Reading without central vision:effects of text spacing on reading in patients with macular disease

Abstract: Loss of central vision caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a problem affecting increasingly large numbers of people within the ageing population. AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, with estimates of over 600,000 people affected in the UK . Central vision loss can be devastating for the sufferer, with vision loss impacting on the ability to carry out daily activities. In particular, inability to read is linked to higher rates of depression in AMD sufferers compared to age-matched controls. Methods to improve reading ability in the presence of central vision loss will help maintain independence and quality of life for those affected. Various attempts to improve reading with central vision loss have been made. Most textual manipulations, including font size, have led to only modest gains in reading speed. Previous experimental work and theoretical arguments on spatial integrative properties of the peripheral retina suggest that ‘visual crowding’ may be a major factor contributing to inefficient reading. Crowding refers to the phenomena in which juxtaposed targets viewed eccentrically may be difficult to identify. Manipulating text spacing of reading material may be a simple method that reduces crowding and benefits reading ability in macular disease patients. In this thesis the effect of textual manipulation on reading speed was investigated, firstly for normally sighted observers using eccentric viewing, and secondly for observers with central vision loss. Test stimuli mimicked normal reading conditions by using whole sentences that required normal saccadic eye movements and observer comprehension. Preliminary measures on normally-sighted observers (n = 2) used forced-choice procedures in conjunction with the method of constant stimuli. Psychometric functions relating the proportion of correct responses to exposure time were determined for text size, font type (Lucida Sans and Times New Roman) and text spacing, with threshold exposure time (75% correct responses) used as a measure of reading performance. The results of these initial measures were used to derive an appropriate search space, in terms of text spacing, for assessing reading performance in AMD patients. The main clinical measures were completed on a group of macular disease sufferers (n=24). Firstly, high and low contrast reading acuity and critical print size were measured using modified MNREAD test charts, and secondly, the effect of word and line spacing was investigated using a new test, designed specifically for this study, called the Equal Readability Passages (ERP) test. The results from normally-sighted observers were in close agreement with those from the group of macular disease sufferers. Results show that: (i) optimum reading performance was achieved when using both double line and double word spacing; (ii) the effect of line spacing was greater than the effect of word spacing (iii) a text size of approximately 0.85o is sufficiently large for reading at 5o eccentricity. In conclusion, the results suggest that crowding is detrimental to reading with peripheral vision, and its effects can be minimized with a modest increase in text spacing.

Efeitos do Kinesio Taping® sobre os marcadores clínicos indiretos de dano muscular induzido pelo exercício excêntrico: ensaio clínico randomizado

Objective: analyze the effect of Kinesio Taping (KT) on the indirect clinical markers of muscle damage induced by eccentric exercises in the elbow flexors in healthy individuals. Materials and methods: It is a randomized controlled trial involving sixty volunteers at age group between 18 and 28 years randomly selected. The sample into three groups with twenty participants: control group (CG) – eccentric protocol without KT, KT group – eccentric with tensioned KT, placebo group – eccentric protocol KT with no tension. The evaluations took place at four moments; the first one was the basis line (AV1), after the second protocol (AV2) and the following two groups 24 (AV3) and 48 hours (AV4) after the intervention protocol. The muscle damage was induced by sixteen maximum eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors from the non-dominant limb, divided in two sets of eight repetitions, at 60º/s, with two minutes interval. The variables analyzed were: the joint amplitude in rest, the level of pain, the joint position sense (JPS) followed of isokinetic checking with electromyographic sign capitation. These data were analyzed in software SPSS 20.0. The normality was identified by Kolmogorov-Smimov examination and then, being used the ANOVA mixed model with significance of 5%. Outcomes: a decrease was observed at joint amplitude moreover, an immediate increase of pain wich increased after 24 and remained until 48 hours at all groups searched. There was not difference at the JPS. The variables peak torque, average peak torque, total work and mean power mean reduced until 48 hours after muscle lesion in all groups. Among the groups, there was no difference in EMG values and for any of the variables. Conclusion: The KT did not influence at the indirect clinical markers of muscle lesion induced by eccentric exercises in the elbow flexors in healthy people.

Efeitos do Kinesio Taping® sobre os marcadores clínicos indiretos de dano muscular induzido pelo exercício excêntrico: ensaio clínico randomizado

Objective: analyze the effect of Kinesio Taping (KT) on the indirect clinical markers of muscle damage induced by eccentric exercises in the elbow flexors in healthy individuals. Materials and methods: It is a randomized controlled trial involving sixty volunteers at age group between 18 and 28 years randomly selected. The sample into three groups with twenty participants: control group (CG) – eccentric protocol without KT, KT group – eccentric with tensioned KT, placebo group – eccentric protocol KT with no tension. The evaluations took place at four moments; the first one was the basis line (AV1), after the second protocol (AV2) and the following two groups 24 (AV3) and 48 hours (AV4) after the intervention protocol. The muscle damage was induced by sixteen maximum eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors from the non-dominant limb, divided in two sets of eight repetitions, at 60º/s, with two minutes interval. The variables analyzed were: the joint amplitude in rest, the level of pain, the joint position sense (JPS) followed of isokinetic checking with electromyographic sign capitation. These data were analyzed in software SPSS 20.0. The normality was identified by Kolmogorov-Smimov examination and then, being used the ANOVA mixed model with significance of 5%. Outcomes: a decrease was observed at joint amplitude moreover, an immediate increase of pain wich increased after 24 and remained until 48 hours at all groups searched. There was not difference at the JPS. The variables peak torque, average peak torque, total work and mean power mean reduced until 48 hours after muscle lesion in all groups. Among the groups, there was no difference in EMG values and for any of the variables. Conclusion: The KT did not influence at the indirect clinical markers of muscle lesion induced by eccentric exercises in the elbow flexors in healthy people.

Experimental investigation into amplitude-dependent modal properties of an eleven-span motorway bridge

The authors would like to thank their supporters. New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC) Research Foundation provided financial support for experimental work (Grant No. UNI/578). New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) provided access to the bridge. Piotr Omenzetter’s work within the LRF Centre for Safety and Reliability Engineering at the University of Aberdeen is supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. The Foundation helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research. Ge-Wei Chen’s doctoral study is supported by China Scholarship Council (CSC) (Grant No. 2011637065).

Spic'ing into Existence: Epitaph, Epithet, and the Ethnopoetic Imagination

Quién Es, Quién Somos? Spic’ing into Existence claims a four-fold close-reading: first, analysis of texts: from theoretical meditations to (prison) memoir and film. Second, a half dozen central figures appear, largely Latinx and black American. They cut across a score of registers, socio-economics, ideological reservations, but all are, as Carl Carlton sang, poetry in motion. Writers, poets, theologians, pathologists, artists, comedians, actors, students whose vocation is invocation, the inner surge of their calling. Third, the manuscript draws from a series of historical moments—from radical liberation of the late 60s, to contemporary student activism. Finally, this body of work is movement, in all its social, gestural, and kinesthetic viscera. From this last heading, we peel away layers of what I call the ethnopoet, the fascia undoing that reveals its bio-political anatomy, dressing its bare life with kinship speech. First, the social revolutions of the Civil Rights, Black Power, abolitionism, the Black Panthers and Young Lords, boycotts and jarring artistic performances. These events are superficial not in vain sense, but key epicenters of underground murmurings, the workings of a cunning assailant. She robs not lavish estates, but another day to breathe. Gesturally, as perhaps the interlocutor, lies this author, interspersing his own diatribes to conjure her presence. The final branch is admittedly the most intangible. Kinesthetically, we map the nimbleness, footwork lígera of what I call the ethnopoet. Ethnopoet is no mere aggregate of ethnicity and poetry, but like chemical reaction, the descriptor for its behavior under certain pressures, temperatures, and elements. Elusive and resisting confinement, and therefore definition, the ethnopoet is a shapeshifting figure of how racialized bodies [people of color] respond to hegemonic powers. She is, at bottom, however, a native translator, the plural-lensed subject whose loyalty is only to the imagination of a different world, one whose survival is not contingent upon her exploitation. The native translator’s constant re-calibrations of oppressive power apparatuses seem taxing at best, and near-impossible, at worst. To effectively navigate through these polarized loci, she must identify ideologies that in turn seek “affective liberatory sances” in relation to the dominant social order (43). In a kind of performative contradiction, she must marshall the knowledge necessary to “break with ideology” while speaking within it. Chicana Studies scholar, Chela Sandoval, describes this dual movement as “meta-ideologizing”: the appropriation of hegemonic ideological forms in order to transform them (82). Nuestros padres se subieron encima de La Bestia, y por eso somos pasageros a ese tren. Y ya, dentro su pansa, tenemos que ser vigilantes cuando plantamos las bombas. In Methodology of the Oppressed, Sandoval schematizes this oppositional consciousness around five principle categories: “equal rights,” “revolutionary,” “supremacist,” “separatist,” and “differential.” Taken by themselves, the first four modes appear mutually exclusive, incapable of occupying the same plane, until a fifth pillar emerges. Cinematographic in nature, differential consciousness, as Sandoval defines it, is “a kinetic motion that maneuvers, poetically transfigures, and orchestrates while demanding alienation, perversion, and reformation in both spectators and practitioners” (44). For Sandoval, then, differential consciousness is a methodology that privileges an incredible sense mobility, one reaching artistic sensibilities. Our fourth and final analytic of movement serves an apt example of this dual meaning. Lexically speaking, ‘movement’ may be regarded as a political mobilization of aggrieved populations (through sustained efforts), or the process of moving objects (people or otherwise) from one location to another. Praxis-wise, it is both action and ideal, content and form. Thus, an ethnic poetics must be regarded less as a series of stanzas, shortened lyric, or even arrangement of language, but as a lens through which peripheralized peoples kaleidecope ideological positions in an “original, eccentric, and queer sight” (43). Taking note of the advantages of postponing identifications, the thesis stands its ground on the term ethnopoet. Its abstraction is not dewey-eyed philosophy, but an anticipation of poetic justice, of what’s to come from callused hands. This thesis is divided into 7.5 chapters. The first maps out the ethnopoet’s cartographies of struggle. By revisiting that alleged Tío Tomas, Richard Rodriguez, we unearth the tensions that negatively, deny citizenship to one silo, but on the flipside, engender manifold ways of seeing, hearing, and moving . The second, through George Jackson’s prison memoirs, pans out from this ethnography of power, groping for an apparatus that feigns an impervious prestige: ‘the aesthetic regime of coercion.’ In half-way cut, the thesis sidesteps to spic into existence, formally announcing, through Aime Cesaire, myself, and Pedro Pietri, the poeticization of trauma. Such uplift denies New Age transcendence of self, but a rehearsal of our entrapment in these mortal envelopes. Thirdly, conscious of the bleeding ethnic body, we cut open the incipient corpse to observe her pathologist. Her native autopsies offer the ethnic body’s posthumous recognition, the ethnopoetics ability to speak for and through the dead. Chapter five examines prolific black artists—Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar—to elide the circumvention of their consumption via invoking radical black hi/her-stories, ones fragmenting the black body. Sixth, the paper compares the Black Power Salute of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics to Duke’s Mi Gente Boycott of their Latino Student Recruitment Weekend. Both wielded “silent gestures,” that shrewdly interfered with white noise of numbed negligence. Finally, ‘taking the mask off’ that are her functionalities, the CODA expounds on ethnopoet’s interiority, particularly after the rapid re-calibration of her politics. Through a rerun of El Chavo del Ocho, one of Mexican television’s most cherished shows, we tune into the heart-breaking indigence of barrio residents, only to marvel at the power of humor to, as Friday’s John Witherspoon put it, “fight another day.” This thesis is the tip of my tongue. Y por una vez, déjala que cante.

Polymer Process Partitioning: Extruding Plastic Pipe

When plastic pipe is solidified, it proceeds through a long cooling chamber. Inside this chamber, inside the hollow extrudate, the plastic is molten, and this inner surface solidifies last. Sag, the flow due to the self-weight of the molten plastic, then happens in this cooling chamber, and sometimes, thickened regions (called knuckles) arise in the lower quadrants, especially of large diameter thickwalled pipes. To compensate for sag, engineers normally shift the die centerpiece downward. This thesis focuses on the consequences of this decentering. Specifically, when the molten polymer is viscoelastic, as is normally the case, a downward lateral force is exerted on the mandrel. Die eccentricity also affects the downstream axial force on the mandrel. These forces govern how rigidly the mandrel must be attached (normally, on a spider die). We attack this flow problem in eccentric cylindrical coordinates, using the Oldroyd 8-constant constitutive model framework. Specifically, we revise the method of Jones (1964), called polymer process partitioning. We estimate both axial and lateral forces. We develop a corresponding map to help plastics engineers predict the extrudate shape, including extrudate knuckles. From the mass balance over the postdie region, we then predict the shape of the extrudate entering the cooling chamber. We further include expressions for the stresses in the extruded polymer melt. We include detailed dimensional worked examples to show process engineers how to use our results to design pipe dies, and especially to suppress extrudate knuckling.

The HARPS-N Rocky Planet Search. I. HD 219134 b: A transiting rocky planet in a multi-planet system at 6.5 pc from the Sun

We know now from radial velocity surveys and transit space missions thatplanets only a few times more massive than our Earth are frequent aroundsolar-type stars. Fundamental questions about their formation history,physical properties, internal structure, and atmosphere composition are,however, still to be solved. We present here the detection of a systemof four low-mass planets around the bright (V = 5.5) and close-by (6.5pc) star HD 219134. This is the first result of the Rocky Planet Searchprogramme with HARPS-N on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in La Palma.The inner planet orbits the star in 3.0935 ± 0.0003 days, on aquasi-circular orbit with a semi-major axis of 0.0382 ± 0.0003AU. Spitzer observations allowed us to detect the transit of the planetin front of the star making HD 219134 b the nearest known transitingplanet to date. From the amplitude of the radial velocity variation(2.25 ± 0.22 ms-1) and observed depth of the transit(359 ± 38 ppm), the planet mass and radius are estimated to be4.36 ± 0.44 M⊕ and 1.606 ± 0.086R⊕, leading to a mean density of 5.76 ± 1.09 gcm-3, suggesting a rocky composition. One additional planetwith minimum-mass of 2.78 ± 0.65 M⊕ moves on aclose-in, quasi-circular orbit with a period of 6.767 ± 0.004days. The third planet in the system has a period of 46.66 ± 0.08days and a minimum-mass of 8.94 ± 1.13 M⊕, at0.233 ± 0.002 AU from the star. Its eccentricity is 0.46 ±0.11. The period of this planet is close to the rotational period of thestar estimated from variations of activity indicators (42.3 ± 0.1days). The planetary origin of the signal is, however, thepreferredsolution as no indication of variation at the corresponding frequency isobserved for activity-sensitive parameters. Finally, a fourth additionallonger-period planet of mass of 71 M⊕ orbits the starin 1842 days, on an eccentric orbit (e = 0.34 ± 0.17) at adistance of 2.56 AU.The photometric time series and radial velocities used in this work areavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/584/A72

Skadeförebyggande träningsmetoder mot hamstringsskador inom svensk herrelitfotboll i jämförelse med rekommenderad evidensbaserad forskning

Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe the evidence-based research recommendations on injury prevention methods against hamstring injuries among Swedish men's elite team in football. The research-based recommendations was then to be compared with the way Swedish elite football teams work to prevent hamstrings injuries. Method First a literature search of PubMed and SPORTDiscuss was made to find the most evidence-based training methods to hamstring injuries. Then an Internet questionnaire regarding injury prevention training methods against hamstring injuries was sent to all Swedish elite football teams. The answers off the questionnaire was then compared with the research that had the most evidence based training methods to hamstring injuries. Results Research shows that the method with the most evidence is eccentric strength training. Flexibility, static stretch and core stability training is research methods that can be used to prevent hamstrings injuries but these methods lack a large validated research basis. 8 of 32 (25 %) teams answered the questionnaire. All teams indicated that they were working with injury prevention methods but the methods varied from the eccentric strength training to periodization and flexibility training. 2 of 8 teams indicated that they worked with eccentric strength training that is recommended by science as the most evidence-based training method. Conclusion The study shows that the teams partly work after what the research recommends as the most evidence-based training methods against hamstring injuries. However, the study lacks validity and further research is needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn.

Neuromuscular adaptations in football athletes with prior history of hamstring strain injury

Background: Hamstring strain injuries (HSI) are one of the most common injuries in a wide variety of running-sports, resulting in a considerable loss of competition and training time. One of the most problematic consequences regarding HSI is the recurrence rate and its non-decrease over the past decades, despite increasing evidence. Recent studies also found several maladaptations post-HSI probably due to neuromuscular inhibition and it has been proposed that these adaptations post-injury may contribute as risk factors for the injury-reinjury cycle and high recurrence rates. Furthermore it has been recently proposed not to disregard the inter-relationship between these adaptations and risk-factors post-injury in order to better understand the mechanisms of this complex injury. Objective: To determine, analyze and correlate neuromuscular adaptations in amateur football players with prior history of HSI per comparison to uninjured athletes in similar conditions. Methodology: Every participant was subjected to isokinetic concentric (60 and 240deg.sec) and eccentric (30 and 120deg.sec¯¹) testing, and peak torque, angle of peak torque and hamstrings to quadriceps (H:Q) conventional ratios were measured, myoelectrical activity of Bicep Femoris (BF) and Medial Hamstrings (MH) were also measured during isokinetic eccentric testing at both velocities and muscle activation percentages were calculated at 30, 50 and 100ms after onset of contraction. Furthermore active and passive knee extension, knee joint position sense (JPS) test, triple-hop distance (THD) test and core stability (flexors and extensors endurance, right and left side bridge test) were used and correlated. Results: Seventeen players have participated in this study: 10 athletes with prior history of HSI, composing the Hamstring injury group (HG) and 7 athletes without prior severe injuries as control group (CG). We found statistical significant differences between HG injured and uninjured sides in the BF myoelectrical activity at almost all times in both velocities and between HG injured and CG non-dominant sides at 100ms in eccentric 120deg.sec¯¹ velocity (p<.05). We found no differences in MH activity. Regarding proprioception we found differences between the HG injured and uninjured sides (p=.027). We found no differences in the rest of used tests. However, significant correlation between myoelectrical activation at 100ms in 120deg.sec¯¹ testing and JPS with initial position at 90º (r-.372; p=0.031) was found, as well as between isokinetic H:Q ratio at 240deg.sec and THD score (r=-.345; p=.045). Conclusion: We found significant differences that support previous research regarding neuromuscular adaptations and BF inhibition post-HSI. Moreover, to our knowledge, this was the first study that found correlation between these adaptations, and may open a door to new perspectives and future studies.

An extreme planetary system around HD 219828: one long-period super Jupiter to a hot-Neptune host star

Context. With about 2000 extrasolar planets confirmed, the results show that planetary systems have a whole range of unexpected properties. This wide diversity provides fundamental clues to the processes of planet formation and evolution. Aims: We present a full investigation of the HD 219828 system, a bright metal-rich star for which a hot Neptune has previously been detected. Methods: We used a set of HARPS, SOPHIE, and ELODIE radial velocities to search for the existence of orbiting companions to HD 219828. The spectra were used to characterise the star and its chemical abundances, as well as to check for spurious, activity induced signals. A dynamical analysis is also performed to study the stability of the system and to constrain the orbital parameters and planet masses. Results: We announce the discovery of a long period (P = 13.1 yr) massive (m sini = 15.1 MJup) companion (HD 219828 c) in a very eccentric orbit (e = 0.81). The same data confirms the existence of a hot Neptune, HD 219828 b, with a minimum mass of 21 M⊕ and a period of 3.83 days. The dynamical analysis shows that the system is stable, and that the equilibrium eccentricity of planet b is close to zero. Conclusions: The HD 219828 system is extreme and unique in several aspects. First, ammong all known exoplanet systems it presents an unusually high mass ratio. We also show that systems like HD 219828, with a hot Neptune and a long-period massive companion are more frequent than similar systems with a hot Jupiter instead. This suggests that the formation of hot Neptunes follows a different path than the formation of their hot jovian counterparts. The high mass, long period, and eccentricity of HD 219828 c also make it a good target for Gaia astrometry as well as a potential target for atmospheric characterisation, using direct imaging or high-resolution spectroscopy. Astrometric observations will allow us to derive its real mass and orbital configuration. If a transit of HD 219828 b is detected, we will be able to fully characterise the system, including the relative orbital inclinations. With a clearly known mass, HD 219828 c may become a benchmark object for the range in between giant planets and brown dwarfs.

Secular and tidal evolution of circumbinary systems

We investigate the secular dynamics of three-body circumbinary systems under the effect of tides. We use the octupolar non-restricted approximation for the orbital interactions, general relativity corrections, the quadrupolar approximation for the spins, and the viscous linear model for tides. We derive the averaged equations of motion in a simplified vectorial formalism, which is suitable to model the long-term evolution of a wide variety of circumbinary systems in very eccentric and inclined orbits. In particular, this vectorial approach can be used to derive constraints for tidal migration, capture in Cassini states, and stellar spin–orbit misalignment. We show that circumbinary planets with initial arbitrary orbital inclination can become coplanar through a secular resonance between the precession of the orbit and the precession of the spin of one of the stars. We also show that circumbinary systems for which the pericenter of the inner orbit is initially in libration present chaotic motion for the spins and for the eccentricity of the outer orbit. Because our model is valid for the non-restricted problem, it can also be applied to any three-body hierarchical system such as star–planet–satellite systems and triple stellar systems.

Running Mechanics During the World's Most Challenging Mountain Ultramarathon

The aim of study was to examine the effects of the world's most challenging mountain ultramarathon (Tor des Geants [TdG]) on running mechanics. Mechanical measurements were undertaken in male runners (n = 16) and a control group (n = 8) before (PRE), during (MID), and after (POST) the TdG. Contact (tc) and aerial (ta) times, step frequency (f), and running velocity (v) were sampled. Spring-mass parameters of peak vertical ground-reaction force (Fmax), vertical downward displacement of the center of mass (Deltaz), leg-length change (DeltaL), and vertical (kvert) and leg (kleg) stiffness were computed. Significant decreases were observed in runners between PRE and MID for ta (P < .001), Fmax (P < .001), Deltaz (P < .05), and kleg (P < .01). In contrast, f significantly increased (P < .05) between PRE and MID-TdG. No further changes were observed at POST for any of those variables, with the exception of kleg, which went back to PRE. During the TdG, experienced runners modified their running pattern and spring-mass behavior mainly during the first half. The current results suggest that these mechanical changes aim at minimizing the pain occurring in lower limbs mainly during the eccentric phases. One cannot rule out that this switch to a "safer" technique may also aim to anticipate further damages.

South Road

SOUTH ROAD, a novel told in third-person limited, follows Adrienne Harris as she navigates the trials of her coming-of-age summer and then must deal with the aftermath. 1997: seventeen-year-old Adrienne Harris wants nothing more than to flee her eccentric grandmother’s rule and leave Harbor Point and never look back. When she meets her new neighbors, Adrienne knows her life will never be the same. Adrienne quickly falls in love with the charismatic Quinn Merritt. They decide to keep their relationship a secret since both families disapprove. This secret starts a chain reaction that seemingly leads to the suicide of the troubled and poetic Lucas Merritt. The summer culminates with Adrienne running away, pregnant and heartbroken. 2011: thirty-one-year-old Adrienne is an out of work line cook and single mother. The story opens as Adrienne reluctantly returns home to Harbor Point to care for her ailing grandmother. Once home, Adrienne has to confront the things that haunt her—the summer she met and lost both Merritt brothers, and also her dysfunctional relationship with her grandmother—in order to heal and repair her own life and her relationship with her daughter. In the end, Adrienne discovers many truths that alter her perception of her past in Harbor Point. Adrienne is finally able to move forward and start to build a life for her and her daughter. Harbor Point, the last place in the world Adrienne Harris wanted to be, turns out to be the only place she wants to call home.

Three-dimensional kinetic adaptations of gait throughout pregnancy and postpartum

Biomechanical adaptations that occur during pregnancy can lead to changes on gait pattern. Nevertheless, these adaptations of gait are still not fully understood. The purpose was to determine the effect of pregnancy on the biomechanical pattern of walking, regarding the kinetic parameters. A three-dimensional analysis was performed in eleven participants. The kinetic parameters in the joints of the lower limb during gait were compared at the end of the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy and in the postpartum period, in healthy pregnant women. The main results showed a reduction in the normalized vertical reaction forces, throughout pregnancy, particularly the third peak. Pregnant women showed, during most of the stance phase, medial reaction forces as a motor response to promote the body stability. Bilateral changes were observed in hip joint, with a decrease in the participation of the hip extensors and in the eccentric contraction of hip flexors. In ankle joint a decrease in the participation of ankle plantar flexors was found. In conclusion, the overall results point to biomechanical adjustments that showed a decrease of the mechanical load of women throughout pregnancy, with exception for few unilateral changes of hip joint moments.