The effects of mass, bulk and stiffness of personal protective equipment and clothing on physical performance when performing a military mobility obstacle course

Background. Soldiers are required to conduct tasks and operations in physically demanding situations, where the ability to move (mobility) quickly is important to lethality and survivability. This study employed a specially designed suit to try to isolate the main mass property characteristics of personal protective clothing/equipment (PPCE)...

Cooling vests alleviate perceptual heat strain perceived by COVID-19 nurses

Cooling vests can alleviate heat strain. We quantified the perceptual and physiological heat strain and assessed the effects of wearing a 21°C phase change material cooling vest on these measures during real-life work shifts of COVID-19 nurses wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). 17 nurses were monitored on two working days, consisting...

Infographic. Cooling strategies to attenuate PPE-induced heat strain during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 healthcare personnel (HCP) use personal protective equipment (PPE; ie, isolation gowns, eye protection, facemasks and respirators) to safely perform their medical duties. However, PPE creates a microenvironment around the skin due to a higher thermal resistance and lower water vapour permeability of the materials being used compared...

Isolated amd combined effects of mass, bulk an stiffness of clothing and equipment on leap performance using a newly developed clothing and equipment characteristics suit

TS24. LOAD EFFECTS ASSESSMENT PROGRAM (LEAP) – ASSESSING DISMOUNTED SOLDIER PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE

Effectiveness of collagen supplementation on pain scores in healthy individuals with self-reported knee pain: a randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 12 weeks collagen peptide (CP) supplementation on knee pain and function in individuals with self-reported knee pain. Healthy physically active individuals (n = 167, aged 63 [interquartile range = 56-68] years) with self-reported knee pain received 10 g/day of CP or placebo for 12 weeks....

Cytokine responses to repeated, prolonged walking in lean versus overweight/obese individuals

Objectives. Obesity is characterized by a pro-inflammatory state, which plays a role in the pathogenesis of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. An exercise bout causes a transient increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, whilst training has anti-inflammatory effects. No previous study examined whether the exercise-induced increase in pro...

Effects of Likeness and Synchronicity on the Ownership Illusion over a Moving Virtual Robotic Arm and Hand

In this study we investigated body ownership over a virtual hand and arm as a function of their visual appearance (likeness) and synchronicity of visuo-tactile stimulation with a virtual electric toothbrush and a vibrotactile glove. In all conditions, participants controlled the movement of arm and fingers, maintaining synchronicity in motor...

Towards a test battery to benchmark dexterous performance in teleoperated systems

A high level of dexterity is becoming increasingly important for teleoperated inspection, maintenance and repair robots. A standard test to benchmark system dexterity can advance the design, quantify possible improvements, and increase the effectiveness of such systems. Because of the wide variety of tasks and application domains ranging from...