38 research outputs found

    Effectiveness of Focal Muscle Vibration in the Recovery of Neuromotor Hypofunction: A Systematic Review

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    Adequate physical recovery after trauma, injury, disease, a long period of hypomobility, or simply ageing is a difficult goal because rehabilitation protocols are long-lasting and often cannot ensure complete motor recovery. Therefore, the optimisation of rehabilitation procedures is an important target to be achieved. The possibility of restoring motor functions by acting on proprioceptive signals by unspecific repetitive muscle vibration, focally applied on single muscles (RFV), instead of only training muscle function, is a new perspective, as suggested by the effects on the motor performance evidenced by healthy persons. The focal muscle vibration consists of micro-stretching-shortening sequences applied to individual muscles. By repeating such stimulation, an immediate and persistent increase in motility can be attained. This review aims to show whether this proprioceptive stimulation is useful for optimising the rehabilitative process in the presence of poor motor function. Papers reporting RFV effects have evidenced that the motor deficits can be counteracted by focal vibration leading to an early and quick complete recovery. The RFV efficacy has been observed in various clinical conditions. The motor improvements were immediate and obtained without loading the joints. The review suggests that these protocols can be considered a powerful new advantage to enhance traditional rehabilitation and achieve a more complete motor recovery

    Plastic changes induced by muscle focal vibration: A possible mechanism for long-term motor improvements

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    Repetitive focal vibrations can induce positive and persistent after-effects. There is still no satisfactory interpretation of the underlying mechanisms. A rationale, which can provide consistency among different results, is highly desirable to guide both the use of the application and future research. To date, interpretive models are formulated to justify the results, depending on the specific protocol adopted. Indeed, protocol parameters, such as stimulus intensity and frequency, intervention time and administration period, are variable among different studies. However, in this article, we have identified features of the protocols that may allow us to suggest a possible common mechanism underlying the effectiveness of focal vibration under different physiologic and pathologic conditions. Since repetitive focal muscle vibration induces powerful and prolonged activation of muscle proprioceptors, we hypothesize that this intense activation generates adaptive synaptic changes along sensory and motor circuits. This may lead to long-term synaptic potentiation in the central network, inducing an enhancement of the learning capability. The plastic event could increase proprioceptive discriminative ability and accuracy of the spatial reference frame and, consequently, improve motor planning and execution for different motor functions and in the presence of different motor dysfunctions. The proposed mechanism may explain the surprising and sometimes particularly rapid improvements in motor execution in healthy and diseased individuals, regardless of specific physical training. This hypothetic mechanism may require experimental evidence and could lead to extend and adapt the application of the “learning without training” paradigms to other functional and recovery needs

    Public goods and social resistance: A study of the perceptions of risk and vulnerability in the n2 toll road project in the wild coast of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

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    The construction of the N2 Toll Road in the Wild Coast has been lauded for its ‘developmental agenda’, as the government envisages, this 550 km road project linking Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces will act as a game changer to the socio-economic status of the region in a manner beneficial to local people and the nation in general. However, the road project has equally been criticised by several local communities and environmental advocacy groups who suspect the road is associated with controversial titanium mining and its anticipated socio-ecological disasters in the region. Drawing from this conundrum, this study explores intersections of the diverse perceptions of stakeholders on infrastructural provisioning for development purposes in a historically deprived area in South Africa. Using a qualitative research approach in the form of face-to-face interviews with the participants, focus group discussions, secondary data review and observations, the study found that the diverse perceptions of risk and vulnerability have divided the stakeholders into those who support and those who oppose the road project. Most importantly, the study has also found that although there is deep-seated resentment towards the road project among certain grassroots groups, the general view shared among the study communities is nuanced. In other words, there is no ‘hardline collective opposition’ against the road project among local communities. Drawing from these findings, the study recommends that land audit need to be conducted prior to the commencement of infrastructure projects in order to highlight possible tenure blockages. In addition, the study recommends that it is critical for developers and policy makers to recognize the significance of cultural spaces and sacred places for community cultural health. These factors are critical to weigh against the proposed infrastructure developments as they sometimes outweigh the benefits. The study was anchored on the cultural theory of risk perception, which helped to explore the complex interactions between different actors on infrastructural development and environmental policy discourse.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 202

    Textures and Vortices in d-Wave Fermi Condensates in Atomic Gases

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    Fundamental properties of superfluids with d-wave pairing symmetry are investigated theoretically. We consider neutral atomic Fermi gases in a harmonic trap, the Cooper pairing being produced by a Feshbach resonance via a d-wave interaction channel. A Ginzburg-Landau (GL) functional is constructed which is symmetry constrained for five component order parameters (OPs). We find stable OP textures and vortices for all the three phases which are known to be the energy minimum of the GL functional; the ferromagnetic, polar and cyclic phases both at rest and under rotation. In particular, we touch upon the stability conditions for a non-Abelian fractional 1/3-vortex in the cyclic phase under rotation. It is proposed how to create the intriguing 1/3-vortex experimentally in atomic gases via optical means.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

    Russell S. Newell.

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    51-1Indian AffairsReport : Claim of of R. Newell. [2815] Pawnee depredations of 1858.1890-31

    Public goods and social resistance: A study of the perceptions of risk and vulnerability in the n2 toll road project in the wild coast of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

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    The construction of the N2 Toll Road in the Wild Coast has been lauded for its ‘developmental agenda’, as the government envisages, this 550 km road project linking Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces will act as a game changer to the socio-economic status of the region in a manner beneficial to local people and the nation in general. However, the road project has equally been criticised by several local communities and environmental advocacy groups who suspect the road is associated with controversial titanium mining and its anticipated socio-ecological disasters in the region. Drawing from this conundrum, this study explores intersections of the diverse perceptions of stakeholders on infrastructural provisioning for development purposes in a historically deprived area in South Africa. Using a qualitative research approach in the form of face-to-face interviews with the participants, focus group discussions, secondary data review and observations, the study found that the diverse perceptions of risk and vulnerability have divided the stakeholders into those who support and those who oppose the road project. Most importantly, the study has also found that although there is deep-seated resentment towards the road project among certain grassroots groups, the general view shared among the study communities is nuanced. In other words, there is no ‘hardline collective opposition’ against the road project among local communities. Drawing from these findings, the study recommends that land audit need to be conducted prior to the commencement of infrastructure projects in order to highlight possible tenure blockages. In addition, the study recommends that it is critical for developers and policy makers to recognize the significance of cultural spaces and sacred places for community cultural health. These factors are critical to weigh against the proposed infrastructure developments as they sometimes outweigh the benefits. The study was anchored on the cultural theory of risk perception, which helped to explore the complex interactions between different actors on infrastructural development and environmental policy discourse.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 202

    maritima

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    Triglochin maritima Linnaeusseaside arrowgrass;shore arrowgrass;common bog arrowgrass;arrowgrasstroscart maritimemaritimaChief Mtn. Customsboggy meadow5200 feetherb; seed

    Remaking women : feminism and modernity in the Middle East / edited by Lila Abu-Lughod.

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    Includes bibliographical references and index.ix, 300 p.

    fimbriata

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    Parnassia fimbriata K.D. Koenigfringed grass-of-Parnassus;Rocky Mountain grass-of-Parnassus;Rocky Mountain parnassiaparnassie fimbriéeMt. Eisenhower campgroundscreeksid
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