Wearable Movement Sensors for Rehabilitation: From Technology to Clinical Practice

This Special Issue shows a range of potential opportunities for the application of wearable movement sensors in motor rehabilitation. However, the papers surely do not cover the whole field of physical behavior monitoring in motor rehabilitation. Most studies in this Special Issue focused on the technical validation of wearable sensors and the development of algorithms. Clinical validation studies, studies applying wearable sensors for the monitoring of physical behavior in daily life conditions, and papers about the implementation of wearable sensors in motor rehabilitation are under-represented in this Special Issue. Studies investigating the usability and feasibility of wearable movement sensors in clinical populations were lacking. We encourage researchers to investigate the usability, acceptance, feasibility, reliability, and clinical validity of wearable sensors in clinical populations to facilitate the application of wearable movement sensors in motor rehabilitation

Physical activity, physical fitness, body composition and academic perfomance in children and adolescents

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Formación de Profesorado y Educación, Departamento de Educación Física, Deporte y Motricidad Humana. Fecha de lectura : 14 de julio de 2014El rendimiento académico de los jóvenes es un importante indicador de salud física y mental durante la edad adulta. Un estilo de vida activo, estar físicamente en forma y una composición corporal saludable durante la niñez y adolescencia pueden influir en el rendimiento académico. El objetivo general de esta tesis doctoral fue analizar las asociaciones entre la actividad física, la condición física y la composición corporal, con el rendimiento académico en niños y adolescentes. La presente tesis doctoral se basa en datos del estudio UP&DOWN. Un total de 2.225 niños y adolescentes (de 6 a 18 años) participaron en el estudio. Los niveles de actividad física se midieron por acelerometría. La actividad física de la madre fue autoreportada. La capacidad cardiorespiratoria se evalúo mediante el course navette. La habilidad motora se evaluó con el test 4 × 10 m. La fuerza muscular se calculó mediante la prueba de fuerza de presión manual y el salto de longitud. La composición corporal neonatal fue reportada por los padres. La composición corporal actual se evaluó mediante el índice de masa corporal, el perímetro de la cintura y el porcentaje de grasa corporal. El rendimiento académico se evaluó a través de las califiaciones académicas registrasdas oficialmente en los centros educativos. Los principales hallazgos de la presente tesis sugieren que (i) la actividad física se asocia con la cognición y concretamente, la actividad física medida por acelerometría se asocia con el rendimiento académico de los jóvenes, pero la magnitud de esta asociación, aunque negativa, es muy débil; (ii) la actividad física de la madre antes y durante el embarazo está asociada positivamente en rendimiento académico posterior de los jóvenes; (iii) La capacidad cardiorespiratoria y la habilidad motora, así como la composición corporal neonatal y actual, tanto independientemente como en combinación, se asocian con el rendimiento académico en niños y adolescentes.Academic performance in youth is an important indicator of adult physical and mental health. An active lifestyle, being physically fit and a healthy body composition during childhood and adolescence may have an influence on academic performance. The overall aim of this PhD Thesis was to analyze the associations of physical activity, physical fitness and body composition with academic performance in children and adolescents. The current PhD Thesis is based on data from the UP&DOWN Study. A total of 2,225 youth (aged 6-18 years) participated in the study. Physical activity was objectively measured by accelerometry. Maternal physical activity was self-reported. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using the 20-m shuttle run test. Motor fitness was assessed with the 4×10-m shuttle-run test. A muscular fitness score was computed using handgrip strength and standing long jump. Neonatal body composition was parent-reported. Current body composition was assessed by body mass index, waist circumference and percentage of body fat. Academic performance was assessed through grades reported by schools. The main findings found in the current dissertation suggest that (i) physical activity is associated with cognition, and specifically, objectively measured physical activity is related to academic performance in youth, but the magnitude of this association, albeit negatively significant, was very weak; (ii) maternal physical activity before and during pregnancy is positively associated with youth's academic performance. Continuing maternal physical activity practice during pregnancy is associated with greater benefits for youth's academic performance; (iii) cardiorespiratory and motor fitness, as well as neonatal and current body composition, both independently and combined, are associated with academic performance in youth

Wearable Technology and the Measurement of Physical Activity Intensity and Volume

Physical activity has been linked to numerous health outcomes including a decreased risk of chronic disease and an increased quality of life; it is therefore an important component of rehabilitative and preventative programs and for tracking disease progression. Activity is often described using the Frequency-Intensity-Type-Time-Volume principle. Intensity and volume are of particular importance as they are used to relate activity to health outcomes. However, measuring intensity and volume outside laboratories poses many challenges. A new category of technology called wearables has improved the ability to objectively and continuously measure intensity and volume in free-living using accelerometers and portable electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors. Accelerometers can be worn on different body locations and have been used to estimate activity intensity and volume. However, several different analytical approaches, or models, have been used to date. Quantifying the differences in activity-related outcome measures from these different wearables models has important implications in guiding the clinical decision making involved in rehabilitation and tracking disease progression. This thesis aimed to describe the differences in total activity volume (time spent in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous activity) and moment-to-moment agreement in activity intensity measured by four wearables models, and to determine if model performance was consistent for those who were relatively active compared to inactive. These models included an existing wrist accelerometer model (Wrist), a novel ankle accelerometer model (Ankle) that used activity counts to predict gait speed, a heart rate model (HR), and a model that combined heart rate with the new ankle model (HRAcc). Data from the ONDRI@Home project’s control cohort were used. Participants wore a chest-mounted ECG and accelerometers on the wrist and ankle for a period of 5-7 days. To develop the new Ankle model, a subset of participants also performed a treadmill protocol. Data were collapsed into 15-second epochs. Only epochs when participants were awake and all devices provided usable data were included in analyses. Participants that provided less than 30 hours of usable data were excluded from analyses. Due to the volume of lost data, a subset of analyses was conducted using data from epochs where pairs of models provided valid data. Activity volumes were reported as a percentage of usable data. Moment-to-moment agreement in activity intensity was assessed using Cohen’s kappa. Significant differences in activity volume between models were found at each activity intensity. Moment-to-moment agreement in intensity was in the fair-to-almost perfect range; agreement was highest between the HR and HRAcc models, and lowest between both the HR and Ankle and HR and Wrist models. Model performance was consistent across activity levels. However, model agreement was greater for those who were more active. The Ankle model demonstrated excellent performance; activity counts explained more than 98% of the variance in gait speed and prediction error was less than .04 m s-1. Given the clinically significant magnitude of differences in activity volume and the large range of moment-to-moment agreement in intensity, physical activity outcome measures from different models should not be considered equivalent. This thesis highlights the limitations of using wearables models related to different types of activities, how devices measure intensity, and physiological differences which may have affected model performance. Many of these limitations can be overcome by multi-device models that use individualized data and relative intensity measures. Multi-device models likely have the ability to better represent activity duration, timing, and intensity and should therefore be the focus of future research

2018 FSDG Combined Abstracts

https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg_abstracts/1000/thumbnail.jp

Abstracts of 51st EASD Annual Meeting

Background and aims: Presence and frequency of beta cell (BC) dysfunction(BCD) and insulin resistance (IR) in patients with newly diagnosedtype 2 diabetes mellitus (NDT2D) are imperfectly known, becauseprevious studies used small cohorts and/or only surrogate indexes of BCfunction and IR.We sought to assess BC function and IR with state-of-artmethods in the VNDS.Materials and methods: In 712 GADA-negative, drug naïve, consecutiveItalian NDT2D patients we assessed: 1. standard parameters; 2. insulinsensitivity (IS) by the euglycaemic insulin clamp); 3. BC functionby state-of-art modeling of prolonged (5 hours) OGTT-derived glucose/C-peptide curves. Thresholds for BCD and IR were the 25th percentilesof BC function and IS assessed with the same methods of the VNDS inItalian subjects with normal glucose regulation of the GENFIEV (n=340)and GISIR (n=386) studies, respectively.Results: In the VNDS, 89.8% [95% C.I.: 87.6 - 92.0%] and87.8% [85.4 - 90.2] patients had BCD and IR, respectively. Patientswith only one defect were 19.7% [16.8 - 22.6]. IsolatedBCD and isolated IR were present in 10.9% [8.6 - 13.2] and8.9% [6.8 - 11.0] patients, respectively. Coexistence of BCDand IR was observed in 78.9% [75.9 - 81.9] of the patients.1.4% [0.5 - 2.3] of the patients had no detectable alterations inBC function and IS. Patients (19.7%) with only one metabolicdefect had lower BMI, fasting glucose, HbA1c, triglycerides andBC function, and higher HDL-cholesterol and IS than patientswith both BCD and IR (p<0.01 or less after Bonferroni’scorrection).Conclusion: In conclusion, in NDT2DM patients: 1. at least 75.9% haveboth BCD and IR; 2. At least 87.6% and 85.4% have BCD and IR,respectively; 3. At least 16.8% have only one defect and a significantlydifferent (milder) metabolic phenotype compared to patients with bothdefects. These findings may be relevant to therapeutic strategies centeredon the metabolic phenotype of the patient.Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT00879801; NCT01526720Supported by: University of Veron