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Workplace risk factors, such as repetitive tasks, can cause work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In a rat model, decreased grip strength and median nerve injury develop following repetitive reaching and grasping tasks, involving negligible force.We investigated whether median nerve injury is involved in the early onset of decreased grip strength due to such tasks METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into: non-task-performing (0-week) and task-performing (1-, 2-, and 3-week) groups. After an initial training period, the task-performing groups continued to perform the task for 2 h/day, 3 days/week, for 1-3 weeks. Grip strength and relative muscle weight of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) muscle were measured. Median nerve injury was evaluated by histopathology and immunohistochemistry.Grip strength of the reach limb (forelimb used in tasks) was significantly lower in the 3-week group compared with the other groups and was significantly lower than that of the non-reach limb in all groups. There were no significant differences in the relative FDS muscle weights of either limb among groups. No evidence of median nerve demyelination was observed and no cells expressed activating transcription factor-3, a specific marker of peripheral nerve injury, in the anterior horn of the spinal cord.Median nerve injury does not contribute to the decreased grip strength caused by 3 weeks of repetitive reaching and grasping tasks, involving negligible force, in rats.

Work‐related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are caused by the overuse of muscles in the workplace. Performing repetitive tasks is a primary risk factor for the development of WMSD. Many workers in highly repetitive jobs exhibit muscle pain and decline in handgrip strength, yet the mechanisms underlying these dysfunctions are poorly understood. In our study, rats performed voluntary repetitive reaching and grasping tasks (Task group), while Control group rats did not perform these activities. In the Task group, grip strength and forearm flexor withdrawal threshold declined significantly from week 2 to week 6, compared with these values at week 0 (P

A series of syndiotatic P5CPn polymethylenes was prepared with 4-(trans-4-pentylcyclohexyl)phenoxy moieties linked to each backbone carbon atom via an alkyloxycarbonyl spacer and with even numbers of alkyl carbons n ranging from 2 to 14, and their thermotropic behaviors were investigated. The P5CPn, except P5CP2, formed smectic phases in which the rod-like polymethylene backbones were arranged in rectangular lattices, and the side-chain mesogens were aggregated into layers parallel to the shorter sides of the rectangular lattices. The packing of the mesogens changed with decreasing temperature from smectic C-like to smectic I-like (SmI-like) for n = 4–8 and from smectic A-like to SmI-like for n = 10–14. In the SmI-like phases, each mesogen along the main-chain axis was connected to every sixth backbone carbon atom, revealing a correlation between the packing of the mesogens and the main-chain conformation of a 3/2 helix. Conversely, P5CP2 formed a smectic phase with the main chains arranged in rows and wi...