the normalized and composite reach distances for the dynamic tests were analysed. Intraclass correlation coefficients, 95% confidence intervals, and a Bland-Altman analysis were calculated for reproducibility. Intraclass correlation coefficients for subjects with (0.54 to 0.65), (0.61 to 0.69) and without (0.45 to 0.49), (0.52 to 0.60) back pain were obtained on the static test for right and left legs, respectively. Likewise, (0.79 to 0.88), (0.75 to 0.93) for subjects with and (0.61 to 0.82), (0.60 to 0.85) for those without back pain were obtained on the dynamic test for the right and left legs, respectively. Systematic bias was not observed between test and retest of subjects on both static and dynamic tests. The one-legged stance and star excursion balance tests have fair to excellent reliabilities on measures of postural control in adolescent athletes with and without back pain. They can be used as measures of postural control in adolescent athletes with and without back pain. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 470 KW - Excursion Balance Test KW - Female Collegiate Soccer KW - Test-Retest Reliability KW - Lower-Extremity Injury KW - Lumbar Spine KW - Performance KW - Basketball KW - Children KW - Prevalence KW - Stability Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-417526 IS - 470 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Appiah-Dwomoh, Edem Korkor A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Reproducibility of Static and Dynamic Postural Control Measurement in Adolescent Athletes with Back Pain JF - Rehabilitation Research and Practice N2 - Static (one-legged stance) and dynamic (star excursion balance) postural control tests were performed by 14 adolescent athletes with and 17 without back pain to determine reproducibility. The total displacement, mediolateral and anterior-posterior displacements of the centre of pressure in mm for the static, and the normalized and composite reach distances for the dynamic tests were analysed. Intraclass correlation coefficients, 95% confidence intervals, and a Bland-Altman analysis were calculated for reproducibility. Intraclass correlation coefficients for subjects with (0.54 to 0.65), (0.61 to 0.69) and without (0.45 to 0.49), (0.52 to 0.60) back pain were obtained on the static test for right and left legs, respectively. Likewise, (0.79 to 0.88), (0.75 to 0.93) for subjects with and (0.61 to 0.82), (0.60 to 0.85) for those without back pain were obtained on the dynamic test for the right and left legs, respectively. Systematic bias was not observed between test and retest of subjects on both static and dynamic tests. The one-legged stance and star excursion balance tests have fair to excellent reliabilities on measures of postural control in adolescent athletes with and without back pain. They can be used as measures of postural control in adolescent athletes with and without back pain. KW - Excursion Balance Test KW - Female Collegiate Soccer KW - Test-Retest Reliability KW - Lower-Extremity Injury KW - Lumbar Spine KW - Performance KW - Basketball KW - Children KW - Prevalence KW - Stability Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/8438350 SN - 2090-2875 SN - 2090-2867 VL - 2018 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Hindawi CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Appiah-Dwomoh, Edem Korkor A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Is there an association between variables of static and dynamic postural control in adolescent athletes with back pain? T1 - Gibt es einen Zusammenhang zwischen Variablen der statischen und dynamischen posturalen Kontrolle bei Nachwuchsathleten mit Rückenschmerzen? JF - German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research N2 - An association between static and dynamic postural control exists in adults with back pain. We aimed to determine whether this association also exists in adolescent athletes with the same condition. In all, 128 athletes with and without back pain performed three measurements of 15s of static (one-legged stance) and dynamic (star excursion balance test) postural control tests. All subjects and amatched subgroup of athletes with and without back pain were analyzed. The smallest center of pressure mediolateral and anterior-posterior displacements (mm) and normalized highest reach distance were the outcome measures. No association was found between variables of the static and dynamic tests for all subjects and the matched group with and without back pain. The control of static and dynamic posture in adolescent athletes with and without back pain might not be related. N2 - Bei Erwachsenen mit Rückenschmerzen besteht ein Zusammenhang zwischen statischer und dynamischer posturaler Kontrolle. Ziel der Studie war es zu untersuchen, ob dieser Zusammenhang auch bei Nachwuchsathleten mit Rückenschmerzen nachweisbar ist. Insgesamt 128 Nachwuchsathleten mit oder ohne Rückenschmerzen führten je 3 Messungen à 15 s eines statischen (einbeiniger Standtest) bzw. dynamischen („star excursion balance test“ [SEBT]) posturalen Kontrolltests durch. In die Auswertung wurden sowohl die gesamte Stichprobe als auch eine gematchte Untergruppe einbezogen. Zielparameter waren der kleinste mediolaterale und anterior-posteriore Schwankungsweg im Einbeinstand (mm) und die normierte maximal erreichte Distanz im SEBT. Es wurden keine Zusammenhänge zwischen Variablen der statischen und dynamischen Tests für alle Studienteilnehmer und der gematchten Untergruppe mit und ohne Rückenschmerzen festgestellt. Obwohl ein Zusammenhang zwischen statischer und dynamischer posturaler Kontrolle angenommen wird, konnte dieser bei Nachwuchsathleten mit oder ohne Rückenschmerzen nicht nachgewiesen werden. KW - Postural control KW - Adolescent athletes KW - Back pain KW - One-legged stance KW - Star excursion balance test KW - Posturale Kontrolle KW - Nachwuchsathleten KW - Rückenschmerzen KW - Einbeiniger Standtest Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-019-00573-6 SN - 2509-3142 SN - 2509-3150 VL - 49 IS - 2 SP - 150 EP - 155 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baritello, Omar A1 - Khajooei, Mina A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Kopinski, Stephan A1 - Quarmby, Andrew James A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Neuromuscular shoulder activity during exercises with different combinations of stable and unstable weight mass JF - BMC sports science, medicine and rehabilitation N2 - Background Recent shoulder injury prevention programs have utilized resistance exercises combined with different forms of instability, with the goal of eliciting functional adaptations and thereby reducing the risk of injury. However, it is still unknown how an unstable weight mass (UWM) affects the muscular activity of the shoulder stabilizers. Aim of the study was to assess neuromuscular activity of dynamic shoulder stabilizers under four conditions of stable and UWM during three shoulder exercises. It was hypothesized that a combined condition of weight with UWM would elicit greater activation due to the increased stabilization demand. Methods Sixteen participants (7 m/9 f) were included in this cross-sectional study and prepared with an EMG-setup for the: Mm. upper/lower trapezius (U.TA/L.TA), lateral deltoid (DE), latissimus dorsi (LD), serratus anterior (SA) and pectoralis major (PE). A maximal voluntary isometric contraction test (MVIC; 5 s.) was performed on an isokinetic dynamometer. Next, internal/external rotation (In/Ex), abduction/adduction (Ab/Ad) and diagonal flexion/extension (F/E) exercises (5 reps.) were performed with four custom-made-pipes representing different exercise conditions. First, the empty-pipe (P; 0.5 kg) and then, randomly ordered, water-filled-pipe (PW; 1 kg), weight-pipe (PG; 4.5 kg) and weight + water-filled-pipe (PWG; 4.5 kg), while EMG was recorded. Raw root-mean-square values (RMS) were normalized to MVIC (%MVIC). Differences between conditions for RMS%MVIC, scapular stabilizer (SR: U.TA/L.TA; U.TA/SA) and contraction (CR: concentric/eccentric) ratios were analyzed (paired t-test; p <= 0.05; Bonferroni adjusted alpha = 0.008). Results PWG showed significantly greater muscle activity for all exercises and all muscles except for PE compared to P and PW. Condition PG elicited muscular activity comparable to PWG (p > 0.008) with significantly lower activation of L.TA and SA in the In/Ex rotation. The SR ratio was significantly higher in PWG compared to P and PW. No significant differences were found for the CR ratio in all exercises and for all muscles. Conclusion Higher weight generated greater muscle activation whereas an UWM raised the neuromuscular activity, increasing the stabilization demands. Especially in the In/Ex rotation, an UWM increased the RMS%MVIC and SR ratio. This might improve training effects in shoulder prevention and rehabilitation programs. KW - EMG KW - instability KW - overhead athlete KW - unstable resistance training KW - water KW - pipe KW - rotator cuff Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-020-00168-x SN - 2052-1847 VL - 12 IS - 1 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Baritello, Omar A1 - Khajooei, Mina A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Kopinski, Stephan A1 - Quarmby, Andrew James A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Neuromuscular shoulder activity during exercises with different combinations of stable and unstable weight mass T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Background Recent shoulder injury prevention programs have utilized resistance exercises combined with different forms of instability, with the goal of eliciting functional adaptations and thereby reducing the risk of injury. However, it is still unknown how an unstable weight mass (UWM) affects the muscular activity of the shoulder stabilizers. Aim of the study was to assess neuromuscular activity of dynamic shoulder stabilizers under four conditions of stable and UWM during three shoulder exercises. It was hypothesized that a combined condition of weight with UWM would elicit greater activation due to the increased stabilization demand. Methods Sixteen participants (7 m/9 f) were included in this cross-sectional study and prepared with an EMG-setup for the: Mm. upper/lower trapezius (U.TA/L.TA), lateral deltoid (DE), latissimus dorsi (LD), serratus anterior (SA) and pectoralis major (PE). A maximal voluntary isometric contraction test (MVIC; 5 s.) was performed on an isokinetic dynamometer. Next, internal/external rotation (In/Ex), abduction/adduction (Ab/Ad) and diagonal flexion/extension (F/E) exercises (5 reps.) were performed with four custom-made-pipes representing different exercise conditions. First, the empty-pipe (P; 0.5 kg) and then, randomly ordered, water-filled-pipe (PW; 1 kg), weight-pipe (PG; 4.5 kg) and weight + water-filled-pipe (PWG; 4.5 kg), while EMG was recorded. Raw root-mean-square values (RMS) were normalized to MVIC (%MVIC). Differences between conditions for RMS%MVIC, scapular stabilizer (SR: U.TA/L.TA; U.TA/SA) and contraction (CR: concentric/eccentric) ratios were analyzed (paired t-test; p <= 0.05; Bonferroni adjusted alpha = 0.008). Results PWG showed significantly greater muscle activity for all exercises and all muscles except for PE compared to P and PW. Condition PG elicited muscular activity comparable to PWG (p > 0.008) with significantly lower activation of L.TA and SA in the In/Ex rotation. The SR ratio was significantly higher in PWG compared to P and PW. No significant differences were found for the CR ratio in all exercises and for all muscles. Conclusion Higher weight generated greater muscle activation whereas an UWM raised the neuromuscular activity, increasing the stabilization demands. Especially in the In/Ex rotation, an UWM increased the RMS%MVIC and SR ratio. This might improve training effects in shoulder prevention and rehabilitation programs. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 867 KW - EMG KW - instability KW - overhead athlete KW - unstable resistance training KW - water pipe KW - rotator cuff Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-509366 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Gender-specific neuromuscular activity of the M. peroneus longus in healthy runners : a descriptive laboratory study N2 - Background: Gender-specific neuromuscular activity for the ankle (e.g., peroneal muscle) is currently not known. This knowledge may contribute to the understanding of overuse injury mechanisms. The purpose was therefore to analyse the neuromuscular activity of the peroneal muscle in healthy runners. Methods: Fifty-three male and 54 female competitive runners were tested on a treadmill at 3.33 m s(-1). Neuromuscular activity of the M. peroneus longus was measured by electromyography and analysed in the time domain (onset of activation, time of maximum of activation, total time of activation) in % of stride time in relation to touchdown (= 1.0). Additionally, mean amplitudes for the gait cycle phases preactivation, weight acceptance and push-off were calculated and normalised to the mean activity of the entire gait cycle. Findings: Onset of activation (mean; female: 0.86/male: 0.90, p<0.0001) and time of maximum of activation (female: 1.13/male: 1.16, p<0.0001) occurred earlier in female compared to male and the total time of activation was longer in women (female: 0.42/male: 0.39, p=0.0036). In preactivation, women showed higher amplitudes (+ 21%) compared to men (female: 1.16/male: 0.92, p<0.0001). Activity during weight acceptance (female: 2.26/male: 2.41, p = 0.0039) and push-off (female: 0.93/male: 1.07, p = 0.0027) were higher in men. Interpretation: Activation strategies of the peroneal muscle appear to be gender-specific. Higher preactivation amplitudes in females indicate a different neuromuscular control in anticipation of touchdown ("pre-programmed activity"). These data may help interpret epidemiologically reported differences between genders in overuse injury frequency and localisation. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02680033 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2010.06.009 SN - 0268-0033 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Jahn, Michael A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Therapeutic efficiency and biomechanical effects of sport insoles in female runners T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 624 KW - polyurethane foam KW - overuse injury KW - biomechanical effect KW - female runner KW - injury symptom Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-435525 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 624 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Is EMG of the lower leg dependent on weekly running mileage? JF - International journal of sports medicine N2 - Neuromuscular activity of the lower leg is dependent on the task performed, speed of movement and gender. Whether training volume influences neuromuscular activity is not known. The EMG of physically active persons differing in running mileage was analysed to investigate this. 55 volunteers were allocated to a low (LM: < 30 km), intermediate (IM: > 30 km & < 45 km) or high mileage (HM: > 45 km) group according to their weekly running volume. Neuromuscular activity of the lower leg was measured during running (3.33 m.s(-1)). Mean amplitude values for preactivation, weight acceptance and push-off were calculated and normalised to the mean activity of the entire gait cycle. Higher activity in the gastrocnemius group was observed in weight acceptance in LM compared to IM (+30%) and HM (+25%) but lower activity was present in the push-off for LM compared to IM and HM. For the peroneal muscle, differences were present in the push-off where HM showed increased activity compared to IM (+24%) and LM (+60%). The tibial muscle revealed slightly lower activity during preactivation for the high mileage runners. Neuromuscular activity differs during stance between the high and intermediate group compared to low mileage runners. Slight adaptations in neuromuscular activation indicate a more target-oriented activation strategy possibly due to repetitive training in runners with higher weekly mileage. KW - locomotion KW - neuromuscular control KW - running gait KW - training volume Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0031-1286250 SN - 0172-4622 VL - 33 IS - 1 SP - 53 EP - 57 PB - Thieme CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Neuromuscular activity of the peroneal muscle after foot orthoses therapy in runners JF - Medicine and science in sports and exercise : official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine N2 - BAUR, H., A. HIRSCHMULLER, S. MULLER, and F. MAYER. Neuromuscular Activity of the Peroneal Muscle after Foot Orthoses Therapy in Runners. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 43, No. 8, pp. 1500-1506, 2011. Purpose: Foot orthoses are a standard option to treat overuse injury. Biomechanical data providing mechanisms of foot orthoses' effectiveness are sparse. Stability of the ankle joint complex might be a key factor. The purpose was therefore to analyze neuromuscular activity of the musculus peroneus longus in runners with overuse injury symptoms treated with foot orthoses. Methods: A total of 99 male and female runners with overuse injury symptoms randomized in a control group (CO) and an orthoses group (OR) were analyzed on a treadmill at 3.3 m.s(-1) before and after an 8-wk foot orthoses intervention. Muscular activity of the musculus peroneus longus was measured and quantified in the time domain (initial onset of activation (T-ini), time of maximal activity (T-max), total time of activation (T-tot)) and amplitude domain (amplitude in preactivation (A(pre)), weight acceptance (A(wa)), push-off (A(po))). Results: Peroneal activity in the time domain did not differ initially between CO and OR, and no effect was observed after therapy (T-ini: CO = -0.88 +/- 0.09, OR = -0.88 +/- 0.08 / T-max: CO = 0.14 +/- 0.06, OR = 0.15 +/- 0.06 / T-tot: CO = 0.40 +/- 0.09, OR = 0.41 +/- 0.09; P > 0.05). In preactivation (Apre), muscle activity was higher in OR after intervention (CO = 0.97 +/- 0.32, 95% confidence interval = 0.90-1.05; OR = 1.18 +/- 0.43, 95% confidence interval = 1.08-1.28; P = 0.003). There was no group or intervention effect during stance (A(wa): CO = 2.33 +/- 0.66, OR = 2.33 +/- 0.74 / A(po): CO = 0.80 +/- 0.41, OR = 0.88 +/- 0.40; P > 0.05). Conclusions: Enhanced muscle activation of the musculus peroneus longus in preactivation suggests an altered preprogrammed activity, which might lead to better ankle stability providing a possible mode of action for foot orthoses therapy. KW - ANKLE JOINT KW - EMG KW - INSERT KW - INSOLE KW - JOINT STABILITY KW - OVERUSE INJURY Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e31820c64ae SN - 0195-9131 VL - 43 IS - 8 SP - 1500 EP - 1506 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - Weber, Josefine A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Comparison in lower leg neuromuscular activity between runners with unilateral mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy and healthy individuals JF - Journal of electromyography and kinesiology N2 - Neuromuscular control in functional situations and possible impairments due to Achilles tendinopathy are not well understood. Thirty controls (CO) and 30 runners with Achilles tendinopathy (AT) were tested on a treadmill at 3.33 m s(-1) (12 km h(-1)). Neuromuscular activity of the lower leg (tibialis anterior, peroneal, and gastrocnemius muscle) was measured by surface electromyography. Mean amplitude values (MAV) for the gait cycle phases preactivation, weight acceptance and push-off were calculated and normalised to the mean activity of the entire gait cycle. MAVs of the tibialis anterior did not differ between CO and AT in any gait cycle phase. The activation of the peroneal muscle was lower in AT in weight acceptance (p = 0.006), whereas no difference between CO and AT was found in preactivation (p = 0.71) and push-off (p = 0.83). Also, MAVs of the gastrocnemius muscle did not differ between AT and CO in preactivity (p = 0.71) but were reduced in AT during weight acceptance (p = 0.001) and push-off (p = 0.04). Achilles tendinopathy does not seem to alter pre-programmed neural control but might induce mechanical deficits of the lower extremity during weight bearing (joint stability). This should be addressed in the therapy process of AT. KW - Ankle joint KW - Electromyography KW - Overuse injury KW - Running gait Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelekin.2010.11.010 SN - 1050-6411 VL - 21 IS - 3 SP - 499 EP - 505 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Huber, Georg A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Reactivity, stability, and strength performance capacity in motor sports JF - British journal of sports medicine : the journal of sport and exercise medicine N2 - Background: Racing drivers require multifaceted cognitive and physical abilities in a multitasking situation. A knowledge of their physical capacities may help to improve fitness and performance. Objective: To compare reaction time, stability performance capacity, and strength performance capacity of elite racing drivers with those of age-matched, physically active controls. Methods: Eight elite racing drivers and 10 physically active controls matched for age and weight were tested in a reaction and determination test requiring upper and lower extremity responses to visual and audio cues. Further tests comprised evaluation of one-leg postural stability on a two-dimensional moveable platform, measures of maximum strength performance capacity of the extensors of the leg on a leg press, and a test of force capacity of the arms in a sitting position at a steering wheel. An additional arm endurance test consisted of isometric work at the steering wheel at + 30 degrees and -30 degrees where an eccentric threshold load of 30 N.m was applied. Subjects had to hold the end positions above this threshold until exhaustion. Univariate one way analysis of variance (alpha = 0.05) including a Bonferroni adjustment was used to detect group differences between the drivers and controls. Results: The reaction time of the racing drivers was significantly faster than the controls ( p = 0.004). The following motor reaction time and reaction times in the multiple determination test did not differ between the groups. No significant differences (p> 0.05) were found for postural stability, leg extensor strength, or arm strength and endurance. Conclusions: Racing drivers have faster reaction times than age-matched physically active controls. Further development of motor sport-specific test protocols is suggested. According to the requirements of motor racing, strength and sensorimotor performance capacity can potentially be improved. Y1 - 2006 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2006.025783 SN - 0306-3674 VL - 40 SP - 906 EP - 910 PB - BMJ Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Diekoetter, Tim A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A1 - Wolters, Volkmar T1 - Soil fauna feeding activity in temperate grassland soils increases with legume and grass species richness JF - Soil biology & biochemistry N2 - Edaphic fauna contributes to important ecosystem functions in grassland soils such as decomposition and nutrient mineralization. Since this functional role is likely to be altered by global change and associated shifts in plant communities, a thorough understanding of large scale drivers on below-ground processes independent of regional differences in soil type or climate is essential. We investigated the relationship between abiotic (soil properties, management practices) and biotic (plant functional group composition, vegetation characteristics, soil fauna abundance) predictors and feeding activity of soil fauna after accounting for sample year and study region. Our study was carried out over a period of two consecutive years in 92 agricultural grasslands in three regions of Germany, spanning a latitudinal gradient of more than 500 km. A structural equation model suggests that feeding activity of soil fauna as measured by the bait-lamina test was positively related to legume and grass species richness in both years. Most probably, a diverse vegetation promotes feeding activity of soil fauna via alterations of both microclimate and resource availability. Feeding activity of soil fauna also increased with earthworm biomass via a pathway over Collembola abundance. The effect of earthworms on the feeding activity in soil may be attributed to their important role as ecosystem engineers. As no additional effects of agricultural management such as fertilization, livestock density or number of cuts on bait consumption were observed, our results suggest that the positive effect of legume and grass species richness on the feeding activity in soil fauna is a general one that will not be overruled by regional differences in management or environmental conditions. We thus suggest that agri-environment schemes aiming at the protection of belowground activity and associated ecosystem functions in temperate grasslands may generally focus on maintaining plant diversity, especially with regard to the potential effects of climate change on future vegetation structure. KW - Above-belowground interactions KW - Bait lamina KW - Biodiversity ecosystem function research KW - Decomposition KW - Plant functional groups KW - Soil fauna KW - Spatial scale Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2011.07.008 SN - 0038-0717 VL - 43 IS - 10 SP - 2200 EP - 2207 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Blüthgen, Nico A1 - Dormann, Carsten F. A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Hoelzel, Norbert A1 - Alt, Fabian A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Gockel, Sonja A1 - Hemp, Andreas A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Nieschulze, Jens A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Schöning, Ingo A1 - Schumacher, Uta A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Wells, Konstans A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Rothenwöhrer, Christoph A1 - Scherber, Christoph A1 - Tscharntke, Teja A1 - Weiner, Christiane N. A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V. A1 - Linsenmair, Karl Eduard A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. T1 - A quantitative index of land-use intensity in grasslands integrating mowing, grazing and fertilization JF - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie N2 - Land use is increasingly recognized as a major driver of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in many current research projects. In grasslands, land use is often classified by categorical descriptors such as pastures versus meadows or fertilized versus unfertilized sites. However, to account for the quantitative variation of multiple land-use types in heterogeneous landscapes, a quantitative, continuous index of land-use intensity (LUI) is desirable. Here we define such a compound, additive LUI index for managed grasslands including meadows and pastures. The LUI index summarizes the standardized intensity of three components of land use, namely fertilization, mowing, and livestock grazing at each site. We examined the performance of the LUI index to predict selected response variables on up to 150 grassland sites in the Biodiversity Exploratories in three regions in Germany(Alb, Hainich, Schorlheide). We tested the average Ellenberg nitrogen indicator values of the plant community, nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in the aboveground plant biomass, plant-available phosphorus concentration in the top soil, and soil C/N ratio, and the first principle component of these five response variables. The LUI index significantly predicted the principal component of all five response variables, as well as some of the individual responses. Moreover, vascular plant diversity decreased significantly with LUI in two regions (Alb and Hainich). Inter-annual changes in management practice were pronounced from 2006 to 2008, particularly due to variation in grazing intensity. This rendered the selection of the appropriate reference year(s) an important decision for analyses of land-use effects, whereas details in the standardization of the index were of minor importance. We also tested several alternative calculations of a LUI index, but all are strongly linearly correlated to the proposed index. The proposed LUI index reduces the complexity of agricultural practices to a single dimension and may serve as a baseline to test how different groups of organisms and processes respond to land use. In combination with more detailed analyses, this index may help to unravel whether and how land-use intensities, associated disturbance levels or other local or regional influences drive ecological processes. KW - Agro-ecosystems KW - Biodiversity exploratories KW - Grassland management KW - Land-use impacts KW - Livestock density KW - Meadows KW - Nitrogen KW - Pastures Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2012.04.001 SN - 1439-1791 VL - 13 IS - 3 SP - 207 EP - 220 PB - Elsevier CY - Jena ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Low-intensity management promotes bryophyte diversity in grasslands JF - Tuexenia : Mitteilungen der Floristisch-Soziologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft N2 - Bryophytes constitute an important and permanent component of the grassland flora and diversity in Europe. As most bryophyte species are sensitive to habitat change, their diversity is likely to decline following land-use intensification. Most previous studies on bryophyte diversity focused on specific habitats of high bryophyte diversity, such as bogs, montane grasslands, or calcareous dry grasslands. In contrast, mesic grasslands are rarely studied, although they are the most common grassland habitat in Europe. They are secondary vegetation, maintained by agricultural use and thus, are influenced by different forms of land use. We studied bryophyte species richness in three regions in Germany, in 707 plots of 16 m(2) representing different land-use types and environmental conditions. Our study is one of the few to inspect the relationships between bryophyte richness and land use across contrasting regions and using a high number of replicates. Among the managed grasslands, pastures harboured 2.5 times more bryophyte species than meadows and mown pastures. Similarly, bryophyte cover was about twice as high in fallows and pastures than in meadows and mown pastures. Among the pastures, bryophyte species richness was about three times higher in sheep grazed plots than in the ones grazed by cattle or horses. In general, bryophyte species richness and cover was more than 50% lower in fertilized than in unfertilized plots. Moreover, the amount of suitable substrates was linked to bryophyte diversity. Species richness of bryophytes growing on stones increased with stone cover, and the one of bryophytes growing on bark and deadwood increased with larger values of woody plant species and deadwood cover. Our findings highlight the importance of low-intensity land use and high structural heterogeneity for bryophyte conservation. They also caution against an intensification of traditionally managed pastures. In the light of our results, we recommend to maintain low-intensity sheep grazing on sites with low productivity, such as slopes on shallow soils. T2 - Extensive Landnutzung fördert die Moosdiversität im Grünland KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - competition KW - dry and mesic grasslands KW - grazing KW - fertilization KW - land use KW - liverwort KW - meadow KW - moss KW - pasture Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.14471/2018.38.014 SN - 0722-494X IS - 38 SP - 311 EP - 328 PB - Floristisch-Soziologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft CY - Göttingen ER - TY - GEN A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Low-intensity management promotes bryophyte diversity in grasslands T1 - Extensive Landnutzung fördert die Moosdiversität im Grünland T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Bryophytes constitute an important and permanent component of the grassland flora and diversity in Europe. As most bryophyte species are sensitive to habitat change, their diversity is likely to decline following land-use intensification. Most previous studies on bryophyte diversity focused on specific habitats of high bryophyte diversity, such as bogs, montane grasslands, or calcareous dry grasslands. In contrast, mesic grasslands are rarely studied, although they are the most common grassland habitat in Europe. They are secondary vegetation, maintained by agricultural use and thus, are influenced by different forms of land use. We studied bryophyte species richness in three regions in Germany, in 707 plots of 16 m2 representing different land-use types and environmental conditions. Our study is one of the few to inspect the relationships between bryophyte richness and land use across contrasting regions and using a high number of replicates.Among the managed grasslands, pastures harboured 2.5 times more bryophyte species than mead-ows and mown pastures. Similarly, bryophyte cover was about twice as high in fallows and pastures than in meadows and mown pastures. Among the pastures, bryophyte species richness was about three times higher in sheep grazed plots than in the ones grazed by cattle or horses. In general, bryophyte species richness and cover was more than 50% lower in fertilized than in unfertilized plots. Moreover, the amount of suitable substrates was linked to bryophyte diversity. Species richness of bryophytes growing on stones increased with stone cover, and the one of bryophytes growing on bark and deadwood increased with larger values of woody plant species and deadwood cover. Our findings highlight the importance of low-intensity land use and high structural heterogeneity for bryophyte conservation. They also caution against an intensification of traditionally managed pastures. In the light of our results, we recommend to maintain low-intensity sheep grazing on sites with low productivity, such as slopes on shallow soils. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1049 KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - competition KW - dry and mesic grasslands KW - grazing KW - fertilization KW - land use KW - liverwort KW - meadow KW - moss KW - pasture Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-460086 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1049 SP - 311 EP - 328 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Pratil, Daniel A1 - Blaser, Stefan A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Up in the tree - the overlooked richness of bryophytes and lichens in Tree Crowns JF - PLoS one N2 - Assessing diversity is among the major tasks in ecology and conservation science. In ecological and conservation studies, epiphytic cryptogams are usually sampled up to accessible heights in forests. Thus, their diversity, especially of canopy specialists, likely is underestimated. If the proportion of those species differs among forest types, plot-based diversity assessments are biased and may result in misleading conservation recommendations. We sampled bryophytes and lichens in 30 forest plots of 20 m x 20 m in three German regions, considering all substrates, and including epiphytic litter fall. First, the sampling of epiphytic species was restricted to the lower 2 m of trees and shrubs. Then, on one representative tree per plot, we additionally recorded epiphytic species in the crown, using tree climbing techniques. Per tree, on average 54% of lichen and 20% of bryophyte species were overlooked if the crown was not been included. After sampling all substrates per plot, including the bark of all shrubs and trees, still 38% of the lichen and 4% of the bryophyte species were overlooked if the tree crown of the sampled tree was not included. The number of overlooked lichen species varied strongly among regions. Furthermore, the number of overlooked bryophyte and lichen species per plot was higher in European beech than in coniferous stands and increased with increasing diameter at breast height of the sampled tree. Thus, our results indicate a bias of comparative studies which might have led to misleading conservation recommendations of plot-based diversity assessments. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084913 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 8 IS - 12 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A1 - Baumbach, Henryk A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Gockel, Sonja A1 - Hemp, Andreas A1 - Hessenmöller, Dominik A1 - Kalko, Elisabeth K. V. A1 - Linsenmair, K. Eduard A1 - Pfeiffer, Simone A1 - Pommer, Ulf A1 - Schöning, Ingo A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Seilwinder, Claudia A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Wells, Konstans A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - High plant species richness indicates management-related disturbances rather than the conservation status of forests JF - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie N2 - There is a wealth of smaller-scale studies on the effects of forest management on plant diversity. However, studies comparing plant species diversity in forests with different management types and intensity, extending over different regions and forest stages, and including detailed information on site conditions are missing. We studied vascular plants on 1500 20 m x 20 m forest plots in three regions of Germany (Schwabische Alb, Hainich-Dun, Schorfheide-Chorin). In all regions, our study plots comprised different management types (unmanaged, selection cutting, deciduous and coniferous age-class forests, which resulted from clear cutting or shelterwood logging), various stand ages, site conditions, and levels of management-related disturbances. We analyzed how overall richness and richness of different plant functional groups (trees, shrubs, herbs, herbaceous species typically growing in forests and herbaceous light-demanding species) responded to the different management types. On average, plant species richness was 13% higher in age-class than in unmanaged forests, and did not differ between deciduous age-class and selection forests. In age-class forests of the Schwabische Alb and Hainich-Dun, coniferous stands had higher species richness than deciduous stands. Among age-class forests, older stands with large quantities of standing biomass were slightly poorer in shrub and light-demanding herb species than younger stands. Among deciduous forests, the richness of herbaceous forest species was generally lower in unmanaged than in managed forests, and it was even 20% lower in unmanaged than in selection forests in Hainich-Dun. Overall, these findings show that disturbances by management generally increase plant species richness. This suggests that total plant species richness is not suited as an indicator for the conservation status of forests, but rather indicates disturbances. KW - Biodiversity Exploratories KW - Coniferous plantations KW - Disturbance KW - Ellenberg indicator values KW - Forest management KW - Selection vs. age-class forests KW - Silviculture KW - Standing biomass KW - Typical forest species KW - Unmanaged vs. managed forests Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2013.06.001 SN - 1439-1791 VL - 14 IS - 6 SP - 496 EP - 505 PB - Elsevier CY - Jena ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brande, Arthur A1 - Böse, M. A1 - Müller, M. A1 - Wolters, Steffen T1 - The Bliesendorf soil and aerolian sand transport in the Potsdam area Y1 - 1999 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Busch, Verena A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Penone, Caterina A1 - Schäfer, Deborah A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Niinemets, Ülo A1 - Penuelas, Josep A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Kleinebecker, Till T1 - Nutrient stoichiometry and land use rather than species richness determine plant functional diversity JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - Plant functional traits reflect individual and community ecological strategies. They allow the detection of directional changes in community dynamics and ecosystemic processes, being an additional tool to assess biodiversity than species richness. Analysis of functional patterns in plant communities provides mechanistic insight into biodiversity alterations due to anthropogenic activity. Although studies have consi-dered of either anthropogenic management or nutrient availability on functional traits in temperate grasslands, studies combining effects of both drivers are scarce. Here, we assessed the impacts of management intensity (fertilization, mowing, grazing), nutrient stoichiometry (C, N, P, K), and vegetation composition on community-weighted means (CWMs) and functional diversity (Rao's Q) from seven plant traits in 150 grasslands in three regions in Germany, using data of 6 years. Land use and nutrient stoichiometry accounted for larger proportions of model variance of CWM and Rao's Q than species richness and productivity. Grazing affected all analyzed trait groups; fertilization and mowing only impacted generative traits. Grazing was clearly associated with nutrient retention strategies, that is, investing in durable structures and production of fewer, less variable seed. Phenological variability was increased. Fertilization and mowing decreased seed number/mass variability, indicating competition-related effects. Impacts of nutrient stoichiometry on trait syndromes varied. Nutrient limitation (large N:P, C:N ratios) promoted species with conservative strategies, that is, investment in durable plant structures rather than fast growth, fewer seed, and delayed flowering onset. In contrast to seed mass, leaf-economics variability was reduced under P shortage. Species diversity was positively associated with the variability of generative traits. Synthesis. Here, land use, nutrient availability, species richness, and plant functional strategies have been shown to interact complexly, driving community composition, and vegetation responses to management intensity. We suggest that deeper understanding of underlying mechanisms shaping community assembly and biodiversity will require analyzing all these parameters. KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - fertilization KW - leaf economics KW - mowing KW - nutrient availability KW - nutrient ratios KW - phosphorus KW - plant functional traits KW - plant strategies KW - seed mass Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3609 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 601 EP - 616 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - GEN A1 - Busch, Verena A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Penone, Caterina A1 - Schäfer, Deborah A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Niinemets, Ülo A1 - Peñuelas, Josep A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Kleinebecker, Till T1 - Nutrient stoichiometry and land use rather than species richness determine plant functional diversity T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Plant functional traits reflect individual and community ecological strategies. They allow the detection of directional changes in community dynamics and ecosystemic processes, being an additional tool to assess biodiversity than species richness. Analysis of functional patterns in plant communities provides mechanistic insight into biodiversity alterations due to anthropogenic activity. Although studies have considered of either anthropogenic management or nutrient availability on functional traits in temperate grasslands, studies combining effects of both drivers are scarce. Here, we assessed the impacts of management intensity (fertilization, mowing, grazing), nutrient stoichiometry (C, N, P, K), and vegetation composition on community-weighted means (CWMs) and functional diversity (Rao's Q) from seven plant traits in 150 grasslands in three regions in Germany, using data of 6 years. Land use and nutrient stoichiometry accounted for larger proportions of model variance of CWM and Rao's Q than species richness and productivity. Grazing affected all analyzed trait groups; fertilization and mowing only impacted generative traits. Grazing was clearly associated with nutrient retention strategies, that is, investing in durable structures and production of fewer, less variable seed. Phenological variability was increased. Fertilization and mowing decreased seed number/mass variability, indicating competition-related effects. Impacts of nutrient stoichiometry on trait syndromes varied. Nutrient limitation (large N:P, C:N ratios) promoted species with conservative strategies, that is, investment in durable plant structures rather than fast growth, fewer seed, and delayed flowering onset. In contrast to seed mass, leaf-economics variability was reduced under P shortage. Species diversity was positively associated with the variability of generative traits. Synthesis. Here, land use, nutrient availability, species richness, and plant functional strategies have been shown to interact complexly, driving community composition, and vegetation responses to management intensity. We suggest that deeper understanding of underlying mechanisms shaping community assembly and biodiversity will require analyzing all these parameters. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 651 KW - biodiversity exploratories KW - leaf economics KW - mowing KW - nutrient availability KW - nutrient ratios KW - phosphorus KW - plant functional traits KW - plant strategies KW - seed mass KW - fertilization Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424617 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 651 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Busch, Verena A1 - Klaus, Valentin Helmut A1 - Schaefer, Deborah A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Chiste, Melanie A1 - Mody, Karsten A1 - Blüthgen, Nico A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Kleinebecker, Till T1 - Will I stay or will I go? Plant species-specific response and tolerance to high land-use intensity in temperate grassland ecosystems JF - Journal of vegetation science KW - community composition KW - ecological strategies KW - Ellenberg indicator values KW - land-use intensity niche KW - plant functional traits KW - species-specific niche breadth KW - species-specific niche optima KW - temperate grasslands KW - vegetation dynamics Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12749 SN - 1100-9233 SN - 1654-1103 VL - 30 IS - 4 SP - 674 EP - 686 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Carlsohn, Anja A1 - Weber, Josefine A1 - Müller, Juliane A1 - Stuwe, Anja A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Dietary intake to reduce body mass before competition in german judo athletes T2 - Medicine and science in sports and exercise : official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine Y1 - 2012 SN - 0195-9131 VL - 44 SP - 109 EP - 109 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - GEN A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - Intziegianni, Konstantina A1 - Risch, Lucie A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Physiological Tendon Thickness Adaptation in Adolescent Elite Athletes BT - A Longitudinal Study N2 - Increased Achilles (AT) and Patellar tendon (PT) thickness in adolescent athletes compared to non-athletes could be shown. However, it is unclear, if changes are of pathological or physiological origin due to training. The aim of this study was to determine physiological AT and PT thickness adaptation in adolescent elite athletes compared to non-athletes, considering sex and sport. In a longitudinal study design with two measurement days (M1/M2) within an interval of 3.2 ± 0.8 years, 131 healthy adolescent elite athletes (m/f: 90/41) out of 13 different sports and 24 recreationally active controls (m/f: 6/18) were included. Both ATs and PTs were measured at standardized reference points. Athletes were divided into 4 sport categories [ball (B), combat (C), endurance (E) and explosive strength sports (S)]. Descriptive analysis (mean ± SD) and statistical testing for group differences was performed (α = 0.05). AT thickness did not differ significantly between measurement days, neither in athletes (5.6 ± 0.7 mm/5.6 ± 0.7 mm) nor in controls (4.8 ± 0.4 mm/4.9 ± 0.5 mm, p > 0.05). For PTs, athletes presented increased thickness at M2 (M1: 3.5 ± 0.5 mm, M2: 3.8 ± 0.5 mm, p < 0.001). In general, males had thicker ATs and PTs than females (p < 0.05). Considering sex and sports, only male athletes from B, C, and S showed significant higher PT-thickness at M2 compared to controls (p ≤ 0.01). Sport-specific adaptation regarding tendon thickness in adolescent elite athletes can be detected in PTs among male athletes participating in certain sports with high repetitive jumping and strength components. Sonographic microstructural analysis might provide an enhanced insight into tendon material properties enabling the differentiation of sex and influence of different sports. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 355 KW - Achilles and patellar tendon KW - non-athletes KW - sonography KW - training adaptation KW - young athletes Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-403823 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - Intziegianni, Konstantina A1 - Risch, Lucie A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Physiological Tendon Thickness Adaptation in Adolescent Elite Athletes BT - A Longitudinal Study JF - Frontiers in physiology N2 - Increased Achilles (AT) and Patellar tendon (PT) thickness in adolescent athletes compared to non-athletes could be shown. However, it is unclear, if changes are of pathological or physiological origin due to training. The aim of this study was to determine physiological AT and PT thickness adaptation in adolescent elite athletes compared to non-athletes, considering sex and sport. In a longitudinal study design with two measurement days (M1/M2) within an interval of 3.2 ± 0.8 years, 131 healthy adolescent elite athletes (m/f: 90/41) out of 13 different sports and 24 recreationally active controls (m/f: 6/18) were included. Both ATs and PTs were measured at standardized reference points. Athletes were divided into 4 sport categories [ball (B), combat (C), endurance (E) and explosive strength sports (S)]. Descriptive analysis (mean ± SD) and statistical testing for group differences was performed (α = 0.05). AT thickness did not differ significantly between measurement days, neither in athletes (5.6 ± 0.7 mm/5.6 ± 0.7 mm) nor in controls (4.8 ± 0.4 mm/4.9 ± 0.5 mm, p > 0.05). For PTs, athletes presented increased thickness at M2 (M1: 3.5 ± 0.5 mm, M2: 3.8 ± 0.5 mm, p < 0.001). In general, males had thicker ATs and PTs than females (p < 0.05). Considering sex and sports, only male athletes from B, C, and S showed significant higher PT-thickness at M2 compared to controls (p ≤ 0.01). Sport-specific adaptation regarding tendon thickness in adolescent elite athletes can be detected in PTs among male athletes participating in certain sports with high repetitive jumping and strength components. Sonographic microstructural analysis might provide an enhanced insight into tendon material properties enabling the differentiation of sex and influence of different sports. KW - Achilles and patellar tendon KW - training adaptation KW - sonography KW - young athletes KW - non-athletes Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00795 SN - 1664-042X VL - 8 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Curzon, Paul A1 - Kalas, Ivan A1 - Schubert, Sigrid A1 - Schaper, Niclas A1 - Barnes, Jan A1 - Kennewell, Steve A1 - Bröker, Kathrin A1 - Kastens, Uwe A1 - Magenheim, Johannes A1 - Dagiene, Valentina A1 - Stupuriene, Gabriele A1 - Ellis, Jason Brent A1 - Abreu-Ellis, Carla Reis A1 - Grillenberger, Andreas A1 - Romeike, Ralf A1 - Haugsbakken, Halvdan A1 - Jones, Anthony A1 - Lewin, Cathy A1 - McNicol, Sarah A1 - Nelles, Wolfgang A1 - Neugebauer, Jonas A1 - Ohrndorf, Laura A1 - Schaper, Niclas A1 - Schubert, Sigrid A1 - Opel, Simone A1 - Kramer, Matthias A1 - Trommen, Michael A1 - Pottbäcker, Florian A1 - Ilaghef, Youssef A1 - Passig, David A1 - Tzuriel, David A1 - Kedmi, Ganit Eshel A1 - Saito, Toshinori A1 - Webb, Mary A1 - Weigend, Michael A1 - Bottino, Rosa A1 - Chioccariello, Augusto A1 - Christensen, Rhonda A1 - Knezek, Gerald A1 - Gioko, Anthony Maina A1 - Angondi, Enos Kiforo A1 - Waga, Rosemary A1 - Ohrndorf, Laura A1 - Or-Bach, Rachel A1 - Preston, Christina A1 - Younie, Sarah A1 - Przybylla, Mareen A1 - Romeike, Ralf A1 - Reynolds, Nicholas A1 - Swainston, Andrew A1 - Bendrups, Faye A1 - Sysło, Maciej M. A1 - Kwiatkowska, Anna Beata A1 - Zieris, Holger A1 - Gerstberger, Herbert A1 - Müller, Wolfgang A1 - Büchner, Steffen A1 - Opel, Simone A1 - Schiller, Thomas A1 - Wegner, Christian A1 - Zender, Raphael A1 - Lucke, Ulrike A1 - Diethelm, Ira A1 - Syrbe, Jörn A1 - Lai, Kwok-Wing A1 - Davis, Niki A1 - Eickelmann, Birgit A1 - Erstad, Ola A1 - Fisser, Petra A1 - Gibson, David A1 - Khaddage, Ferial A1 - Knezek, Gerald A1 - Micheuz, Peter A1 - Kloos, Carlos Delgado ED - Brinda, Torsten ED - Reynolds, Nicholas ED - Romeike, Ralf ED - Schwill, Andreas T1 - KEYCIT 2014 BT - key competencies in informatics and ICT N2 - In our rapidly changing world it is increasingly important not only to be an expert in a chosen field of study but also to be able to respond to developments, master new approaches to solving problems, and fulfil changing requirements in the modern world and in the job market. In response to these needs key competencies in understanding, developing and using new digital technologies are being brought into focus in school and university programmes. The IFIP TC3 conference "KEYCIT – Key Competences in Informatics and ICT (KEYCIT 2014)" was held at the University of Potsdam in Germany from July 1st to 4th, 2014 and addressed the combination of key competencies, Informatics and ICT in detail. The conference was organized into strands focusing on secondary education, university education and teacher education (organized by IFIP WGs 3.1 and 3.3) and provided a forum to present and to discuss research, case studies, positions, and national perspectives in this field. T3 - Commentarii informaticae didacticae (CID) - 7 KW - Schlüsselkompetenzen KW - Informatik KW - Bildung KW - ICT KW - Informatikdidaktik KW - Key Competencies KW - Informatics KW - education KW - ICT KW - Computer Science Education Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-70325 SN - 978-3-86956-292-6 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Eichler, Sarah A1 - Rabe, Sophie A1 - Salzwedel, Annett A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Stoll, Josefine A1 - Tilgner, Nina A1 - John, Michael A1 - Wegschneider, Karl A1 - Mayer, Frank A1 - Völler, Heinz T1 - Effectiveness of an interactive telerehabilitation system with home-based exercise training in patients after total hip or knee replacement BT - Study protocol for a multicenter, superiority, no-blinded randomized controlled trial N2 - Background Total hip or knee replacement is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures. Physical rehabilitation following total hip or knee replacement is an essential part of the therapy to improve functional outcomes and quality of life. After discharge from inpatient rehabilitation, a subsequent postoperative exercise therapy is needed to maintain functional mobility. Telerehabilitation may be a potential innovative treatment approach. We aim to investigate the superiority of an interactive telerehabilitation intervention for patients after total hip or knee replacement, in comparison to usual care, regarding physical performance, functional mobility, quality of life and pain. Methods/design This is an open, randomized controlled, multicenter superiority study with two prospective arms. One hundred and ten eligible and consenting participants with total knee or hip replacement will be recruited at admission to subsequent inpatient rehabilitation. After comprehensive, 3-week, inpatient rehabilitation, the intervention group performs a 3-month, interactive, home-based exercise training with a telerehabilitation system. For this purpose, the physiotherapist creates an individual training plan out of 38 different strength and balance exercises which were implemented in the system. Data about the quality and frequency of training are transmitted to the physiotherapist for further adjustment. Communication between patient and physiotherapist is possible with the system. The control group receives voluntary, usual aftercare programs. Baseline assessments are investigated after discharge from rehabilitation; final assessments 3 months later. The primary outcome is the difference in improvement between intervention and control group in 6-minute walk distance after 3 months. Secondary outcomes include differences in the Timed Up and Go Test, the Five-Times-Sit-to-Stand Test, the Stair Ascend Test, the Short-Form 36, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and postural control as well as gait and kinematic parameters of the lower limbs. Baseline-adjusted analysis of covariance models will be used to test for group differences in the primary and secondary endpoints. Discussion We expect the intervention group to benefit from the interactive, home-based exercise training in many respects represented by the study endpoints. If successful, this approach could be used to enhance the access to aftercare programs, especially in structurally weak areas. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 353 KW - Aftercare KW - Exercise therapy KW - Home-based KW - Telerehabilitation KW - Total hip replacement KW - Total knee replacement Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-403702 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eichler, Sarah A1 - Rabe, Sophie A1 - Salzwedel, Annett A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Stoll, Josefine A1 - Tilgner, Nina A1 - John, Michael A1 - Wegschneider, Karl A1 - Mayer, Frank A1 - Völler, Heinz T1 - Effectiveness of an interactive telerehabilitation system with home-based exercise training in patients after total hip or knee replacement BT - Study protocol for a multicenter, superiority, no-blinded randomized controlled trial JF - Trials N2 - Background Total hip or knee replacement is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures. Physical rehabilitation following total hip or knee replacement is an essential part of the therapy to improve functional outcomes and quality of life. After discharge from inpatient rehabilitation, a subsequent postoperative exercise therapy is needed to maintain functional mobility. Telerehabilitation may be a potential innovative treatment approach. We aim to investigate the superiority of an interactive telerehabilitation intervention for patients after total hip or knee replacement, in comparison to usual care, regarding physical performance, functional mobility, quality of life and pain. Methods/design This is an open, randomized controlled, multicenter superiority study with two prospective arms. One hundred and ten eligible and consenting participants with total knee or hip replacement will be recruited at admission to subsequent inpatient rehabilitation. After comprehensive, 3-week, inpatient rehabilitation, the intervention group performs a 3-month, interactive, home-based exercise training with a telerehabilitation system. For this purpose, the physiotherapist creates an individual training plan out of 38 different strength and balance exercises which were implemented in the system. Data about the quality and frequency of training are transmitted to the physiotherapist for further adjustment. Communication between patient and physiotherapist is possible with the system. The control group receives voluntary, usual aftercare programs. Baseline assessments are investigated after discharge from rehabilitation; final assessments 3 months later. The primary outcome is the difference in improvement between intervention and control group in 6-minute walk distance after 3 months. Secondary outcomes include differences in the Timed Up and Go Test, the Five-Times-Sit-to-Stand Test, the Stair Ascend Test, the Short-Form 36, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and postural control as well as gait and kinematic parameters of the lower limbs. Baseline-adjusted analysis of covariance models will be used to test for group differences in the primary and secondary endpoints. Discussion We expect the intervention group to benefit from the interactive, home-based exercise training in many respects represented by the study endpoints. If successful, this approach could be used to enhance the access to aftercare programs, especially in structurally weak areas. KW - Telerehabilitation KW - Home-based KW - Total hip replacement KW - Total knee replacement KW - Exercise therapy KW - Aftercare Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-017-2173-3 SN - 1745-6215 VL - 18 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Müller, Juliane A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Reschke, Antje A1 - Kopinski, Stephan A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Validity and reliability of a new customised split-belt treadmill provoking unexpected walking perturbations T2 - Medicine and science in sports and exercise : official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine Y1 - 2013 SN - 0195-9131 SN - 1530-0315 VL - 45 IS - 5 SP - 462 EP - 462 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fabian, Benjamin A1 - Kunz, Steffen A1 - Konnegen, Marcel A1 - Müller, Sebastian A1 - Günther, Oliver T1 - Access control for semantic data federations in industrial product-lifecycle management JF - Computers in industry : an international, application oriented research journal N2 - Information integration across company borders becomes increasingly important for the success of product lifecycle management in industry and complex supply chains. Semantic technologies are about to play a crucial role in this integrative process. However, cross-company data exchange requires mechanisms to enable fine-grained access control definition and enforcement, preventing unauthorized leakage of confidential data across company borders. Currently available semantic repositories are not sufficiently equipped to satisfy this important requirement. This paper presents an infrastructure for controlled sharing of semantic data between cooperating business partners. First, we motivate the need for access control in semantic data federations by a case study in the industrial service sector. Furthermore, we present an architecture for controlling access to semantic repositories that is based on our newly developed SemForce security service. Finally, we show the practical feasibility of this architecture by an implementation and several performance experiments. KW - Access control KW - Data federation KW - Information integration KW - Product lifecycle management KW - Semantic data Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2012.08.015 SN - 0166-3615 VL - 63 IS - 9 SP - 930 EP - 940 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fabian, Benjamin A1 - Kunz, Steffen A1 - Müller, Sebastian A1 - Günther, Oliver T1 - Secure federation of semantic information services JF - Decision support systems : DSS ; the international journal N2 - fundamental challenge for product-lifecycle management in collaborative value networks is to utilize the vast amount of product information available from heterogeneous sources in order to improve business analytics, decision support, and processes. This becomes even more challenging if those sources are distributed across multiple organizations. Federations of semantic information services, combining service-orientation and semantic technologies, provide a promising solution for this problem. However, without proper measures to establish information security, companies will be reluctant to join an information federation, which could lead to serious adoption barriers. Following the design science paradigm, this paper presents general objectives and a process for designing a secure federation of semantic information services. Furthermore, new as well as established security measures are discussed. Here, our contributions include an access-control enforcement system for semantic information services and a process for modeling access-control policies across organizations. In addition, a comprehensive security architecture is presented. An implementation of the architecture in the context of an application scenario and several performance experiments demonstrate the practical viability of our approach. KW - Information federation KW - Service orientation KW - Semantic web KW - Information security Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2012.05.049 SN - 0167-9236 VL - 55 IS - 1 SP - 385 EP - 398 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Lewinsohn, Thomas M. A1 - Kahl, Tiemo A1 - Grassein, Fabrice A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Sikorski, Johannes A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Arndt, Hartmut A1 - Baumgartner, Vanessa A1 - Blaser, Stefan A1 - Blüthgen, Nico A1 - Börschig, Carmen A1 - Buscot, Francois A1 - Diekötter, Tim A1 - Jorge, Leonardo Re A1 - Jung, Kirsten A1 - Keyel, Alexander C. A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - Klemmer, Sandra A1 - Krauss, Jochen A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Overmann, Jörg A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Penone, Caterina A1 - Perovic, David J. A1 - Purschke, Oliver A1 - Schall, Peter A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Sonnemann, Ilja A1 - Tschapka, Marco A1 - Tscharntke, Teja A1 - Türke, Manfred A1 - Venter, Paul Christiaan A1 - Weiner, Christiane N. A1 - Werner, Michael A1 - Wolters, Volkmar A1 - Wurst, Susanne A1 - Westphal, Catrin A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Allan, Eric T1 - Land-use intensification causes multitrophic homogenization of grassland communities JF - Nature : the international weekly journal of science N2 - Land-use intensification is a major driver of biodiversity loss(1,2). Alongside reductions in local species diversity, biotic homogenization at larger spatial scales is of great concern for conservation. Biotic homogenization means a decrease in beta-diversity (the compositional dissimilarity between sites). Most studies have investigated losses in local (alpha)-diversity(1,3) and neglected biodiversity loss at larger spatial scales. Studies addressing beta-diversity have focused on single or a few organism groups (for example, ref. 4), and it is thus unknown whether land-use intensification homogenizes communities at different trophic levels, above-and belowground. Here we show that even moderate increases in local land-use intensity (LUI) cause biotic homogenization across microbial, plant and animal groups, both above- and belowground, and that this is largely independent of changes in alpha-diversity. We analysed a unique grassland biodiversity dataset, with abundances of more than 4,000 species belonging to 12 trophic groups. LUI, and, in particular, high mowing intensity, had consistent effects on beta-diversity across groups, causing a homogenization of soil microbial, fungal pathogen, plant and arthropod communities. These effects were nonlinear and the strongest declines in beta-diversity occurred in the transition from extensively managed to intermediate intensity grassland. LUI tended to reduce local alpha-diversity in aboveground groups, whereas the alpha-diversity increased in belowground groups. Correlations between the alpha-diversity of different groups, particularly between plants and their consumers, became weaker at high LUI. This suggests a loss of specialist species and is further evidence for biotic homogenization. The consistently negative effects of LUI on landscape-scale biodiversity underscore the high value of extensively managed grasslands for conserving multitrophic biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Indeed, biotic homogenization rather than local diversity loss could prove to be the most substantial consequence of land-use intensification. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20575 SN - 0028-0836 SN - 1476-4687 VL - 540 SP - 266 EP - + PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Lange, Patricia A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Hessenmöller, Dominik A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. T1 - Differential responses of herbivores and herbivory to management in temperate Eeuropean beech JF - PLoS one N2 - Forest management not only affects biodiversity but also might alter ecosystem processes mediated by the organisms, i.e. herbivory the removal of plant biomass by plant-eating insects and other arthropod groups. Aiming at revealing general relationships between forest management and herbivory we investigated aboveground arthropod herbivory in 105 plots dominated by European beech in three different regions in Germany in the sun-exposed canopy of mature beech trees and on beech saplings in the understorey. We separately assessed damage by different guilds of herbivores, i.e. chewing, sucking and scraping herbivores, gall-forming insects and mites, and leaf-mining insects. We asked whether herbivory differs among different forest management regimes (unmanaged, uneven-aged managed, even-aged managed) and among age-classes within even-aged forests. We further tested for consistency of relationships between regions, strata and herbivore guilds. On average, almost 80% of beech leaves showed herbivory damage, and about 6% of leaf area was consumed. Chewing damage was most common, whereas leaf sucking and scraping damage were very rare. Damage was generally greater in the canopy than in the understorey, in particular for chewing and scraping damage, and the occurrence of mines. There was little difference in herbivory among differently managed forests and the effects of management on damage differed among regions, strata and damage types. Covariates such as wood volume, tree density and plant diversity weakly influenced herbivory, and effects differed between herbivory types. We conclude that despite of the relatively low number of species attacking beech; arthropod herbivory on beech is generally high. We further conclude that responses of herbivory to forest management are multifaceted and environmental factors such as forest structure variables affecting in particular microclimatic conditions are more likely to explain the variability in herbivory among beech forest plots. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104876 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 9 IS - 8 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hain, Gerrit A1 - Müller, Juliane A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Reschke, Antje A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Reliability of an in-vivo 3-segmental kinematic trunk model in a one-handed lifting task T2 - Medicine and science in sports and exercise : official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine Y1 - 2013 SN - 0195-9131 SN - 1530-0315 VL - 45 IS - 5 SP - 174 EP - 174 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinze, Eric A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Hessenmöller, Dominik A1 - Klenk, Bernd A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Schulze, Ernst-Detlef A1 - Seele, Carolin A1 - Socher, Stephanie A1 - Halle, Stefan T1 - Habitat use of large ungulates in northeastern Germany in relation to forest management JF - Forest ecology and management N2 - Estimating large herbivore density has been a major area of research in recent decades. Previous studies monitoring ungulate density, however, focused mostly on determining animal abundance, and did not interpret animal distribution in relation to habitat parameters. We surveyed large ungulates in the Biodiversity Exploratory Schorfheide-Chorin using faecal pellet group counts. This allowed us to explore the link between relative ungulate abundance, habitat use, and browsing damage on trees in a region with several types of forest, including unharvested and age-class beech forests, as well as age-class pine forests. Our results demonstrate that roe deer and fallow deer relative abundance is negatively correlated with large tree cover, and positively correlated with the cover of small shrubs (Rubus spec., Vaccinium spec.), and winter food supply. Habitat use of roe deer and fallow deer, as estimated by counting faecal pellet groups, revealed a preference for mature pine forests, and avoidance of deciduous forests. This differential habitat use is explained by different distributions of high quality food resources during winter. The response of deer to understory cover differed between roe deer and fallow deer at high cover percentages. The amount of browsing damage we observed on coniferous trees was not consistent with the relative deer abundance. Browsing damage was consistently higher on most deciduous trees, except for beech saplings which sustained less damage when roe deer density was low. Because roe deer is a highly selective feeder, it was reported to affect tree diversity by feeding only on trees with high nutritional value. Consequently, we propose that managing the number of all deer species by hunting is necessary to allow successful forest regeneration. Such an adjustment to deer numbers would need to account for both current tree diversity and alternative food resources. Our findings may be applicable to other forest landscapes in northeastern Germany including mature pine stands and differently harvested deciduous forests. KW - Large ungulates KW - Faecal pellet group count KW - Forest management KW - Browsing damage Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2010.10.022 SN - 0378-1127 VL - 261 IS - 2 SP - 288 EP - 296 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herold, Nadine A1 - Schöning, Ingo A1 - Gutknecht, Jessica A1 - Alt, Fabian A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Wilcke, Wolfgang A1 - Wubet, Tesfaye A1 - Schrumpf, Marion T1 - Soil property and management effects on grassland microbial communities across a latitudinal gradient in Germany JF - Applied soil ecology : a section of agriculture, ecosystems & environment N2 - There is much interest in the identification of the main drivers controlling changes in the microbial community that may be related to sustainable land use. We examined the influence of soil properties and land-use intensity (N fertilization, mowing, grazing) on total phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) biomass, microbial community composition (PLFA profiles) and activities of enzymes involved in the C, N, and P cycle. These relationships were examined in the topsoil of grasslands from three German regions (Schorfheide-Chorin (SCH), Hainich-Dun (HAI), Schwabische Alb (ALB)) with different parent material. Differences in soil properties explained 60% of variation in PLFA data and 81% of variation in enzyme activities across regions and land-use intensities. Degraded peat soils in the lowland areas of the SCH with high organic carbon (OC) concentrations and sand content contained lower PLFA biomass, lower concentrations of bacterial, fungal, and arbuscular mycorrhizal PLFAs, but greater enzyme activities, and specific enzyme activities (per unit microbial biomass) than mineral soils in the upland areas of the HAI and ALB, which are finer textured, drier, and have smaller OC concentrations. After extraction of variation that originated from large-scale differences among regions and differences in land-use intensities between plots, soil properties still explained a significant amount of variation in PLFA data (34%) and enzyme activities (60%). Total PLFA biomass and all enzyme activities were mainly related to OC concentration, while relative abundance of fungi and fungal to bacterial ratio were mainly related to soil moisture. Land-use intensity (LUI) significantly decreased the soil C:N ratio. There was no direct effect of LUI on total PLFA biomass, microbial community composition, N and P cycling enzyme activities independent of study region and soil properties. In contrast, the activities and specific activities of enzymes involved in the C cycle increased significantly with LUI independent of study region and soil properties, which can have impact on soil organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Our findings demonstrate that microbial biomass and community composition as well as enzyme activities are more controlled by soil properties than by grassland management at the regional scale. KW - Temperate grasslands KW - Degraded peat soils KW - Land-use intensity KW - Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) KW - Specific enzyme activities Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2013.07.009 SN - 0929-1393 SN - 1873-0272 VL - 73 SP - 41 EP - 50 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Helwig, Peter A1 - Dickhuth, Hans-Hermann A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Clinical effectiveness of customised sport shoe orthoses for overuse injuries in runners a randomised controlled study JF - British journal of sports medicine : the journal of sport and exercise medicine N2 - Background and objectives Treatment of chronic running-related overuse injuries by orthopaedic shoe orthoses is very common but not evidence-based to date. Hypothesis Polyurethane foam orthoses adapted to a participant's barefoot plantar pressure distribution are an effective treatment option for chronic overuse injuries in runners. Design Prospective, randomised, controlled clinical trial. Intervention 51 patients with running injuries were treated with custom-made, semirigid running shoe orthoses for 8 weeks. 48 served as a randomised control group that continued regular training activity without any treatment. Main outcome measures Evaluation was made by the validated pain questionnaire Subjective Pain Experience Scale, the pain disability index and a comfort index in the orthoses group (ICI). Results There were statistically significant differences between the orthoses and control groups at 8 weeks for the pain disability index (mean difference 3.2; 95% CI 0.9 to 5.5) and the Subjective Pain Experience Scale (6.6; 2.6 to 10.6). The patients with orthoses reported a rising wearing comfort (pre-treatment ICI 69/100; post-treatment ICI 83/100) that was most pronounced in the first 4 weeks (ICI 80.4/100). Conclusion Customised polyurethane running shoe orthoses are an effective conservative therapy strategy for chronic running injuries with high comfort and acceptance of injured runners. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2008.055830 SN - 0306-3674 VL - 45 IS - 12 SP - 959 EP - 965 PB - BMJ Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hirschmüller, Anja A1 - Konstantinidis, Lukas A1 - Baur, Heiner A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mehlhorn, Alexander A1 - Kontermann, Julia A1 - Grosse, Ulrich A1 - Südkamp, Norbert P. A1 - Helwig, Peter T1 - Do changes in dynamic plantar pressure distribution, strength capacity and postural control after intra-articular calcaneal fracture correlate with clinical and radiological outcome? JF - Injury : international journal of the care of the injured N2 - Fractures of the calcaneus are often associated with serious permanent disability, a considerable reduction in quality of life, and high socio-economic cost. Although some studies have already reported changes in plantar pressure distribution after calcaneal fracture, no investigation has yet focused on the patient's strength and postural control. Method: 60 patients with unilateral, operatively treated, intra-articular calcaneal fractures were clinically and biomechanically evaluated >1 year postoperatively (physical examination, SF-36, AOFAS score, lower leg isokinetic strength, postural control and gait analysis including plantar pressure distribution). Results were correlated to clinical outcome and preoperative radiological findings (Bohler angle, Zwipp and Sanders Score). Results: Clinical examination revealed a statistically significant reduction in range of motion at the tibiotalar and the subtalar joint on the affected side. Additionally, there was a statistically significant reduction of plantar flexor peak torque of the injured compared to the uninjured limb (p < 0.001) as well as a reduction in postural control that was also more pronounced on the initially injured side (standing duration 4.2 +/- 2.9 s vs. 7.6 +/- 2.1 s, p < 0.05). Plantar pressure measurements revealed a statistically significant pressure reduction at the hindfoot (p = 0.0007) and a pressure increase at the midfoot (p = 0.0001) and beneath the lateral forefoot (p = 0.037) of the injured foot. There was only a weak correlation between radiological classifications and clinical outcome but a moderate correlation between strength differences and the clinical questionnaires (CC 0.27-0.4) as well as between standing duration and the clinical questionnaires. Although thigh circumference was also reduced on the injured side, there was no important relationship between changes in lower leg circumference and strength suggesting that measurement of leg circumference may not be a valid assessment of maximum strength deficits. Self-selected walking speed was the parameter that showed the best correlation with clinical outcome (AOFAS score). Conclusion: Calcaneal fractures are associated with a significant reduction in ankle joint ROM, plantar flexion strength and postural control. These impairments seem to be highly relevant to the patients. Restoration of muscular strength and proprioception should therefore be aggressively addressed in the rehabilitation process after these fractures. KW - Intra-articular calcaneal fracture KW - Calcaneus KW - Muscle strength KW - Peak torque KW - Plantar pressure distribution KW - Proprioception KW - Postural control KW - Balance KW - Gait KW - Rehabilitation Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2010.09.040 SN - 0020-1383 VL - 42 IS - 10 SP - 1135 EP - 1143 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Intziegianni, Konstantina A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - König, Niklas A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Fröhlich, Katja A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Ultrasonography for the assessment of the structural properties of the Achilles tendon in asymptomatic individuals: An intra-rater reproducibility study JF - Isokinetics and exercise science : official journal of the European Isokinetic Society N2 - BACKGROUND: Reproducible measurements of tendon structural properties are a prerequisite for accurate diagnosis of tendon disorders and for determination of their mechanical properties. Despite the widely used application of Ultrasonography (US) in musculoskeletal assessment, its operator dependency and lack of standardization influences the consistency of the measurement. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the intra-rater reproducibility of a standardized US method assessing the structural properties of the Achilles tendon (AT). METHODS: Sixteen asymptomatic participants were positioned prone on an isokinetic dynamometer with the knee extended and ankle at 90. flexion. US was used to assess AT-length, cross-sectional area (CSA), and AT-elongation during isometric plantarflexion contraction. The intra-rater reproducibility was assessed by ICC (2.1), Test-Retest Variability (TRV, %), Bland-Altman analyses (Bias +/- LoA [1.96*SD]), and Standard-Error of Measurement (SEM). RESULTS: Measurements of AT-length demonstrated an ICC of 0.93, TRV of 4.5 +/- 3.9%, Bias +/- LoA of -2.8 +/- 25.0 mm and SEM of 6.6 mm. AT-CSA showed an ICC of 0.79, TRV of 8.7 +/- 9.6%, Bias +/- LoA of 1.7 +/- 19.4 mm(2) and SEM of 5.3 mm(2). AT-elongation revealed an ICC of 0.92, TRV of 12.9 +/- 8.9%, Bias +/- LoA of 0.3 +/- 5.7 mm and SEM of 1.5 mm. CONCLUSIONS: The presented methodology allows a reproducible assessment of Achilles tendon structural properties when performed by a single rater. KW - Ultrasonography KW - Achilles tendon KW - reproducibility KW - isokinetic Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/IES-150586 SN - 0959-3020 SN - 1878-5913 VL - 23 IS - 4 SP - 263 EP - 270 PB - IOS Press CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Intziegianni, Konstantina A1 - Cassel, Michael A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Ultrasound evaluation of the patellar tendon cross-sectional area and its relation to maximum force T2 - Medicine and science in sports and exercise : official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine Y1 - 2012 SN - 0195-9131 VL - 44 SP - 714 EP - 714 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kirchhecker, Sarah A1 - Tröger-Müller, Steffen A1 - Bake, Sebastian A1 - Antonietti, Markus A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Esposito, Davide T1 - Renewable pyridinium ionic liquids from the continuous hydrothermal decarboxylation of furfural-amino acid derived pyridinium zwitterions JF - Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource N2 - Fully renewable pyridinium ionic liquids were synthesised via the hydrothermal decarboxylation of pyridinium zwitterions derived from furfural and amino acids in flow. The functionality of the resulting ionic liquid (IL) can be tuned by choice of different amino acids as well as different natural carboxylic acids as the counter-ions. A representative member of this new class of ionic liquids was successfully used for the synthesis of ionogels and as a solvent for the Heck coupling. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5gc00913h SN - 1463-9262 SN - 1463-9270 VL - 17 IS - 8 SP - 4151 EP - 4156 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kirchhecker, Sarah A1 - Tröger-Müller, Steffen A1 - Bake, Sebastian A1 - Antonietti, Markus A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Esposito, Davido T1 - Renewable pyridinium ionic liquids from the continuous hydrothermal decarboxylation of furfural-amino acid derived pyridinium zwitterions JF - Green chemistry N2 - Fully renewable pyridinium ionic liquids were synthesised via the hydrothermal decarboxylation of pyridinium zwitterions derived from furfural and amino acids in flow. The functionality of the resulting ionic liquid (IL) can be tuned by choice of different amino acids as well as different natural carboxylic acids as the counterions. A representative member of this new class of ionic liquids was successfully used for the synthesis of ionogels and as a solvent for the Heck coupling. Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5gc00913h SN - 1463-9262 SN - 1463-9270 VL - 8 IS - 17 SP - 4151 EP - 4156 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kirchhecker, Sarah A1 - Tröger-Müller, Steffen A1 - Bake, Sebastian A1 - Antonietti, Markus A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Esposito, Davido T1 - Renewable pyridinium ionic liquids from the continuous hydrothermal decarboxylation of furfural-amino acid derived pyridinium zwitterions N2 - Fully renewable pyridinium ionic liquids were synthesised via the hydrothermal decarboxylation of pyridinium zwitterions derived from furfural and amino acids in flow. The functionality of the resulting ionic liquid (IL) can be tuned by choice of different amino acids as well as different natural carboxylic acids as the counterions. A representative member of this new class of ionic liquids was successfully used for the synthesis of ionogels and as a solvent for the Heck coupling. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 198 Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-81390 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Hölzel, Norbert A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jorg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Kleinebecker, Till T1 - Direct and indirect associations between plant species richness and productivity in grasslands regional differences preclude simple generalization of productivity-biodiversity relationships JF - Preslia : the journal of the Czech Botanical Society N2 - Plant species richness of permanent grasslands has often been found to be significantly associated with productivity. Concentrations of nutrients in biomass can give further insight into these productivity-plant species richness relationships, e.g. by reflecting land use or soil characteristics. However, the consistency of such relationships across different regions has rarely been taken into account, which might significantly compromise our potential for generalization. We recorded plant species richness and measured above-ground biomass and concentrations of nutrients in biomass in 295 grasslands in three regions in Germany that differ in soil and climatic conditions. Structural equation modelling revealed that nutrient concentrations were mostly indirectly associated with plant species richness via biomass production. However, negative associations between the concentrations of different nutrients and biomass and plant species richness differed considerably among regions. While in two regions, more than 40% of the variation in plant species richness could be attributed to variation in biomass, K, P. and to some degree also N concentrations, in the third region only 15% of the variation could be explained in this way. Generally, highest plant species richness was recorded in grasslands where N and P were co-limiting plant growth, in contrast to N or K (co-) limitation. But again, this pattern was not recorded in the third region. While for two regions land-use intensity and especially the application of fertilizers are suggested to be the main drivers causing the observed negative associations with productivity, in the third region the little variance accounted for, low species richness and weak relationships implied that former intensive grassland management, ongoing mineralization of peat and fluctuating water levels in fen grasslands have overruled effects of current land-use intensity and productivity. Finally, we conclude that regional replication is of major importance for studies seeking general insights into productivity-diversity relationships. KW - anthropogenic effect KW - Biodiversity Exploratories project KW - fen grasslands KW - generalizability KW - land-use history KW - nitrogen KW - phosphorus KW - potassium KW - plant species richness KW - structural equation modeling Y1 - 2013 SN - 0032-7786 VL - 85 IS - 2 SP - 97 EP - 112 PB - Czech Botanical Soc. CY - Praha ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Hoelzel, Norbert T1 - NIRS meets Ellenberg's indicator values prediction of moisture and nitrogen values of agricultural grassland vegetation by means of near-infrared spectral characteristics JF - Ecological indicators : integrating monitoring, assessment and management N2 - Ellenberg indicator values are widely used ecological tools to elucidate relationships between vegetation and environment in ecological research and environmental planning. However, they are mainly deduced from expert knowledge on plant species and are thus subject of ongoing discussion. We researched if Ellenberg indicator values can be directly extracted from the vegetation biomass itself. Mean Ellenberg "moisture" (mF) and "nitrogen" (mN) values of 141 grassland plots were related to nutrient concentrations, fibre fractions and spectral information of the aboveground biomass. We developed calibration models for the prediction of mF and mN using spectral characteristics of biomass samples with near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). Prediction goodness was evaluated with internal cross-validations and with an external validation data set. NIRS could accurately predict Ellenberg mN, and with less accuracy Ellenberg mF. Predictions were not more precise for cover-weighted Ellenberg values compared with un-weighted values. Both Ellenberg mN and mF showed significant and strong correlations with some of the nutrient and fibre concentrations in the biomass. Against expectations, Ellenberg mN was more closely related to phosphorus than to nitrogen concentrations, suggesting that this value rather indicates productivity than solely nitrogen. To our knowledge we showed for the first time that mean Ellenberg indicator values could be directly predicted from the aboveground biomass, which underlines the usefulness of the NIRS technology for ecological studies, especially in grasslands ecosystems. KW - Biodiversity exploratories KW - Cover-weighting KW - Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) KW - Nitrogen KW - Nutrient concentrations KW - Phosphorus Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.07.016 SN - 1470-160X VL - 14 IS - 1 SP - 82 EP - 86 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Hoelzel, Norbert A1 - Bluethgen, Nico A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Fischer, Markus T1 - Nutrient concentrations and fibre contents of plant community biomass reflect species richness patterns along a broad range of land-use intensities among agricultural grasslands JF - Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics N2 - Understanding changes in biodiversity in agricultural landscapes in relation to land-use type and intensity is a major issue in current ecological research. In this context nutrient enrichment has been identified as a key mechanism inducing species loss in Central European grassland ecosystems. At the same time, insights into the linkage between agricultural land use and plant nutrient status are largely missing. So far, studies on the relationship between chemical composition of plant community biomass and biodiversity have mainly been restricted to wetlands and all these studies neglected the effects of land use. Therefore, we analyzed aboveground biomass of 145 grassland plots covering a gradient of land-use intensities in three regions across Germany. In particular, we explored relationships between vascular plant species richness and nutrient concentrations as well as fibre contents (neutral and acid detergent fibre and lignin) in the aboveground community biomass. We found the concentrations of several nutrients in the biomass to be closely linked to plant species richness and land use. Whereas phosphorus concentrations increased with land-use intensity and decreased with plant species richness, nitrogen and potassium concentrations showed less clear patterns. Fibre fractions were negatively related to nutrient concentrations in biomass, but hardly to land-use measures and species richness. Only high lignin contents were positively associated with species richness of grasslands. The N:P ratio was strongly positively related to species richness and even more so to the number of endangered plant species, indicating a higher persistence of endangered species under P (co-)limited conditions. Therefore, we stress the importance of low P supply for species-rich grasslands and suggest the N:P ratio in community biomass to be a useful proxy of the conservation value of agriculturally used grasslands. KW - Biodiversity exploratories KW - Fertilization KW - Grazing KW - Land use KW - Mowing KW - Nitrogen KW - Nutrient limitation KW - Phosphorus KW - Productivity Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2011.07.001 SN - 1433-8319 VL - 13 IS - 4 SP - 287 EP - 295 PB - Elsevier CY - Jena ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klaus, Valentin H. A1 - Kleinebecker, Till A1 - Prati, Daniel A1 - Gossner, Martin M. A1 - Alt, Fabian A1 - Boch, Steffen A1 - Gockel, Sonja A1 - Hemp, Andreas A1 - Lange, Markus A1 - Müller, Jörg A1 - Oelmann, Yvonne A1 - Pasalic, Esther A1 - Renner, Swen C. A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Türke, Manfred A1 - Weisser, Wolfgang W. A1 - Fischer, Markus A1 - Hölzel, Norbert T1 - Does organic grassland farming benefit plant and arthropod diversity at the expense of yield and soil fertility? JF - Agriculture, ecosystems & environment : an international journal for scientific research on the relationship of agriculture and food production to the biosphere N2 - Organic management is one of the most popular strategies to reduce negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture. However, little is known about benefits for biodiversity and potential worsening of yield under organic grasslands management across different grassland types, i.e. meadow, pasture and mown pasture. Therefore, we studied the diversity of vascular plants and foliage-living arthropods (Coleoptera, Araneae, Heteroptera, Auchenorrhyncha), yield, fodder quality, soil phosphorus concentrations and land-use intensity of organic and conventional grasslands across three study regions in Germany. Furthermore, all variables were related to the time since conversion to organic management in order to assess temporal developments reaching up to 18 years. Arthropod diversity was significantly higher under organic than conventional management, although this was not the case for Araneae, Heteroptera and Auchenorrhyncha when analyzed separately. On the contrary, arthropod abundance, vascular plant diversity and also yield and fodder quality did not considerably differ between organic and conventional grasslands. Analyses did not reveal differences in the effect of organic management among grassland types. None of the recorded abiotic and biotic parameters showed a significant trend with time since transition to organic management, except soil organic phosphorus concentrations which decreased with time. This implies that permanent grasslands respond slower and probably weaker to organic management than crop fields do. However, as land-use intensity and inorganic soil phosphorus concentrations were significantly lower in organic grasslands, overcoming seed and dispersal limitation by re-introducing plant species might be needed to exploit the full ecological potential of organic grassland management. We conclude that although organic management did not automatically increase the diversity of all studied taxa, it is a reasonable and useful way to support agro-biodiversity. KW - Agri-environmental schemes KW - Fertilization KW - Fodder quality KW - Land-use intensity KW - Nitrogen KW - Biomass nutrient concentrations KW - Organic farming KW - Phosphorus KW - Species richness KW - Nutrient availability Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.05.019 SN - 0167-8809 VL - 177 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kopinski, Stephan A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank T1 - Torque-EMG relationship of lower back muscles - a pilot study T2 - Medicine and science in sports and exercise : official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine Y1 - 2013 SN - 0195-9131 SN - 1530-0315 VL - 45 IS - 5 SP - 7 EP - 8 PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - König, Niklas A1 - Reschke, Antje A1 - Wolter, Martin A1 - Müller, Steffen A1 - Mayer, Frank A1 - Baur, Heiner T1 - Plantar pressure trigger for reliable nerve stimulus application during dynamic H-reflex measurements JF - Gait & posture N2 - In dynamic H-reflex measurements, the standardisation of the nerve stimulation to the gait cycle is crucial to avoid misinterpretation due to altered pre-synaptic inhibition. In this pilot study, a plantar pressure sole was used to trigger the stimulation of the tibialis nerve with respect to the gait cycle. Consequently, the intersession reliability of the soleus muscle H-reflex during treadmill walking was investigated. Seven young participants performed walking trials on a treadmill at 5 km/h. The stimulating electrode was placed on the tibial nerve in the popliteal fossa. An EMG was recorded from the soleus muscle. To synchronize the stimulus to the gait cycle, initial heel strike was detected with a plantar pressure sole. Maximum H-reflex amplitude and M-wave amplitude were obtained and the Hmax/Mmax ratio was calculated. Data reveals excellent reliability, ICC = 0.89. Test-retest variability was 13.0% (+/- 11.8). The Bland-Altman analysis showed a systematic error of 2.4%. The plantar pressure sole was capable of triggering the stimulation of the tibialis nerve in a reliable way and offers a simple technique for the evaluation of reflex activity during walking. KW - Monosynaptic reflexes KW - Reflex reproducibility KW - Treadmill walking Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.09.021 SN - 0966-6362 VL - 37 IS - 4 SP - 637 EP - 639 PB - Elsevier CY - Clare ER -