Surfers often wear wetsuits while paddling in the ocean. This neoprene covering may be beneficial to upper extremity movement by helping to improve proprioceptive acuity, or it may be detrimental by ...providing increased resistance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of wearing a wetsuit on muscle activation, upper extremity motion, heart rate, and oxygen consumption during simulated surfboard paddling in the laboratory. Twelve male, recreational surfers performed two paddling trials at a constant workload on a swim bench ergometer both with and without a wetsuit. Kinematic data and EMG were acquired from the right arm via motion capture, and oxygen consumption and heart rate were recorded with a metabolic cart and heart rate monitor. Wearing a wetsuit had no significant effect on oxygen consumption or heart rate. A significant increase in EMG activation was observed for the middle deltoid but not for any of the other shoulder muscle evaluated. Finally, approximate entropy and estimates of the maximum Lyapunov exponent increased significantly for vertical trajectory of the right wrist (i.e. stroke height) when a wetsuit was worn. These results suggest that a 2mm wetsuit has little effect on the energy cost of paddling at lower workloads but does affect arm motion. These changes may be the result of enhanced proprioceptive acuity due to mechanical compression from the wetsuit.
Schizophrenia involves abnormalities in the medial frontal cortex that lead to cognitive deficits. Here we investigate a novel strategy to normalize medial frontal brain activity by stimulating ...cerebellar projections. We used an interval timing task to study elementary cognitive processing that requires both frontal and cerebellar networks that are disrupted in patients with schizophrenia. We report three novel findings. First, patients with schizophrenia had dysfunctional delta rhythms between 1-4 Hz in the medial frontal cortex. We explored cerebellar-frontal interactions in animal models and found that both frontal and cerebellar neurons were modulated during interval timing and had delta-frequency interactions. Finally, delta-frequency optogenetic stimulation of thalamic synaptic terminals of lateral cerebellar projection neurons rescued timing performance as well as medial frontal activity in a rodent model of schizophrenia-related frontal dysfunction. These data provide insight into how the cerebellum influences medial frontal networks and the role of the cerebellum in cognitive processing.
The hydrostatic pressure stimulation of an appropriately cell-seeded porous scaffold within a bioreactor is a promising method for engineering bone tissue external to the body. We propose a ...mathematical model, and employ a suite of candidate constitutive laws, to qualitatively describe the effect of applied hydrostatic pressure on the quantity of minerals deposited in such an experimental setup. By comparing data from numerical simulations with experimental observations under a number of stimulation protocols, we suggest that the response of bone cells to an applied pressure requires consideration of two components; (i) a component describing the cell memory of the applied stimulation, and (ii) a recovery component, capturing the time cells require to recover from high rates of mineralisation.
•Novel model of the bone mineralisation response to an applied hydrostatic pressure.•Three candidate constitutive forms of the pressure dependent response developed.•A qualitative comparison to experimental observations is made.•Qualitative agreement with experimental data for one response developed.•Illustration of the importance of the cell “memory” and cell “recovery time”.
Stroke is a leading cause of disability in the United States and yet little technology is currently available for individuals with stroke to practice and monitor rehabilitation therapy on their own. ...This paper provides a detailed design description of a telerehabilitation system for arm and hand therapy following stroke. The system consists of a Web-based library of status tests, therapy games, and progress charts, and can be used with a variety of input devices, including a low-cost force-feedback joystick capable of assisting or resisting in movement. Data from home-based usage by a chronic stroke subject are presented that demonstrate the feasibility of using the system to direct a therapy program, mechanically assist in movement, and track improvements in movement ability.
Unintentional synchronization of stepping occurs frequently between two people walking side by side, yet little is known regarding the neurological and biomechanical mechanisms that underlie this ...coupling. The purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between leg length differential, select variables related to sensory feedback, and unintentional, interpersonal synchronization during gait.
Twenty pairs of participants stepped on side by side treadmills under six different conditions in which visual, auditory, and tactile feedback were altered.
When compared with an estimate of synchronization expected to occur by chance, synchronization of stepping was significantly greater in each sensory condition examined. Overall, 62% of pairs exhibited unintentional step frequency locking. Pairs that exhibited entrainment had significantly lower leg length differences between partners (independent
t-test,
p
=
.044), and a significant relationship was found between leg length difference and both difference in frequency of stepping (
R
2
=
.258,
p
<
.022) and frequency locking (
R
2
=
0.307,
p
=
.011). Altering sensory information appeared to have little effect on the amount of step frequency locking, but improved phase angle locking. Specifically, the addition of a mechanical coupling between participants resulted in a significant increase in the amount of time spent phase locked when compared with the case where normal vision and sound were restricted between participants.
These data suggest that unintentional gait entrainment can be reproduced in a laboratory setting using side by side treadmills, and that anthropometric properties, such as leg length, have a significant effect on gait synchronization. Further, alterations in sensory information can affect unintentional, interpersonal synchronization, but this behavior appears to be relatively robust to changes in sensory feedback pathways related to gait.
Four female Shetland Sheepdogs with hypertonic paroxysmal dyskinesia, mainly triggered by exercise and stress, were investigated in a retrospective multi-center investigation aiming to characterize ...the clinical phenotype and its underlying molecular etiology. Three dogs were closely related and their pedigree suggested autosomal dominant inheritance. Laboratory diagnostic findings included mild lactic acidosis and lactaturia, mild intermittent serum creatine kinase (CK) elevation and hypoglycemia. Electrophysiological tests and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain were unremarkable. A muscle/nerve biopsy revealed a mild type II fiber predominant muscle atrophy. While treatment with phenobarbital, diazepam or levetiracetam did not alter the clinical course, treatment with a gluten-free, home-made fresh meat diet in three dogs or a tryptophan-rich, gluten-free, seafood-based diet, stress-reduction, and acetazolamide or zonisamide in the fourth dog correlated with a partial reduction in, or even a complete absence of, dystonic episodes. The genomes of two cases were sequenced and compared to 654 control genomes. The analysis revealed a case-specific missense variant, c.1658G>A or p.Arg553Gln, in the
gene encoding the mitochondrial phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 2. Sanger sequencing confirmed that all four cases carried the mutant allele in a heterozygous state. The mutant allele was not found in 117 Shetland Sheepdog controls and more than 500 additionally genotyped dogs from various other breeds. The p.Arg553Gln substitution affects a highly conserved residue in close proximity to the GTP-binding site of PCK2. Taken together, we describe a new form of paroxysmal exercise-induced dyskinesia (PED) in dogs. The genetic findings suggest that PCK2:p.Arg553Gln should be further investigated as putative candidate causal variant.
This article reviews several tools we have developed to improve the understanding of locomotor training following spinal cord injury (SCI), with a view toward implementing locomotor training with ...robotic devices. We have developed (1) a small-scale robotic device that allows testing of locomotor training techniques in rodent models, (2) an instrumentation system that measures the forces and motions used by experienced human therapists as they manually assist leg movement during locomotor training, (3) a powerful, lightweight leg robot that allows investigation of motor adaptation during stepping in response to force-field perturbations, and (4) computational models for locomotor training. Results from the initial use of these tools suggest that an optimal gait-training robot will minimize disruptive sensory input, facilitate appropriate sensory input and gait mechanics, and intelligently grade and time its assistance. Currently, we are developing a pneumatic robot designed to meet these specifications as it assists leg and pelvic motion of people with SCI.
We have developed a robotic device (the "rat stepper") for evaluating and training locomotor function of spinal cord injured rodents. This paper provides a detailed description of the device design ...and a characterization of its robotic performance capabilities.
This study determined measured and Mie-calculated angular signal truncations for total and backscatter TSI, Inc., nephelometers, as a function of wavelength and for particles of known size and ...composition. Except for the total scattering channels, similar agreements as in a previous study of measured and calculated truncations were derived for submicrometer test aerosols. For the first time, instrument responses were also determined for supermicrometer test aerosols up to 1.9 km in geometric mean diameter. These supermicrometer data confirm the theoretical predictions of strong angular truncations of the total scatter signals in integrating nephelometers due to the limited range of measured forward scattering angles. Truncations up to 60% were determined for the largest measured particles. Rough empirical truncation corrections have been derived from the calibration data for Radiance Research and Ecotech nephelometers for which no detailed response characteristics exist. Intercomparisons of the nephelometers measuring urban atmospheric aerosols yield average deviations of the slope from a 1:1 relation with a TSI reference nephelometer of less than 7%. Average intercepts range between +0.53 and -0.19 Mmsup -1. For the Radiance Research and Ecotech nephelometers ambient regressions of the Radiance Research and Ecotech instruments with the TSI nephelometer show larger negative intercepts, which are attributed to their less well characterized optics. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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