Elastic, Viscous, and Mass Load Effects on Poststroke Muscle Recruitment and Co-contraction During Reaching: A Pilot Study

Background: Resistive exercise after stroke can improve strength (force-generating capacity) without increasing spasticity (velocity-dependent hypertonicity). However, the effect of resistive load type on muscle activation and co-contraction after stroke is not clear. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of load type (elastic, viscous, or mass) on muscle activation and co-contraction during resisted forward reaching in the paretic and nonparetic arms after stroke. Design: This investigation was a single-session, mixed repeated-measures pilot study. Methods: Twenty participants (10 with hemiplegia and 10 without neurologic involvement) reached forward with each arm against equivalent elastic, viscous, and mass loads. Normalized shoulder and elbow electromyography impulses were analyzed to determine agonist muscle recruitment and agonist-antagonist muscle co-contraction. Results: Muscle activation and co-contraction levels were significantly higher on virtually all outcome measures for the paretic and nonparetic arms of the participants with stroke than for the matched control participants. Only the nonparetic shoulder responded to load type with similar activation levels but variable co-contraction responses relative to those of the control shoulder. Elastic and viscous loads were associated with strong activation; mass and viscous loads were associated with minimal co-contraction. Limitations: A reasonable, but limited, range of loads was available. Conclusions: Motor control deficits were evident in both the paretic and the nonparetic arms after stroke when forward reaching was resisted with viscous, elastic, or mass loads. The paretic arm responded with higher muscle activation and co-contraction levels across all load conditions than the matched control arm. Smaller increases in muscle activation and co-contraction levels that varied with load type were observed in the nonparetic arm. On the basis of the response of the nonparetic arm, this study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that viscous loads elicited strong muscle activation with minimal co-contraction. Further intervention studies are needed to determine whether viscous loads are preferable for poststroke resistive exercise programs

Experimental observation of the mobility edge in a waveguide with correlated disorder

The tight-binding model with correlated disorder introduced by Izrailev and Krokhin [PRL 82, 4062 (1999)] has been extended to the Kronig-Penney model. The results of the calculations have been compared with microwave transmission spectra through a single-mode waveguide with inserted correlated scatterers. All predicted bands and mobility edges have been found in the experiment, thus demonstrating that any wanted combination of transparent and non-transparent frequency intervals can be realized experimentally by introducing appropriate correlations between scatterers.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages including 4 Postscript figure

The Arm Motion (AMD) Detection Test

Stroke can lead to sensory deficits that impair functional control of arm movements. Here we describe a simple test of arm motion detection (AMD) that provides an objective, quantitative measure of movement perception related proprioceptive capabilities in the arm. Seven stroke survivors and thirteen neurologically intact control subjects performed the AMD test. In a series of ten trials that took less than 15 minutes to complete, participants used a two-button user interface to adjust the magnitude of hand displacements produced by a horizontal planar robot until the motions were just perceptible (i.e. on the threshold of detection). The standard deviation of movement detection threshold was plotted against the mean and a normative range was determined from the data collected with control subjects. Within this normative space, subjects with and without intact proprioception could be discriminated on a ratio scale that is meaningful for ongoing studies of degraded motor function. Thus, the AMD test provides a relatively fast, objective and quantitative measure of upper extremity proprioception of limb movement (i.e. kinesthesia)

Experimental Observation of the Spectral Gap in Microwave n-Disk Systems

Symmetry reduced three-disk and five-disk systems are studied in a microwave setup. Using harmonic inversion the distribution of the imaginary parts of the resonances is determined. With increasing opening of the systems, a spectral gap is observed for thick as well as for thin repellers and for the latter case it is compared with the known topological pressure bounds. The maxima of the distributions are found to coincide for a large range of the distance to radius parameter with half of the classical escape rate. This confirms theoretical predictions based on rigorous mathematical analysis for the spectral gap and on numerical experiments for the maxima of the distributions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Characterization of Motor Adaptation and Limb Posture Regulation During Arm Reaching Movements Following Stroke

Whether attempting to pour water into a handheld glass, or simply trying to hold a young child\u27s hand, many activities of daily living require interaction with unpredictable or uncertain mechanical environments. Here we describe a systems identification study that used a planar manipulandum to characterize how hemiparetic stroke survivors adapt reaching movements to novel mechanical environments. By analyzing trial-by-trial variations in hand path kinematics, we found that stroke survivors are less likely than neurologically-intact subjects to adjust motor commands for upcoming movements based on hand trajectory errors experienced on previous trials. This ability is most significantly compromised in subjects with Fugl-Meyer scores ≤ 20. The ability to terminate movement accurately at the desired target was significantly compromised on the impaired side for most stroke survivors. This measure of performance contrasts with the trajectory updating measure in that it did not depend on impairment level. These data suggest that stroke survivors vary in their ability to effectively adapt motor commands based on recent sensorimotor experience. The findings also provide indirect support for the hypothesis that final posture regulation and feedforward trajectory control are complimentary processes that may be differentially compromised following stroke

Coupling of polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of highly divergent emission in broad-area square vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

The polarization of highly divergent modes of broad-area square vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers is shown to be only marginally affected by material anisotropies but determined by an interplay of the polarization properties of the Bragg cavity mirrors and of the transverse boundary conditions. This leads to a locking of the polarization direction to the boundaries and its indeterminacy for wave vectors oriented along the diagonal. We point out a non-Poissonian character of nearest-neighbor frequency spacing distribution and the impossibility of single-wave number solutions

Matrix oscillator and Calogero-type models

We study a single matrix oscillator with the quadratic Hamiltonian and deformed commutation relations. It is equivalent to the multispecies Calogero model in one dimension, with inverse-square two-body and three-body interactions. Specially, we have constructed a new matrix realization of the Calogero model for identical particles, without using exchange operators. The critical points at which singular behaviour occurs are briefly discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.

Trace Formulae and Spectral Statistics for Discrete Laplacians on Regular Graphs (I)

Trace formulae for d-regular graphs are derived and used to express the spectral density in terms of the periodic walks on the graphs under consideration. The trace formulae depend on a parameter w which can be tuned continuously to assign different weights to different periodic orbit contributions. At the special value w=1, the only periodic orbits which contribute are the non back- scattering orbits, and the smooth part in the trace formula coincides with the Kesten-McKay expression. As w deviates from unity, non vanishing weights are assigned to the periodic walks with back-scatter, and the smooth part is modified in a consistent way. The trace formulae presented here are the tools to be used in the second paper in this sequence, for showing the connection between the spectral properties of d-regular graphs and the theory of random matrices.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figure

Different Host Exploitation Strategies in Two Zebra Mussel-Trematode Systems: Adjustments of Host Life History Traits

The zebra mussel is the intermediate host for two digenean trematodes, Phyllodistomum folium and Bucephalus polymorphus, infecting gills and the gonad respectively. Many gray areas exist relating to the host physiological disturbances associated with these infections, and the strategies used by these parasites to exploit their host without killing it. The aim of this study was to examine the host exploitation strategies of these trematodes and the associated host physiological disturbances. We hypothesized that these two parasite species, by infecting two different organs (gills or gonads), do not induce the same physiological changes. Four cellular responses (lysosomal and peroxisomal defence systems, lipidic peroxidation and lipidic reserves) in the host digestive gland were studied by histochemistry and stereology, as well as the energetic reserves available in gonads. Moreover, two indices were calculated related to the reproductive status and the physiological condition of the organisms. Both parasites induced adjustments of zebra mussel life history traits. The host-exploitation strategy adopted by P. folium would occur during a short-term period due to gill deformation, and could be defined as “virulent.” Moreover, this parasite had significant host gender-dependent effects: infected males displayed a slowed-down metabolism and energetic reserves more allocated to growth, whereas females displayed better defences and would allocate more energy to reproduction and maintenance. In contrast, B. polymorphus would be a more “prudent” parasite, exploiting its host during a long-term period through the consumption of reserves allocated to reproduction

Reach Adaptation and Final Position Control Amid Environmental Uncertainty After Stroke

We characterized how hemiparetic stroke survivors and neurologically intact individuals adapt reaching movements to compensate for unpredictable environmental perturbations. We tested the hypotheses that like unimpaired subjects, hemiparetic stroke survivors adapt using sensory information obtained during only the most recent movements and that the reliability of target acquisition decreases as the degree of sensorimotor impairment increases. Subjects held the handle of a two-joint robotic arm that applied forces to the hand while reaching between targets in a horizontal plane. The robot simulated a dynamic environment that varied randomly in strength from one trial to the next. The trial sequence of perturbations had a nonzero mean value corresponding to information about the environment that subjects might learn. Stroke subjects were less effective than control subjects at adapting reaches to the perturbations. From a family of potential adaptation models, we found that the compensatory strategy patients used was the same as that used by neurologically intact subjects. However, analysis of model coefficients found that the relative weighting of prior perturbations and prior movement errors on subsequent reach attempts was significantly depressed poststroke. Regulation of final hand position was also impaired in the paretic limbs. Measures of trajectory adaptation and final position regulation deficits were significantly dependent on the integrity of limb proprioception and the amount of time poststroke. However, whereas model coefficients varied systematically with impairment level poststroke, variability of final positioning in the contralesional limb did not. This difference suggests that these two aspects of limb control may be differentially impaired poststroke