TECHNOLOGY FOR WITHIN STROKE ANALYSIS IN SWIMMING

This study reports the development of technology for within-stoke assessment of net force and propulsion and drag in swimming. The first phase was the development of an instrumented, variable resistance, sled towed by a swimmer. The sled measures and transmits at 50 Hz, net force applied to the sled and speed of the swimmer. The second phase was development of an iPad APP that provided video synchronised with the sled data, displayed in a split screen image in soft real time

Response by Bivard et al to letter regarding article, "Impact of Computed Tomography Perfusion Imaging on the Response to Tenecteplase in Ischemic Stroke: Analysis of 2 Randomized Controlled Trials"

No abstract available

Fuzzy Relative Positioning for On-Line Handwritten Stroke Analysis

http://www.suvisoft.comThis paper deals with the qualitative and robust modelling of the relative positioning of on-line handwritten strokes. We exploit the fuzzy approach to take the imprecision of such relations into account. We first transpose a well-formalized method which proved itself in the domain of image analysis to the on-line case; it aims at evaluating the relation “to be in a given direction” relatively to a reference. Our first contribution is a solution to deal with the particular nature of on-line strokes, which are constituted of non-connected points. Our second and main contribution is a method to learn automatically fuzzy relative position relationships. It aims at evaluating the relation “to be in a given position” relatively to a reference using jointly the direction and the distance. We test the impact of this new fuzzy positioning approach on one possible application: the recognition of handwritten graphic gestures, which requires spatial context information to be discriminated. Whereas the recognition rate is 52.95% without any spatial information, we obtain a maximum of 95.75% when we use learnt relative position relationships

Stroke Severity Affects Timing: Time From Stroke Code Activation to Initial Imaging is Longer in Patients With Milder Strokes.

Optimizing the time it takes to get a potential stroke patient to imaging is essential in a rapid stroke response. At our hospital, door-to-imaging time is comprised of 2 time periods: the time before a stroke is recognized, followed by the period after the stroke code is called during which the stroke team assesses and brings the patient to the computed tomography scanner. To control for delays due to triage, we isolated the time period after a potential stroke has been recognized, as few studies have examined the biases of stroke code responders. This code-to-imaging time (CIT) encompassed the time from stroke code activation to initial imaging, and we hypothesized that perception of stroke severity would affect how quickly stroke code responders act. In consecutively admitted ischemic stroke patients at The Mount Sinai Hospital emergency department, we tested associations between National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores (NIHSS), continuously and at different cutoffs, and CIT using spline regression, t tests for univariate analysis, and multivariable linear regression adjusting for age, sex, and race/ethnicity. In our study population, mean CIT was 26 minutes, and mean presentation NIHSS was 8. In univariate and multivariate analyses comparing CIT between mild and severe strokes, stroke scale scores4

Optimised intake stroke analysis for flat and dome head pistons

This research exerts are suitable for the automobile industry in understanding the performance characteristics optioned between flat head and dome head pistons in engine design. This study was carried out to analyze the optimization parameters for effective and efficient flow characteristics of air-fuel mixture at the intake port of the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine. A unique and industrial standard CFD software, STAR-CCM V8, was used to model both geometry for flat head and dome head pistons which was developed with precise dimensions of a 1.8L gasoline engine. A planar 3-D model approach was adopted for simplified static CAD modeling and also to reduce the solver processing time. The piston models were meshed using tetrahedral mesh of base size 0.001m. The boundary and physics conditions were applied to simulate the actual intake stroke process for normal operating conditions and initial conditions. The extracted results were validate and comparisons developed to analyze the various optimization parameters for performance characteristics of the two pistons.Keywords: optimized intake stroke, CFD analysis, flat and dome head pistons, internal combustion engine, CAD modellin

Tennis flat forehand drive stroke analysis: three dimensional kinematics movement analysis approach

The purpose of this study was to analyze the ability of the flat forehand drive stroke with a three-dimensional kinematics analysis approach in tennis. The method used was quantitative descriptive, while the subjects were 18 male tennis players (age 27 ± 3.7 years, height 169 ± 7.4 cm, body weight 71.5 ± 8.3 kg). This instrument uses three video cameras, one set of calibration, motion analysis software, manual markers and a radar speed gun. The results of this study showed that of the shoulder internal rotation, wrist flexion, trunk and hip rotations for players who have skills shows greater results when compared to the novice players. In addition, the skills player group produce ball speed that is greater than the novice players. The results of this study concluded that the series of motion starting from the hip joint rotation, the maximum external-internal shoulder rotation contributed greatly to the racket speed in generating greater ball momentum. Meanwhile, the shoulder internal velocity is the key to producing the racket maximum speed. The recommendation from the results of this study for further research is to compare the performance of forehand and backhand strokes in the elite group with a three-dimensional analysis approach

A human computer interactions framework for biometric user identification

Computer assisted functionalities and services have saturated our world becoming such an integral part of our daily activities that we hardly notice them. In this study we are focusing on enhancements in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) that can be achieved by natural user recognition embedded in the employed interaction models. Natural identification among humans is mostly based on biometric characteristics representing what-we-are (face, body outlook, voice, etc.) and how-we-behave (gait, gestures, posture, etc.) Following this observation, we investigate different approaches and methods for adapting existing biometric identification methods and technologies to the needs of evolving natural human computer interfaces

Post-stroke inhibition of induced NADPH oxidase type 4 prevents oxidative stress and neurodegeneration

Ischemic stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Only one moderately effective therapy exists, albeit with contraindications that exclude 90% of the patients. This medical need contrasts with a high failure rate of more than 1,000 pre-clinical drug candidates for stroke therapies. Thus, there is a need for translatable mechanisms of neuroprotection and more rigid thresholds of relevance in pre-clinical stroke models. One such candidate mechanism is oxidative stress. However, antioxidant approaches have failed in clinical trials, and the significant sources of oxidative stress in stroke are unknown. We here identify NADPH oxidase type 4 (NOX4) as a major source of oxidative stress and an effective therapeutic target in acute stroke. Upon ischemia, NOX4 was induced in human and mouse brain. Mice deficient in NOX4 (Nox4(-/-)) of either sex, but not those deficient for NOX1 or NOX2, were largely protected from oxidative stress, blood-brain-barrier leakage, and neuronal apoptosis, after both transient and permanent cerebral ischemia. This effect was independent of age, as elderly mice were equally protected. Restoration of oxidative stress reversed the stroke-protective phenotype in Nox4(-/-) mice. Application of the only validated low-molecular-weight pharmacological NADPH oxidase inhibitor, VAS2870, several hours after ischemia was as protective as deleting NOX4. The extent of neuroprotection was exceptional, resulting in significantly improved long-term neurological functions and reduced mortality. NOX4 therefore represents a major source of oxidative stress and novel class of drug target for stroke therapy