Background: During daily activities, stability is maintained to enhance the function of muscles surrounding the lumbopelvic and hip structures. The core muscles such as the rectus abdominis (RA), external oblique (EO), and internal oblique (IO) responsible for this stability. One effective static exercise for strengthening these muscles is the plank. Objects: This study aimed to compare abdominal electromyographic activation when an unstable support surface was applied to the upper and lower extremities during a standard and a knee plank. Methods: A total of 30 adults (15 males and 15 females) participated in this study. Surface electromyography electrodes were placed on the RA, EO, and IO muscles. Data were collected under six conditions for males, including two plank postures (standard and knee planks) and three unstable surface conditions (a dynamic balance cushion applied to the upper extremities, lower extremities, or no cushion). Female participants performed only the knee plank. A mixed-effects model with a random intercept was used to analyze muscle activation across plank posture and surface position, with statistical significance set at α = 0.05. Results: In males, the standard plank elicited greater muscle activation than the knee plank across all muscles (p < 0.0001). Additionally, applying an unstable support surface to the upper extremities significantly increased muscle activation in both plank postures in EO and IO (p < 0.001). Other muscle, RA, was only affected by the unstable support surface in the standard plank position only. In females, the knee plank with upper limb instability resulted in the highest muscle activation for all muscles. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of surface instability in core muscle engagement. However, future studies should further investigate abdominal muscle activation with a more detailed analysis and the inclusion of a control group to enhance comparative validity.

In 2013, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that outdoor air pollution is carcinogenic to humans, with the particulate matter component of air pollution most closely associated with sufficient evidence of increased cancer incidence by exposure to particulate matter component of air pollution. Motor vehicles are one of a major emission sources of fine particle (PM2.5) in urban areas. A large number of epidemiological studies have reported a positive association of morbidity or mortality with distance from the roadside. We conducted this study to assess the association of PM2.5 concentrations measured at roadside hotspots with those at adjacent residential sites using real-time PM2.5 monitors. We conducted real-time PM2.5 measurements for rush hour periods (08:00∼10:00 and 18:00∼20:00) at 9 roadside air monitoring Hotspot sites in metropolitan Seoul over 3 weeks from October 1 to 21, 2013. Simultaneous measurements were conducted in residential sites within a 100 m radius from each roadside air monitoring site. A SidePak AM510 was used for the real-time PM2.5 measurements. Medians of roadside PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 9.8 μg/m3 to 38.3 μg/m3, while corresponding median values at adjacent residential sites ranged from 4.4 μg/m3 to 37.3 μg/m3. PM2.5 concentrations of residential sites were 0.97 times of hotspot roadside sites. Distributions of PM2.5 concentrations in roadside and residential areas were also very similar. Real-time PM2.5 concentrations at residential sites, (100 m adjacent), showed similar levels to those at roadside sites. Increasing the distance between roadside and residential sites, if needed, should be considered to protect urban resident populations from PM2.5 emitted by traffic related sources.