Fashion technology and health

Fashion is commonly seen as the key of consumerism and capitalism. However, Fashion also has the power of improving people’s health and help patients with health issues. The current Opinion letter underlines how fashion technology and textiles can be used to challenge the world of Fashion and Health

Can practising sport activities improve body image in people with physical disabilities?

Body image is defined as a multi-dimensional concept which includes body perception, attitude and feelings towards one’s own body. Research has shown that people with physical disability suffer greatly from a poor body image. The present paper underlines the positive impact of exercising on body image for people with physical impairment

Perception de l'horizon visuel en milieu d'hyperpesanteur : Rôle des systèmes oculomoteur, otolithique et somesthésique

Travelling on board of locomotion vehicles often induce sensorial stimulations which provoke perceptive illusions. These erroneous perceptions of body position were defined in the literature as spatial disorientation, which is principally considered as otolithic origin. In fact, during a forward sustained linear acceleration, the resultant of the imposed acceleration and gravity is no longer aligned with the gravitational vertical. As other physical accelerometer, the otolithic system cannot discriminate the acceleration of gravity from sustained inertial acceleration, and will perceive this resultant, defined as gravito-inertial acceleration (GiA), as the new vertical. Elevator and oculogravic illusions are listed among the most experienced behavioural effects. These illusions are defined as erroneous visual perception of object position in hypergravity environment. This thesis takes an interest in i) sensorial information cues involved in perceptive illusions in hypergravity, ii) interindividuals differences in the estimation of visual horizon, iii) the role of egocentric and exocentric references implicated in elevator and oculogravic illusions. Our results highlight: (1) the fundamental role of gravito-inertial intensity in the visual horizon perception, (2) the coupled effect of body and visual egocentric perceptions in visual horizon estimation, (3) inter-individuals differences, due to the modulation of gravito-inertial intensity, explained by otolithic cues, (4) the contribution of somesthetic cues, in particular for oculogravic illusion. All of the studies referred in this thesis suggest a sensory approach in otolithic and somesthetic terms, as well as an individual approach for visual horizon perception.Les déplacements à bord de véhicules de locomotion induisent souvent des stimulations sensorielles à l'origine d'illusions perceptives. Ces perceptions erronées de la position du corps ont été décrites dans la littérature sous le terme de désorientation spatiale, dont l'origine est principalement considérée comme otolithique. En effet, lors d'une accélération linéaire constante vers l'avant, le vecteur résultant de l'accélération imposée et de la gravité n'est plus aligné par rapport à la verticale gravitaire. Comme tout autre accéléromètre physique, le système otolithique ne peut différencier la gravité de toute autre accélération linéaire et va ainsi intégrer ce vecteur résultant, appelé accélération gravito-inertielle (AGI), comme la nouvelle verticale. Parmi les incidences comportementales les plus connues figurent les illusions d'élévation et oculogravique. Ces illusions se traduisent par une perception visuelle erronée de la position des objets en milieu d'hyperpesanteur. Ce travail doctoral s'intéresse i) aux sources d'informations sensorielles déterminantes dans les illusions perceptives en milieu d'hyperpesanteur, ii) aux différences inter-individuelles dans l'estimation de l'horizon visuel, et iii) au rôle des références égocentrée et exocentrée impliquées dans les illusions d'élévation et oculogravique. Nos résultats expérimentaux mettent en évidence : (1) le rôle fondamental de l'intensité gravito-inertielle dans la perception de l'horizon visuel, (2) l'effet couplé de l'orientation corporelle et de la perception visuelle égocentrée dans l'estimation de l'horizon visuel, (3) l'explication en termes otolithiques des différences inter-individuelles conséquentes à la modulation de l'intensité gravito-inertielle, (4) l'apport des informations somesthésiques, notamment pour l'illusion oculogravique. L'ensemble des travaux rapportés dans cette thèse suggère une approche sensorielle en termes otolithique et somesthésique, ainsi qu'une approche individuelle de la perception de l'horizon visuel gravitaire

Influence of multisensory graviceptive information on the apparent zenith

We studied the contribution of vestibular and somatosensory/proprioceptive stimulation to the perception of the apparent zenith (AZ). Experiment 1 involved rotation on a centrifuge and settings of the AZ. Subjects were supine on the centrifuge, and their body position was varied in relation to the rotation axis so that the gravitoinertial resultant force at the otoliths was 1 or 1.2 g with the otolith organs positioned 50 or 100 cm from the axis of rotation. Their legs were also positioned in different configurations, elevated or extended, to create different distributions of blood and lymph. Experiment 2 involved (a) settings of the AZ for subjects positioned supine with legs fully extended or legs elevated to create a torso-ward shift of blood and (b) settings of the subjective visual vertical for subjects horizontally positioned on their sides with legs extended or bent. Experiment 3 had subjects in the same body configurations as in Experiment 2 indicate when they were horizontal as they were rotated in pitch or roll about an inter-aural or naso-occipital axis. The experimental results for all three experiments demonstrated that both visual localization and apparent body horizontal are jointly determined by multimodal combinations of otolithic and somatosensory/proprioceptive stimulation. No evidence was found for non-overlapping or exclusive mechanisms determining one or the other. The subjective postural horizontal and AZ were affected in similar ways by comparable manipulations

Ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (OVEMPs) produced by whole-body vibration (WBV)

In this paper we report the results of an experiment to investigate the emergence of ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (OVEMPs) during the linear vestibular ocular reflex (LVOR) evoked by whole-body vibration (WBV). OVEMP and electrooculogram (EOG) montages were employed to record periocular potentials (POPs) from six subjects during WBV in the nasooccipital (NO) axis over a range of frequencies from 0.5 to 64 Hz with approximately constant peak head acceleration of 1.0 ms

Source analysis of short and long latency vestibular-evoked potentials (VsEPs) produced by left versus right ear air-conducted 500 Hz pips

Todd et al. (2014) have recently demonstrated the presence of vestibular dependent changes both in the morphology and in the intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) when passing through the vestibular threshold as determined by vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs). In this paper we extend this work by comparing left vs. right ear stimulation and by conducting a source analysis of the resulting evoked potentials of short and long latency. Ten healthy, right-handed subjects were recruited and evoked potentials were recorded to both left- and right-ear sound stimulation, above and below vestibular threshold. Below VEMP threshold, typical AEPs were recorded, consisting of mid- latency (MLR) waves Na and Pa followed by long latency AEPs (LAEPs) N1 and P2. In the suprathreshold condition, the expected changes in morphology were observed, consisting of: (1) short- latency vestibular evoked potentials (VsEPs) which have no auditory correlate, i.e. the ocular VEMP (OVEMP) and inion response-related potentials; (2) a later deflection, labelled N42/P52, followed by the LAEPs N1 and P2. Statistical analysis of the vestibular dependent responses indicated a contralateral effect for inion related short-latency responses and a left-ear/right-hemisphere advantage for the long- latency responses. Source analysis indicated that the short-latency effects may be mediated by a contralateral projection to left cerebellum, while the long-latency effects were mediated by a contralateral projection to right cingulate cortex. In addition we found evidence of a possible vestibular contribution to the auditory T-complex in radial temporal lobe sources. These last results raise the possibility that acoustic activation of the otolith organs could potentially contribute to auditory processing

Vestibular-evoked potentials (VsEPs) produced by an impulsive acceleration applied at the nasion

We report the results of a study to record vestibular evoked potentials (VsEPs) of cortical origin produced by impulsive acceleration (IA). In a sample of 12 healthy participants, evoked potentials recorded by 70 channel electroencephalography were obtained by IA stimulation at the nasion and compared with evoked potentials from the same stimulus applied to the forefingers. The nasion stimulation gave rise to a series of positive and negative deflections in the latency range of 26–72 ms, which were dependent on the polarity of the applied IA. In contrast, evoked potentials from the fingers were characterised by a single N50/P50 deflection at about 50 ms and were polarity invariant. Source analysis confirmed that the finger evoked potentials were somatosensory in origin, i.e. were somatosensory evoked potentials, and suggested that the nasion evoked potentials plausibly included vestibular midline and frontal sources, as well as contributions from the eyes, and thus were likely VsEPs. These results show considerable promise as a new method for assessment of the central vestibular system by means of VsEPs produced by IA applied to the head

Variability of EEG synchronization prior to and during observation and execution of a sequential finger movement

The aim of this study was to test the validity of mirror neuron activity in humans through analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) functional connectivity during an action not directed towards an object. We investigated changes in EEG interchannel synchronization prior to and during action execution and also prior to and during observation of the same action. Twelve participants observed a simple finger movement sequence. In a second testing session they physically executed the movement. EEGs were recorded from 19 active sites across the cortex. Activity was considered in four frequency bands (7–10 Hz, 10–13 Hz, 13–20 Hz, and 20–30 Hz) using a new measure: synchronization likelihood. This technique considers rapid changes in signal synchronization and spatiotemporal patterns of coherence. The results revealed no statistically significant difference in synchronization likelihood between the observation and execution data. We found an increase in synchronization over a broad frequency range during task processing and suggest that this may reflect interregional cortical coupling of intricately and hierarchically interconnected networks that are active in a similar way during both observation and execution of a movement. While EEG may be insensitive to differences present during the observation and execution of a movement, the results of the present study shed some light on the general mechanisms of cognitive integration. Hum Brain Mapp 27:251–266, 2006. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Delineating the interplay between oncogenic pathways and immunity in anaplastic Wilms tumors

Abstract Wilms tumors are highly curable in up to 90% of cases with a combination of surgery and radio-chemotherapy, but treatment-resistant types such as diffuse anaplastic Wilms tumors pose significant therapeutic challenges. Our multi-omics profiling unveils a distinct desert-like diffuse anaplastic Wilms tumor subtype marked by immune/stromal cell depletion, TP53 alterations, and cGAS-STING pathway downregulation, accounting for one-third of all diffuse anaplastic cases. This subtype, also characterized by reduced CD8 and CD3 infiltration and active oncogenic pathways involving histone deacetylase and DNA repair, correlates with poor clinical outcomes. These oncogenic pathways are found to be conserved in anaplastic Wilms tumor cell models. We identify histone deacetylase and/or WEE1 inhibitors as potential therapeutic vulnerabilities in these tumors, which might also restore tumor immunogenicity and potentially enhance the effects of immunotherapy. These insights offer a foundation for predicting outcomes and personalizing treatment strategies for aggressive pediatric Wilms tumors, tailored to individual immunological landscapes