The present literature supports the importance of physical activity from a very early age. However, there is a lack of information about evidence-based motor programs suitable for supporting ...preschoolers' development in Italy. The Animal Fun program, developed in Australia, might be a valuable tool to promote children's development. The aim of this study was to use Animal Fun to verify the motor improvements in balance, aiming and catching, and the manual skills of Italian preschoolers. One hundred nineteen preschool children (3- to 6-year- olds) from three Italian kindergartens were recruited. The kindergartens were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2 (MABC-2) was administered to all children at the baseline and one-month follow-up. The kindergarten assigned to the control group followed the standard curriculum, involving general physical activity; the kindergartens assigned to the Animal Fun group followed the Animal Fun program activities (thirty minutes, three times a week). Data demonstrated the statistical differences between the scores of the two groups in each domain and total score of the MABC-2 (aiming and catching, balance, and manual dexterity). The results of this study suggest that Animal Fun can support the motor improvements of Italian preschoolers and that it is applicable in the Italian context, where there is a lack of movement programs supporting the development of young children with and without motor difficulties.
Objective: Although most studies believe that the dominant hand performs better than the non-dominant hand in performing various tasks, there is still the challenge among researchers as to why the ...non-dominant hand performs better than the dominant hand in certain situations and tasks. The aim of this study was to compare dominant and non-dominant hand performance with force changes in a two-handed balance task. Methods: The samples of this study consisted of 30 male and female subjects with a mean and standard deviation of 28 ± 6.5 years. This research was conducted in Shiraz Health Center. In this study, a Huber device was used to measure hand function. Results: The results of the independent t-test showed that when the force on the handle sensor was the same in both hands, the performance of the dominant and non-dominant hand did not differ significantly (P>0.05). However, the dominant hand performed better when the dominant hand-applied more force and the non-dominant hand performed better than the dominant hand when the non-dominant hand applied more force to the handles (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the performance of the superior hand is not always better than the non-superior hand and the performance of both hands depends on the type of task, synthetic factors (force), and the amount of attention to each hand. These results support the theory of dynamic systems and the specialized hemisphere model in hand control.
The ability to distinguish harmful and beneficial microbes is critical for the survival of an organism. Here, we show that bloating of the intestinal lumen of Caenorhabditis elegans caused by ...microbial colonization elicits a microbial aversion behavior. Bloating of the intestinal lumen also activates a broad innate immune response, even in the absence of bacterial pathogens or live bacteria. Neuroendocrine pathway genes are upregulated by intestinal bloating and are required for microbial aversion behavior. We propose that microbial colonization and bloating of the intestine may be perceived as a danger signal that activates an immune fight-and-flight response. These results reveal how inputs from the intestine can aid in the recognition of a broad range of microbes and modulate host behavior via neuroendocrine signaling.
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•P. aeruginosa colonization elicits immune genes and pathogen aversion in C. elegans•Bloating of the intestinal lumen by microbial colonization upregulates immune genes•Intestinal bloating upregulates neuroendocrine pathways, inducing a flight response•NPR-1 signaling is required for a flight response that elicits pathogen aversion
Singh and Aballay describe a mechanism by which a fight-and-flight response against pathogenic microbes is activated. They show that in C. elegans microbial colonization induces bloating of the intestinal lumen, which enhances the expression of innate immune genes and neuroendocrine pathway genes required for the elicitation of a microbial aversion behavior.
The characteristics of a network are determined by parameters that describe the intrinsic properties of the component neurons and their synapses. Degeneracy occurs when more than one set of ...parameters produces the same (or very similar) output. It is not clear whether network degeneracy impacts network function or is simply a reflection of the fact that, although it is important for a network to be able to generate a particular output, it is not important how this is achieved. We address this issue in the feeding network of the mollusc
In this system, there are two stimulation paradigms that generate egestive motor programs: repetition priming and positive biasing. We demonstrate that circuit parameters differ in the 2 cases (e.g., egestive repetition priming requires activity in an interneuron, B20, which is not essential for positive biasing). We show that degeneracy has consequences for task switching. If egestive repetition priming is immediately followed by stimulation of an ingestive input to the feeding central pattern generator, the first few cycles of activity are egestive (not ingestive). In this situation, there is a task switch cost. This "cost" is in part due to the potentiating effect of egestive repetition priming on B20. In contrast, there is no switch cost after positive biasing. Stimulation of the ingestive central pattern generator input immediately triggers ingestive activity. Our results indicate that the mechanisms used to pattern activity can impact network function in that they can determine how readily a network can switch from one configuration to another.
A particular pattern of neural activity can be generated by more than one set of circuit parameters. How or whether this impacts network function is unclear. We address this issue in the feeding network of
and demonstrate that degeneracy in network function can have consequences for task switching. Namely, we show that, when egestive activity is generated via one set of circuit modifications, an immediate switch to ingestive activity is not possible. In contrast, rapid transitions to ingestive activity are possible if egestive activity is generated via a different set of circuit modifications.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise intervention on some Event Related Potential and motor performance variables in children with developmental coordination ...disorder. Methods: In this Quasi-experimental study were selected 28 people with Developmental Coordination Disorder among 7-10 years male students in Tehran. They were screened for study according to the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorder. PsyTask software made by Mitsar Russia was used to build and run the response inhibition test. Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) was used to measure motor function. The analysis of the covariance was used for data analysis. Results: The analysis of the covariance the posttest ERP showed that latency of NoGo P300 component in Fz and P4 regions, amplitude of NoGo P300 component in Cz region improved significantly after exercise training. Likewise, the results showed that the experimental group improved significantly in manual dexterity, aiming and catching, balance, but there was no significant change in Threading Lace item. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it seems that Physical training interventions has a signification effect on some neuropsychological and motor performance indices of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder.
For whole-body sway patterns, a compound motor response following an external stimulus may comprise reflexes, postural adjustments (anticipatory or compensatory), and voluntary muscular activity. ...Responses to equilibrium destabilization may depend on both motor set and a subject`s expectation of the disturbing stimulus. To disentangle these influences on lower limb responses, we studied a model in which subjects (
n
= 14) were suspended in the air, without foot support, and performed a fast unilateral wrist extension (WE) in response to a passive knee flexion (KF) delivered by a robot. To characterize the responses, electromyographic activity of rectus femoris and reactive leg torque was obtained bilaterally in a series of trials, with or without the requirement of WE (motor set), and/or beforehand information about the upcoming velocity of KF (subject`s expectation). Some fast-velocity trials resulted in StartReact responses, which were used to subclassify leg responses. When subjects were uninformed about the upcoming KF, large rectus femoris responses concurred with a postural reaction in conditions without motor task, and with both postural reaction and postural adjustment when WE was required. WE in response to a low-volume acoustic signal elicited no postural adjustments. When subjects were informed about KF velocity and had to perform WE, large rectus femoris responses corresponded to anticipatory postural adjustment rather than postural reaction. In conclusion, when subjects are suspended in the air and have to respond with WE, the prepared motor set includes anticipatory postural adjustments if KF velocity is known, and additional postural reactions if KF velocity is unknown.
Newly acquired motor skills can be critically driven by different rest periods during practice. Specifically, in the initial stages of motor skill acquisition, the interval between individual trials ...plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective motor performance, such as in the case of throwing. The objective of this research was to determine the optimal inter-trial rest period promoting efficient motor performance, focusing on two specific motor task actions. In a randomized counterbalanced cross-over research design 169 high-school students aged 14 were studied (M = 150; F = 19). In one block, participants performed 10 basketball free throws with a short rest interval (< 5 s) and 10 other throws with a long rest interval (∼50-60 s). In a second block, they threw a regular size tennis ball into a 1-m diameter circle on the floor at 6.75 m, again throwing 10 times with a short inter-trial rest interval and 10 times with a long inter-trial rest interval. The order of the rest intervals within each block was randomized and counterbalanced. With a repeated measures two-way analysis of variance, greater accuracy seemed to be associated with short intra-set rest intervals as there were significant main effects of both conditions (F
1,167
= 368.0, p < 0.001, η
2
p
= 0.271) and resting time (F
1,167
= 18.6, p < 0.001, η
2
p
= 0.192) and no significant interaction "condition by time". Fast practice was efficient independently of the complexity of the throwing task, suggesting robust support for schema theory.
The main objective of our study was to determine whether constant and variable practice conditions lead to the development of different memory representations (GMP) and as a result, they benefit ...performance of a skill differently. We compared one of the Generalized Motor Program (GMP) invariant features, i.e., relative timing, of the same variation of skill developed in constant and variable practice conditions. In two experiments, participants, naïve to the basketball, were practicing free throws, receiving the same amount of practice. In constant conditions they practiced at one distance only (4.57 m), whereas in variable conditions they practiced at seven (2.74, 3.35, 3.96, 4.57, 5.18, 5.79, and 6.4 m) and five (3.35, 3.96, 4.57, 5.18, and 5.79 m) distances, in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. We found that relative timing of skills developed in constant and variable practice conditions is the same, confirming that these practice conditions form the same memory representation. However, we also observed that constant practice (CP) conditions resulted in overall shorter movement time as compared to the skill practiced in variable conditions. We hypothesized that it may be due to the facilitation of parameters assignment as it takes place in especial skill.
Abstract The purposes of the study were to determine (1) whether treadmill-slip training could reduce the likelihood of falls during a novel slip in over-ground walking, and (2) to what extent such ...(indirect) training would be comparable to (direct) over-ground-slip training. A treadmill-slip training group (Group A, n =17) initially experienced repeated perturbations on treadmill intended to simulate forward-slip in over-ground walking. Perturbation continued and its intensity reduced when necessary to ensure subjects' successful adaptation ( i.e. , when they could land their trailing foot ahead of the slipping foot in at least 3 of 5 consecutive trials). They then experienced a novel slip during over-ground walking. Another 17 young adults in Group B experienced an identical novel slip that served as the controls. They then underwent more slip trials during over-ground walking. Their 16th slip trial was analyzed to represent the over-ground-slip training effect. Eight subjects (47%) in Group A fell upon their first treadmill slip, while all adapted successfully after a minimum of 15 slip trials. Upon the novel slip during over-ground walking, none of them fell in comparison to four subjects (23.5%) fell in Group B upon the same trial ( p <0.05). Group A's control of stability, both proactive and reactive, was significantly better than that of Group B's on their first over-ground slip, while the level of improvement in the control of stability derived from indirect treadmill training was not as strong as that from direct over-ground-slip training, as demonstrated in Group B's 16th slip trial ( p <0.001). These results clearly demonstrated the feasibility of fall reduction through treadmill-slip training.
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