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Swiss foreign aid shaping agricultural development in Southeast Asia: adoption and diffusion of agricultural best management practices through the CORIGAP project in China, Myanmar, and Vietnam
No full textIn Southeast Asia, rice is the staple food crop. It is predominantly cultivated by smallholder farmers. Although the Green Revolution has modernized rice agriculture considerably, farmers today face the consequences of decades-long unsustainable natural resource use. Environmental degradation has become prevalent and climate change is exacerbating the current challenges. In this context, the diffusion of agricultural best management practices and technologies is crucial for ensuring rural livelihoods and global food security. Therefore, the ‘Closing Rice Yield Gaps in Asia with Reduced Environmental Footprint’ (CORIGAP) project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) aims to improve rice farmers’ productivity and profitability in six Southeast Asian countries by disseminating sustainable agriculture practices and technologies.
The central purpose of this thesis was to analyze the effect of the CORIGAP project on rice farmers’ yields and livelihoods due to the introduction of sustainable best management practices and technologies. Three main research objectives were investigated: 1) the effect of the CORIGAP project on farmers’ socioeconomic and agronomic situation, 2) farmers’ adoption behavior of the CORIGAP recommended practices and technologies, and 3) farmers’ perceptions of the practices and technologies, including economic, social, and environmental changes, since the adoption thereof. Three project countries were selected: China, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
The impact of the CORIGAP project in the study regions was examined individually based on country-specific development objectives and diffusion strategies. An exploratory research approach was employed and a comprehensive methodology using quantitative methods was applied. Data for the empirical country analyses were collected by means of farmer questionnaire surveys using a digital questionnaire application. For the agronomic data, a household survey was conducted once before and once after the CORIGAP interventions. For the perception data, a farmer perception survey was conducted once after the introduction of the recommended practices and technologies. Data were analyzed using uni- and multivariate statistics, including Pearson correlations, t-test with Cohen’s d effect size, ANOVA, Cronbach’s α reliability test, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, hierarchical linear regression analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM).
Farmers perceived notable positive changes to their livelihoods and living conditions due to the adoption of the CORIGAP-recommended practices and technologies. In the selected study regions, rice yields and incomes rose significantly. Farmers in China perceived an average yield growth of 1.1 t/ha, attaining a mean of 6.5 t/ha, and an input cost reduction of 57.5 % since adopting the ‘Three Controls’ Technology (3CT). Vietnamese farmers, who participated in the national policy program ‘One Must Do, Five Reductions’ (1M5R), increased mean yields considerably to 6.6 t/ha and reduced input costs, particularly for seeds, NPK fertilizer, and pesticides. In Myanmar, farmers experienced an average production growth of 0.6 t/ha, achieving a yield of 3.6 t/ha due to improved input and labor use. Mean rice incomes doubled to 548.0 USD/ha after five years. The results of the perception surveys demonstrated a high rate of adoption and willingness to continue using the recommended practices and technologies. The benefits “easy to apply”, “satisfies my preferences”, and “fits my cropping pattern” were generally rated the highest. Furthermore, farmers expressed positive changes to their human and social capital, health, and food security. Nevertheless, environmental changes were not much perceived by farmers.
The CORIGAP project was successful in incentivizing farmers to adopt sustainable rice farming practices and technologies long-term. The project objectives were achieved and supported the transition to more eco-friendly rice cultivation in Southeast Asia. This is particularly relevant for the environment as it needs more time to regenerate. In this regard, the main recommendation of this study is to continue improving and expanding extension services for climate-smart farming. As of 2021, more than 750’000 farmers in Southeast Asia were reached through the project. However, this research only investigated 987 farmers in detail. Therefore, it is not possible to pertain to other farmers. Nonetheless, a considerable achievement has been achieved through Swiss foreign aid. The lessons learned during the CORIGAP project foster South-South cooperation and serve as a blueprint for successful long-term development assistance incorporating beneficiaries’ perspectives
Voyages et construction d'une identité savante à l'époque moderne Michel Adanson (1727-1806): un homme des Lumières en quête d'une reconnaissance scientifique Michel Adanson (1727-1806) : un homme des Lumières en quête d’une reconnaissance scientifique
Get PDFRésumé : Cette thèse examine la trajectoire scientifique de Michel Adanson (1727-1806), voyageur-naturaliste et académicien français. Elle repose sur une minutieuse exploitation des brouillons, manuscrits, ouvrages en projet et correspondances d’un homme des Lumières qui n’a publié que très peu. Le but est d’établir la manière dont il entendait se donner une existence scientifique dans un contexte où « la démonstration d’un talent », « l’incarnation du génie », « la mise en avant de l’originalité » avaient une signification toute particulière chez les savants. Autrement dit, comment Adanson s’insère-t-il dans la communauté discursive des naturalistes du XVIIIe siècle et avec quel argument allait-il à la rencontre/l’encontre des discours existants sur la nature ? Incarnant l’identité du savant moderne, Adanson avait choisi de bâtir sa légitimité énonciative sur sa qualité de « voyageur-savant », pratique mise en avant par les modernes pour revendiquer une rupture avec des pratiques intellectuelles et scientifiques des anciens. Par ailleurs, il y a sous l’analyse de cette quête d’une légitimité énonciative d’Adanson une réflexion élargie sur la relation d’autorité autour de la construction du savoir scientifique à l’époque moderne. Évoquée par les analystes de l’épistolaire scientifique, celle-ci est loin d’être définie et circonscrite.
Cette thèse est composée de deux volumes :
Le premier (la thèse proprement dite), consacré à la Trajectoire scientifique d’Adanson, s’articule autour de deux grandes parties. Dans la première partie, nous examinons le voyage au Sénégal d’Adanson en l’inscrivant dans le contexte de renouvellement du discours savant sur la nature. Cette partie revient également sur son séjour sénégalais et montre la progressive affirmation de son identité savante. Dans la deuxième partie, nous analysons la carrière académique d’Adanson et l’effort consenti pour s’offrir une existence parmi ses pairs. Cette partie révèle l’image du savant au quotidien, dans ses lectures, ses prises de notes, ses commentaires en marge des ouvrages lus, ses objections, ses appréciations, en un mot, dans sa « réflexion créatrice » pour reprendre Thierry Poyet. Cette partie restitue aussi à Adanson sa qualité d’homme de réseau totalement ignorée dans l’historiographie sur ce savant.
Le second volume est un « document-support » révélant le parcours de cette recherche et les manuscrits ayant servi à l’élaboration de cette thèse.
Abstract: This thesis examines the scientific trajectory of Michel Adanson (1727-1806), French naturalist-traveller and academic scholar. It is based on the analysis of drafts, manuscripts, project plans and correspondence of a man of the enlightenment who published very little. The overarching aim of this research is to establish how Adanson intended to give himself a scientific existence in a context in which "the demonstration of a talent", "the incarnation of genius", "and the emphasis of originality" had a special meaning for academic scholars. In other words, to explore how Adanson integrate himself into the discursive community of Eighteenth-century naturalists and taxonomists and with what argument was he going to "storm" existing discourses on nature. Embodying the identity of the modern scientist, Adanson chose to build his enunciative legitimacy on his quality as “naturalist-traveller”, a practice put forward by the moderns to claim a break with the intellectual and scientific practices of the ancients. However, there is, in analyzing Adanson's quest for enunciative legitimacy, an extensive reflection on the relation of authority in the process of constructing scientific knowledge in the modern era. Evoked by researchers working on the scientific correspondence, the relation of authority in producing knowledge on nature is far from defined and circumscribed.
This thesis is composed of two volumes:
Volume one, evaluating Adanson's scientific trajectory, is structured in two major parts. In the first part, the author examines Adanson's Senegalese journey by setting it into the context of the renewal of the scholarly discourse on nature. This part also reviews his stay in Senegal and shows the progressive affirmation of his scholarly identity. In the second part, the author takes a broad look at Adanson's academic career and the efforts he made in order to “exist” among his peers. This part reveals the scientist in his daily activities, in his readings, his note-takings, his comments in the books he read, his objections, his appreciations, in a word, in his "creative thinking", to quote Thierry Poyet. This part sheds light on Adanson’s network, a context totally ignored so far in the research on this scholar.
The second volume is a “supporting document” which reveals the path of this research and the manuscripts used to analyse this thesi
Bacterial gene expression dynamics in the regime of vanishing growth
Get PDFIn order to grow and survive in different environment, bacteria display a remarkable phenotypic plasticity. This is accomplished by relatively precise gene regulation. Notwithstanding, gene expression is a noisy phenomenon, and the infinite combination of conditions bacteria can face make it impossible for a response based only on sensors to take place. In addition, most of those regulatory systems have been studied in steady state, fast exponential growth conditions, even though most bacteria spend a substantial part of their lifetime in a non growing state, owing to the lack of nutrient in their habitat.
In this work, we investigate the effect of slow or no growth on the gene regulation dynamics.
We demonstrate how the growth-induced dilution of regulatory-switches inducers results in increased sensitivity of the regulatory circuits at low growth rate. In addition to allowing bacteria to easier adapt their phenotype when condition are unfavourable, we demonstrate, using microfluidics coupled with time lapse fluorescence microscopy, that this growth-coupled sensitivity implements an optimal mechanism of sugar preference where bacteria start growing on a new sugar only if the growth thus achieved is higher than the current one.
We subsequently review the literature on quantitative biology of E. coli starvation, in order to highlights firmly established features and knowledge gaps in the phenomenology, phenotypic characteristics and regulatory systems of bacterial starvation, as well as survival and regrowth capacity of starved bacteria. Throughout this review we underline the existing quantitative relations that have been established between those different aspects, e.g. dormancy depth and stress tolerance, and advocate for the need to identify the relevant parameters to further explore those relations. We believe that those phenomenological relations will help to progress in our understanding of the evolutionary strategies that underlay starvation response(s).
Finally, we study the expression dynamics of about 20 promoters in individual bacteria as we switch them from exponential growth to starvation. We find that promoters display a variety of responses, going from instantaneous arrest at the entry into starvation to progressive decay, sometimes even peaking at the point of growth arrest. We demonstrate that the delay between the arrest of growth and that of gene expression results in a substantial and promoter-dependent accumulation of protein. We show that this response is remarkably homogeneous across single cells of the population, and that it sets the phenotype of bacteria for days. In accordance with this result, we demonstrate that the early gene expression at the onset of starvation is critical to survive an oxidative stress challenge coming 20h later. This suggest that the regulatory response at the onset of starvation is not adaptive, but rather preventive.
This work highlights the necessity of considering non-growing states and passives mechanisms to understand bacterial physiology, metabolism and evolutionary history, and opens the door on new regulatory strategies implemented by bacteria to cope with the challenges presented by their environment
Immuno-metabolic effects of a ketogenic diet on mammary cancer metastases
No full textBreast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women, with roughly 2.6 million new annual diagnoses worldwide. Metastases arise in distant tissues such as the lung, liver, and bones, representing the fatal hallmark of the disease and accounting for up to 90% of cancer-related deaths.
Cell metabolism is crucial for cell survival, and a modified metabolism is one of the main hallmarks of cancer. Notably, the metabolism of primary tumors and metastases is often distinct. Diets are a powerful non-invasive tool that can modulate systemic host metabolism and the immune system. Indeed, a ketogenic diet combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to shrink primary breast tumors, but its effect on metastases remains unknown.
In my PhD studies, I aimed to investigate the effects of a ketogenic diet on mammary cancer metastasis. This objective was divided into two interconnected projects.
In the first project we surprisingly found that while a ketogenic diet significantly reduces primary mammary tumors, it increases lung metastases. Additionally, the ketogenic diet broadly altered the organ-specific immune and systemic endocrine landscape. Notably, the diet-induced increase in metastatic burden depended on the presence of tissue-resident alveolar macrophages. These macrophages were more abundant in the lungs of ketogenic- diet-fed mice, and their ablation reduced lung metastases. Furthermore, we discovered that the ketogenic diet enhances stress hormone levels, which create immunosuppressive alveolar macrophages by lowering anti-inflammatory cytokine secretion and phagocytic capacity. These cellular changes are likely mediated by the activated glucocorticoids receptor repressing NF-kB signaling. Our study highlights the need for caution when patients with breast cancer follow a ketogenic diet.
In the second project, I developed an optimized 27-color full-spectrum flow cytometry panel to deeply characterize the metastatic immune microenvironment at a single-cell level. This advanced panel combines lineage markers with numerous inhibitory and activating receptors, providing researchers with a comprehensive overview of the immune system in the lung. Full-spectrum flow cytometry offers significant advantages, but its high sensitivity requires precise fine-tuning of antibody combinations for optimal data unmixing. We discovered that tissue-resident alveolar macrophages exhibit high autofluorescence across all channels, complicating data unmixing. By dissecting lung autofluorescent signatures, we improved data unmixing in conjunction with a well-designed antibody combination. Our panel sets a foundation for researchers interested in lung immunology, extending beyond oncology research. It is a powerful tool ready for direct application in various experiments or adaptable to specific research needs
Exploring biomarkers for diagnosing and monitoring antibody-mediated demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system
No full textBackground
The pursuit of target antigens of the central nervous system’s (CNS) immune response has led to the differentiation of multiple sclerosis (MS) from other disease entities, such as aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody seropositive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). This has paved the way for diagnoses based on the pathogenesis of diseases and for personalized clinical management strategies aimed at preventing attacks and disability. Nonetheless, the management of patients with CNS demyelinating disorders remains complex. Specifically, a subgroup of patients with AQP4-/MOG-immunoglobulin G (IgG) seronegative disorders has not yet been fully characterized. Moreover, current diagnostic strategies may be limited in accurately classifying patients with overlapping clinical and serological findings. Similarly, current disease monitoring strategies might be insufficient to distinguish remission from acute disease activity, preventing the timely indication of acute therapies and the escalation of immunosuppression. Therefore, the development of biomarkers is needed to support the clinical management of patients with demyelinating disorders of the CNS.
Aims
This thesis comprises three projects that employed different strategies to assess the necessity for and develop serum biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with demyelinating disorders of the CNS.
Methods
In the first project, we conducted a multicenter, retrospective, longitudinal study including 1339 patients with suspected or confirmed demyelinating disorders of the CNS. We investigated sera, clinical, and paraclinical data for the presence and associated features of MOG-immunoglobulin A (MOG-IgA) seropositivity. In the second project, we expanded on the cohorts from the first study by investigating the performance of the recently proposed MOGAD diagnostic criteria1 in addressing overlapping diagnoses of MOGAD and MS, and variations in MOG-IgG assay results across different centers. Lastly, in the third project, we further expanded on the cohorts from the first project by investigating the dynamics of serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) and serum glial fibrillary acidic protein (sGFAP) after clinical attacks. Moreover, we assessed the performance of these biomarkers in discriminating the status of disease activity in patients with MOGAD.
Results
In the first project, we identified a subgroup of patients with demyelinating disorders of the CNS who were seropositive for MOG-IgA and seronegative for MOG-IgG and AQP4-IgG (18/1344 [1.3%]). These patients exhibited distinct clinical features compared to those seropositive for MOG-IgG. In the second project, we observed interrater, interassay, and intercenter discrepancies in the diagnosis of MOGAD according to recently proposed criteria1. Lastly, in the third project, we described the dynamics of sNfL and sGFAP Z scores after attacks. Furthermore, we reported an association between increasing sNfL Z scores and attacks (odds ratio [OR] 2.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8 – 3.7, p < 0.001), as well as a consistently incremental performance for models including sNfL Z scores for discrimination of disease activity status compared to models without (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
This thesis addressed the need for biomarkers to enhance the clinical management of patients with demyelinating disorders of the CNS. Specifically, we described MOG-IgA as a potential novel biomarker for the diagnosis of CNS demyelinating disorders. Furthermore, we provided real-world evidence supporting the refinement of the recently proposed MOGAD diagnostic criteria through various strategies, such as the inclusion of diagnostic biomarkers. Finally, we reported the utility of sNfL as a biomarker of acute disease activity in patients with MOGAD. Moving forward, research should validate these findings and explore the underlying mechanistic aspects associated with the occurrence of biomarkers in CNS demyelinating disorders
Room temperature single-photon sources and atomic quantum memories for broadband quantum networks
Get PDFQuantum networks are envisioned to overcome current limitations in quantum communication and computation. The building blocks that enable the realization of such networks are quantum memories and single-photon sources.
A promising path to realize these networks is to make use of heterogeneous interconnects. By interfacing quantum memories based on atomic ensembles with solid-state sources, the best of two worlds could be exploited. However, achieving compatibility between different systems, in order to realize a hybrid quantum network node, has remained an open challenge.
In this thesis I report on broadband quantum memories implemented in warm rubidium vapor and on a compatible single-photon source based on non-degenerate cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric downconversion. The goal is to implement an elementary interconnect where the experimental complexity is kept low by operating all components at or above room temperature. Choosing a monolithic cavity design, the source is inherently robust and reaches high efficiencies. It generates heralded single photons with hundreds of \si{\mega\hertz} bandwidth and reaches high heralding efficiencies of , measured after coupling into a single-mode optical fiber.
The memories presented here are based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a lambda-level scheme in warm rubidium vapor. To suppress the read-out noise, which is a limiting factor in common ground-state memory implementations, two separate approaches are followed.
In the first one, the atomic structure is modified by applying a tesla-order magnetic field and working in the hyperfine Paschen-Back regime. This results in large splittings between the energy levels, which allows us to optically address individual sublevels in the warm vapor.
A spectroscopic study of EIT and optical pumping in this regime is presented.
Our proof-of-principle implementation of a quantum memory in a miniaturized vapor cell has delivered promising results. This setup was capable of storing and retrieving weak coherent pulses attenuated to the single-photon level, yielding an end-to-end efficiency of and a SNR of up to .
The second approach to suppressing read-out noise relies on exploiting polarization selection rules in a Zeeman-pumped vapor. This memory implementation was successfully interfaced with \SI{370}{\mega\hertz}-broad single photons from the heralded downconversion source.
The stored photons maintained their non-classical signature after retrieval, yielding a . This constitutes the first demonstration of single photon storage and retrieval from the ground state of a warm atomic vapor.
The developed platform operates in a technologically relevant regime for future experiments, paving the way for the exploration of promising quantum-network protocols at high bandwidth
The notion of data donation: conceptual explanations, implementations and relevance for Swiss health data governance
Get PDFNational strategies to optimise dosing recommendations for children and their importance in Switzerland
Get PDFFor ethical and technical reasons, clinical studies only involved adults in the past and, therefore, data for safe and efficient drug use in children is lacking. In the absence of official dosing recommendations on drug labels, healthcare professionals need help prescribing the optimal dose for their paediatric patients. This thesis presents national strategies for the provision and optimisation of off-label dosing recommendations for children.
To assess the lack of dosing recommendations for children on Swiss drug labels, a systemic analysis was performed by quantifying the number of drugs not authorised for paediatric use. The introduction of new legislation enabled a database to be developed to fill this gap with nationally harmonised off-label dosing recommendations for children, based on evidence from the scientific literature combined with expert knowledge from clinical practice. When insufficient data were available to harmonise dosing recommendations, data from clinical routines were gathered from several Swiss children’s hospitals. An online platform was built to access and use these data for pharmacokinetic (PK) modelling, incorporating results of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing to optimise paediatric drug therapy.
45% of all drugs available in Switzerland are not authorised for use in children, and consequently off-label prescribing is widespread in paediatric care. A standardised harmonisation process was established and to date 643 off-label dosing recommendations for 202 active substances were published in the SwissPedDose database. When harmonisation was challenging, dosing recommendations were optimised by applying PK modelling based on health-related personal data and plasma drug concentrations using the recently developed online platform SwissPKcdw. It enabled a PGx analysis of voriconazole treatment in children, revealing that genetic variants within drug metabolising enzymes and drug transporters affected voriconazole trough concentrations.
Since Swiss drug labels lack paediatric dosing recommendations, more emphasis should be placed on improving the safety of off-label prescribing for children. The national harmonisation of off-label dosing recommendations and the collection of real-world data from multiple hospitals in order to apply PK modelling are important strategies that allow optimal dosing recommendations to be achieved for children
Pulsed plant evolution in mountain ecosystems: identifying rate changes of range shift and morphology
Get PDFUnderstanding the origin of plant diversity remains a central and relevant scientific goal. This statement is reflected by a survey conducted by Grierson et al. (2011), where the one hundred most important and urgent questions in plant science were collected. Here, the listed questions were grouped into five sections, and “plant diversity” is prominently represented as one of these sections. Remarkably, these questions - even though some of them might be as old as Darwin’s work – are very urgent to be answered, especially in a world where society is confronted with the consequences of climate change. For instance, understanding the rapid and relatively recent diversification of angiosperm species can provide valuable insight into the evolution of genomes and the underlying evolutionary processes (Grierson et al., 2011). Therefore, studying angiosperm plant diversification is crucial, yet addressing such a broad question presents a considerable challenge.
Phylogenetic trees serve as a central tool for studying patterns and processes that underlie angiosperm diversification. Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) was one of the most famous scientists who promoted this “tree thinking”. In “Origin of Species” (Darwin, 1859), he introduced one of the first phylogenetic diagrams. The “Tree of Life”, the sole illustration in Darwin’s book, represents the relationships among species, both living and extinct, across evolutionary lineages. The diagram’s y-axis symbolizes time, where the top represents the present, and below the past with extinct lineages. Identical to family trees the lines (called branches) are used to show the relationship between species and branches below a joint (called internal nodes) represent an ancestral species. These structural representations were coined as phylogenies by Ernst Haeckel in 1866 (McLennan, 2010) and are still used in modern biology. Nowadays specific programs exist to compute phylogenetic trees allowing them to be inferred from morphological, genetic, or both data types (e.g., Höhna et al., 2016). However, thinking of related species as trees is not sufficient to explain the numerous angiosperm species.
Critically, closely related species introduce statistical nonindependence, posing a challenge, and more complex analytical tools are required to study rapid diversification accurately. Felsenstein (1985) addressed this issue using a fictive phylogeny of 40 species, which displays two groups of 20 closely related species. Next, a two-dimensional data set (from these 40 species) is presented, showing a positive correlation between the two characters. Felsenstein then confronts the reader with the same data but reveals what point belongs to which of the closely related groups. The points within each group show no significant correlation, yet the overall significant pattern is illusory and caused by the position of the two “data clouds”. Ultimately, Felsenstein suggests overcoming this problem by correcting for the nonindependence caused by the taxa’s shared ancestry. Therefore, he uses the structure of the phylogeny and treats evolutionary lineages as replicates. This pioneering work created a new world of powerful and diverse methodological tools called “phylogenetic comparative methods” (Cornwell & Nakagawa, 2017).
These analytical tools enable me to investigate alpine plant diversity and tackle the overarching question: How do rates of evolution vary among lineages and what factors account for potential differences in rates
Das Kraftverhältnis zwischen der Hamsting- und Quadrizepsmuskulatur von der U15 bis zur U21 und der Frauen NLA Mannschaft eines Elite Fussballvereins
No full textHintergrund: Zunehmendes Alter, ein starker Quadrizeps und schwache Hamstrings werden im Fussball mit Verletzungen, vor allem Hamstringzerrungen, in Verbindung gebracht. Dafür wurden in dieser Arbeit die altersbedingten Unterschiede der maximalen Kraftwerte der Hamstrings und des Quadrizeps von der U15 bis zur U21 inklusive der Frauen Erstmannschaft untersucht.
Methoden: Die Kraftwerte von sechs Mannschaften (U15, U16, U17, U18, U21 und NLA_FR) wurden mit einem Isomed 2000 bei verschiedenen Geschwindigkeiten (isometrisch, 60°/s, 240°/s und -30°/s) gemessen. Aus den erhaltenen Kraftdaten wurde die H:Q Ratio der Mannschaften berechnet und die H:Q Ratio sowie die Kraftdaten über alle Altersgruppen wurden miteinander verglichen.
Ergebnisse: Die U21 weist höhere H:Q Ratios auf als die jüngeren Mannschaften (2.9% bis 9.1%). Die einzige Ausnahme bildet die funktionelle H:Q Ratio, wo die U15 zusammen mit der Frauen NLA die höchsten Werte aufweist. Mit zunehmender Winkelgeschwindigkeit nimmt die H:Q Ratio zu und gleichzeitig nehmen die Kraftwerte der beiden Muskelgruppen ab. Quadrizeps- und Hamstringkraft nehmen von der U15 bis zur U21 kontinuierlich zu, wobei eine stärkere Zunahme bei den Hamstrings (37.2% bis 40.9%) im Vergleich zum Quadrizeps (28.8% bis 37.9%) erkennbar ist.
Schlussfolgerungen: Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die H:Q Ratios in dieser Arbeit mit zunehmendem Alter kontinuierlich ansteigen und trotz der Altersunterschiede mit den Werten aus der bisherigen Literatur vergleichbar sind. Lediglich bei der funktionellen H:Q Ratio wurden signifikant niedrigere Werte festgestellt. Die vielfältigen Ursachen für muskuläre Dysbalancen in den bisherigen Studien unterstreichen die Komplexität des Phänomens verdeutlichen, dass ein individualisierter Ansatz und spezifische Normen für effektive Präventions- und Trainingsprogramme entscheidend sind