Hops

HOPS, Humulus Lupulus L., a perennial herbaceous climbing plant of the hop family (Cannabineae), cultivated throughout Europe, North America, Brazil, and Australia, as well as in the Caucasus, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and Siberia. In medicine, the strobiles (hops) and the glands obtained from them, called hop flour or lupulin, were used. They were credited with restoring the normal activity of weakened male sexual organs, eliminating nervous insomnia, and pathological erections. At present, both preparations have been almost entirely abandoned by medicine. In folk medicine, H. is used as a stomachic and in the treatment of scrofula in the form of softening poultices. In veterinary medicine, it is applied as a bitter agent to stimulate appetite. H. has great industrial importance in brewing. H. is an export commodity. WALKING. An element of walking is the so-called double step, during which each leg alternately becomes the supporting and swinging leg, and at the end of which all the body's segments of the walker assume their original position again. According to O. Fischer and W. Brown, the period of swinging over three subjects lasts 0.415 seconds and ends with the heel of the swinging leg touching the ground. The following period of double support lasts 0.081 seconds. Upon completion of this period, the other leg, which was previously the supporting leg, lifts off the ground by its toe and becomes the swinging leg, while the previously swinging leg becomes the supporting leg; this period of single support lasts 0.577 seconds. Its end coincides with the touching of the swinging leg to the ground, after which the final phase of the step—the second period of double support—occurs. Walking consists of a collection of cycles—double steps. In running—in this its difference from walking—there is no period of double support, and in addition, both legs are simultaneously in the air. During walking, the center of gravity of the whole body experiences transverse and, what is especially important, vertical oscillations. The amplitude of the latter is about 4 cm. These oscillations are of interest in that the work produced during walking is calculated from them, and they partly determine the changes in the pressure of the legs on the surface. The movements of the arms during walking are a reflection of the movements of the forelimbs of man's ancestors, which moved with the aid of four legs. Now these movements balance the oppositely directed swaying of the pelvic line and the lower part of the trunk. During walking, the greatest participation is taken by the extensor muscles of the legs (mm. glutaei max., mm. quadricipites femoris et mm. tricipites surae). The pressure of the leg on the surface on which walking is performed has two maxima (the push-off of the swinging leg from the ground—the "rear thrust”—and the placing of the heel on the ground at the end of the swing—the "front thrust"). For a person weighing 70 kg, the vertical component of the pressure on the ground fluctuates from 90 to 100 kg. This magnitude determines the possibility of a person walking on weak ground, a floor, or planks. With a loaded walk, both the kinematics and the dynamics of walking change. According to T. S. Popova, in a person walking with a load, the period of double support is lengthened at the expense of the periods of swinging and single support. The vertical oscillations of the center of gravity increase almost twofold. The steps become shorter. The speed of ordinary walking fluctuates within the range of 3 to 5 km per hour. The number of steps (single)—about 120 per minute. Different armies have adopted various norms for marching (see). The energy expenditure at 114 steps per minute is 48 small calories per 1 m; with a full combat load of 29 kg it is 61 small calories per 1 m. Walking is one of the most durable secondary automatisms created in early childhood. This explains the enormous stereotypy of walking cycles, which differ from one another by a negligible amount. Thanks to such stereotypy, it is possible to deeply study the mechanism of walking by means of a single—typical—step. Walking, as one of the most important movements of man, has long attracted the attention of researchers; mechanical (Amar), photographic (Muybridge, Brown and Fischer, Bernstein), and cinematographic methods of studying walking have been proposed. The most accurate method is the cyclographic method, which has been developed in detail by N. Bernstein (see Cyclography).

K. Kachuev. KHOZAL, a preparation consisting mainly of double salts of calcium and sodium with polyamino acids. A yellowish crystalline powder, readily soluble in water, of a salty taste, with a slight taste of mint extract. It is applied for the replacement of table salt in a salt-free diet, since it does not contain chloride ions, and sodium ions only in insignificant quantities. Doses—up to 6–8 g per day.